Star Trek Movie Annotations

Tue May 12, 2009 — by Alan Kistler

Star Trek Movie Annotations

Wanna know how the new film reflects previously established continuity?

The new Star Trek movie has been blowing people away, providing an introduction for new fans and an alternate time line that allows for even old fans to be surprised.

Every article and review has mentioned how time travel is being used to explain/justify this reboot, this new take on things where old rules are broken or, at least, revised. And yet, it is clear that the writers involved have an affection for what came before, making many references to the canon old school fans know and love.

Thus, we have put together this list of references and nods to other Trek stories. BE WARNED, SPOILERS ABOUND BELOW. If you have not yet seen the new Star Trek film, DO NOT continue reading so you can fully enjoy the story later for yourself.

And while, we're on the subject of Star Trek, for anyone interested: Today, May 12 at the Paley Center in New York (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), I will be part of a panel that is meeting to discuss how different leaders in sci-fi drama compare to James T. Kirk. There will be a discussion with the audience and trivia questions as well, so feel free to attend. The panel begins at 6:30, but if you come at 5 pm, there will be a big-screen viewing of the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage" featuring Captain Pike and a younger Spock. More information can be found at this link.

And now, your list of continuity references.

- The U.S.S. Kelvin is named after J.J. Abrams grandfather.

- Capt. Robau does not recognize Nero's species as Romulan and so he asks where Nero and his crew came from. At this time in Star Trek history, the Romulans had faced the forces of Earth and the United Federation of Planets on many occasions but had never revealed their actual faces in the process, communicating with other ships only by radio. Thus, it's understandable that Robau does not know who he's talking to or where Nero and his crew come from. In the original history, it was actually Kirk's crew who first discovered what Romulans looked like in the episode "Balance of Terror" and realized that they were an off-shoot of the Vulcan race who had chosen to embrace their highly volatile emotions and lust for combat rather than learn the ways of logic above all else.

- Nero mentions he is looking for "Ambassador Spock." We learned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode "Unification" that Spock became a Federation ambassador after leaving Starfleet and that he eventually focused all of his efforts on trying to convince the people of Romulus to re-unite with Vulcan society, so that they too could learn the ways of logic and reason instead of continuing their lives of suspicion, duplicity and conquest. This quest of his was covered in more detail in the novel Crossover by Michael Jan Friedman.

- Romulan military normally wear dark, checkered uniforms, sometimes involving sashes, and have haircuts similar to most Vulcans. However, Nero and his crew are traditionally miners, as he explains, and have different outfits entirely. Their shaved heads and tattoos were an effort by Abrams to distinguish them further from the Vulcans, as he did not want to confuse new fans who were unfamiliar with Trek lore and might assume that Nero was an "evil Vulcan" rather than a member of a completely different culture and society.

- The tattoos of Nero and his crew are explained in the IDW comic book mini-series Star Trek: Countdown, which serves as a prequel to this movie. The comic (which was plotted by this film's screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman) that ancient Romulans who were in mourning would traditionally paint these symbols on their faces as signs of grief. The idea was that when the paint faded, it symbolized that they were ready to move past their grief and resume a normal life. Nero and his people, however, have tattooed rather than painted these symbols on, and Nero himself explains later in the film that he has no intention of letting go of his grief.

- The top part of Nero's ear is missing. In the movie Chopper, Eric Bana played the title character who had a similar wound.

- Nero's weapon is a teral'n. In the IDW comic book mini-series Countdown, it is explained that the teral'n is an ancient weapon believed to symbolize the strength of the Romulan Star Empire and that it is traditionally in possession of the Praetor.

- In the original series of Star Trek, we learned the name of Jim Kirk's brother but not his parents. In the original series episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", we learned that Kirk had an older brother named George Samuel Kirk. George (whom Jim always called "Sam") was later seen during the episode "Operation: Annihilate", along with his wife and his son Peter. Later novels said that Kirk's father was named "George Samuel Kirk, Sr." while the novel Enterprise: The First Adventure first established that his mother was named Winona. A more recent novel Collision Course, written by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeve-Stevens, stated that Kirk's father was named "George Joseph Kirk" and that his mother was named "Winona." In this movie, we are finally told that the parents are indeed named George and Winona, though George's middle name is not clarified.

- If Kirk's birthday in this reality is the exact same date as it had been in the original "prime" history, then the opening sequence of this film occurs on March 22 in the year 2233.

- In Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Kirk often introduced himself as "James T. Kirk." It was later established in the animated series that his middle name was Tiberius and this was confirmed in a live-action performance later in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. This movie is the first time we learn the source of that middle name. In the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Roddenberry said that the middle name was in reference to how Jim's grandfather was fascinated by the historical Tiberius.

- It was never established in the series or the previous films when Jim Kirk's father died. However, several of the novels operated on the premise that Kirk's father told him about Starfleet while the two looked up at the stars in the night sky, inspiring Kirk to later join the Academy himself. A similar story is told in a later scene of this film.

- Kirk stated in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home that he originally grew up in Iowa. Gene Rodenberry gave the town of Riverside, Iowa permission to consider itself the original future home of James T. Kirk (which it celebrates annually), hence we later see Kirk drive to the Riverside Shipping Yard in this movie. In the original series, we learned that at the age of thirteen Jim lived on the colony world of Tarsus IV. How long he lived there was never made explicit, but it was clear that he returned to Earth either during or before the year 2250 (when he was seventeen), since that is when he joined Starfleet Academy.

- The police officer Kirk encounters has the number "924" stamped on his robot-like mask (possibly a badge number). TrekMovie.com has popularized the claim that "924" is the model number of the character Robocop. This is not true. Robocop's model number was OCP-001 (thanks to Doug Ecks for pointing that out).

- The planet Vulcan is home to the Vulcans (sometimes called "Vulcanians") who are scientists and mystics. The Vulcans were the first alien race to make public contact with the planet Earth (as revealed in the film First Contact) and the original series implied it was fairly close to Earth's star system (relatively speaking). In 1968, the novelist James Blish suggested that Vulcan might be a planet orbiting the real-life star 40 Eridani, which exists 16 lightyears away from Earth and is close to the same age as our own sun. Years later, three astronomers studied 40 Eridani closely. These three were Sallie Baliunas, Robert Donahue and George Nassiopoulos and in 1991 they jointly published a letter wherein they stated that 40 Eridani could indeed support a planet with Earth-like life forms and that the distance between the star and an Earth-like world would likely make it a desert-like planet (if seen from the surface of an orbiting Earth-like planet, 40 Eridani would appear to be 30% larger than our own sun). Gene Roddenberry signed this letter, supporting the idea that 40 Eridani was the star that Vulcan orbited and years later, the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Home" stated that Vulcan was 16 lightyears away from Earth.

- As evidenced by these school children and by others later, Vulcans make it a way of life to suppress emotions. In the past, Vulcans were spurred on by primal emotions that were stronger than those of humans and engaged in many wars before nearly destroying themselves in a nuclear holocaust. In response to this and believing that their high emotions were too dangerous to leave unchecked, a Vulcan called Surak began teaching a way of life that focused on logic, honesty and reason above all else. Those who would not embrace Surak's teachings and chose to continue violence and conquest left Vulcan and made their home on the planet Romulus, eventually building the militaristic Romulan Star Empire.

- Spock is the son of Amanda Grayson (a human school teacher) and Sarek, the Vulcan Ambassador to the Federation of United Planets. Spock is said to have been born in the year 2232. On the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition of the soundtrack to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Gene Roddenberry "interviewed" Sarek, who stated that Spock was not the first Vulcan-human hybrid to be born but was indeed the first to survive beyond the first days of his birth. This was confirmed during the last season of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise.

- The Vulcan learning center and the way it educates its children is very similar to a scene from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in which we see Spock retraining his mind.

- In Star Trek: The Animated Series, an episode called "Yesteryear" showed that Spock occasionally got into fights with other children who deliberately tried to get him to show his emotions and that the young boy began learning martial arts and the Vulcan nerve pinch specifically to stop these bullies. In that same animated episode, Spock's father Sarek gave a very similar lecture on how Vulcan logic offered his people a serenity unknown to humans. Sarek also mentions that Spock must choose his own path. In the original canon, as seen in "Yesteryear", this occurred when he was seven-years-old and took the kahs-wan, a maturity test which ended with him deciding to embrace the ways of Surak and logic rather than a more human lifestyle.

- Sarek's reference about his marriage to Amanda Grayson being "logical" is a nod to a small joke he made in the original series episode "Journey to Babel."

- Vulcans have copper-based blood, making it green rather than red. The same is true of Romulans.

- Spock speaks to his mother Amanda about the Vulcan ritual of Kolinahr, meant to completely purge a Vulcan of his or her emotions. The ritual was first mentioned in the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The same movie showed that Spock, years after leaving Starfleet, did indeed eventually take the Kolinahr training but did not complete it and later realized he did not wish to purge his emotions, as he valued the friendship he felt towards Kirk and his other colleagues aboard the Enterprise. In the series Star Trek: Voyager, the character Tuvok was a Vulcan who had completed Kolinahr and, as a result, was a far colder and more aloof character than Spock.

- Spock tells his mother that "fine" is not an acceptable word to associate with him because it has many possible meanings. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Spock tells his mother at the beginning that there is no logic in asking someone how they feel. By the end of the film, he realizes a balance between his Vulcan upbringing and his human emotions and symbolizes this by telling Amanda "I feel fine."

- William Morgan Sheppard plays the head of the Vulcan Science Council. He also played a human scientist in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Schizoid Man", a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and the character Qatai in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Bliss."

