First Review: J.J. Abrams' 2009 feature film was billed as "not your father's Star Trek," but your father will probably love it anyway. And what's not to love? It has enough action, emotional impact, humor, and sheer fun for any moviegoer, and Trekkers will enjoy plenty of insider references and a cast that seems ideally suited to portray the characters we know they'll become later. Both a prequel and a reboot, Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk (Chris Pine of The Princess Diaries 2), a sharp but aimless young man who's prodded by a Starfleet captain, Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), to enlist and make a difference. At the Academy, Kirk runs afoul of a Vulcan commander named Spock (Zachary Quinto of Heroes), but their conflict has to take a back seat when Starfleet, including its new ship, the Enterprise, has to answer an emergency call from Vulcan. What follows is a stirring tale of genocide and revenge launched by a Romulan (Eric Bana) with a particular interest in Spock, and we get to see the familiar crew come together, including McCoy (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Chekhov (Anton Yelchin), and Scottie (Simon Pegg).
The action and visuals make for a spectacular Big-Screen Movie, though the plot by Abrams and his writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who worked together on Transformers and with Abrams on Alias and Mission Impossible III), and his producers (fellow Losties Damon Lindeloff and Bryan Burk) can be a bit of a mind-bender (no surprise there for Lost fans). Hardcore fans with a bone to pick may find faults, but resistance is futile when you can watch Kirk take on the Kobayashi Maru scenario or hear McCoy bark, "Damnit, man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" An appearance by Leonard Nimoy and hearing the late Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of the computer simply sweeten the pot. Now comes the hard part: waiting for some sequels to this terrific prequel.
Category: Sci-Fi
All Genres: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure
Release Year: 2009
Country:USA
Runtime: 127 minutes
Rating: 8.4/10
Languages: English
Director:
J.J. Abrams
Sound: Dolby Digital, SDDS, DTS
Writing by :
Roberto Orci - writer
Alex Kurtzman - writer
Produced by:
J.J. Abrams - producer
David Baronoff - associate producer
Bryan Burk - executive producer
Jeffrey Chernov - executive producer
Alex Kurtzman - executive producer
Damon Lindelof - producer
Roberto Orci - executive producer
David Witz - co-producer
Music By:
Michael Giacchino
Cast:
Chris Pine - James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto - Spock
Leonard Nimoy - Spock Prime
Eric Bana - Nero
Bruce Greenwood - Capt. Christopher Pike
Karl Urban - Bones
Zoe Saldana - Nyota Uhura
Simon Pegg - Montgomery Scott
John Cho - Lt. Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin - Pavel Chekov
Ben Cross - Sarek
Winona Ryder - Amanda Grayson
Chris Hemsworth - George Kirk
Jennifer Morrison - Winona Kirk
Rachel Nichols - Gaila
Faran Tahir - Captain Robau
Clifton Collins Jr. - Ayel
Antonio Elias - Officer Pitts
Sean Gerace - Tactical Officer
Randy Pausch - Kelvin Crew Member
Tim Griffin - Kelvin Engineer
Freda Foh Shen - Kelvin Helmsman
Kasia Kowalczyk - Kelvin Alien
Jason Brooks - Romulan Helmsman
Sonita Henry - Kelvin Doctor
Kelvin Yu - Medical Technician #1
Marta Martin - Medical Technician #2
Tavarus Conley - Kelvin Crew Member #1
Jeff Castle - Kelvin Crew Member #2
Billy Brown - Med Evac Pilot
Jimmy Bennett - Young James T. Kirk
Greg Grunberg - Stepdad (voice)
Spencer Daniels - Johnny
Jeremy Fitzgerald - Iowa Cop
Zoe Chernov - Vulcan Student
Max Chernov - Vulcan Student
Jacob Kogan - Young Spock
Lorenzo James Henrie - Vulcan Bully #1
Colby Paul - Vulcan Bully #2
Cody Klop - Vulcan Bully #3
Akiva Goldsman - Vulcan Council Member #1
Anna Katarina - Vulcan Council Member #2
Douglas Tait - Long Face Bar Alien
Tony Guma - Lew the Bartender
Gerald W. Abrams - Barfly #1
James McGrath - Barfly
Jason Matthew Smith - Burly Cadet #1
Marcus Young - Burly Cadet #2
Bob Clendenin - Shipyard Worker
Darlena Tejeiro - Flight Officer
Reggie Lee - Test Administrator #1
Jeffrey Byron - Test Administrator #2
Jonathan Dixon - Simulator Tactical Officer
Tyler Perry - Admiral Richard Barnett
Ben Binswagner - Admiral James Komack
Margot Farley - College Council Stenographer
Paul McGillion - Barracks Officer
Lisa Vidal - Barracks Officer
Alex Nevil - Shuttle Officer
Kimberly Arland - Cadet Alien #1
Sufe Bradshaw - Cadet Alien #2
Jeff Chase - Cadet Alien #3
Charles Haugk - Enterprise Crew Member #1
