Star Trek Into Darkness: Point by Point [SPOILERS]

[Enterpriserules]

I originally posted this at my own blog 42lifeinbetween.wordpress.com and thought it might be helpful.

I have noticed online and in podcasts there are a lot of questions as to who knows what, when in the new Star Trek film. I have written out, chronologically, each point taken from the film to help anyone further understand the plot, motivations, and actions of the characters. It helps that I have seen the movie 3 times so far (seeing it again Friday). If I have missed anything major, comment and let me know. Enjoy.

• The Botany Bay is found by Starfleet in the vast reaches of space.
  
• Admiral Marcus, the head of Starfleet, awakens Khan to have him assist Section 31 in the secret creation of ships and weapons, preparing for whichever enemy the Federation may face next. The John Harrison alias is created to conceal Khan’s identity.
  
• Harrison bides his time, working for Marcus. He designs new long range torpedoes, inside of which he smuggles his crew; hoping to be able to escape and then begin taking over the galaxy.
  
• Admiral Marcus finds out that Harrison has hidden his crew in the torpedoes and to save his own life, he must abandon his crew and hide from Starfleet intelligence.
  
• Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew is on a surveying mission. A volcano is going to destroy the planet and, in the process, a primitive society. Spock has created a cold fusion device that, when detonated, will render the volcano inert. As Spock lowers into the volcano, Kirk has stolen an item the primitives worship in order to lead them out of the volcano’s kill zone. He and Bones escape by jumping off a cliff into the sea where the Enterprise is hidden. Spock has been abandoned by Sulu and Uhura because the shuttlecraft they are in has been disabled by the volcano's ash. Spock sets the device to go off and Kirk rescues Spock, an action that violates the Prime Directive since the natives see the Enterprise rise out of the ocean on its way to save Spock.
  
• Thinking that his crew has been killed, Harrison convinces a desperate Section 31 officer, whose daughter is dying of an incurable disease, to bomb a secret Section 31 base in London. In return, Harrison gives the officer a cure for the dying girl.
  
• Kirk has the Enterprise taken away from him, because of his hubris. Pike is given back the Enterprise and fights to have Kirk made his first officer.
  
• The bombing puts Starfleet on high alert and protocol requires that all senior staff, captains and first officers of Starfleet’s closest ships, meet at Starfleet HQ.
  
• Harrison, knowing this procedure, attacks the briefing in an attempt to detonate Starfleet and all that it stands for, as well as hoping to kill Admiral Marcus.
  
• Harrison is stopped by Kirk before he can complete the mission, but not before he kills several Starfleet officers, including Pike. He transports to Kronos, the Klingon home world, to the Kentha province, which is uninhabited, believing he is out of Starfleet’s reach.
  
• Kirk, Scotty and Spock find that Harrison is not on Earth anymore but on Kronos.
  
• Admiral Marcus says that he does not want Kirk to go capture Harrison; instead, he gives Kirk 72 torpedoes that only Marcus knows contains Harrison’s crew. Once these are shot at Harrison from the Neutral Zone, two of Marcus’ problems will be eliminated in one fell swoop. Kirk is given back the Enterprise.
  
• Carol Marcus forges orders to get herself transferred to the Enterprise. She is a weapons expert and the daughter of the Admiral. She knows he is up to no good since all records of the torpedoes disappeared after she confronted her father about them and now they have resurfaced on the Enterprise.
  
• Unbeknownst to the Enterprise crew, Admiral Marcus has the warp core sabotaged. This will strand the Enterprise in Klingon space, where Admiral Marcus will attack it with his new Super Battle Starship the Vengeance and cement the war he wants to create with the Klingons. (He does this because he sees war as inevitable and he wishes to save the Federation way of life)
  
• Kirk, listening to the advice of Spock and Scotty (especially after Scotty leaves the Enterprise to protest the torpedoes that he is not allowed to inspect and therefore finds too dangerous to use) travels to Kronos to capture Harrison, instead of using the torpedoes to destroy him without standing trial.
  
