Countdown #2 reviewed - spoilers I suppose [Definitely Spoilers]

[Kemaiku]

They travel back in time and set up a pasta manufacturing plant on Earth. So the race does survive, just not as we know it on screen.

Actually it looks as if most of them traveled back only to end up extras in Buffy *cough*TurokHan*cough*

So...an even WORSE fate, then.

If by that you mean the scene where they all die horribly by being incinerated in a pretty nasty way then yeah, not such a happy ending for our bat featured friends.

 

[miraclefan]

Back on topic. When does it say that the Kelvin was checking out a star?

Yes! I too would like to know where you got that info? It's the first time I'm hearing this.

 

[cooleddie74]

Back on topic. When does it say that the Kelvin was checking out a star?

Yes! I too would like to know where you got that info? It's the first time I'm hearing this.

Unless the said star is somehow connected to Nero's temporal vortex and the ship is investigating odd sensor readings when the Narada emerges.

 

[Kemaiku]

Back on topic. When does it say that the Kelvin was checking out a star?

Yes! I too would like to know where you got that info? It's the first time I'm hearing this.

Unless the said star is somehow connected to Nero's temporal vortex and the ship is investigating odd sensor readings when the Narada emerges.

I speculated a while back, that the reason the Kelvin is so weathered when that shouldn't happen in space, is that maybe shes a solar survey vessel.

Being in close orbit to a star experiencing the constant solar winds and intense radiation/glare of the star would explain her external appearance.

 

[Kchunda]

Back on topic. When does it say that the Kelvin was checking out a star?

Yes! I too would like to know where you got that info? It's the first time I'm hearing this.

I did a little research to try and remember where I got that because I thought it was something they told us when the first Kelvin images came out back in October.

I can't find anything concrete, but the pic of the Kelvin approaching the Narada during the trailer:

http://trekmovie.com/2008/11/19/trekmovie-star-trek-trailer-analysis/

http://img.trekmovie.com/images/st09/trailer2analysis/101.jpg

That looks like a star pretty up close in the background.

Plus the first pic that was released:

http://img.trekmovie.com/images/st09/trailer2analysis/249.jpg

That glow looks like starshine. I swear I remember reading about the mission that the Kelvin was on, so when I saw that first pic I thought "whoa it's pretty close to a star. . ."

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I imagine you're remembering Harry Knowles's description of the Trek footage that J.J. Abrams showed him at the end of June last year:

The next scene was a really nicely completed visual effects pass of a pre-Enterprise Federation ship from about 25 years before the Enterprise. I’ve no idea how this fits into the larger story, same with the Spock baby stuff. But this effects shot had a completely different space feel than anything I’ve seen before from STAR TREK or STAR WARS. The shot began on a small part of the ship, then craned back and over to reveal the ship coming into a larger shot of the ship seemingly orbiting a really angry sun. The shot was absolutely dynamic as the star was seemingly raging – and we cut to the interior of the ship – it was very shadowy and very much like that of an old diesel submarine – JJ told me that the look was an evolving look for Star Fleet – so that you could get a sense of the passage of decades here. Once again though – I didn’t see the end of the scene or really get a sense for what was going on.

I really like the dynamics and tone of this Space shot – very much not like something I’d seen before – although it was Star Trek, because the ship was a saucer, with a nacelle above and below the saucer. It just felt aggressive and frankly… badass.

 

[Kchunda]

^ BULLSEYE!!!

 

[cooleddie74]

Early 23rd century ships probably have that halfway-point evolutionary feel between the vessels of the Archer era/BotF period and TOS. Clunkier and more vulnerable than Kirk-era ships with fewer protections against outside threats both natural and artificial, but more sophisticated and "TREK-feeling" than the more cramped, submarine-like confines of the more primitive 22nd century.

 

[SalvorHardin]

Here's an interesting read on the whole Data/B-4 and the Enterprise-E crew changes.
Looks like the Star Trek online guys and the writers of Countdown and Trek XI do indeed cooperate on some level.

After a personal request from the president of the Federation and a great deal of personal reflection, Captain Picard resigns his commission with Starfleet. After a three-month sabbatical in France, Picard takes his place as the Federation ambassador to Vulcan.
He is not the only senior staff member of the Enterprise to be moving on to other projects. Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher accepts the position of captain of the U.S.S. Pasteur, an Olympic-class ship. Her first task will be to assist efforts to rebuild hospitals and medical facilities on Cardassia Prime.
Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge requests a long-term leave of absence from Starfleet to work on personal projects, including a plan to build and test his own starship designs. But his first project is to assist the team at the Soong Foundation studying the Soong-type android B-4. With his help, on Stardate 62762.91 the team unlocks what it calls the “Data matrix,” successfully accessing the personality, knowledge and memories of Data, who had downloaded this information into B-4 before his destruction in the Battle of Bassen Rift.
The Data persona asserts itself over B-4’s more primitive programming, and the android is able to assist the Soong Foundation team to upgrade the positronic brain and recreate the emotion chip invented by Dr. Noonien Soong. The team is confident that their work will be completed in months.

With much of the senior staff off ship and its role in flux, the Enterprise-E is assigned to the shipyards of Utopia Planitia for an extensive refit. The Starfleet Corps of Engineers reports that the refit will take at least a year to complete because they are going to use the ship as a testing ground for new technology. Among the new equipment will be the advanced sensor array first tested on Luna-class starships, which has been approved for retrofitting onto other classes of ships.

more here http://www.startrekonline.com/timeline/2385

 

[Sharr Khan]

Here's an interesting read on the whole Data/B-4 and the Enterprise-E crew changes.
Looks like the Star Trek online guys and the writers of Countdown and Trek XI do indeed cooperate on some level.

