Is Olson responsible for... (SPOILERS)

[TheMadCloner]

...the destruction of Vulcan?

We don't know how powerful the charges he was carrying were, but is it conceivable that they could have been destructive enough to eliminate the drilling and red matter-deploying abilities of the drill/ship beyond repair? In other words, could they have prevented Nero from completing the final task? I don't quite remember the exact sequence of events, but IIRC the red matter wasn't explicitly deployed until after the fight sequence on the drill.

Seriously, the guy was a douchebag though. Kirk is reckless, but he isn't selfish. Olson just wanted the thrill of waiting as long as humanly possible before pulling his chute and he almost cost them the entire mission (and possibly did cost them billions of lives).

 

[nx1701g]

The drilling platform was destroyed but Ayel informed Nero that they had already penetrated the core by that time.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

The way I understand it they accomplished what the explosives would accomplish with the weapons.

 

[MvRojo]

Maybe. If he wasn't such a dumbass, the three of them could have easily taken two Romulans and probably set off the charges sooner. Whether that lost time would have made the difference is unknowable.

 

[TheMadCloner]

The way I understand it they accomplished what the explosives would accomplish with the weapons.

I think the charges would have actually damaged the drill beyond repair. If the Narada needed to use the drill to deploy the red-matter, I don't think they would have been able to do it. Similarly, it would have made the whole confrontation at Earth unnecessary (although that would likely cause a whole bunch of other mostly negative events to occur, such as Kirk not meeting Spock Prime).

 

[TheMadCloner]

Maybe. If he wasn't such a dumbass, the three of them could have easily taken two Romulans and probably set off the charges sooner. Whether that lost time would have made the difference is unknowable.

I was going to bring this up too, although knowing Olson, he might have accidentally walked onto one of the energy vents.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

The way I understand it they accomplished what the explosives would accomplish with the weapons.

I think the charges would have actually damaged the drill beyond repair. If the Narada needed to use the drill to deploy the red-matter, I don't think they would have been able to do it. Similarly, it would have made the whole confrontation at Earth unnecessary (although that would likely cause a whole bunch of other mostly negative events to occur, such as Kirk not meeting Spock Prime).

What I am getting at is that I believe the intention was the only thing that changed by Olson getting incinerated was that he died and Kirk and Sulu improvising with the weapons achieved the exact same result as would have been achieved with the explosives. To me, that whole thing was just an homage to the Red Shirt phenomenon of TOS.