star trek 2009 youtube

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

• The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.
• On the day of James T. Kirk's birth, his father dies on his damaged starship in a last stand against a Romulan mining vessel looking for Ambassador Spock, who in this time, has grown on Vulcan disdained by his neighbors for his half-human heritage. 25 years later, James T. Kirk has grown into a young rebellious troublemaker. Challenged by Captain Christopher Pike to realize his potential in Starfleet, he comes to annoy academy instructors like Commander Spock. Suddenly, there is an emergency on Vulcan and the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise is crewed with promising cadets like Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and even Kirk himself, thanks to Leonard McCoy's medical trickery. Together, this crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered forever as a new version of the legend begins. — Paramount Pictures
• When a Romulan mining vessel attacks the USS Kelvin, Lt. George Kirk substitutes his captain, who goes to meet the Romulan captain on his vessel to negotiate a ceasefire. He orders the evacuation of the damaged starship, including his wife who goes into labor giving birth to their son James Kirk, and crashes the Kelvin against the vessel. Aboard the USS Enterprise, the most sophisticated starship ever constructed, a novice crew embarks on its maiden voyage. Their path takes them on a collision course with Nero, the Romulan captain from the future whose mission of vengeance threatens the Federation. Once humanity would survive, rebellious young officer James T. Kirk and coolly logical Vulcan officer Spock must move beyond their rivalry and find a way to stop Nero before he destroys Earth. — Blazer346
• In 2233, the Federation star ship USS Kelvin is investigating a "lightning storm" in space. A Romulan ship, Narada, emerges from the storm and attacks the Kelvin leaving it defenseless. Narada's first officer, Ayel (Clifton Collins, Jr.), demands that Kelvin's Captain Robau (Faran Tahir) come aboard to negotiate a truce. Robau is questioned about the current star date and an "Ambassador Spock", whom he does not recognize. Narada's commander, Nero (Eric Bana), kills him, and resumes attacking the Kelvin. George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), Kelvin's first officer, orders the ship's personnel, including his pregnant wife Winona (Jennifer Morrison), to abandon ship while he pilots the Kelvin on a collision course with Narada. Kirk sacrifices his life to ensure Winona's survival as she gives birth to James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine). Seventeen years later on the planet Vulcan, a young Spock (Zachary Quinto) is accepted to join the Vulcan Science Academy. He has always been taunted as a half human, half Vulcan by his peers and dislikes references to his human mother in anyway. Realizing that the Academy views his human mother, Amanda (Winona Ryder), as a "disadvantage", he joins Starfleet instead. On Earth, Kirk becomes a reckless but intelligent young adult. Following a bar fight with Starfleet cadets accompanying Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Kirk meets Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who encourages him to enlist in Starfleet Academy ("Your dad was the captain of a star ship for 12 mins and saved 800 lives. I dare you to do better"), where Kirk meets and befriends Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban) (He lost everything in the divorce, except the bones in his body) Three years later, Commander Spock accuses Kirk of cheating during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. The simulation required cadet captains to face death and protect the crew in a no win scenario, but Kirk cheats and inserts a sub routine to change the scenario and beat it. Kirk argues that cheating was acceptable because the simulation was designed to be unbeatable. Spock argues that Kirk not only cheated but failed to get the most important learning of the simulation that a captain cannot cheat death. The disciplinary hearing is interrupted by a distress signal from Vulcan. With the primary fleet out of range, the cadets are mobilized, with McCoy and Kirk boarding Pike's ship (Kirk is grounded on account of his academic suspension, but McCoy argues that Kirk is his patient and he wont leave for the mission unless he is allowed to bring Kirk along), the Enterprise. Spock considers Uhura as his favorite student and assigns her to the Enterprise. The enterprise is a few minutes late in departing as the new helmsman Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin) & Hikaru Sulu had not released the external inertial dampener and hence the warp drive did not engage. Realizing that the "lightning storm" observed near Vulcan (shortly after which Vulcan was attacked by a Romulan ship and sent a distress signal to Earth) is similar to the one that occurred when he was born, Kirk breaks protocol to convince Pike that the distress signal is a trap. When the Enterprise arrives, they find the fleet destroyed and Narada drilling into Vulcan's core. Narada attacks Enterprise and Pike surrenders, delegating command of the ship to Spock and promoting Kirk to first officer. Kirk, Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), and Chief Engineer Olson (Greg Ellis) perform a space jump onto the drilling platform. While Olson is killed mid-jump, Kirk and Sulu successfully reach and disable the drill, but are unable to stop Nero launching "red matter" into Vulcan's core, forming an artificial black hole that destroys Vulcan. The Enterprise manages to rescue Spock's father, Sarek (Ben Cross), and the high council before the planet's destruction, but not his mother Amanda, who falls to her death before the transporter can properly lock onto her. Out of 6 Bn Vulcans only 10,000 are saved. As Narada moves toward Earth, Nero tortures Pike to gain access to Earth's defense codes. Nero declares his intention to destroy all federation planets, starting from Earth. Uhura is shown to have romantic feelings towards Spock. Spock deduces that the Narada is from the future and has used the black hole technology to create a passage through space time. Nero's presence, beginning with the attack on USS Kelvin has altered the flow of history and created an alternate reality. While in pursuit, Spock maroons Kirk on Delta Vega after he attempts mutiny (Kirk wanted to go after Nero and the Narada, while Spock wants to hook up with the rest of Starfleet in the Laurentian system, as per orders from Captain Pike). On the planet, Kirk encounters an older Spock (from the original time line) (Leonard Nimoy), who explains that he and Nero are from 2387. In the future, Romulus was threatened by a supernova, which Spock attempted to stop with an artificial black hole made of "red matter". However, his plan failed, resulting in Nero's family perishing along with Romulus, while both the Narada and Spock's vessel were caught in the black hole and sent back in time. Spock quickly found they were sent back 25 years apart, during which time Nero attacked the Kelvin, thus changing history and creating a parallel universe. After Spock's arrival, Nero stranded him on Delta Vega to watch Vulcan's destruction as revenge. Reaching a Starfleet outpost on Delta Vega, Kirk and the elder Spock meet Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Simon Pegg), who helps them by devising a trans-warp beam system, allowing both him and Kirk to beam onto Enterprise while it is travelling at warp speed. Following the elder Spock's advice, Kirk provokes younger Spock into attacking him, forcing Spock to recognize himself as emotionally compromised and relinquish command to Kirk. After talking with Sarek, Spock decides to help Kirk. While Enterprise hides itself within the gas clouds of Titan, Kirk and Spock beam aboard Narada (Uhura reveals her first name is Nyota to Spock). Kirk fights with Nero and Ayel, killing the latter and rescuing Pike, while Spock uses the elder Spock's ship to destroy the drill. Spock leads Narada away from Earth and sets his ship to collide with Nero's ship. Enterprise beams Kirk, Pike, and Spock aboard. The older Spock's ship and Narada collide, igniting the "red matter". Kirk offers Nero help to escape, but Nero refuses, prompting Kirk to give the order to fire, dooming Narada to be consumed in a black hole that Enterprise is only barely able to escape. Kirk is promoted to captain and given command of Enterprise, while Pike is promoted to rear admiral. Spock encounters his older self, who persuades his younger self to continue serving in Starfleet, encouraging him to do, for once, what feels right instead of what is logical. Spock remains in Starfleet, becoming first officer under Kirk's command. Enterprise goes to warp as the elder Spock speaks the "where no one has gone before" monologue.

Contribute to this page

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More from this title

More to explore.

Recently viewed

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Star Trek (2009)

2009 • PG-13

James T. Kirk attempts to live up to his potential and the legacy of his father, while a vengeful Romulan from the future attempts to destroy a Federation he feels is responsible for the death of his family and homeworld.

Star Trek (2009)

• Edit source
• View history

Star Trek is a 2009 science fiction film directed by J. J. Abrams , written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , and distributed by Paramount Pictures . It is the eleventh film based on the Star Trek franchise and features the main characters of the original Star Trek television series, who are portrayed by a new cast. The film follows James T. Kirk ( Chris Pine ) and Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero ( Eric Bana ), a Romulan from their future who threatens the United Federation of Planets . The story establishes an alternate reality [1] [2] through time-travel by both Nero and the original Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ), freeing the film and the franchise from established continuity constraints.

Development of the film began in 2005. Filming took place from November 2007 to March 2008 under intense secrecy. Midway through the shoot, Paramount chose to delay the release date from December 25, 2008 to May 2009, believing the film could reach a wider audience.

Star Trek has earned high critical praise, gaining a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes . [3] It is the thirteenth-highest-grossing film of 2009 —seventh-highest within North America—and has become the highest-grossing film in the Star Trek series and is credited by the media as a reboot of the series. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] It was nominated for four Oscars at the 82nd Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup , making it the first Star Trek film to win an Oscar.

• 1.1 Act One
• 1.2 Act Two
• 1.3 Act Three
• 3.1 Development
• 3.2 Writing
• 3.4 Filming
• 3.5 Effects
• 4.2 Sound effects
• 5.1 Marketing
• 5.2 Box office
• 5.3 Reception
• 5.4 Awards and nominations
• 5.5 Home release
• 7.1 Release Dates for Untitled Star Trek Sequel

A cataclysm over 150 years into the future throws two ships into the 23rd century, altering the course of history. With a different life where he never knew his father, James T. Kirk becomes a brilliant yet cynical misfit who is finally convinced to join Starfleet by Captain Christopher Pike in 2255. Three years later, Kirk, Spock, and the young crew of the USS Enterprise , with guidance from Spock's future self, must figure out a way to work together to prevent the one responsible for the death of Kirk's father, the future Romulan known as Nero, from wreaking destruction throughout the Federation in a mad quest for vengeance, using a powerful new weapon. For some, their help comes too late.

Act One [ ]

The Narada emerges after passing through a black hole.

Lieutenant Commander George Kirk aboard the ill-fated USS Kelvin .

Winona Kirk with Jim, moments after his birth.

In the year 2233 , the Template:USS investigates a " lightning storm" near Klingon space , which they soon realize to be a black hole . Suddenly, the massive Narada emerges from the maw and immediately opens fire on the Kelvin with devastating torpedoes , inflicting heavy damage and causing many casualties. The attack also knocks out the starship's warp drive . The Narada ceases fire, and its first officer , Ayel , hails the outmatched Kelvin . Speaking for Nero , Ayel demands that the Kelvin Template:'s captain, Richard Robau , come aboard the Narada via shuttlecraft to negotiate a cease-fire; his "unwise" refusal would mean the destruction of the Kelvin . Captain Robau agrees and turns over command of the ship to his first officer , Lieutenant Commander Template:Alt . Robau orders Kirk to wait fifteen minutes for his signal or else evacuate the ship.

Robau is taken to Nero, while the crew of the Kelvin monitors his life signs . Ayel interrogates him first about a particular ship, which Robau does not recognize, and then about the location of Ambassador Spock , with whom Robau is also unfamiliar. Upon citing the stardate , 2233.04, Nero rushes at Robau, impaling him with a teral'n , terminating Robau's vital signs on the Kelvin Template:'s viewscreen. Kirk assumes command as the Narada fires another volley of torpedoes, inflicting more damage. The severely-damaged Kelvin tries to return fire, but as the situation grows dire and he realizes that the damage to the ship is compromising the lives of everyone, Kirk orders the crew to escape pods and shuttles, including his wife Winona , who is about to give birth. She is sent to a specific shuttle - Medical Shuttle 37 . Kirk tells her to wait there while he plots a collision course on autopilot .

Unfortunately, the ship's autopilot navigation was destroyed in the attack. The lieutenant makes the grim realization that he will need to control the Kelvin himself. He orders his wife to leave on the shuttle without him. She protests, but Kirk tells her that he has no choice but to stay behind and continue the attack in order to protect the others who are leaving on escape pods . On the shuttlecraft, Winona Kirk gives birth to a baby boy. As the Kelvin destroys the missiles aimed at the shuttles, Kirk can hear his newborn's cries. Then, Kirk asks Winona what they should name their son. She suggests naming him after George's father, but he laughs the suggestion off and says that Tiberius isn't much of a first name. They decide to name him Jim, after Winona's father. Right before the collision, Kirk tells Winona that he loves her. Communication is cut off, and Winona looks out of the shuttle - all she can see is a bright ball of flame in the middle of the Narada .

Kirk as a child.

Spock as a child.

Approximately ten years later, in the year 2243 , a young Template:Alt is seen racing down the road in an antique Corvette across Iowa . Over the vehicle's comm system (a Nokia in-dash car phone), Kirk's stepfather yells at him, demanding that he return home, citing that the car is an antique and he doesn't want a scratch on it. Kirk ignores the demand, switching the comm off and blasting 20th century music . Soon, a policeman on a flying motorbike chases after him, ordering the boy to stop the car. Evading the officer, Kirk heads for a quarry and jumps out of the car, moments before it speeds over the edge and crashes on the canyon floor below. The policeman apprehends the boy and asks his name, to which he states "James Tiberius Kirk".

Around the same time on Template:Alt , a young Template:Alt , who has just successfully answered a barrage of advanced questions in a learning pod, is being tormented by his peers about his mixed heritage, calling his father a traitor for marrying a Human "whore". Spock knocks one of the older boys into a learning pod and beats him in an emotional rage - hardly the expected emotional response. He is later gently admonished by his father, Template:Alt , who is disappointed at his son's lack of emotional control. He explains to his son that despite the common misconception, Vulcans are very emotional, even more so than Humans, but it is necessary for their culture to control their emotions and not let them control them. Sarek advises Spock that he has a path to choose and that only he can make the decision. When Spock asks of his father why he married his mother, Sarek coldly replies that it was logical.

Years later, Spock is conflicted about whether to participate in the kolinahr ; the Vulcan ritual aimed at purging all vestigial emotions. He talks to his mother, Template:Alt , who tells him that she will always be proud of him, no matter what he decides. Later, Spock stands before a committee on Vulcan. The chairman comments on Spock's perfect record in his attempt to gain entry to the Vulcan Science Academy and that his only flaw is that he also applied to Starfleet Academy . Spock explains it was only logical for him to explore all options. The committee informs him of his acceptance into the Vulcan Science Academy and commends his accomplishments despite his "disadvantage" of being half-Human. In response to yet another underhanded attack on his mother, Spock declines the offer of admission, implying that he has decided to enter Starfleet Academy instead. The committee expresses shock, as Spock is the first Vulcan to decline an offer of admission to the Vulcan Science Academy. Spock sardonically tells the committee that their record still remains untarnished since he is, in fact, only half-Vulcan. Before departing he conveys his gratitude once again, sardonically wishing them to "live long and prosper."