After a personal request from the president of the Federation and a great deal of personal reflection, Captain Picard resigns his commission with Starfleet. After a three-month sabbatical in France, Picard takes his place as the Federation ambassador to Vulcan.
He is not the only senior staff member of the Enterprise to be moving on to other projects. Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher accepts the position of captain of the U.S.S. Pasteur, an Olympic-class ship. Her first task will be to assist efforts to rebuild hospitals and medical facilities on Cardassia Prime.
Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge requests a long-term leave of absence from Starfleet to work on personal projects, including a plan to build and test his own starship designs. But his first project is to assist the team at the Soong Foundation studying the Soong-type android B-4. With his help, on Stardate 62762.91 the team unlocks what it calls the “Data matrix,” successfully accessing the personality, knowledge and memories of Data, who had downloaded this information into B-4 before his destruction in the Battle of Bassen Rift.
The Data persona asserts itself over B-4’s more primitive programming, and the android is able to assist the Soong Foundation team to upgrade the positronic brain and recreate the emotion chip invented by Dr. Noonien Soong. The team is confident that their work will be completed in months.

With much of the senior staff off ship and its role in flux, the Enterprise-E is assigned to the shipyards of Utopia Planitia for an extensive refit. The Starfleet Corps of Engineers reports that the refit will take at least a year to complete because they are going to use the ship as a testing ground for new technology. Among the new equipment will be the advanced sensor array first tested on Luna-class starships, which has been approved for retrofitting onto other classes of ships.

more here http://www.startrekonline.com/timeline/2385

Cool stuff: Empress Donatra, Sela, nice little tidbits there.

Sharr

 

[Aragorn]

You know, B-4 would be an interesting story. You have all of Data's memories, experiences and personality so you're basically Data, but you know you're not because Data is dead.

 

[ThereAre4Lights]

Ok, i'm calling the whole "supernova threatens Romulus/Universe" plot bullshit. Assuming the shockwave travels at relativistic speeds (since it's obviously visible), it would take an awfully long time to reach Romulus. Even if the Hobus system is extremly close to Romulus, say one light year, it would take at most one light year for the shockwave to arrive (not two weeks) and would most likely disperse by then. Does the shockwave travel at warp speeds or what?

Oh, never mind. I see this issue has already been covered in the "science in countdown" thread. IT IS bullshit.

 

[miraclefan]

Ok, i'm calling the whole "supernova threatens Romulus/Universe" plot bullshit. Assuming the shockwave travels at relativistic speeds (since it's obviously visible), it would take an awfully long time to reach Romulus. Even if the Hobus system is extremly close to Romulus, say one light year, it would take at most one light year for the shockwave to arrive (not two weeks) and would most likely disperse by then. Does the shockwave travel at warp speeds or what?

Oh, never mind. I see this issue has already been covered in the "science in countdown" thread. IT IS bullshit.

DUDE! it's F.I.T.C.T.I.O.N. just relax. MMMkkaay?

 

[cooleddie74]

Ok, i'm calling the whole "supernova threatens Romulus/Universe" plot bullshit. Assuming the shockwave travels at relativistic speeds (since it's obviously visible), it would take an awfully long time to reach Romulus. Even if the Hobus system is extremly close to Romulus, say one light year, it would take at most one light year for the shockwave to arrive (not two weeks) and would most likely disperse by then. Does the shockwave travel at warp speeds or what?

Oh, never mind. I see this issue has already been covered in the "science in countdown" thread. IT IS bullshit.

DUDE! it's F.I.T.C.T.I.O.N. just relax. MMMkkaay?

Treat it like the subspace explosion and shockwave on Praxis in STAR TREK VI and "Flashback(VOY)". In reality, the Excelsior would never have gotten touched by that disaster since the ship was LIGHT YEARS away and in Federation space at the time...and any explosion THAT enormous would likely have laid complete waste to if not utterly shattered Qo'noS itself, destroying almost the entire Klingon race.


Scientific bullshit. But great on-screen eye candy and a killer plot device.

 

[BorgPhil]

having read #2 now, it's pretty obvious to me that Nero wasn't searching for Kirk in the Enterprise's database, it was just a record that stood out within 'Enterprise captains' when he was looking for info on Data and Picard.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Perhaps...sort of a "HMMMMM. Didn't realize THAT connection between Kirk and my empire. Maybe I can change things even more for my people if I do something to KIRK."

 

[Kchunda]

^
Perhaps...sort of a "HMMMMM. Didn't realize THAT connection between Kirk and my empire. Maybe I can change things even more for my people if I do something to KIRK."

I wonder if he'll make that connection in #3 now that he's seen the destruction of his homeworld.

 

[Augustus]

Which connection is THAT connection? Sorry I didn't read the comic.

 

[Kchunda]

^ We don't really know "THAT" connection, but probably in the realm of:

"Jim Kirk + Balance of Terror + Enterprise Incident = sucks for us"

I'm still trying to figure out how no Jim Kirk could result in something positive for him personally. . .

 

[EyalM]

^ We don't really know "THAT" connection, but probably in the realm of:

"Jim Kirk + Balance of Terror + Enterprise Incident = sucks for us"

I'm still trying to figure out how no Jim Kirk could result in something positive for him personally. . .

Nero's motivation doesn't seem to be one of "Bring glory to the empire!!!" (like a certain Shinzon...).
It will probably be one of two: either preventing the destruction of Romulus, or revenge. Or it could be both.
This does raise another question: Why would Nero want to destroy Vulcan in the 23rd century? Wouldn't that assure the destruction of Romulus?