• Kirk has Sulu threaten Harrison with obliteration by the torpedoes if he does not come quietly with the landing party.
  
• Harrison, hearing Sulu’s message, realizes that his crew may yet still be alive so he helps Kirk and company destroy the attacking Klingons. He then asks how many torpedoes Kirk has. At hearing the correct number and knowing they are the same torpedoes that harbor his crew, he surrenders to Kirk, and bides his time till he can find a way to save them.
  
• Harrison, in the Enterprise brig, tells Kirk to open the torpedo so he, Kirk can see why he, Harrison did what he did. He gives Kirk a set of coordinates and tells him there is something there that will verify that he is telling the truth.
  
• Kirk contacts Scotty, who is on Earth, and asks him to search the coordinates Harrison has given him to see what is there.
  
• Kirk has Carol Marcus and Bones open the torpedo. They find a cryogenic tube harboring a 300 year old man.
  
• Kirk quizzes Harrison and finds out that he is Khan from a time long past who has been used by Admiral Marcus to create weapons for a coming war with the Klingons. Khan is also aware that the Enterprise has been sabotaged by Marcus. Khan knows what Marcus is planning: everyone's death and a war with the Klingons.
  
• Marcus shows up in the Vengeance. He tells Kirk that he made a mistake in waking (up) Khan and that he is only trying to rectify his mistake. He asks Kirk to give him Khan.
  
• Kirk, no longer trusting Marcus, warps to Earth in an attempt to escape and return Khan to face judgment. Kirk thinks that he will be safe at warp because Marcus will not be able to catch up. Carol Marcus is reminded by Khan that Kirk is not actually safe at warp because the Vengeance has a new, faster warp drive. Admiral Marcus will catch up and destroy the Enterprise.
  
• Carol believes that Admiral Marcus will not destroy the Enterprise with her aboard, so she has Kirk allow her to contact her father.
  
• At this point, both ships are near Earth’s moon because the Vengeance has knocked the Enterprise out of warp and heavily damaged it.
  
• Admiral Marcus proves to be the villain and transports Carol to the Vengeance so that he can finish off the Enterprise. He plans to tell Starfleet that Kirk went rogue and joined with Khan and he had no choice but to end them both by destroying the Enterprise.
  
• As the Vengeance powers up its weapons to level the final blow, it loses power.
  
• Scotty contacts Kirk and tells him that he has stowed away on the Vengeance and disabled the ship for 3 minutes.
  
• Kirk, knowing that they cannot destroy the Vengeance from the outside, asks Khan to space jump with him to the Vengeance so they can take it out from the inside (Kirk can only take minimal people and needs Khan knowledge of the ship and his physical prowess). The Vengeance has been created to be run by minimal crew and one person if needed.
  
• Scotty, Kirk, and Khan take over the Vengeance. Kirk, knowing he is being played by Khan, has instructed Scotty to stun Khan the moment they have taken over the bridge. Scotty does so but Khan, being genetically engineered, wakes up from the stun very quickly and disarms Scotty, beats up Kirk, breaks Carol’s leg, and kills Admiral Marcus with his bare hands.
  
• Khan contacts Spock and tells him to give him his crew, whom he still thinks are in the torpedoes, in exchange for Kirk, Scotty, and Carol.
  
• Spock agrees to this. Unbeknownst to Khan, Spock has removed Khan’s crew from the torpedoes and activated them (the torpedoes) so that they’ll blow up in the Vengeance’s cargo bay. This disables the weapons and major systems of the ship, but not before it’s knocked out the Enterprise’s warp core.
  
• Powerless, the Enterprise tumbles towards Earth because it is close enough to be caught in its gravity.
  
• Kirk and Scotty, who Khan has returned to the Enterprise, race towards engineering so (that) they can restart the warp core.
  
• When they get to engineering, they find that the warp core is out of alignment and the only way to fix it is for someone to readjust it from the inside, sentencing that person to death from radiation poisoning.
  
