Two plot things that I don't understand.

[The rapture]

There are 2 things about the movie that I still don't understand or have seen anyone explain very well.

1)Why does Spock feel ZERO need to fix the time line? He is the only one that knows about the "Guardian". He knows about the "sling shot" idea. So he can easily fix it. So why does he feel zero responsibility to fix the damaged time line? Billions of lives were lost. His entire life he says "I am a Vulcan" but shows no loyalty at all when his home world is destroyed.

2)What exactly was Nero doing for like 20 years after he went through the black hole? I mean why not go back to Romulus and warn the government and the people. He has all the technology to back up his claim of the impending doom.

 

[CorporalClegg]

1.) He wants to retire. All he cares about is collecting his pension and hitting the beach.

2.) Practicing his eeeevviiiilll face in the mirror.

 

[The rapture]

As I said no one seems to be able to explain it.

 

[Hober Mallow]

1) Spock knew there was no need to fix the timeline, because he knew he was in fact in a reboot universe.

2) This one's easy. He has many, many years to take care of Romulus. Right now, revenge is on his mind.

Those things didn't bother me. I just didn't get how Spock alone has to fly to Romulus and save it from a supernova. That was really pushing credibility for me.

 

[RoJoHen]

#2 wasn't explained in the final cut of the movie, but reason Nero was MIA for 25 years is because he was captured by Klingons and imprisoned on Rura Penthe.

 

[Cky]

Here we go again.

1) He can't.

2) You spend 25 years in space, going crazy over the fact your planet, wife, and children are dead.

 

[The rapture]

1)That makes no sense. He knew he went back in time. There was a duty (Starfleet and moral) to correct the time line. He has the knowledge to go back and prevent Nero from ever going back in time.

2)I am sorry but his revenge was in the "present" not the past. Only a fool would still retain that hate knowing that he was giving a chance to prevent the destruction of his personal world (his wife etc) and his planet.


The movie did not explain why Nero was just sitting around for 20 years. If that scene was cut that was a poor decision. Maybe getting rid of the "monsters" would of been better.

As it stands I see 2 really BAD plot holes in this movie that really takes something away from the film.

 

[theFirebottle]

1) The original timeline has not been "broken". It exists as is, albeit without Spock past the point when he left. Spock did not go back in time to the old era in his own timeline, he travelled across the boundaries of universes into an entirely different universe that just happens to be a century off sync with the one he came from.

2) Do people act rationally? Especially Romulans, who are said to be cultural offshoots of a species that feels emotions "more deeply than humans"? He probably doesn't understand anything about time travel or the many worlds hypothesis because he's a miner. He probably interprets Romulus' destruction as inevitable and permanent, so all he wants is revenge. And he spends 20 years stewing in his own impotent rage.

 

[The rapture]

Huh? Yes he can go back. The Guardian and the "sling shot" are viable methods.

Knowing that he went back in time he would of focused his time on "preventing" the destruction of Romulus and the death of his wife. (Just like Kirk did in Generations. He forgot about his loneliness and decided to CHANGE his future.) I am sorry but this idea of him sitting around thinking about this for 20 years and forgetting the fact that the idea of "preventing the destruction" doesn't cut it.

 

[The rapture]

Abrams has clearly said this is NOT an alternate universe. Spock went back in time and altered the universe he was in thus changing (ie throwing out TNG, DS9, VOY) everything.

Spock was bounded by logic and morality to fix the time line.


As for Nero. Again, the time travel aspect would be too great for a "miner" to forgot about. He was a miner but he was not stupid. Thinking that he could not prevent the destruction is not reasonable.

 

[CorporalClegg]

As I said no one seems to be able to explain it.

Not at all. It's just this horse has been beaten to death. It's time to get over it and enjoy the film. If you don't like it, then move on and don't worry about it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Can Spock use the Guardian or the Slingshot to travel to the future of an alternate reality?

 

[theFirebottle]

It's not time travel. Let me repeat: not time travel.

You have a universe. It's called Prime now. You have another universe. A black hole happens and it cuts a hole in the side of Prime and lets some people and ships into the other universe. The other universe happens to be about a century off-sync with Prime. Lucky for us film-watching audiences, this means that we get to see some of our favorite people as young folks having awesome adventures. Unlucky for people who think about movies too much, most of the other watchers are confused by the time difference and start howling about time travel -- a topic that has been dealt with so inconsistently in the franchise that it makes the thinkers want to tear their hair out.

