Star Trek Film (2009)

[STSF Precip 0]

When I look at the plumbing..and for that matter all of the engineering scenes from the new movie, I feel there was an obvious effort to make it look like you were in an engine or powerplant..to non-trek geeks. And it's size, the director-producers probably wanted to make engineering huge compared to the technobabble/sleek/spiffy engineering scenes we Trek fans have come to know for 25 years.

 

-Precip

[Shane 0]

If you took off all of the paneling and left the corridors as bare walkways, leaving only the framework and engineering components in a TOS Constitution class starship, it would probably look similar.

[V'Roy 0]

I assumed the water was for, oh, plumbing purposes? When you're in space, you only have a certain amount of water, and it has to be processed so that when you take a drink, you can't tell how many kidneys it went through before it got to your mouth. That huge processing plant-type area makes perfect sense to me.

We don't know what stage of the filtration cycle they were at where Scotty materialized.

[Kansas 0]

When I look at the plumbing..and for that matter all of the engineering scenes from the new movie, I feel there was an obvious effort to make it look like you were in an engine or powerplant..to non-trek geeks. And it's size, the director-producers probably wanted to make engineering huge compared to the technobabble/sleek/spiffy engineering scenes we Trek fans have come to know for 25 years.

 

Right with you Precip! The water, the pipes, the old school metallic look - it reminded me at least of a working engine room of an aircraft carrier and such.

 

Why should we automatically assume, 40 years of visual aid aside, that all engine rooms on the starships are so cut and dry with the cylindrical design and lacking pipe fixtures? Why not have different styles of engineering designs for different ships and engines?

 

I'd like to point out, and I could be wrong, that the TOS series could have introduced such an initially sparse and "technologically advanced" engine room design, along with the plain cylindrical engine housing, possibly because of the budget at the time?

 

The Transporter actually came about, per interviews with G. Roddenberry, because the FX budget couldn't afford to have the ship land on a planet every time one was to be explored. Voyager changed that concept though, didn't it?

 

So .... is the Voyager series at (so called) fault for introducing a landing starship, just like it's Trek 2009's (so called) fault for introducing the old school pipes and water in the (our 40 year perception thanks to TOS) advanced engine room/engineering area?

[Leila Kalomi 0]

Tracks listed for the soundtrack:

 

Star Trek

Nailin' the Kelvin

Labor of Love

Hella Bar Talk

Enterprising Young Men

Nero Sighted

Nice to Meld You

Run and Shoot Offense

Does it Still McFly?

Nero Death Experience

Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns

Back from Black

That New Car Smell

To Boldly Go

End Credits

 

I love a composer with a sense of humor when it comes to track titles.

 

And for anyone interested in purchasing the CD or MP3/IPod download I recommend the soundtrack - has a kick azz adventurous naval element intertwined throughout most of the tracks, and the Labor of Love is downright haunting in it's own right.

 

 

Sometime ago I just googled around and found it free in a .rar file somewhere. I don't remember where...

[Jorahl 0]

The one problem I did have with the engineering decks was that using an existing warehouse, plant, or manufacturing facility in filming the inside of a spacecraft is a major B-movie practice. If you go by such B-movies, it's amazing the apparent usefulness of concrete in spaceship construction ::eye roll::. While Star Trek kept most all it's views to metal equipment and structural supports it still reminded me of so many bad movies doing cheap on their location budgets.

 

But as its been said, TOS engineering was more like that then our current concept of main engineering.

[precip 0]

Perhaps a "cheap" look suggests, a more primitive type of engineering to the viewer.

 

::shrugs::

 

Will be interesting what changes they make with a sequel.

 

-Precip

[Brynna Baxter 0]

We don't know what stage of the filtration cycle they were at where Scotty materialized.

 

Yeah, poor Scotty. Although there was a definite lack of yellow, so hopefully for his sake (and for the sake of the noses of everyone around him!) it was at a later stage.

[Nisha Dunsel 0]

:) Two cents on how I view the movie events & questions I've had from non-Trekkers & Trekkies...

 

Awesome plot, I loved it, Totally fits within my concept of Trek. Tho I have had alot of questions from non-trekkers. Like I watched an episode of 'star track', and this is different? and So if this is a different reality, didnt it split off at 2233? and if thats the case why is Kirk born in space? How did Kirk become Captain with only three years of the academy? At least now people want to talk to me... rofl.

