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The franchise on the edge of forever

Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as Kirk in "Star Trek."

“Star Trek” as a concept has voyaged far beyond science fiction and into the safe waters of space opera, but that doesn’t amaze me. The Gene Roddenberry years, when stories might play with questions of science, ideals or philosophy, have been replaced by stories reduced to loud and colorful action. Like so many franchises, it’s more concerned with repeating a successful formula than going boldly where no “Star Trek” has gone before.

The 2009 “Star Trek” film goes back eagerly to where “Star Trek” began, using time travel to explain a cast of mostly the same characters, only at a younger point in their lives, sailing the Starship Enterprise. As a story idea, this is sort of brilliant and saves on invention, because young Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty and the rest channel their later selves. The child is father to the man, or the Vulcan, and all that.

Don’t get me wrong. This is fun. And when Leonard Nimoy himself returns as the aged Spock, encountering another Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) as a young man, I was kind of delighted, although as is customary in many sci-fi films, nobody is as astonished as they should be. Holy moly! Time travel exists, and this may be me! It’s more like a little ambiguous dialogue is exchanged, and they’re off to battle the evil Romulan Capt. Nero ( Eric Bana ).

Time travel as we all know, is impossible in the sense it happens here, but many things are possible in this film. Anyone with the slightest notion of what a black hole is, or how it behaves, will find the black holes in “Star Trek” hilarious. The logic is also a little puzzling when Scotty can beam people into another ship in outer space, but they have to physically parachute to land on a platform in the air from which the Romulans are drilling a hole to the Earth’s core. After they land there, they fight with two Romulan guards, using … fists and swords? The platform is suspended from Arthur C. Clark’s “space elevator,” but instead of fullerenes, the cable is made of metallic chunks the size of refrigerators.

But stop me before I get started. I mention these details only to demonstrate that the movie raises its yo-yo finger to the science, while embracing the fiction. Apart from details from the youths of the characters and the Spock reunion, it consists mostly of encounters between the Enterprise and the incomparably larger and much better armed Romulan spaceship from the future. It’s encouraging to learn that not even explosions and fires can quickly damage a starship. Also that lifeboats can save the crew, despite the vast distance from home base.

That would be because of warp speed, which for present purposes consists of looking through an unnecessary window at bright lights zapping past. This method of transportation prevents any sense of wonder at the immensity of outer space and is a convenience not only for the starship but also for the screenwriters, who can push a button and zap to the next scene. The concept of using warp speed to escape the clutches of a black hole seems like a recycling of the ancient dilemma of the rock and the hard place.

But there are affecting character moments. Young Spock is deliberately taunted in hopes he will, as a Vulcan, betray emotion. Because Zachary Quinto plays him as a bit of a self-righteous prig, it’s satisfying to see him lose it. Does poor young Spock realize he faces a lifetime of people trying to get a rise out of him? Nimoy, as the elderly Spock, must have benefitted, because he is the most human character in the film.

Chris Pine , as James Tiberius Kirk, appears first as a hot-rodding rebel who has found a Corvette in the 23rd century and drives it into the Grand Canyon. A few years after he’s put on suspension by the Academy and smuggled on board the Enterprise by Bones McCoy ( Karl Urban ), he becomes the ship’s captain. There are times when the command deck looks like Bring Your Child to School Day, with the kid sitting in daddy’s chair.

Uhura ( Zoe Saldana ) seems to have traveled through time to the pre-feminist 1960s, where she found her miniskirt and go-go boots. She seems wise and gentle and unsuited to her costume. Scotty ( Simon Pegg ) seems to have begun life as a character in a Scots sitcom. Eric Bana’s Nero destroys whole planets on the basis of faulty intelligence, but the character is played straight and is effective.

The special effects are slam-bam. Spatial relationships between spaceships are unclear because the Romulan ship and the Enterprise have such widely unmatched scales. Battles consist primarily of jump-suited crew members running down corridors in advance of smoke, sparks and flames. Lots of verbal commands seem implausibly slow. Consider, at light warp speeds, how imprecise it would be to say “At my command … 3 … 2 … 1 …” Between “2” and “1,” you could jump a million galaxies.

I thought about these things during “Star Trek” because I could not help myself. I understand the Star Trek science has never been intended as plausible. I understand this is not science fiction but an Ark movie using a starship. I understand that the character types are as familiar as your favorite slippers. But the franchise has become much of a muchness. The new movie essentially intends to reboot the franchise with younger characters and carry on as before. The movie deals with narrative housekeeping. Perhaps the next one will engage these characters in a more challenging and devious story, one more about testing their personalities than re-establishing them. In the meantime, you want space opera, you got it.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

• Anton Yelchin as Chekov
• Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk
• Eric Bana as Capt. Nero
• John Cho as Sulu
• Ben Cross as Sarek
• Chris Pine as James Tiberius Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime
• Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk
• Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Christopher Pike
• Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson
• Zachary Quinto as Spock
• Zoe Saldana as Uhura

Screenplay by

• Alex Kurtzman
• Roberto Orci

Directed by

• J. J. Abrams

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Star Trek 2009 Ending & Movies Future Explained

Chris pine's star trek movies explained, chris pine’s star trek movies ranked worst to best.

