[Hailing Frequency Zach]

Good Morning All,

I saw Star Trek XI last night (May 6th) at 8pm - yes thats right, they showed it a whole day early here - and this is my review.

No Spoilers In this Bit

In short - this movie is everything that people are saying it is - Brilliant, Great, Funny, Serious, Sad, Happy, well Cast, with great special effects, great music, a great storyline and great acting.

There were moments in the movie that had the whole cinema almost crying, other moments that had people roaring with laughter and other moments where it was deadly quiet as something serious happened.

Everyone should see this movie - even if they have some conception that its going to be an abomination. Sure, some people might not like it, but I tell you something, there were 2200 people in that cinema with me last night (they showed it on 3 screens), the place was packed full, and afterwards I heard people saying in both English and the Local Language how great it was.

Even my Girlfriend, who anticipated that she would HATE the movie (she thinks Star Trek is for Geeks, the usual) - said afterwards that it was great, highly entertaining, and that she can't wait for the sequel.

In the First Ten Minutes of the movie, there is a sequence with the USS Kelvin and I have to admit to panicing a little bit at first when I saw some shots of the Interiors, however this feeling quickly passed as I got caught in the storyline and after a few minutes, I had gotten used to it. There are some fairly radical changes, but it feels believeable and its worth noting that the Kelvin is a full 30 years older than the Enterprise.

The Movie Feels 80% like the Star Trek we all grew up with and maybe 20% of revamped or altered things. Original Sound Effects are kept for the most part or changed just a little and everything just looks and feels great - Even the Bridge of the Enterprise.

One final thing i will say....Star Trek has had no advertising whatsoever here in Serbia, nothing, yet that cinema room filled up fast. The capacity was around 1000 seats and it was full and that was just in my screen (the showed it on 3 as I said before). If it can be like that here where there has been no advertising, i can only imagine what it will be like tomorrow across the UK and USA and everywhere else when it opens at 8pm.

All in all - 10 out of 10 - Can't wait for the sequel!


Spoilers

Memorable moments:

Sulu forgetting to take of the "Parking Break" before they jumped to warp - DOH!

Mccoy - "I've got nothing left, my ex-wife took the whole damn planet in our divorce!"

Scottys reference to Admiral Archers Beagle! ( I bet he was pissseeeddd )

Checkov trying to get the computer to recognise his "v"s in his authorisation code - wiktor wiktor ahahahahaha!

Vulcan (you will know what i mean when you watch)

Spock and Uhura - this was certainly and eye raiser

Spock kicking Kirks a*s on the Bridge of the Enterprise.

New Spock and Old Spock meeting for the first time.

The sexy green Orion girl at the academy. (yeah yeah I got a thing for green aliens - sue me!)

Leonard Nimoy's "Space, The Final Frontier" Rendition at the end.

The one and only moment of the movie i thought was corny was the Nokia phone in young Kirk's car.....Puh-lease.

Seeing all the pipes and innards of the ship was interesting and believeable. We never saw anything like that in the Trek we all know and love, but you have to believe it was there somewhere.

Huge funny moment when Scotty is accidentally beamed into the Water Pipes.....was laughing my a*s off.

There was a mind meld sequence that recounted the storyline from the Countdown Comic books and how Nero got into the past, which was awesome and well done.

Sulu gets an excellent sword fight with some kind of Katana, prior to that, they space jumped onto a platform which was scary! (Chief Engineer Olsen dies because he deploys his chute too late)

Scotty makes a classic comment about Sandwichs at one point which caused the whole room to burst laughing.

Again, this movie was amzing and i cant wait for Star Trek XII!!

[vanlo]

well I just got back from seeing the film at IMAX in Melbourne... they had star trek music playing before the film started, the music used in The Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan I believe, thought it was a great touch... got you ready for what you were about to see...

just a few discussion points, and things that stood out in the film for me...

I thought I'd never see the day...

