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[Spoilers] Seriously flawed plotline

...Then how do you explain the "Buckle up!" scene, where Kirk is wearing Captain's stripes on his sleeve? How could he possibly get there that quick, when he's only a Cadet (if that) for most of the film?
Yeah!...

...And how in the world did he age so fast. At the beginning of the film he's 12 years old, then two hours later he's the Captain?? Give me a break -- 12-year olds can't become 31-year old Captains in 2 hours. That's impossible!

and don't even get me started on newborn baby Spock.

The difference is, those are *confirmed* time jumps. We already know they occur - just from watching the preview. That's different from ones that we think *should* occur (or that we hope will do so).
 
To me the universe itself is a character and should be treated with as much respect as any other character. It seems what we're getting is a Star Trek universe that has veered off into Star Wars territory...

Fine, let's just not have any more bloody "Star Trek," period. Okay?

I don't mind some "Star Wars" territory being explored. I'm just one of those fans who doesn't want the entire movie to seem like an ILM jackoff session where the explosions and action overwhelm the human characters we've come to love over 40+ years.
 
...Then how do you explain the "Buckle up!" scene, where Kirk is wearing Captain's stripes on his sleeve? How could he possibly get there that quick, when he's only a Cadet (if that) for most of the film?
Yeah!...

...And how in the world did he age so fast. At the beginning of the film he's 12 years old, then two hours later he's the Captain?? Give me a break -- 12-year olds can't become 31-year old Captains in 2 hours. That's impossible!

and don't even get me started on newborn baby Spock.

The difference is, those are *confirmed* time jumps. We already know they occur - just from watching the preview. That's different from ones that we think *should* occur (or that we hope will do so).

Right.
And until we learn that the time jumps you were talking about (Cadet to Full Captain) do NOT occur, I will not be concerned about it.
 
To me the universe itself is a character and should be treated with as much respect as any other character. It seems what we're getting is a Star Trek universe that has veered off into Star Wars territory...

Fine, let's just not have any more bloody "Star Trek," period. Okay?

I don't mind some "Star Wars" territory being explored. I'm just one of those fans who doesn't want the entire movie to seem like an ILM jackoff session where the explosions and action overwhelm the human characters we've come to love over 40+ years.


I'm pretty sure there are no worries there, if anything just from what JJ and the writers (not to mention Nimoy) have said about why they've chosen to do certain things this is all about the human aspect of the characters.


Sharr
 
I don't mind some "Star Wars" territory being explored. I'm just one of those fans who doesn't want the entire movie to seem like an ILM jackoff session...

I seem to recall Nimoy boasting about the "Star Wars Bar" scene in ST III, where McCoy is arrested for trying to buy a trip to Genesis. The scene was meant to be a homage to a Lucas-style cantina, with funky aliens, and everyone seemed rather chuffed by it.
 
From what we now know, Kirk is a cadet when he sneaks onboard the Enterprise. Then, when Pike goes off-ship to deal with an emergency, Spock is placed in command and Pike makes Kirk the First Officer under Spock. This is despite the fact that Scotty, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu and a hundred other officers are onboard. An insubordinant and almost criminal cadet is promoted to First Officer ... and then, having been goaded by future Spock, Kirk provokes young Spock into losing his emotional cool, at which point he assumes command of the Enterprise, once again without hundreds of other officers objecting to this jump in the chain of command.

If this were some generic sci-fi movie shown on a Sunday afternoon on the Sci-Fi Channel, I could ignore that incredibly poorly thought out and illogical (yes, I'm opening up space for Spock jokes) plot and then make fun of it on here the next day ... but this is Star Trek! Forgetting that the characters and ship already have a well-defined history that's being rewritten, it's supposed to be, well, you know, good. And not totally illogical and unbelievable.

Yes, I'll still be first in line to see the movie, yes, I'm still a Star Trek fan, but come on, couldn't they have done better than this to reboot the franchise? Poor poor poor writing.

Why are we assuming that Kirk is actually a cadet at this stage of the film? Couldn't he be disguised as a cadet and be sneaking aboard the Enterprise because it is going to Vulcan to face the baddie that killed daddy? I think that is more plausible than Kirk the cadet coming on board and being left in charge with Spock.

Am I missing something?
 
To me the universe itself is a character and should be treated with as much respect as any other character. It seems what we're getting is a Star Trek universe that has veered off into Star Wars territory...

Fine, let's just not have any more bloody "Star Trek," period. Okay?

I don't mind some "Star Wars" territory being explored. I'm just one of those fans who doesn't want the entire movie to seem like an ILM jackoff session where the explosions and action overwhelm the human characters we've come to love over 40+ years.

Well, we haven't seen those characters for about fifteen years - and they were really old, then.
 
I think the only reason the plotline seems to have 'holes' is because we don't know the entire plot of the movie.

Let's not nitpick the plot to death before we're even sure what it is.
 
Why are we assuming that Kirk is actually a cadet at this stage of the film?

