[Kraetos]

First is my very brief review of Star Trek, which is spoiler-free. After that, though, spoilers are fair game and I don't intend to tag them.

I'm starting a new thread for this because it's going to get real tedious, real fast if we keep using spoiler tags, but I don't want to start putting naked spoilers in the other thread. Also, that thread is fifteen pages long and three years old.

Review

The most important thing to point out about Star Trek is that it's an incredible film regardless of whether or not you are a Trekkie. I went with three friends: one who knows jack about Trek, a casual fan, and a pretty serious fan. Between the four of us we pretty much covered the Trek-knowledge spectrum from end to end, and we all loved it.

Make no mistakes: first and foremost, Star Trek is an action-adventure movie. However, a great action-adventure movie, in and of itself, isn't particularly noteworthy. What makes Star Trek stand out is that it is also real, honest to goodness Star Trek.

Par for the course would have been a movie which fits nicely into the Star Trek mythos. But Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman took it one step further: Star Trek doesn't simply integrate into Trek lore, it expands upon it in a way that nobody, myself included, could have possibly predicted.

The balance between "action movie" and "Star Trek movie" is perfect. The casting is truly inspired. Pine and Quinto are amazing together, which is good, because when you get down to it, that's what this movie is about: the birth of the epic Kirk-Spock friendship. I think the most interesting casting move was Simon Pegg as Scotty. I was worried that it wouldn't work, but Pegg manages to blend his comedic skills into the character perfectly.

Star Trek is visually stunning. The Enterprise is beautiful. The new CGI for transporters, phasers, torpedoes, and warp speed are fantastic. When the Enterprise warps into battle you'll get goosebumps.

There were a few slip-ups. There was one instance of product placement that felt very out of place. I noticed a few canon violations, most of them minor, although there is one very egregious lapse which we're all just going to have to accept. I'll detail it later, and you get Trek points if you can point it out before then, but Capella can't play because I know she already knows the answer There were a few plot holes, but most of them were standard-issue Trek plot holes, so it's not really a big deal.

But these issues are very minor. Even with a few gaffes, this was an incredible movie - the best I've seen in years.

For what it's worth, Star Trek appears to have stabilized at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, placing it above The Dark Knight.

Having slept on it, I now feel it is safe to say this:

Star Trek is the best Trek movie. It falls just short of perfect. It is the pinnacle of the franchise, and it is Star Trek the way it should be. You must see this movie.

[Kraetos]

Analysis
CAUTION: OPEN SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD.

My single favorite "good work, J.J." moment was when we discovered that Spock wrote the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Stop, and think about that for a moment. When you're finished processing, go watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn one more time.

"I never took the Kobayashi Maru test, until now. What do you think of my solution?"

"Spock..."

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend. Live long, and prosper."

Wait, why didn't Spock take the Kobayashi Maru? Don't all cadets have to take it? Answer: because Spock wrote the damn thing.

Later, Kirk tells his son:

"I haven't faced death. I cheated death. Tricked my way out of death, and patted myself on the back for ingenuity. I know nothing."

Spock writes the Kobayashi Maru. Kirk cheats, and passes... the first cadet to do so. Spock is pissed. The two reconcile and become best of friends. Twenty-five years later, Kirk and Spock are faced with the real life "Kobayashi Maru," and when Spock dies in the process, and Kirk finds himself unable to deal with the death of his dearest friend.

In other words, Kirk has trouble handling the death of his closest friend, Spock, because he cheated his way out of the test designed to teach this specific aspect of command... a test which Spock himself wrote.

Damn.

There were other moments of brilliance. Like...

ZOMG THEY IMPLODED VULCAN!!!

But, more important than the fact that they imploded Vulcan is the fact that they didn't un-implode Vulcan. I was waiting the entire movie for Spock/Spock Prime/Scottie come up with a way to save Vulcan; it actually didn't occur to me that Vulcan could implode for reals until the movie was almost over. As a Trekkie, when I see an important planet get sucked into a quantum singularity, my immediate, conditioned response is "oh, I'm sure they'll find a way to fix that."