Nana Hill - Enterprise Crew Member #2
Michael Saglimbeni - Enterprise Crew Member #3
John Blackman - Enterprise Crew Member #4
Jack Millard -Enterprise Crew Member #5
Shaela Luter - Enterprise Crew Member #6
Sabrina Morris - Enterprise Crew Member #7
Michelle Parylak - Enterprise Crew Member #8
Oz Perkins - Enterprise Communiations Officer
Amanda Foreman - Hannity
Michael Berry Jr. - Romulan Tactical Officer
Lucia Rijker - Romulan Communications Officer
Pavel Lychnikoff - Romulan Commander
Matthew Beisner - Romulan Crew Member #1
Neville Page - Romulan Crew Member #2
Jesper Inglis - Romulan Crew Member #3
Greg Ellis - Chief Engineer Olson
Marlene Forte - Transport Chief
Leonard O. Turner - Vulcan Elder #1
Mark Bramhall - Vulcan Elder #2
Ronald F. Hoiseck - Vulcan Elder #3
Irene Roseen - Vulcan Elder #4
Jeff O'Haco - Vulcan Elder #5
Scottie Thompson - Nero's Wife
Deep Roy - Keenser
Majel Barrett - Starfleet Computer (voice)
Official Website:Visit Website
Plot: In the year 2387, the galaxy is threatened by an unusually volatile supernova. Ambassador Spock pilots a ship carrying "red matter", which will create an artificial black hole to consume the supernova. Before Spock completes his mission, the supernova destroys the planet Romulus. Captain Nero of the Romulan mining ship Narada attempts to exact revenge on Spock, whom he blames for the destruction of his homeworld and its inhabitants, including his wife and unborn child. Both ships, however, are pulled in to the black hole's event horizon and travel into the past.
The Narada arrives first, 154 years in the past. Its arrival is preceded by what looks like a lightning storm in space, which the Federation starship USS Kelvin investigates. Nero attacks the Kelvin, causing severe damage. Acting-Captain George Kirk orders an evacuation and stays behind to provide cover for the fleeing shuttlecraft, his pregnant wife among the passengers. George pilots the Kelvin into the Narada moments after his son James Tiberius Kirk is born. Spock arrives 25 years later, where he is captured by Nero and marooned on the planet Delta Vega so that he can witness the destruction of Vulcan, as retribution for Spock's failure to save Romulus.
Kirk grows up to be an intelligent, though reckless and cynical, young man. A young Spock grows up on Vulcan and is bullied because of his half-human heritage. To get Kirk to embrace his potential, Captain Christopher Pike challenges Kirk to emulate his father's heroism and convinces him to join Starfleet. En route to Starfleet Academy, Kirk befriends fellow cadet Leonard McCoy. In his third year at the Academy, Kirk is accused of cheating on the Kobayashi Maru test by its programmer, Commander Spock. At the resultant hearing, Starfleet receives a distress signal from Vulcan that indicates the appearance of a lightning storm in space, and the cadets are mobilized to help crew the ships in orbit. McCoy smuggles the grounded Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise as a patient under his care.
Kirk recognizes the similarities between the Vulcan incident and the encounter that destroyed the Kelvin, and warns Pike that the fleet is heading into a trap. The Enterprise arrives late to find the fleet destroyed and the Narada drilling into Vulcan's core. Nero orders Pike to surrender himself via shuttlecraft. Pike obeys, promoting Spock to captain and Kirk to first officer. En route to the Narada, Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, and Chief Engineer Olson perform an orbital skydive onto the drilling platform to destroy it; Olson is killed, but Kirk and Sulu stop the drill. However, it has drilled deep enough for Nero to launch red matter into the planet's core, imploding the planet into a black hole. Spock rescues some of the planet's elders, including his father, but his mother dies along with the majority of the planet's population. Nero sets course for Earth and tortures Pike for the command codes to its perimeter defenses.
After a heated argument with Spock about their next move, Kirk is marooned on Delta Vega for mutiny. Spock orders the ship to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. On Delta Vega, Kirk encounters Ambassador Spock, who relays the future's events through a mind meld and insists that Kirk must become captain of the Enterprise. The two travel to a nearby Starfleet outpost where they meet Montgomery Scott. The elder Spock beams Kirk and Scott aboard the Enterprise. Once aboard, Kirk deliberately enrages Spock to force him to acknowledge that he is emotionally compromised, thereby forfeiting command which then passes to Kirk.
