Did the red matter stop the shockwave, or did it run out of steam on it's own? And if on it's own, what did Spock mean about it endangering the galaxy. The circle on your map is less than one twelve millionth of the galaxy.
The one thing we did see was Spock's vial consuming a region of the wave with fire. So we can rather safely claim the red matter took care of the spreading destruction. Conversely, Spock made a big deal of this act, saying he had little time for it and all. Doing it sounded vital enough, so "the problem will go away on its own" doesn't sound appealing. Is this what Spock meant with firing the red matter "into the supernova"? Firing it onto the expanding sphere of destruction? We might argue it is - the sphere would be the supernova at this stage, some insignificant matter at the center of the kaboom notwithstanding. And the red matter would be "absorbing the exploring star" as proscribed. We just fail to see the bit where the black hole is created as stated. An effect that propagates along a spherical surface isn't our first bet for something that would create a singularity, after all - spreading and singularities are sort of antithetical... But we are allowed this leeway, certainly. The black hole that consumed Vulcan was not visible from afar afterwards, either, nor did we see anything similar to the thrice-featured timehole during the collapse of Vulcan. Anything having to do with Romulus endangers the galaxy in Star Trek... And probably still significantly too large to match the movie. We need a sphere of destruction that only gets initiated at an unpredictable moment while Spock is already en route - otherwise it would be illogical for Spock to engage in a quest made hopeless by the known speeds of the items in question, to wit, the wave & his ship. We also get visual evidence that the wave is slow, at least sublight-slow, and that it is initiated by the star of the Romulan home system, just one asteroid belt away from the homeworld. And the smaller this phenomenon, the less implausible that a droplet of magic would make things better again. Now, even a slowly propagating wavefront might consume the galaxy if we provide it with properties X, Y and Z. But this jibes poorly with Spock's insistence that he was in a hurry even after Romulus was lost. And if red matter makes holes in the wave, as seen, then fighting the wave at the source seems silly: just provide each planet with a red matter defender who makes a suitable hole to protect said planet (and its star and whatnot), and wait for the wave to grow harmlessly thin. IMHO, going by what we see and then modifying what we hear to fit the visuals is the simplest route. Although some may prefer to consider the visuals malleable and the dialogue sacrosanct, even if this poses more complications in the end. Timo Saloniemi
stars don't just go supernova, and Romulus wasn't settled THAT long ago, centuries at best, so they would have known if the star was a likely candidate for going supernova. Main sequence stars don't. So why build a world and a culture on a planet you know will go boom? Seems to imply there was more going on. I know this is star trek. When the plot needs a planet or star to explode, randomly explode it does.
Which no doubt is why Spock was considered a charlatan and had to deliver his aid by Vulcan science scooter rather than with the help of the entire Imperial Navy. Doesn't mean there was something sinister going on. Might simply be Spock was smarter than the Romulan leadership, when it comes to recognizing exotic stellar hiccups. Or might be the Romulans knew, but could not afford to admit to it. Better to die at some indeterminate future date than give up a good thing. Should sound familiar enough... Timo Saloniemi
It's not too far from the Federation core systems, which for all intents and purposes is "the galaxy" as far as Trek is concerned. And of course, the movie implies it simply would have grown until it consumed everything. For all we know, The Picard Show will be about Jean-Luc finding out what magic made it happen (although I find that extremely unlikely, we're in a bizarro world where 5 Trek series and 2 movies are on the way and all bets are off)
Wouldn't mind them addressing the fallout of the Hobus Nova, what political consequences, power vacuums ( I assume most of the ships could have warped away, save for stuff in drydock)
I'm part of the crowd that pretty much separates everything after DS9 into it's own timeline, so I went with other. My idea, the atmosphere of Romulus was mostly stripped away by a coronal mass ejection. The star began showing signs of instability around 2382, with minor CME events leading up to the big one. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't stabilize her in time. They did however have time to evacuate their population and most of their equipment. Remus was spared by dint of being shielded by Romulus and as a side effect, managed to accreat some of the stripped atmoshpere. This was the last card in a series of events that basically led to the formation of a galactic superpower among the factions of the Alfa and Beta quadrants around 2390.
I kinda wish they just ignore the supernova and say that Romulus is just fine, thus establishing that the Kelvin universe was completely separate from the get go. But if they include it, I really hope they ignore the nonsense from the comics it being some sort of galaxy destroying superluminal super supernova, and have it just be the star of the Romulan star system. I guess the situation would lend itself to all sort political intrigue, but I'm not really sure that I want the show to be focused on that sort of thing. I guess homeless Romulan pirates could be cool...
The Romulan home star already has a name in the starchart books. Hobus was a large, weird star lightyears away devastating Romulan space. There should be dozens of systems burned away, with many billions dead. NuTNG can't ignore that with Spock being from the Prime universe where it happened. Unless they reveal now after all these years that he wasn't.
And they can do that just fine. He was Spock from the future of Kelivinverse. Also, thankfully the megasupernova thing is from the comics, and can be safely ignored. It can be just normal supernova in the Romulan system.
Threatening the galaxy is hard to do if it never leaves the Romulan home system. And the Empire was still recovering from Shinzons coup. Hobus was another star altogether in the movie itself, with what little time they had to tell the story through the meld. Honestly they could have avoided all of this by having a totally new take on Trek, or just concentrating some effort on the haphazzard single show they're struggling with already.
Threatening the galaxy bit makes no sense (did they really say that in the film?) Though of course a supernova will threaten other systems too, it will just take years. You need to be over 100 LY away to be safe, so it would probably threaten most Federation and Klingon core worlds. Certainly an existential threat to the Federation. I really do not remember them specifying the location of the star in the film.
Got blowed up. Now many in the Empire are partial to a bit of the old reunification with their cousins though not all cue DRAMA. *Retired Picard maneuver/hitches up pants* "Engage..."
Man, thanks. That's going to make a sweet desktop, if it doesn't blind me 1st As to the OP. Couldn't care less. I've never been there. Besides, I like a little dose of timey-whimeyness now & then
It maybe from the comics, but it was a comic that Orci has story credit for, and indeed all the stuff about Hobus and the destruction of Romulus are what he contributed to the story.
Heh, exactly the opposite. The mind meld says nothing at all about the identity of the star that blew, but shows that it was the homestar of Romulus. That is, the mind meld graphics first show planet Romulus whizzing by; then a field of rubble, an asteroid belt of some sort, doing the same; then the star. The star then blows up and we see the camera run in reverse, with the wave first going through the rubble and then hitting Romulus. If the camera run spans lightyears, then it takes quite a few artistic liberties doing so. But that may be the going rate for Star Trek visuals. What the mind meld completely fails to do, though, is establish the identity of the star as anything else but the Romulan sun (or what they call Eisn in the Duane novels). What the meld also fails to show is the end result of Spock's toils. Is the star somehow restored? Or is just the wave of destruction consumed? Is Romulus restored? Nero saw it blow, but he may have seen wrong, or he may have missed the bit where his missus came back to life. Spock Prime for his part tells what Nero blames him for, but doesn't exactly admit to any guilt, culpability or even the crime having taken place... Or by stopping doing Trek altogether and starting something new. Timo Saloniemi