- Fans learned in the original series episode "Journey to Babel" that Spock turned down an invitation to the Vulcan Science Academy in order to attend Starfleet Academy instead. The same episode stated that this decision caused Sarek and Spock, who already disagreed on many things, to further strain their relationship and not speak to each other for years. Although Sarek was disappointed and disagreed with Spock's decision, he later implied in "Journey to Babel" that he was nonetheless proud of Spock's accomplishments as a Starfleet officer. In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Sarek admitted that his previous belief that Spock should not have joined Starfleet "may have been in error."

- Zoe Saldana, who plays Nyota Uhura, also played a trekkie in the movie The Terminal.

- Uhura orders a Slusho, a drink invented for the show Alias. She also orders a Cardassian sunrise. In the original continuity, Cardassians were a militaristic race often at odds with the Federation.

- Uhura's unwillingness to share her first name is a joke on the fact that she was never given a first name during the original series or in the movies. Later in the film, it's said her first name is Nyota. "Uhura" is from the word "uhuru", which is Swahili for "freedom" (it was Nichelle Nichols' idea for the character to have this name). Years ago, a fan suggested to Gene Roddenberry that it would be fitting for Uhura's first name to be "Nyota" because that is the Swahili for "star." Roddenberry left the decision up to Nichols, who enjoyed the idea of the character's name meaning "Star of Freedom." Both agreed to consider "Nyota" as Uhura's official first name. The name began appearing in novels and comic books afterward, but this is the first time it has been spoken during a live-action Star Trek performance.

- In the original Star Trek series pilot episode "The Cage", Captain Christopher Pike (played by Jeffrey Hunter) was featured commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. Spock was introduced in the pilot as well, serving under Captain Pike. When a new pilot was to be filmed, Jeffrey Hunter removed himself from the cast and William Shatner stepped in as the newly-created character Captain Jim Kirk. Spock was moved up in rank, now shown to be second-in-command and Science Officer, and the rest of the crew was now composed of completely different characters. In the first season two-part episode "The Menagerie", it was stated that Pike had indeed been Captain of the Enterprise before Kirk and that Spock had served under him for "eleven years, four months and five days." In that same story, Kirk said that he had only met Pike when the older man had been promoted to Fleet Captain and Kirk had been told he would be the new Captain of the Enterprise (in the year 2264).

- Pike mentions that Kirk's father didn't believe in no-win scenarios. This references Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where Kirk states the same belief. Pike's comment that George Kirk would seemingly rush into danger mirrors Kirk's own famous attitude and echoes a remark from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country when Kirk described himself as a man who often ventured "where angels fear to tread."

- In the animated series episode "The Counter-Clock Maneuver", it was stated that Pike himself had inherited the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 from Captain Robert April, who commanded the ship for its first trial runs and first few missions. Though it was never stated how long April spent as captain of the ship, it was said that he took command after its construction was completed in 2245, at which point Kirk would have been 12-years-old. Since this movie shows that the Enterprise NCC-1701 is still under construction in the year 2255 (when Kirk meets Pike in the bar), we might assume that this is another effect of history being altered, causing the ship to be built much later on. Then again, the original series held that the Enterprise was originally a much smaller ship when April and Pike had captained it and that it was rebuilt to hold a crew twice as large sometime before Kirk took charge. So perhaps the Enterprise has been around for a while and is now simply underoing a major refit while Pike temporarily acts as an Academy instructor.

- In previous films and television episodes, whenever a starship was shown being constructed it was seen in an orbital "dry dock" rather than being on Earth. However, there is nothing in the original television episodes or films that specifically states constructions begins in dry dock, just that it ends there. And although various tech manuals and novels have stated that the Enterprise began construction in San Francisco before it was completed in space, we have to remember that such tie-in materials are really only canon until a later film or episode decides otherwise. Sorry, that's just the way the industry works. The screenwriters of this new film Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman stated their belief that initial construction of the Enterprise would begin on Earth in order to help in the construction of some basic machines such as the artificial gravity generators, which would be better calibrated if they were built and tested in the same gravity well that they were meant to simulate. As for why it's being built in Iowa: why not? It's a less crowded location than San Francisco and gives us a great scene of Kirk looking up at the ship, pondering the future.

- McCoy mentions a bitter divorce. In the animated series episode "The Survivor", it was first established that he had been divorced and had a daughter named Joanna. The TV series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture both established that he was indeed a licensed doctor before he joined Starfleet.

- McCoy's joke about his ex-wife leaving him only in possession of his bones is meant to be the origin of the nickname Kirk used for him throughout the original series, the animated series and his appearances in the live-action films. Originally, it was believed that the reason Kirk called McCoy "Bones" was simply in reference to him being a "sawbones", an old slang term for a surgeon.

- The film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier established that McCoy sometimes carried a flask with him.

- The Kobayashi Maru test was first shown and explained in the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The simulation was designed so that it could not actually be won, making it "a test of character" to see how cadets dealt with a no-win scenario. It was noted in that same movie that Kirk was the only person who ever beat the famous "no-win scenario", succeeding in his third attempt. Spock mentioned that Kirk's solution in his third attempt was "unique" and Kirk later admitted to others in the film that he had won by changing the conditions of the simulation. He added that he was not punished for this but got a commendation for "original thinking."

- The green-skinned woman Gaila spending time with Kirk is from the planet Orion (the males of her species can be either blue or green). Orion women are known for having high sexual appetites and for their seduction skills, as they have highly potent pheromones which they can use to bring men into a near-hypnotic state if they wish. Most Orion women are traded and sold as slaves by the men of their species, but the screen-writers of the new Star Trek movie Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman have stated that Gaila is an escaped slave, hence her joining Starfleet Academy. Gaila (played by Rachel Nichols) is the first Orion woman we've seen who doesn't black hair.

- Kirk is eating an apple as he defeats the Kobayashi Maru. He likewise held an apple in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when he admitted that he had won the "no-win scenario" test years ago by cheating. When asked how he justified cheating, Kirk explained "I don't believe in the no-win scenario" and then took a bite out of the apple.

- In the Kobayashi Maru simulation, Kirk is attacked by "Klingon warbirds." Klingon ships are normally called "birds of prey" and Romulan ships are normally called "warbirds." However, the original series stated that during that era, the Klingons and Romulans did some trading concerning their ships and so it's not unheard of that some Klingons at this time might possess warbirds. In fact, in the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, a Klingon was seen flying a warbird.

- For the first time, we discover that Spock himself is responsible for programming the Kobayashi Maru test. This explains Spock's statement from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when he said he himself had never taken the test.

- At the disciplinary hearing, the dean is Admiral Richard Barnett. Another character, named Admiral Richard B. Barnett, was mentioned in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "In the Pale Moonlight." This character was named after visual effects artist Richard Barnett.

- Sitting to Admiral Barnett's left is Admiral James Komack. Admiral Komack is from the original Star Trek series. He was mentioned in the episodes "This Side of Paradise" and "The Alternative Factor" and he was seen in the episode "Amok Time." In the original series episode "The Menagerie" Part 1, Kirk looks over a classified report that is signed by "Robert L. Comack", a similar name for a different character.

- Spock lectures Kirk that he refuses to understand the experience of feeling fear in the face of death. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk admits his belief that he had never truly faced death before the events of that film, that all he ever did was cleverly cheat it often and congratulate himself afterward.

- Uhura is initially assigned to the U.S.S. Farragut. In the original series, Kirk stated that he served aboard the Farragut as a lieutenant after graduating from Starfleet Academy, some time after serving aboard the U.S.S. Republic as an ensign.

- The voice of the Enterprise computer is Majel Barrett, the recently deceased wife of Gene Rodenberry who also played the voice of the computers in all Star Trek series (even two episodes of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise) and films. Majel Barret also played "Number One" in the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage", Nurse Christine Chapel in the original TV series, and made recurring appearances as Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

- Sulu introduces himself with the first name "Hikaru." In fact, he was not given a first name until the last movie to feature the original Star Trek cast, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Before then, the first name of Hikaru had only appeared in various novels and comics, starting with the book The Entropy Effect.

- Although she is not seen, McCoy shouts for Nurse Chapel in the sickbay.

- Chekov has difficulty pronouncing the letter "V", giving it a "W" sound instead. This is a joking reference to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Chekov spoke about the need to find "nuclear wessels." His mispronunciation in that film became notorious and has been referenced in other shows such as Futurama.

- Sulu mentions being trained in fencing. This was established in the original series episode "The Naked Time." In a later episode "Shore Leave", it was also shown that he had a deep knowledge and fondness for Earth historical weaponry.

- Chief Engineer Olson is the first of the crew to die. Since he works in engineering, he has a red uniform. Security forces (who also wore red) and engineers were the most frequent casualties in the original series, leading to an ongoing joke that people who wore red shirts in Star Trek would probably die.

- In its zero-gravity environment, red matter looks like a large red ball. J.J. Abrams has used the image of a large red ball in other projects, such as the series Alias.

- Spock mentions that his parents, as well as the Vulcan elders, will be present in the "katric ark." Vulcans refer to a person's soul and consciousness as their "katra." We first learned about this in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The same film also said that Vulcans, when death is near, use their telepathic abilities to transfer their own katra into a friend who will then bring it back to Vulcan to be stored so that their accumulated knowledge will not be lost. In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Awakening", it was explained that "katric arks" were "poly-crystaline vessels" built by ancient Vulcans to preserve and transport katras. Later in this movie, Spock remarks that the "essence" of his planet's culture now "resides" within the Vulcan elders, which must mean that these elders now possess the katras (or most of the katras) that were collected in the ark.

- Chekov displays a keen knowledge of math and science when he is able to manipulate the transporter beam better than the assigned technician and later when he calculates how best to intercept Nero's ship. This is in keeping with his portrayal in the original series. Whenever Spock was forced to be absent, Chekov was assigned as his replacement at the science officer's station (indicating a high scientific acumen) and was said to be incredibly thorough in his calculations and data analysis. In the episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?", Dr. McCoy made a sarcastic remark about Chekov's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of energy fields and alien life forms.