No! No they wont! That planet just fucking IMPLODED INTO A BLACK HOLE and you can't just magically pull a planet out of a black hole like a rabbit from a top hat!

... unless your name is Brannon Braga and your solution for everything involves chronitions or temporal rifts or transwarp conduits or some other nonsense that makes no fucking sense at all but somehow puts our heros right back where they started.

RIP Reset Button, and good fucking riddance. Not only is the temporal-chronometic-transwarp-slipspace-antimatter-bullshit rift a cop out from a writers perspective, ranking somewhere between "it was a dream" and "you were in a coma," it has a tendency to hand the time-travel switch over to the Captain, which is the single fastest way to introduce gaping plot holes into any sci-fi story.

I mean, where does it end? For the sake of argument, lets say that the two Spocks and Scottie found a way to use Spock Primes' ship, some of that red matter, and that ginormous black hole currently situated where Vulcan used to be, to go back in time to before those Federation ships left the Starbase and warn them about Nero, thereby saving the day.

Oh, and since they were already going back in time anyway, they might as well stop off in 2233 and save Kirk's Dad or even use some more of that red matter to blow up Nero's ship right as it enters the new timeline.

Maybe Kirk should go back to 1930 and kill Hitler, while he's at it.

I hate it when the protagonists are given the ability to time travel. I have nothing against time travel itself and done correctly (as it was in this case) it can be incredibly entertaining. In order to be done correctly, the hero cannot be given the ability to control the time travel mechanism. The second you give the hero the ability to travel through time at will, you introduce an irreconcilable, gaping plot hole: if the hero can time travel, why wouldn't he simply go back in time to the event that started the problem in the first place and stop it? (Unless you want to go off in the "unexpected changes to the timeline" direction which can be great fun, but is very difficult to write.)

See Star Trek: Generations for the quintessential example of why giving the hero the ability to time travel is like putting the plot through a paper shredder. Picard can leave the nexus and reenter the normal universe at any point in time he chooses and he decides to travel back in time a couple minutes ago? What the fuck, man? Travel back to the beginning of the movie when Soran is chillin in Ten-Forward and toss his ass in the brig! Movie over!

But that's not what happened. Vulcan was destroyed. Six billion Vulcans, dead. And they aren't coming back.

Even though I shed a single tear when Vulcan was destroyed and Spock's Mom was killed (I mean, someone had to cry, because it wasn't going to be Spock), I can't tell you how happy I am with the abandonment of the reset button.

As long as we're talking about timelines, I have to say, the execution of the divergent timeline reboot was brilliant. We got the clean slate we needed, but we did so without invalidating existing Star Trek lore in any way. I loved it.

I have lots more to say but I'm taking a break for now. Discuss!

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Kraetos I noticed a few canon violations, most of them minor, although there is one very egregious lapse which we're all just going to have to accept. I'll detail it later, and you get Trek points if you can point it out before then, but Capella can't play because I know she already knows the answer

The Enterprise being built in Iowa? Nah, that's too minor a nitpick. Chekov being on the Enterprise from day one instead of season two? Nah, he could've been there all along, just not on the bridge in TOS.

Originally Posted by Kraetos My single favorite "good work, J.J." moment was when we discovered that Spock wrote the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Stop, and think about that for a moment. When you're finished processing, go watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn one more time.

Oh, yes. I had the same revelation and, boy, I agree it's a damn good one.

Originally Posted by Kraetos RIP Reset Button, and good fucking riddance.

Srsly. As I was watching the movie, right up until the end I kept thinking they'd hit the reset button, but even though I was sad to see Vulcan and its people and culture go, I was absolutely elated that Abrams had the balls to move forward without resorting to such plot hackery.

Originally Posted by Kraetos Discuss!