Spock defies the Vulcan elders.

Pike discovers Kirk in the bar.

Meanwhile, in 2255 , in a bar in Iowa, a young Template:Alt meets up with some friends, and a brash and intoxicated James Kirk introduces himself to her. He unsuccessfully flirts with her, trying to find out her first name, but although amused by his wit and a little impressed by his knowledge, she is ultimately not interested. The situation escalates when another Starfleet recruit intervenes in an attempt to defend Uhura - despite her saying she does not need the defense. He and three other recruits get into a fight with Kirk and beat him badly before a senior officer, Captain Template:Alt , ends the fight. Pike, familiar with Kirk's tragic past from having written his dissertation on the Kelvin incident, sits down with him and tries to talk some sense into the rebellious young man by persuading him to join Starfleet . Pike firmly believes that with his aptitude, Kirk can do more with himself than get into bar fights and be "the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest." He tells Jim he could have his own ship in only eight years. However, Kirk doesn't want to hear it and laughs at the idea of joining Starfleet. Pike ends the conversation with a reminder that Kirk's father saved eight hundred lives, including his mother's and his own, in the course of only twelve minutes of command and challenges Kirk to do better. Kirk cannot help but take him up on the challenge.

Kirk accepts Pike's offer.

Early the next day, Kirk heads to Riverside Shipyard , where the Template:USS is under construction. Pike is surprised to see Kirk turn up to join the new recruits. Giving his motorbike away to the first person who compliments it, Kirk passes Pike, saying he'll graduate in three years instead of four. He enters the recruit shuttle, surprising Uhura and the recruits who had beat him up the night before. Another man, Template:Alt , is escorted to his seat after being found in the bathroom by a female shuttle officer. Sitting next to Kirk, the somewhat nervous doctor starts ranting about what could physically happen to them if anything goes wrong with the shuttle's systems. Kirk is amused and tries to remind him that Starfleet works in space. McCoy explains that he has nowhere else to go, having lost everything in a divorce; the only thing he has left are his bones. The two talk and become friends.

Three years later, in 2258 , the Narada is waiting at an unknown part of space. Nero is called to the bridge by Ayel. Suddenly, a black hole temporal disturbance appears and a small starship flies out of the anomaly. Nero recognizes and welcomes the appearance of Ambassador Spock, and orders the ship to be captured.

Kirk has an encounter with Gaila.

Meanwhile, at Starfleet Academy, Kirk is telling McCoy that he is taking the Kobayashi Maru test again the next day, and is certain he will pass it. McCoy is shocked at Kirk's attitude, as no one has ever passed the test, much less repeated it - much less three times. However, Kirk then leaves to "study", which for him means an assignation with an Orion cadet named Gaila in her dorm room. Suddenly, Gaila's roommate enters and Kirk gets shoved under the bed by an anxious Gaila only to find out that the roommate is Uhura. While changing out of her uniform, she tells her roommate about a message she has just decoded, alerting Starfleet to the destruction of 47 Klingon warships by a massive unidentified ship. Kirk watches Uhura undress while noting her words, but a casual comment from Gaila makes Uhura suspicious, and she guesses there's a "mouth-breather" under the bed, at which point Kirk, amazed that she could even hear him, comes out of hiding. Angry that her roommate brought yet another guy to their room and even angrier that it's Kirk, she kicks him out.

Kirk during the Kobayashi Maru test.

The next day, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura and a few other Starfleet recruits are in the Kobayashi Maru simulation test on Kirk's third attempt. Kirk takes a comically casual approach to the test, much to everyone's bewilderment. Everything goes as planned when, unexpectedly, the power systems momentarily fail, and then the attacking Klingon ships' shields go down and are promptly destroyed. From above the simulator room, a technician asks how Kirk was able to beat this test. Spock, who is in the observation room, simply states "I do not know."

Spock at Kirk's hearing at Starfleet Academy.

During an official inquiry presided over by Admiral Richard Barnett , Starfleet Academy informs Kirk that they have received evidence that Kirk entered a subroutine into the computer making it possible for him to win in the simulation and accuse him of cheating. Kirk demands to face his accuser. Commander Spock is called up to the podium and introduced as one of the Academy's most distinguished graduates and programmer of the Kobayashi Maru test for the past four years. Kirk and Spock debate the purpose of the Kobayashi Maru , which Kirk claims is unfair due to its no-win programming, and which Spock explains is a test of the subject's ability to maintain composure and command ability in the face of fear and certain death.

The hearing is suddenly interrupted when word comes that the Federation has received a distress call from Vulcan. With the primary fleet occupied in the Laurentian system , Starfleet is forced to commission the Academy cadets and dispatch ships immediately to begin a rescue mission.

Act Two [ ]

Cadets are assigned to ships based on their aptitude, with the most capable cadets assigned to the USS Enterprise , a ship completed so recently that it hasn't even been christened yet. Uhura is originally assigned to the Template:USS , but complains directly to Spock, citing her numerous commendations and recommendations (many from Spock himself) and insisting she had earned an assignment to the USS Enterprise . Spock suggests that he did not want to suggest impropriety, but when Uhura refuses to back down, he ultimately relents, and re-assigns her to the Enterprise . Kirk has been grounded pending a ruling on his inquiry, and is not allowed to board the shuttles and join the mission. However, McCoy takes him to the medical bay, where he injects him with a vaccine, temporarily making him ill. Consequently, he is allowed to take Kirk up to the Enterprise on medical grounds, seeing as he is the patient to the ship's medical officer.

Kirk and McCoy on the shuttle.

The Enterprise leaves the spacedock for Vulcan, but not before helmsman Template:Alt – standing in for the ill McKenna – disengages the external inertial dampener , which had prevented them from going to warp. Template:Alt uses the comm system to inform the crew about their first mission, reporting a "lightning storm in space" followed by strange planet-wide seismic disturbances. Their orders are to investigate the seismic disturbance and aid in evacuation of the planet if necessary. After hearing the announcement Kirk suddenly realizes that the "lightning storm" is exactly the same occurrence the Kelvin encountered two decades earlier. Realizing that they are running straight into a Romulan trap, Kirk rushes through the ship to Uhura despite suffering a bad reaction to the vaccine McCoy gave him: swollen hands and a numb tongue. Despite his initial difficulty to communicate coherently, he finally manages to ask her about the Klingon distress call she had deciphered earlier and she confirms that the attackers were Romulan.

Kirk then rushes to the bridge to inform Captain Pike. Pike, is at first skeptical, and furious that Kirk had snuck aboard, but after hearing about the call Uhura picked up, Spock concludes that Kirk's logic is correct. Uhura is placed at the communications console at the bridge as, unlike assigned communications officer Hawkins , she can distinguish Romulan from Vulcan. As they disengage warp drive, the Enterprise finds itself in a debris field of the other seven Starfleet ships which arrived shortly before they did. At the direction of Pike, Sulu is able to navigate his way through the debris field with minimal damage. As they clear the debris, they come upon the Narada , drilling above Vulcan's atmosphere. The Narada attacks the Enterprise , which takes heavy damage on the first volley of torpedoes, almost destroying the sickbay and reducing the ship's shields to 32%. But just as they are about to fire again, Nero realizes which ship he is firing at and orders a cease-fire.

He hails the Enterprise and politely identifies himself. Pike, seeing a Romulan, accuses him of an act of war and offers to reach a settlement, but Nero states he stands apart from the Romulan Star Empire . He pointedly greets a confused Spock, and orders Pike to come aboard via shuttlecraft. Pike asks if there are any advanced hand-to-hand combat -trained officers on the bridge. Sulu volunteers. Pike gathers Sulu, Spock, and Kirk, whom he grimly jokes "wasn't supposed to be here anyway," and begins on his way to the shuttle bay.

Pike promotes Spock to captain and puts him in charge of the Enterprise . He also commissions Kirk as first officer , much to Spock's chagrin. Pike outlines his plan to do two things at once: on the shuttle en route to the Narada he will drop Kirk, Sulu, and chief engineer Olson into an orbital skydive . They will land on Narada Template:'s drill platform and disable it in order to contact Starfleet about the incident, since the drill has disable communications and transporter capabilities. If all else fails, they are to fall back to the primary fleet at the Laurentian system . If Pike doesn't come back, they will also need to come get him.

Spock returns to the bridge and checks in on sickbay. He is surprised to hear Dr. McCoy instead of Dr. Puri , the chief medical officer , who was killed in the attack. Spock officially names McCoy the chief medical officer, a fact McCoy had already assumed as he works in the sickbay, heavily damaged and inundated with casualties.

The massive Narada looms over the Enterprise above Vulcan.

Sulu sword-fights on the Romulan drill platform.

Pike arrives on the Narada as the three begin their descent. Sulu opens his parachute first, followed by Kirk. An over-enthusiastic Olson, wearing a red space suit , waits too long to activate his parachute, and he falls underneath the drill, incinerated by the beam. Kirk lands safely on the platform, and proceeds to fight the first Romulan who attacks him. While grappling over the Romulan's disruptor rifle , the weapon fires, shooting holes into Sulu's parachute, sending him out of control. Kirk reaches for his phaser pistol, but the Romulan quickly knocks it out of his hand, forcing him to use his helmet as a weapon. As Sulu approaches the platform, a second Romulan with a disruptor rifle emerges, and Kirk wards both off, eventually taking away their rifles but not doing much to hurt either of them. Sulu lands dangling off the platform and swings close to the drilling beam. He uses the parachute's repacking mechanism to pull himself onto the platform, and uses his retractable sword to cut it off to avoid getting incinerated by a flame vent. Sulu then sword-fights with one Romulan, while the other goes hand-to-hand against Kirk, who is knocked over and hanging on the edge of the platform. Sulu knocks his adversary onto the vent, incinerating him. He then stabs the other one with his sword, and pulls Kirk back to safety. Olson had the charges they were going to use to destroy the platform, so they use the Romulans' disruptor rifles to fire on the drill and disable it.

Ayel reports the drill's incapacitation, but tells Nero that the drill reached Vulcan's core before going offline. Nero orders the release of " red matter ", and the return of the drill. Chekov discovers what the "red matter" is doing: creating a black hole in the middle of the planet. Vulcan will be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Just as Kirk and Sulu are to be beamed off, the drill moves and Sulu falls. Kirk jumps after him and catches him. Sulu activates Kirk's parachute, but it is unable to take the weight of two people and snaps off. As they can't get a transporter lock, Chekov races to the transporter room and mathematically works out how to do so. The two officers are rescued just before they hit solid rock, hitting the transporter pads with a loud thud, banged up but alive.

Spock beams onto Vulcan as it collapses.

Spock attempts to save the Vulcan elders and his parents.

Uhura comforts Spock after the loss of Vulcan and his mother.

Right after Kirk and Sulu are beamed aboard, Spock tells Kirk that he is down to save the Vulcan Council , which includes Spock's parents. Kirk tries to stop him but he ignores Kirk and orders the transporter chief to beam him down immediately. They were taking refuge in the katric ark , a chamber within Mount Seleya, which they could not simply beam through. Two of the elders in the council are killed by falling rocks and statues, but Spock is able to get five of them outside, including his parents. As the transporter is about to pick them up, the rock his mother is standing on collapses, causing the transporter to miss her. As they re-materialize on board the Enterprise , Spock stands on the transporter pad in shock, having lost his mother, with his hand still reached out to her. The Enterprise crew retreats and watches in horror as Vulcan implodes into oblivion.

Kirk, Sulu, and the few Vulcans who were able to be brought aboard the Enterprise are brought to sickbay for treatment. Soon after, Spock leaves the bridge, and he is followed into the turbolift by Uhura. She stops the turbolift and after a few words, kisses and embraces him, hoping to console him. Though Spock is responsive to her, when she asks what Spock needs, he stiffens back up and states that he needs the crew to continue to work "admirably".

Nero asks Pike for the security codes to defense systems around Earth , but Pike refuses to give them to him, disgusted by Nero's act of genocide on Vulcan. Nero speaks about how the Narada , in his time, was a mining ship, and he was laboring to support his wife, who was expecting his child, before they were killed when Romulus was destroyed. He placed blame on the Federation for doing nothing, and accused Spock of betraying them, promising himself retribution. Pike pleads that Romulus still exists, but Nero only knows that his world – the Romulus of the future – was destroyed, and he intends to destroy every world of the Federation, so that others will know his pain. Forcing a Centaurian slug down Pike's throat which will help coerce Pike to give out the security codes, Nero orders the Narada to continue to Earth.

Spock leads the bridge crew in trying to brainstorm what happened. They have determined that the Narada is heading for Earth. Judging from their "black hole" technology, Spock reasons that the Narada must have traveled back in time from the future, much to McCoy's confusion as he exclaims he is a doctor, not a physicist . He states that they must regroup with the fleet, but Kirk says that in order to stop Nero they must go after him first. Kirk believes that any delayed action will result in Earth being destroyed. If Nero is from the future, then he'll know what's going to happen next, so they'll have to be unpredictable; Spock states that Nero's very presence logically caused a chain of events that altered reality as they know it and therefore his foreknowledge is irrelevant. This culminates in an argument which ends in Spock ordering Kirk's removal from the bridge, but Kirk fights off his security escort, despite McCoy trying to reason with him. Spock ends it by delivering the Vulcan nerve pinch to Kirk, before placing him in an escape pod and jettisoning it off the ship. Kirk awakens to find himself on the snow-covered world of Delta Vega , another planet in Vulcan's system. Picking up his gear, Kirk heads for the Starfleet station fourteen kilometers away.

Kirk is marooned on Delta Vega.

He is chased down by a " polarilla " which is in turn attacked by an even larger insectoid animal . It chases Kirk into a cave, and when it finally attaches a tendril to catch him, trying to consume him, it is spooked off by an elderly man wielding a lit torch. The man reveals himself to be Spock , Kirk's old friend and is genuinely happy to see him. Kirk is skeptical, telling the old man, who had assumed Kirk was in command of the Enterprise , that "he" was, and they were hardly friends, and he had in fact marooned him for mutiny, and that Pike had been taken hostage. However, when Spock identifies Nero as Pike's captor, Kirk realizes that he might just be telling the truth.