 

-I caught on to the "fact" there are a ton of alternate realities thanks to Parallels (TNG). We all know of "The Mirror Universe". Since this is technically Star Trek 11, I started to refer to this one as "The One Point Universe" for non trekkers to understand. Star Trek 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on. They think it's pretty nifty for that explanation and that it lines up so well.

 

-Who is to say the Romulan-Borg hybrid ship coming thru the rift is the splitting point from the PRIME universe? "PRIME" Kirk was born in Iowa and Enterprise was 'born' in San Francisco Fleet Yards 2245 (I thought that was in California). Now "1-point" Kirk is born in space in 2233 and Enterprise is born in Riverside Fleet Yards, Iowa, 2258. (Guess Riverside Iowa will need to change their plaque, to the birthplace of the Enterprise). So my guess is the splitting of the two realities goes further back than 2233. 2233 was only our entry point to this timeline. But thats the joys of alternate realities, both realities are still intact and now events can (hopefully) flow more fluid in the new timeline. That doesnt mean I want to switch from the PRIME Universe to the One Point Universe in simming. Just means I can enjoy both. Just like how I enjoyed the "PRIME" and text mediums.

 

-Kelvin's uniform colors were to signify during Pike's time, [TOS] The Cage and Menagerie. They didnt worry about department colors that much. Almost all of them had the same tan shirts with blue jackets.

 

-The Enterprise was just launched, prior to being commissioned. Cadets were being "breveted" and assigned to crews on old & new ships that were rushed into service. So the teachers became Commanding and Executive Officers and the trainee crew was all that was left that Starfleet had to respond with. Just think how many ships were lost in PRIME universe during TOS timeframe, maybe 15-20 ships a year.

 

-I would have liked to had seen The Academy Advisory Staff made up partially from the surviving original crew... Shatner, Takei, Koenig, and Nichols, with maybe the teachers made from the TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT casts. Tho they were probably too expensive.

 

-This Hood's destruction in 2258 makes way for the "Constitution/Enterprise-Class" Hood (None of the other ships looked like "the big E", but that would most likely be debunked and scrutinized when the DVD comes out).

 

-I think Admiral Archer's dog in Scotti's time would be Aramis.

ARcher A'MISses him so. [in heavy scottish accent]

 

-Scotti's towel comment was awesome, had me rolling. But why was I the only one laughing at the joke?

 

-Women get stripped of their sleeves and rank? Hardly any Golden Girls? What a terrible universe.

 

-So this is just my opinion on the matter, a lot of conjecture, from a lowly Cadet Applicant for STSF Starfleet Academy. I just hope that your questions from the Non-trekkers/trekkies species isnt as difficult.

[Jorahl 0]

-Who is to say the Romulan-Borg hybrid ship coming thru.....

 

Luckily, they never mentioned any Borg tech being part of the Narada in the film itself. I've heard this in background info and as part of the comic book that worked as a lead up to the movie. Thankfully, that isn't cannon...because it's stupid. The entire comic (from the summary I read) looked pretty stupid as well. The Romulans are reduced again to fools worried more about personal pride and too dumb to see obvious destruction ahead. Characters that have no real business in the story show up just to have a familiar face present. And from some of the artwork I saw they even put the forehead ridges back on the Romulans....and that alone deserves a kick in the teeth.

[Kansas 0]

Contrasting to Jorahl's opinion here: I recommend the pre-Trek 2009 IDW Countdown comic to anyone interested in getting a little non canon backstory regarding the movie and our friendly neighborhood Romulans.

 

** Some Countdown Spoilers **

 

You base this Countdown opinion on a summary and a glimpse of the artwork?

 

The story isn't all deep and stuff, but it isn't exactly horrible either. I will agree about characters showing up just to be there though; jeez, it's always the Next Generation!

 

As for the Countdown comic containing the V forehead ridges based on the concept art stuff, I have no idea: I'd have to give the actual comic the once over again for any other "background support cast" that have the V ridges, but I do not recall any fore ridges popping off the pages at me. One panel scene that I have immediate recall on (dealing with the Rihan Council) showed a dark skinned Rihan in the forefront who decidedly had no Next Gen forehead V.

 

Most of the IDW Rihan comics out or coming out now - that I've checked out - seem to deal excusively with the non V ridge Rihans from old school Classic Trek. I just picked up a one shot species spotlight on the Romulans, and the crew is full on non forehead ridge.