I saw the movie again this afternoon. It was still a solid 9/10 the second time through and, yeah, I also still think this will be the #1 Trek movie for most people. My wife loved the movie. We went together both last night and today. She never got into TOS or the old movies, but she enjoys the occasional TNG show and had a blast at the Las Vegas Star Trek Experience. I'm pretty sure I have a new Trek fangirl on my hands now.

I think this is the type of movie that you really need to watch twice to fully appreciate. I "got it" all (except for some small details) the first time around, but my wife was a little fuzzy on the time travel bits. After the second showing, though, it totally clicked for her and she said everything made sense.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of so many little nods to the old Trek canon and a few curious parallels with the alternate timeline. I'll throw out a few subtle observations I've been trying to remember this evening.

• (parallel) Pike in the wheelchair at the end. I already imagine a parody or dub of Pike sitting there and saying "beeeep beeeep".
• (parallel) Kirk being awarded a medal of commendation not for "original thinking" on the Kobayashi Maru but for saving Earth.
• (nod) Scotty accidentally killing/"losing" Admiral Archer's dog. Oh, I did enjoy that little jab.
• (nod) McCoy calls out an order at one point to Nurse Chapel off-screen.
• (nod) That space station near Earth? We've never seen it before on screen, but its shape is pretty similar (albeit far from proportioned) to the space station design from the old tech manual. I don't feel like digging out my scanner; so, here's an iPhone snapshot.
  
  Maybe it's just a coincidence? I dunno. As soon as I saw it on screen, I immediately thought of this old diagram.

Some thoughts as to how this timeline will be different:

• (major) The Klingon/Romulan war. Instead of having that big skirmish between the TOS and TNG eras, could Nero's destruction of two dozen Klingon ships spark that conflict earlier?
• (major) Old Spock's plans for reunification. Since the Romulans' original home planet has been destroyed and their "brother" race nearly wiped out, could that prompt for an earlier attempt at reunification or reconciliation? Or would this mean that the Romulans will never get the chance to integrate with the old Vulcan culture?
• (minor) Spock and Sarek's relationship. In the old timeline, these guys were estranged for a while. Sarek died without ever getting the chance to tell Spock that he loved him. With the loss of Spock's mother and Sarek having opened up to Spock about loving her, does this mean that they'll have a better relationship with one another?

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

[709]

Originally Posted by Brad After the second showing, though, it totally clicked for her and she said everything made sense.

Dude, she went with you twice?

I guess she's a keeper.

[Brad]

My wife insists that I point out that she "liked the whale movie with the lady from Seventh Heaven and the one with farmer Hoggett from Babe that I can never remember his name but that I remember he turned up the music in that movie and rocked out so he's cool and Whoopie Goldberg was in it or something wasn't she? Oh, and the subway with Data and Picard!"

[Brad]

"And the one where Data pushes the chick off the ship and the guy has to walk the plank and it disappears and he gets wet."

[709]

Originally Posted by Brad My wife insists that I point out that she "liked the whale movie with the lady from Seventh Heaven and the one with farmer Hoggett from Babe that I can never remember his name but that I remember he turned up the music in that movie and rocked out so he's cool and Whoopie Goldberg was in it or something wasn't she? Oh, and the subway with Data and Picard!"

Originally Posted by Brad "And the one where Data pushes the chick off the ship and the guy has to walk the plank and it disappears and he gets wet."

Whoa. I suppose I'm fortunate in the fact that I don't know what the hell any of that means.

[709]

Still, though, You have a chick that'll see Star Trek with you, so count your lucky stars.

[Wrao]

I thought Pike was easily one of the strongest performances in the movie. He had that "Makes you want to listen" quality to all of his lines and delivery.

The Product placement didn't make sense. I thought that in the Trek Universe, Earth society collapses after a near-apocalyptic nuclear exchange and the Federation comes about after all that. Doesn't seem likely that there would be many(or any) surviving corporations... But then again, Taco Bell has demonstrated its resilience in post-catastrophe/societal collapse existence and eventual movie product placement.