• Star Trek (2009) relaunched the franchise with a diverse cast and explored an alternate timeline split from the main timeline.
• Chris Pine played James T. Kirk, who goes from cadet to captain of the USS Enterprise and saves Earth from destruction.
• The cast also includes Zachary Quinto as Spock, Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, and Zoe Saldana as Uhura.

Star Trek (2009) helped relaunch the Star Trek franchise in the modern era and re-imagined the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise with a diverse cast of new faces. Directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Trek (2009) was the first franchise project produced after the cancelation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005, and the 11th Star Trek movie overall . Star Trek (2009) was followed by two sequels, 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016's Star Trek Beyond , with a third sequel still in the works despite experiencing multiple delays and setbacks.

Star Trek (2009) explored an alternate history for Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Starship Enterprise's crew from Star Trek: The Original Series , set in an alternate reality, known as the Kelvin timeline , split off from Star Trek 's main timeline . The split, which took place on the day of James T. Kirk's birth in 2233, was initiated by the film's Romulan villain Nero (Eric Bana) when he accidentally crossed from one reality to another, causing the destruction of the USS Kelvin and the death of Kirk's father. The movie then explored Kirk's entry into Starfleet Academy and his first mission with the Enterprise crew as a cadet during Nero's attack on Vulcan. Here is the full cast and character guide for Star Trek (2009).

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009 saw the young Kirk and Spock join forces to save Earth. A deep dive into how Star Trek 2009 ended and what it all means.

16 Chris Pine As James T. Kirk

Kirk goes from starfleet academy cadet to captain of the enterprise.

Chris Pine plays James T. Kirk, a younger and even brasher version of the role originated by William Shatner in Star Trek: T he Original Series . Enlisting in Starfleet to honor his late father, Lt. George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), Pine's James heroically rises from nearly expelled Starfleet Cadet to Captain of the Enterprise and saves Earth from destruction at the hands of Nero. Before Star Trek (2009), Chris Pine starred in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and has since become most well known for his roles in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Wonder Woman, Outlaw King , and Don't Worry Darling .

15 Zachary Quinto As Spock

Half-vulcan first officer and science officer of the uss enterprise.

The John Lennon to Kirk's Paul McCartney , Zachary Quinto portrays Spock, Kirk's half-human, half-Vulcan First Officer who begins the film as a Commander while Kirk is still a cadet. Star Trek (2009) mostly explores Spock's struggle with his dual identity , framed around his initially antagonistic relationship with Kirk and the loss of his home planet of Vulcan after Nero's attack. Besides Star Trek , Zachary Quinto is best known for his roles in Heroes and American Horror Story .

14 Leonard Nimoy As Spock Prime

The original spock from star trek's prime timeline.

Leonard Nimoy returned in Star Trek (2009) to portray Ambassador Spock AKA Spock Prime. In the film, it is revealed that Nimoy's Spock jumped universes through the same time portal as Nero after a failed attempt to save Romulus from a supernova. Nero held Spock responsible for Romulus's destruction, leading him to take revenge by destroying Vulcan. While playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise was Nimoy's most well-known role, the legendary actor and director had numerous other credits including Mission: Impossible and Fringe , as well as directing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Three Men and a Baby before passing away in 2015 at the age of 83.

13 Karl Urban As Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

Chief medical officer of the uss enterprise.

Completing the iconic Star Trek: The Original Series trio, Karl Urban plays Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek (2009). Urban's McCoy evoked the spirit of DeForest Kelley's portrayal while still allowing him to put his own spin on the character. I n Star Trek (2009), McCoy meets and becomes friends with James T. Kirk at Starfleet Academy, and reluctantly smuggles Kirk onboard the Enterprise so that he can participate in the fight against Nero. Urban is best known for his roles in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dredd , Thor: Ragnarok , and The Boys .

Chris Pine stars as Captain James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Kelvin Timeline Star Trek reboot movies, including Into Darkness and Star Trek: Beyond.

12 Zoe Saldana As Nyota Uhura

Uss enterprise's communications officer.

Zoe Saldana plays Nyota Uhura, the Starship Enterprise's communications officer who starts the film out as a cadet alongside Kirk and McCoy. Saldana's version of the character in Star Trek (2009) was the first time that Uhura's first name , Nyota , was established on screen, having never been stated during Nichelle Nichols' run in TOS . Uhura and Spock are also in a romantic relationship in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek . Besides Star Trek , Saldana is best known for her starring roles in some of the biggest franchises in modern film, including the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame , and James Cameron's Avatar movies.

11 Simon Pegg as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

Uss enterprise's chief engineer.

Originated by the late James Doohan, the role of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott is played by Simon Pegg in Star Trek (2009). Kirk and Spock Prime are aided by Scotty in their attempt to return Kirk to the Enterprise, after finding the engineer posted at a remote Starfleet outpost on Delta Vega. Scotty quickly becomes the top engineer on the Enterprise. Pegg's most well-known roles outside of Star Trek are on the British sitcom Spaced and the Three Flavours Cornetto movie trilogy.

Simon Pegg, along with Dave Jung, co-wrote Star Trek Beyond in 2016.

10 John Cho As Hikaru Sulu

Helmsman of the uss enterprise.

