Star Trek Into Darkness - Images, Videos, Discussion, etc

[Joshmaul]

Gee more like a few weeks... also their is a thing call field promotion. Where does outlaw even come in?

He did sneak aboard the ship against orders. Well, the good doctor helped some, too.

Now that I've said that...I am inclined to agree with ChiefBrex's sentiment. All Abrams has done, in my view, is take your generic shoot'em-up, special-effects laden action movie and slapped a Star Trek label on it, with characters loosely based on the originals. I did watch the first one before coming to this opinion, and I will reserve further opinions until I actually see the second (which, with my track record, will likely be when it's on DVD or something), but I admit I am not optimistic.

The difference between old and new is that...in this case (and entirely in my own opinion), Star Trek is being whored out, and Abrams is the pimp. The movie makes him money, his customers like the service they're getting, and the "product" is degraded. Now I'll grant you, the prime stuff was not perfect. Roddenberry, B&B, so on, they made some stuff that had us going "WTF?" But this is exploitation, pure and simple.

[captain_obvious]

Umm sorry but all trek did that... we just never saw the whole system ejected.... just the core... their are also things called anti-mater containment pods. (if you look at the TNG tech manual you see they are able to be ejected.)

Qft.

They looked fine to me... its a mix between TOS and TMP styles... you notice it more cause they seem to fire slower. (only thing I didn't like was the reuses of the B5 starfury gun sound effects)

I see the little guns dotting the ships hulls as secondary gun batteries.  Good for point defence work, knocking down fighters, mines or anything that's too small to be worth spinning up the main guns for.
I rather liked them!

Haha yeah... though I can kinda see past it.

Tbh, I'm not feeling most of the set designs in JJ trek.  The seem to "apple-y" () and frivolous to me.  But then you have the contrast.
The brewery was just daft.  It really didn't look like it would even fit inside the hull, let alone be functional! It seemed more like an artist using a "grimy", "industrial" set for the hell of it rather than thinking of the context (i.e. would it be plausible to fit a set that size inside the hull).

Gee more like a few weeks... also their is a thing call field promotion. Where does outlaw even come in?

Battlefield promotions just don't happen any more.  If a situation like that happens, the next man down generally fills in (i.e. the 2ic of a batallion, a major, would step up and fill the slot of the CO, a Lt colonel).  You just wouldn't get a private or even a lieutenant suddenly thrust into the position of CO.  A lt MIGHT end up in charge of a company, maybe.  But only if the rest of the officers in said company were taken out.
Even then, if they did fill the position, they would not get the rank.  Just because a lt has taken command of a company due to circumstance does not mean that the lt is suddenly a major.  They are just doing the job of the person with that rank.

Besides, the timescales  in jjtrek seemed more like hours, maybe a day or two at most.  Certainly not weeks!

[Bones]

While I see JJ haters point (been there too) I have to admit, over time JJ verse grew on me and now I can fully enjoy watching it

Of course I do agree with Chief and Josh, I've been Trekkie since I can remember, Original movies will always be the best for me (even ST5 is somehow fun) but I could also see where Berman is taking Star Trek and I hate Nemesis for that (nowadays it's my least favourite ST movie due to characters that had nothing to do with those we met in TNG except for names, sloppy wanna-be-Wrath-of-Khan story and boring pacing)

My personal opinion is, Star Trek needed a push because let's face it, Nemesis was filmed in 2002 and it wasn't a block buster, Berman took wrong turn with Insurrection and Nemesis just went straight on to a cheap and dull sci-fi movie (as a teenager I like long space battle at the end but then again I could sleep through the first half of movie )

