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Atragon9

Star Trek Film (2009)

292 posts in this topic
You mean Chekhov actually *paid* for that salad-bowl Moe haircut?

 

It isn't a bad picture, and I can find logical reasons for the canon deviations (such as early 21st century technology being superior to what Roddenbury expected for the 23rd), and things like slightly different uniforms and bridge controls I am willing to live with, but I think this movie was made too soon after the Nemesis and Enterprise failures to be a serious reboot attempt. Batman Begins and the Battlestar Galactica miniseries were much better franchise reboots.

 

One word would change that...

 

Pandarians.

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One word would change that...

 

Pandarians.

Shhh. Don't give away the sequel.

 

That Uhura-Spock thing shouldn't have happened. Granted Uhura is a major-league hottie in the film, but that's exactly the point! She could have any guy she wanted. Heck, she even turned down Kirk! So, as a Cadet, she shacks up with a Commander who is also one of her instructors?

 

Oh, yeah, both my STSF characters are endangered species now. There could be some interesting sim developments.

Edited by V'Roy

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They could have done more to fill in the gap between Nemesis and the begining of Star Trek. For example, we know that Ambassador Spock was free to operate openly on Romulus but we're not really sure how this came into being. It would have extended the movie, however, which was already over 2 hours.

 

The Star Trek Countdown book did actually expand on post-Nemesis Trek and some of the things Spock was up to on Romulus. It was a story that served as a passing of the baton from TNG crew to the new TOS crew, and did it very well. It was written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman who were two of the main writers of the new movie.

 

So, if you didnt get it, run to Amazon or your nearest book store (or comic book store!) and get the Star Trek Countdown TP for this awesome story ;P

 

(I never shy away from being a sales whore. I'm actually writing this from work too lol)

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That Uhura-Spock thing shouldn't have happened. Granted Uhura is a major-league hottie in the film, but that's exactly the point! She could have any guy she wanted. Heck, she even turned down Kirk! So, as a Cadet, she shacks up with a Commander who is also one of her instructors?

 

Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds much worse then it did, via movie, but I still liked the Uhura/Spock romance. I am a sucker for that sort of thing.

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Oh my. It was the most awesome Star Wars episode that ever existed!

 

Okay, just kidding. I loved it so much! I don't know if it's appropriate for a spoiler, but I could give the entire movie summary complete with quotes and all right here! Even though I'm a TOS purist I still loved it! They even give you the option of liking it or not by the alternate timeline and all! Excellent, even though all the tech was wrong! And even though all the Romulans and Vulcans had the WRONG EARS! I thought it was kind of funny, though it's a shame Gary Mitchell and Finnigan weren't there. Anyone who hasn't seen it must!

 

EDIT: Oh, weird I was planning on being a Vulcan in the U.S.S. Hood sim. Now all the Vulcans are dead not to mention the Hood.

 

EDIT2: As for what I think of Spock romances - look at my avatar! ;)

Edited by Leila Kalomi

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Before having read any of this thread, I'd like to give my unadulterated opinion.

 

To quote Karl Urban from CNN this morning, "Buckle up! Star Trek is ballistic, it's sexy, and it's back!"

 

I was thrilled to see the movie at 7pm last night. Much to my surprise it was bold and refreshing. The trailers had led me to believe that the crew would "boldly go" but I wondered where that would take them, and was pleased to find out that it's taken them into a new dimension of tongue-in-cheek believability that meshes the old with the new. In a nutshell, I found I didn't come out saying WOW - as I did with LOTR - but I did come out thoroughly entertained, having had fun, having had both a good laugh and a few catches in my throat, and having had my Trek fix realized enough to want to see it a few more times.

 

That having been said, a few personal "ratings":

Pet peeve/ Nerd comment:

One does not thrust out of space dock and go immediately to warp within the Sol system.

Biggest disappointments:

1. Though Ben Cross plays an admirable Sarek, I so miss Mark Lenard and will forever equate the roll of Sarek with him, as I do the role of the elder Spock with Leonard Nimoy. (Kudos to Zachary Quinto for playing an impressive younger Spock.)

