3) Why does Nero seem to think destroying Vulcan is going to stop Romulus from being destroyed, when Vulcan in fact seemed to hold the only hope to save it, but Spock just was too late?
I don't think that Nero thought destroying Vulcan would save his world. he still had well over 100 years to destroy the star that would go nova, and he had the technology to do it, he was just mad with anger. Even if he saves Romulus, it's still not "his world". His family, friends, and people died, and he wanted revenge for that failure.
Just got back from seeing it a second time-- by the time I scroll through 172 posts I may forget but--
1) Yes, as a woman it very much bothered me that with only 2 women in the main credits, one seems to get all her scenes cut-- and then gets killed. So it seems like the boys club only alows one woman to play in it.
I admit I was shocked that they hired Winona Ryder to speak about five lines. The lack of women, however, seemed to be locked in from the dramatis personae they inherited. I mean, Star Trek had three female characters, and only one, even in theory, wasn't in an extremely subordinated role.
From what I've read, there was
a lot of stuff cut from the movie that was Amanda and Sarek related, so it's not quite like they hired her for five lines.
My Nitpicks:
1) By the year that the Romulus star exploded, Spock would have been over 150+ years old. Even though Vulcans have a longer lifespan than humans, why send an obviously elderly man, without any backup to stop a star from going Supernova, and then get pissed because he failed? Based on Nero's accounts, it clear that the Romulan Empire did little to evacuate Romulus, nor did they send any additional ships to prevent the Supernova other than Spock's ship (thus adopting the Federation's dismal "one ship to save us" policy). Wouldn't this be like sending Angela Landsbury on a mission to save Earth by herself?
According to the
Countdown series (so stop reading this particular response if you don't want it spoiled), Spock volunteered. He felt that he was near the end of his life, and that he was responsible for not getting anyone to take action in time to save Romulus, so he volunteered for what ran the risk of being a suicide mission.
2) Instead of waiting around for 25 years for Spock, why didn't Nero head to Romulus and try to prevent the Supernova from ever happening? It is doubtful that the Supernova issue was just building up in the last few years, and that it had been buliding for a while (centuries/millenia), even though it was just recently detected in the 24th century. Since Nero's ship was so advanced, he could have disabled any Romulan opposition that he may have encountered and at least try to force the 23rd century Romulans to implement a system/solution to prevent it from happening. Clearly Nero was not worried about polluting the timeline, so why not pollute it to save Romulus? How in Nero's mind was the Federation responsible for the Supernova?
A couple things to keep in mind on this point. First, we don't know that he didn't already go destroy the star in question. It was never specifically established one way or the other. Second, according to the
Countdown series again, they knew about th star going nova for a while, they just didn't realise how big and dangerous it would be. Third, there's the cut Rura Penthe story line. If the Narada can defeat 45 Klingon vessels, then there is no reason she should have been caught... unless the Klingons caught them right after the Kelvin smashed into them and probably crippled them temporarily. And, since they said that he 45 ships were destroyed near the "klingon prison planet", it's safe to assume that they had just gotten out of the prison.
3) Was Nero aware that he was in an alternate timeline? The dialog that he had when he was fighting nuKirk seems to indicate that he at least perceived that this "Kirk" was different than TOS Kirk. So, if he knew this, why did he think that by changing or interfering with the alternate timeline that it would help Romulus escape its fate?
Since he Ceti eeled Pike, he probably learned about the differences between his reality and the one they were in that way.
Many things in this movie were like that. Oooh, billions of people died. Well, whatever, on to the next action sequence. You were never really given the time and space to feel what was happening.
No, of course not.
There was only the 'I'm now part of an endangered species' log entry and the turbolift-scene with Spock and Uhura.
The Enterprise flyby shot alone seemed to dismiss the whole sequence. It just felt conspicuously out of place, and likely no amount of Spock/Uhura turbolift brooding would have brought it back for me.
I would have preferred no flyby. Vulcan collapses. A moment of silence, perhaps a sorrowful music cue. Mouths agape on the bridge, like "holy shit, did that just happen!?". Then pause, take a breath. Then Spock heads for the lift, Uhura follows.
Was a flyby necessary to see? Probably not, but they were in "standard orbit" of a planet that just turned into a black hole. Considering they sat there well past what one officer said was too late to escape, I doubt they would have much time to sit there gaping at the screen.