• Beastie Boys music in star trekfilm! I'm glad with this selection if they felt inclined to include modern music. The Beastie Boys have promoted the fact through their music that they're trek fans. If anyone deserved to have their music included it would be them. Also the first time the F word has appeared in star trek too!
• Product placement in star trek! Nokia phone, and Budweiser were the two I saw... Did I miss any others? Still drink crap beer in the 24th century?
• Spock and Uhura and item, did not see that one coming... Spock better be embracing his Human side, because it would be a shame to hit that only once every seven years...
• another thing i didn't see coming was Vulcan being destroyed... very bold move, and sets up a very different universe obviously... but I think it's great for the film, and the future films.

the fact they steered the discussion to point out it was an alternate universe, was probably required, but could've been done in a better fashion... Old Spock could've done that on Hoth, and it wouldn't... sorry Delta what ever it was called...

which brings me to my next point, kicking him off the ship in the middle of nowhere? I know Spock was emotional, due to his mother's death, and his planet being destroyed, but that was a little silly...

obviously required to fit Old Spock into the story, but this part could've been written a little better... I mean, transporting from a stationary planet to a ship moving at warp speed? a little disappointing this period of the film...

the other part that i didn't feel fitted all that well was the ceremony when Kirk received his promotion to captain... Kirk had just saved earth, but Vulcan had just been destroyed, yet he receives rapturous applause... I guess I felt the occasion should've been a little more solemn... celebrating, but remembering...

it doesn't stop you from enjoying it though...

The Performances:

• Old Spock - Leonard Nimoy, enough said...
• McCoy - Karl Urban stole the show for mine. Read an article the other day where Leonard Nimoy said he cried when he saw Urban playing the role of McCoy, and I can understand why. He was amazing from the opening line, he talked like DeForest Kelly, looked like DeForest Kelly, sounded like DeForest Kelly, but didn't feel like he was impersonating him. Great performance.
• Kirk - very good from Pine. Captured the essense of Kirk I felt.
• Spock - Quinto did great justice to the character. Top choice.
• Scotty - Pegg was quite funny, had scotties attitude. Wasn't given enough time in the film for mine though.
• The others all did a solid job. Chekov was quite funny, Uhura was hottown, Sulu was solid. Of all the original characters, I thought these last two were the least similar, the least outstanding performances. Although they were probably the "blandest" characters from the original series, so there wasn't any major characteristics the actors had to convey. So having said that they still did a good job.
• Nero - Bana did a good job, but not given enough screentime for mine. He suffered from the focus on the main cast, which needed to be done, but I would've liked more time on him. A better faceoff at the end with Kirk would've been great.

Hats off to the past (please feel free to add, I'm sure i've not got them all)

• Kirk cheating on the Kobiashi Maru test
• Scotty mentioning Admiral Archer's dog
• Captain Pike ending up in a wheelchair (of different sorts)
• Where McCoy got the name "Bones"
• Chekov and his pronounciation
• Sulu being trained in fencing
• Kirk's fetish for green women
• Spock chosing starfleet over the science academy
• Red shirt dying 2 minutes into the away mission... At least this guy had a name, but as soon as he was on the mission you knew he was gone...
• Leonard Nimoy reading the "Space, the final frontier" passage at the end
• TOS theme music for the credits

overall, I had high expectations, and they were pretty much met... some things could've been done better... 8.5 out of 10 for mine, with 10 being the perfect film... great film, will probably go again within the next week...

[KiwiTrekFan]

Another hats off moments to the past series and movies:

• Admiral Pike's uniform at the end of the movie. It was similar to the one Kirk wore as an Admiral in TMP if I remember correctly.
• Scotty saying "I'm givin' her all she's got Cap'n!!"
• Old Spock saying to Kirk, "I am, and always will be, your friend" - exact same line from TWOK if my memory is correct.
• Vulcan testing thingees (I don't know the names) much like Star Trek IV with Spock on Vulcan.
• While not a direct reference, Chekov's "wictor wictor..." moment reminded me so much of "I'm looking for Nuclear Wessels!"
• Kirk's still youngest to become Captain in Starfleet
• "I'm a doctor!! Not a physisist!!!"