Spock, Scott, and Pavel Chekov devise a plan to ambush the Narada by dropping out of warp behind Saturn's moon Titan. Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Narada. While Kirk rescues Pike, Spock retakes the elder Spock's ship, destroys the drill and lures the Narada away from Earth before piloting a collision course. The Enterprise arrives and beams Kirk, Pike, and Spock away before the collision, which ignites the remaining red matter and creates a black hole within the Narada's superstructure. Kirk offers to help rescue Nero and his crew, but the Romulan refuses and the Narada is destroyed. The Enterprise escapes the same fate by ejecting and then igniting the ship's warp drive reactor cores, with the resulting explosion pushing them clear.
Kirk is promoted to captain of the Enterprise, relieving the newly-promoted Admiral Pike. While searching for his father, Spock encounters his older self in a hangar; Ambassador Spock is departing to help establish a new colony for the remaining Vulcans. The younger Spock informs his older self of his wishes to leave Starfleet to aid in the establishment of a new Vulcan colony. Ambassador Spock tells his younger self that he and Kirk need each other and that he should do what feels right. Taking the advice, Spock remains in Starfleet, becoming first officer under Kirk's command.
Goofs:
- Continuity: After Spock boards the Vulcan ship on board the mining vessel, Kirk is seen walking through some pipes. His Starfleet phaser has switched to a Romulan gun (longer barrel and no lights), before switching back to the Starfleet one again in the next scene. He actually acquires the Romulan gun a few scenes later.
- Continuity: As Kirk is hanging from the drill platform after the fight, he hangs by holding on with only his right hand. Sulu then reaches out and Kirk reaches out with his free left hand. As the camera angle changes, we see Kirk being pulled up by his right arm only.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Stars take centuries to go supernova; it is unlikely that the residents of the planet would not take the time to prepare or evacuate. However, in the prequel comic book (written in part by the screenwriters based on their script) it's explained that the leaders of Romulus do not believe that the supernova will reach Romulus. Additionally, Ambassador Spock says the star is "a supernova unlike any the galaxy has ever seen", referring the speed of its expansion.
- Continuity: When Nero is told that Spock has destroyed the drill and Nero yells, "Spock," Nero's left ear is the one missing its tip instead of his right ear. (This shot was obviously reversed in editing.)
- Continuity: When the crew are discussing the plan to beam aboard Nero's ship Ensign Chekov states that in order to arrive in time they will need Mr Scott to get them to Warp factor 4 - however, the HUD on the view-screen behind the group clearly shows the ship to already be traveling at a speed in excess of Warp 4.3.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Zachary Quinto's Spock arches his left eyebrow, whereas Leonard Nimoy's Spock arches his right.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the original series' second pilot, "Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (#1.3)" (1966), the planet Delta Vega was a lithium-cracking station near the edge of the galaxy. In this film, the planet appears to have mysteriously been moved so close to the planet Vulcan that it can be seen in broad daylight from the surface. However, according to writers Roberto Orci and 'Alex Kurtzman' they were aware of this fact and chose to name the new planet in this film after the one originally encountered in the original series as a direct reference to the episode. It is also important to remember that conceivably there could be two planets named "Delta Vega," and given the same that they are light years away from one another in different solar systems, there would be no serious problem with this.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The "Enterprise" is referred to as Star Fleet's new flagship. While in current naval tradition a flagship requires an admiral on board, Starfleet has been established as having a premier starship referred to as a "flagship." In "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), the Enterprise 1701-D was referred to as the Flagship of the Federation.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the final "Spock on Spock" scene, you can see the obvious height difference between the two. Young Spock should be the same height as old Spock. However, Vulcan biology is not fully understood and this could simply be a natural physical change. Additionally, this is consistent with human physiology. Old Spock is 120 years older than young Spock so it is natural that young Spock is taller. As humans age their spines become more curved and they tend to be shorter.
- Continuity: When Kirk enters the ship that is departing to the academy, he sits down and puts on his seat belt. Later, Dr. McCoy is seen to argue with the the flight stewardess and then sits down and puts his seat belt on. During Kirk and McCoy talking, the seat belts' position is seen to change each shot.
- Continuity: During Chekov's announcement to the crew during the voyage to Vulcan, he leans over to his left (towards Sulu) when talking about the "lightning storm in space." When Kirk replays the footage of this, Chekov shifts and leans slightly to his right (away from Sulu) during this line.