Spock melds with Kirk so that he can understand why he is here. He explains that 129 years in the future, in the year 2387 , an impending supernova of a star threatened to destroy the home worlds of the Romulan Star Empire and, potentially, the rest of the galaxy as well. Spock developed a stockpile of "red matter", a substance that can be ignited to form a singularity , a black hole that would mop up the matter of the supernova. However, the star exploded while he was en route, and Romulus was destroyed. Spock launched the red matter from his ship, the Jellyfish , to prevent further damage. Immediately, Spock was confronted by a surviving Romulan mining vessel, the Narada , captained by Nero. Spock tried to escape, but the resultant black hole captured both the Jellyfish and the Narada , creating a disturbance in the space-time continuum sending both ships into the past. The Narada exited over 150 years in the past, where it confronted the Kelvin . Spock's ship entered moments later, but what appeared seconds to him, were 25 years after the Narada had entered. Nero then captured Spock's ship, but kept Spock alive, marooning him on Delta Vega, so that he could witness the destruction of his own home planet, Vulcan, just as he had to witness the destruction of Romulus. Kirk explains he was left on the planet by the Spock he knows, who is currently in command of the Enterprise . The elder Spock is surprised, knowing that Kirk should be in command of the ship. It is then that Spock realizes that when Nero exited the black hole and confronted the Kelvin , he altered history and created an alternate reality , which changed everything, especially Kirk's life. Kirk asks Spock whether his father lived in the original timeline. Spock confirms that George Kirk proudly saw his son take command of the Enterprise , and often spoke of him as his inspiration to join Starfleet. Spock leads Kirk to the Starfleet base.

Back on the Enterprise , McCoy walks onto the bridge. Recalling that McCoy had taken his side during the "mutiny", Spock tells the doctor that he is well aware of his friendship with Kirk, acknowledging that it could not have been easy to oppose his friend in such a manner, never actually thanking him. McCoy then asks to speak freely, which Spock "welcomes" - and the doctor furiously asks him if he has lost his mind; banishing Kirk may have been logical, but certainly wasn't the right move. Spock is unfazed, responding to McCoy's use of a horse racing analogy by reminding him of the need to break a stallion to reach its potential, which astounds McCoy, who would think Spock might at least pretend it was a difficult choice. Spock sarcastically ends the argument by telling McCoy that, if tearfully walking the ship would improve crew morale, he would gladly defer to the doctor's orders. As Spock walks off to greet Sarek and dismisses McCoy, the doctor, still stewing, mutters that Spock is a "green-blooded hobgoblin" under his breath.

Spock Prime gives Kirk the Vulcan salute on Delta Vega

Kirk and the elder Spock are met by a short alien officer, Keenser , who leads them inside, where they meet this timeline's Template:Alt . A transporter genius, Scotty was "exiled" to Delta Vega after beaming Admiral Archer 's prized beagle to an unknown location during a failed experiment in " transwarp beaming ". Spock, however, assures Scott that it does work, and gives him the formula devised many years later by the Scotty he knew . Spock informs Kirk that he must relieve the Vulcan's younger self of command by provoking him and showing everyone that Spock is too personally and emotionally compromised to lead the mission and captain the ship, a violation of Starfleet Regulation 619. However, Spock refuses to come along and explain things to his younger self, implying too many paradoxes. Kirk is unsure that this will work, and Spock, with his voice cracking with sadness, reminds Kirk that he just saw his planet destroyed, and assures him that his younger counterpart is emotionally compromised. Before the transport, Kirk tells Spock that he was "cheating", Spock reminds him just who he learned cheating from, and, after wishing them long life and prosperity, sends Kirk and Scotty back to the Enterprise .

As they are transported to the Enterprise , Scotty accidentally finds himself inside the ship's water main and Kirk is able to rescue Scotty before he meets a gruesome death. The two are spotted by Chekov's detection of the water main's open emergency valve, and captured by security personnel, led by the one who got into a bar fight with Kirk three years previously and still remembers the remark made against him.

Spock attacks Kirk

They are taken to the bridge where an astounded Spock attempts to find out how the two were able to transport on board the ship while it was in warp. Kirk refuses to answer and recommends Scotty do the same, and then proceeds to ask why Spock doesn't feel any anger or have any emotion over the destruction of his planet and the murder of his mother. He keeps pushing and provoking Spock, claiming he never loved his mother. Upon hearing this accusation, Spock finally snaps and lunges after Kirk, ruthlessly beating and strangling him to the point of nearly killing him, before Sarek begs Spock to stop. Realizing how far he has gone, Spock relieves himself of duty and leaves the bridge. McCoy chastises Kirk for getting rid of the ship's captain without a first officer to replace him. But Kirk, to the bridge crew's astonishment (except Sulu, who confirms Pike's promotion of Kirk to First Officer), assumes command and orders an immediate pursuit of the Narada . Uhura, still wary of Kirk, coldly whispers that she hopes he knows what he's doing. Kirk admits that he hopes so too.

The Enterprise crew regards Spock when he returns to the bridge

Act Three [ ]

Following his outburst, Spock returns to the transporter room, where Sarek tries to get Spock to open up to him. Spock admits to feeling conflicted, and feels a rage he cannot control towards Nero over the death of his mother. Sarek offers that his mother would have said not to bother controlling it, and, recalling what he had said years before after another outburst of his son's Human side, sadly admits to his son that he married Amanda because he loved her. Meanwhile, on the Bridge, Chekov figures out a plan to get the Enterprise close to the Narada without them noticing: they can follow the Narada and stop at Titan 's orbit, remaining undetected by hiding in its magnetic field. Soon after, a cooled off Spock returns to the bridge, confirms the logic of Chekov's plan, and offers to beam over to the Narada to get the "black hole device" and save Earth, the only home he has left. Kirk says he will go as well, to rescue Pike. Spock mentions regulations against the captain and first officer going on such a mission, but chooses not to cite something he knows Kirk will ignore. Kirk quips that they are finally getting to know each other and gives Spock a friendly slap to the back.

The Romulan ship arrives at Earth and deploys its drilling rig directly over San Francisco . Warping into Titan 's atmosphere, the Enterprise remains undetected by the Narada . Before stepping onto the transporter pad, Kirk calls the bridge, telling Sulu that, if he believes the Enterprise can destroy the Narada , even if Kirk, Spock and Pike are still aboard, he should not hesitate to take the opportunity. Sulu reluctantly acknowledge's Kirk's order. Before they beam over, Uhura kisses Spock and tells him that he better come back. In his reply, he calls her "Nyota." Kirk, who overheard, then asks Spock if that's the first name he had tried and failed to learn since the first time he met her; Spock coyly cuts him off, stating his refusal to comment on the matter. Right after they are beamed aboard, the Narada begins to drill its hole near the Golden Gate Bridge , cutting the ship off from the Enterprise .

Kirk leaps after Nero on the Narada

Scotty thought he would be beaming Kirk and Spock to the Narada Template:'s cargo bay, but it turns out to be a heavily occupied portion of the ship. After a brief firefight, Spock uncovers the location of the black hole device and Captain Pike by melding with an unconscious Romulan. When they board the Jellyfish , it recognizes Spock as its captain, and the Vulcan finally figures out what is going on, as the ship's computer confirms its origin stardate as 2387, constructed by the Vulcan Science Academy. Spock confronts Kirk about withholding information from him, but Kirk dodges the question by asking Spock if he can fly the spacecraft, a question he is fairly confident Kirk already knows the answer to. For the first time, Spock calls Kirk, "Jim" and informs him that their chances of success are grim by citing his calculation of their odds, but Kirk assures him that their plan will work.

As Spock commandeers the Jellyfish and blasts out of the Narada , Kirk runs into more trouble as he finds the Romulan's "bridge", where Nero and Ayel are waiting. Kirk is confronted by Nero, who has recognized him from Earth's history, and after a brief scuffle, Nero pins Kirk and tells him that, while he was a decorated officer and went on to captain the starship Enterprise , that was another life, and that he plans to deprive him of the same life his father once had. Before he can finish Kirk off, however, Nero is informed that the Jellyfish has been stolen and the drill has been destroyed. Furious above all else, Nero storms off, leaving Kirk to Ayel while he plans to kill Spock. Ayel promptly grabs Kirk by the throat and lifts him in the air, surprised at how "weak" Humans appear to be. Seeing his prey attempting to talk, Ayel offers Kirk the chance to say something - and the Human replies that he is in possession of the Romulan's disruptor pistol. Kirk fires and kills Ayel as he plunges into the depths of the Romulan vessel. He then heads off to rescue Pike. Meanwhile, Nero hails Spock, declaring that he should have killed him when he had the chance. In reply, Spock taunts Nero by "ordering" him to surrender. The Jellyfish then goes into warp with Nero and the Narada in hot pursuit.

The ships drop out of warp, and the Jellyfish turns to intercept and collide with the Narada . Nero orders all weapons to be fired, even though the ship still has " red matter " on it; with his plan for revenge ruined, now he only wants to kill Spock. The Enterprise arrives on the scene and destroys the missiles with a fierce volley of its phasers, allowing Spock to carry through with his plan to ram the Narada . Inside the Narada , Kirk finds Pike, alive but injured due to his earlier torture. Pike is quite surprised, but Kirk reminds him of his previous order to "come and get me", and when two Romulan soldiers walk in and find Kirk, effectively defenseless while freeing Pike from the chamber, the captain returns the favor, grabbing the gun on Kirk's belt and mowing down the intruders before his rescuer even realizes what happened. Scotty successfully beams back Kirk, Pike and Spock, right before the Jellyfish collides with the Narada .

Kirk and Spock discuss Nero's fate

The explosion of the Jellyfish ignites the entire stockpile of " red matter " on-board, creating a black hole, which begins to swallow up the Narada . Kirk offers to rescue the surviving crew, believing that the tense relations between the Romulans and the Federation might be aided by this. Spock disagreed. Belligerent to the last, Nero refuses assistance anyway and Kirk opens fire, blowing the ship apart with phasers and photon torpedoes. The Narada is finally destroyed, but the gravitational pull of the black hole begins tugging on the Enterprise , keeping it from escaping, even with its engines running at warp speed. The pressure is heavily damaging the ship as Kirk orders Scott to get them out of there at all cost. Scotty ejects the warp core and detonates it near the black hole, pushing the Enterprise to safety.

Spock salutes his older self from the Prime timeline

Back on Earth, the elder Spock meets with his younger counterpart, who presumed the former to be his/their father. Young Spock is confused as to why his older self didn't come with Kirk and explain the situation. The older Spock states that he implied there may be universe-destroying paradoxes if Kirk told him the truth so that they would have to rely on each other, thus ensuring "a friendship that will define you both, in ways you can not yet realize." Young Spock asks if he was making a gambit; older Spock states that he made "an act of faith" to his old friend, which he hopes that he will show again in the future. However, younger Spock expresses his decision to resign from Starfleet to help rebuild the Vulcan race; older Spock points out that he can be in two places at once. He also advises his younger self in this case to put aside logic and do what feels right. The older Spock then raises his hand in the familiar Vulcan salute , and simply wishes his younger self "good luck."

Kirk is commended by Starfleet Command , promoted to captain , and given permanent command of the Enterprise . He relieves Pike, who has been promoted to admiral and is now recovering in a wheelchair. A proud Pike shakes his successor's hand and notes that his father too would be very proud of Kirk. As the older Spock leaves to help the remaining Vulcans establish a colony, Kirk, now dressed in the gold uniform of a captain, walks on to the Enterprise bridge. After he tells McCoy to "buckle up", and receives assurances from Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and Scotty (who has barely finished talking to Kirk when he finds Keenser - now a member of his engineering staff - having climbed atop a console and orders him down) that their sections are ready to depart, the younger Spock returns to the Enterprise and asks Captain Kirk if he can be his first officer, offering to provide "character references". Kirk says it would be his honor.

The film ends with the elder Spock reciting Zefram Cochrane 's famous monologue, as the Enterprise Template:'s warp engines power up and engage, propelling the crew into the adventures that lie ahead.

Karl Urban, Chris Pine, executive producer Bryan Burk, Zachary Quinto, director J.J. Abrams, Eric Bana, and John Cho at the Sydney Opera House premiere of the film on April 7, 2009