- In the original series and films, Spock's mother Amanda survived well into old age. What's more, the planet Vulcan was still around a century later during the timeline of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Thus, we now have more major changes in history.

- The singularity Nero creates does not spread past Vulcan. Some fans have complained about this, stating it is impossible to contain a singularity. While this is true by today's science, it should be noted that in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Face of the Enemy", it was revealed that Romulan military ships were powered by quantum singularities that were created and contained by artificial means. Thus, it's not unheard of that Nero, who hails from several years further in the future, would have technology available to him that would limit the singularity he unleashes upon the planet Vulcan.

- Spock and Uhura evidently have a romantic relationship. Although there was no evidence of this in the original series, it was implied in several episodes that they had a close kinship and affection for each other. Uhura occasionally flirted with Spock and was the only one on the ship who could make him genuinely smile and get away with teasing him. Spock also stated an admiration for Uhura's skills on a few occasions. When off-duty, the two would occasionally perform together for the rest of the crew, with Spock playing a Vulcan instrument as Uhura sang. Actress Nichelle Nichols said that she considered Spock to have been Uhura's teacher, that they were quite close and understood each other in many ways.

- This would not be the first time Spock has been involved with a human woman. In the original series episode "This Side of Paradise", it was stated that he had been romantically involved to some degree with a human botanist named Leila Kalomi (during his days of service with Captain Pike). And in the episode "All Our Yesterdays", he had a romantic affair with a human woman named Zarabeth from the planet Sarpeidon.

- When Christopher Pike is being subjected to questioning, he is exposed to an insect that will affect his brain and make him more suggestible. A similar life form from the planet Ceti Alpha V was discovered and used in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

- Spock very quickly concludes that Nero is a time traveler and Uhura and the rest of the crew readily accepts his explanation of alternate realities. In the series Star Trek: Enterprise, which took place a century before Kirk became a captain, Earth's original Starfleet explorers encountered a few enemies with time travel, as well as doubles from alternate timelines. So by the time of this film, such concepts would have been accepted by the general public as fact rather than mere hypothetical concepts. In the original series of Star Trek, the first two seasons alone involved two stories featuring parallel universes and four involving time travel to some degree.

- Spock states that Nero's arrival and interference has created a new reality in its wake. However, even before Nero's arrival, some of the U.S.S. Kelvin's technology seemed different from anything we've seen in the Star Trek shows and films before. It could be that this was a certain type of ship that we've simply never been exposed to since it existed between the adventures of Star Trek: Enterprise and the original TV series. It could be that some of the time travel adventures that occurred in Star Trek: Enterprise had already caused a few cosmetic changes to history. Or it could be that the black hole "lightning storm" didn't transport Nero and Spock Prime into the past but actually sent them into a parallel universe, one that was already completely separate from their original "prime" timeline. The original series explored alternate realities in the episodes "The Alternative Factor" and "Mirror, Mirror" (introducing the famous bearded-version of Spock which influenced so many later "evil twins" in sci-fi to have facial hair) and all of the later spin-offs likewise encountered parallel universes and split-off timelines.

- McCoy states "I'm a doctor, not a physicist." In the original series, McCoy often made similar complaints, such as "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer" or "I'm a surgeon, not a psychiatrist."

- "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This statement was originally made by Sherlock Holmes. Spock himself quoted this famous belief in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, stating that it had been spoken by an ancestor of his. Since Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe, Spock obviously meant that the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an ancestor of his. This revelation was also a small joke by Nicholas Meyer, who directed that movie and was famous for having written possibly the most popular Sherlock Holmes story not penned by the original author, The Seven Per-Cent Solution.

- Kirk is marooned on a planet called Delta Vega. The second pilot episode of Star Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", featured Kirk attempting to maroon a former comrade on a different planet with the same name. Kirk being rescued from an ice planet by Spock echoes events in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

- Leonard Nimoy is referred to in the script as "Spock Prime" since he is from the original universe/timeline. This name is a reference to many science fiction writers often referring to the "real world" as "Earth-Prime", a practice which began with DC Comics.

- Spock Prime's words "I have been and always shall be your friend" is a reference to words he first spoke in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It is one of the character's most famous lines.

- Spock Prime says he comes from 129 years in the future, meaning the year 2387. He thus comes from a time eight years after the previous film Star Trek: Nemesis, which took place (2379) and was the last film to chronicle events from the "Next Generation era" which began in 2363 (a full 70 years after Kirk's final mission in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). The last time we saw Spock Prime was in the two-part Next Generation episode Unification, which took place in the year 2368. Coming from 2387, Spock Prime is now 155 years old. This is not an impossible age, as we saw in Star Trek: The Next Generation that humans could live as long 150 years (Dr. McCoy was said to be 137 the last time we saw him) and it was said in different episodes that healthy Vulcans had a typical lifespan of 200 years or so.

- Spock Prime informs young Kirk that he can replace the current Captain of the Enterprise if he can prove that the younger Spock has been emotionally compromised. Spock attempted a similar tactic against a superior officer in the original series episode "The Doomsday Machine."

- When Spock Prime and Kirk find Scotty, there is a tribble sitting in a cage on his work table. Tribbles were first introduced in the original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and quickly became among the most infamous species in all of Star Trek. Tribbles were known to rapidly reproduce if they had more than minuscule amounts of food, so it's a good thing Scotty barely has any rations or he would be neck-deep in the little creatures already.

- Scotty mentions apparently vaporizing "Admiral Archer's prize beagle" while testing trasnwarp beaming. Jonathan Archer was the captain in Star Trek: Enterprise and later became an admiral. During that series, he had a beagle named Porthos whom he dearly loved. Since this movie takes place 97 years after Archer ended his career as a captain, the dog Scotty vaporized cannot be Porthos and must have been a different beagle that Archer got later. In the original timeline, it was stated that Archer himself died the day after Robert April took command of the Enterprise in 2245. Either Archer survived for at least a few years longer in this new timeline or Scotty was punished by a relative (possibly a son) who also achieved the rank of Admiral. It is also funny that Archer's dog would die in such a way, since in the very first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, it was stated that the man was so protective of his dog Porthos that he would not allow the pet to be submitted to a normal transporter beam.

- Spock Prime giving Scotty a formula years before its invented is similar to something Scotty did in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

- In the previous film Star Trek: Nemesis, which took place in 2379, there was no indication that anyone had found a means to perform transwarp beaming. However, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics" we learned that strange circumstances led to Scotty being put into a form of suspended animation in 2294 and that he did not resume his life until 2369. Since this left the now-retired hero not only still alive but also relatively young in the "Next Generation era", it's not a great leap to believe he discovered this formula in the years between Nemesis and when Romulus was destroyed in 2387.

- Kirk provokes a reaction from Spock by calling him an emotionless computer and claiming he was incapable of feeling love for his own mother Amanda. The original series episode "This Side of Paradise" featured a similar scene where Kirk provoked Spock into attacking him by claiming that the Vulcan was a robot incapable of loving his human companion Leila.

- Sarek tells Spock he is thankful for his diverse state and his human emotions. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode "Unification", Sarek mentioned that although he had often lectured Spock on giving in to human emotions, he had secretly been proud of his son's defiant spirit and inner strength.

- Scotty's companion in the transporter room is Chris Doohan, son of James Doohan who was the first to play Scotty. Chris Doohan also did a cameo in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

- In Spock Prime's jellyfish ship, the pilot's seat against the large round window forms a triangle overlapping a circle. This is the symbol of IDIC, the Vulcan philosophy of "infinite diversity in infinite combination." It first appeared in the original series episode "Is There No Beauty in Truth?" and was further explained in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Forge." The pyramid shape is meant to emulate Mount Selaya, home to the priests and priesteses of Vulcan and the planet's most important religious site, said to be where Surak died. Roddenberry explained that he designed the IDIC on the idea that two disimilar shapes could exist in harmony. The jewel that the triangle points to represents the beauty achieved by such unity.

- When Spock sees that the jellyfish ship recognizes his presence and commands, he remarks "fascinating." Spock said this frequently in the original series, the animated series and the previous films he was featured in. In the original series episode "The Squire of Gothos", Spock stated that he only used the word "fascinating" rather than "interesting" when something actually surprised him.

- Kirk says he thought Spock would appreciate a gesture of peace towards the Romulans. As stated before, Spock Prime was very concerned about establishing peace between Romulus and Vulcan, hoping to unify the cultures again, in the two-part episode "Unification."

- Scotty screams "I'm giving her all she's got!", a statement he made several times during the original series and the previous films he was featured in.

- Pike is seen in a wheelchair due to his injuries during captivity. In the original series, two years after ending his career as Captain of the Enterprise, Pike suffered an accident that left him disfigured and completely unable to move his body. To function, he was placed in a high-tech wheelchair that could just barely interpret his brain signals, allowing him to move in basic directions and to communicate by making a light beep once for "yes" and twice for "no." This special wheelchair became infamous and has been parodied in shows such as South Park and Futurama.

- The top half of Pike's new admiral's uniform resembles Kirk's admiral's uniform from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

- Spock is surprised that Spock Prime may have lied to young Kirk. It is a commonly held belief that "Vulcans never lie", but Spock proved in the original series that he was able to lie on numerous occasions when he felt there was a logical reason to do so for the mission to succeed or if he knew that lives could be endangered by the revelation of the truth. When others asked him or teased him about his ability to lie, he would often justify it by saying he hadn't lied but had "omitted" or "exaggerated." In the series Star Trek: Enterprise, the Vulcan woman T'Pol would often play along with a lie or, at least, disguise her main intentions by speaking about unrelated matters in situations where she believed it was necessary for the safety of the crew.

