Ok, you get my full review of ST11:
1) There was strange attention paid to the fact that everything is different now. It was as if everyone knew what their lives would have been in the unaltered universe and they know they have been changed in contrast to that. It was necessary to relay the concept of the alternate universe to the audience, but the delivery was really awkward. It's like they couldn't think of a way to demonstrate the concept so they just came out and said it.
2) An emotional Spock with a girlfriend? That is totally inconsistent with the Spock character. It is as if the Spock from the alternate universe decided to side with his humanity unlike the original Spock. This is unfortunate because the Spock character was originally designed to provide a dispassionate and rational perspective. Now there is no such character. As a result the crew is very one dimensional.
3) While most of the Trek universe has made passing references to the rebelliousness of youth, this movie was nothing but, and for that reason it was awkward. The movie lacked the maturity that I have come to expect from Star Trek.
4) Not counting the abortion that was Nemesis, this is the first Trek movie to have no redeeming sociopolitical message. The best message I was able to extract from the movie is that we should all strive to serve something higher than ourselves. It was pretty generic. The movie also lacked the feelings of hope and wonder that underlie most Trek.
5) The villain was very one dimensional. Needed much more development.
6) Plot holes galore. There were so many unexplained things in the movie... which isn't necessarily a bad thing except that the unexplained things had inconsistencies and holes in themselves which begs an explanation.
7) Lots of bad plot devices that made no sense. It's like the writers had a bunch of cool scenes in mind which they patched together with very little effort.
8) There was no development for the Uhura / Spock relationship. As far as I could tell it was a relationship based on sympathy which turned physical. Pretty disappointing.
9) There were a lot of token alien races with no introduction or background which is unusual in Star Trek. It felt more like Star Wars in that sense.
10) Sarek would never openly admit his feelings. But even if you dismiss the history of his character, the open admission of love is completely at odds with his vulcan nature. And Sarek is 100% vulcan so he has no excuse.
Vulcans in this universe are portrayed as closet humans in a way which is unfortunate and lacking dimension.
11) You can't transport from Titan to Earth. Anyone who knows their trek knows that the maximum transport range is 40,000 kilometers. The distance between Titan and Earth is approximately 1.2 billion kilometers. Said plainly, you can't transport between planets because they are too far apart. You need to be in orbit.
Hardcore treks might recall the concept of subspace transporters which have much longer range, but that technology isn't even perfected in the TNG time frame. Nope, this can't be explained away within the established technology of the trek universe.
12) I am troubled by how Vulcans are represented in the latest movie. My two main gripes are with Spock and Sarek.
The Spock in this alternate universe is very emotional and he even has a girlfriend. It is as if this alternate Spock chose to side with his humanity unlike the original Spock. This is a valid choice considering he's half human, but it's an unfortunate choice because it takes away an import dimension from the crew of the Enterprise. Now there is no character to provide a dispassionate and logical perspective which is what the Spock character was originally designed for. For me this makes the crew very one dimensional. They are all varying degrees of human now... young impetuous humans at that.
The new Sarek was a complete departure. Sarek is one of the most logical and respected Vulcans in the Trek universe. And of course he is 100% Vulcan so he has no human side like Spock does. But in the movie we have Sarek admitting feelings of love for his wife. Sarek would never do this. But even if we ignore the history of his character in the first Trek universe, his admission of love flies in the face of his Vulcan heritage.
The Vulcans in this alternate universe are being portrayed as "closet humans." This isn't an invalid choice on the part of the writers, but it's a huge departure for the Trek universe and it takes away an important dimension of the universe in my opinion.
13) The crew in star trek 11 doesn't seem to have any real desire to go out into space. There is no sense of wonder and awe at exploring the unknowns of space which is an overarching theme that is constant throughout most of star trek (except DS9).
The only two characters who have any semblance of motivation are Kirk and Spock. Kirk is there out of a sense of duty and ego after having been goaded by Pike. Spock is also there out of ego after his little spat with the Vulcan science academy. I suppose ego is better than no reason at all.
14) Starfleet Academy has turned into a military institution. Cadets no longer
apply to join the academy, they
enlist. I don't know if anyone else noticed that. Drunk guy in a bar with no future (reboot Kirk),
enlist in Starfleet. Boy genius Wesley Crusher,
apply for the academy and get rejected the first time. Huge difference. Do not like.
).
