Movie Review: Star Trek

Yes, my geekiness will really come out in this post. Consider yourself forewarned.

Let's get one thing straight: I loved the movie. I really admire JJ Abrams for being able to turn a cult classic into something that appeals to both the mainstream crowd (some who have never even seen a Star Trek movie!) and the geeks (such as myself). Action packed yet has just enough emotional scenes (both sad and funny) to make the characters all the more real. Which is important, because what made Star Trek so famous was not really the technology - it's really about the characters and how they used the technology in the story.


But, as I'm a geek, there are quite a few inconsistencies with generally accepted Star Trek canon - though in no way do these inconsistencies rob the story of it's greatness.

1. The U.S.S. Enterprise was built in spacedock, not on Earth - starships in the time of Jim Kirk, especially starships in the Constellation class (of which the original Enterprise is from), are not capable of surviving atmospheric flight - one reason being their weight. Also, it was generally considered to be much safer to have it built in orbit because of the extremely hazardous nature of dilithium crystals (which powers the warp core, which is the reason why starships can travel faster than light) which would potentially cause havoc on the planet. Even in the Enterprise D (commanded by Jean-Luc Picard some hundred years in the future from Kirk) could not survive atmospheric flight, though the saucer section could survive long enough to make planetfall - though it could never fly again under its own power.

2. Starfleet never had "rapid-fire" torpedoes - space combat in the movie was a chaotic thing, filled with phasers firing constantly and torpedoes being launched in rapid-fire. Starfleet never had rapid-fire torpedoes, and the original Enterprise only had 1 torpedo launcher (forward launcher). The Enterprise D has 4 photon torpedo launchers - 2 fore, 2 aft.

3. Each ship during Kirk's time had their own logo - Starfleet only adopted the use of Enterprise's logo AFTER Kirk made the ship famous, unlike in the movie, when Starfleet was using the Enterprise logo as the official logo.

4. The original Enterprise only had room for 2-3 shuttles at the most - yet in the movie, we saw about 6-8 shuttles docking in the shuttle bay.

5. The original Enterprise did not have "touchpads" for controls, just keys and buttons - Uhura preferred keys and buttons because you knew that when you clicked something, it actually was done, as opposed to touchpads where you didn't know it was being done.

6. Engineering was not that big - the engineering room was portrayed as a...well, HUGE room filled with large tanks and the likes. It was only in Enterprise D that engineering had a 2-level room, the original Enterprise just had a smaller room to begin with.

7. Each starship only carries one warp core - not multiple ones as in the movie. The dumping of a warp core was a last ditch safety measure in case the warp core was going to go critical - and there's only one (as multiple warp cores don't necessarily mean faster travel).

But beyond those inconsistencies (hell, Gloria didn't know anything about them yet she enjoyed the movie!), the movie was absolutely great. :) Kudos to JJ Abrams for a job well done. Now, I wonder what's going to happen with the sequel...