- Spock is surprised by Spock Prime taking "a gamble." In the original series, Spock stated it was not until the episode "Patterns of Force" that he understood the attraction for gambling. Spock Prime states that what he did was not a gamble but an act of faith. This, and his advice to his younger self to listen to his feelings, echoes statements he made to a student in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country when he said that he had learned the value of having faith that "the universe will unfold as it should" and that "logic is the beginning of wisdom, it is not it's end."

- Spock Prime wishes his younger self "good luck", which surprises the younger Spock. In the original series, Spock generally did not believe in chance or luck, but did admit in the episode "A Taste of Armageddon" that working with Captain Kirk made him "almost believe in luck." Kirk smiled at this, responding that knowing Mr. Spock made him "almost believe in miracles."

- Kirk officially becomes the Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 in the year 2258, three years after joining Starfleet Academy in 2255. In the original timeline, he was not given the Enterprise until 2265, 15 years after joining the Academy in 2250.

- At the end of the film, Leonard Nimoy narrates a version of the famous "Space, the final frontier" speech. The only other time he has done this was at the end of the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Coincidentally, just as he has said with this film, Nimoy originally stated that Star Trek II would be his last appearance as Spock.

Well, folks, that about wraps it all up. Hope you enjoyed this. I'm gonna go let my brain sleep now.

Alan "Sizzler" Kistler thinks the real lesson of the Kobayashi Maru is that it's okay to cheat if you really want to win. He has been recognized by Warner Bros. Pictures and mainstream media outlets as a comic book historian, and can be seen in the "Special Features" sections of the Adventures of Aquaman and Justice League: New Frontier DVDs. His personal website can be found at: http://KistlerUniverse.com. One of these days he'd love to write for DC, Marvel or Doctor Who.

Jump to comments (76)

Comments (76)

Inappropriate or promotional comments may be removed.

Rick Taylor (11:49 AM on Tue May 12, 2009)

Jeffrey Hunter, not Jeremy

Michael A. Burstein (12:11 PM on Tue May 12, 2009)

I had been thinking of putting together a list of references/resonances like this, but had no idea if I'd ever have the time to do it. Then I realized that if I just waited long enough, Alan Kistler would do it. :-) Thanks.

(Further references - Kirk being stranded on Delta Vega is like him being on Rura Pente in Star Trek VI. And Spock finding him reminded me a little of Spock and McCoy being found by Zarabeth in "All Our Yesterdays.")

Keith R.A. DeCandido (5:10 PM on Tue May 12, 2009)

The first name "Winona" for Kirk's mother originated in Vonda N. McIntyre's novel Enterprise: The First Adventure, and was later used in Diane Carey's Final Frontier (which focused on George Kirk), long before Shatner and the Reeves-Stevenses used it.

McIntyre is also responsible for Sulu's first name of "Hikaru," first used in The Entropy Effect, and then used in dozens of novels and comics before finally being used onscreen in The Undiscovered Country during Captain Sulu's log entry.

Russ Rogers (8:08 PM on Tue May 12, 2009)

Alan Kistler's knowledge of trivia and miscellany is staggering. Yowza.

Alan Kistler (5:05 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

It is rather shameful, isn't it.

Russ Rogers (8:00 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Hardly shameful. It's like watching a juggler do a seven ball cascade. I don't know how else to describe it. There's a certain amount of respect, awe even, in seeing a skill that I understand in theory, but can't imagine developing to that extent. And it's just goofy fun to see it in practice! Rock on!

Alan Kistler (12:05 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

You keep reading. I'll keep rocking. ((Vulcan thumbs up))

Russ Rogers (12:55 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Dude! The Vulcan Tumbs up looks like this:
\\//_ _\\//
| |____| |
...with the thumbs out, while the fingers make a big V. And then the Vulcans say, "Live long and prosper." Which is like Vulcan for "Rock On," or "See you later, Alligator." I'm surprised you did not know that! It was in at least two or three episodes of the original Star Trek, and I think even one of Deep Space 9!

Normally I don't make these little text pictograms. Or if I do, they are kitties.
=^.^= Meow!

Cliven (9:15 PM on Tue May 12, 2009)

TOS Enterprise was constructed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards, which was orbital, tho it had SF ground offices, likely as Star Fleet Academy/HQ were in San Fran (SF HQ was a HQ in SF, one might say).
We are (in the crew interviews) given a reason why the ship was built on Earth in this movie, but not why it was constructed in Iowa (or why cadets from around this and other worlds were there, when they should be at SFAcad in SanFran). perhaps it was cheaper to build in Iowa in this universe, as SanFran would be too expensive as real estate to allocate towards shipyard duty, despite the SF shipyards which TOS probably had it in mind to reference as a "follow through" from the present day to the 23rd cen. Kickbacks to Iowa senators, perhaps? Lowest bidder out in the boonies won the contract? Might go a long way towards explaining this "Big E's" ungainly appearance.

Mike Maloney (11:56 PM on Tue May 12, 2009)

Awesome list. The only thing I was thinking of was when talking about red shirts, it was very clear that during the space jump the writers threw in an unknown crew member wearing a red suit specifically with the intention of killing him off.

Alan Kistler (5:06 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Yeah, it was. Fortunately, there was enough going on to distract me from caring too much.

hessi (1:27 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Great list, thanks.

One more thing: I thought Kirk's encounter with Gaila from Orion is an homage to the kiss between Uhura and Kirk in TOS.

Alan Kistler (4:04 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Why would it be an homage to him kissing Uhura? I mean, Gaila and Uhura were roommates, yes, but that seems like a strange, round-about-way to reference a kiss that happened years later while both parties were under mental control. The two events seem to have nothing to really do with each other.

hessi (6:56 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Alan, the homage is not in-script, but rather between the airing of TOS in the 60s ("damn, they really did it!") and today ("well, black/white wouldn't be special anymore, even green/white is normal...").

But maybe it's just me...

Alan Kistler (12:04 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Well, Kirk also kissed an Orion girl in "Whom Gods Destroy" in the third season of the original series and his first inter-racial kiss was actually with Marlena in "Mirror, Mirror", so you could just as easily connect it to that. Homages are intentional references to something before and I don't think the screenwriters were thinking about Uhura's scene in "Plato's Stepchildren" so much as "Man, it would be hilarious to see Kirk with an Orion chick played by Rachel Nichols."

Mark (6:14 PM on Mon Jun 1, 2009)

Actualy, Barbara Luna's ethnic backround is Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino. Inter-racial? A multi-ethnic kiss perhaps.

Doug Ecks (8:48 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

As I recall, Robocop's model number is OCP-001. It was engraved on his dome. I can't think of a place where 924 could come from. Please, let me know if I'm mistaken.

Alan Kistler (12:01 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

You are not wrong. TrekMovie.com reported the model number and I took them at their word. I have corrected the matter and cited you. :-)

Kimberely (8:52 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Facinating stuff !! Great job. I saw the movie and thought that the guy sitting next to Simon was kind of cute, I had no I idea that it was Chris Doohan. By the way, Chris Pine is absolutely georgeous.

Anonymous (6:51 PM on Tue May 12, 2009)

The mind-controlling slugs Nero uses on Pike are from ST2.

Alan Kistler (12:10 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

You know, I knew that and kept forgetting to note it. D'oh! :-)

renfield1969 (3:19 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

No, that scene was at best an homage to ST2. The planet he referenced was not any of the Seti Alphas, the critters looked completely different, and for some reason he sent it in through the mouth instead of the ear (although medically it makes the same amount of sense).

Alan Kistler (11:09 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Very true, Renfield, which is why I have it listed above as being a creature SIMILAR to Seti Alpha V's slug.

Anonymous (6:22 PM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Farragot not Farragut :)

Barry (10:30 AM on Wed May 13, 2009)

Way back in the early days of Trek fiction and fan fiction, Uhura was given a name, "Penda" which I believe means "Love" in Swahili. This would make "Penda Uhura" mean "she who loves freedom", which I thought to be a nice name. Later on the name "Nyota" came into favor and Penda was largely forgotten. But it was the default first name by the fans for a good many years.

Somebody mentions a "Klingon penal colony" during the movie, which I would assume to be a nod to Rura Penthe from Star Trek VI.

One wonders if any of the Vulcan masters rescued with Sarek, or any of the other 10,000-ish survivors, are any of the influential Vulcan women we see later in the series. T'Pau from "Amok Time", T'sai from "ST: The Motion Picture" or T'lar from ST III: The Search for Spock". Not to mention Tuvok or his parents.

Gordon Long (11:38 AM on Thu May 14, 2009)

The creature going through the mouth is very similar to the 'bluegill' creatures from Next Gen's first season epi Conspiracy, who are seen entering and exiting the mouth, are intelligent, and take over a person's body. Would have been interesting to see if the creature had a 'tail' that stuck out from the back of Pike's neck...

I think that the 'lower deck' pipes and columns on large decks was probably a starship construction style that evolved between the construction of the NX-01 Enterprise and the construction of the Constitution-class Enterprise in the prime timeline, when that style was reversed. We never, ever saw anything like those chambers or the water pipes that Scotty beams into--except in the Voyage Home, on the nuclear 'wessel' US aircraft carrier Enterprise, when Chekov and Uhura were teamed up. Interestingly, it would appear that the water is probably used similar to how it is used in modern-day nuclear reactors. I don't remember when, but in either a TOS episode, novel, or record story there was a reference to 'sludge tanks', presumably where the contents of the toilets wound up.

Speaking of Scotty beaming into something, there was a reference in The Cage by Spock to finding oneself in solid rock, and later in the novelization of an animated episode Kirk jokes with Kyle about not beaming him into a bulkhead (which had been a concern in TOS Day of the Dove, with the intraship beaming), which Foster's novelization states as being not possible due to modern safeguards in the equipment.