John Cho plays Hikaru Sulu, taking over the role originated by George Takei in Star Trek: The Original Series . While the character took on more of a supporting role in the main storylines in Star Trek (2009), Cho's portrayal once again evoked the spirit of Takei and included a few TOS Easter eggs such as Sulu's skill with a sword . Cho has also starred in Ugly Betty and the Harold & Kumar film franchise.

9 Anton Yelchin As Pavel Chekov

Uss enterprise's navigator.

Anton Yelchin's Pavel Chekov and his Russian accent added humor to Star Trek (2009) . The youngest Enterprise crew member, Chekov also acted in a mostly supporting role to the film's main storyline, while still providing the chance for some callbacks to Walter Koenig's Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series . Yelchin is also known for Green Room, Hearts in Atlantis, and Huff before his untimely death in 2016 at the age of 27.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 honored Anton Yelchin and Walter Koenig's Chekov with the voice cameo of Koenig as Pavel's descendant, Federation President Anton Chekov.

Chris Pine stars as the iconic Captain James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie trilogy set in the alternate Kelvin Timeline.

8 Eric Bana As Nero

Star trek 2009's time-traveling romulan villain.

Eric Bana portrays Star Trek (2009)'s villain Nero , a 24th-century Romulan bent on revenge for the destruction of his home planet. Nero is one of only a handful of original characters created for the movie, and like Spock Prime, is from Star Trek 's Prime Universe timeline rather than the film's alternate universe. Bana's most well-known roles were mainly in Australian cinema, but the actor gained wider recognition when he starred in Hulk (2003).

7 Clifton Collins Jr. As Ayel

Nero's romulan first officer.

Clifton Collins Jr. plays Ayel, Nero's first officer who does much of the talking for his captain early on. Ayel also has a dramatic death scene and some good dialogue with Kirk toward the end of Star Trek (2009) when Kirk and Spock infiltrate Nero's ship during their plan to stop the Romulans. Collins Jr.'s other credits include The Last Castle , Capote , Pacific Rim , and Thief .

6 Bruce Greenwood As Christopher Pike

The first captain of the enterprise and james t. kirk's mentor.

The first actor to play Captain Christopher Pike since Jeffrey Hunter in Star Trek 's unaired 1965 pilot, "The Cage," Bruce Greenwood takes on the role of Captain Pike in Star Trek (2009). Pike begins the film as the Captain of the Enterprise and acts as a mentor to Kirk throughout the film. Greenwood is best known for his roles in Thirteen Days , Capote , St. Elsewhere , and Mad Men .

5 Chris Hemsworth As George Kirk

First officer of the uss kelvin and james t. kirk's father.

Star Trek (2009) saw Chris Hemsworth make his feature film debut as J ames T. Kirk's father, Lt. George Kirk . Before Star Trek , Hemsworth was mostly known for his work in Australian TV, having not yet branched out into Hollywood. Since Star Trek (2009), Hemsworth has gone on to worldwide fame for his portrayal of Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as starring roles in Ghostbusters , Men in Black: International , and Extraction .

An aborted plan for a fourth Star Trek movie produced by J.J. Abrams would have seen Chris Pine's Captain Kirk somehow meet and team up with his father, Lt. George Kirk.

4 Winona Ryder As Amanda Grayson

Spock's human mother.

Winona Ryder portrays Spock's mother Amanda Grayson in Star Trek (2009). The character had previously appeared in one episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , played by Jane Wyatt. While Amanda's presence in the film is minimal, she is greatly important to Spock's story arc. Ryder is best known for her roles in Beetlejuice , Heathers , Edward Scissorhands , and Stranger Things .

Mia Kirshner plays Amanda Grayson, mother of Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

3 Ben Cross As Sarek

Spock's vulcan father.

Originated by Mark Lenard in Star Trek: The Original Series , the role of Ambassador Sarek is portrayed by Ben Cross in Star Trek (2009). Like Amanda, Sarek's presence in the film is minimal, and almost entirely revolves around Spock's storyline. Ben Cross is best known for his role in Chariots of Fire and his work in numerous stage productions in London's West End.

2 Star Trek (2009) Supporting Cast & Characters

Other familiar faces pop up in j.j. abrams' 2009 star trek movie.

Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk : Kirk's mother and George Kirk's widow. Morrison's other credits include House , Once Upon a Time , and How I Met Your Mother .

Faran Tahir as Captain Richard Robau : Captain of the USS Kelvin who is killed by Nero, causing George Kirk to take command. Tahir is best known for The Jungle Book (1994), Iron Man , and Elysium .

Tyler Perry as Admiral Richard Barnett : Tyler Perry's Admiral Barnett is the head of Starfleet Academy and part of Kirk's board of examiners when he cheats on the Kobayashi Maru test. Perry is known for his Madea character, as well as his work on Tyler Perry's House of Payne .

Deep Roy as Keenser : Scotty's assistant on Delta Vega and an alien of unknown origin. Roy has played many diminutive characters on shows and movies such as The X-Files , Doctor Who , Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , Star Wars , and The Neverending Story.