thus I liked ST XI for freshness, of course it had some awful brewery sets and strange interior designs (Narada), lame physics and even lamer names for substances and all characters seems to be genius now (Uhura speaks almost every alien language - Prime Uhura knew how to open hailing frequencies; Sulu is kind of master in fencing - Prime Sulu knew how to go to warp speed... even Kirk is kind of kickboxer and rebellious genius while Prime Kirk knew how to punch aliens into face and get his shirt torn). JJ didn't bother to tell the same story in the same way with new VFX, he did it his way so whole crew is magically thrown into ship within one day and they even get their posts within that one day (forementioned cadet Kirk is captain Kirk 24 hours later, but JJ didn't care about technicals, he just used as many tricks as possible to convert Trek into modern action movie that will earn hordes of new Trekkies and what's more a movie that will earn real money ;) and that's a good thing because he pumped life into a dead body and secured at least 2 additional movies and perhaps a future series, now that's better than Nemesis and Enterprise did don't you think ;)

but as I said, I agree about one thing, this is no longer Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, it shares same characters (rewritten but still they hold they core characteristics) and story is similiar but that it, everything else is new.

Oh and about the sets, I kinda liked what JJ did here ;) bridge and crew sections are white, clean and has bright lighting while Engineering is very industrial, harsh. Trekkies like us will recognize when characters walked into engineering due to warp core presence but people who never watched any Star Trek might get confused, engineering that looks almost the same as corridor or crew quarter or bridge so he took a more radical form of visual treatment that will make viewers subconsciousnes guess instantaneously where action is taking them (command sections - clean and bright, engineering - industrial and grim ) I think it's a brilliant use of contrast to tell the difference without actually saying it.


EDIT :

OMG !!! Sorry for such a long post  I didn't realize I wrote it this long 

[Shadowknight1]

Ugh, yet again someone uses the term "Cadet" as an actual rank in Starfleet.  It isn't.  Cadet is merely a term for an officer that has not graduated from the Academy.  This has been seen before in actual Trek lore.  Biggest example: Lieutenant Saavik.  And as an in-movie example in ST 2009: Uhura.  She was still technically a cadet, but she held the rank of Lieutenant.  Now, do you seriously expect me to believe that she and Kirk were at the Academy for the exact same amount of time but she outranked him?  Kirk was at LEAST a Lieutenant when he boarded the Enterprise.  Even in the Prime timeline, Kirk was a Lieutenant at the Academy before he went out into space.  Pike then granted him a battlefield promotion to First Officer, which could make him either Lieutenant Commander or Commander in rank(which, why was Spock always a Lt. Cmdr.?  Why didn't he get a promotion?).  While Spock believed he was acting logically in removing Kirk from the Enterprise, it was in violation of regulations, so Spock isn't perfectly clean here either.  Kirk returned to the ship and took over as acting Captain, which is part of the duty of a first officer if the Captain or previous acting Captain are incapacitated or unfit for command.  Starfleet merely formalized that rank because of Kirk's actions in saving Earth.  Yes, Kirk did jump to command quick.  But well within Starfleet's chain of command.

[Bones]

Yea I might have missed that detail so promotions are now explained, that makes the movie even better ;)

[Nighthawk]

guys.... the new trek is designed by people watching the 23th century already knowing the 20th century....
the old trek was made by people looking at the 23rd century half way through the 20th century.

it's not one or two details you're looking at... it's 50 years of worldwide facts and events which shaped that century...


Roddenberry hoped to see black, asian and russian crewmembers... back in the day, they wouldn't have used a broom to clean the sets if it wasn't "made in america"... we're talking about post-war USA, knee-deep in the cold war.... russia and asia were like heretic words.
fast forward 50 years and think about making the same production right now.... would any of you consider doing anything like it without the help of asian, russian, or european technicians?

...if anything, this new trek on itself, from the very concept, is the summum of what Roddenberry hoped for 50 years ago....
... still no warp core, but hey, we're getting there... more like, at 1/4 impulse...

[moed]

Tell you what, how about we just put all this stuff behind us and be tolerant and respectful of our individual opinions.  That, ultimately is what Star Trek is all about - IDIC as was stated a few posts ago.