On the transporter room design, it echoes the protective wall of the Motion Picture transporter room. Having two operators was something seen specifically as far back as The Cage, but not seen often during any of the tv series, probably to reduce the number of extras who had to be paid. Most likely, the second operator is there because there's about to be a shift change, and we do see in Enemy Within that they don't like leaving the room unattended (you don't want an enemy beaming aboard, after all). On some occasions we see two people working the equipment because of some tricky beaming, usually involving Kyle and Scotty (or in Obsession, Spock and Scotty).

The viewers that were present in the two pilots have finally reappeared, attached to various bridge consoles.

There are two extra consoles behind the captain's chair before the outer ring of stations. I presume these are tactical stations of the kind we see on the Enterprise D and Voyager. Unfortunately, the user has to stand up; meanwhile, there are chairs for the transporter operators.

I think that this is a different, parallel universe, one of the 285,000 mentioned in the Next Gen epi Parallels. The Kelvin is perhaps operating at a time when the Enterprise existed in the original timeline, which is why it looks externally similar--saucer, nacelle, engineering hull--but is dramatically different looking inside. In fact, the computer and bridge controls are strongly reminiscent of the Motion Picture refit. Similarly, Sulu gets to pull some levers to initiate warp drive as was done in TMP.

The original ship was supposed to be 20 years old, according to Admiral Morrow in ST 3. But Roddenberry believed that the ship was actually 20 years older than that, giving room for missions under April and Pike. Indeed, April took command 40 years ago according to The Counter-Clock Incident (or at least the novelization, which also indicated that the ship was built in orbit).

If the Enterprise is an older ship in the new timeline, then what we are seeing in Iowa is a refit/rebuild equivalent to what we see in the Motion Picture. The original ship went through a slight refit after the second pilot, changing the viewscreens, and the consoles lost the viewers, and the nacelles lost the spike.

The mirror Enterprise had its nacelle spikes, indicating that the technology is a bit behind the Federation. But the new timeline Enterprise is actually more advanced than the Motion Picture Enterprise.

George Kirk saved 800 people on the Kelvin. Therefore, instead of being smaller than the original ship (or at least approximately the same size) as the ship seen in The Cage (which had 200 crew, but didn't change its size to handle 430 people under Kirk during TOS), it's actually LARGER, maybe close to the size of Picard's Enterprise D. That would seem to imply that the new timeline Enterprise will be large than the tv or film Enterprise (which had 500 crew according to the background information).

I loved this film. A perfect blend of Trekgeek continuity moments, humor, drama, and action.

Frag (1:14 PM on Thu May 14, 2009)

Gordon, I have to agree with you about the creature bearing a strong resemblance to what we saw in the Next Gen episode "Conspiracy". In addition to the reasons you give, the physical similarities are interesting, for example both have distinctive wide crescent mandibles.

Geoff Trowbridge (11:26 AM on Fri May 15, 2009)

One minor nit: The person who coined the name "Nyota" for Uhura was science-fiction author William Rotsler.

WetMogwai (3:04 PM on Sat May 16, 2009)

Are all of the shuttlecraft named for people on the film crew or otherwise significant people? I noticed the one that takes Kirk to the Enterprise is called Gilliam. Dawn Gilliam was the script supervisor.

J Adam (2:50 AM on Sun May 17, 2009)

May I comment that the name "Tiberius" had another, earlier explanation? In the novelization of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Kirk explains that the name was chosen by his paternal grandfather, who had a keen fascination for that Roman emperor. I dimly recall reading in Starlog that Roddenberry, who wrote the novelization, was acknowledging the popular fan belief during the '70s that the "T" stood for "Tiberius."
Good article. Thank you for sharing.

Vinnie Bartilucci (9:04 AM on Sun May 17, 2009)

The best use of Vulcans lying was the recurring motif in Undiscovered Country, where Lt. Valeris (Kim Cattrall) challenges Spock several times with the half questioning, half accusaory "A lie?" which Spock counters with an error, omission, etc. At the end of the film, when she chooses to "forget" what she knows about the plot she's involved in and Spock asks "A lie?", she calmly counters with "a choice".

Considering the first place the "Lie" joke appeared was in Khan, it made perfect sense that it woud reappear in Country, which was also directed by Nicholas Meyer.

As much as I love continuity in long-form narratives, I truly feel for the people who look at this film, rail against all the things that "couldn't POSSIBLY happen" because of how it goes against what was in TOS et al, and actually MEAN it. Continuity is a tool to allow characters to grow and build up a history to use for new stories. But when it becomes so big that it actually prevents stories, it becomes a problem.

Anonymous (5:02 PM on Sat May 16, 2009)

did anyone else catch mccoy using the phrase "suffering is good for the soul" during the sick bay part of the movie? That is a reference to an episode in tos where kirk is undergoing a physical and mccoy attributes that phrase to kirk, who states "i never said that'. Can anyone remember the episode and comment on this?

Alan Kistler (9:28 PM on Sun May 17, 2009)

The only time i remember McCoy telling Kirk "I never said that" was when Kirk asked "Didn't you say you'd like Spock better if he relaxed more?" from "THIS SIDE OF PARADISE."

Vinnie Bartilucci (1:12 PM on Mon May 18, 2009)

Been too lazy to look it up but wasn't Kirk's reaction to the assorted vaccines an allusion (pre-allusion?) to his allergies to tricordrazine, the cure for near-sightedness in Khan?

The arguments Spock makes about the importance of the K-M test mirror the arguments Kirk gives to Saavik in Khan.

"One more thing: I thought Kirk's encounter with Gaila from Orion is an homage to the kiss between Uhura and Kirk in TOS."

Kirk and Gaila (Alias semi-regular and soon-to-be Scarlett Rachel Nichols) is an homage to nothing other to the trope that Kirk will allways get the opportunity to "f*ck a green bitch", as Eddie Murphy so delightfully put it all those years ago.

Gordon Long (12:57 PM on Tue May 19, 2009)

Vinnie, I think you are correct about all the shots and the corresponding allergies were alluding to Kirk's allergy to Retinax Five.

A second viewing of the film has led me to remember a whole lot more things... I think Mr. Kistler should probably write a book...or at least a web page...dealing with all of these annotations!

Two more links to This Side of Paradise: an attempt to rescue people on a world where they faced death, but more importantly, Kirk has to goad Spock into a fight to reveal his emotions.

In the fight in the film, Kirk gets knocked into one of the computer screens, and it breaks (you can audibly hear it crack). That is a slight homage when Kirk and Spock destroy the viewers in their quarters in different episodes (I believe The Enemy Within, the evil Kirk, as well as Amok Time), as well as when Spock smashes the computer when the V'ger probe is in it (STTMP) and when Kirk's glasses get broken in Wrath. Very slight homages.

From The Doomsday Machine: A gigantic vessel which can destroy, or at least heavily damage planets. A Kirk has to pilot a damaged starship down the throat of said big vessel. There is a split second transporter rescue of Kirk in both stories, too. You can also say Jim Kirk has a narrow rescue in the film as well. Spock has to emulate both Kirks in piloting the jellyfish ship down into the vessel as well. The Doomsday Machine itself was a product of a long-ago war, in another galaxy, while the Narada was a product of a future time in another universe.

In Tomorrow Is Yesterday, the Enterprise went back in time after encountering a black star (analogous to the black hole in the film which sent the Narada back in time as well as Spock). The ship wound up in Earth's atmosphere when they finally stopped. Here, the Enterprise would up in the atmosphere of Titan when coming back to fight Nero. The shot of the Enterprise rising up from the murky gases of the Saturnian moon is very similar to a shot of the Enterprise rising up from behind the Reliant in the Battle of the Mutara Nebula in Wrath. Pike also orders the ship to drop down on its Z axis (up and down) 100 meters to avoid crashing into the dead saucer, echoing an order Kirk gave because Spock recognized Khan was only fighting in two dimensions.

Gaila might also be a homage due to having an Orion girl in the first pilot, the one with Pike (Vina in a Talosian illusion as a slave girl), and Pike is in here as well.

During Kirk's fight against the one guard on the Narada, after he loses his phaser (for the second time!), and successfully surprises the guard with his own guard, there's a brief shot of the guard's gun on the deck. It resembles a cross between a Klingon-style disruptor and a laser pistol as seen in the pilots and re-used in The Man Trap by Professor Crater when he is shooting it out with Kirk and Spock.

Uhura was supposed to serve on the Farragut. In this reality, Kirk didn't serve on the Farragut, as he previously had per the mention in Obsession. We don't know if the Farragut ran into the vampire cloud creature in the Tycho star system or not. However, the ship was destroyed in this timeline at The Battle of Vulcan.

The debris field at The Battle of Vulcan is reminiscent of the debris field from The Battle of Wolf 359. In both instances, a starship named Enterprise arrived too late to participate and found the remnants of destroyed ships.

Kirk's rise to command, after he goads Spock into an emotional display and successfully defeats Nero, shows a similar displacement to what was done to Decker in The Motion Picture. The originally planned captain (Pike, or Decker) are both replaced by Kirk. In both instances, there is a major threat to Earth. We see the drill start working off the coast at San Francisco, but in TMP, V'ger manages to knock out Earth's defenses.

The water effect in the film is similar to the effects of the probe in Voyage Home.

The overall threat to Earth, and events at Starfleet HQ or the Academy, are also repeated by the Breen attack on Earth during the Dominion War. Earth is also heavily damaged during the beginning of the Xindi story arc in Enterprise. And the Borg go for Earth twice: The Best of Both Worlds, and First Contact.

The rogue Romulans echo the rogue Klingons from the third film.

The destroyed Klingon ships that Uhura picked up the communications about echo the ongoing Klingon-Romulan wars mentioned throughout various Next Gen-era stories.