• Kirk knocks out Scotty and manages to save the Enterprise, but dies as Spock watches beyond the protective door.
  
• Khan use the last bit of power in the Vengeance to ram the ship into Starfleet HQ, located in San Francisco.
  
• Spock, realizing that Khan could survive the crash, has Sulu scan for lifesigns on the Vengeance and is then beamed down to Khan’s location.
  
• A mad chase through San Francisco ensues till they end up on top of a transport where Spock tries to subdue Khan.
  
• McCoy has Kirk in sickbay. As the crew visits his lifeless body, a dead Tribble that McCoy had earlier injected with Khan’s blood comes back to life. McCoy, realizing that Kirk can be saved, transfers Kirk to a cryotube to save his brain function. McCoy informs the bridge that Kirk can be saved if Khan is captured.
  
• Uhura beams down to the transport where Spock is being beaten by Khan. She repeatedly stuns Khan which gives Spock enough time to tear off a piece of the transport and finally knock Khan out.
  
• Kirk is saved and a year later the Enterprise is rechristened as it heads out on the first ever five year mission.

 

[ParticleMan]

The one question I have is did Admiral Marcus intend all along to take the Vengeance to the Enterprise in Klingon space...or did Marcus decide to go finish them off once Kirk had Uhura notify Starfleet that they had taken Khan into custody? I'm guessing that the Vengeance destroying the Enterprise was Plan B and the Klingons discovering it in their space (after having fired 72 torpedos at Qo'noS was Plan A, leading to war...

 

[Enterpriserules]

The one question I have is did Admiral Marcus intend all along to take the Vengeance to the Enterprise in Klingon space...or did Marcus decide to go finish them off once Kirk had Uhura notify Starfleet that they had taken Khan into custody? I'm guessing that the Vengeance destroying the Enterprise was Plan B and the Klingons discovering it in their space (after having fired 72 torpedos at Qo'noS was Plan A, leading to war...

This is a good point, I think it was always his plan, because he is the one who had the Enterprise's warp core sabotaged so that they would wipe out Khan, then Marcus comes in destroys the Enterprise, blames the Klingons and gets his war

 

[Norsehound]

I think Marcus going with the Vengeance was plan B. If all had gone according to plan A, Kirk would have used the Torpedoes, wiping out the supermen. But would have incurred the wrath of the Klingons and the Enterprise would be unable to escape the reprisal fleet, preemptively starting the war but with the Vengeance in a position of superiority.

When they comm'ed Starfleet to say they captured Harrison, Marcus realized he had to take matters into his own hands to ensure their destruction. This wouldn't net him war with the Klinks but that was coming inevitably.

 

[cbspock]

I assumed Marcus was planning on the Klingons finding Enterprise and destroying it, maybe he did decide to show up to make sure Enterprise never made it back to Earth.


-Chris

 

[Shilliam Watner]

I thought Khan kicked Carol in the stomach. That is what she was holding when she was being carried to sickbay.

 

[Borgminister]

Thereby killing Kirk's baby.

Seriously though, it was the leg I think. And no genitalia there!

 

[Enterpriserules]

This has been completely reworked and I think this is the true point by point. Enjoy.

The Botany Bay is found by Starfleet in the vast reaches of space.

Admiral Marcus, the head of Starfleet, awakens Khan to have him assist Section 31 in the secret creation of ships and weapons, preparing for whichever enemy the Federation may face next. The John Harrison alias is created to conceal Khan’s identity.

Harrison bides his time, working for Marcus. He designs new long range torpedoes, inside of which he smuggles his crew; hoping to be able to escape and then begin taking over the galaxy. Harrison may work with Marcus but he always has his own agenda throughout the film.

Admiral Marcus finds out that Harrison has hidden his crew in the torpedoes (This is where Harrison begins to go off the rails for Marcus, until then everything has been according to their plan. Harrison begins enact his own plans at this point while still following most of what Marcus and he had laid out.)

Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew is on a surveying mission. A volcano is going to destroy the planet and, in the process, a primitive society. Spock has created a cold fusion device that, when detonated, will render the volcano inert. As Spock lowers into the volcano, Kirk has stolen an item the primitives worship in order to lead them out of the volcano’s kill zone. He and Bones escape by jumping off a cliff into the sea where the Enterprise is hidden. Spock has been abandoned by Sulu and Uhura because the shuttlecraft they are in has been disabled by the volcano's ash. Spock sets the device to go off and Kirk rescues Spock, an action that violates the Prime Directive since the natives see the Enterprise rise out of the ocean on its way to save Spock.

Marcus wants a war with the Klingons, so he has Harrison attack London. Harrison convinces a desperate Section 31 officer, whose daughter is dying of an incurable disease, to bomb a secret Section 31 base in London. In return, Harrison gives the officer a cure for the dying girl. Harrison has himself identified as the main villain.

Harrison allows himself to be photographed leaving the scene of the crime.

Kirk has the Enterprise taken away from him, because of his hubris. Pike is given back the Enterprise and fights to have Kirk made his first officer. (Marcus convened the meeting that Pike could not be at, this is part of his plan.)

The bombing puts Starfleet on high alert and protocol requires that all senior staff, captains and first officers of Starfleet’s closest ships, meet at Starfleet HQ.

Harrison attacks Starfleet HQ because this leaves Marcus fully in charge of Starfleet (Khan’s ship was scanning people before shooting them so only the people Marcus wanted dead would be killed, like Pike, who would stand against Marcus in his warmongering. This is also the reason Kirk was busted down to first officer, Harrison was scanning and killing captains and other admirals. Those left would be the one’s Marcus though he could control).

Harrison beams to Kronos. This has been part of the plan all along; Harrison would seem to be in league with the Klingons and Marcus would get his war. Harrison is using Marcus and Marcus is using Harrison. For Harrison this gets his people away from Marcus and gives him a chance to save them. Harrison knows it will be the Enterprise that Marcus will send, he believes that Kirk will never use the torpedoes, but capture him alive. Harrison knows his enemy, he knows, deep down, Kirk is a good man, especially with Spock by his side.

Kirk, Scotty and Spock find that Harrison is not on Earth anymore but on Kronos because the are suppose too.

Admiral Marcus says that he does not want Kirk to go capture Harrison; instead, he gives Kirk 72 torpedoes that only Marcus knows contains Harrison’s crew. Once these are shot at Harrison from the Neutral Zone, two of Marcus’ problems will be eliminated in one fell swoop. Kirk is given back the Enterprise (thinking Kirk will be someone he can control easily now that Pike is dead. When Marcus says that Pike’s blood is on his hands he means literally).

Carol Marcus forges orders to get herself transferred to the Enterprise. She is a weapons expert and the daughter of the Admiral. She knows he is up to no good since all records of the torpedoes disappeared after she confronted her father about them and now they have resurfaced on the Enterprise.

Unbeknownst to the Enterprise crew, Admiral Marcus has the warp core sabotaged. This will strand the Enterprise in Klingon space, where Admiral Marcus will attack it with his new Super Battle Starship the Vengeance and cement the war he wants to create with the Klingons.

Kirk, listening to the advice of Spock and Scotty (especially after Scotty leaves the Enterprise to protest the torpedoes that he is not allowed to inspect and therefore finds too dangerous to use) travels to Kronos to capture Harrison, instead of using the torpedoes to destroy him without standing trial.

Kirk has Sulu threaten Harrison with obliteration by the torpedoes if he does not come quietly with the landing party.

Harrison, hearing Sulu’s message knows he has been right about Kirk and Spock, they will not use the torpedoes. He then asks how many torpedoes Kirk has. At hearing the correct number and knowing they are the same torpedoes that harbor his crew, he surrenders to Kirk, and bides his time till he can find a way to save them. He is playing Kirk the whole time.

Harrison, in the Enterprise brig, tells Kirk to open the torpedo so he, Kirk can see why he, Harrison did what he did. He gives Kirk a set of coordinates and tells him there is something there that will verify that he is telling the truth.