• Jimmy Bennett plays James Kirk as a boy.
• Jacob Kogan plays Spock as a child.
• Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as the elder Spock (referred to in the movie as Ambassador Spock, and in the ending credits as Spock Prime), who has come from the future. Nimoy befriended Quinto after being cast in the role. Although Quinto watched some episodes of the show during breaks in filming, Nimoy was his main resource in playing Spock. [13] Nimoy also chose the actor who portrayed his character "Spock" in the movie. Abrams and the writers met Nimoy at his house; writer Roberto Orci recalled the actor gave a Template:"' Who are you guys and what are you up to?' vibe" before being told how important he was to them. He was silent, and Nimoy's wife Susan Bay told the creative team he had remained in his chair after their conversation, emotionally overwhelmed by his decision after turning down many opportunities to revisit the role. [18] Had Nimoy disliked the script, production would have been delayed for it to be rewritten. [19] He was "genuinely excited" by the script's scope and its detailing of the characters' backstories, [15] saying, "We have dealt with [Spock being half-human, half-Vulcan], but never with quite the overview that this script has of the entire history of the character, the growth of the character, the beginnings of the character and the arrival of the character into the Enterprise crew." [20] Abrams said "it was surreal to direct him as Spock, because what the hell am I doing there? This guy has been doing it for forty years. It's like 'I think Spock would... Template:' " [21]
• Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy . Like Pine, Urban said of taking on the role that "it is a case of not doing some sort of facsimile or carbon copy, but really taking the very essence of what DeForest Kelley has done and honoring that and bringing something new to the table". Urban has been a fan of the show since he was seven years old and actively pursued the role after rediscovering the series on DVD with his son. [22] Urban was cast at his first audition, which was two months after his initial meeting with Abrams. He said he was happy to play a role with lots of comedy, something he had not done since The Price of Milk , because he was tired of action-oriented roles. When asked why McCoy is so cantankerous, Urban joked the character might be a "little bipolar actually!" [23] Orci and Kurtzman had collaborated with Urban on Xena: Warrior Princess , in which he played Cupid and Caesar . [24]
• Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura . Abrams had liked her work and requested that she play the role. Saldaña never saw the original series, though she had played a Trekkie in The Terminal (2004), but agreed to play the role after Abrams had complimented her. "For an actor, that's all you need, that's all you want. To get the acknowledgment and respect from your peers," she said. She met with Nichelle Nichols , who explained to her how she had created Uhura's background, and also named the character. [25] Saldaña's mother was a Star Trek fan and sent her voice mails during filming, giving advice on the part. [26] Sydney Tamiia Poitier also auditioned for the part. [27] The film officially establishes the character's first name, which had never been previously uttered on TV or in film.
• Simon Pegg as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott . Abrams contacted Pegg by e-mail, offering him the part. [28] To perform Scotty's accent, Pegg was assisted by his wife Maureen, who is from Glasgow , although Pegg said Scotty was from Linlithgow and wanted to bring a more East Coast sound to his accent, so his resulting performance is a mix of both accents that leans towards the West sound. [28] He was also aided by Tommy Gormley, the film's Glaswegian first assistant director. [29] Pegg described Scotty as a positive Scottish stereotype, noting "Scots are the first people to laugh at the fact that they drink and fight a bit", and that Scotty comes from a long line of Scots with technical expertise, such as John Logie Baird and Alexander Graham Bell . Years before, Pegg's character in Spaced joked that every odd-numbered Star Trek film being "shit" was a fact of life. Pegg noted "Fate put me in the movie to show me I was talking out of my ass." [30]
• John Cho as Hikaru Sulu . Abrams was concerned about casting a Korean-American as a Japanese character, but George Takei explained to the director that Sulu was meant to represent all of Asia on the Enterprise , so Abrams went ahead with Cho. [31] Cho acknowledged being an Asian-American, "there are certain acting roles that you are never going to get, and one of them is playing a cowboy. [Playing Sulu] is a realization of that dream — going into space." He cited the masculinity of the character as being important to him, and spent two weeks fight training. [32] Cho suffered an injury to his wrist during filming, although a representative assured it was "no big deal". [33] James Kyson Lee was interested in the part, but because Quinto was cast as Spock, the producers of the TV show Heroes did not want to lose another cast member for three months. [34]
• Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov : As with the rest of the cast, Yelchin was allowed to choose what elements there were from their predecessor's performances. Yelchin decided to carry on Walter Koenig 's speech patterns of replacing "v"s with "w"s , although he and Abrams felt this was a trait more common of Polish accents than Russian ones. [35] He described Chekov as an odd character, being a Russian who was brought on to the show "in the middle of the Cold War ." He recalled a "scene where they're talking to Apollo [who says], 'I am Apollo.' And Chekov is like, 'And I am the czar of all Russias.' [...] They gave him these lines. I mean he really is the weirdest, weirdest character." [36]
• Eric Bana as Captain Nero , the film's time-traveling Romulan villain. Bana shot his scenes toward the end of filming. He was "a huge Trekkie when [he] was a kid", [37] but had not seen the films. [38] Even if he were "crazy about the original series", he would not have accepted the role unless he liked the script, which he deemed "awesome" once he read it. [39] Bana knew Abrams because they coincidentally shared the same agent. [40] Bana improvised the character's speech patterns. [41]
• Bruce Greenwood as Christopher Pike , the captain of the Enterprise . [11]
• Ben Cross as Sarek , Spock's father.
• Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson , Spock's mother.
• Clifton Collins, Jr. as Ayel, Nero's first officer.
• Chris Hemsworth as George Samuel Kirk, Sr. , Kirk's father, who died aboard the USS Kelvin while battling Nero.
• Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk, Kirk's mother.
• Rachel Nichols as Gaila, an Orion Starfleet cadet.
• Faran Tahir as Richard Robau , captain of the USS Kelvin .
• Deep Roy as Keenser, Scotty's alien assistant on Delta Vega.
• Greg Ellis as Chief Engineer Olson, the redshirt who is killed during the space jump . [42]
• Chris Doohan , the son of the original Scotty, James Doohan , makes a cameo appearance in the transporter room. Pegg e-mailed Doohan about the role of Scotty, and the actor has promised him his performance "would be a complete tribute to his father". [43] Chris Doohan previously cameoed in Star Trek: The Motion Picture .
• Paul McGillion auditioned for Scotty, and he impressed producers enough that he was given another role as a 'Barracks Leader'. [44]
• Greg Grunberg has a vocal cameo as Kirk's alcoholic stepfather. [44] Brad William Henke filmed scenes in the role which were cut out. [45] Star Trek: Enterprise star Dominic Keating also auditioned for the role. [46] Grunberg was up for the role of Olson but dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. Grunberg was also interested in playing Harry Mudd , [47] who was in an early draft of the script. [48]
• Amanda Foreman appears as Hannity, a Starfleet officer on the Enterprise bridge.
• Spencer Daniels as Johnny, a childhood friend of Kirk. Daniels was set to play his older brother, George Samuel "Sam" Kirk, Jr., but the majority of his scenes were cut and the opening car chase scene where James Kirk can be heard calling out to him was overdubbed. [49]
• Victor Garber as Klingon Interrogator, the officer who tortures Nero during his time on Rura Penthe. His scene was cut from the film and was featured on the DVD. [50]

Tyler Perry appears as the head of Starfleet Academy , Admiral Richard Barnett. James Cawley , producer and star of the webseries Star Trek: New Voyages , appears as a Starfleet officer, while Pavel Lychnikoff and Lucia Rijker play Romulans, Lychnikoff a Commander and Rijker a CO . W. Morgan Sheppard , who played a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , appears in this film as the head of the Vulcan Science Council. Wil Wheaton , known for portraying Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation , was brought in, through urging by Greg Grunberg, to voice several of the other Romulans in the film. [51] Star Trek fan and Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch (who died on July 25, 2008) cameoed as a Kelvin crew member, and has a line of dialogue. [52] Majel Barrett , the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry , reprised her role as the voice of the Enterprise Template:'s computer, which she completed two weeks before her death on December 18, 2008. [53] Template:Dead link The film was dedicated to her as well as Gene, to whom the film was always going to be commemorated as a sign of respect. [54]

Orci and Kurtzman wrote a scene for William Shatner , where old Spock gives his younger self a recorded message by Kirk from the previous timeline. "It was basically a Happy Birthday wish knowing that Spock was going to go off to Romulus, and Kirk would probably be dead by the time," and it would have transitioned into Shatner reciting "Where no man has gone before". [55] But Shatner wanted to share Nimoy's major role, and did not want a cameo, [56] despite his character's death in Star Trek Generations . He suggested the film canonize his novels where Kirk is resurrected , [57] but Abrams decided if his character was accompanying Nimoy's, it would have become a film about the resurrection of Kirk, and not about introducing the new versions of the characters. [54] Nimoy disliked the character's death in Generations , but felt resurrecting Kirk would also be detrimental to this film. [19]

Nichelle Nichols suggested playing Uhura's grandmother, but Abrams could not write this in due to the Writers Guild strike . [58] Abrams was also interested in casting Keri Russell , but they deemed the role he had in mind for her too similar to her other roles. [59]

Production [ ]

Development [ ].

Template:Quote

At the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention , Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry declared he would make a film prequel to the television series . [60] The prequel concept resurfaced in the late 1980s with Ralph Winter and Harve Bennett during development of the fourth and sixth films. For the latter, David Loughery wrote a script entitled The Academy Years , but it was shelved in light of objections from the original cast and the fan base. In February 2005, following the financial failure of the tenth film, Star Trek Nemesis (2002), and the cancellation of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise , the franchise's executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriter Erik Jendresen were developing a new film entitled Star Trek: The Beginning . It was to revolve around a new set of characters, led by Kirk's ancestor Tiberius Chase. It would take place after Enterprise but before the original series, during the Earth-Romulan War . [61]

In 2005, Viacom , which owned Paramount Pictures , split from CBS Corporation , which retained Paramount's television properties, including ownership of the Star Trek brand. Gail Berman , then president of Paramount, convinced CBS' chief executive, Leslie Moonves , to allow them eighteen months to develop a new Star Trek film before CBS would re-earn the rights to develop a new television series (in return, CBS would keep merchandising rights). Berman approached Mission: Impossible III writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman for ideas on the new film, and after the film had completed shooting she asked their director, J. J. Abrams , to produce it. [62] Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman, plus producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk , felt the franchise had explored enough of what took place after the series, [63] Orci and Lindelof consider themselves trekkies , [64] and feel some of the Star Trek novels have canonical value, although Gene Roddenberry never considered the novels to be canon . [65] Kurtzman is a casual fan, while Burk was not. [11] Abrams' company, Bad Robot Productions produced the film with Paramount, marking the first time another company had financed a Star Trek film. [66] Bill Todman, Jr. 's Level 1 Entertainment also co-produced the film, but during 2008 Spyglass Entertainment replaced them as financial partner. [67]

Abrams had not seen Star Trek Nemesis because the franchise had "disconnected" for him, [68] explaining that for him, Star Trek was about Kirk and Spock, and the other series were like "separate space adventure[s] with the name Star Trek ". Abrams also preferred Star Wars as a child. [69] He noted his general knowledge of Star Trek made him suitable to making a film to introduce the franchise to newcomers though, [70] and being an optimistic person, he felt the optimistic nature of Star Trek would be a refreshing contrast to the likes of The Dark Knight . [11] He continued that he loved the focus on exploration in Star Trek and the idea of the Prime Directive , which forbids Starfleet to interfere in the development of primitive worlds. However, Abrams disliked that the budgetary limitations of the original show meant they "never had the resources to actually show the adventure". [71] He noted he only became involved with the project as producer initially because he wanted to help Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof. [62]

On February 23, 2007, Abrams accepted Paramount's offer to direct the film, having been only attached as producer. [72] After reading the script, he had decided "I would be so agonizingly envious of whoever stepped in and directed the movie." [73] Orci and Kurtzman felt their aim had been to impress a casual fan like Abrams with their story. [74] Even when filming, Abrams was nervous "with all these tattooed faces and pointy ears, bizarre weaponry and Romulan linguists, with dialogue about 'Neutral Zones' and 'Starfleet' [but] I knew this would work, because the script Alex and Bob wrote was so emotional and so relatable. I didn't love Kirk and Spock when I began this journey – but I love them now." [11]

Writing [ ]

Template:Quote box

Orci said creating a clean reboot would have been disrespectful, [75] and getting Leonard Nimoy in the film was very important. "Having him sitting around a camp fire sharing his memories was never gonna cut it" though, and time travel was going to be included in the film from the beginning. [76] Kurtzman added the time travel creates jeopardy, unlike other prequels where viewers "know how they all died". [77] The writers acknowledged time travel had been overused in the other series, but it served a good purpose in creating a new set of adventures for the original characters before they could completely do away with it in other films. [78] Abrams selected the Romulans as the villains because they had been featured less than the Klingons in the show, and thought it was "fun" to have them meet Kirk before he does in the show. [79] Orci and Kurtzman noted it would feel backward to demonize the Klingons again after they had become heroes in later Star Trek series, and the Romulan presence continues Spock's story from his last chronological appearance in " Unification ", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation set in 2368. [78] The episode of the original continuity in which Kirk becomes the first human to ever see a Romulan, " Balance of Terror ", served as one of the influences for the film. [64] Orci said it was difficult giving a good explanation for the time travel without being gimmicky, like having Nero specifically seeking to assassinate Kirk. [80]

Orci noted while the time travel story allowed them to alter some backstory elements such as Kirk's first encounter with the Romulans, they could not use it as a crutch to change everything and they tried to approach the film as a prequel as much as possible. Kirk's service on the Farragut , a major backstory point to the original episode " Obsession ", was left out because it was deemed irrelevant to the story of Kirk meeting Spock, although Orci felt nothing in his script precluded it from the new film's backstory. [76] There was a scene involving Kirk meeting Carol Marcus, who becomes the mother of his son in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , as a child, but it was dropped because the film needed more time to introduce the core characters. [55] [81] Figuring out ways to get the crew together required some contrivances, which Orci and Kurtzman wanted to explain from old Spock as a way of the timeline mending itself, highlighting the theme of destiny. The line was very difficult to write and was ultimately cut out. [78] [82]

The filmmakers sought inspiration from novels such as Prime Directive , Spock's World , and Best Destiny to fill in gaps unexplained by canon; Best Destiny particularly explores Kirk's childhood and names his parents. [64] [76] [83] One idea that was justified through information from the novels was having the Enterprise built on Earth, which was inspired by a piece of fan art of the Enterprise being built in a ship yard. Orci had sent the fan art to Abrams to show how realistic the film could be. [84] Orci explained parts of the ship would have to be constructed on Earth because of the artificial gravity employed on the ship and its requirement for sustaining warp speed , and therefore the calibration of the ship's machinery would be best done in the exact gravity well which is to be simulated. [85] They felt free to have the ship built in Iowa because canon is ambiguous as to whether it was built in San Francisco , but this is a result of the time travel rather than something intended to overlap with the original timeline. [77] Abrams noted the continuity of the original show itself was inconsistent at times. [13]

Orci and Kurtzman said they wanted the general audience to like the film as much as the fans, by stripping away " Treknobabble ", making it action-packed and giving it the simple title of Star Trek (to indicate to newcomers they would not need to watch any of the other films). [86] Abrams saw humor and sex appeal as two integral and popular elements of the show that needed to be maintained. [70] Orci stated being realistic and being serious were not the same thing. [84] Abrams, Burk, Lindelof, Orci and Kurtzman were fans of The Wrath of Khan , and also cited The Next Generation episode " Yesterday's Enterprise " as an influence. [64] Abrams's wife Katie was regularly consulted on the script, as were Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof's wives, to make the female characters as strong as possible. [75] Katie Abrams's approval of the strong female characters was partly why Abrams signed on to direct. [87]

Orci and Kurtzman read graduate school dissertations on the series for inspiration; [63] they noted comparisons of Kirk, Spock and McCoy to Shakespearian archetypes, and Kirk and Spock's friendship echoing that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney . [64] They also noted that, in the creation of this film, they were influenced by Star Wars , particularly in terms of pacing. "I want to feel the space, I want to feel speed and I want to feel all the things that can become a little bit lost when Star Trek becomes very stately" said Orci. [74] Star Wars permeated in the way they wrote the action sequences, [77] while Burk noted Kirk and Spock's initially cold relationship mirrors how " Han Solo wasn't friends with anyone when they started on their journey." [88] Spock and Uhura were put in an actual relationship as a nod to early episodes highlighting her interest in him. [82] Orci wanted to introduce strong Starfleet captains, concurring with an interviewer that most captains in other films were "patsies" included to make Kirk look greater by comparison. [75]

