New Star Trek Movie: Story Theories

[AgentZero]

I definitely agree with AT that there's going to be a lot of hard core Trek people who are going to be very unhappy with this one. There is a key event in the plot where the timeline takes a rather massive deviation from that of previous Trek lore (trying to avoid spoilers, but those who have seen it hopefully know what I'm on about), where a few people in my cinema walked out, loudly declaring the whole movie to be BS.

But despite the inclusion of time-travel, a staple Trek plot device that I've railed against from the beginning, this gives them the opportunity to start fresh and forge a new, more cohesive Trek where hopefully everyone and their dog won't have access to time machines.

[Atrocities]

About the time line.
It is safe to say that the time line was already an altered one given the evidence at hand. The Kelvin. The ship design was TMP (Trek Movie Picture)era although it was being used in pre-TOS (Trek Original Series) era. Look at the design of the Kelvin and you can see that it does not resemble in any way the Enterprise of TOS era, or prior. It however does resemble the Enterprise of TMP, post TOS era.

So it is safe to conclude that both Spock and Nero were products of an already previously altered reality prior to entering into the time line of he movie thereby altering that already altered time line.

I believe the time line was altered by the events that transpired in the TV series Enterprise.

Now I foresee the final movie in this new Trek franchise having Kirk return to the time proceeding Enterprise, and preventing the time altering events which caused the first alternate reality, his fathers reality, and eventually the altered reality that came about as a result of Nero's involvement.

Remember, in the original TOS, Kirk met the Romulans as a result of there aggression in the events of Balance of Terror some 100 years after the Earth Romulan war which NEVER took place in the era of Enterprise which is should have.* Additionally, Kirks family were killed by Governor Kodos, and Kirk had an older brother. The Enterprise was built in the San Francisco fleet yards, not in the corn fields of Iowa.

* A note on this topic. I would be safe to conclude that by the time the events of Enterprise had transpired, Earths history had already been altered by the events of First Contact whereupon the Borg had traveled back in time and attacked Earth thus altering the time line. However the time line was resorted by the efforts of Picard and crew thus this could not have been the event that changed the time line prior to Archers adventures.

Therefore the safe bet is to conclude that the events of the Temporal cold war were to blame for the altering of the time line that placed George Kirk on the bridge of the Kelvin at the moment that Nero entered into his reality.

Needless to say something altered Earths history prior to the events of Enterprise. Generally speaking by the time those events should have transpired, the Earth Romulan war should have already happened. And Zefram Cochrane should have been on the Alpha Centauri colony. (As noted in TOS Episode that featured him.)

Thusly something, or most likely someone, altered Earths history thus starting an alternate reality.

In conclusion it can be argued quite effectively that the Spock that went back in time with Nero was not the Spock from TOS or TMP era.

[S.R. Krol]

Originally Posted by AgentZero

But despite the inclusion of time-travel, a staple Trek plot device that I've railed against from the beginning, this gives them the opportunity to start fresh and forge a new, more cohesive Trek where hopefully everyone and their dog won't have access to time machines.

Yeah, personally I thought it would have been a much better movie without the inclusion of time travel for not only the reason you state, but also the fact it needlessly complicates matters. Okay, so now there's Spock Prime and Neo-Spock. What happens if Neo-Spock gets killed or injured does Spock Prime suffer too? And as a buddy was saying considering how common time travel is in Trek why doesn't everyone do it? Why not just have this endless circular universe where people keep going back in time and changing the future?

Instead of time travel why not simply say it was an alternate reality (sorta talked about in the cave)? We already know from Trek canon there are other universes/dimensions, and having Spock Prime and Nero break through from their universe into the "new" Trek universe would be a simpler explanation, and still manages to explain away why everything is now how it is.

The time travel plot point was my biggest peeve with the movie, but I do have two nitpicks. One, what was up with the lens flare? It was bad enough for the space scenes but got really annoying with the bridge scenes. It was like some computer game from the late '90s. Two, Uhuru and Spock? Hunh? Did they cut out something explaining it or was she just really, really grateful for him allowing her to join the Enterprise?

Overall though I enjoyed it and think the next one will be nice because you got the new character introductions out of the way and can now just jump right in.