Kirk contacts Scotty, who is on Earth, and asks him to search the coordinates Harrison has given him to see what is there.

Kirk has Carol Marcus and Bones open the torpedo. They find a cryogenic tube harboring a 300 year old man.

Kirk quizzes Harrison and finds out that he is Khan from a time long past who has been used by Admiral Marcus to create weapons for a coming war with the Klingons. Khan is also aware that the Enterprise has been sabotaged by Marcus. Khan knows what Marcus is planning: everyone's death and a war with the Klingons. Again, this story is only half truths, Khan it playing Kirk to earn his trust.

Marcus shows up in the Vengeance. He tells Kirk that he made a mistake in waking up Khan and that he is only trying to rectify his mistake. He asks Kirk to give him Khan. Marcus even tells Kirk the truth that Khan is playing him.

Kirk, no longer trusting Marcus, warps to Earth in an attempt to escape and return Khan to face judgment. Kirk thinks that he will be safe at warp because Marcus will not be able to catch up. Carol Marcus is reminded by Khan that Kirk is not actually safe at warp because the Vengeance has a new, faster warp drive. Admiral Marcus will catch up and destroy the Enterprise.

Carol believes that Admiral Marcus will not destroy the Enterprise with her aboard, so she has Kirk allow her to contact her father.

At this point, both ships are near Earth’s moon because the Vengeance has knocked the Enterprise out of warp and heavily damaged it.

Admiral Marcus proves to be the villain and transports Carol to the Vengeance so that he can finish off the Enterprise. He plans to tell Starfleet that Kirk went rogue and joined with Khan and he had no choice but to end them both by destroying the Enterprise.

As the Vengeance powers up its weapons to level the final blow, it loses power.

Scotty contacts Kirk and tells him that he has stowed away on the Vengeance and disabled the ship for 3 minutes.

Kirk, knowing that they cannot destroy the Vengeance from the outside, asks Khan to space jump with him to the Vengeance so they can take it out from the inside (Kirk can only take minimal people and needs Khan knowledge of the ship and his physical prowess). The Vengeance has been created to be run by minimal crew and one person if needed. Khan now has the opening he has been planning for.

Scotty, Kirk, and Khan take over the Vengeance. Kirk, knowing he is being played by Khan, has instructed Scotty to stun Khan the moment they have taken over the bridge. Scotty does so but Khan, being genetically engineered has faked being stunned and very quickly and disarms Scotty, beats up Kirk, breaks Carol’s leg, and kills Admiral Marcus with his bare hands.

Khan contacts Spock and tells him to give him his crew, whom he still thinks are in the torpedoes, in exchange for Kirk, Scotty, and Carol.

Spock agrees to this. Unbeknownst to Khan, Spock has removed Khan’s crew from the torpedoes and activated them (the torpedoes) so that they’ll blow up in the Vengeance’s cargo bay (Khan underestimated both Kirk and Spock in his plans. Superior minds breed superior arrogance). This disables the weapons and major systems of the ship, but not before it’s knocked out the Enterprise’s warp core.

Powerless, the Enterprise tumbles towards Earth because it is close enough to be caught in its gravity.

Kirk and Scotty, who Khan has returned to the Enterprise, race towards engineering so (that) they can restart the warp core.

When they get to engineering, they find that the warp core is out of alignment and the only way to fix it is for someone to readjust it from the inside, sentencing that person to death from radiation poisoning.

Kirk knocks out Scotty and manages to save the Enterprise, but dies as Spock watches beyond the protective door.

Khan use the last bit of power in the Vengeance to ram the ship into Starfleet HQ, located in San Francisco.

Spock, realizing that Khan could survive the crash, has Sulu scan for lifesigns on the Vengeance and is then beamed down to Khan’s location.

A mad chase through San Francisco ensues till they end up on top of a transport where Spock tries to subdue Khan.

