New Star Trek Movie: Story Theories

[Atrocities]

Good to seeya still around EAX.

Saw the movie today, pretty much agree with EAX. Hated the look of the new enterprise.

[Captain Kwok]

I saw the movie today as well and I thought it was exceptional.

I for one really enjoyed the 'new' look of the ships in the movie.

[AgentZero]

I think a lot of people expected J.J. Abrams to do for Star Trek what Christopher Nolan did for Batman. I went in expecting something more along the lines of what Michael Bay did for Transformers, so I came out more than happy. I also thought the ships were all kinds of pretties.

[Atrocities]

Oh it is an exceptional movie without equal and a tremendous credit to JJ Abrams, cast, and crew for a wonderful movie and job well done. But it isn't what hard core trek people will expect and that is why I say they won't accept it as Star Trek.

I loved the movie from start to finish. Hell even the Enterprise is starting to grow on me. I thought the story was a home run, the interaction of the characters well done, and over all acting very well done. Loved Pike. Even enjoyed the Archer line used by the Scotty.

Special effects were well done, better than any previous trek.

That being said there were people who loved it, like me, and those who hated it. I look forward to the next installment of this new Star Trek and cannot thank JJ Abrams for the kick *** job he did with this movie.

[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.

[AgentZero]

Thank you, AT, for so aptly demonstrating why I'm so firmly against the whole time travel plot device.

[Xrati]

Saw the movie yesterday. Thought it was great. BUT I'm not a firm beleiver that the story lines should never change. I mean like "War of the Worlds." COME ON! Did you really think the aliens were going to win in the remake?

[Black_Knyght]

I saw the movie last night, and can't decide if a should love it or hate it.

There were some excellent parts to it, and some seriously flubbed parts as well.

My biggest peeve is that the inside of each Federation ship was so wildly inconsistent! One moment you're in a high-tech, streamline area, the next you're in a early 20th century boiler room.

And - Plastic cooler curtains in a shuttle???

Loved old Spock AND new Spock. Doctor McCoy rocked! Sulu is cool-headed and badass. Still trying to sort out what I think of the others...

[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.