 

[The rapture]

As I said no one seems to be able to explain it.

Not at all. It's just this horse has been beaten to death. It's time to get over it and enjoy the film. If you don't like it, then move on and don't worry about it.

Well what is the answer then? I have heard no one (Abrams etc) explain it?

Glossing over the flaws doesn't answer anything. Leaving your brain outside the theater is not a real option for some of us. Sorry but some of us think and enjoy a "real story" and not just pretty special effects.

 

[Ovation]

Abrams has clearly said this is NOT an alternate universe. Spock went back in time and altered the universe he was in thus changing (ie throwing out TNG, DS9, VOY) everything.

Spock was bounded by logic and morality to fix the time line.

It is an alternate timeline that branched off in 2233. It did NOT "change everything" in the previous timeline. And Abrams has NOT contradicted Orci and Kurtzman on this.

As for Nero. Again, the time travel aspect would be too great for a "miner" to forgot about. He was a miner but he was not stupid. Thinking that he could not prevent the destruction is not reasonable.

He's no longer in the same timeline. And until Spock "prime" arrives, 25 years later, he lacks the "red matter" to attempt to avert the star's destruction.

 

[The rapture]

It's not time travel. Let me repeat: not time travel.

You have a universe. It's called Prime now. You have another universe. A black hole happens and it cuts a hole in the side of Prime and lets some people and ships into the other universe. The other universe happens to be about a century off-sync with Prime. Lucky for us film-watching audiences, this means that we get to see some of our favorite people as young folks having awesome adventures. Unlucky for people who think about movies too much, most of the other watchers are confused by the time difference and start howling about time travel -- a topic that has been dealt with so inconsistently in the franchise that it makes the thinkers want to tear their hair out.

Abrams and Orci etc have all said that Nero goes back in time (and Spock too) and alters the time line. They have never said it was another "universe". They said Nero changes the past.

You shouldn't have to turn off your brain to see a movie nor should you be one of these people who are amused with "shinny lights and special effects". Star Trek is not a "dumb" sci fi franchise. So why do you insist in yelling at people who "think"?

 

[The rapture]

Abrams has clearly said this is NOT an alternate universe. Spock went back in time and altered the universe he was in thus changing (ie throwing out TNG, DS9, VOY) everything.

Spock was bounded by logic and morality to fix the time line.

It is an alternate timeline that branched off in 2233. It did NOT "change everything" in the previous timeline. And Abrams has NOT contradicted Orci and Kurtzman on this.

As for Nero. Again, the time travel aspect would be too great for a "miner" to forgot about. He was a miner but he was not stupid. Thinking that he could not prevent the destruction is not reasonable.

He's no longer in the same timeline. And until Spock "prime" arrives, 25 years later, he lacks the "red matter" to attempt to avert the star's destruction.

Abrams clearly said in the last few interviews he did (Variety for one) that this IS the same universe. The change now is because Nero went back in time and changed it. A new "ripple effect" is what he said.

 

[theFirebottle]

You shouldn't have to turn off your brain to see a movie nor should you be one of these people who are amused with "shinny lights and special effects". Star Trek is not a "dumb" sci fi franchise. So why do you insist in yelling at people who "think"?

Um, sorry? I don't give two shits about special effects. I like this film because it takes everything that's good about Trek (character dynamics and interaction, rousing adventurism, unapologetically epic settings and plots) and throws it on a screen while discarding everything that sucks about Trek (lame unresearched technobabble, pseudoscientific excuses for plot devices that work just fine on their own, and bland talky undifferentiated characterization) and throwing it out the window.

I often have to turn off my brain when I watch any Trek story, because the writers get the science wrong so often that there's nothing I can do except acknowledge the fact that a lazy writer can make the characters "reverse the polarity" and it does something plot significant. In fact, while I watched the new movie I didn't have to turn off my brain because it didn't bother with any polarity-reversal bullshit!

 

[Hober Mallow]

I don't JJ Abrams put as much obsessive thought over this as most fans. Hell, I don't think Gene Roddenberry would put any thought into it.

 

[Sector 7]

The only memorable thing Janeway ever said, IMO, applies here: "Temporal paradoxes give me a headache."
Was TOS really so over-analyzed the way this movie is? Did it really rape that many childhoods? Maybe we watched two different versions of ShatKirk and NimSpock. The one I saw was a pleasure to watch in spite of all the inconsistencies, not because it was perfect.