The USS Kelvin , the ship Kirk's father serves on, is named after J. J. Abrams' grandfather, as well as the physicist and engineer Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) . The Kelvin Template:'s captain, Richard Robau ( Faran Tahir ), is named after Orci's Cuban uncle: Orci theorized the fictional character was born in Cuba and grew up in the Middle East. [84] Another reference to Abrams' previous works is Slusho, which Uhura orders at the bar where she meets Kirk. Abrams created the fictitious drink for Alias and it reappeared in viral marketing for Cloverfield . Its owners, Tagruato, is also from Cloverfield and appears on a building in San Francisco . [44] The red matter in the film is in the shape of a red ball, an Abrams motif dating back to the pilot of Alias . [89]

The film was primarily designed by Ryan Church , Neville Page, the Cloverfield monster's creator, [35] and Star Trek veteran John Eaves . [90] Abrams stated the difficulty of depicting the future was that much of modern technology was inspired by the original show, and made it seem outdated. Thus the production design had to be consistent with the television series but also feel more advanced than the real world technology developed after it. [63] "We all have the iPhone that does more than the communicator ," said Abrams. "I feel like there's a certain thing that you can't really hold onto, which is kind of the kitschy quality. That must go if it's going to be something that you believe is real." [91] Prop master Russell Bobbitt collaborated with Nokia on recreating the original communicator, creating a $50,000 prototype. Another prop recreated for the film was the tricorder . Bobbitt brought the original prop to the set, but the actors found it too large to carry when filming action scenes, so technical advisor Doug Brody redesigned it to be smaller. [92] The phaser props were designed as spring-triggered barrels that revolve and glow as the setting switches from "stun" to "kill". [11] An Aptera Typ-1 prototype car was used on location. [93]

Panorama of the Enterprise Template:'s redesigned bridge

Production designer Scott Chambliss maintained the layout of the original bridge, but aesthetically altered it with brighter colors to reflect the optimism of Star Trek . The viewscreen was made into a window that could have images projected on it to make the space environment palpable. Abrams compared the redesign to the sleek modernist work of Pierre Cardin and the sets from 2001: A Space Odyssey , which were from the 1960s. [94] He joked the redesigned bridge made the Apple Store look "uncool". At the director's behest, more railings were added to the bridge to make it look safer, [11] and the set was built on gimbals so its rocking motions when the ship accelerates and is attacked was more realistic. [94] To emphasize the size of the ship, Abrams chose to give the engine room a highly industrial appearance: he explained to Simon Pegg that he was inspired by Template:RMS , a sleek ship in which there was an "incredible gut". [95]

Abrams selected Michael Kaplan to design the costumes because he had not seen any of the films, meaning he would approach the costumes with a new angle. For the Starfleet uniforms , Kaplan followed the show's original color coding, with dark gray (almost black) undershirts and pants and colored overshirts showing each crew member's position (command officers wear gold shirts, science and medical officers wear blue, and operations (technicians/engineers) and security personnel wear red). Kaplan wanted the shirts to be more sophisticated than the originals and selected to have the Starfleet symbol patterned on them. [94] Kirk wears only the undershirt because he is a cadet. [11] Kaplan modelled the uniforms on the Kelvin on science fiction films of the 1940s and 1950s, to contrast with the Enterprise -era uniforms based on the ones created in the 1960s. [94] For Abrams, "The costumes were a microcosm of the entire project, which was how to take something that's kind of silly and make it feel real. But how do you make legitimate those near-primary color costumes?" [96]

Lindelof compared the film's Romulan faction to pirates with their bald, tattooed heads and disorganized costuming. Their ship, the Narada , is purely practical with visible mechanics as it is a "working ship", unlike the Enterprise crew who give a respectable presentation on behalf of the Federation . [97] Chambliss was heavily influenced by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí for the Narada , who created buildings that appeared to be inside out: by making the ship's exposed wires appear like bones or ligaments, it would create a foreboding atmosphere. The ship's interior was made of six pieces that could be rearranged to create a different room. [94] The Romulan actors spent two to four hours applying make-up: Template:Citation needed the actors had three prosthetics applied to their ears and foreheads, while Bana had a fourth prosthetic for the bitemark on his ear that extends to the back of his character's head. [98] The film's Romulans lacked the 'V'-shaped ridges on the foreheads, which had been present in all of their depictions outside the original series. Neville Page wanted to honor that by having Nero's crew ritually scar themselves too, forming keloids reminiscent of the 'V'-ridges. It was abandoned as they did not pursue the idea enough. [99] Kaplan wanted aged, worn and rugged clothes for the Romulans because of their mining backgrounds, and found some greasy looking fabrics at a flea market . Kaplan tracked down the makers of those clothes, who turned out to be based in Bali , and commissioned them to create his designs. [11]

Barney Burman supervised the makeup for the other aliens: his team had to rush the creation of many of the aliens, because originally the majority of them were to feature in one scene towards the end of filming. Abrams deemed the scene too similar to the cantina sequence in Star Wars , and decided to dot the designs around the film. [98] A tribble was placed in the background of Scotty's introduction. [44] Both digital and physical makeup was used for aliens. [100]

Filming [ ]

Filming began on November 7, 2007, [101] and finished on March 27, 2008, [102] although second unit filming took place during early April in Bakersfield, California , which stood in for Kirk's childhood home in Iowa . [103] Filming was also done at the City Hall of Long Beach, California ; [104] the San Rafael Swell in Utah; [105] and the California State University, Northridge (which was used for establishing shots of students at Starfleet Academy ). [106] A parking lot outside Dodger Stadium was used for the ice planet of Delta Vega and the Romulan drilling rig on Vulcan . [54] The filmmakers had been interested in filming in Iceland for scenes on Delta Vega, but decided against it: Chambliss enjoyed the challenge of filming scenes with snow in southern California. The drilling rig was built 16 feet into the air. Other Vulcan exteriors were shot at Vasquez Rocks , a location that was used in various episodes of the original show. A Budweiser plant in Van Nuys was used for the Enterprise ' s engine room, while a Long Beach power plant was used for the Kelvin Template:'s engine room. [94]

The Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge was used for shots of Starfleet Academy

Following the commencement of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike on November 5, 2007, Abrams, himself a WGA member, told Variety that while he would not render writing services for the film and intended to walk the picket line, he did not expect the strike to impact his directing of the production. [107] In the final few weeks before the strike and start of production, Abrams and Lindelof polished the script a final time. [108] Abrams was frustrated that he was unable to alter lines during the strike, whereas normally they would have been able to improvise new ideas during rehearsal, although Lindelof acknowledged they could dub some lines in post-production. [109] Orci and Kurtzman were able to stay on set without strikebreaking because they were also executive producers on the film; they could "make funny eyes and faces at the actors whenever they had a problem with the line and sort of nod when they had something better". [110] Abrams was able to alter a scene where Spock combats six Romulans from a fistfight to a gunfight, having decided there were too many physical brawls in the film. [16]

The production team maintained heavily enforced security around the film. Karl Urban revealed, "[There is a] level of security and secrecy that we have all been forced to adopt. I mean, it's really kind of paranoid crazy, but sort of justified. We're not allowed to walk around in public in our costumes and we have to be herded around everywhere in these golf carts that are completely concealed and covered in black canvas. The security of it is immense. You feel your freedom is a big challenge." [111] Actors like Jennifer Morrison were only given the scripts of their scenes. [112] The film's shooting script was fiercely protected even with the main cast. Simon Pegg said, "I read [the script] with a security guard near me – it's that secretive." [113] The film used the fake working title of Corporate Headquarters . [114] Some of the few outside of the production allowed to visit the set included Rod Roddenberry , [115] Ronald D. Moore , [116] Jonathan Frakes , [117] Walter Koenig , Nichelle Nichols , Ben Stiller , Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg (who had partially convinced Abrams to direct because he liked the script, and he even advised the action scenes during his visit). [87]

Abrams chose to shoot the film in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film after discussions about whether the film should be shot in high-definition digital video. Cinematographer Dan Mindel and Abrams agreed the choice gave the film a big-screen feel and the realistic, organic look they wanted for the film setting. [118] Abrams and Mindel used lens flares throughout filming to create an optimistic atmosphere and a feeling activity was taking place off-camera, making the Star Trek universe feel more real. "There's something about those flares, especially in a movie that potentially could be incredibly sterile and CG and overly controlled. There’s just something incredibly unpredictable and gorgeous about them." Mindel would create more flares by shining a flashlight or pointing a mirror at the camera lens, or using two cameras simultaneously and therefore two lighting set-ups. [54]

When the shoot ended, Abrams gave the cast small boxes containing little telescopes, which allowed them to read the name of each constellation it was pointed at. "I think he just wanted each of us to look at the stars a little differently," said John Cho . [71] After the shoot, Abrams cut out some scenes of Kirk and Spock as children, including seeing the latter as a baby, as well as a subplot involving Nero being imprisoned by the Klingons and his escape: this explanation for his absence during Kirk's life confused many to whom Abrams screened the film. [54] Other scenes cut out explained the teenage Kirk stole his stepfather's antique car because he had forced him to clean it before an auction; and that the Orion he seduced at the Academy worked in the operations division. Afterwards, she agrees to open the e-mail containing his patch that allows him to pass the Kobayashi Maru test. [82]

Effects [ ]

Industrial Light & Magic and Digital Domain were among several companies that created over 1,000 special effect shots. [119] The visual effects supervisors were Roger Guyett, who collaborated with Abrams on Mission: Impossible III and also served as second unit director, and Russell Earl. Abrams avoided shooting only against bluescreen and greenscreen , because it "makes me insane", using them instead to extend the scale of sets and locations. [63] The Delta Vega sequence required the mixing of digital snow with real snow. [120]

Star Trek was the first film ILM worked on using entirely digital ships. [120] The Enterprise was intended by Abrams to be a merging of its design in the show and the refitted version from the original film. Abrams had fond memories of the reveal of the Enterprise Template:'s refit in Star Trek: The Motion Picture , because it was the first time the ship felt tangible and real to him. [121] The iridescent pattern on the ship from The Motion Picture was maintained to give the ship depth, while model maker Roger Goodson also applied the " Aztec " pattern from The Next Generation . Goodson recalled Abrams also wanted to bring a " hot rod " aesthetic to the ship. Effects supervisor Roger Guyett wanted the ship to have more moving parts, which stemmed from his childhood dissatisfaction with the ship's design: The new Enterprise Template:'s dish can expand and move, while the fins on its engines split slightly when they begin warping . [122] The Enterprise was originally redesigned by Ryan Church using features of the original, at Template:Convert long, [123] but was later scaled up by a factor of two to Template:Convert long to make it seem "grander", [123] while the Romulan Narada is five miles long and several miles wide. [94] [124] The filmmakers had to simulate lens flares on the ships in keeping with the film's cinematography. [120]

Carolyn Porco of NASA was consulted on the planetary science and imagery. [125] The animators realistically recreated what an explosion would look like in space: short blasts, which suck inward and leave debris from a ship floating. For shots of an imploding planet, the same explosion program was used to simulate it breaking up, while the animators could manually composite multiple layers of rocks and wind sucking into the planet. [120] Unlike other Star Trek films and shows, the transporter beam effects swirl rather than speckle. [35] Abrams conceived the redesign to emphasize the notion of transporters as beams that can pick up and move people, rather than a signal composed of scrambled atoms. [119]

Lola Visual Effects worked on 48 shots, including some animation to Eric Bana and Leonard Nimoy. Bana required extensive damage to his teeth, which was significant enough to completely replace his mouth in some shots. Nimoy's mouth was reanimated in his first scene with Kirk following a rerecording session. The filmmakers had filmed Nimoy when he rerecorded his lines so they could rotoscope his mouth into the film, even recreating the lighting conditions, but they realized they had to digitally recreate his lips because of the bouncing light created by the camp fire. [119]

Michael Giacchino , Abrams' most frequent collaborator, composed the music for Star Trek . He kept the original theme by Alexander Courage for the end credits, which Abrams said symbolized the momentum of the crew coming together. [54] Giacchino admitted personal pressure in scoring the film, as "I grew up listening to all of that great [Trek] music, and that's part of what inspired me to do what I'm doing [...] You just go in scared. You just hope you do your best. It's one of those things where the film will tell me what to do." [126] Scoring took place at the Sony Scoring Stage with a 107-piece orchestra and 40-person choir. An erhu , performed by Karen Han , was used for the Vulcan themes. A distorted recording was used for the Romulans. [127] Varese Sarabande , the record label responsible for releasing albums of Giacchino's previous scores for Alias , Lost , Mission: Impossible III , and Speed Racer , released the soundtrack for the film on May 5. [128]

Sound effects [ ]

The sound effects were designed by Star Wars veteran Ben Burtt . Whereas the phaser blast noises from the television series were derived from The War of the Worlds (1953), Burtt made his phaser sounds more like his blasters from Star Wars , because Abrams' depiction of phasers were closer to the blasters' bullet-like fire, rather than the steady beams of energy in previous Star Trek films. Burtt reproduced the classic photon torpedo and warp drive sounds: he tapped a long spring against a contact microphone , and combined that with cannon fire. Burtt used a 1960s oscillator to create a musical and emotional hum to the warping and transporting sounds. [129]

Release [ ]

In February 2008, Paramount announced they would move Star Trek from its December 25, 2008 release date to May 8, 2009, as the studio felt more people would see the film during summer than winter. The film was practically finished by the end of 2008. [130] Paramount's decision came about after visiting the set and watching dailies , as they realized the film could appeal to a much broader audience. Even though the filmmakers liked the Christmas release date, Damon Lindelof acknowledged it would allow more time to perfect the visual effects. [109] The months-long gap between the completion of the production and release meant Alan Dean Foster was allowed to watch the whole film before writing the novelization , although the novel would contain scenes absent from the final edit. [131] Quinto narrated the audiobook. [132]

Eric Bana with U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines at Camp Arifjan , Kuwait , for the April 11, 2009 screening of Star Trek .