 

I guess what it comes down to is that I myself prefer the Classic Trek Incarnation of the Rihans, and having Nero and crew in the movie with no fore ridges (and faction/facial tattoos to boot) was kick azz, so the current IDW trend is welcome.

[Kansas 0]

-Women get stripped of their sleeves and rank? Hardly any Golden Girls? What a terrible universe.

 

The miniskirt issue updated for 2009 on Zoe Saldana (thankfully I also spotted a female crewmember in quick scene on Enterprise wearing the trousers and the tunic - going back to "The Cage" roots, which is awesome - as a bunch of crew ran out of a section) I can still handle, but the sleeveless female uniform is not practical at all ... unless it's the Mirror Universe. w00t!!

 

As for the lack of Golden Girls - might have a ray of light here. There was a woman wearing thick eyelashes, who I *think* was handling the Vulcan transports prior to Chekhov taking over? It was a very quick glimpse, but I do believe she is supposed to be an older crewmember.

 

I know I was happy to see a silver haired gentlemen doing some bridge time.

 

Captain Pike aside, the ship can't all be about cadets. You gotta have varying aged and experience crewmembers hopping around for any sense of maritime realism, let alone to balance out the 17 year old Chekhov advanced cadet placement/whiz kid thing.

[Shane 0]

I thought Countdown was pretty cool, mainly because TNG is my favorite series and Picard is my favorite character. I was thought it was awesome that they showed Data, although he was pretty emotionless in my opinion. Maybe he didn't rebuild the emotion chip when he "resurrected", it probably wouldn't be compatible with the B-4 body. A lot of it was about the characters making appearances, which is fine with me since this was suppose to be a teaser for the movie not a stand alone comic book. It gave a glimpse of what the TNG characters are up in the future.

[Jorahl 0]

** Some Countdown Spoilers **

 

You base this Countdown opinion on a summary and a glimpse of the artwork?

 

Yup. If the bare bones of the story sounds rotten I don't see any "fleshing" out making it any better. As always, my opinion.

 

And here is the art I took my forehead opinion from. Looking at it again, it could go either way. The brow is definitely more prominent than expected but there is less of a ridge. At least the hair is more of a Roman cut and less bowl with V bangs.

 

And yes, TOS Romulans are the only way to go.

 

[Sorehl 0]

Actually, I thought this picture made Nero look more like John Crichton from Farscape.

 

But I have to agree, the Countdown story is weak - the Enterprise interferes in internal Romulan politics, the Vulcans are vindictive cutouts, the Romulans don't even try to save themselves, and Picard makes outright stupid tactical decisions. It seemed more like a shotgun attempt to explain some of the more glaring unexplained "why's" of the movie - red matter, a super-supernova that threatens the whole galaxy, Nero somehow blaming Spock and the Federation for the loss of Romulus in a natural disaster - and actually wound up emphasizing how weak those plot elements were. The comic book story hinges on the fact that Vulcan decides not to help save Romulus and her countless billions just to preserve a military capability. Hmmm, not a bunch of altruistic IDIC-minded pacifists after all, eh?

 

The comic also emphasized the amazing red matter. Vulcans can produce the stuff - a single drop can create a magic black hole capable of sucking in all the energy of a super-supernova AFTER it explodes AND has time-travel possibilities that don't crush ships passing through them. For some reason, Spock brings along enough to wipe out the whole galaxy, when its clear "a little dab'll do ya". Red matter is just another plot weakness the comic winds up emphasizing. It's appearances in the film are brief enough to (almost) suspend one's disbelief, but not in Countdown.

 

Beyond the cameos of canon characters now wielding huge importance as individuals, Countdown threw in a favorite hack fanfic element: a ship with Borg technology grafted into it. Which makes perfect sense for a mining ship, especially one built by Romulans with a well-deserved superiority complex for their own engineering and who've had little canon-based involvement with the Borg.

 

It's good material for a comic book, but not a story for the ages. It never explains why Nero doesn't make it his first priority to make sure the super-supernova doesn't happen BEFORE his vendetta on Vulcan and Earth.

 

I liked the bit about Nero's trident being an important Romulan symbol, but it's contrived how he gets it.

[Sorehl 0]

Different subject, but building on the previous post's mention of weak plot elements...

 

First, I remind others that I enjoyed the new Trek film. But it was far from perfect, and I don't mean in a nit-picky continuity way (since the alternative timeline does away with most such concerns rather neatly). I wondered if anyone else shared my observations.