2. A.C. Crispin's treatment of Amanda's death in Sarek far surpassed Amanda's lackluster demise in the movie. It triggered memories of Guinan, telling Tasha Yar that her death was senseless and made me hope that if they do return to the original time line in future movies, her death will be given greater honor.

Biggest Surprise:

That the relationship between Spock and Uhuru actually worked. The acting was so good and the amount of time given to it (or perhaps the amount of time
not
given to it) made it actually believable. Other factors that make it work; Sarek's intimation that he married Amanda because he
loved
her; the writing and the direction that makes the relationship mature.

Greatest enjoyment:

1. The excellently done tongue-in-cheek digs at the original series, from the incessant hypospray to McCoy's "Are you out of your Vulcan mind??" and the unbelievable monster chasing Kirk across barren wastes. Darn that he didn't ONCE lose or tear his shirt.

2. Spock spacing Kirk - something that should have been done long ago.

3. Seeing Leonard Nimoy play Spock as an aging, wise Vulcan. Touched my heart.

 

When you go, be sure to go when the theater will be packed with Trekkies. The comments and encouragement to the screen from the crowd were priceless - a true testimony to Trek Nerddom, like out of character comments during a sim (sorry, guys - no offense ment ;) ).

 

That's it from me. More later maybe? Now I'll read your comments.

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Well the whole point is that it's an alternate timeline. As a stand alone movie, it was awesome, but it chucks 40 years of canon out the window. From a role-playing stance, we just presume we're in the unaltered regular timeline. ;)

 

Total agreement here. It's the only thing they could have done to make it acceptable to die-hard nerds like us. From the moment that Nero said, "Where is Ambassador Spock?" I knew the movie would be acceptable.

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I agree with you Farrington. In everything. I'm so glad Nimoy-Spock was in it! Though the annhilation of Vulcan was unnessary. And Sarek wasn't what he was before. And Amanda died lamely. And McCoy jamming his hypo into Kirk's neck was good. I totally think making Spock mad and beat up Kirk should have been like "This Side of Paradise."

 

EDIT: Snaps, I just realized Chapel and Rand where nowhere seen!

Edited by Leila Kalomi

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Hey there,

 

One thing I would caution everyone on. Simply saying "We're in the un-modified" timeline is not necessarily enough. Using that, in 2011 (2387 IC), Romulus' star will need to go super nova and Ambassador Spock will go MIA thru a temporal vortex. Now, that might be fine, but...it 'is.' That part of this movie was taking place in the "unmodified/original" timeline. While it is an "alternate timeline," this will be the modern mainstream Trek for (hopefully) many more movies to come.

 

I'm certain each game will make their own decisions about what is and isn't incorporated. For example, if one embraces the new timeline, then "Spock" won't necessarily be on Romulus in 2387 to say "I'll stop the super nova." Perhaps the Romulans seek Federation help and succeed in stopping the super nova. The end result? Vulcan is really "new Vulcan" in reality but other than that life can "go forward." A few games might simply say Romulus goes boom and Spock vanishes. Some might just ignore the entire film, so I know people will be staying tuned to see what their GMs will be doing. ;)

 

Oh, and V'Roy, your character's species would be endangered in the 2260s...not necessarily in 2385. Since I think the count is what we saw TOS was 126 years in the past, that means the 10,000K that survived will hit Pon Farr at least 18 times...plus moderate times for their offspring, population could easily be back near 3/4 of a million at a minimum. No, not a ton, but not necessarily endangered either.

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I really wasn't thrilled by the characterization of the Romulans. To me, it seemed like Trek reboot + Nemesis whenever they encountered Nero.

 

Something I forgot to mention- lame Romulans. They should really be more than one-dimensional stereotypical bad guys. They are certainly deeper and more worthy than that. Ditto to your comment on Nero, Grom.

 

I was thankful that the Romulans did not have weird helmets and rather liked the tattoo thing that set them apart from Vulcans - much more believable than them growing helmets in subsequent generations (or is that not a natural thingy?).

 

Appeal: They did a fantastic job of appealing to the old while ushering in the new. I did not feel like a total geek sitting in the theater, aside from it being opening night. This film surpassed the Star Wars reboots for sure in terms of appeal and delivery.

 

It may seem like I hated the movie, but it's easier to criticize than to praise. I still give it an A- for the fact that this was thoroughly Trek and yet something new.