William Morgan Sheppard as the head of the Vulcan Science Council : the unnamed examiner whose comment about Spock's human heritage causes him to reject the Vulcan Science Academy for Starfleet. Before Star Trek (2009) , Sheppard appeared in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager as well as the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Besides Star Trek , he appeared in Gettysburg , Babylon 5 , and Doctor Who .

1 Will Star Trek's 2009 Cast Return For Star Trek 4?

"the final chapter" of chris pine's starship enterprise is reportedly being developed.

A fourth Star Trek movie produced by J.J. Abrams has been in development hell since Star Trek Beyond' s theatrical release in 2016. Filmmakers like S.J. Clarkson, Noah Hawley, Matt Shakman, and Quentin Tarantino were attached to Star Trek 4 but left the project due to creative differences, and a December 22, 2023 release date set by Paramount Pictures came and went with no Star Trek 4 . A recent report indicates that Star Trek 4 is still on the studio's development slate, primed to be the "final chapter" of Chris Pine's cast of USS Enterprise heroes. Time will tell if Star Trek 4 will finally beam into theaters, but Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and the other actors have indicated their desire to resume their Star Trek roles one more time.

Star Trek (2009) is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek (2009)

Jimmy bennett: young james t. kirk, photos .

Quotes 

[Kirk drives his stepfather's Corvette toward a cliff. As he skids sideways, he jumps out before the Corvette falls off while he hangs on the edge of the cliff. The Iowa cop chasing him steps off his bike as Kirk climbs off the cliff] 

Young Kirk : Is there a problem, officer?

Iowa Cop : Citizen, what is your name?

Young Kirk : My name is James Tiberius Kirk!

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'Star Trek' 2009: Searching for J.J. Abrams

Entertainment Geekly's 'Star Trek' series examines the frantic reboot.

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise — and the release of Star Trek Beyond , the 13th feature film in the series. To celebrate this big year, and ponder the deeper meanings of Trek ’s first half-century, the Entertainment Geekly column will look at a different Star Trek film each week, from now till Beyond . This week: The faster and more intense reboot. Last week: The vampire movie . Next week: Khan, again.

Who is the J.J. Abrams character in Trek ’09 ?

Maybe that’s a dumb question. After all, no important contemporary director has done more to torpedo basic ideas about authorship than J.J. Abrams. His filmography thus far comprises a threequel, an elevenquel, a twelvequel, and a sevenquel. There was an original movie – curiously, it’s the only Abrams film with a number in the title – but Super 8 is so explicit and yearning in its Spielberg homage that it’s arguably more of a remake than his Trek s or his Mission or his Wars . ( Super 8 looks more like E.T. than Star Trek looks like Star Trek .)

Maybe you think that Abrams’ most personal or revealing work came in his television days, with Felicity and its spiritual spy-sequel Alias . Or maybe you think the true Abrams is the marketing impresario behind the Cloverfield campaigns, that running cross-media saga of viral teases and grabby trailers and wiki-baiting mythology and other fun stuff that ultimately has nothing to do with the weird, tough-hearted, minor-key Cloverfield movies . I tend to assume that Abrams’ most personal document – his most clear self-expression, his cinematic autobiography, his Vertigo , his Inception – is the 2010 news-com Morning Glory , a Bad Robot production which argues that the best way to fix a decaying pop culture brand is to make it louder and bring in Harrison Ford for authenticity.

But we are now 10 years into the career of J.J. Abrams, Film Director, and a pattern is beginning to emerge in his directorial efforts. Abrams can create, but he prefers to curate. His two greatest commercial successes are refined variations of franchises gone wrong. You imagine him watching, say, Star Trek Insurrection , and saying: “Oh, I can fix this.” You imagine him watching Attack of the Clones , as bored as anyone else, and wondering where all the X-wings went.

(ASIDE: Abrams’ reputation as a franchise fixer actually begins with Mission: Impossible 3 . This is curious, since Mission 3 is a colorless shakycore Bourne retread that earned about $150 million less than John Woo’s shampoo-daydream Mission 2. But the film has developed a good reputation – it plays better on television – and it led to a pair of Abrams-produced Mission s, which gave Tom Cruise a blockbuster second act and gave Paramount executives something to talk about besides Transformers . END OF ASIDE. )

This is all to say: Abrams as a director is very good at taking stuff that was great and making it feel great again. This is not a skill set you should dismiss; if you think it’s easy, you probably made Terminator: Genisys. His reboot strategies shift. He made Trek ’09 completely different from any other Star Trek movie; he made Force Awakens a greatest-hits compilation of the original trilogy.

Of course, his Star Trek doesn’t feel too different from his Star Wars , and maybe there is authorship in that similarity. Abrams likes to cast young unknown beauties as his leads, and he requires them to play a combination of loud farce, athletic physicality, and heroic melancholy. Chris Pine’s Kirk isn’t too different from Daisy Ridley’s Rey: Gearhead sorta-orphans with grand destinies, adopted by doomed space-captain father figures, capable of elaborate feats of badass stamina but nevertheless sweetly approachable and self-deprecatory, like someone cast Chandler Bing as Jason Bourne.