McCoy has Kirk in sickbay. As the crew visits his lifeless body, a dead Tribble that McCoy had earlier injected with Khan’s blood comes back to life. McCoy, realizing that Kirk can be saved, transfers Kirk to a cryotube to save his brain function. McCoy informs the bridge that Kirk can be saved if Khan is captured.

Uhura beams down to the transport where Spock is being beaten by Khan. She repeatedly stuns Khan which gives Spock enough time to tear off a piece of the transport and finally knock Khan out.

Kirk is saved and a year later the Enterprise is rechristened as it heads out on the first ever five year mission.

 

[Belz...]

The one question I have is did Admiral Marcus intend all along to take the Vengeance to the Enterprise in Klingon space...or did Marcus decide to go finish them off once Kirk had Uhura notify Starfleet that they had taken Khan into custody? I'm guessing that the Vengeance destroying the Enterprise was Plan B and the Klingons discovering it in their space (after having fired 72 torpedos at Qo'noS was Plan A, leading to war...

I think it was plan B. I think he expected the Enterprise to bomb Qo'Nos, thereby killing Khan and his crew with the very torpedoes he hid them in, and rattling the Klingons to hunt down and destroy the Enterprise, after which war would be declared and the Vengeance would be Marcus' flagship.

When Kirk called Starfleet for help after he was stranded in Klingon space with Khan in his custody, Marcus decided to act before his plan was discovered. Once 1701 made a run for it, he couldn't let them reach Earth, even if that meant fighting it out in orbit, which is why he called Kirk a traitor to cover his ass.

 

[Enterpriserules]

The one question I have is did Admiral Marcus intend all along to take the Vengeance to the Enterprise in Klingon space...or did Marcus decide to go finish them off once Kirk had Uhura notify Starfleet that they had taken Khan into custody? I'm guessing that the Vengeance destroying the Enterprise was Plan B and the Klingons discovering it in their space (after having fired 72 torpedos at Qo'noS was Plan A, leading to war...

I think it was plan B. I think he expected the Enterprise to bomb Qo'Nos, thereby killing Khan and his crew with the very torpedoes he hid them in, and rattling the Klingons to hunt down and destroy the Enterprise, after which war would be declared and the Vengeance would be Marcus' flagship.

When Kirk called Starfleet for help after he was stranded in Klingon space with Khan in his custody, Marcus decided to act before his plan was discovered. Once 1701 made a run for it, he couldn't let them reach Earth, even if that meant fighting it out in orbit, which is why he called Kirk a traitor to cover his ass.

I agree! Unbeknownst to the Enterprise crew, Admiral Marcus has the warp core sabotaged. This will strand the Enterprise in Klingon space, where the Klingons will be able to destroy the Enterprise in retaliation for it’s attack on Kronos. Marcus will have his war because the Klingons attacked and destroyed a Federation ship that was “only trying to capture a terrorist”(This point was supplied by John Tenuto)

 

[sj4iy]

Am I the only one who's noticed that Kirk almost never wears his gold uniform in either of these movies? He wore it for only 1 minute in the first, and about 35 minutes in the second. He has more costume changes than all of the women put together XD Hilarious.

 

[M'Sharak]

Am I the only one who's noticed that Kirk almost never wears his gold uniform in either of these movies? He wore it for only 1 minute in the first, and about 35 minutes in the second. He has more costume changes than all of the women put together XD Hilarious.

Maybe they've only got the one Pine-size uniform tunic, and if they let Kirk wear it for too long it'll end up in shreds?

 

[Nero's Shadow]

The only thing that gets me the enterprise get her ass kicked. Wished she had at least one exchange of fire with the Vengence instead it just used as a punch bag !!! Even if the enterprise could not match her fire power at least let her have a go !!!!

 

[sj4iy]

Am I the only one who's noticed that Kirk almost never wears his gold uniform in either of these movies? He wore it for only 1 minute in the first, and about 35 minutes in the second. He has more costume changes than all of the women put together XD Hilarious.

Maybe they've only got the one Pine-size uniform tunic, and if they let Kirk wear it for too long it'll end up in shreds?