- Continuity: When Kirk first lands on the drill, he removes his helmet and throws it to the side and engages a Romulan in hand-to-hand combat. Several seconds later during a pan-out, we see Kirk hitting another Romulan in the head with the helmet he earlier threw off to the side, even though there would be no time for him to retrieve it from across the platform.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Chekov's Russian accent is sometimes perceived to have a major flaw in it. In Russian, there is no "W" sound, but there is a very, very common "V" sound (although heavily rounded with shades of "w"). As a result of this, his labored way of transforming his V's into W's might seem incorrect, but when speaking English, native Russian speakers will sometimes transpose V's and W's, e.g. "Ve are wery happy to be here". (A similar phenomenon is seen in speakers of Asian languages that possess only either "L" or "R", when speaking in English will often transpose them: "really" becomes "leary".) In any event, this is clearly a nod to Walter Koenig's portrayal of Chekov in the original series and most notably in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), when Chekov is seen in 20th Century San Francisco asking for directions to "nuclear wessels".
- Continuity: Inside the Romulan ship, Kirk jumps from one platform to the other. On the platform he lands on, a Romulan gun is clearly visible. A similar gun has not yet been taken off the opposing Romulan.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the scene at the Star Fleet outpost on Delta Vega , Mr. Scott says he had a transporter mishap with "Admiral Archer's prized beagle". The series "Enterprise" (2001) with Archer was set around 100 years before the events of the movie. Nero traveled 154 years into the past from 2387 to 2233. Spock arrived 25 years later, in the present, which is the year 2258. Enterprise was set in 2151 meaning Archer would be around 140-150 years old. So it is theoretically possible that he is still alive. His Starfleet record shown briefly in the two parter "In A Mirror Darkly" states he was at the launch of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701. Also the Beagle they are referring to is obviously not the same dog from the series Enterprise.
- Revealing mistakes: When Kirk is making out with the Green Orion cadet in her bed, you can see green make-up on the front of his boxers (and a little on his skin above the boxers) when he first lifts himself from on top of her for some dialog. After the scene cuts to another camera angle and then back to Kirk, the green coloring is no longer visible on Kirk.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When the Kelvin encountered the Narada, the latter was emerging from a black hole, thus the "lightning storm in space". Before it started to attack Vulcan, there was another "lightning storm in space"; this was the arrival of Spock Prime's vessel, the Jellyfish.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: According to the Original Series, Captain Kirk mentions a Federation/Romulan War many years previously. The war was conducted through starship battles and the treaty for it was negotiated via subspace radio, so Romulans and Federation citizens never saw each other prior to that point in time. This means that the Federation knew about the Romulans and general background information about their ships (what radio frequencies were used, power signatures, etc.) long before the scene with the USS Kelvin in the movie which resulted in altering later history.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The female Vulcan Minister is smiling as she stands up at Spock's entrance hearing for the Science Academy.
- Continuity: In the high altitude parachute jump, the display on Chekov's screen showing the order of jumpers (Olsen, Kirk, Sulu) does not match actual order (Kirk, Olsen, Sulu) until the first shoots deploy.
- Continuity: 25 years pass between Nero's encounter with the Kelvin and when he destroys Vulcan. However, neither he nor any of his crew members show any signs of aging. It was established in previous Trek canon that while Romulans have a lifespan longer than that of humans, they still show signs of aging at a rate similar to that of humans.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Spock Prime is surprised that Kirk is not yet Captain of the Enterprise. In his time line, he served under Captain Pike's command of the Enterprise for ten years, and Kirk became Captain after that time. He should know that Kirk is too young to be Captain. However Spock may not know the actual date yet - so far he's been abducted by Nero and abandoned on a planet near Vulcan, and although he's aware of a nearby Starfleet outpost, he's not been there yet.
- Continuity: In the scene where there are making a plan to sneak up on the Narada, Mr. Scott is holding a towel with both hands, but when they zoom up closer, he is holding it to his side.
- Continuity: During the awards ceremony, several flags can be seen in the background, including what appears to be the state flag of California. Towards the end of the sequence, the point of view shifts to Old Spock viewing from a balcony, and the flags are changed to Federation and Starfleet flags.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Uhura claims to be able to speak three dialects of Romulan. It has been established that relations between the Romulans and the Federation have never been friendly and that the only contact was to negotiate a peace. However, there's no reason to presume that their unfriendliness precluded either side learning the other's language somehow. There would be an immense tactical, political, and diplomatic advantage to figuring it out.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: According to the writers, the new Stardate system has the year and the decimal points indicate the day (i.e. Stardate 2258.42 is February 11, 2258). However, at the beginning of the film, Captain Robau says the Stardate is "twenty-two thirty-three zero four". This does not fit into the new system, as he only gives one placeholder zero instead of two or none (it should have been Stardate 2233.4). However, the Stardate system is essentially separating the two numbers. 2233.0000004 would have been correct. But if you want to hold them to a standard, then every Stardate should be four digits, then three, meaning every Stardate in the movie is wrong. This means the Captain was correct.