Should we start with Kirk, then? Is he our onscreen Abrams? You could argue that Trek ’09 is equally a Spock movie; the film’s bicameral origin structure cuts between their two childhoods up through their initial Enterprise mission. And the rebooted Spock is still recognizably Spock, even if Zachary Quinto substitutes Leonard Nimoy’s wry amusement with barely repressed hostility. (Nimoy made it feel like Spock was often mildly annoyed with his fellow shipmates; Quinto seems outright infuriated by everyone all of the time.) But the film clearly understands that the whole joke of Spock’s logic depends on testing him past his breaking point. So it throws a kitchen sink of emotionality at him: Dead mom, lover, bratty nemesis who becomes his partner/superior.

Conversely, if you come to Trek ’09 looking for a recognizably Shatner-ian version of Captain Kirk – the noble and self-sacrificing hero who never second-guesses himself, who jokes in the thick of danger, who doesn’t mind leaving behind lovers and children for the greater glory of the Federation – you find him immediately, and then watch him die. One of the film’s sharper ideas is that Chris Hemsworth-as-George Kirk substitutes for the original incarnation of Captain Kirk – and his death signals the fading of that archetype in the Star Trek franchise.

Gene Roddenberry’s dad was a policeman, and Roddenberry himself was an airman in World War II. So Roddenberry’s Kirk was a mixed cocktail of midcentury reality and nostalgic imagination, part Jet Age rake-pilot, part neo-Victorian philosopher-adventurer. Abrams comes from a showbiz family: His father and mother both TV producers, his sister a TV writer who worked on Felicity . Trek ’09 spins immediate drama from the idea that Captain Kirk’s parents were co-workers in Starfleet – and so much of this new Kirk’s internal drama focuses on his parental issues, on the struggle of living up to the example set by the man who named you.

Does this mean that Star Trek is Abrams working out his daddy issues? Not necessarily. You could argue that Kirk’s parental anxiety reflects Abrams’ own reboot anxiety – that the “Father” being wrestled with is Star Trek itself.

Throughout Trek ’09 , we’re constantly reminded of the great heroism of George Kirk. Replacement father Captain Pike wrote his dissertation on George Kirk – an accidentally hilarious revelation, leading you to imagine a three-sentence dissertation on how it’s cool when one spaceship smashes into another spaceship. In the middle of an Academy tribunal, Spock throws George Kirk’s name in Kirk’s face – the kind of throwaway line that makes you think that “George Kirk” is a name everyone in this Starfleet knows, like Audie Murphy or Davy Crockett. Trek ’09 makes Eric Bana’s villain a serial killer of hero-parents – a plot decision that requires you to not ask too many questions about how a squad of evil Romulans spend a quarter-century waiting patiently, and which also results in two helplessly load-bearing line readings from Bana:

–I know your face! From Earth’s history!

– James T. Kirk was considered to be a great man. He went on to captain the USS Enterprise, but that was another life. A LIFE I WILL DEPRIVE YOU OF! JUST LIKE I DID YOUR FATHER!

And of course, there is Nimoy, reappearing for an extended cameo as a symbol of everything Trek was and can never be in this universe. Old Spock tells Young Kirk about the George Kirk he knew: A good father, an inspiration.

Can this new Kirk live up to that old Kirk? And can this new Star Trek live up to the old Star Trek ? If Pine’s Kirk is Abrams’ version of a modern hero – someone struggling to live up to a legendary name – then you have to give both character and director points for sheer exertion. This Kirk is someone always on the move. He is born in battle, on a spaceship fleeing destruction. Next, he’s stealing an automobile and playing Beastie Boys on the stereo. You might say that this Kirk is more “relatable.” We don’t meet him as a great hero: He’s just an energetic kid with the keys to a car he can only barely drive. Maybe you spot the biography here: Abrams was a wunderkind TV producer and still vibes boyish at 50, is deferential to his elders but not afraid to take their franchises and run with them.

And this Kirk is always on the run. He races through the Enterprise , suffering from multiple allergic reactions, and pushes his way onto the bridge. He skyjumps from space to the atmosphere of a planet – something Shatner actually did in a deleted scene from Generations – and then fights some Romulans, and then falls without a parachute almost all the way to Vulcan. For his trouble, he’s immediately fired off the Enterprise to another planet, where he runs from one snowbeast and then runs from another snowbeast. Then he’s beamed back to the Enterprise , round and round we go.

As a filmmaker, Abrams is equally restless. His camera doesn’t move; it careens . Even in rare moments when the characters stand still, Abrams and his cinematographer Dan Mindel keep the camera moving, often in closeup, frequently with a tilted angle and constantly dappled with spotlights pointed directly at the cinematic eyeball. There’s an easy lens-flare gag to make about Abrams’ style – and when “too many lens flares” became the dominant Abrams meme, he tamped the effect down.

But I think the brightness works best here in the first film, when it’s so unfiltered, when Abrams was less abashed. There are individual shots of Trek ’09 that are so aggressively overlit that the film practically throttles you. And there are individual shots so needlessly kinetic that their melodrama becomes a little joke. Mindel developed that style with Tony Scott, starting with the manic Enemy of the State and Spy Game before reaching apotheosis with Domino , a film in which nothing happens but everything looks like combat photography at fashion show. Those films are occasionally beautiful and frequently unwatchable. Individual shots are exciting; whole sequences are often boring.

