[Eridani]

If a familiarity with Romulan culture or language was needed to navigate their system, Uhura could have handled it as well as Spock. When he volunteered, Spock never mentioned that he planned on mind-melding with a Romulan. So according to the criteria he presented in the meeting, Uhura was just as qualified.

[kevin]

However, could Uhura have piloted the Jellyfish? Need Spock for that.

Plus, sending her over means Kirk and Spock can't work together to solve the problem - which is the main underlying story point of them going over.

[Eridani]

Obviously, Kirk and Spock working together was the REAL reason it had to be him, but when the decision was made, there was no discussion of needing a pilot either. There must have been a whole lot of discussion not shown.

[Akula2ssn]

On the other hand, the mind meld was potentially more expedient than trying to access a terminal to get the information. Accessing a terminal also potentially means having to fumble with security lockouts and what not. Also using a terminal could potentially mean giving away your exact position if they detect an unauthorized access at that terminal. True, a shootout is just as revealing but once you incapacitate a person, you can move them to a more secure location before trying to meld with them. You can't really do that with the a computer console.

It's also probably not unreasonable to believe that Spock has at least a working knowledge of the Romulan language, considering that in the 24th century he pretty much lives on Romulus. That alone would suggest that at some point in his life he learned the language. Also no doubt the Romulan language and culture would have been derived from old Vulcan. So there's probably some similarity there for him to go off of.

[Eridani]

Sure a mind meld is expedient. It just didn't seem to have been part of the original plan.

[Akula2ssn]

Well you maybe right that the mind meld itself might not have been planned. As it is the original plan didn't seem to exactly have them beaming onto the Narada right in the middle of compartment full armed Romulans. So whatever the original plan was, it wasn't going off the way they had intended right from the get go and it's safe to say that the instant the shots were being fired, they were improvising. And as I mentioned earlier, it's not improbable that Spock had the necessary knowledge of the Romulan language needed to get a start on accessing the terminals on the Narada.

The problem is that we really aren't told what their plan was. The objectives were clear. Stop the drill and find Pike and neutralize the threat of the red matter. Exactly how they intended to pull it off, well that's something we aren't really told to begin with.

[Pauln6]

Kirk's decision to beam just himself and Spock across to the Narada was a tactically poor decision considering they had just one window to get people inside and they had no clue what they were facing. Kirk almost died at least 3 times during the mission because of a lack of personnel - the writers could have maintained excitement levels without making Kirk look like such a bungler - and then they promoted the barely competent fool at the end! It's tantamount to Troi's decision to try and fix the engines herself in the dodgy TNG episode where she is trying for promotion and lwts be honest - none of us really thought she was up to the job.

I realise that they're telling a story and part of that story is bringing Kirk and Spock together but if they want to update the franchise they also have to deal with its sexism and Kirk's ludicrous tendency to carry out risky heroics on his own.

The Narada scene was a PERFECT opportunity to cement the new big four. Uhura is better qualified than Spock to infiltrate the ship, Kirk knows he needs Spock, and Pike might need need medical attention, so bring in McCoy. Star Wars managed to tell a very effective, exciting story with multiple small groups running around the Death Star and I don't think that Kirk and Spock's bonding would have suffered if Uhura had got to shoot that sneaky Romulan instead of Spock. Plus, who wouldn't have been happy to see more McCoy?

[Akula2ssn]

Originally Posted by Pauln6

Kirk's decision to beam just himself and Spock across to the Narada was a tactically poor decision considering they had just one window to get people inside and they had no clue what they were facing. Kirk almost died at least 3 times during the mission because of a lack of personnel - the writers could have maintained excitement levels without making Kirk look like such a bungler - and then they promoted the barely competent fool at the end! It's tantamount to Troi's decision to try and fix the engines herself in the dodgy TNG episode where she is trying for promotion and lwts be honest - none of us really thought she was up to the job.

I realise that they're telling a story and part of that story is bringing Kirk and Spock together but if they want to update the franchise they also have to deal with its sexism and Kirk's ludicrous tendency to carry out risky heroics on his own.

The Narada scene was a PERFECT opportunity to cement the new big four. Uhura is better qualified than Spock to infiltrate the ship, Kirk knows he needs Spock, and Pike might need need medical attention, so bring in McCoy. Star Wars managed to tell a very effective, exciting story with multiple small groups running around the Death Star and I don't think that Kirk and Spock's bonding would have suffered if Uhura had got to shoot that sneaky Romulan instead of Spock. Plus, who wouldn't have been happy to see more McCoy?

This is true. I was actually rather disappointed by how little we saw McCoy in the film. Especially when you consider that in many ways, the original series and the 6 movies following it were very much about the three of them.

One thing that I always found rather disconcerting was how once the classic Star Trek went into full production, female members of the landing party were never armed as far as I can recall. Unlike in the first pilot episode when they were armed.

Being assigned to a security division myself and having a few female members in that division, bullsh*t them not being armed. There's a tendency that I've noticed where women are much better shots than men.

[I-Am-Zim]

Originally Posted by Eridani

Obviously, Kirk and Spock working together was the REAL reason it had to be him, but when the decision was made, there was no discussion of needing a pilot either. There must have been a whole lot of discussion not shown.

At that time, they didn't know about the Jellyfish. They certainly didn't know NuSpock would be able to fly it either. For all they knew, the red matter device was just that, a device. They didn't know about the Jellyfish until they actually found it. And they didn't know it was future Vulcan tech until it recognized NuSpock's voice. So whether or not they needed a pilot would never have even been discussed prior to beaming over to the Narada.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Akula2ssn

This is true. I was actually rather disappointed by how little we saw McCoy in the film. Especially when you consider that in many ways, the original series and the 6 movies following it were very much about the three of them.

One thing that I always found rather disconcerting was how once the classic Star Trek went into full production, female members of the landing party were never armed as far as I can recall. Unlike in the first pilot episode when they were armed.

Being assigned to a security division myself and having a few female members in that division, bullsh*t them not being armed. There's a tendency that I've noticed where women are much better shots than men.

I'm hoping for more McCoy in the sequel. Urban was excellent.

That said, personally, I prefer the finale focused on Kirk and Spock. That was one of the main lines through the film so I think it was appropriate to keep things just the two of them. I feel the inclusion of others would have been a distraction. I don't think it would have meant less satisfying in terms of how the finale played out, but nor do I see an explicit need for those characters to be there either.

Perhaps McCoy.

Although, if they wanted to increase the TOS-ness, they could have beamed over with the troika and some redshirts, have them get ambushed and the red-shirts killed off, and then go ahead and then have to go and improvise an escape as they did in the film. That could have worked as well maybe