- Continuity: The earliest episode in the original series ("Star Trek" (1966)) was set on Stardate 1312.4. While it is possible that the Stardate system was reformatted after the attack on the Kelvin (in the alternate time line), this doesn't explain how the Stardate of the attack is 2233.04, after the original pilot, "Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (#1.3)" (1966).
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: During the battle between the USS Kelvin and the Narada, the engineer of the Kelvin reports that the weapons are offline, yet in the next barrage of torpedoes from the Romulan vessel, the Kelvin's phasers are seen firing again. However, the phasers in this scene target only the torpedoes, indicating that they are likely part of a point-defense system, which is only designed to target incoming projectiles. Therefore, the weapons systems could still be offline, but defensive systems could still be operational.
- Continuity: Uhura is referred to alternately as both "lieutenant" and "cadet" during the entire movie. It is unclear which is her proper designation.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the scene where Kirk convinces Pike and Spock that they are heading into a trap as they warp towards Vulcan, Kirk says '..at 23:00 hours last night there was an attack. Forty-seven Klingon Warbirds destroyed by Romulans, Sir...' Klingons use Birds-of-Prey. It's Romulans who use Warbirds (and Birds-of-Prey in the original series).
- Continuity: When Kirk, McCoy and Uhura rush onto the bridge to inform the captain that they are racing into a Romulan trap, Kirk runs towards the captain and Uhura runs to stand right next to Spock. When the camera angle changes, Uhura is not standing next to Spock but about 5 feet to the left of him.
- Continuity: Captain Pike tells Kirk that his father saved 800 people that escaped from the Kelvin. The Kelvin carried small shuttle similar to the original series, that carry about 10 people. (The size is shown that it takes only a few strides for the Kelvin's captain to go from the door to the controls, the size of the doors and windows, and several shots of them in and leaving the shuttlebay.) On screen, it is clear there are just over 20 shuttles (which is a lot for any starship anyway), so this means that each shuttle is crammed with about 40 people. Mrs Kirks shuttle was nearly empty though; with just herself, her nurses and a pilot, so that just means the other shuttles were that much more crowded. It is easily seen that all the shuttle of the same type, with none of the large "troop carrier" types seen 20 years later when Kirk joins the academy. It is unlikely that 40 people could be jammed into a van sized shuttle, even if everyone was standing up. Pike could have easily said "400 people were saved", which equates to a more realistic 10 people per shuttle, and would not have lessened George Kirk's bravery at all.
- Revealing mistakes: When young Kirk is driving the Corvette, there are several closeups of him shifting the manual transmission and slamming the clutch. However, in many of the shots, you can clearly hear the engine being shifted, yet both of Kirk's hands are on the steering wheel.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The Starfleet logo, the distinctive "arrow-head" that featured on all the teasers, was originally intended by the production designers to be the "assignment patch" for crew on the Enterprise only. This was reflected on-screen by the use of different patches for different ships or posts. However, it was never stated that the arrowhead symbol *originated* with the Enterprise, as opposed to it being inherited from another ship (i.e. The Kelvin). All subsequent appearances of the arrowhead in the movie, can be attributed to the altered time line.
- Continuity: Just before Kirk gives the order to eject the Warp core modules we see the view-screen begin to crack under the gravitational stress from the black hole, almost to the point of shattering - the next time we see a shot of the view-screen, showing the ship enveloped by the fireball from the detonation of the reactors, the cracks are gone.
- Revealing mistakes: A scar is visible on Zachary Quinto's real eyebrow line indicating that he previously had his eyebrow pierced.
- Errors in geography: Young Kirk, growing up in Iowa, takes his stepfather's Corvette for a joyride and jumps out of it just before it plunges into a giant canyon several hundred feet deep. There are no canyons anywhere near that size in Iowa and it would take many thousands of years, not just 200, for a canyon of that size to form naturally.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the fight on the drill's platform, which is at an extremely high altitude, Kirk and Sulu remove their helmets. On Earth, humans would find it very difficult to breathe at that height without supplemental oxygen; in Trek mythology, Vulcan's atmosphere is thinner than Earth's. It was an acceptable practice, when visiting or residing on Vulcan, to receive an injection of a Tri-ox compound to assist in breathing ("Amok Time" TOS). Knowing that they would be fighting on Vulcan at a high altitude, it seems logical that the away team would be given a similar injection (considering McCoy's penchant for injecting Kirk on the fly), though it was not shown on screen.
Trivia:
- In a UK interview with Edith Bowman on BBC Radio 1, Matt Damon mentioned that he called J.J. Abrams when he heard rumors that he was being considered for the role of Captain Kirk. The response from Abrams was a very polite "no". He explained that Damon was "too old" for the role.