 

Since we've let the film prosper and lauded its noteworthy elements, has enough time passed to offer a critical commentary on things we DIDN'T like and that we hope they do better on next time? And is this the right thread to post it on (since it would be riddled with spoilers)?

[Jorahl 0]

The comic also emphasized the amazing red matter. Vulcans can produce the stuff - a single drop can create a magic black hole capable of sucking in all the energy of a super-supernova AFTER it explodes AND has time-travel possibilities that don't crush ships passing through them. For some reason, Spock brings along enough to wipe out the whole galaxy, when its clear "a little dab'll do ya". Red matter is just another plot weakness the comic winds up emphasizing. It's appearances in the film are brief enough to (almost) suspend one's disbelief, but not in Countdown.

 

My Red Matter theory: Contact with red matter causes normal matter to compress into a singularity. The red matter has no gravitational pull of its own. The resulting black hole is determined by the amount of matter the singularity is fed rather than the amount of red matter. This is why when the whole bottle is smashed into the Narada the entire galaxy wasn't sucked right in. The parts of the Narada that came into contact became singularities, pulled together to make the black hole, but did not comprise enough matter to instantly suck the entire ship in.

 

I had the question though why they could not just drop the red matter onto the planet surface and wait for the same result. I try to explain this by saying a weak black hole burns itself out quickly (see previouse thread about Romulan AQS') and would explode before consuming the entire planet. By being placed deep in the planet matter is fed quickly enough in not to cause the singularity to go critical. On the surface the singularity would first absorb the atmosphere and less dense top soil. The feed of matter wouldn't be fast enough to sustain it.

 

It's a stretch but works for me for as little as we see it in the movie.

[Atragon9 0]

Different subject, but building on the previous post's mention of weak plot elements...

 

First, I remind others that I enjoyed the new Trek film. But it was far from perfect, and I don't mean in a nit-picky continuity way (since the alternative timeline does away with most such concerns rather neatly). I wondered if anyone else shared my observations.

 

Since we've let the film prosper and lauded its noteworthy elements, has enough time passed to offer a critical commentary on things we DIDN'T like and that we hope they do better on next time? And is this the right thread to post it on (since it would be riddled with spoilers)?

I would say that enough time has passed since the movie came out that we can post comments about the movie outside of this thread if people want to. Of course, if it is specific to the film, we can keep it in this thread, but it isn't as much of an absolute rule, thanks.

[Eva Jaz 0]

I've now seen it 4 times ( and Dying to see it again .. but I guess I can wait for the DVD ! ) and it totally brought back my trek love!

 

I love the idea of the new time line and I thought the acting was really good ( especially Karl Urban! ) except maybe for Leonard Nemoy which seemed kinda out of it for some reason ... but it might just be me!

[precip 0]

I've now seen it 4 times ( and Dying to see it again .. but I guess I can wait for the DVD ! ) and it totally brought back my trek love!

 

I love the idea of the new time line and I thought the acting was really good ( especially Karl Urban! ) except maybe for Leonard Nemoy which seemed kinda out of it for some reason ... but it might just be me!

 

I can't wait for the DVD either. I'll finally get my look at those other Starships featured in the movie!

 

I agree with your assessment of Karl Urban's performance, I thought he nailed "Bones" right on the mark.

 

As for Leonard Nimoy, Spock did mention that he was "emotionally compromised" at the loss of Vulcan and it's people. Perhaps Nimoy thought a shellshocked, more emotional portrayal of Spock was necessary.

 

-Precip

[V'Roy 0]

"PRIME" Kirk was born in Iowa and Enterprise was 'born' in San Francisco Fleet Yards 2245 (I thought that was in California). Now "1-point" Kirk is born in space in 2233 and Enterprise is born in Riverside Fleet Yards, Iowa, 2258. (Guess Riverside Iowa will need to change their plaque, to the birthplace of the Enterprise).

I guess California's earthquakes gradually move the San Francisco shipyards to Iowa.

 

(By the way, I live about 50 miles from SF. SF has lots of piers, but most of the major ship construction sites are in the East Bay shores closer to Oakland.)

Edited June 15, 2009 by V'Roy

[LeftEar JoNs 0]

As for Leonard Nimoy, Spock did mention that he was "emotionally compromised" at the loss of Vulcan and it's people. Perhaps Nimoy thought a shellshocked, more emotional portrayal of Spock was necessary.