I stand by my original statement about this movies(which I don't remember if I made in this thread): It should not have been a prequel. Instead, it should have taken place at least 200 years in the future from the latest(timeline) episode of whatever series, and it should have dealt with an entirely new set of circumstances hitherto unseen by the Trek Universe. (Like maybe leaving the Milky Way)

Lastly, I honestly felt the movie was just as much of a parody of Star Trek as it was an actual Star Trek movie(And I guess I should clarify, I'm not a ST "fan").

[Unch]

Originally Posted by Wrao The Product placement didn't make sense. I thought that in the Trek Universe, Earth society collapses after a near-apocalyptic nuclear exchange and the Federation comes about after all that. Doesn't seem likely that there would be many(or any) surviving corporations... But then again, Taco Bell has demonstrated its resilience in post-catastrophe/societal collapse existence and eventual movie product placement.

I vaguely remember there being a bit in Demolition Man, where they go to Taco Bell and Sandra Bullock says something about them being the only survivor of the franchise wars.

[Argento]

What I liked is that when Kirk was taking and passing the Kybashi Mauru test he was eating an apple...just like in Star Trek II when he explains to Savick how he passed the test.

The only problem I had with the film (saw it again yesterday after work) was when he's hanging over the edge after he jumps away from the Romulan (on Nero's ship) the gun is on the ground (where he will drop it after he shoots the guy). Looks like they used the same scene and forgot to take it out before he shoots him.

Other than it was great. No reset button was a God sent. I couldn't explain the level of shock I felt when Vulcan went bye bye. If you sit back and realize that 6 billion just got wiped out in a Trek movie...that's pretty intense for Star Trek.

I loved the Enterprise. When it warped in at the end when the missiles were flying at Spock...the goose bumps were relentless at that point. Hell I'd see it again just for that.

Loved Scotty, LOVED him. Great casting, perfect integration of Pegg's humor with enough techno-bable to make him pass for Scotty.

[Wrao]

Originally Posted by Unch I vaguely remember there being a bit in Demolition Man, where they go to Taco Bell and Sandra Bullock says something about them being the only survivor of the franchise wars.

You caught the reference, congratulations.

[psmith2.0]

In my seat...lights go down and movie starts in 10 minutes. Looking forward to it!



Holy hell, when did popcorn and Coke get this $&@! expensive?!?



Medium popcorn and medium Coke...$11. Damn...a "cheap matinee" winds up as $17 affair.

[PKIDelirium]

Ha, I got a medium popcorn and it was like $6.50. I noticed that my theater is using LCD screens for the menus now so they can jack up the prices without much effort, too.

[naren]

I thought it was great! Loved the bit where, on the only planet side mission involving more then one person, the guy in red got whacked.

[thegelding]

saw it last night (11:30 DLP showing). Really Really liked it.

Beautiful, crisp. great job from the actors (the only one who was a bit--not "off" but not "recognizable but a fresh take"--was bones...he actually did the job very well, but he was the only one who seemed like he was trying too hard to "be" bones.

scotty was great, pike was great...the leads were very very good...

i too am glad they didn't hit the reset button...but to be honest, i really didn't think they would until i read the stuff here after seeing the movie...then it was, "oh yeah, in the old trek they would have found a way to turn it back and save vulcan."

to the movies credit, while watching i never even thought that would happen...if it had, gah, i would have been dissappointed.

i would give it a 9 out of 10 also...it had a little bit here and there i might change (not much...but maybe a bit less of the attack on the ice world and the green girl in bed was just badly done...that is what passes for an alien today?) and i might have added a bit of how the homeworlds defended themselves (seems like bana had no problems just setting up in the atmosphere of a warp capable world and just sitting with this big laser facing down with no problems)...but overall, nicely done and well acted (gah? a star trek movie where the acting is one of the strongest parts of it??)



g


ps...i too am so very tired of the time travel stuff...but to this movies credit i think they used it well...almost like a "one time shot" to reset the canon and then dismissed it. time travel here isn't easy of usable or any of that, it is a freak of nature that fucks everything up...
cool...i sat there thinking, "nice, they reset the canon and it didn't feel fake or forced, nor does it seem repeatable or usable again."
and it was cool to see spock getting his freak on and seeing that he and kirk will still have a close but combative relationship...with a bit more humanity and a bit less distance...
and i also thought at the end, damn shatner is kicking himself for letting kirk be killed in what, generations? here it is years later and nimoy is still getting star trek gigs...ha

[psmith2.0]

Just got back.