Anyhow, I look forward to seeing the movie   

[Darkthunder]

Ugh, yet again someone uses the term "Cadet" as an actual rank in Starfleet.  It isn't.  Cadet is merely a term for an officer that has not graduated from the Academy.  This has been seen before in actual Trek lore.  Biggest example: Lieutenant Saavik.  And as an in-movie example in ST 2009: Uhura.  She was still technically a cadet, but she held the rank of Lieutenant.  Now, do you seriously expect me to believe that she and Kirk were at the Academy for the exact same amount of time but she outranked him?  Kirk was at LEAST a Lieutenant when he boarded the Enterprise.  Even in the Prime timeline, Kirk was a Lieutenant at the Academy before he went out into space.  Pike then granted him a battlefield promotion to First Officer, which could make him either Lieutenant Commander or Commander in rank(which, why was Spock always a Lt. Cmdr.?  Why didn't he get a promotion?).  While Spock believed he was acting logically in removing Kirk from the Enterprise, it was in violation of regulations, so Spock isn't perfectly clean here either.  Kirk returned to the ship and took over as acting Captain, which is part of the duty of a first officer if the Captain or previous acting Captain are incapacitated or unfit for command.  Starfleet merely formalized that rank because of Kirk's actions in saving Earth.  Yes, Kirk did jump to command quick.  But well within Starfleet's chain of command.

Well said. Although Kirk's rank is never stated during the movie, I very much recall Uhura being referred to as Lieutenant, despite Pike calling her a Cadet just a few moments earlier.

I also think of another comment by Pike early in the movie; "You can be an officer in 4 years, you can have your own ship in 8". Kirk's response was in regards to being an Officer, "I'll do it in 3". 3 years later, and we see Kirk taking the Kobayashi Maru test for an unprecedented 3rd time. The test is designed for aspiring command officers who seek the Captain's Chair. I doubt they'd allow a junior Cadet to take that test once, much less three times.

[Bones]

Well said. Although Kirk's rank is never stated during the movie, I very much recall Uhura being referred to as Lieutenant, despite Pike calling her a Cadet just a few moments earlier.

I also think of another comment by Pike early in the movie; "You can be an officer in 4 years, you can have your own ship in 8". Kirk's response was in regards to being an Officer, "I'll do it in 3". 3 years later, and we see Kirk taking the Kobayashi Maru test for an unprecedented 3rd time. The test is designed for aspiring command officers who seek the Captain's Chair. I doubt they'd allow a junior Cadet to take that test once, much less three times.

That again supports fact that characters were supercharged to be genius

[FarShot]

The display showing them space diving to the drill says "Lt. Kirk".

Let's be fair, all the characters were remarkable when they were first shown, virtue of their race.  Anybody turning on the TV back then would've said, "Whoa, a black lady?  She must be something special!"

That doesn't apply anymore these days.  If all they had Uhura do was answer the comms and call Kirk up to the bridge, there would be public outrage that the black female is just a secretary.

[Shadowknight1]

The display showing them space diving to the drill says "Lt. Kirk".

Let's be fair, all the characters were remarkable when they were first shown, virtue of their race.  Anybody turning on the TV back then would've said, "Whoa, a black lady?  She must be something special!"

That doesn't apply anymore these days.  If all they had Uhura do was answer the comms and call Kirk up to the bridge, there would be public outrage that the black female is just a secretary.

Huh, I didn't notice that detail before, nice catch FarShot!

And yes, you're right.  THIS Uhura wouldn't stumble through old, moldy Klingon dictionaries.  Thank God.  Had to be one of the oddest scenes in Star Trek VI.

[Darkthunder]

Wow Farshot. You must have the eyes of a hawk. I had to look very closely at the film during that scene to find it. And it's only visible for about a second.



That actually makes a whole lot more sense. Kirk's "rapid" promotion to Captain wasn't as rapid as we are led to believe. Nowhere else in the movie is it stated that Kirk is a Lieutenant. But it does make sense, in regards to being able to give orders to "lower ranked" officers.