A surprise public screening was held on April 6, 2009, at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin, Texas , hosted by writers Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and producer Damon Lindelof. The showing was publicized as a screening of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , followed by a ten-minute preview of the new Star Trek film. A few minutes into Khan, the film appeared to melt and Leonard Nimoy appeared on stage with Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof, asking the audience, "wouldn’t you rather see the new movie?" [133] Following the surprise screening in Texas, the first of many premieres across the world was held at the Sydney Opera House on April 7, 2009. [134] For almost two years, the town of Vulcan, Alberta had campaigned to have the film premiere there, but because it had no theater, Paramount arranged instead a lottery where 300 winning residents would be taken to a prerelease screening in Calgary . [135] The film was requested by astronaut Michael R. Barratt , before boarding the International Space Station . Paramount provided NASA with a copy that was uploaded to the International Space Station on May 14, 2009. [136]

Marketing [ ]

Template:See also The first teaser trailer debuted in theaters with Cloverfield on January 18, 2008, which showed the Enterprise under construction. Abrams himself directed the first part of the trailer, where a welder removes his goggles. Professional welders were hired for the teaser. [137] The voices of the 1960s played over the trailer were intended to link the film to the present day; John F. Kennedy in particular was chosen because of similarities with the character of James T. Kirk and because he is seen to have "kicked off" the space race . Orci explained that: "If we do indeed have a Federation , I think Kennedy’s words will be inscribed in there someplace." [85] Star Trek's later trailers would win four awards, including Best in Show, in the tenth annual Golden Trailer Awards . [138] [139]

Paramount faced two obstacles in promoting the film: the unfamiliarity of the " MySpace generation" with the franchise and the relatively weak international performance of the films. Six months before the film's release, Abrams toured Rome ; Cologne ; Madrid ; Paris ; London ; New York City and Los Angeles with 25 minutes of footage. Abrams noted the large-scale campaign started unusually early, but this was because the release delay allowed him to show more completed scenes than normal. The director preferred promoting his projects quietly, but concurred Paramount needed to remove Star Trek Template:'s stigma. [140] Abrams would exaggerate his preference for other shows to Star Trek as a child to the press, with statements like "I'm not a Star Trek fan" and "this movie is not made for Star Trek fans necessarily". Orci compared Abrams' approach to The Next Generation episode " A Matter of Honor ", where William Riker is stationed aboard a Klingon vessel. "On that ship when someone talks back to you, you would have to beat them down or you lose the respect of your crew, which is protocol, whereas on a Federation ship that would be a crime. So we have to give JJ a little bit of leeway, when he is traveling the 'galaxy' over there where they don’t know Trek, to say the things that need to be said in order to get people onto our side." [84]

Promotional partners on the film include Nokia , Verizon Wireless , Esurance , Kellogg's , Burger King and Intel Corporation , as well as various companies specializing in home decorating, apparel, jewelry, gift items and "Tiberius," "Pon Farr" and "Red Shirt" fragrances. [141] [142] Playmates Toys , who owned the Star Trek toy license until 2000, earned Template:Clarify the merchandise rights for the new film. [143] The first wave was released in March and April 2009. Playmates hope to continue their toy line into 2010. [144] The first wave consists of 3.75", 6" and 12" action figures, an Enterprise replica, prop toys and play sets. In order to recreate the whole bridge, one would have to buy more 3.75" figures, which come with chairs and consoles to add to the main set consisting of Kirk's chair, the floor, the main console and the viewscreen. [145] Master Replicas , [146] Mattel , Hasbro and Fundex Games will promote the film via playing cards, Monopoly , UNO , Scrabble , Magic 8-Ball , Hot Wheels , Tyco R/C , 20Q , Scene It? and Barbie lines. Some of these are based on previous Star Trek iterations rather than the film. [142] [147] CBS also created a merchandising line based around Star Trek caricatures named "Quogs". [148]

Box office [ ]

The film's first normal US screenings were at 7 p.m. on May 7, 2009, [149] grossing $4 million on its opening day. By the end of the weekend, Star Trek had opened with $79,204,300, as well as $35,500,000 from other countries. Adjusted and unadjusted for inflation, it beat Star Trek: First Contact for the largest US opening for a Star Trek film. The film made $8.5 million from its IMAX screenings, breaking The Dark Knight Template:'s $6.3 million IMAX opening record. [150] The film is the highest-grossing in the United States and Canada from the entire Star Trek film franchise, eclipsing the previous leader, The Voyage Home (which made $109,713,100 unadjusted for inflation), and adjusted for inflation, Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Its opening weekend numbers alone outgross the entire runs of The Undiscovered Country , The Final Frontier , Insurrection and Nemesis . [151] Star Trek ended its United States theatrical run on October 1, 2009, with a box office total of $257,730,019, which currently places it as the seventh highest-grossing film for 2009 behind The Hangover . [4] The film's total international gross is $127,764,536 [152] , for a total worldwide gross of $385,494,555, ranking it currently thirteenth behind Sherlock Holmes . [153] While foreign grosses represent only 31% of the total box office receipts, Paramount is happy with the international sales, as Star Trek historically as a movie franchise has never been a big draw overseas. [154]

Reception [ ]

Template:As of , the film holds a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 262 out of 278 critics giving it a positive review with an average rating of 8.1/10, surpassing all other feature films in the franchise. RT's consensus is that " Star Trek reignites a classic franchise with action, humor, a strong story, and brilliant visuals, and will please traditional Trekkies and new fans alike." [3] Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 92% (7.8/10), based on a sample of 39 reviews. The film also holds a score of 83 based on 37 reviews Template:As of on the review aggregator website Metacritic , which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, tying for ninth of The Best-Reviewed Movies in 2009 to date. [155] [156]

Ty Burr of the Boston Globe gave it 4/4 stars, describing it as "ridiculously satisfying", and the "best prequel ever". [157] Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A- commenting that: "But in Star Trek , the clever and infectious reboot of the amazingly enduring sci-fi classic, director J.J. Abrams crafts an origin story that avoids any hint of the origin doldrums." The film also received positive reviews from The New York Times , Slate Magazine and Rolling Stone . [158] [159] [160]

Although only two reviews were categorized by Metacritic as "yellow", or mixed, a recurring critical complaint held that the franchise's tradition of providing morally challenging stories had been neglected or even violated. The AV Club gave the film a "green" B+, but asserted that it was "a reconsideration of what constitutes Star Trek , one that deemphasizes heady concepts and plainly stated humanist virtues in favor of breathless action punctuated by bursts of emotion. It might not even be immediately recognizable to veteran fans." [161] Roger Ebert agreed, lamenting in his 2.5/4 star-review that "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." [162] Non-review articles also echoed this concern: Marc Bain asked in Newsweek if the franchise had "lost its moral relevance", [163] and Juliet Lapidos argued in Slate that the new film, with its "standard Hollywood torture scene," failed to live up to the intellectual standard set by the 1992 Next Generation episode " Chain of Command ", whose treatment of the issue she found both more sophisticated and pertinent to the ongoing debate over the United States ' use of enhanced interrogation techniques . [164]

Awards and nominations [ ]

On December 2, 2009, Star Trek was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Score Soundtrack Album category, but did not win. On November 10, 2009, the People’s Choice Awards nominated the film for 4 awards: Breakout Actress, Breakout Actor, Favorite Franchise, Favorite Movie; it failed to win any award. In October, 2009, Star Trek won the Hollywood Award for Best Movie. That same month, it also won 6 Scream Awards for Ultimate Scream, Best Science Fiction Movie, Best Director, Best Science Fiction Actor, Best Cameo, and Best Fight Scene. On June 15, 2009, the film was nominated for 5 Teen Choice Awards , but did not win any of them. It won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture . The film also received several peer-reviewed guild awards for Asst. Location Manager of the year and Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Big Budget Feature. On December 14, 2009, the Broadcast Film Critics Association – Critics Choice Awards nominated it for Best Action Movie, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound, but did not win any of them. On December 9, 2009, the film was also named one of the top 10 films of the year by the National Board of Review . In addition it has appeared on several local film critics top 10 lists, including St. Louis, Las Vegas, Boston and Washington DC. [165]

In 2010, Star Trek was nominated for four Academy Awards , including Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, and winning the franchise's first Oscar for Best Makeup. At the same ceremony, Star Trek composer Michael Giacchino won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for Pixar 's Up . [166] The film was also nominated for three Empire Awards , and it won in the best sci-fi/fantasy category. [167]

Home release [ ]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 17, 2009 in North America, [168] November 16 in the UK [169] and October 26 in Australia and New Zealand. [170] In Sweden and Germany, it was released on November 4. [171] First week sales stand at 5.7 million DVD's along with 1.1 million Blu-ray Discs [172] giving Paramount Pictures their third chart topping release in five weeks following Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra . [173]

The story of the film is completed by two comics books by IDW Publishing . The first one, titled Star Trek: Countdown , takes place in the Prime Star Trek universe, after the events of Nemesis and before the back story of Star Trek Online . The second one, Star Trek: Nero , covers the gap between the destruction of the USS Kelvin and the reappearance of the Narada in the new timeline.

The film's major cast members have signed on for two sequels. [174] Roberto Orci , Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof began writing the script for a sequel in March 2009. J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk will produce, although Abrams has not signed to direct. [175] When speaking on the alternate reality [1] set up in Star Trek , Abrams commented that it would be "ridiculous to not be open" to ideas like resurrecting William Shatner 's James T. Kirk or recasting Khan Noonien Singh . "The idea, now that we are in an independent timeline, allows us to use any of the ingredients from the past — or come up with brand-new ones — to make potential stories," he said. [2] Orci and Kurtzman explained the dilemma for the sequel was whether to pit the crew against another villain, or to have an "exploration sci-fi plot where the unknown and nature itself is somehow an adversary." On recasting Khan, Orci questioned "why take the chance?" [176] Paramount is planning to release the sequel on June 29, 2012. [177] [178]

In an interview with the BBC, Abrams confirmed that no script for a sequel yet exists as of March 5, 2010. He also acknowledged that both cast and director have yet to be confirmed. [179]

Release Dates for Untitled Star Trek Sequel [ ]

• June 29, 2012 (US)
• July 22, 2012 (UK)
• September 15, 2012 ( Australia )
• September 22, 2012 ( New Zealand )
• ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mtvalt1
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mtvalt2
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 Template:Cite web
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 Template:Cite web
• ↑ Entertainment Weekly's EW.com . 2008-01-18. " Sneak Peek: J.J. Abrams' Star Trek " by Jeff Jenson. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
• ↑ Boston.com . 2009-05-05. " Star Trek movie review " by Ty Burr. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
• ↑ MTV . 2009-05-08. " Star Trek Reboot Aims To Be 'An Adventure For Everybody' ". Retrieved 2009-11-17.
• ↑ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090831/en_nm/us_startrek_3 Template:Dead link
• ↑ SCI FI Wire . 2009-09-02. " Star Trek returns to IMAX for a two-week limited engagement ". Retrieved 2009-11-17.
• ↑ Template:Cite web
• ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Template:Cite news
• ↑ Template:Cite news
• ↑ 15.0 15.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 16.0 16.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 19.0 19.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 28.0 28.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Template:Cite web
• ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 Template:Cite news
• ↑ http://trekmovie.com/2009/10/27/star-trek-movie-deleted-klingon-scene-available-online/
• ↑ Template:Cite news Template:Dead link
• ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 54.3 54.4 54.5 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 55.0 55.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ Template:Cite book
• ↑ 62.0 62.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 63.3 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 64.0 64.1 64.2 64.3 64.4 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 70.0 70.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 71.0 71.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 74.0 74.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 75.0 75.1 75.2 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 76.0 76.1 76.2 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 77.0 77.1 77.2 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 78.0 78.1 78.2 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 Template:Cite web
• ↑ 84.0 84.1 84.2 84.3 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 85.0 85.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 87.0 87.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 94.0 94.1 94.2 94.3 94.4 94.5 94.6 Template:Cite web Enter the main site and click "About" on the navigation menu to access.
• ↑ 98.0 98.1 Template:Cite web
• ↑ 109.0 109.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 119.0 119.1 119.2 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 120.0 120.1 120.2 120.3 Template:Cite news
• ↑ 123.0 123.1 Template:Cite journal
• ↑ CGSociety - STAR TREK
• ↑ "Man on Wire," "The Wrestler" Among 2009 Golden Trailer Winners
• ↑ Four Golden Trailer Awards For Star Trek XI - TrekToday
• ↑ 142.0 142.1 Template:Cite news
• ↑ Newsweek.com : "Enterprise Ethics."
• ↑ Slate.com : "There Are Four Lights!"
• ↑ awards buzz watch ear-end summary at Trekmovie.com
• ↑ Template:Citenews
• ↑ Star Trek (2009) - Ultimate 3-Disc Digital Copy Edition (3 Disc Set) (Blu-ray) at EzyDVD. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
• ↑ Star Trek (2009) at WEBHALLEN.com. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
• ↑ 'Star Trek' tops video charts . Retrieved 2009-11-27.
• ↑ Top Selling DVDs of 2009 . Retrieved 2009-11-27.
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TrekMovie_2008-04-06
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Variety_2009-03-30
• ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TrekMovie_2009-06-20
• ↑ " [1] BBC talks to Abrams"
• 1 Vulcan (Star Trek)

• Action/Adventure
• Children's/Family
• Documentary/Reality
• Amazon Prime Video

Star Trek (2009)

Latest on star trek (2009).

'Titanic,' 'Mean Girls,' and More 'Great Movies' Are Now Included In Apple TV+ Subscriptions

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 4 on Paramount+, Featuring The Continuing (Mis)adventures Of Starfleet’s Proudest Platoon Members

Best Star Trek Gifts For Trekkie Fans in 2024

Timothy Olyphant Says He Was Rejected as Captain Kirk in the 'Star Trek' Films Because "They Wanted Somebody Younger"

New Shows & Movies To Watch This Weekend: 'The Witcher' Season 3 + More

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 2 on Paramount+, Where The Crew Of The USS Enterprise Keep On Seeking The Great Unknown

21 Best T-Shirts For TV and Movie Fans

Is It Woke?: 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

How To Watch Every 'Star Trek' Movie and TV Show

The Best Action & Adventure Movies on Netflix

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Intergalactic' On Peacock, Where A Cop-Turned-Prisoner Has To Pilot A Prison Ship After A Revolt

Ben Cross, 'Chariots of Fire' and 'Star Trek' Star, Dies at 72

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' On CBS All Access, An Animated Comedy About A Federation Starship's Support Staff

Sex in Space: 10 Sex Scenes That Are Literally Out of This World

'Star Trek: Picard' Timeline: From 'Next Gen' to J.J. Abrams's Film, Here's How The Series Fits In

Yes, White People Are *Still* Crying In Space

Quentin Tarantino Has Written a ‘Once Upon a Time’ TV Series, Would Consider Netflix

Best! Summer! Blockbuster! Ever! (That Was Released This Week): 'Star Trek'

Nearly Every 'Star Trek' Movie & Show Is On Sale Today On Amazon

Team Behind 'Black Mirror' Episode ‘USS Callister’ Says "Never Say Never" To Spinoff Series

Trending now.