It was okay.

One of the things I keep reading (and hearing) in reviews is stuff along the lines of "even if you're not a devoted 'Star Trek' fan, you'll love this, and you'll be totally taken in and wrapped up in the story..." and things of that nature.

Horseshit.

You most certainly do have to be a diehard, devoted "Star Trek" fan to give a true rip about all this, or have it resonate. The reactions of Kraetos, Brad and others here (compared to mine) pretty much proves this, IMO. They're genuine, longtime fans with true ties to it. I'm not. A lot of "big moments" are simply lost on me, not having that background and interest.

If this wasn't "Star Trek" (and, in particular, those iconic characters and their "how they came together" story), this would be a fairly pedestrian sci-fi adventure flick. No better, or worse, than tons of others I've seen over the years.

As someone who isn't a diehard fan and knows every little angle, backstory, phrase, reference, etc., a good 40% of the movie was a maze to me.



I had people all around me clapping, "woo-hoo"ing and practically jacking off at every phrase uttered or action undertaken that evoked TOS or any earlier film (including Kirk eating an Apple during a drill/test thingie).



I'm sure that weighs heavily in 'Trek' lore, but - as I said above - it certainly goes over the head of people like me.

It was, to me, a solid 7 or so. I was glad I saw it. I've got no desire to see it again at the theater (too expensive for something this "eh..." to me), but I'm sure I'll watch it when it pops up on FX, TNT and/or USA in 3-4 years (the way way I can sit through many of the other 'Trek' flicks, and enjoy them on a casual, "something on in the background while I crossword or surf" kinda way).

There's not a thing wrong with them; it's just not a huge, longtime part of my life in any true, meaningful way. I recognize that, and it's going to color my take on it all, of course...

What I liked:
- The sound of silence in space in a few scenes...effective and kinda haunting/eerie to me
- The way the camera flew around various ships...half dizzying, half awe-inspiring
- The textured shirts, in richer, "more serious" shades of the original hues
- Winona Ryder is going to make an unbelievably sexy 40/50-something vixen if she ages like that in real life
- Scotty (but probably best kept to small doses...an entire movie of him doing the whole Simon Pegg thing might've been too much; the schtick/comic relief seemed to be a bit too amped-up)
- The transporter audio/video FX (I think the sound is from the original TV show, right? Sounded familiar)
- When the Enterprise was firing all its weapons...bad ass! I didn't know it had so many guns!
- Kirk...just enough subtle nod to Shatner's bravado and mannerisms to seem familiar, but not sink into parody
- The overall look and visuals (CGI, spacescapes, the ships and fly-throughs, etc.)...a real treat for the eyes!
- Nimoy's "Space. The final frontier..." voiceover at the end was mildly lump-in-one's-throat inducing (and that was for me...which means a few here most certainly lost their shit over it completely)