- Sydney Tamiia Poitier auditioned for the role of Uhura.
- The film's teaser trailer (welders working on the half-built Enterprise starship, amidst narration from U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Leonard Nimoy's Mr Spock) was personally directed by J.J. Abrams. Real welders were brought in to film the trailer. The words of Spock and Kennedy were taken from the 1960s (the decade where "Star Trek" (1966) began) and thus linked past and present, enhancing the film (as well as hinting at the time-travel). According to Roberto Orci, Kennedy's words were also chosen as he was the one who started the "space race," and so would be appropriate for a space film: "If we're going to have a Federation, it makes sense for Kennedy and his words to be in there."
- The first teaser trailer and posters for this film showed its original release date, December 25, 2008. On February 13, 2008 Paramount Pictures pushed the film to May 8, 2009 so it would have less competition and be a summer blockbuster contender. The teaser trailer has now been amended to show Summer 2009.
- Randy Pausch, a Carnegie-Mellon Computer Science professor (and "Star Trek" fan) who gained widespread fame as the author of a "Last Lecture" in which he discussed living the life of his dreams in the face of terminal pancreatic cancer, was invited by J.J. Abrams to appear as an extra in this film. Pausch wrote in his blog about the experience, "I got a custom-made Star Trek uniform and my own station on the bridge, where I had lots of buttons and controls. I even got a LINE!!!!" Pausch died on July 25, 2008.
- This is Leonard Nimoy's first live-action film role since Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).
- While most Trekkers will have known this detail for decades, this is the first time that Uhura has been given a first name on screen: Nyota. Gene Roddenberry never came up with a first name for her, so many thought this meant she did not have one, although in literature, Uhura is often referred to as Nyota by her comrades, and she is also referred to as Nyota Uhura in the DC Comics publication "Who's Who in Star Trek". There are several nods to this history in the movie: first, when Kirk first meets (and hits on) Uhura in a bar and tells her, "if you don't tell me your name, I'm gonna have to make one up," and then when she refuses to tell Kirk her first name throughout the film.
- J.J. Abrams' only two choices for Nero were Russell Crowe and Eric Bana.
- Josh Lucas was considered for the role of Christopher Pike.
- Simon Pegg filmed his role in 5 weeks.
- J.J. Abrams' "good luck charm" Greg Grunberg had to turn down a role in this film due to other commitments. However, Grunberg was worked into the movie during post-production, voicing James Kirk's step-father.
- The character that Bruce Greenwood plays, Captain Christopher Pike, was the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise in the unaired original series pilot episode, "Star Trek: The Cage (#1.0)" (1966). In that episode, Pike was portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter. Initially, the episode was rejected but when a second pilot was ordered, Hunter dropped out of the series so the part was rewritten and recast with William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. The footage from the unaired pilot was later woven into the episode "Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I (#1.11)" (1966). In the mythology of Star Trek, Captain Pike is considered to be Captain Kirk's predecessor, a plot line to be (potentially) played out in the film.
- Majel Barrett, the wife of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, has a role in this film as the voice of the Enterprise computer. She'd also been the computer voice in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) and "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995), and had played Pike's first officer in "Star Trek: The Cage (#1.0)" (1966). She completed her voice-over work two weeks before her death on December 18, 2008.
- The role of James T. Kirk came down between Mike Vogel and Chris Pine. Vogel was reported as being the front runner for the part but J.J. Abrams decided to cast Pine in the end. Joshua Jackson also auditioned for the role.
- The "Trek" movie with the longest hiatus to date since the last motion picture (7 years).
- Tyler Perry's first movie role outside one of his own projects.
- Christopher Doohan, the son of the late James Doohan (Scotty from the original series), has appeared in the new Star Trek alongside the new Scotty, Simon Pegg. Simon Pegg was on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993) and said that Chris "plays my assistant in one of the scenes". It is also known that Chris has a scene with Marlene Forte, who plays the part of Transport Chief on the Enterprise.
- Composer Michael Giacchino decided to use the original "Star Trek" theme by Alexander Courage for the end credits, which director J.J. Abrams said symbolized the momentum of the crew coming together.
- Of the now 11 films, this is the most expensive "Star Trek" film by far, at an estimated $150,000,000. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) had a budget of $46,000,000 and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) had a budget of $60,000,000.
- Prior to this film, the most any "Star Trek" film ever made was Star Trek: First Contact (1996) with a worldwide gross of $146,000,000. This film exceeded that gross by its second weekend of US release alone.
