If Countdown were Canon

[Satyrquaze]

I liked Countdown, particulary the shaved-head/tattoo backstory...

Unfortunately that backstory is contradicted in the movie itself. The comic stated that the crew shaved their heads and got the tattoos as a symbol of mourning after Romulus was destroyed. However, in the movie it is clearly shown that Nero's wife was tattooed as well, so obviously the tatooing doesn't mean what the comic writers thought it meant. Also, Nero's female crewmembers still had their hair, so either the head-shaving thing also was wrong, or the females just didn't participate. Furthermore, didn't the Jellyfish and the Narada get sucked into the past pretty much right after Romulus was destroyed and Spock fired the red matter into the supernova? When would Nero's crew have had time to shave their heads and get tattoos?

Nero's wife could have been mourning anything at all... for all we know one of her parents had died weeks before that image was filmed.

 

[Satyrquaze]

A childhood that gets raped is usually asking for it in some way.
I mean, look at what it was wearing.

Leave Transformers out of this.

 

[M'Sharak]

I liked Countdown, particulary the shaved-head/tattoo backstory...

Unfortunately that backstory is contradicted in the movie itself. The comic stated that the crew shaved their heads and got the tattoos as a symbol of mourning after Romulus was destroyed. However, in the movie it is clearly shown that Nero's wife was tattooed as well, so obviously the tatooing doesn't mean what the comic writers thought it meant. Also, Nero's female crewmembers still had their hair, so either the head-shaving thing also was wrong, or the females just didn't participate. Furthermore, didn't the Jellyfish and the Narada get sucked into the past pretty much right after Romulus was destroyed and Spock fired the red matter into the supernova? When would Nero's crew have had time to shave their heads and get tattoos?

Nero's wife could have been mourning anything at all... for all we know one of her parents had died weeks before that image was filmed.

Or, perhaps, she isn't actually tattooed at all.

Quoting from another thread, almost one year ago:

She doesn't have tattoos. The lines were an effect of the hologram. Spock's head in the scene with Cpt. Robau has them, too.

You're right; the lines are more like an optical interference pattern or other imaging artifact, and even more pronounced on the Spock hologram.

 

[BillJ]

Unfortunately that backstory is contradicted in the movie itself. The comic stated that the crew shaved their heads and got the tattoos as a symbol of mourning after Romulus was destroyed. However, in the movie it is clearly shown that Nero's wife was tattooed as well, so obviously the tatooing doesn't mean what the comic writers thought it meant. Also, Nero's female crewmembers still had their hair, so either the head-shaving thing also was wrong, or the females just didn't participate. Furthermore, didn't the Jellyfish and the Narada get sucked into the past pretty much right after Romulus was destroyed and Spock fired the red matter into the supernova? When would Nero's crew have had time to shave their heads and get tattoos?

Nero's wife could have been mourning anything at all... for all we know one of her parents had died weeks before that image was filmed.

Or, perhaps, she isn't actually tattooed at all.

Quoting from another thread, almost one year ago:

She doesn't have tattoos. The lines were an effect of the hologram. Spock's head in the scene with Cpt. Robau has them, too.

You're right; the lines are more like an optical interference pattern or other imaging artifact, and even more pronounced on the Spock hologram.

I don't agree. There is definitely a dark mark going from left to right with a defined shape in both screenshots. It seems to move with her head which would indicate that it is some type of make-up, not an optical interference pattern (which is also there going diagonally).

 

[OneBuckFilms]

Nero's wife could have been mourning anything at all... for all we know one of her parents had died weeks before that image was filmed.

Or, perhaps, she isn't actually tattooed at all.

Quoting from another thread, almost one year ago:

You're right; the lines are more like an optical interference pattern or other imaging artifact, and even more pronounced on the Spock hologram.

I don't agree. There is definitely a dark mark going from left to right with a defined shape in both screenshots. It seems to move with her head which would indicate that it is some type of make-up, not an optical interference pattern (which is also there going diagonally).

You mean the shadow of her forehead?

 

[BillJ]

Or, perhaps, she isn't actually tattooed at all.

Quoting from another thread, almost one year ago:

​

I don't agree. There is definitely a dark mark going from left to right with a defined shape in both screenshots. It seems to move with her head which would indicate that it is some type of make-up, not an optical interference pattern (which is also there going diagonally).

You mean the shadow of her forehead?

C'mon, that's not a shadow. What exactly would be casting a shadow that looks suspiciously like the markings that Nero and his goons are sporting? It's easier to buy that she was simply in mourning.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There was a comic?