 

Total agreement there.

 

::back to reading::

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Oh, and V'Roy, your character's species would be endangered in the 2260s...not necessarily in 2385. Since I think the count is what we saw TOS was 126 years in the past, that means the 10,000K that survived will hit Pon Farr at least 18 times...plus moderate times for their offspring, population could easily be back near 3/4 of a million at a minimum. No, not a ton, but not necessarily endangered either.

But I've already petitioned the race to be covered under the Endangered Species Act. If successful, my death in a sim is a federal crime.

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Only the Uhura-Spock thread caused my brain to hurt

I was hoping someone posted something like this. The Uhuru/Spock relationship thing did cause me as well to go Ruh Roh Raggy. However, it could be said that this relationship has been done before, though in a highly, highly glossed over type of thing and left up to viewer imagination.

 

I refer to Charlie X, one of the early episodes from TOS: in the scene where several of the main crew are fraternizing in the lounge. Spock is playing his Vulcan harp. Uhuru is singing, and directly teasing Spock with the lyrics. Spock actually offers a tiny smirked smile to her.

 

I've always got the impression from that one scene that she was "allowed" to make fun of him because, well, the two had at least some sort of history, romantic or otherwise.

 

Random movie musings:

 

Overall: Good stuff. Go see. Alternate timeline. 40 years of canon that is left alone. Whole new Alternate 'Verse introduced to play in. Beloved original characters who get a recharge. Win win situation. Boo Yah.

 

Favorite comedic scene: McCoy and Kirk, with McCoy running about shooting Kirk up with hypo after hypo, "Dammit Jim, stay still".

 

Favorite action scene: the first fifteen minutes of the film with the USS Kelvin. Hands down. That was some damn fine overall naval to naval sci fi cinematography and adventure.

 

Nero: Is-sues. Issues. This dude needs some pills, or something. And ya know what? He reminded me of Khan from Trek 2 with the obsession complex.

 

The Centuari Brain Bug: Seriously, I think this thing was supposed to be a cousin to the Ceti Eel thing from Trek 2.

 

General Design: they kept the shuttles boxy and with sharp angles, just like the TOS, and the Enterprise had the white and red runner "pin striping" from Star Trek 5. I don't look for stuff like that, but when I spot it, I appreciate the effort.

 

Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Pike: He anchored the film. Totally. I'm not insulting Nimoy and the main cast here, but Greenwood had the necessary backbone and cinematic chops as Pike to give some street cred.

 

Leonard Nimoy as Original Spock (or I should say "Spock Prime" per the credits): Mister Nimoy was the springboard for this "New Trek" - his part, though smallish, is a nice little tip of the hat to this new "Alternate Universe Trek".

 

Final Thought: I had FUN.

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Favorite comedic scene: McCoy and Kirk, with McCoy running about shooting Kirk up with hypo after hypo, "Dammit Jim, stay still".

Oh, yeah. That was funny. Kirk with big hands and swollen tongue. And you know what? McCoy probably had the medical knowledge to medically sneak him on the ship with less embarrassing symptoms, but just wanted to screw with him a bit. Who knew hyposprays hurt so much?

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Oh, yeah. That was funny. Kirk with big hands and swollen tongue. And you know what? McCoy probably had the medical knowledge to medically sneak him on the ship with less embarrassing symptoms, but just wanted to screw with him a bit. Who knew hyposprays hurt so much?

Yeah, I had such a kick out of that. ;) ;)

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The Centuari Brain Bug: Seriously, I think this thing was supposed to be a cousin to the Ceti Eel thing from Trek 2.

 

Yeah, it was pretty lame. Come to think of it they never really did follow through with that sub-plot. I wonder if it got cut from the final version, which reminds me - I can't wait for the director's cut to come out!

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You know, it had alot of Stargatish elements to it, I think. I loved the tippy end where Nimoy-Spock says the Final Frontier thingy and the music is at the end.

 

Summary of Entire Movie: Way after everything that has ever happened happened Nimoy-Spock successfully ruins his family's, his race's, the Romulan race's, and all his friend's lives perfectly and completely. The End.

 

BTW, isn't the Romulan species in even more doo doo than the Vulcan one?

