second verse, same as the first
May. 23rd, 2009 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelSaw Star Trek again. \o/
The problem I thought I had, isn't a problem. -- that is: the thing that clues Kirk in to the Romulan ambush, the lightning in space, was being treated as an effect of the ship. That's a perfectly reasonable assumption for the *characters* to make -- they don't know about the time travel anomaly thing -- but not for the *movie* to make. But I guess I hadn't made the connection that the lightning they reported wasn't Nero, but was Spock Prime's vessel coming through, and the rest happened in faster succession than I thought. (I had been thinking time A was Nero coming through, time B was Spock Prime coming through, and time C was destruction of Vulcan et al, and the lightning-in-space report was time C. which is true with the addendum that B == C (within a day or two).)
The other problem I thought I had, though, still is: how the fuck does Nero manage to calculate where and when Spock Prime will be dumped?
(There is also the issue that Nero's all "I am not only saving Romulus, but destroying the Federation." The problem, in the future, was that Earth sat by and did nothing, and Vulcan was equally reluctant, with the exception of Spock, who didn't get there in time. Wiping out Vulcan, and making Spock watch, is vengeance, yes, but how the fuck does it save Romulus?)
(Also, the spacefiving thing: why did they put all the charges on one person, instead of spreading them out, given the low probability of all three of them succeeding?)
From a story perspective, I don't get the purpose of the young Kirk scene. Young Spock, totally -- it sets up his hybrid status, his alienation from other Vulcans, and his mother as an emotional trigger point. Young Kirk -- does what? shows his recklessness? (plenty of that later) adrenaline junkie? (ditto) disregard for authority? (ditto) lack of real parental role models? (ditto). So why's it there?
There are also timeline implication issues, there and a bit later. With placestamps but no timestamps, it's ... logical, shall we say ... to presume that the young!Kirk scene comes at the same time as, or (if necessary) earlier than, the young!Spock scene, making them about the same age; but more problematically, the first adult-Spock scene (live long and prosper IN A FIRE) and the first adult-Kirk scene (in the bar) are also juxtaposed. In these scenes, Spock leaves for Starfleet, and Kirk (the morning after) does as well; how the fuck, then, does Spock get to his status as Commander and instructor and programmer-of-no-win-scenarios and distinguished graduate et al, in the same time it takes Kirk to get ... to be a cadet taking said test?
And I still don't like the way Amanda got killed off. *That* she died is ... unfortunate, but works with the story, given that a shitton of Vulcans died, and given that Kirk's "you never loved her" is the final push that sends Spock over the very necessary edge. But *how* she died ... doesn't sit well. Especially since, okay, Chekov* was able to transport Kirk and Sulu at the last minute, while they were falling in a variable gravity environment, but it took a count to five before he could transport the Vulcans, and he wasn't able to compensate for her starting to fall?
However.
All that aside? I am still full of massive squee. (Except for the grief over Vulcan, which was less of a surprise -- funny how movies tend to come out the same way -- but still a holy-shit moment.) And Sulu is fucking *awesome* (and so's his sword) and Karl Urban is still perfect and so's Chris Pine and *flail*
(squee)
The problem I thought I had, isn't a problem. -- that is: the thing that clues Kirk in to the Romulan ambush, the lightning in space, was being treated as an effect of the ship. That's a perfectly reasonable assumption for the *characters* to make -- they don't know about the time travel anomaly thing -- but not for the *movie* to make. But I guess I hadn't made the connection that the lightning they reported wasn't Nero, but was Spock Prime's vessel coming through, and the rest happened in faster succession than I thought. (I had been thinking time A was Nero coming through, time B was Spock Prime coming through, and time C was destruction of Vulcan et al, and the lightning-in-space report was time C. which is true with the addendum that B == C (within a day or two).)
The other problem I thought I had, though, still is: how the fuck does Nero manage to calculate where and when Spock Prime will be dumped?
(There is also the issue that Nero's all "I am not only saving Romulus, but destroying the Federation." The problem, in the future, was that Earth sat by and did nothing, and Vulcan was equally reluctant, with the exception of Spock, who didn't get there in time. Wiping out Vulcan, and making Spock watch, is vengeance, yes, but how the fuck does it save Romulus?)
(Also, the spacefiving thing: why did they put all the charges on one person, instead of spreading them out, given the low probability of all three of them succeeding?)
From a story perspective, I don't get the purpose of the young Kirk scene. Young Spock, totally -- it sets up his hybrid status, his alienation from other Vulcans, and his mother as an emotional trigger point. Young Kirk -- does what? shows his recklessness? (plenty of that later) adrenaline junkie? (ditto) disregard for authority? (ditto) lack of real parental role models? (ditto). So why's it there?
There are also timeline implication issues, there and a bit later. With placestamps but no timestamps, it's ... logical, shall we say ... to presume that the young!Kirk scene comes at the same time as, or (if necessary) earlier than, the young!Spock scene, making them about the same age; but more problematically, the first adult-Spock scene (live long and prosper IN A FIRE) and the first adult-Kirk scene (in the bar) are also juxtaposed. In these scenes, Spock leaves for Starfleet, and Kirk (the morning after) does as well; how the fuck, then, does Spock get to his status as Commander and instructor and programmer-of-no-win-scenarios and distinguished graduate et al, in the same time it takes Kirk to get ... to be a cadet taking said test?
And I still don't like the way Amanda got killed off. *That* she died is ... unfortunate, but works with the story, given that a shitton of Vulcans died, and given that Kirk's "you never loved her" is the final push that sends Spock over the very necessary edge. But *how* she died ... doesn't sit well. Especially since, okay, Chekov* was able to transport Kirk and Sulu at the last minute, while they were falling in a variable gravity environment, but it took a count to five before he could transport the Vulcans, and he wasn't able to compensate for her starting to fall?
However.
All that aside? I am still full of massive squee. (Except for the grief over Vulcan, which was less of a surprise -- funny how movies tend to come out the same way -- but still a holy-shit moment.) And Sulu is fucking *awesome* (and so's his sword) and Karl Urban is still perfect and so's Chris Pine and *flail*
(squee)