There’s a shot, early in the film, when Spock is facing a council of his elders. For absolutely no reason, the camera starts moving toward Spock from a sideways position…

…Before tracking forward and panning right to stare back at Spock’s face.

This is a common visual strategy throughout Trek ’09 . Exterior shots of spaceships swoop from bridge to hull, and interior shots of people running through corridors whip-pan across bodies in motion. It is so silly, and meaningless, and I kind of love it. Maybe Abrams really is little kid Kirk, driving an expensive car way over the speed limit, but the energy in those moments is palpable. The problem is that it fades quickly; sometimes it can’t even last a whole scene. After that splendidly twirling opening shot, the scene between Spock and his elders plays out in a series of simple shot-reverse-shot close-ups, with one needless wide shot mixed in. There are, by my count, four different set-ups with the camera pointing at Quinto – hysterical visual continuity at its blandest.

Trek ’09 wasn’t just made by Abrams, of course. The script is credited to Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and this film marked the beginning of producer Damon Lindelof’s feature-film interlude between late-stage Lost and The Leftovers . Orci was, by all accounts, the big Trek fan, and you can appreciate (or denigrate) the almost algebraic quality of franchise referentiality. If you’re counting, this is the fifth time in these Star Trek movies that Kirk walks onto an Enterprise as a passenger and winds up taking charge.

Actually, one of the weirdest things about this movie is how – in the context of resetting the entire Trek timeline – the reboot actually pays more attention to the franchise’s internal continuity than any of the films with the original cast. (There’s a reference to Scott freaking Bakula!)

I remember enjoying the film when I saw it in theaters seven years ago. Rewatching it now, I found it a bit depressing – a feeling I tried to work through on this week’s episode of the Vidiots Video Store Show . But the film decisively promoted Abrams into the ranks of blockbuster director. And so it is most compelling, in hindsight, as a statement of purpose from a filmmaker at the dawn of a new phase of his career.

There’s an odd feeling you get from this movie that you can only explain by going meta. It’s not an origin story; it’s a pre-production saga. The characters slowly align into their usual places. Spock, initially an authority figure, is demoted to trusty lieutenant; Kirk, initially a brash outsider, becomes the Captain because an old man in a cave tells him that Kirk has always been a Captain. Everything changes, and yet oddly nothing changes at all. I think we’re meant to understand that Pine’s Kirk feels some great agony of destiny – that he is somehow doomed to heroism.

But the film’s too kinetic to take that kind of bummer seriously. And Pine makes such an appealingly comic figure – a fact bolstered by all of the times the film has him scream, shout, and cry out in terror or exultation or sheer athletic exertion. I actually kind of love Pine’s performance in the movie, and you appreciate how his Kirk keeps jumping off cliffs (sometimes literally) expecting that a net will appear to catch him.

You could argue this film’s savviest idea is to make this Kirk kind of a goof: Flirting with everyone, getting into barfights, doing a comical triple-take when he figures out that Uhura and Spock have a thing . If the film weren’t so wrapped up in grand destinies, Trek ’09 would almost constitute a vaguely Wicked -ish retelling, with a side of Amadeus : Spock as the romantic striving hero, Kirk as the goofball wunderkind who keeps stumbling his way into heroism.

And so maybe this Kirk isn’t the Abrams, after all. From Alias onward, Abrams has enjoyed taking heroic archetypes and humanizing them – his spies have adorably normal personal lives, his space heroes fanboy out over their space heroes. But this humanization has a weird side effect: It reduces “heroism” and “moral goodness” to a basic personality trait. (It makes sense that his Han Solo became the Kenobi figure; there’s no room for an amoral scoundrel in the Abramsography.) So the most real-feeling characters in his films tend to be on the supporting cast: the Hurley archetype, the everyguy amidst the heroes.

With that in mind, take a closer look at one of the strangest moments in Trek ’09 . Kirk has just crashlanded on Hoth, basically, and run into Old Spock. Sometimes Star Trek people care about the space-time continuum, but time travel in Trek ’09 follows the Voyage Home theorem of time travel, a complicated mathematical proof which I will render here in full:

Old Spock and Young Kirk run into Montgomery Scott. The original Montgomery Scott was a blue-collar overachiever: He could always get the engines to go just a little faster, could get the shields to last a little bit longer. This new Scott is an innovator – the kind of ask-forgiveness-not-permission Big Thinker who experiments on the prized beagle of Admiral Archer (BAKULA!!!!)

Scotty, it turns out, has a big theory. Current science says that transport technology can only work up to a hundred miles; Scotty thinks he can transport a lifeform throughout a solar system, and maybe beyond. Old Spock tells him something which constitutes a kind of existential spoiler: Scotty is right, and in the future, he will invent something called transwarp beaming.

(“Transwarp” is a concept with some vague basis in franchise lore: You may recall that Scotty ruined the Excelsior ’s transwarp drive in Search for Spock . But this usage actually seems to be based less on science than on wordplay – “Transwarp” in this case will refer to characters trans porting onto a warp ing ship. Trek ’09 barely takes its own technobabble seriously; this is a movie where the bad guys’ main weapon is Red Matter, a screenwriter’s synonym for Bad Thing That Looks Cool.)