[Captain Pike]

Originally Posted by KiwiTrekFan

Another hats off moments to the past series and movies:

• Admiral Pike's uniform at the end of the movie. It was similar to the one Kirk wore as an Admiral in TMP if I remember correctly.

Admiral? He makes Admiral? In the canon timeline in the Menagerie Mendez said he was Fleet Captain. Greenwood did say over at trekmovie that he is open to returning for the sequel. Maybe he will send Kirk on the five year mission or does he do it at the end in this movie?

[MissionTrek08]

Originally Posted by Captain Pike

Admiral? He makes Admiral? In the canon timeline in the Menagerie Mendez said he was Fleet Captain. Greenwood did say over at trekmovie that he is open to returning for the sequel. Maybe he will send Kirk on the five year mission or does he do it at the end in this movie?

I suspect Pike was made Admiral because there's a precedent in TREK films for Admirals = not bridge captains, which is what Kirk is being made. The term "Fleet Captain" (is this even common in our military??) might just be confusing, as if there would be two captains on the Enterprise.

When Kirk was made Admiral, he was taken off the bridge and got 'desk duty', which is what Pike is capable of (for now), so there's some established 'definition' of the Admiral promotion involved.

Basically, I think the switch in ranks simplifies matters for the audience as the film ends, right when they don't want to explain a lot of things to spoil the moment.

[Vivid]

Just seen the movie in Norwich England. Breathtaking is all I can really say. From start to finish,me & a fellow Trek fan were jumping in seats,grinning like idiots & before he had even turned round I was giggling like crazy when Old Spock appears.
Karl Urban is just amazing as Bones. Truly inspired casting,stole the show for me. And Pegg got some quality comedy lines in there as well.
In fact everyone pretty much got a laugh.
Loved it from start to finish.

[KiwiTrekFan]

Originally Posted by Captain Pike

Admiral? He makes Admiral? In the canon timeline in the Menagerie Mendez said he was Fleet Captain. Greenwood did say over at trekmovie that he is open to returning for the sequel. Maybe he will send Kirk on the five year mission or does he do it at the end in this movie?

If I remember correctly, yes he's Admiral. Not too sure about the five year mission,

at the end of the movie, Kirk is promoted to Captain, and the next scene is on the bridge of the Enterprise, Spock comes aboard and offers his services as First Officer, and then we break into Spock Prime's rendititon of "Space, the final frontier" although he says "..it's on going mission" rather than, "it's five year mission"

[Trekbegins]

im posting slightly negatively (but im a trekkie what do u expect) overall I liked this movie


[spoiler] My few quivels with the movie was the lack of vulcan space battle scenes. We just saw the fleet as a wreck good I suppose but would of loved watching several ships blown to pieces, no klingon space battle scene though it had some reference and would of created such a great atmosphere if they included the 47 klingon ships nero desroyed visualized and integrated into the movie. Nero had much time linearly to deal damage and portray that to the movie.

Still a good movie. Just could of been better. more amazing and epic. Felt a little like a series pilot aswell with the plot at least. [/spoiler]

[Captain Pike]

Originally Posted by KiwiTrekFan

If I remember correctly, yes he's Admiral. Not too sure about the five year mission,

at the end of the movie, Kirk is promoted to Captain, and the next scene is on the bridge of the Enterprise, Spock comes aboard and offers his services as First Officer, and then we break into Spock Prime's rendititon of "Space, the final frontier" although he says "..it's on going mission" rather than, "it's five year mission"

How do they rescue Pike and where is he seen at the end of the film?

[tarzan]

Originally Posted by vanlo

Product placement in star trek! Nokia phone, and Budweiser were the two I saw... Did I miss any others? Still drink crap beer in the 24th century?

I would HOPE that by the 24th century, human reasoning will have evolved to an advanced enough level to where this ridiculous government prohibition on cannabis will have long been ended, and people would be intoxicating themselves with THC instead of beer.