That would be HORRIBLE planning since it's Kirk, lol. I wouldn't be surprised if Kirk had gone through about 100 uniforms in TOS.

 

[davejames]

The only thing that gets me the enterprise get her ass kicked. Wished she had at least one exchange of fire with the Vengence instead it just used as a punch bag !!! Even if the enterprise could not match her fire power at least let her have a go !!!!

Totally agreed. From what I can tell, the Enterprise never even fires once during the entire battle, which just seems absurd.

In fact as much as I hate to say it, the Enterprise almost seems like an afterthought in this movie. It only seems to exist to get it's ass kicked by the Vengeance, or to have big complicated sets for people to climb around in during an action sequence.

It never really feels like a character unto itself, like in other movies, and doesn't really get shown off in any big way after it's introduction in the beginning. Which is a shame, because I'm still a huge fan of the design.

 

[sj4iy]

The only thing that gets me the enterprise get her ass kicked. Wished she had at least one exchange of fire with the Vengence instead it just used as a punch bag !!! Even if the enterprise could not match her fire power at least let her have a go !!!!

Totally agreed. From what I can tell, the Enterprise never even fires once during the entire battle, which just seems absurd.

In fact as much as I hate to say it, the Enterprise almost seems like an afterthought in this movie. It only seems to exist to get it's ass kicked by the Vengeance, or to have big complicated sets for people to climb around in during an action sequence.

It never really feels like a character unto itself, like in other movies, and doesn't really get shown off in any big way after it's introduction in the beginning. Which is a shame, because I'm still a huge fan of the design.

They were sabotaged and outgunned the entire time. What good would it have done?

 

[Enterpriserules]

John Tenuto has written a great article "Star Trek is in Star Trek Into Darkness"

 

[3chordboy]

The one question I have is did Admiral Marcus intend all along to take the Vengeance to the Enterprise in Klingon space...or did Marcus decide to go finish them off once Kirk had Uhura notify Starfleet that they had taken Khan into custody? I'm guessing that the Vengeance destroying the Enterprise was Plan B and the Klingons discovering it in their space (after having fired 72 torpedos at Qo'noS was Plan A, leading to war...

no he never intended to take the Vengeance to Klingon space. that was definitely a Plan B after Uhura notified Starfleet that Khan had been captured rather than killed

 

[3chordboy]

The only thing that gets me the enterprise get her ass kicked. Wished she had at least one exchange of fire with the Vengence instead it just used as a punch bag !!! Even if the enterprise could not match her fire power at least let her have a go !!!!

Totally agreed. From what I can tell, the Enterprise never even fires once during the entire battle, which just seems absurd.

well its not like they could fire the torpedoes now is it?

 

[sj4iy]

John Tenuto has written a great article "Star Trek is in Star Trek Into Darkness"

Not bad, I agree with his first conclusion that it is close enough to the original that it works as good Star Trek. I don't agree with his characterizations, though.

Kirk IS a womanizer in the first one. He uses them for his own purposes...if that's not the very definition, I don't know what is. Even without sex, he's still toying with them. They didn't show sex back then because they couldn't show sex. Hell, TV had just started showing married couples SHARING A BED. Before that, married couples slept in separate twin beds...realistic there, huh? Star Trek was really one of the first shows to show a man kissing women of color or really any woman at all (which was already taboo). If sex had been allowable on tv, I'm sure we would have seen Kirk taking it all the way.

As far as Khan goes, I think there's enough evidence that Khan can be driven by revenge (duh?) to the point of savagery in TWOK. The circumstances are different this time- Khan has a vendetta because he was being used and his family held hostage. He believes them dead, which just sets him off completely. Kirk and the Enterprise are just in his way of destroying Starfleet. Honestly, I find that Cumberbatch's Khan makes more sense than Montalban's Khan, because for being 5 times the strength of a man, he was beaten by Kirk REALLY easily in Space Seed. He also wasn't very scary for the worst enemy Kirk ever faced- he is in this movie.