Old Spock proves this to Scotty by handing him the transwarp theory. Pause to briefly imagine this in vaguely real-ish terms. It’s strongly implied that Scotty only invented transwarp theory in his old age – possible in the 24th century, the time period from which Old Spock hails. Like, this isn’t the Voyage Home time rip, in which Scotty gives transparent aluminum to some guy in a factory; this is like giving teenaged Einstein the theory of relativity.

“Imagine that,” Scotty says, looking at the greatest idea he was ever supposed to have. “It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving.”

Now, I have no goddamn idea what that means. (Although my understanding of physics is admittedly remedial, I’m pretty sure everything is moving all of the time.) But let’s assume this is a big a-ha moment for Scotty, something he would only conceive of given years (decades?) of research, and mistakes. Maybe it’s not a spoiler; maybe this is an existential cheat code. What can Scotty do now, still young enough to invent more, to build on this discovery he was supposed to make years from now?

Maybe that’s the resonance we’ve been looking for. Abrams – and so many of his fellow filmmakers – have decided to build their careers on a foundation someone else set for them, standing on the shoulders of giants. Just look at his Star Wars colleagues: Colin Trevorrow, director of Jurassic Park 4 and Star Wars 9 ; Gareth Edwards, director of Godzilla 30 and Rogue One ; Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who made two (great!) movies out of 21 Jump Street before putting Batman and Gandalf and freaking Lando Calrissian in their Lego Movie .

“I like this ship!” Scott says once he’s on the Enterprise , a fanboy who immediately gets handed control of the engine room. “It’s exciting!” It is – and Trek ’09 offers the tantalizing idea that headstart-auteurism can lead to greater ambitions. That – having been given the keys to his metaphorical father’s metaphorical car – a director can drive faster, further, better .

But: Little Kirk drives his car faster, louder, wilder – and then he drives it right off a cliff.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

THE SECOND MOST DEPRESSING THING ABOUT TREK ’09

Abrams was a forerunner in the current long-overdue vogue for female action heroes, and you have to credit this movie with promoting Zoe Saldana’s Uhura to third-lead status. But a big Spock twist breaks her arc: It’s a “HOLY CRAP” moment with no real ultimate relevance, and her actual importance to the plot dissipates into steadfast love-interestdom in the film’s final act.

Now, coming the same year as Avatar , Saldana’s role as Uhura made her a significant go-to figure for genre filmmakers looking for an action heroine. That’s cool! But the Trek films give Uhura more to do in the worst way. Instead of steadily manning the communications board, she becomes the Betty Ross to Quinto’s Hulk, calming down Spock’s berserker rage (while occasionally complaining that all this hero stuff gets in the way of their relationship.)

And: Worth pointing out the intrinsic weirdness that this film makes Uhura a more prominent character while also putting her in her underwear, a trailer-bait moment that makes you yearn for the puckish vaudeville of Uhura’s Final Frontier fan dance , to say nothing of when Carol Marcus kept her clothes on .

THE MOST DEPRESSING THING ABOUT TREK ’09

Little Kirk steals his dad’s Corvette™ and plays the Beastie Boys on a touchscreen Nokia™. As a grown-up, he orders Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey™; Uhura prefers Budweiser™. This is not the first time present-day brands have appeared in Star Trek , but it is the first time the product placement feels advertorial – and the mere presence of a Nokia phone weirdly makes Trek ’09 feel like more of a period piece than any of the films that came before it.

Abrams actually discussed the product placement in a Morgan Spurlock documentary, in a manner that you could describe as “respectfully distasteful.” Given more power, he banished products from Into Darkness ; we’ll see what happens with Beyond .

Now, there’s nothing wrong with shameless capitalism. After all, if you dig deep enough into its intrinsic philosophy, Star Trek represents the salesmanship of utopian ideals within a capitalist system, a fifty-year financial concern that hopes you will pay real-world money to witness its vision of a future beyond money. This is a paradoxical reality that no serious person could ever disagree with, and arguably makes Star Trek itself all the more meaningfully American (since America itself represents the hope of a democratic-utopian tomorrow built on the brutal market capitalism of today.)

But there’s something unspeakably odd, in this carefully architected throwaway argument that the corporations of today will survive – and thrive! – for two-and-a-half centuries. Never mind that the product placement secretly constitutes the film’s greatest crime against Trek continuity. (The earlier films took for granted that at least a couple world wars took place between our present and Trek ’s future – wars which debilitated the global economy and presumably put a dent in Budweiser’s Q4 financial outlook.) The deeper weirdness of this revelation is that this alternate-universe Trek is a future where there are no nations but there are still corporations.

This strikes me as the single most cynical and probably accurate prediction about our future that Star Trek has ever made.

AND NOW, SIX WAYS THAT JJ ABRAMS’ STAR TREK IS WEIRDLY SIMILAR TO STAR TREK NEMESIS

1. In an early sequence, the hero drives a fast quote-unquote “cool” car off a cliff.

2. The villain pilots a giant Romulan ship, much bigger than the Enterprise , jet-black and vaguely octopus-like.

3. At one point, the Captain of a Starfleet vessel beams onto said Romulan ship with his first officer and shoots his way through the ship with his phaser.