This story has been shared 6,167 times. 6,167

This story has been shared 2,602 times. 2,602

This story has been shared 1,088 times. 1,088

This story has been shared 852 times. 852

This story has been shared 824 times. 824

This story has been shared 473 times. 473

This story has been shared 453 times. 453

This story has been shared 413 times. 413

Stream It Or Skip It?

Stream it or skip it: ‘immaculate’ on vod, a horror outing that finds sydney sweeney in the habit of delivering dread, stream it or skip it: ‘dune: part two’ on vod, denis villeneuve's grand action epic that easily bests its predecessor, stream it or skip it: ‘immediate family’ on hulu, a music doc that celebrates the session musicians who brought a generation of jams to life , stream it or skip it: ‘hans zimmer: hollywood rebel’ on netflix, a short doc about one of hollywood's leading composers, stream it or skip it: ‘stolen’ on netflix, a superb swedish drama about one woman's battle against systemic oppression, more from decider.

Does 'Yellowstone' Return Tonight? 'Yellowstone' Season 5, Part 2 Premiere Date, Kevin Costner Updates, And More

Is 'Civil War' Streaming on Netflix or HBO Max?

'Dune: Part Two' Comes to Digital, But When Will 'Dune 2' Stream on Max?

'The View' Reacts To O.J. Simpson's Death: "The Tragedy Was The Injustice" 

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Anthracite' On Netflix, About Four People Trying To Solve A Ritualistic Murder In The French Alps

Woody Allen in Exile: 'Coup De Chance' Finally Arrives On Streaming, Where No One Will Shame You For Watching

Star Trek (2009) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'Star Trek' Online

Looking to watch ' Star Trek ' on your TV, phone, or tablet? Finding a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or view the J.J. Abrams-directed movie via subscription can be a huge pain, so we here at Moviefone want to take the pressure off. Read on for a listing of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription choices - along with the availability of 'Star Trek' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty of how you can watch 'Star Trek' right now, here are some specifics about the Paramount, Spyglass Entertainment, Bad Robot action flick. Released May 7th, 2009, 'Star Trek' stars Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Leonard Nimoy , Eric Bana The PG-13 movie has a runtime of about 2 hr 7 min, and received a user score of 74 (out of 100) on TMDb, which assembled reviews from 9,577 knowledgeable users. Interested in knowing what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, a Vulcan, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before. The human adventure has begun again." 'Star Trek' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Apple TV Plus , Paramount Plus , Apple iTunes, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, and AMC on Demand .

'Star Trek' Release Dates

Star trek: alternate reality collection.

J.J. Abrams' cinematic re-envisioning of the Star Trek universe portrayed by a new cast, and set in an alternate reality from earlier films and series (referred to as the "Kelvin" timeline).

Movie Recommendations

Featured News

Movie Reviews

Follow Moviefone

Movie trailers.

Search for movies, TV shows, channels, sports teams, streaming services, apps, and devices.

The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, a Vulcan, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before. The human adventure has begun again.

Stream Star Trek Now

Movie trailer, where can you watch star trek online, suggested movies.

The Streamable uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb.

The Streamable uses JustWatch data but is not endorsed by JustWatch.

Movie Score

May 6, 2009,

J.J. Abrams

Film Series

Star Trek: Alternate Reality Movies

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban

Action, Adventure, Science Fiction

DIRECTV STREAM Cash Back

Let us know your e-mail address to send your $50 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for DIRECTV STREAM.

You will receive it ~2 weeks after you complete your first month of service.

Offer Terms

• Only valid for new DIRECTV STREAM subscribers.
• Only valid once per household.
• You must pay and maintain service for at least one month to be eligible.
• Purchase must be completed on the DIRECTV STREAM website.
• You’ll receive gift card 4-6 weeks after purchase (~2 weeks after your first month).
• Cannot be combined with any other promotion and won’t be eligible if you try to use a coupon code or cash back from another site.

Sling TV Cash Back

Let us know your e-mail address to send your $25 Uber Eats Gift Card when you sign up for Sling TV.

• Only valid for new Sling TV subscribers to Sling Orange, Blue, or Sling Orange + Blue.
• You must click from The Streamable and complete your purchase on the Sling TV website.

Hulu Live TV Cash Back

Let us know your e-mail address to send your $35 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for Hulu Live TV.

• Only valid for new Hulu Live TV subscribers.
• You must click from The Streamable and complete your purchase on the Hulu Live TV website.

Screen Rant

Star trek 2009 ending explained.

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.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009 movie didn't just end with the crew of the USS Enterprise saving the Earth, but it also breathed new life and energy into the dormant Star Trek franchise, setting up not just more films but also the new TV series to come. Set in the alternate Kelvin Timeline created by a Romulan time traveler named Nero (Eric Bana), Star Trek is an origin story of how James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) became Captain of the USS Enterprise and forged his eternal friendship with Spock (Zachary Quinto).

The young crew of the Starship Enterprise was in a race against time to stop Nero in Star Trek 2009's final act. Nero used an alien brain slug to steal Earth's defense codes from the captured Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). The Romulan's starship, the Narada, reached Earth and lowered a drill to dig into the planetary core in San Francisco Bay near Starfleet Headquarters. From there, Nero would drop red matter, which would create a singularity that would swallow the planet into a black hole, just as the Romulans' previously destroyed Spock's homeworld of Vulcan. The USS Enterprise's counterattack was to use the gravitational field of Saturn's moon, Titan, to hide the starship from the Narada's sensors. This allowed Kirk and Spock to beam aboard Nero's ship to rescue Pike and stop the Romulans' drill from destroying Earth.

Related: The Real Problem Facing Star Trek 4 Is The Kelvin Timeline

Nero's Plan To Destroy The Federation Explained

Nero's plan was, simply, intergalactic genocide. In 2387, which was 129 years before the present day of Star Trek 2009's main story, Nero was helpless to watch a supernova destroy his homeworld of Romulus. Nero was furious at Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who promised the Romulans he would stop the supernova, but the legendary Vulcan was too late to exact his plan to use red matter to create a black hole that would swallow the supernova before it eradicated Romulus. Both Nero and Spock were pulled into the singularity, but they emerged at different points in the past. The Narada arrived in 2233 and its destruction of the USS Kelvin ended up creating an alternate reality from that point. Spock arrived in the Kelvin timeline 25 years later, in 2258. Nero immediately captured Spock and stranded him on Delta Vega, forcing him to watch as Nero destroyed Vulcan.

Nero ultimately blamed the United Federation of Planets for doing "nothing" to save Romulus. ( Star Trek: Picard season 1's backstory goes into more detail about the Federation's failure to stop the Romulan supernova.) Nero decided that he would use red matter to wipe out every Federation world, starting with Vulcan and Earth, in the 23rd century to ensure there would be no Federation in his 24th-century era. Nero even attacked a Klingon prison planet (possibly Rura Penthe) and wiped out a Klingon fleet with his advanced technology, because the Romulan also knew the Klingons and the Federation become allies in the 24th century,

How Kirk And Spock Stopped Nero

Spock, who was hellbent on revenge for the destruction of Vulcan , volunteered to beam onto the Narada to stop Nero's drill and Kirk decided to join him. Scotty (Simon Pegg) mistakenly transported them into a populated era, so a shootout quickly ensured, but through a mind-meld with one of the Romulans, Spock learned the location of Ambassador Spock's ship containing the red matter while Kirk learned where Captain Pike was being held. The Starfleet heroes then split up. Spock piloted his elder self's ship into Earth's atmosphere and destroyed Nero's drill, saving the planet. Since the red matter was with Spock, Nero couldn't use it on the Terran homeworld. Meanwhile, Kirk got into a fistfight with Nero, but after he killed Nero's First Officer, Ayel (Clifton Collins, Jr.), he was also able to rescue the injured Captain Pike .

Incensed at Spock for destroying his drill, Nero's ship followed Spock as the Vulcan warped away, leading the Romulans from Earth. Spock's gamble was to exit warp near Saturn, which would allow the Enterprise to come to the rescue. That's exactly what happened as the Enterprise arrived like the cavalry and saved Spock from Nero's torpedoes. Kirk, Pike, and Spock beamed back aboard the Enterprise before Spock's ship crashed into the Narada, which released the red matter and created a black hole that would swallow the ship. Kirk offered to beam Nero and his crew to safety (against Spock's wishes) but the Romulan preferred to "die in agony" rather than accept the Federation's help. Kirk's response? "You got it." And they let the singularity swallow the Romulans.

Related: Star Trek Hints TNG Era Knows About Abrams' Kelvin Timeline

However, another problem arose, and the Enterprise was trapped in the black hole's gravity well, preventing it from warping away. Kirk ordered Scotty to eject the warp core, hoping that the force of the detonation would push the Enterprise to safety. The gamble worked, and the Federation flagship was able to gain enough distance from the singularity and make it home to Earth.

Star Trek 's Musical Captain's Chair And How Kirk Became Captain Of The Enterprise

Star Trek 2009's endgame was for Kirk to become Captain of the Enterprise - and earn the chair - but how it got there is bewildering. Pike is Captain of the Enterprise when the starship warped to Vulcan to answer its emergency distress call when Nero attacked the planet. After Nero "invited" Pike aboard the Narada, Pike promoted Spock to Acting Captain and Kirk (who wasn't supposed to be on the Enterprise, to begin with) to First Officer. Spock then had Kirk thrown off the ship for mutiny and marooned him on Delta Vega. Kirk returned to the Enterprise with Scotty thanks to Ambassador Spock showing the Engineer the equation for transwarp beaming. Kirk was then able to show that Spock was "emotionally compromised" because of his trauma from Vulcan's destruction, and Jim assumed command as Acting Captain.

Because Kirk led the Enterprise to successfully save Earth from Nero, Starfleet Command rewarded him with a promotion to Captain. Yes, Kirk jumped rank from Cadet to Captain in the course of the film. Kirk then relieved the injured and wheelchair-bound Captain Pike of command of the Enterprise. It may seem like an insane turn of events, but there is Star Trek movie precedent for Kirk's reward. When Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) saved Earth from the Whale Probe in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Starfleet dropped all charges against him and demoted him to Captain, giving him command of the USS Enterprise-A. In Star Trek, saving Earth is the key to getting what you want, especially if your name is James T. Kirk.

How Star Trek Positioned The Enterprise Crew In Their Classic Roles

Star Trek 2009 was ingenious in how every main Enterprise crew member got positioned into their classic roles despite being Starfleet Cadets. Hikaru Sulu (John Cho) became helmsman by replacing the previous pilot who was ill. 17-year-old Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin) was also on the bridge at Operations. Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) was assigned as one of the Enterprise's senior medical officers, but he became Chief Medical Officer after the previous doctor died during Nero's attack. McCoy also used his clout to sneak Kirk aboard the Enterprise despite his academic suspension. Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) used her romantic relationship with Spock to get reassigned to the Enterprise from the USS Farragut, and then Captain Pike made Uhura Communications Officer because of her superior ability to understand Romulan and Klingon. Finally, Scotty worked as the transporter chief during the Enterprise's final assault on Nero, and Kirk promoted him to Chief Engineer after he became Captain.

Related: Star Trek Brings Back Kirk's Skydiving From J.J. Abrams' Movie

Ambassador Spock's Role In Star Trek 2009 Explained

Leonard Nimoy's presence in Star Trek 2009 gave J.J. Abrams' reboot legitimacy in the eyes of Trekkers, but Ambassador Spock (billed as Spock Prime in the film) was also crucial to the story. Spock is the key link between Star Trek's Prime Timeline and Abrams' Kelvin alternate reality, but because the legendary Vulcan jumped to the Kelvin Universe and was ultimately stranded there, it was an assurance that Star Trek 2009 "really happened." Ambassador Spock's role was ostensibly to give Kirk (and the audience) the backstory of where Nero came from and how he time traveled to the 23rd century, but the Vulcan's far more vital role was to help the young Kirk along on his journey to becoming Captain of the Enterprise.

Thanks to Ambassador Spock, Kirk realized that he needed to work with the younger Spock in order to stop Nero. Kirk believed the old Vulcan that he and Spock are destined to be friends and that they can achieve great things together. Meeting Ambassador Spock was the impetus Kirk needed to become the Captain he is destined to be. As for the two Spocks, the Prime Vulcan initially didn't want to meet his younger self, but he decided they "couldn't ignore each other" when less than 10,000 Vulcans remained in the universe. Ambassador Spock also urged Commander Spock to remain in Starfleet since they can now be "in two places at once." The two Spocks meeting gets a payoff in Star Trek Into Darkness when the younger Vulcan turns to his senior counterpart for information on how to defeat Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch).

How Star Trek 2009 Set Up J.J. Abrams' Trilogy (And The Star Trek TV Shows To Come)

Star Trek 2009 ended with Captain Kirk and his crew in place aboard the Starship Enterprise, ready to explore the final frontier in sequels. Beyond setting up 2012's Star Trek Into Darkness , and a third movie directed by Justin Lin, 2016's Star Trek Beyond, J.J. Abrams' 2009 film was ultimately the rebirth of the Star Trek franchise. Four years had passed since Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled and there would not be a new Star Trek series on television until Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. During those 12 years, Abrams' Star Trek trilogy kept the franchise alive, created new fans, and became the basis for the next wave of Star Trek TV shows.

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films were a necessary and long-needed upgrade of Star Trek's visual effects, production values, and a shift in tone and storytelling styles. Star Trek 2009 was the template that Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds followed, with all three live-action series on Paramount+ boasting blockbuster movie-quality production values and visuals. Star Trek 2009's breakneck style and giddy sense of fun and adventure are also evident in the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy . Whether or not a fourth Star Trek movie ever reunites the Kevlin cast, Star Trek 2009 is the benchmark that the current golden age of Star Trek on Paramount+ is built upon, and it remains a thrilling, spectacular space adventure that holds up to repeat viewings.

Next: Star Trek 4 Can't Catch A Break, Huh?

Star Trek (2009)

Streaming in:

127min - English

7 Days Free

Then $9.99 / month

Then $5.99 / month

We checked for updates on 247 streaming services on April 17, 2024 at 12:05:56 PM. Something wrong? Let us know!

Star Trek streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "Star Trek" streaming on Apple TV Plus, Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel. It is also possible to buy "Star Trek" on Microsoft Store, AMC on Demand, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu as download or rent it on Microsoft Store, Amazon Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Spectrum On Demand online.

