Spoilers here. It's from the German showing, though. From experience, Germans are some of the most rabid fans of Star Trek considering the turmoil of the Cold War.
Report From JJ Abrams? German Star Trek Presentation + more movie details November 12, 2008
by Thorsten Wulff , Filed under: Spoilers, Star Trek (2009 film) , trackback
As noted before by this site, Germans love Star Trek (or as TOS was first referred to, "Raumschiff Enterprise"). Earlier today JJ Abrams brought his travelling show to Cologne Germany. Below we have an exclusive first hand report on the event as well as some additional notes not brought up in our UK report yesterday. [Spoilers of course]
Germany is excited about Star Trek
The audience in Cologne?s Cinedom, a mix of movie people and journalists with a couple of fans thrown in for good measure, was thrilled, and JJ got lots of applause before and after every scene intro. He told us twice that it were the first time that he saw the trailer on such a huge screen (I wonder where they went in London yesterday?). The German fans will give the movie two thumbs up, and everybody I talked to was amazed by what JJ, Bob and the rest of the gang achieved.
The organizers of Germany?s biggest Trek Convention, FedCon were invited, too, and they loved what they saw, and these folks know their Trek canon. Susanne Doepke from FedCon told me she was a bit afraid, but after she saw the footage she was giddily happy. The German TV station RTL shot an interview with her and Con chief organizer Dirk Bartholomae that will be aired next Tuesday.
I talked to Paramount International vice president Rob Moore, and he told me how happy the execs were with JJ?s work. The German head of Paramount, Sven Sturm, asked us to spread the word if we liked what we saw today. And the message from Cologne is clear, Star Trek is back with a big bang. As Nero says in the new trailer: "The wait is over."
Thoughts on the trailer and scenes.
First of all, it is a fantastic movie. Fast paced and funny, and Trek, too. It really speaks to everybody, not just the geeks? it works like Dark Knight and Bond. The Cologne event started at 9 AM with soft drinks and snacks, the lobby was filled with plasma displays showcasing artwork of the film, lots of stills and JJ and company in action shooting the movie, on the Kelvin and Enterprise bridge sets.
Notes on the displays
* The concept drawing of Kirks bike sported a huge BMW logo (which I did not see in the footage)
* The new Phaser pistol is silver and looks like a fusion of the TOS model and the ST V Assault Phaser
* Lots of different shuttles were shown, the Enterprise has its own Medic Evac shuttle for example? In the hangar scene were everybody is rushed on board the shuttles to board the Enterprise because of the Vulcan crisis, one of them is called "Gilliam".
* Artwork showed a guy in a space suit entering a chamber with something that looked like an enclosed, trapped black hole?
* Lots of drawings from Vulcan with small ships fleeing from an ocean of lava, like Mustafar (from Star Wars Episode III)
* The Kelvin Uniforms, while obviously older, appear to be all blue and the shirt has some strange thicker part from the back around the neck, looks a bit dated and fits nicely.
Much has already been covered yesterday from the UK event, here are some additional details
On the Bar scene
* Jim Kirk lies on a table, says to entering Pike who saved him from the cadets fists "You have a great whistle"
* Pike was on the Kelvin to finish his dissertation. Big fan of George Kirk. Saved 800 people, and your mother, and You. (So I guess Mrs. Kirk was pregnant while serving on the Kelvin?)
* Pike has grey sideburns, and they are not pointed.
* You love Pike from the moment he saves Kirk in the bar. He is the father figure in the movie and does a great job.
On the Kirk gets smuggled onto Enterprise by McCoy scene
* JJ explains that when all hell breaks lose on Vulcan, and Starfleet puts together a hasty rescue mission UN style
* Kirk, while in bad shape and half carried by Bones (due to ruse of getting him on as a patient), stumbles to a nurse and says "Hi Honey". Jim Kirk all the way.
* The Turbo lifts sport two doors now, an inner transparent and an outer metal one.
* Emergency mission appears to be maiden voyage, so Captain Pike is not sure about Chekov?s name?
* Montage with Chekov explaining emergency to ship nicely done because we get a sense of the hugeness of the Enterprise, lots of different , busy departments are shown, always with Chekov talking on the various screens across the ship
* Karl Urban is dead on McCoy
* The Enterprise is very fast, Vulcan is reached very quickly and entering orbit shot has a strong reminder of the Millennium Falcon arriving at Alderaan.
* Again, the space shots feel very real, great work from ILM.
On the scene with Kirk, Spock and Scotty on the ?frozen planet?
* This part must be later than the drill scene, because Spock as acting captain threw Kirk from the ship.
* Old Spock knows that and awaits him down there (I guess)
* Its an forgotten Star Fleet outpost anyway, and Scotty hangs out down there in a workshop with a small but funny alien.
* It is a very warm and special moment between Old Spock and young Kirk, totally convincing. Pegg is just priceless.
* Spock delivers the Star Fleet code to relieve his younger self to Kirk, reminded me of the Decker situation in "The Doomsday Machine"
* Very nice Live Long and Prosper from Nimoy
On the scene with Kirk, and Sulu on the drill rig
* Nero?s ship is really huge, and looks like a cross between an Christmas tree and a Shadow ship from Babylon 5
* Nero asked for Pike to visit him, the transporters are down, so Pike takes a shuttle and uses this for the secret attack on the drill?
* Enterprise Shuttlebay is huge, and full of shuttles.
* Part of the Enterprise looks (guessing Engineer) where Pike, Kirk and Spock are walking looks like a factory (clearly shot on location)
* Very funny moment when Pike makes Spock acting Captain, but Kirk first officer. They really don?t like each other.
* Great visual sequence when the shuttle leaves the Enterprise, feels real as promised.
* Olsen, the Chief Engineer in the red drop suit with the charges to blow up the drill platform, miscalculates the right time to open his chute, bounces off the platform and gets grilled in the drill beam.
* Fighting Sulu is amazing, the sequence with his unfolding Katana is awesomely well choreographed.
* When Sulu falls off and Kirk jumps after him, we hear the classical Communicator chime from Kirks wrist while he tries desperately to get beamed up.
* Transporter effect great, gleaming and swirling.