Edited by Leila Kalomi

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I got a big kick out of the Kobayashi Maru test. The way Kirk was was having so much fun and then he starts munching on that apple.

 

Does anyone recall the scene from The Wrath of Kahn when Kirk, McCoy and Checkov were stuck on Regula I with Carol and David Marcus. They were sitting on the grass inside that planet waiting for rescue and the Kobayashi Maru came up. I think it was McCoy who said something like "Meet the only Starfleet cadet to ever beat the Kobayashi Maru scenario" and he pointed at Kirk. Then Kirk explained how he managed to outsmart the program and David Marcus said "He cheated." Kirk went on to say "I don't believe in the no win scenario."

 

They were all sitting there munching on apples. I thought it was nice touch to have the young Kirk pull out an apple as he was cheating on his third attempt to beat the no win scenario.'

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Hey there,

 

One thing I would caution everyone on. Simply saying "We're in the un-modified" timeline is not necessarily enough. Using that, in 2011 (2387 IC), Romulus' star will need to go super nova and Ambassador Spock will go MIA thru a temporal vortex. Now, that might be fine, but...it 'is.' That part of this movie was taking place in the "unmodified/original" timeline. While it is an "alternate timeline," this will be the modern mainstream Trek for (hopefully) many more movies to come.

 

Except the entire point of doing a reboot of the franchise is so that they don't have to deal with 40 years of canon. They even say, right in the movie 'alternate timeline, we can't assume it plays out the same.' History, as our characters know it, changed, irrevocably.

 

Put another way, the history established in most games is that in which Vulcan didn't explode in 2258, nor was there a whole bit with, you know, Pike only captaining the Enterprise for all of six hours. This movie changed history so that the writers could do whatever they darned well pleased from here on out and new people coming in don't need to know 40 years of established trek lore to get into the series.

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Put another way, the history established in most games is that in which Vulcan didn't explode in 2258, nor was there a whole bit with, you know, Pike only captaining the Enterprise for all of six hours. This movie changed history so that the writers could do whatever they darned well pleased from here on out and new people coming in don't need to know 40 years of established trek lore to get into the series.

 

 

This is true, And as said someplace earlier in this thread, Each game can do with it as they wish. Our games can keep going in our normal universe or if allowed by the GMs of your game, If you want to change the backround of a character this wold be a way to do it.

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::sigh:: Well, this is the second time in as many months that I seem to be the only person who *didn't* like a major science fiction event (the other one being the Battlestar Galactica series finale).

 

I was really disappointed with this movie altogether, and I would like to think that even had it not been Trek or I not been a Trekker and analyzing it entirely on cinematic merit I would have felt the same way. The script was stilted and made me laugh occasionally when it clearly didn't mean to; the story was strange and felt rushed and not as fully thought out as it could have been. It had a problem which I remember disliking about the "Get Smart" film...they were trying so hard to stuff all the cliches into one movie, one after another after another, that it all became rather haphazard. Much of it also seemed layered with implausibility (a kid with a criminal history and bad Academy record is promoted directly from Cadet to Captain because of *one* mission? And Chekov, by comparison, remains an ensign for like...eight years?) and many things that could have been explained were not (what is "red matter"? what happened to the Centaurian eel thing? Etc...).

 

The characters themselves seemed extremely flat for much of the film -- McCoy and Scotty occasionally had moments of good characterization but the movie for the most part seemed to suffer from the same difficulties that people once accused ST:V of having -- that the characters existed to be laughed at rather than with, as comic relief rather than personalities. Uhura existed more or less to be hot, Chekov existed to say "Wulcan" a lot, Sulu existed to forget to turn the parking brake off and to have a really cool extendable sword.

 

The Romulans...first of all I'm surprised that they would make the Romulans the villains of this movie at all, given that the Klingons were the main villains of TOS and probably have better wide-appeal anyway and Nemesis had just done a Romulan-villain movie already. Also, as Jami and Grom said, they were also kind of one-dimensional as villains, and perhaps, having just created a Romulan char for the first time, I feel biased on this subject, but that bothered me.