In some of the shots of Kirk getting throttled by Spock, the camera angle makes Chris Pine's face look a lot like William Shatner's. The positions of the hands around the throat reminded me of the similar positioning of Pike's hands around the throat of the Keeper of Talos IV during the escape attempt, including when the Keeper projected the illusion of the snarling beast-creature.

The ride of Kirk, McCoy, and Uhura in the cadet shuttle to the Academy flown by Pike, as well as the later flights up to the Enterprise just before it leaves, are somewhat reminiscent of the crew's trip to the Enterprise-A in Voyage Home.

Kirk's tour by Scotty going to the refit Enterprise via the long way around is echoed by how the shuttle with Kirk and McCoy swings around the Enterprise. Here also, Scotty is given a memorable introduction to the Enterprise, although it's really Kirk who takes Scotty (with help from Spock).

The corridors resemble those from the movie refit Enterprise. And the photon torpedoes are fired from an area on the interconnecting dorsal above the lower engineering hull, a la the refit. That again seems to be an argument for a refit Enterprise, albeit a decade or more earlier. However, Pike specifically tells Spock it's a new ship. So there wasn't an Enterprise in operation over the last few decades, and that isn't because of Nero's interference, that's because the timeline was separate to begin with, just as the Kelvin is much different than anything we know of from that time in the original timeline. But I did notice this time around that the uniforms of the Kelvin crew were different, so the uniforms were upgraded here and now as well.

It's cool that we finally get to explore a different timeline in depth than just the main timeline and the mirror timeline.

Alan Kistler (4:10 AM on Fri May 22, 2009)

Pike does call the ship new, but wouldn't you if a ship was retro-fitted and massively overhauled to include a crew twice as large? I consider this similar to when in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, Kirk's superior stated "the Enterprise is 20 years old." that was very obviously not LITERALLY true since that film took place in 2285 and twenty years ago would've been only 2265, which yes is when Kirk took over and it had just been retrofitted following Pike's command but is still 20 years AFTER its initial construction in 2245. So it's possible Pike means that this is a new ship as far as he's concerned, just as Morrow meant it in a similar way, meaning it's still possible that in this continuity Pike and April captained the same ship before it was rebuilt.

Simon DelMonte (2:08 PM on Mon May 18, 2009)

I am a bit disappointed (but not surprised) that the Kelvin was NOT named for the great physicist Lord Kelvin. Surely within the series, it was.

Vinnie Bartilucci (3:30 PM on Tue May 19, 2009)

If you want to start talking divergences, They refer to the Enterprise as a flagship, but the TOS Enterprose was not the flagship, the constallation was (indeed, they're both Constellation-class ships, it became the enterprise class in TMP)

It all ties back to the fact that this is a reboot, not beholden to every fact of the original series. Adding Nimoy gave the connection to the original stories, but it was really just a way to mollify the fans who bristled at the idea that their exhaustive knowledge would now be diminished in value.

I'm really REALLY hoping they don't go near a parallel universe story for YEARS. As much as we all want to see Quinto with a goatee (as opposed to his ever-present stubble...and I thought Vulcans didn't HAVE facial hair...), it'll open a can of worms that will just make you want to put your head through a wall.

J Adam (1:42 AM on Wed May 20, 2009)

There's another riff on the original series that occurred to me: the main viewscreen in this film is really a window to the outside instead of being a video screen projecting images of the outside. The only suggestion that it's a window is in the episode "Catspaw" when Sylvia shrinks the Enterprise to charm-bracelet size. Kirk bends down and peers into the bridge via the viewscreen and sees his crew frozen in mid-motion.
The camera gives us a similar view in this movie in a panning zoom-in shot (reminiscent of the opening shot in the episode "The Cage" that goes in through the bridge dome).

Gordon Long (11:40 AM on Thu May 21, 2009)

There were references to the Next Gen Enterprise as being the flagship of the fleet.

Some references to Court-Martial (TOS): The person in charge of the cadet review board (Admiral Barnett) is an African-American male, as was the commander of Starbase 11, Commander Stone, who led the court-martial against Kirk. Serving on the court-martial panel, as well as Stone, were three people from Starfleet Command, who I think were all admirals, including one name Chandra. One of the admirals at the cadet board was Chandra. I've seen three names of admirals so far at the review board besides Barnett--Komack, Chandra, and Lui. Most names are too small to see; I hope somebody tracks them all down, just in case there are other connections, and Chandra, Lui, and the rest aren't listed yet at IMDB. In Court-Martial, like in the review board, the damaging evidence comes from an altered computer program. Kirk's attorney Sam Cogley demands to face Kirk's accuser, in this case the Enterprise computer, just as Kirk demands to face his accuser in the Kobayashi Maru event review board.

Thinking of Kirk munching on an apple makes me think of the episode The Apple. There's a bit of symbolism here: the giant Vaal head over the entrance to the underground computer complex, and the giant Vulcan statues underground where Spock finds the High Council. But more importanly, there's the talk of McCoy and Kirk at the end of the episode where they cast Spock as Satan (due to his pointed ears), as well as the analogy of the Vaalians being cast out of their own Eden. When pointed-eared Nero kills Captain Robau with that stick weapon, he's a bit like Satan holding a pitchfork (except for the lack of tail, of course)...and the Vulcans are now cast out of their own Eden. I think there was a giant Vulcan statue in the scenes on Vulcan at Gol, where Spock was undergoing the Kolinahr ritual in the Motion Picture, so there's definite homage there.

I am very surprised Spock-Prime didn't give Kirk the slingshot formula to save Vulcan, but maybe he thought the Prime Directive was in order here (despite giving him the flashback info via the mind meld). I think the mind-meld was as neat a bit of giving information as well as paying homage to classic episodes.

Kirk's fight with Spock takes place in a story where they had recently been to Vulcan, where they had their classic Amok Time fight.

Simon Pegg's hairstyle looks a lot like Scotty as he appeared in the third season after James Doohan got that funky and highly noticeable haircut.

In order to see the destruction of Vulcan, Spock has to be on a planet in the Vulcan system very close to that planet. So as has been speculated elsewhere at Ex Astris Scientia, he must have been on a moon of the twin planet that is hanging over Vulcan in the animated episode Yesteryear and the original cut of The Motion Picture.

Anonymous (7:41 PM on Thu May 21, 2009)

Two of us who watched the movie thought Spock's beaming down to Vulcan looked extremely referential/familiar. Any clue on what that resembles?

Gordon Long (10:25 AM on Fri May 22, 2009)

It took me a bit to figure out the reference. In The Corbomite Maneuver, Scotty has Kirk and McCoy and Bailey hunker down before beaming to the low-ceilinged chamber on the Fesarius. That was the first episode filmed in regular production, which neatly fits a placement in the first story in the Abramsverse.

Gordon Long (10:46 AM on Fri May 22, 2009)

There are a large number of aliens at Starfleet in this film, and there were a large number of aliens at Starfleet in the first film.

In the Kobayashi Maru scenario, there are three Klingon ships destroyed with one torpedo shot (each). In the first film, three Klingon ships were destroyed by one energy bolt from V'Ger. In both cases, Kirk and V'Ger, a re-programmed computer built on Earth was involved.

Not long after the Kobayashi Maru test in Wrath, a place with a lot of scientists (Regula One), including one from Kirk's past (Carol Marcus), send out a request from help because they are attacked by people long-forgotten by most people in the Federation (Khan's people), after which Kirk takes command from Spock. Not long afther the Kobayashi Maru test in this film, a place with a lot of scientists (Vulcan), including one from Spock's past (Sarek would be considered a computer scientist due to his knowledge of the subject), sends out a request from help because they are attacked by people long-forgotten by most people in the Federation (Romulans), after which Kirk takes command from Spock.

Having a lot of shuttles in the shuttlebay is reminiscent of a scene from the animated episode, Mudd's Passion. All shuttle bay scenes in the series had only one shuttle in the shuttlebay.

David K. M. Klaus (12:38 PM on Fri May 22, 2009)

> And although various tech manuals and novels have stated that the Enterprise began
> construction in San Francisco before it was completed in space, we have to remember that
> such tie-in materials are really only canon until a later film or episode decides otherwise.

Where it first, authoritatively states this dates all the way back to while the original series was still being broadcast by NBC-TV, in The Making of STAR TREK by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry (Ballantine Books: 1968), in a section lifted directly from the original STAR TREK Writer's Guide: specifically that the ship was "constructed in orbit from components manufactured in the Starfleet Division of what is still called the San Francisco Navy Yard," so, yes, I think there can be no doubt of that canonicity. (That Starfleet Command was later depicted as located in San Francisco is fairly obviously also derived from that statement.)

Alan Kistler (3:23 AM on Tue Jun 2, 2009)

That doesn't really alter my point or the fact that, in practice, anything in a book is not necessarily canon until a show confirms it. That's just how tie-ins have always worked, even when they have had the "official" stamp of someone. Is it fair or good? No and that wasn't my point. Just that it's how it is.

David K. M. Klaus (5:07 PM on Tue Jun 2, 2009)

I think you miss the point, sir: Mr. Roddenberry's original Writer's Guide was not a fannish "tie-in", but the series Bible, the Ur-source from which "canonicity" originally derived. This was the volume which laid down the series background from which what we saw on the air was taken, with a primary authority unlike any later "spin-off" material. In a sense, the show was the spin-off from this first work. As David Gerrold pointed out in recounting Gene Coon's editing of Mr. Gerrold's early draft of the script for "The Trouble with Tribbles" in the book of the same name, where his draft conflicted with the series Bible (the Writer's Guide), the draft was changed.

That Misters Orci and Kurtzman wanted to change where the ship underwent major construction is no skin off my nose one way or the other, as it's their and Mr. Adams' new universe with the rules they choose, not mine, yours, or, clearly enough, the late Mr. Roddenberry's. However, that doesn't change what has up to this point been the established practice depicted in what is now called the "Prime" universe, that in it Earth-built starships underwent their major construction in orbit, and that that practice was first described as a fact when needed to be referenced for story purpose, by Mr. Roddenberry speaking ex cathedra in the original series Writer's Guide.

