If they did what you described, how many people would've walked out thinking "Why didn't they just make Kirk captain? We know he's going to become captain next movie anyway."
Why add in the extra step?
Pathetic Showing for Starfleet
- Thread starter Vader47000
- Start date
Why add in the extra step?
Nope, its a couple thousand years old
Never read it
not really but to be blunt, my expectations for Star Wars are pretty low
I honestly don't remember anything that didnt make sense in TVH.
I will say this though. There has been 40 years of Trek. In my opinion, Trek should be improving on itself. That means FEWER plot holes as the franchise goes on. Tighter scripts, better writing, etc. It certainly doesn't happen this way but the expectation is still there and as a consumer, why shouldn't i expect a better product.
Like I mentioned before, the movie was good. Great actually, even with its flaws. Abrams and co have now set the bar and in the future I expect even bigger and better things, and one of the things I expected is a tighter plot
I can see your argument about improvement, but this improved SO MANY things already (I think most of these characters are better than the originals, plus the effects and style) that it seems a bit churlish to complain that it also wasn't more plausible than all the rest of the movies. Seems like setting one's standards a bit high.
Well that's simple, because its less contrived. It also cheapens the whole being a captain thing. Being the captain of a starship is something that should be a major accomplishment. Something that should take years of training and experience.
We don't know what entering starfleet is like because we go from the shuttle ride directly to three years later. Also Kirk obviously has aptitude tests on file with the federation since Pike mentions he looked them up.
Sending cadets to vulcan wasn't that big a deal because at that point it was just a seismic and spacial anomaly. Pike seemed pretty blase about the whole thing. It was probably seen as a relatively easy test for the new recruits while the fleet was doing something considered more important.
Sending cadets to vulcan wasn't that big a deal because at that point it was just a seismic and spacial anomaly. Pike seemed pretty blase about the whole thing. It was probably seen as a relatively easy test for the new recruits while the fleet was doing something considered more important.
Thats why I dont really feel as if its THAT big of a deal. I'm still going to point out a flaw though if I see it. After all, who knows, maybe Orci, Abrams, and Co are scouring this very site and seeing what the fans think. Maybe they'll read my post and be like "yeah, we can fix that next time" Its unlikely as hell but stranger things have happened. Besides, I wouldnt be a trek fan if I wasn't nitpicking
In the US at least, the Navy is considered one arm of the military as is the Army, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard (well, sort of)
Except they aren't just re-telling the myth. They're trying to abide by the rules of the old myth while at the same time ignoring them.
Thus, by specifically stating these are events that are alternate to the myth we already know, they distanced themselves from that myth. No matter how you try to parse it, these are NOT the fantastic heroes that mean so much to the world. And never can be.
The altered timeline stories are fun for an episode or two, but they have to get back to the real timeline to be OUR characters.
Had they just done a straight reimagining, it would be more like what you are describing.
Well, personally, the whole advancement thing from cadets to officers is just another example of how Starfleet is different from today's navies. Despite many similarities, it's doesn't do things the exact same way, IMO.
But on the other hand, the Starfleet in this movie seems more like the Old British Navy in regards to midshipmen becoming officers, dunno...
But on the other hand, the Starfleet in this movie seems more like the Old British Navy in regards to midshipmen becoming officers, dunno...
Who said he didn't take them? He apparently took SOME test because his aptitude was off the charts. Who is to say he didn't take more tests afterwards...they fast forwarded after that to when he was actually IN the Academy.
RAMA
As opposed to: "Oh the Enterprise is the only ship in the quadrant" again from the other movies. I think the idea they they managed to get that many starships off to an emergency situation during an apparent conflcit is pretty good.
Load up the kids? Um did you see STII, the formerly best movie of the franchise????? They had a trainee crew. Enough said.
RAMA
I'm not sure this promotion is a common thing. Apparently Pike was able to promote him in a crisis situation and because of extreme circumstances, he wound up the captain early. It may have been Pike's prerogative to do so, and it was because he knew him and his capabilities.
RAMA
The situation doesn't match up exactly, though. In TWOK, the Enterprise wasn't being sent into a conflict deliberately. They just happened into one with a revenge-crazed bad guy who had a skewed impression of events.
In Star Trek, they happen into a revenge-crazed bad guy who had a skewed impression of events deliberately, but they don't really know that quite yet.
You're talking about 2 different things. One is Kirk filling in the position of captain because the boss is incapacitated. Another is receiving the rank of captain. One doesn't equal the other and once the Enterprise returned home (if this was a reality) another officer with more experience would be assigned to the spot while kirk would probably receive a commendation/medal and have a very nice entry into his record. Again, I get the fact that he did great on exams. it stretches credibility however that someone with such little experience would be put in charge of 800 plus lives. This seems even more unlikely when you consider the two other starfleet captains we saw at least appeared considerably older than Kirk. It makes the whole thing feel contrived, forced, and unnatural
I still want to know what was going on in the Laurentian system...
Well this isn't 20th century military. We know Starfleet has some ties to naval tradition but its also not completely military. Pike even mentions this in the film. Still, impressive performance AS a captain in a military emergency may lead to a promotion to captain in this Starfleet.
It also occurred to me there have been captains in their 20s in the US navy.
RAMA
But the flagship of Starfleet and the Federation? And without holding any real rank beyond that of cadet?
Sounds like a BS excuse for poor writing to me. Whether it is completely military or not, they put a 25 year old in charge of hundreds of lives and the bigggest baddist ship they had.
It would certainly put him on the fast track i suppose but to jump 6 ranks? Really? If were talking about him just being placed in the position of captain I guess that would make more sense but still we are talking about the flagship of the fleet. They essentially made someone who by all rights should be an ensign the captain of the flagship of the fleet. That is the definition of forced.
Perhaps, but as people live longer lives things like that get rarer and rarer. When was the lat time you've seen an 18 year old general like Alexander the Great. its pretty damn rare. In the future when people live to be 100+ years old the chances of someone being a 20 year old captain seem less likely. On top of that the distinction needs to be made between Captain the rank and captain the position. Which are you refering to?
I did not say TOS hadn't done it, I disagreed with your own point that this film was the closest to that since.
As for Spock/Uhura, there were two obvious scenes of their romance. The first was so out of place that it drew laughs from a crowd of Star Trek fans moments after Vulcan blew up. The second drew laughs at the worst line of the film ("I'll be monitoring your frequency"). It doesn't take much to beat C/7, but this was almost as bad.