4. In that same action scene, a Starfleet officer commandeers a small ship and flies it through the Romulan ship, firing at enemy combatants along the way.

5. The aforementioned Giant Romulan Ship carries a devastating weapon with the ability to blow up planets.

6. At one point, the Captain of a Starfleet vessel defeats the aforementioned Romulan Ship by smashing into it with his Starfleet vessel. (Vintage Abrams: He makes the big final climax of Nemesis into the first scene of Trek ’09 .)

THE WHOLE MOVIE IN A NUTSHELL

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• Collectibles

Hiya Toys Debuts New Star Trek (2009) Captain Pike 1/18 Figure 

Posted in: Collectibles , Hiya Toys | Tagged: hiya toys , star trek

Hiya Toys is beaming up a new 1/18 scale figure as Captain Christopher Pike is ready to take command with a new Star Trek figure 

Article Summary

• Hiya Toys releases a detailed 1/18 scale figure of Captain Pike from the 2009 Star Trek movie.
• The figure stands 3.75" tall with 17 points of articulation and features a yellow Starfleet uniform.
• Accessories include a phaser, communicator, belts, and a transporter-themed display base.
• Pre-orders are available for $24.99 with an expected release in Q1 2025.

Captain Christopher Pike, played by Bruce Greenwood , serves as a key character in the 2009 Star Trek film that was directed by J.J. Abrams . In this alternate reality and reboot of the franchise, Pike is depicted as the seasoned captain of the USS Enterprise who sees potential in the young and rebellious James T. Kirk, played by Chris Pine . In the film, Pike encourages Kirk to join Starfleet, ultimately setting him on the path to becoming the Enterprise's captain. Hiya Toys is now beaming up Captian Pike as their latest 1/18 scale action figure, standing 3.75" tall and featuring 17 points of articulation. He is showcased in his yellow Starfleet outfit and will come with a nice set of accessories with a phaser, communicator, belts, and a transporter-themed display base. It is nice to see Hiya Toys keeping their Star Trek 1/18 line alive, even if it is for the 2009 rebooted era. Pre-orders for Captian Pike are already live through Hiya Toys for $24.99 with a Q1 2025.

HIYA Exquisite Mini Series Star Trek (2009) Pike

"We are proud to announce that EXQUISITE MINI Series product of the Star Trek™ line comes from the Kelvin timeline as seen in the 2009 film, Star Trek the 1/18 scale Pike action figure.Captain Christopher Pike of U.S.S. Enterprise served as Kirk's mentor and guide, inspiring Kirk and helping him grow into an exceptional leader and warrior."

"One day, an emergency on Vulcan calls for the newly commissioned U.S.S. Enterprise to be crewed with promising new cadets. This crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered and a new version begins.This brand-new Pike action figure stands at 10.5CM tall and faithfully reproduces his appearance in the 2009 film, Star Trek. He is dressed in the iconic yellow uniform representing command and strategic personnel."

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Star Trek Into Darkness Moscow Premiere

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Yesterday was the Moscow premiere of Star Trek into Darkness and in attendance were J.J. Abrams, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto , and Alice Eve .

It was a rainy day in Moscow, but that didn’t deter the stars or the fans waiting to see them.

Click on thumbnails for larger-sized photos from the event.

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• Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve cast out of paradise

According to the Bible of the Jewish and Christian religion , the Garden of Eden , or simply Eden , was the habitat created by God for the first Humans , Adam and Eve . They would later be cast from the Garden of Eden after succumbing to temptation of the Devil and disobeying God's law . In common parlance , Eden became a symbolic word for any idyllic location. In short: a symbol of paradise .

In 2267 , Spock , under the influence of Omicron spores , claimed that the spores had turned Omicron Ceti III into " a true Eden ." ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Soon after, Pavel Chekov inaccurately believed that the Garden of Eden was located "just outside Moscow ." He claimed that it was "a very nice place" and that "it must've made Adam and Eve very sad to leave." ( TOS : " The Apple ")

In 2268 , James T. Kirk metaphorically called the planet Neural a Garden of Eden. He also referred to introducing flintlocks to the Neural natives as introducing serpents to the Garden of Eden. ( TOS : " A Private Little War ")

In 2287 , Sybok cited Eden as being one of many names for the planet he believed to be Sha Ka Ree . ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

In 2293 , Spock kept a piece of 20th century Earth art called " Adam and Eve Expelled from Paradise " in his quarters. The painting depicted a scene of Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. For Spock the painting was a reminder that "all things end." ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

In 2364 , while the USS Enterprise -D visited planet Edo , Lieutenant Natasha Yar described the planet as " like an Eden. " ( TNG : " Justice ") Later in the year, Luisa Kim , a terraformer on Velara III , referred to herself as a "Gardener of Edens". ( TNG : " Home Soil ")

In 2374 , in describing Bajor to William Ross , Benjamin Sisko compared parts of the Eastern Province to being like Eden itself. ( DS9 : " Favor the Bold ")

The book The Way to Eden might pertain to this location, or to the mythical planet Eden .

The script for the Star Trek: The Next Generation third season episode " The Ensigns of Command " describes the green areas of the Tau Cygna V colony as "a veritable Garden of Eden." [1]

External links [ ]

• Garden of Eden at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)