I just had a good time at the movies.

 

[BillJ]

Personally, I don't have a horse in this race. Plus it only represents an issue if you read Countdown, which only sold like 11,000 copies per issue.

 

[SonicRanger]

Why, IDW? Why have you done this to my Star Trek?

Its not really YOUR "Star Trek". Its just Star Trek.

Star Trek likes you very much, but it is not the hell your Star Trek.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^C'mon! Nero merged with V'Ger! Why didn't V'Ger absorb Nero, Ayel and the Narada? Nero's rage. That's right, he hated Spock so much that V'Ger didn't want to digitize him.
I'm just about the most laid back Trekkie you'll find, but...

Personally, I don't have a horse in this race. Plus it only represents an issue if you read Countdown, which only sold like 11,000 copies per issue.

That doesn't include the TPB sales, which is where IDW make all their money.

 

[BillJ]

^C'mon! Nero merged with V'Ger! Why didn't V'Ger absorb Nero, Ayel and the Narada? Nero's rage. That's right, he hated Spock so much that V'Ger didn't want to digitize him.
I'm just about the most laid back Trekkie you'll find, but...

Personally, I don't have a horse in this race. Plus it only represents an issue if you read Countdown, which only sold like 11,000 copies per issue.

That doesn't include the TPB sales, which is where IDW make all their money.

I wonder how many they sold? The one copy at my local bookstore has an inch of dust on it.

 

[OneBuckFilms]

I don't agree. There is definitely a dark mark going from left to right with a defined shape in both screenshots. It seems to move with her head which would indicate that it is some type of make-up, not an optical interference pattern (which is also there going diagonally).

You mean the shadow of her forehead?

C'mon, that's not a shadow. What exactly would be casting a shadow that looks suspiciously like the markings that Nero and his goons are sporting? It's easier to buy that she was simply in mourning.

Lighting was from above and in front of her (roughly). Hair and forehead casting a shadow. High contrast image generally exaggerates shadows in this way.

I don't see anything defined enough in relation to other details that resemble a tattoo.

 

[SheliakBob]

For what it's worth (and I doubt that even amounts to a full $.02)--I rather liked Countdown. A lot of things in the Abomination make more sense to me with it.
I liked Data (or the close facsimile thereof) as captain of the Enterprise and Picard as Ambassador to Vulcan seemed perfectly in character.
The Borg-Tech thing made the Narada more palatable for me (as to why it looks nothing like anything even remotely identifiable as "Romulan" in the past)--and the persnickety behavior of the Vulcans rather nicely dove-tailed with Nero's destruction of their planet.

So. Yeah. Liked Countdown. Liked most of Nero. Hated the movie, but I'm still trying to find a way to live with it.

 

[aelius]

It depends how much you sweat the details - TV and film Trek is rife with little and large contradictions, retcons and mistakes. Why hold the tie-ins to a higher standard?

I know that, but I'm not really buying that, though. This comic was created at the same time that the movie was, its purpose being a prequel of the film's events. It's not like a prequel show made in the 2000's that contradicts a show from the '60s. This was just sloppy supposition; that, or the writers and artists hadn't actually seen the film before creating the backstory, which is also sloppy.

Besides, in the case of the female Romulan with dreads, there's nothing to say Nero forced his whole crew to do it.

Why would Nero force anyone to do it? And why would the females NOT do it, if it was supposed to be a symbol of greiving that they just lost their entire planet?

Actually I just watched the Commentary version a couple of nights ago. They were apparently editing the mind meld sequence right up to the last minute before release. They said they decided on a very vague and trippy kind of meld which fuzzed the details. So its not so much sloppy writing of the comic, but the story continuing to morph even after the comic was written.
The comic came out before the release, edits continued even after some of the prescreenings.

 

[JediKnightButler]

I just finished reading Countdown today and thought that it was pretty good. I was surprised at the fates of the various ST:TNG characters and thought that they had actually killed off Worf. I was also surprised that "Data" was not only brought back to life but serving as Captain of the Enterprise. When did the events of Countdown take place relative to Nemesis?

 

[BillJ]

I think Nemesis takes place in roughly 2379, the 24th century part of Star Trek 2009 takes place in 2387. So there is about an eight year difference.

 

[Therin of Andor]

When did the events of Countdown take place relative to Nemesis?

IIRC, there was a word balloon typo in the single issue #1 that was corrected for the omnibus reprint, so you may see several attempts at dating the gap.