On a lighter note, when you say "...there is nothing in the original television episodes or films that specifically states construction...ends in dry dock," well, when it's established that a ship was built in one, and later stated that the ship cannot land on a planet, as it was until the starship Voyager came along, well, then, I think we'd have to agree that construction would in fact end in dry dock, he said dryly.

Alan Kistler (2:06 AM on Wed Jun 3, 2009)

LOL, wow you're taking this way too personally. I agree that if Roddenberry said it, we should accept it as canon. I wasn't defending the practice, just saying that this is how the practice is in the industry. Paramount does not look over the original source material or series bible to make sure things line up with the original vision, they say "give us a story that people will enjoy enough to make us a decent profit for a longer time rather than a short time." It sucks, but that's what happens. The only real exception I've seen is with the new Doctor Who tie-in novels since many of those writers also write for the show (which is very cool and makes for fun shout-outs in a couple of episodes).

And I never argued that construction would END in drydock, just that there was no reason to say it couldn't BEGIN on land.

There's really no reason to take a bitter or aggressive attitude towards me with the condescension of "sir" or "he said dryly" or acting as if I don't understand who Roddenberry was. Honestly, if it's not that much skin off your nose, why are you spending over a hundred words telling me why I'm dumb? :-) Again, sorry you took it personally, that wasn't my intention. I've said all I'm gonna say on this matter. Thanks for reading.

David K. M. Klaus (9:56 AM on Thu Jun 4, 2009)

We have a classic case here of misunderstanding through inability to convey tone over the net.

I wasn't taking anything personally in the over-sensitive meaning of the work I think you're implying.

I used the word "sir" out of respect and politeness, as we've never met. I use "sir" and "ma'am" every day in normal conversation, as I was raised to do and as I've raised my children to do. I am (and was) not bitter in any way, nor did I mean to sound aggressive. (I wasn't playing Keith Olbermann to your George W. Bush, really, I wasn't!)

I explained what I meant and my reasons for it in detail because I had actual, logical reasons, not just the all-too-common-in-fandom attitude of "Star Trek is actually this way, because I believe it is, that's why", something of which I'm sure you're as tired as I am. Again, I went into detail as a matter of respect for another person who actually thinks about the source material, which is how I perceive you.

I use "he said dryly" to mean I'm saying something with an attitude of dry humor (visualize me saying it with a smile), and in the context of dry docks, it was a pun. That entire paragraph was a joke, honestly!

I don't think you're dumb, I meant you no insult, I regard you with respect as a commentator about television, and I apologize for anything I said which sounded otherwise.

David K. M. Klaus (9:59 AM on Thu Jun 4, 2009)

Oops. That last should be "...as a commentator about television and comics...."

My error, sorry.

Bryan (10:38 PM on Sat May 23, 2009)

This may be blasphemous, but how do we know that the ship Kirk gazes at the night before joining Starfleet is in fact the Enterprise? Of course that would be the only thing that makes sense from a movie making perspective, but why couldn't it be a ship of the same design whilst the Enterprise is being built in San Francisco?

Gordon Long (4:00 PM on Sun May 24, 2009)

I thought that, as the shuttle that Pike is flying takes off from Riverside, that it showed the saucer top with the Enterprise name and number on it, or maybe on the nacelles. I'm going to see the film again on Monday, this time with my son who really wants to see it, and take a look then.

Bryan (8:38 AM on Mon May 25, 2009)

Please report what you find. I saw it twice and missed that.

Gordon Long (5:07 PM on Mon May 25, 2009)

Okay, I saw the film again. This was my son's first real exposure to Star Trek (he's 10), and he loved it! I saw the NCC-1701 on one of the nacelles as Pike's shuttle flies alongside/underneath before the scene ends. I mentioned this to my fiancee when she picked us up afterwards, and she is sure she saw the name on the saucer.

Gordon Long (5:22 PM on Mon May 25, 2009)

Oh, in addition, I noticed NCC-1701 underneath the shuttle bay doors. I forgot if it was when the shuttle Kirk and McCoy are in lands just before the fleet launches, or when Pike launches with Kirk, Sulu, and Olson. Also, one of the shuttles has the name Moore on it. This is probably a proverbial in-joke for long-time visual effects coordinator Ronald B. Moore (who also had a 20th-century comedian (played by Joe Piscopo) named for him in the Next Gen episode where Data tries to understand humor). Most likely in-universe it was named for the famous astronomer and tv presenter Patrick Moore, since a large number of shuttles over the years have been named for astronomers.

Bones Rodriguez (10:42 PM on Sat May 30, 2009)

Dude- this was amazing... "Winona"... no WONDER they got her to do the part!

Gordon Long (3:29 PM on Mon Jun 1, 2009)

More annotations for the record:

The Trouble With Tribbles: Scotty has no food (just emergency rations) and wants a sandwich. Either the tribbles ate all his food, or the rations were part of his disciplinary assignment. Either way, the food shortage can be seen to represent the tribbles getting into the storage compartments and eating all grain on Space Station K-7, or getting into the Enterprise's systems and showing up on Kirk's plate and in his cup, instead of his chicken sandwich and coffee lunch that he had requested.

More Tribbles, More Tribbles: The Klingons have an interesting weapon, a stasis field generator. It can immobilize a starship and prevent its movement at warp or impulse, and also interfere with the firing of weapons, so-called 'higher order' technology. 'Lower order' technology, including transporters and communications, are unaffected. This represents the exact opposite effects of the mining drill, as seen in the film: warp and impulse travel are unaffected, as is the firing of weaponry; meanwhile, communications and transporting are out of order. Fortunately, this reversal allows Spock to fly around, shoot the drill's chain and knock it off, and make a short leap to warp which prevents the upcoming black hole creation from swallowing up Earth.

It seems fate has drawn our characters together. Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, and Chapel are assigned to the Enterprise under Pike. Uhura is quickly reassigned (thankfully, as she would have otherwise been killed at the Battle of Vulcan as her roommate Gaila was...a shame, because then both Kirk and Spock could have been in the dramatic conflict of having their girlfriends serving under them on the ship) to the Enterprise. McCoy sneaks Kirk onboard. And finally, the marooned Kirk teams up with the marooned Spock Prime to get Scotty onto the ship. Perhaps this is akin to what Spock once described in City on the Edge of Forever as the theory of time flowing like a river, with currents and eddies...and those acted, in that episode (with the help of the Guardian, perhaps?) to pull Kirk and Spock together with the time-lost McCoy. Fate does protect fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise, as Riker once observed.

Kirk's last-ditch stunt works, as happens in a great deal of episodes. The great chase to stop the Narada with a transwarp beaming (which probably won't be mentioned in another film) is also reminiscent of the Enterprise-D's desperate chase of the Borg ship in Best of Both Worlds and a modify-the-deflector oneshot stunt to stop it. In both cases, we are treated to shots of the other planets in the Solar System (Saturn in the film, Mars in the episode).

Once again, Spock and Scotty pool their abilities to carry out Kirk's plans or orders. Spock provides a theory, then turns it to an equation, and Scotty makes it work, here with the transwarp beaming. In the episode the Naked Time, Spock provides a workable equation to cold-start the warp engines, and Scotty makes it work after Kirk orders it done. In the episode Tomorrow Is Yesterday, Spock is able to compute the slingshot effect, and Scotty is able to hold the ship together to make it work, based on the need to reverse the accident that brought them there. While we don't see it on-screen in Assignment: Earth, Spock's math expertise and Scotty's engineering expertise team up to successfully send the Enterprise back to 1968 before the episode starts, and back to the 23rd century after the episode ends. And in The Voyage Home, the recently integrated Spock successfully completes the equations that allow Scotty to propel the Klingon ship (nowhere as well known to him as his beloved Enterprise) through the slingshot effect.

Spock's ship probably is able to determine that the quantum structure of the universe he finds himself in is different, although I do not know if he has enough time to ascertain this before he is captured by Nero (or more importantly, whether the computer does the work automatically and tells him; it does know that the ship is on a collision course and warns Spock about the danger, and even the Kelvin's computer is able to determine that it is on a collision course and counts it down). In Parallels, the crew eventually discovered that Worf's quantum structure was different, enabling them to find the solution to returning him home. If he has merely traveled back in time, his ship should be able to detect the chronitons from the passage easily enough, as the Enterprise-D and -E as well as the Defiant and the Voyager could detect them. In either case, he seems to deduce that he could be in a position to violate the Prime Directive by giving out information about the future, and does not actively seek out the facility where Scotty is exiled to. However, once he realizes the timeline has been altered by the destruction of Vulcan yet he still is able to remember what he experienced before, he will either formulate his arrival in a separate universe or believe that the timeline (and Vulcan's existence) will eventually be restored. He does not yet know of Nero's tampering with Kirk's personal history (just that Nero told him he attacked a ship when he got here and found he was in the past). However, once he realizes that young Kirk isn't the captain, he knows he has a duty to restore the timeline to something resembling the original by making sure that young Kirk has that chance to defeat the Doomsday Machine and V'ger and the Whalesong Probe and Soran, etc. The Rigel colonies, Earth itself, and the developing culture in the Veridian system will all be destroyed unless Kirk is allowed to fulfill his destiny. This is akin to sending Captain Christopher back to Earth to father his as-yet unborn son Shaun, so he can head the first successful Earth-Saturn probe, as mentioned in Tomorrow is Yesterday. He even helps Kirk by helping Scotty with the beaming, although it was easier to beam Captain Christopher into the cockpit of his moving airplane than to send Kirk onto the Enterprise at warp (and Scotty performed the beaming in Tomorrow, while he was a transportee now). And as Spock once told Kirk, it was his first, best destiny to command a starship.