[Atrocities]

Issues that upon reflection kinda weaken my love for this movie a tad.

1. Recruit to Captain in 3 years.
2. Planet to ship at warp transporter
3. From Earth to Vulcan in 5 minutes
4. For not supposedly knowing the Romulans, they weren't surprised at seeing one. (oops - Old TOS time line)
5. The internal design of the ships. As BK pointed out.
6. How many people could fit into a shuttle? I counted 13 shuttles leaving the Kelvin and there were suppose to be 800 people on them?
7. Why did Nero's ship look like the asteroid from Armageddon?
8. Building the Enterprise in Iowa.

There a few more but they are minor. Over all this was a great movie. I look forward to the next one like a giddy child looking forward to Christmas morning.

[Xrati]

I liked the new bridge.
Didn't care for what happened to Vulcan.
Most of the characters looked like their original counterparts, except for Kirk and Checkov!

Now armed with Spocks knowledge, the next movie will end up in borg space!!!

Live Long and Prosper...

[Kana]

Got to love SNL.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/72444/satu...ture-star-trek

[Atrocities]

I have to tell you, I was smiling almost the entire movie. It was such a good feeling to see these characters brought back to life in such a good movie. The theater was packed, and not one person, say for the fat dude and the "Geek club" people, had a bad thing to say about this movie. The line for the next showing went out side and that hasn't happened for a movie in a very long time. So ya, Hats off to JJ Abrams and Star Trek. Its about f***ing time we got a good NSTO (New Star Trek Original) movie.

[Makinus]

Originally Posted by Atrocities

1. Recruit to Captain in 3 years.

According to captain Pike while he is "recruiting" Kirk the normal time would be 8 years, 4 to graduation, ten the cadets would serve for 4 more year in ships until becoming Captains... the 3 years in the movie was because of an emergency...

Originally Posted by Atrocities

2. Planet to ship at warp transporter

According to Spock it was a future development by Scotty in the far future (probably post Star Trek XI, as Scotty was still alive by then).

Originally Posted by Atrocities

3. From Earth to Vulcan in 5 minutes

That was strange!

Originally Posted by Atrocities

4. For not supposedly knowing the Romulans, they weren't surprised at seeing one. (oops - Old TOS time line)

After what happened to the Kelvin Federation was probably more aggressive toward the Romulans, and conceivably meet then sooner.

Originally Posted by Atrocities

5. The internal design of the ships. As BK pointed out.

Yep.

Originally Posted by Atrocities

6. How many people could fit into a shuttle? I counted 13 shuttles leaving the Kelvin and there were suppose to be 800 people on them?

Maybe, or maybe not: Kirk´s mother escaped in "Medical Shuttle 37" that suggest that there are at least 37 shuttles and they had varying types... The shuttle that J Kirk goes to starfleet after "enlisting" appears to be much bigger than the "Medical Shuttle", i estimate that, packed like sardines, it could hold from 20 to 30 people. Maybe the shuttles that we see in the end of the movie beggining sequence are only the last ones to escape from the Kelvin and there are others that escaped sooner.

Originally Posted by Atrocities

7. Why did Nero's ship look like the asteroid from Armageddon?

It was an asteroid miner? Or i´m imagining things?

Originally Posted by Atrocities

8. Building the Enterprise in Iowa.

Yeah, it really doesn´t make sense.

[Kana]

Originally Posted by Atrocities

3. From Earth to Vulcan in 5 minutes

From one source I have Vulcan is no farther than 20 light years away (looks like between 10 and 15). At a fast enough Warp Factor, that could easily be a short trip. One might have to look on some of the Star Trek sites to see if an actual distance to Vulcan is listed somewhere, and what WF is needed to travel that distance.

[Baron Munchausen]

According to Trek lore Vulcan is supposed to orbit 40 Eridani, which is known to be about 16 light years from our solar system. Covering 16 light years in "five minutes" would require a speed of 1,681,920 times the speed of light. I don't think any warp scale ever used in the Trek universe goes that high. One way or another, either in depicting too high a speed or failing to depict the passage of time correctly, they goofed.