[captain_obvious]

Thank God.  Had to be one of the oddest scenes in Star Trek VI.

I for one thought that scene was great.  It gave off an "oh sh*t sh*t sh*t!" vibe

[captain_obvious]

Wow Farshot. You must have the eyes of a hawk. I had to look very closely at the film during that scene to find it. And it's only visible for about a second.



That actually makes a whole lot more sense. Kirk's "rapid" promotion to Captain wasn't as rapid as we are led to believe. Nowhere else in the movie is it stated that Kirk is a Lieutenant. But it does make sense, in regards to being able to give orders to "lower ranked" officers.

I think he was given the rank during the academy for being generally awesome.  It's an american custom to give promising/high achieving recruits/trainees a one up in the system.  Basically just promoting them 1 rank before everyone else as a reward for being..well.. awesome.

[Darkthunder]

Upon further reflection:

It appears that Kirk's official rank during the movie was "Lieutenant" as evidenced by the above screenshot. When Pike promoted Kirk to "First Officer", and handing over Command to Spock, one could assume Kirk became an "Acting Lt Commander". When Spock later becomes emotionally compromised, it wouldn't be too far-fetched for a Lt Commander to assume command of the ship (both as highest ranking, and First Officer to Captain).

Wasn't Picard a Lt Commander before assuming command of the Stargazer?

[FarShot]

Let's not forget that, besides losing ships to the Narada at Vulcan, the Federation was apparently engaged in active confrontation with the Klingons, which I bet would leave room for up-and-coming, gung ho commanders.  I'm sure Kirk was already being considered for fast-track into a ship command, especially since Pike (I've heard he was the commandant of the academy or in at least in charge of recruiting) showed intense personal interest in Kirk's career.

As for the super-genius-ing, Kirk has always been special, Spock has always been a scientific genius, McCoy has always been an extremely competent doctor (hooking back a brain is no small feat), and Scotty has always been a miracle worker.  The only supercharged characters are Uhura (language genius), Chekov (physics whiz-kid), and Sulu (ninja).  Again, they've been improved because its not enough for them to be racial characters anymore (though the asian being the ninja?  Well, at least its a western martial art I guess.  As an asian myself I'm glad Sulu gets to see some ground action, even though it's slightly stereotypical.)

[captain_obvious]

Upon further reflection:

It appears that Kirk's official rank during the movie was "Lieutenant" as evidenced by the above screenshot. When Pike promoted Kirk to "First Officer", and handing over Command to Spock, one could assume Kirk became an "Acting Lt Commander".

Rank does not change in "battlefield promotions". Appointments do. 
A Lt would be called captain if they were appointed captain, but they would still hold the rank of Lt. 
Perhaps the fleet has changed in the centuries between us and them, but according to current military tradition rank and appointments are two separate things.  They have been for a few hundred years afaik. 

That said, it isn't unknown for a "battlefield promotion" (i.e. a LtCmdr taking the centre seat) to be followed by a genuine promotion when the unit leaves the combat area if the performance of the unit since the takeover was good enough for it to be justified. 

[FarShot]

Do remember that there hasn't been much precedent for saving several billion lives from certain annihilation.  Archer maybe, and his tour paved his way to the presidency.

[Shadowknight1]

Do remember that there hasn't been much precedent for saving several billion lives from certain annihilation.  Archer maybe, and his tour paved his way to the presidency.

Well, in the Prime Timeline, Kirk did it twice and both times he was reduced in rank.

[086gf]

Anyways.....

Here are some more mostly positive reviews. Again, be careful and avoid the links labled as spoiler when you click on there to see the full review.

http://trekmovie.com/2013/05/08/star-trek-into-darkness-reviews-remain-mostly-positive-rt-rating-86-fresh/

And a funny KRE-O STID stop motion short.