 

That being said...it was beautifully designed and beautifully shot, a very, very pretty movie with some good lines and sequences and excellent action. Additionally, I have not yet spoken to a single person who didn't like it, so I'm beginning to wonder if I just watched a different movie. I have managed to be accused of being a party pooper and (once) of having no taste, so some people are rather up in arms about its quality. Interesting, and probably in the long run a good thing, though I would like to think I went into this with an open mind and very much wanting to like it and am not simply spitting into the wind to annoy people.

 

I do think it's interesting that an installment purported to bring new fans to the franchise so deliberately created an alternate universe, leaving a whole pile of fans thinking *that* is the definitive Trek when the impact of the plot on so many levels was intended to come from how *different* it was from the definitive Trek.

 

Well the whole point is that it's an alternate timeline. As a stand alone movie, it was awesome, but it chucks 40 years of canon out the window. From a role-playing stance, we just presume we're in the unaltered regular timeline. ;)
Per Fred's comments, I'm not sure that is really the case, but I do hope that this will not cause too many games to completely upheave their current situations, because that would be unfortunate.

 

((Also, RE: Jami's comments...I too had the novel "Sarek" in my head when Amanda died -- as a matter of fact every time Sarek or Amanda was on the screen really. It's my favorite Star Trek novel EVER by a wide, wide margin, and I couldn't help the comparison, but as "Sarek" is not canon I do not hold it against the movie so much.))

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Oh man, so the BSG series finale really was bad? Frak...

 

The movie left a lot of stuff there too stew after the ending (which, I love to an extreme, but I don't know about anyone else), and to me, it seemed like a mix of BSG and Star Trek (in a good way), but I can see how some people would be pretty iffy about it. I agree with you Sam, about leaving a whole pile of fans that were drawn in by the new movie, to think that was definitive Trek, and really, while it seemed to have been marketed to draw in new fans (I just saw the Burger King add with Klingons while I was watching Dollhouse, so I can really see it), but it seems to have the plot designed for Trekkers who could get the idea of the alternative reality scheme.

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I got a big kick out of the Kobayashi Maru test. The way Kirk was was having so much fun and then he starts munching on that apple.

 

Does anyone recall the scene from The Wrath of Kahn when Kirk, McCoy and Checkov were stuck on Regula I with Carol and David Marcus. They were sitting on the grass inside that planet waiting for rescue and the Kobayashi Maru came up. I think it was McCoy who said something like "Meet the only Starfleet cadet to ever beat the Kobayashi Maru scenario" and he pointed at Kirk. Then Kirk explained how he managed to outsmart the program and David Marcus said "He cheated." Kirk went on to say "I don't believe in the no win scenario."

 

They were all sitting there munching on apples. I thought it was nice touch to have the young Kirk pull out an apple as he was cheating on his third attempt to beat the no win scenario.'

I didn't even notice that homage. I just know that, whatever you do, it is harder to be taken seriously at it while you are eating an apple. You could tell someone their mom just died, and it is takes on a comedic overtone if you are eating an apple.

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...about leaving a whole pile of fans that were drawn in by the new movie, to think that was definitive Trek, and really, while it seemed to have been marketed to draw in new fans...it seems to have the plot designed for Trekkers who could get the idea of the alternative reality scheme.

 

This is a better way of phrasing what I was trying to say on that score. Thank you. ;)

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Except the entire point of doing a reboot of the franchise is so that they don't have to deal with 40 years of canon. They even say, right in the movie 'alternate timeline, we can't assume it plays out the same.' History, as our characters know it, changed, irrevocably.

 

I agree completely! JJ Abrams was blunt about it.....he made this movie for people who had never seen Star Trek. It was a complete reboot and it was necessary in order for Trek to survive.

 

Let's hope this film generates an entirely new fan base. Along with those of us who have loved it for eons, these new fans should help propel Star Trek well into the future.

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Just saw it again last night. I've been absolutely thrilled, and noticed a few things the second time around that I'd missed the first. (What I thought was a toy ship, turns out to be a salt shaker).

 

I'm ready for the sequel. I think this is going to rejuvenate the series, somehow. Maybe when LOST is off the air, JJ will try and run a series? Or maybe it will be a new face. But it's coming back. Plus, I would like to see Porthos "reappear". Did anyone catch that?

 

We should start tracking our numbers here. I have a feeling we're going to start seeing alot of people start walking through our doors, soon.

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