Because he is dressed as one. Why assume anything else?

Couldn't he be disguised as a cadet and be sneaking aboard the Enterprise
Why would he need to do that?

Because a commander showing up, unassigned, on the Enterprise is more conspicuous than a cadet.
Hell, I don't know, but I just don't believe that Kirk would be a cadet. Even with all the timeline bullshit. It just seems too much of a change to believably pull off. If he is trying to get on the ship unnoticed, doing so in a cadet uniform would help.

But maybe he's a cadet, and whatever. If it works in the context of the story and the character, fine. But it might be tough to pull off.
 
Is it me or was there a picture of Bana with hacked off ears? either by him or someone else - Romulans or Klingons. I think he is a peaceful Romulan who went back in time to do good but slowly turned evil. And he wants to destroy Vulcan for being prejudice and rejecting him so there is a good story there somewhere. Too bad I had a similar story floating around Hollywood for a while. Where he is a Romulan peace Ambassador, mine was a Klingon peace Ambassabor - Khitomer. Man they owe me alot of money. Oh well.
 
Because a commander showing up, unassigned, on the Enterprise is more conspicuous than a cadet.
Hell, I don't know, but I just don't believe that Kirk would be a cadet. Even with all the timeline bullshit. It just seems too much of a change to believably pull off. If he is trying to get on the ship unnoticed, doing so in a cadet uniform would help.

Unnoticed? By whom? Nero? I doubt that, since Nero doesn't care what rank Kirk is - Nero just wants Kirk dead.
 
Why are we assuming that Kirk is actually a cadet at this stage of the film?

Because he is dressed as one. Why assume anything else?

Couldn't he be disguised as a cadet and be sneaking aboard the Enterprise
Why would he need to do that?

Because a commander showing up, unassigned, on the Enterprise is more conspicuous than a cadet.
Hell, I don't know, but I just don't believe that Kirk would be a cadet. Even with all the timeline bullshit. It just seems too much of a change to believably pull off. If he is trying to get on the ship unnoticed, doing so in a cadet uniform would help.

But maybe he's a cadet, and whatever. If it works in the context of the story and the character, fine. But it might be tough to pull off.
We don't know for sure that cadets dress in black shirts. In fact, I thought cadets wore those red pants and red tunic.

Anyway, perhaps (just perhaps -- all I can do is make wild guesses) the we saw Kirk in the black shirt is a Lieutenant Commander and Starfleet Academy Instructor, with black being the color worn by instructors. Perhaps Kirk was assigned to be an instructor at the academy after the Farragut incident, and now must prove to himself that he can lead again.

This would fit in with what we learned on TOS, but of course, none of this matches the rumored plot that we have been hearing about -- so my theory is probably a bunch of hogwash. ;)
 
We don't know for sure that cadets dress in black shirts.

Didn't Abrams (or perhaps Orci and/or Kurtzman) specifically say that they do?

In fact, I thought cadets wore those red pants and red tunic.

I always thought those were full-dress formal uniforms, not normal duty wear.

Anyway, perhaps (just perhaps -- all I can do is make wild guesses) the we saw Kirk in the black shirt is a Lieutenant Commander and Starfleet Academy Instructor, with black being the color worn by instructors. Perhaps Kirk was assigned to be an instructor at the academy after the Farragut incident, and now must prove to himself that he can lead again.

This would fit in with what we learned on TOS, but of course, none of this matches the rumored plot that we have been hearing about -- so my theory is probably a bunch of hogwash. ;)

It would make a lot more sense if that were the case. Jumping from Lieutenant Commander to Captain would be a lot less weird than going from *Cadet* to Captain.

(FWIW, though, Kirk's time as an Academy instructor was when he was a Lieutenant. Quote Gary Mitchell: "Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk! In his class, you either think or sink!")
 
In fact, I thought cadets wore those red pants and red tunic.
I always thought those were full-dress formal uniforms, not normal duty wear.

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

(FWIW, though, Kirk's time as an Academy instructor was when he was a Lieutenant. Quote Gary Mitchell: "Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk! In his class, you either think or sink!")

True.

Perhaps when Gary was a Cadet, Kirk was a Lieutenant, but then he was later promoted to Lt. Cmdr. while still teaching at the Academy (maybe he was an exceptionally good teacher who deserved a promotion.)
 
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im shocked how many people seem to already have seen that movie.

We have seen the previews.
And have been wildly leaping to conclusions ever since, based upon incomplete evidence.

A couple of passing cracks by a showbiz journalist in Entertainment Weekly about the black shirt --
"respectable black — space-cadet colors in Abrams' Trekverse"
and
"James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), the hotheaded, horndog hero of Star Trek, is still a fresh-faced space cadet."
Yeesh. :rolleyes:

-- and a fraction of a second's glimpse of Kirk wearing captain's stripes spawned thread after thread about his near-instantaneous rise from Cadet to command.


Thanks again for dusting that one off, by the way -- I don't know how we managed to get by for more than a month without it. :vulcan:
 
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