 

Emotionally compromised aside (considering it was part of the story/plotline) my impression of Nimoy as a watcher of the movie standpoint was he ran like heck with the part and had fun.

 

There was just something there, like a little twinkle in his performance; I really noticed that so called twinkle in the end movie exchange with Quinto Spock.

 

Even in the cave scenes with Pine Kirk, I don't know, I just got this vibe of "yeah, I'm one of the veteran Originals, but I'm happy to be the passer of the torch here".

 

The Spock/Nimoy Prime, New Cast, and Trek 2009 thing was much better handled this time around, IMO, then the passing of the torch to Next Gen in Generations from Kirk, Chekhov, and Scotty.

 

The Generations scenes come across as a bit contrived or unnecessary, and Capt. Harriman is written as a complete incompetant. Granted, I do believe the original scenes started out written for Kirk, McCoy (Chekhov has the most noticeable "McCoy-esque" lines) and Spock, so that might be a factor as well with different actors taking on the lines for Spck and McCoy.

 

Overall, Trek 2009 is a good start for passing the torch without going the way of stupid.

[Sam_SemaJ 0]

This movie scored with it's primary target audience....Those who were not necessarily Trek fans.

 

 

You know I think that Precip got to the heart of it here, the heart of why I really didn't like the plot and sci fi shown in this movie. I did think everythign looked really good...but it just wasn't good trek in my opinion, or good sci fi, and I think I mentioned it before but I've become addicted to Stargate in the last couple years and I'm always really satisfied with their use of science concepts for fiction, new Star Trek really didn't do it for me, and I'm not sure how comfortable I am with this whole reboot the saga thing.

 

Sam

[Kansas 0]

Description Quote from Amazon.com. Features on two disc DVD edition of Star Trek 11. Due for release Nov. 11, available for pre-order at $22.99.

 

Buckle Up.

 

Product Description

 

 

The Star Trek two-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles. Special features are as follows:

 

Disc 1:

 

Commentary—By director J.J. Abrams, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Bryan Burk.

 

A New Vision— J.J. Abrams’ vision was not only to create a Star Trek that was a bigger, more action-packed spectacle but also to make the spectacle feel real. Every aspect of production—from unique locations to the use of classic Hollywood camera tricks—was guided by this overall objective.

 

Gag Reel—Bloopers featuring the entire principal cast.

 

 

Disc 2:

 

Digital Copy

 

Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary

 

Spock Birth

 

Klingons Take Over Narada

 

Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank

 

Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights

 

Prison Interrogation and Breakout

 

Sarek Gets Amanda

 

Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (original version)

 

Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl

 

Sarek Sees Spock

 

To Boldly Go— Taking on the world’s most beloved science fiction franchise was no small mission. Director J.J. Abrams, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof, and executive producer Bryan Burk talk about the many challenges they faced and their strategy for success.

 

Casting— The producers knew their greatest task was finding the right cast to reprise these epic roles. The cast, for their part, talk about the experience of trying to capture the essence of these mythic characters. The piece concludes with a moving tribute to Leonard Nimoy.

 

Aliens— Designers Neville Page and Joel Harlow talk about the hurdles they faced creating new alien species, recreating the Romulans and Vulcans, and designing the terrifying creatures on Delta Vega for the new Star Trek.

 

Score— As a fan of the original series, composer Michael Giacchino embraced the challenge of creating new music for Star Trek while preserving the spirit of Alexander Courage’s celebrated theme.

 

DVD-Rom:

 

STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for XBOX 360

 

Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PC

 

Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PlayStationNetwork

[Kansas 0]

November 17th release upcoming. Disc Additions, prices per Amazon.

 

The One Disc Addition will be offered for $10.00 for the first week; Amazon is definitely showing this price, I'm not aware if the retail chains will have this first week price. It will contain some, but not all (deleted scenes) of the extras.

 

If you are all geekified like myself, you will be going for the Two Disc Special Addition. All extras as well as a digital copy of the film will be included. The purchase price through Amazon is $22.99.

 

There is also a Three Disc Special Edition for Blu Ray users. And will contain the Extras, Digital copy, etc. I have no idea what the third disc is for, but the retail price is at $22.99.

 

Even if the 2009 re-boot movie is not what you consider your perfect Trek nirvana, I'd still go for a copy, if just to have a version of what New TOS is all about for your Game Master or Player reference: the prices are pretty good.