Anonymous (4:06 PM on Tue Jun 2, 2009)

Spock also spoke the trek monologue at the start of Star Trek 3. I think kirk should have been awarded a five year mission to keep it more in line with the original canon

Scott (4:30 PM on Sat Jun 6, 2009)

Great thread. Just watched the movie a 2nd time. Just want to point out one thing, one of the alien crew members aboard the Kelvin reminded me of a Edosian. That was the species of Arek, a navigator and regular crewman on the animated series.

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/characters/...

Travis (2:46 PM on Sun Jun 7, 2009)

Loved the references to Iowa - although there are no corn fields in the future. Riverside, Iowa definitely does not look like this but then again in the future it might just become this arid climate. The 'Riverside Shipping Yard' was a great way to tie in the Future Birth Place of James T. Kirk. I don't know of any other Star Trek movie that officially mentions Riverside. (I grew up about 7 miles away from Riverside). This was a great movie - the wife (not a huge fan of the series) will enjoy this movie.

Anonymous (9:15 PM on Sun Jun 7, 2009)

I'm surprised no on has picked up on the similarity of some of the names of characters and/or actors. Chris Pine (the actor playing Kirk) is only one letter different than Chris (Christopher) Pike, the captain of the Enterprise. Uhura's roommate Gaila is played by Rachel Nichols, who's name is quite similar to Nichelle Nichols (the actress who originally played Uhura).

Sue (11:29 AM on Sat Jun 13, 2009)

Saw the movie last night with my husband. (I'm the fan ... he's unfamiliar). He enjoyed it in itself, but I could see that the richness of the movie was lost on him.

Could anyone hook up for me the connection with past episodes/movies when Sulu has trouble jumping to warp? I'm pretty sure his character mentioned this to some new officer in a movie?

Thanks!

Gordon Long (12:36 PM on Sun Jun 14, 2009)

In The Motion Picture, Sulu has to use a similar-looking lever (like the gear-shift between the front seats of some cars) to get the ship into warp drive. That was the first time we saw anything like that on a ship. I can't remember if there were any levers on the helm console in the Enterprise tv series, but otherwise we just saw buttons in the original series or touch screens in the 24th century. There were sliding levers on the TOS shuttlecraft controls, which were not quite as long as the levers Sulu shifted in TMP and 2009 films. And there was a problem going to warp in The Motion Picture, because the warp engines weren't ready yet, hence the wormhole incident. Not Sulu's fault, but it was a distinct similarity.

In And the Children Shall Lead, when Sulu is taken over by the Gorgan-influenced children, he sees giant swords and scimitars flying at the ship and can't steer the ship except down the middle of the path. Again, not quite the same, but Sulu can't do anything with the ship then, either.

Glad your non-fan husband enjoyed the film, at least!

Anonymous (11:45 PM on Wed Jun 17, 2009)

DeForest Kelley mentioned at numerous Star Trek conventions in the 1980's that Dr. McCoy "entered Starfleet after a bitter divorce." It was truly a pleasure to see this sentiment immortalized on film by Karl Urban so many years later.

Cliven (8:25 AM on Fri Jun 19, 2009)

I believe the Iowa-shipyard scene had NCC-1701 on the ship's secondary hull.

The ToS Enterprise was a Constitution-class vessel, not a Constellation class vessel. Note that Commodore Decker (Matt Decker's father in commonly-accepted but non-canonical lore) had Constellation as his ship, so perhaps an admiral was in command of the Constitution.

Despite a lot of shininess, there is no evidence to support the new "E" being more advanced than the STtMP E.

That shiny bright bridge would be a liability, as it would make it hard to focus on monitors. Real life vessels have dark control rooms, from what I've seen.

It is nice to see the viewer units added to the bridge as an homage to the original pods. The look ugly tho so maybe this universe will eventually remove them, too.

This is likely a completely parallel universe, as Vulcan's sky is *always* blue in this new movie, but was always seen as red or orange in ToS. In the show "Enterprise", T'Pol apparently noted that a blue sky on Vulcan can occur, but that should be a rarity, rather than the rule, which it seems to be here. Vulcans likely would have no reason to artificially change this factor if they didn't in ToS; despite the race's emotional control, the red sky would probably still be soothing to them, a thing they would see little logical need to alter.

Vulcan has no moons (as Spock mentioned to Uhura in ToS), so the original release of STtMP was inaccurate (and thus the recent re-release removed this discrepancy) and Spock should not have been able to view Vulcan's destruction by looking up into the sky of Delta Vega in this movie.

Why exactly (other than to give an excuse for the drill scene) would the Narada need to drill to a planet's core to deposit the red matter? If the stuff makes singularities (apparently temporary ones) why not just dump it planetside? No need to spend all that time being vulnerable to attack. If mass is an issue, I should think that half a planet should be enough, if all of a planet certainly is! If reactive energy/pressure is an issue, certainly a second, explosive, device could have accompanied the red matter?

I also would like to know what the "lightning storm in space" near Vulcan was (the one that tipped Kirk off that this was an attack), since the Narada had not released any black holes near there before drilling. The only possibility I can see is that the movie assumes Spock Prime's squid ship "pops in" near Vulcan, which would seem an odd thing, as Vulcan was nowhere near the origin point (the future supernova) or Vulcan w/have been destroyed in the future, along w/Romulus. Even given objects being in different places over time, the odds of coming out near Vulcan would have quite literally been astronomical. If this is assumed to be a matter of the pilot affecting the outcome, that seems unlikely, even for Spock. If such is possible, one would assume the Narada might have popped in near Romulus, instead of in the Kelvin's path.

The reference to the Narada destroying Klingon ships probably is a result of Nero having been imprisoned in Rura Pente in the future timeline (he started his proactive mass-revenge there, before Spock conveniently brought him the red matter to destroy Vulcan).

I also wonder why Spock doesn't try to time-meddle and put things "back the way they were", as it is now almost a ST tradition to pull such time-trips when things go awry.

About the Kelvin having 800 people on it: I suspect the new E has as many as well, or more. The numbers of people shown running about on these ships far exceeds ToS' comfortable corridors. Roddenberry disliked the Navy' tendency to 'pack in" the crew, but it looks like this universe simply crowds more folks onto the same size ship, probably due to all the clunky manual switches and valves that have to be manned in this universe, as opposed to ToS' ships, which were far "cleaner" as they were more automated.

Cliven (8:29 AM on Fri Jun 19, 2009)

EDIT to my previous post: Commodore Matt Decker is generally assumed to be Captain Will Decker's father.

Doh.

Cliven (9:29 AM on Fri Jun 19, 2009)

FURTHER EDIT: Forgot to mention Delta Vega is at the boundry of the galaxy, and nowhere near Vulcan. It is also not an ice-covered world in ToS, as it seems to be here (even the long shot of the planet from space makes it look that way).

beam me up (2:46 PM on Thu Jul 16, 2009)

Was it just me or did Pike's 3-note whistle (that Kirk comments on when Pike enters the bar during the brawl) sound just like a sound effect from TOS? Was it the sound indicating a communication from the bridge? Argh, this is driving me nuts.

Great article, BTW.

Cliven (11:31 AM on Sun Sep 13, 2009)

The 3-note whistle is a real life naval tradition called the bosun's whistle; Trek was always patterned in a naval fashion so continued this tradition.

beam me up (2:42 PM on Thu Jul 16, 2009)

Was it just me or did Pike's distinctive 3-note whistle (which Kirk comments on) as he enters the bar after the brawl sound just like one of the sound effects on TOS? Was it the noise indicating a communication from the bridge? Argh, it's driving me crazy...

allankamming@gmail.com (6:52 PM on Fri Jul 31, 2009)

Later novels said that Kirk's father was named "George Samuel Kirk, Sr." while the novel Enterprise: The First Adventure first established that his mother was named Winona.
advair diskus

hitcliff (9:18 AM on Tue Aug 4, 2009)

great job, thanks a lot! being an old fan of Star Trek, I liked this film too! my kids did as well (would like to show them the whole old collection I found at http://www.picktorrent.com for them to compare) saw the new film just once, but now, I guess, I'll do it again (and probably not once), now paying attention to all the details mentioned in this great article

Joan Buell (8:55 PM on Tue Aug 18, 2009)

In TOS episode "A Piece of the Action" Kirk refers to McCoy as "Sawbones"

Atomic Kommie Comics (11:19 AM on Tue Sep 1, 2009)

Since Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe, Spock obviously meant that the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was an ancestor of his.
Perhaps...
Writers have a habit of taking historical figures and "re-imagining" them.
For example, Wyatt Earp, George Custer, Davy Crockett, hell, even Sam Bass of Deadwood, were all REAL. Yet, the fictionalized versions of them are the ones people usually refer to!
So Spock's ancestor could indeed be Holmes, not Conan Doyle!

trence5 (5:50 PM on Sat Oct 10, 2009)

Ok, can anyone explain why Romulans' appearances vary so much? In the original series and the Abram's trekverse Romulans are almost indistinguishable from their Vulcan cousins - however in the Next Generation series, you can definitely tell them apart due to their brows. Enterprise explained the Klingons look from O.S. to N.G. as a "deformity" due to a virus and the cure, but what's up with the Romulans?

Sean (1:04 PM on Wed Oct 14, 2009)

how sad can someone be to point out all these faults in the film, some really geeky teen who has no life obviously

Anonymous (2:36 PM on Tue Nov 3, 2009)

LONGEST NERD ARTICLE EVER!!! Seriously. Nobody with a life is ever going to read that.

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Comic writer stopped by TSA at airport about a script for BOOM! » « The Point - May 11th, 2009

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Tue May 12, 2009 — by Alan Kistler