What I wasn't bonkers about:
- Seemed to go out of its way to tie-in/anchor to the past...seemed self-consciously "geekbait" at times
- Leonard Nimoy's bodacious dentures
- Tyler Perry's presence anywhere
- The general feeling of "seen it all before" (big ugly thing flying through space, eating/destroying ships and planets, the time travel thing, Kirk going against the rules and saving the day and honored in front of Federation audience with his crew present, etc.). Some of this movie just felt like spruced-up replays of scenarios I've seen in several of the other movies
- McCoy. Karl Urban is getting all the big attention and praise for his part, but unlike Chris Pine's Kirk, Urban's McCoy is borderline heavy-handed "Dr. McCoy impersonation by a standup comic"...
- The spazmatic fans to my immediate left, front right and directly behind me (I'm afraid to look at the back of my shirt and hat, for fear of finding dried semen from the two-hour warp-speed wanking session that was surely taking place directly over my shoulder, judging by the sound of things). Which kinda gives me an idea for a cool product: Trek logo-emblazoned jerk-off socks, in your choice of shirt colors (yellow, red or blue), with a gold emblem, rank insignia, etc. I'll mock some up in a bit and see what you think...

An enjoyable movie, don't get me wrong. Glad I went, glad I saw it, didn't mind paying the $6.50 whatsoever. But I'm glad I didn't go the other night, with the true geeks/fans and pay full price...it wasn't that awesome for me, put it that way. I would not have wanted to come dragging in at 1:00-3:00am for the privilege, no.



I'm sure there will be sequels, and I'll see them too, I'm sure. A lot of potential here, with a "clean slate" to work from. And the actors are attractive and competent enough to make some neat stories. Maybe in the next three years I can bone up on my "Trek" lore a bit so I can join in the revelry (and unhinged masturbation) taking place all around me?

[Brad]

Heretic! Burn him!

[psmith2.0]

Hey, I was half-expecting a full-on banification for my "opinion", so a little fire ain't that bad.



I liked it more than I didn't.

And that was pretty awesome luck, Kirk getting booted off the Enterprise, landing on Hoth and - lo and behold - not too damn far from the cave of the one person who can put it all together for him. What are the chances?

I can arrange to meet a friend at a pub or restaurant (a building less than 800 square feet) and still have trouble finding them...how, in the entire galaxy, do these two guys end up so close? Never mind the planet thing (that's only part of the stretch, that it was that planet out of all others out there). But that he landed on that planet, and in that perfect spot (not 600 miles away). That strains things a bit...I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them, but there's a limit.



Brad, if you were selling Dr. Pepper ice cream in, say, Lincoln, Nebraska and I was flying over the United States in a spaceship and got tossed off in an escape pod for "mutiny", what are the chances I'd wind up anywhere near you to buy a refreshing treat? That I'd land, get out of the pod, walk around for a bit and come upon your little ice cream stand within 30 or so minutes? Take big scary monsters out of the equation, even.

I'd say "about negative none-zillion".

[billybobsky]

plot failure.

[psmith2.0]

Flashing Vulcan gang signs, that one on the left?

[Capella]

Overall, very good. I am a bit bugged by a few minor canon violations:

-Ceti eel goes WHERE? -WHAT planet was old!Spock stranded on? If he could see Vulcan from the sky it shoulda been T'Khut, but they definitely did not SAY T'Khut. -I'm surprised any ship was being assembled on the ground, aren't they assembled in spacedock?

I was afraid it was going to be a real reboot: the kind where they keep the names and completely lose the spirit of the original. This retained the spirit of Trek, which made me happy. Almost all of the characters were true. Scotty was too comedic for me and not quite right, while Kirk was different. Of course, we know WHY, and I almost want to psychoanalyze the Kirk who lived through his father's death VS the Kirk who lived through Tarsus.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

It's on in Copenhagen.

Mined from a seam of high quality win ore.

I would pay just to see those Starfleet ships warp. They really warp.

I came out stinking. I was sweating. Pike! In wheelchair. Amazing casting.

The Nokia phone in the car made me wince. Bones declaring someone dead. Perfect,

Yes.

[Hassan i Sabbah]

Originally Posted by Capella ight, while Kirk was different. Of course, we know WHY, and I almost want to psychoanalyze the Kirk who lived through his father's death VS the Kirk who lived through Tarsus.

I thought the Kirk in the last five minutes was perfect: just the right blend of smug and kickarse. Really captured the spirit.

