What I Don't Like About the USS Kelvin

[RoJoHen]

RoJoHen,

Even if the saucer of the Kelvin did somehow separate, where the hell was it supposed to go? The Narada would have blow it out of the sky before it had a chance to get away! Not exactly the kind of lifeboat I would want to be trapped in.

Which presents another interesting point, why didn't the Narada just blow up all the shuttles?

If the shuttles any warp capability, it probably wasn't all that high, and the Narada in most likelyhood could outrun them no matter what they did, and it had the firepower to blow up the Kelvin, let a lone a few shuttles...


CuttingEdge100

I'm pretty sure you missed the entire point of the opening scene.

 

[Sci]

I for one rather like the fact that, for once, a Federation starship doesn't look like it's all immaculately clean and fresh from spacedock. I like seeing a ship that looks like it's got some actual history to it.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

But after the Kelvin was destroyed, why didn't the Narada then destroy all the shuttles?

I mean the Kelvin's gone... the shuttles can't outrun the futuristic Narada...

 

[CinC_UFPForces]

But after the Kelvin was destroyed, why didn't the Narada then destroy all the shuttles?

I mean the Kelvin's gone... the shuttles can't outrun the futuristic Narada...

Because George Kirk drove a starship into the Narada's gut, crippling it.

I'm sure this will lead to an extended discussion about the potential energy of an early 23rd Century matter/anti-matter explosion dispersed in a vacuum environment over the external structure of a 24th-Century triple-reinforced duranium hull squared times pi, with footnotes derived from the honored Matt Jeffries through a Ouija board, but were you watching the opening scene? At all?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

But after the Kelvin was destroyed, why didn't the Narada then destroy all the shuttles?

I mean the Kelvin's gone... the shuttles can't outrun the futuristic Narada...

Because George Kirk drove a starship into the Narada's gut, crippling it.

Yeah, that sucker's engine lights were fading in and out and it was sloughing off quite a bit of debris while listing. Narada seemed pretty well done-in at that point.

 

[RoJoHen]

but were you watching the opening scene? At all?

No kidding. All of this was pretty straight forward in the movie.

 

[Vicki]

While Gene Roddenberry is dead, all the way until Nemesis, you didn't see rocket like exhaust shoot out the backs of the warp-nacelles...

ST: XI had bright flashes coming from the nacelles. Not terribly different from TNG in that respect really, except that the thingy is on the back.

Nemesis had literal exhaust coming out the the nacelles when the Enterprise jumped to warp.

Dude, that was farting.

<wipes water off moniter> I have got to stop reading online while I'm drinking something. And really glad I gave up Pepsi a long time ago.

 

[Vicki]

I'll echo what trampledamage said: my main sticking point on the 800 number is the idea of cramming 800 people into those few shuttles. The only place we get 800 from is from Pike, not from any of the Kelvin personnel. I think that gives us some happy wiggle room.

Certainly there had to have been something else in the system that could account for more of those people? A small colony nearby? I mean, the shuttles had to flee to something, right?

I still like the idea of some small, defenseless ships nearby. "We're alone out here" is plural, after all.

Modern cruise ships cram 5000+ people in less than 40 lifeboats. And you'd be supprised how small those things look from the outside.

 

[Praetor]

That is a very good point, Vicki.

Objection retracted.

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

I've always loved the fan who's Suspension of Disbelief includes:
Alien races that are all very humanoid, and nearly-equally developed
Faster than light travel
Sound in space (which in the beginning, this movie seemed to point out that there's no sound in space, but then it sorta gave up on the idea)
etc. etc.

But change the ship design, or bending the rules of the made up physics in the Trek Universe? That's crazy.

Seriously, it's fiction. Just watch it for the story telling, and discuss it on that level (yeah... this movie lacked in that regard, admittedly. But hey. Shit blow'd up, woooo-wheee!)

 

[Praetor]

It's not really suspension of disbelief that's often the problem among Trekkies (myself included). It's when Trek violates its own established rules, its own "framework," that the suspension of disbelief is pushed past the breaking point.

Do I think that happened in XI, or with the Kelvin? Nah, not really.

 

[Squiggy]

Even though the ship has two hulls (engineering and primary), apparently the primary hull is incapable of separating, and acting as a lifeboat as was the intentions of Matt Jeffries.

Is this supposed to be funny? The entire ship is just a saucer with a nacelle and a hangar/cargo pod attached to it. What the hell would the saucer separate FROM?

Robau.

 

[EnsignRicky]

A Kelvin saucer separation, that's a funny thought. That would basically be exploding.

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Still, with the firepower the Narada had, I'm amazed the Kelvin wasn't just blown apart in one salvo

 

[Nerys Myk]

It was in the script.

 

[npsf3000]

I thought it was pretty obvious that it didn't separate because it couldn't in that senario.

It was to damaged to waste that much time or, its before it gets shot at - which is a bad time to split your shields in 2.

 

[Creedence]

One question, why exactly cant the saucer separate - did you get that from the film or your imagination?

He made it up. The argument of "...as Matt Jeffries intended" is absolutely moot considering...

1. Matt Jeffries is dead.
2. Matt Jeffries did not design the Kelvin.
3. Matt Jeffries is dead.

The Kelvin was BEAUTIFUL! It has risen to a very high place on my overall favorite list of ship designs.

 

[Jax]

Still, with the firepower the Narada had, I'm amazed the Kelvin wasn't just blown apart in one salvo

You need to stop thinking like in real life terms this is called Science Fiction after all. The script needed the Kelvin to survive or no Kirk and it made a great openeing scene besides you can easily say Nero after that fight was more powerful due to the 25 years to upgrade

 

[cooleddie74]

Still, with the firepower the Narada had, I'm amazed the Kelvin wasn't just blown apart in one salvo

You need to stop thinking like in real life terms this is called Science Fiction after all. The script needed the Kelvin to survive or no Kirk and it made a great openeing scene besides you can easily say Nero after that fight was more powerful due to the 25 years to upgrade

Plus, it wouldn't have allowed for Robau to have his badass can-opener demise if his ship had been blown away within the first 90 seconds of the movie.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

The Narada's purpose in the beginning vs. the Kelvin was to cripple her and interrogate her captain to find out where Spock was.

If you just blow up the ship, how do you know where or when you are, much less where or when Spock is or will be?