- There is a supposed "odd-numbered movie curse" associated with the Star Trek films in which the odd-numbered films tend to be weaker and the even-numbered ones tend to be stronger. This curse was supposedly proved false with the poor reception of film ten, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) This new Star Trek (2009) is the eleventh film. Years before, Simon Pegg's character in "Spaced" (1999) joked that every odd-numbered Star Trek film being "shit" was a fact of life. Pegg noted: "Fate put me in the movie to show me I was talking out of my ass."
- The first theatrical trailer uses the track "Down with the Enterprise" by Two Steps From Hell. This was an adaptation of Brian Tyler's track "War Begins" from his "Children of Dune" (2003) score.
- To prepare for his role as Captain James Kirk, Chris Pine watched classic episodes and read encyclopedias about the Star Trek universe. However, his research was rudimentary, as he wanted his performance to be original and not an imitation of William Shatner. He based his performance on Tom Cruise's Maverick and Harrison Ford's Han Solo and Indiana Jones, heroes who Pine felt possessed the archetypal hero qualities Kirk has (humour, arrogance, decisiveness).
- The first "Original Series" film to be rated PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK. All of the other films starring the Original Series characters were rated PG, in the US and 12A in the UK, respectively, except for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which was rated G in the US and a U in the UK, and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) which originally received a 15 certificate (it has since been reclassified by the BBFC as a 12A).
- Due to the confidentiality and secrecy of the movie's production, various fake working titles were used. The official one chosen by Bad Robot Productions was "Corporate Headquarters", but, also, each of the Key Assistant Location Managers chose additional fake titles for paperwork, permits, and signage. Kathy McCurdy named the movie "Untitled Walter Lace Project" after her grandfather, Steve Woroniecki named it "Untitled Blake Allen Project" after his son, Rob Swenson used "Christa & Christan's Big Adventure" after his twin step-daughters, and Scott Trimble used "The Ernest Castelhun Chronicles" after his great-granduncle who had drowned in beer at the Anheuser-Busch factory in 1937.
- Eric Bana's character, Nero, is missing the tip of one of his Romulan ears. In the movie Chopper (2000), Bana's character Mark 'Chopper' Reed has both ears cut off in order to be moved to a different jail.
- In the Federation Council Chambers, there is a briefly-seen sign that reads "Admiral Komack". This is a reference to a character portrayed by Byron Morrow in the original series.
- Brief mentions are made to "Admiral Archer" and his beagle. Then-Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) was the captain of the title ship in "Enterprise" (2001) (which takes place before this movie), and kept a Beagle named Porthos.
- IDW published a comic prequel series entitled "Star Trek: Countdown" that fleshed out Nero's back story and the reasons for Old Spock's involvement.
- In the scene where Kirk is taking the Kobayashi Maru test, he is eating an apple, which is also what he is eating while recounting his tale of taking the Kobayashi Maru test in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
- This is the first "Star Trek" film to list its cast in alphabetical order, rather than by who the leads are. This was done to reflect the ensemble nature of the film's cast.
- This movie marks the film debut of Zachary Quinto, who's best known as Sylar on the hit TV series "Heroes" (2006/II), which has included several references to "Star Trek", and featured George Takei (Sulu) in the recurring role of Kaito Nakamura.
- James Marsden was considered for the role of McCoy.
- Zoe Saldana previously played a big Star Trek fan who admits she loves going to the conventions in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal (2004).
- Karl Urban is a longtime self-described "religious" fan of the Original Series. He used to watch it on Saturday mornings in New Zealand with his dad. Shortly before word came down about the development of this film, he bought the complete series on DVD and watched them with his son.
- Urban was cast at his first audition, which was two months after his initial meeting with J.J. Abrams. He said he was happy to play a role with lots of comedy, something he had not done since The Price of Milk (2000), because he was fed-up of action-oriented roles.
- Zachary Quinto was attracted to the role of Spock as he wanted to explore the character's dual heritages and his position of being caught between both Earth and Vulcan cultures: "He is constantly exploring that notion of how to evolve in a responsible way and how to evolve in a respectful way. I think those are all things that we as a society, and certainly the world, could implement."
- To prepare for his role as Spock, Zachary Quinto grew his hair longer and dyed it, and shaved his eyebrows. He claimed that the change in appearance cemented his performance: "I just felt like a nerd. I felt like I was 12 again, you look back at those pictures and you see the bowl cut. I was sporting that look for a good 4 or 5 years. There's no question I was born to play Spock."
- To perfect the Vulcan salute, Zachary Quinto had his fingers glued together by J.J. Abrams.
- Adrien Brody had discussed playing Spock with J.J. Abrams.
- Zoe Saldana never saw "Star Trek" (1966), but agreed to play the role of Uhura after J.J. Abrams had complimented her previous performances ("For an actor, that's all you need, that's all you want: to get the acknowledgment and respect from your peers."). However, Saldana's mother was a Star Trek fan and sent her voice mails during filming, giving advice on the part.
