[kevin]

I don't recall TOS needing to make special point Spock was older during the show. I would class it as information the audience doesn't need and superflous. Plus it's restoration would disrupt the cold open flow of the pre title sequence as it is. It's an unrequired addition IMO. As are the Klingon scenes. There was a good reason they were cut and they should stay nixed. Of course, I was also fine with the Uhura part so that can go back in. Which I think just leaves Gaila. That could stay, it's minor enough on it's own but helps Kirk a bit.

Edit - Oops, just remembered that in that scene it's not even Gaila at all. So, while humourous it doesn't add anything so can stay cut as well. I think that brings things back to square 1 really then.

Sorted!

[horatio]

As STXI is about two guys becoming friends the opening sequence makes sense from a dramatic point of view. Yet from a character perspective it is problematic as it implies that these characters are born at roughly the same time and make similar alienation experiences. This makes Spock seem less like an alien.
This is not meant to be criticism of the film as Star Trek is virtually always plot- and not character-driven.

[kevin]

I don't entirely concur. I don't think their specific ages are directly enough related to their arc to need to be clarified. I think you can pick up anyway that Spock is older chronologically but I don't think it's a specific detail that would have needed restored. Not at the expense of damaging the opening they had anyway. It always sounded to me like one of the moments that seemed 'needed' at the writing stage and filming stage but then when they got to editing realised it wasn't for the film to work.

But that always happens in the time and space between script and editing once filmed.

[omegaman]

In the old verse Spock served with Pike for ten years before he teamed with Kirk.

[kevin]

Kirk was generally accepted as being in his 30's during TOS so he would have been in the service at the same time as Spock was with Pike.

[I-Am-Zim]

Originally Posted by martok2112

The way you pieced some of that together, it sounds like it follows the flow of the novel.

Cool. I haven't read the novel. I was just havin' some fun with the film. That's pretty coincidental

Originally Posted by horatio

That sounds like some fine cutting. I particularly like that you address the age issue. Not that I know when the characters are supposed to be born but I always imagined Spock to be older and his species to mature slower due to their longer lifespan such that he is around 25 or 30 when he enters Starfleet academy and not around 20 like a human.

Thanks! I don't think it was ever addressed as far as "canon" that Spock was older than Kirk. But I always assumed so for the same reasons you point out. And I think it is in the Encyclopedia and Chronology that he's older than Kirk. To me it makes sense. And I feel that the Klingon scenes enhanced the flow of the movie because it addressed the glaring issue of what the flying frak Nero and his band of goony tattoomulans were doing farting around the galaxy for 25 years

[horatio]

I am looking for your STXI UltraRedux Cut without any Tattoomulans, monsters (nothing against monsters and lensflares, JJA can repeat himself as often as he wants to ... but not in Trek!) and above all no Jarjar Keenser. Should be around the length of an episode.

[martok2112]

Originally Posted by I-Am-Zim

Cool. I haven't read the novel. I was just havin' some fun with the film. That's pretty coincidental

I think you would actually enjoy the novel version of the Star Trek movie, as it was written by Alan Dean Foster, and he does some awesome movie tie-ins.

What was an interesting reversal was that for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alan Dean Foster wrote the story for the movie, and Gene Roddenberry wrote the novelized version.

[I-Am-Zim]

Originally Posted by martok2112

I think you would actually enjoy the novel version of the Star Trek movie, as it was written by Alan Dean Foster, and he does some awesome movie tie-ins.

I may try to read it some day. I know I will enjoy it if there is a more in-depth "technobabble" explanation that shows the branched-off universe and assures me that the "real" Trek universe is still intact. I guess I'll have to read it and find out

Originally Posted by martok2112

What was an interesting reversal was that for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alan Dean Foster wrote the story for the movie, and Gene Roddenberry wrote the novelized version.

Interesting. I started reading GR's TMP novel a while back, but never finished. I didn't care for his writing style and some of the ideas hinted at in the novel (new humans, among others) didn't sit well with me. What the heck is a "love instructor" anyhow? I think the prologue said Kirk was named after his mother's first love instructor. I should have stopped there...

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

Originally Posted by I-Am-Zim

I may try to read it some day. I know I will enjoy it if there is a more in-depth "technobabble" explanation that shows the branched-off universe and assures me that the "real" Trek universe is still intact. I guess I'll have to read it and find out



Interesting. I started reading GR's TMP novel a while back, but never finished. I didn't care for his writing style and some of the ideas hinted at in the novel (new humans, among others) didn't sit well with me. What the heck is a "love instructor" anyhow? I think the prologue said Kirk was named after his mother's first love instructor. I should have stopped there...

You know, I would not have thought it possible but it seems like someone was actually able to make TMP even worse!