[Argento]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 And that was pretty awesome luck, Kirk getting booted off the Enterprise, landing on Hoth and - lo and behold - not too damn far from the cave of the one person who can put it all together for him. What are the chances? I'd say "about negative none-zillion".

Well it actually makes sense that he was dropped so close to Spock. If you think about it the young spock knew there was an outpost close and he didn't want to kill Kirk, he just wanted him off the ship and wanted him close to the outpost.

Same thing with Old Spock. Nero didn't want him dead, he wanted him to live with the pain that Vulcan was gone, so he could have dropped him close to the federation outpost on purpose so he could find food, shelter etc. to survive.

At least that's how the die hard fan in me rationalizes it...

[ezkcdude]

Just got back from it...wow. That totally blew away my expectations. I was brought to the verge of tears during the very first sequence. I love Simon Pegg, so no surprise, Scotty stole the show. "I've never beamed three people from two ships onto one platform." And I was just waiting for a "I'm giving her all she's got" moments. All the leads were great. The action was intense. Special effects were awesome. It was just a fantastic experience from start to finish. I will definitely watch it again many times.

The only question that came up for me was how did Nero know that he had killed Kirk's father?

[Wrao]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 You most certainly do have to be a diehard, devoted "Star Trek" fan to give a true rip about all this, or have it resonate. The reactions of Kraetos, Brad and others here (compared to mine) pretty much proves this, IMO. They're genuine, longtime fans with true ties to it. I'm not. A lot of "big moments" are simply lost on me, not having that background and interest.

I agree. I honestly didn't care about most of the things that happened in the movie. I enjoyed it for its spectacle, humor, and nifty sci-fi setting.

[ezkcdude]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 And that was pretty awesome luck, Kirk getting booted off the Enterprise, landing on Hoth and - lo and behold - not too damn far from the cave of the one person who can put it all together for him. What are the chances? I can arrange to meet a friend at a pub or restaurant (a building less than 800 square feet) and still have trouble finding them...how, in the entire galaxy, do these two guys end up so close? Never mind the planet thing (that's only part of the stretch, that it was that planet out of all others out there). But that he landed on that planet, and in that perfect spot (not 600 miles away). That strains things a bit...I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them, but there's a limit.

Remember Spock was put on that planet by Nero so he would have to watch Vulcan be destroyed. It was obviously the closest planet in the system, and so it makes sense to me that Kirk would end up there when he was booted off the Enterprise. The part about landing close to Spock? Ok, I'll grant you that one.

Also, I'm a fan of Star Trek, but I'm definitely not one of those guys who remembers every plot line, every character. I've seen Wrath of Kahn several times, but not for many years, so I don't remember anything about the apple or the Kobiyashi Maru test (sounded to me like Kaiser Soze). Still, all those parts worked for me. The apple was just an apple to me, but it was still funny because it displayed Kirk's cockiness (if not cleverness).

[Wrao]

I reckon they were close in distance because there was a Federation outpost in the area. Spock was making his way towards the outpost, Kirk landed near the outpost on account of being in a Federation pod.

[psmith2.0]

At the very end, when Kirk showed up in his yellow shirt and was getting in his chair, he told McCoy to "strap in" (or hold on, or something).

The way he said "Bones..." was total Shatner Kirk. He kinda bobbed his head and had that swagger on the way to his chair. I thought that was kinda neat because it was the closest, most blatant nod to Shatner, IMO. And the way he sat in the chair too.

BTW, do those shirt colors mean anything? It can't be rank because Kirk has a yellow one, just like Sulu and Chekov (who drive the ship). Blue probably ties into science somehow because both Spock and McCoy wear that. Is red (Uhura and Scotty) tied to a specific field? Communications and engineering?

I've wondered about this for years (no, decades) and now seems as good a time as any to ask...



I know the rank/status is that stuff on the sleeve/wrist area (but I don't remember if those are even present on these new, textured shirts), so are the colors whatever the person chooses? Or is it tied to their occupation?