- Eric Bana improvised Nero's speech patterns.
- John Cho cited masculinity as an important aspect of the role of Sulu, and spent two weeks training in fighting.
- Paul McGillion auditioned for Scotty, and while he didn't get the role, he impressed the filmmakers enough to be given a minor role in the film.
- The gun battle that takes place on the mining ship was originally written as a fistfight until the day those scenes were going to be filmed.
- Carol Marcus, Kirk's old love interest and mother of his son from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), featured in an early draft of the script as a childhood friend of Kirk's in Iowa but the role was cut by the final draft. Nurse Chapel from the original series also is also referenced in the film and has a line of dialogue: Dr. McCoy calls orders her to prepare a medication after Kirk's hands begin to swell, and she responds, "Yes, sir!" However, she does not appear on-screen.
- Eric Bana shot his scenes toward the end of filming.
- There are references in the film to J.J. Abrams's hit series "Alias" (2001): At the bar, Uhura orders a Slusho drink, and old Spock's ship is seen to contain a red ball.
- The film has its roots in the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention, where Gene Roddenberry declared he would make a film prequel to "Star Trek" (1966). The concept would not be heard until the late 1980s, between Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). David Loughery wrote a script entitled "The Academy Years," but it was shelved due to objections from the original cast and the fan base. Finally in 2005, after the failure of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and the cancellation of "Enterprise" (2001), development got underway. Another novel treatment of the beginnings of Kirk's command of the Enterprise was described in the novel "Enterprise: The First Adventure" by Vonda N. McIntyre which was based upon a Star Trek movie script that was to be used if a contract could not be reached with the original cast after the first set of movies were made.
- Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and director J.J. Abrams all signed on while filming Mission: Impossible III (2006).
- The USS Kelvin, the ship Kirk's father serves on, is named after J.J. Abrams' grandfather. It was also a scientific reference towards the temperature scale Kelvin, which itself was named after physicist/engineer Lord Kelvin.
- The Kelvin's captain, Richard Robau (Faran Tahir), is named after Roberto Orci's Cuban uncle. According to Orci, Robau was born in Cuba and grew up in the Middle East.
- Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who play the odd couple Kirk and Spock, were previously acquainted with each other as they work out at the same gym.
- Damon Lindelof likened the Romulans in the film to pirates, with their unique tattoos, disorganized costuming, and practical ship with mechanics visible.
- The actors playing the Romulans spent 2-4 hours applying make-up; three prosthetics were applied to the ears and foreheads, and Eric Bana had a fourth prosthetic applied for the bite mark on his head. The actors also shaved their heads in order to differentiate them from Vulcans; previous series designed the Romulans with ridged foreheads.
- J.J. Abrams selected costume designer Michael Kaplan because he had not seen any of the Star Trek films and so would approach the costumes with a new angle.
- When Chris Pine was cast as James Kirk, he sent William Shatner a letter and received a reply containing Shatner's approval.
- The Korean-American actor John Cho was initially uncertain about being cast as the Japanese-American officer Hikaru Sulu, but George Takei, who played Sulu in "Star Trek" (1966), encouraged him to take the role as Sulu was a character who represented all of Asia.
- Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and J.J. Abrams personally called upon Leonard Nimoy's home to request for his role in the film. According to Orci, the actor gave a "Who are you guys and what are you up to? manner" before being told how important he was to them. He was silent, and Nimoy's wife Susan Bay told the creative team that after their conversation he had remained in his chair, emotionally overwhelmed by his decision to return as Spock after turning down many opportunities to revisit the role. He decided to act in this film as he was turned on by the script's scope and its detailing of the characters' histories: "We have dealt with Spock being half-human/half-Vulcan, but never with quite the overview that this script has of the character's entire history, his character growth, his beginnings and his arrival into the Enterprise crew."
- J.J. Abrams claimed it was surreal to direct Leonard Nimoy as Spock: "This guy has been doing it for forty years!"
- Simon Pegg described Scotty as a Scot stereotype, but a positive one ("Scots are the first people to laugh at the fact that they drink and fight a bit"), and that Scotty comes from a long line of Scotsmen with technical expertise, like John Logie Baird and Alexander Graham Bell.
- Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura in "Star Trek" (1966), was going to make a cameo as Uhura's grandmother.
- To perform Scotty's accent, Simon Pegg was assisted by his wife Maureen, who is from Glasgow. However, later Pegg said Scotty was from Linlithgow and wanted to bring a more East Coast sound to his accent, so his resulting performance is a mix of both accents that leans towards the West sound. He was also aided by Tommy Gormley, the film's Glaswegian first assistant director.
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