Where does Star Trek rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:11:48 PM, 04/17/2024

Star Trek is 3876 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 1528 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Job but less popular than Crawlspace.

The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk, is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock, a Vulcan, was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before. The human adventure has begun again.

Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes

Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Production country

People who liked star trek also liked.

Popular movies coming soon

Upcoming Science-Fiction movies

Similar Movies you can watch for free

‘Star Trek’ Origin Story Movie Will Be Set Decades Before 2009 Film

CinemaCon 2024: The new project will be produced by longtime “Star Trek” steward J.J. Abrams

Paramount Pictures is ready to boldly go (again).

After rumors circulated earlier this year, Paramount officially announced a new “Star Trek” prequel film on Thursday, this time taking place decades before the original 2009 “Star Trek” feature.

“Andor” director Toby Haynes will direct from a script by Seth Grahame-Smith (who is also writing another hotly touted CinemaCon title, the third “Now You See Me” film). J.J. Abrams is returning to produce.

But then again, we’ve heard about a new “Star Trek” movie before.

During the run-up to “Star Trek Beyond” in 2016, it was revealed that a fourth film would reunite Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk with his deceased father (played, once again, by Chris Hemsworth). A year later, Quentin Tarantino approached Paramount about doing a “Star Trek” movie – this time as an R-rated gangster movie (based, in part, on the 1968 episode of the original series “A Piece of the Action”). In 2018 S.J. Clarkson, a TV vet who would eventually direct “Madame Web,” was hired to direct the fourth film in the Abrams-verse, but salary disputes led to Pine and Hemsworth leaving the project. That version was canceled in 2019 and Tarantino stated in 2020 that he wouldn’t be making his “Star Trek” either.

In November 2019 “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley was hired to write and direct a new “Star Trek” film based on his version of the series. A year later, this movie was canceled by new Paramount Pictures president Emma Watts. In 2021 “Star Trek: Discovery” writer Kalinda Vazquez was hired to write a version based on her original pitch, but a separate script was being developed by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. The studio even set a summer 2023 release date for a new “Trek” (which “Trek” was the question).

In 2021 that release date was pushed to Christmas 2023, under the direction of “WandaVision” director Matt Shakman. Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires were brought on to retool the script. In early 2022 it was announced that the stars of the three previous “Star Trek” installments in the Abrams-verse would all be returning, although it was later reported that the actors had not entered negotiations to return.

In 2022 Shakman left “Star Trek” to join Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four.” But just last month Steve Yockey was hired to write a fourth “Star Trek” movie.

Now, we are finally getting word of another film in development, with another writer/director team. But it’s not the first time that a “Star Trek” prequel script has been floated, as Erik Jendresen, cowriter of “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning,” had submitted a script for “Star Trek: The Beginning” before J.J. had taken over and pitched his 2009 version. It depicted the Earth-Romulan War.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro 6E is $60 off
• The best laptops for 2024
• YouTube prevents ad-blocking mobile apps
• Best Mint alternative

Paramount announces yet another Star Trek prequel

It’s a prequel to the prequel, itself a sequel to another prequel..

Movie-industry shindig CinemaCon was the venue at which Paramount Pictures announced it has started work on a new Star Trek movie. Slashfilm reports Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will be a prequel to Star Trek (2009), J.J. Abrams’ glossy prequel to Star Trek (1966). It’ll be directed by Toby Haynes, most famous around these parts for helming episodes of Andor and Black Mirror’s USS Callister . The screenplay has been written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote The Lego Batman Movie and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies .

So that we’re clear, Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will serve as a prequel to the 2009 origin story and a sequel to 2001’s origin story, Enterprise . It will likely be set before Discovery, which was conceived as a prequel to Star Trek (1966) and Strange New Worlds , which is a prequel to Star Trek (1966). And, look, if you’ll allow me to get a little personal for a moment, I am deeply overjoyed at the news. Given the dearth of origin stories, prequels and nostalgia-parades in the Star Trek universe, an Untitled Star Trek Origin Story is a welcome, necessary and life-giving addition to the franchise.

Let’s be honest, it’s high time we got something insular and backward-looking after so many years of non-stop groundbreaking, original adventures shorn from the burdens of continuity.

Latest Stories

Good riddance, wh-xb910n: sony’s confusing product names are going away.

Sony's naming scheme for audio and TV products is a massive headache, but the company has taken the first steps to fix that.

Sony’s new Bravia TVs boast powerful processors and a Prime Video calibration mode

Sony just launched a new batch of TVs, many of them with powerful processors. The TVs have also ditched the confusing alpha-numeric naming convention in favor of Bravia.

Sony debuts Bravia Theater line of Dolby Atmos soundbars and speakers

Sony has bestowed the Bravia Theater name upon all of its home audio gear, starting with two soundbars, a four-speaker system and a neckband speaker.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) review: Not just for gamers

Like its smaller sibling, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 combines a great display with a super sleek build but with better connectivity and even longer battery life.

Boston Dynamics unveils an all-electric version of its Atlas robot

Boston Dynamics has revealed an all-electric version of its Atlas robot that looks even more dexterous and agile than previous models.

Cozy cat sim Little Kitty, Big City arrives for consoles and PCs on May 9

The cozy cat sim Little Kitty, Big City releases for the Nintendo Switch and other consoles on May 9. Preorders are available now and it costs $25.

Logitech adds programmable ChatGPT shortcuts to its mice and keyboards

Logitech has rolled out a new software tool called Logi AI Prompt Builder, which gives you quick access to ChatGPT's features.

Samsung Frame TVs are up to 37 percent off right now

Amazon is running a sale on Samsung's Frame TVs. You can save over $1000 during this limited time deal.

Formlabs' new 3D printers are faster and cheaper to use

Formlabs says its new printers can crank out a prototype in under two hours.

Snap is adding a watermark to AI-generated images

AI-created content that leaves Snapchat will get a sparkly ghost watermark.

Watch Nintendo's Indie World stream here at 10AM ET

Watch the latest Nintendo Indie World stream here at 10AM ET.

WhatsApp's new chat filters make it easier to find unread messages

WhatsApp has announced All, Groups and Unread Chat Filters for users.

This hopping robot with flailing legs could explore asteroids in the future

SpaceHopper, as the robot is called, could provide us the information to know more about the history of the universe.

The best SSDs for PS5 in 2024

If you need more space to store games on your PS5, these are the best drives you can get.

The Morning After: Boston Dynamics’ bi-ped Atlas robot is going into retirement

The biggest news stories this morning: NASA confirms its space trash pierced Florida man’s roof, A Netflix true crime documentary may have used AI-generated images of a real person, Insta360’s X4 camera is the first 8K 360-degree video.

Menteebot is a human-sized AI robot that you command with natural language

Menteebot is a human-sized robot that’s stuffed with AI bells and whistles. Users can command the bot to do their bidding via natural language prompts and it can learn new tasks.

ESA's Gaia mission discovers the biggest stellar black hole in our galaxy yet

Gaia BH3 is 33 times the size of our sun and is relatively close to our planet.

The best foldable phones for 2024

Here are the best foldable phones you can get right now, from Samsung and Google handsets to everything in between.

Take-Two plans to lay off 5 percent of its employees by the end of 2024

Take-Two Interactive plans to lay off 5 percent of its workforce, or about 600 employees, by the end of the year.

NASA confirms its space trash pierced Florida man’s roof

On March 8, a piece of space debris plunged through a roof in Naples, FL, ripped through two floors and (fortunately) barely missed the son of homeowner Alejandro Otero. On Tuesday, NASA confirmed the results of its analysis of the incident.

Giant Freakin Robot

Star Trek's Most Hated Character Hidden Inside Its Biggest Film

Posted: April 17, 2024 | Last updated: April 17, 2024

Star Trek’s Most Hated Character Hidden Inside Its Biggest Film

Most of the characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation quickly established themselves as beloved sci-fi icons, but there was one exception. Wil Wheaton played boy genius Wesley Crusher, and the fact that this precocious teen character alternated between saving the day and blurting out awkward dialogue led many annoyed fans to adopt Captain Picard’s line as a mantra: “Shut up, Wesley.” During the long stretch between his departure from TNG and his appearance on The Ready Room, Lower Decks, and Picard, many thought Wil Wheaton himself had shut up, but it turns out that he secretly voiced some Romulans in Star Trek (2009).

Why Does Everyone Hate Wesley Crusher?

If you’ve been hiding under one of Kirk’s styrofoam rocks, you might be wondering why the fandom hated Wil Wheaton’s character on The Next Generation so much. The short answer is that Wesley Crusher was franchise creator Gene Roddenberry’s self-insert character, which is why he’s always the smartest one in the room and able to solve problems that even a sentient android can’t solve. Crusher’s presence was also a transparent attempt to appeal to younger audiences, which had the side effect of making his scenes feel like they came from an afterschool special (like when Tasha Yar teaches him drugs are bad).

The Boy Genius Disappeared For Quite Some Time

Obviously, these issues aren’t Wil Wheaton’s fault: he played the character as it was written, and fans who still despise Wesley Crusher would be better off directing their anger at the late, great Gene Roddenberry. Unfortunately, Wheaton’s character retroactively became the mascot for everything that was wrong with the early days of Star Trek: The Next Generation. After he departed the show, he only popped up in one film (a non-speaking part in Nemesis), and we didn’t properly see Wesley Crusher again until a major cameo in Picard and a minor cameo in Lower Decks.

Aside from that, Wil Wheaton’s biggest return to Star Trek has been outside the various series and films. When Discovery first premiered, Paramount+ unveiled a Star Trek aftershow originally called After Trek that was hosted by Naomi Kyle for the first season. The next year, the aftershow was renamed The Ready Room and hosted by Wil Wheaton, allowing the former Star Trek wunderkind to weigh in on all the most recent changes to the franchise. 

Voicework In Star Trek 2009

In short, the collective fandom is very well aware of Wil Wheaton’s unceremonious departure from the Star Trek franchise as well as his glorious return to it. What most don’t know, though, is that he technically returned to Star Trek a full 11 years before he began hosting The Ready Room. That’s because he voiced several characters in the reboot film Star Trek (2009), though his work in that film goes uncredited.

Why You Probably Missed It

Aside from being uncredited, one reason why Wil Wheaton’s voicework in Star Trek (2009) went unnoticed for so long is that it was (mostly) digitally altered. On top of that, he was mostly voicing random lackeys of the Romulan villain Nero, and his voice was digitally altered so that almost nobody but Wheaton could tell who was really doing the talking. There was one exception, however: at one point, a henchman tells Nero “Sir, if we ignite the red matter” and trails off, and this unaltered line is clearly being delivered by the man who brought Wesley Crusher to life.

Wil Wheaton Wanted To Keep It Secret

If Wil Wheaton and Star Trek (2009) director J.J. Abrams had their way, nobody would have ever learned about this voicework cameo. Once Viacom found out, though, Wheaton belatedly got credit for his work, and the actor used his own blog to tell the world about the voice work. As for Wheaton, you could argue that he got the last laugh: the man who has spent decades hearing “shut up, Wesley” from fans ended up voicing several different characters in Star Trek’s biggest film without his haters even knowing it.

More for You

Photos: Angel Reese shines at WNBA draft in backless dress

I Lost White Friends When I Finally Spoke Out

How to 'quiet quit,' from a former teacher who did it for 2 years so she could enjoy a better life while still getting a paycheck

Right-Wing 'Reacher' Fans Flip Out After Alan Ritchson Calls Trump A 'Rapist And A Con-Man'

16 Compliments You Didn’t Realize Are Actually Pretty Insulting

Governors of six Southern states warn workers against joining UAW union

What Not to Plant with Tomatoes: 10 Companions to Avoid

What It Means to Be Fraysexual—Everything You Need to Know

HGTV Have a Lot to Say After 'Rock the Block' Season 5 Winners Were Announced

Major Steakhouse Chain Closes 41 Locations

People With Low Emotional Intelligence Are Known to Use These 4 Phrases

Mystery of How Pluto Got Its Heart Finally 'Solved' by Astrophysicists

78 Riddles for Adults That Will Test Your Smarts

Here's what Mark Cuban's $275.9 million in taxes would cover for the US government

Fact Check: Millions Watched 'James Bond 26' Trailer on YouTube Featuring Henry Cavill and Margot Robbie. However, It's Simply a 'Concept Trailer'

Why the R-Word Is Harmful and Outdated

Open thread: What do you think of the sneak peek of the Lions’ new uniforms?

What Is the Enneagram Personality Test?

Webb telescope detects light from an Earth-like planet

Popular California Pizza Chain Announces Sudden Closure of 27 Locations

Den of Geek

Star Trek Just Inched Closer to Its Biggest Movie Mistake Yet

The new Star Trek movie has a release date, but an origin story completely misses the appeal of Trek films.

• Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
• Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
• Share on email (opens in a new tab)

As much as we love them, the Star Trek movies have their share of mistakes. God stealing a starship, John Harrison revealing himself as Khan, McCoy shaving off his beard in The Motion Picture . But it looks like the movie franchise is about to outdo them all.

Paramount has officially added the next Star Trek movie to its 2025 release schedule. According to TrekCore , the project currently called Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will begin production this year, with Seth Grahame-Smith writing and Toby Haynes directing. The film will take place decades before the 2009 Star Trek reboot from J.J. Abrams .

And it’s a terrible idea.

First of all, there’s the question of the timeline logistics of the film. Although one would assume that the film will occur in the Kelvin Timeline, the alternate universe in which Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness , and Star Trek Beyond take place, the Kelvin timeline branched from the Prime Timeline when the Romulan Nero went back in time and destroyed the USS Kelvin, killing George Kirk and setting James T. Kirk’s Enterprise adventures on an alternate course.

Ad – content continues below

Because Nero destroys the Kelvin on the day of Kirk’s birth, that means that there was no Kelvin timeline a few decades before most of the events of the 2009 movie. So what the heck is the origin story going to be about? Is it about the origin of the Federation? We already saw that on Enterprise , which takes place a century before The Original Series . Is it about the Enterprise before Kirk? We got that in the first two seasons of Discovery and in Strange New Worlds .

To be sure, these entries didn’t completely mine all the possible stories of the era, but that generation has received so much attention already. Between movies, TV shows, and all of the non-canon novels and comics, fans have seen plenty of looks at the early days of Starfleet, the Federation, and especially the USS Enterprise.

That’s even true of some of the best current Star Trek series. While Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks have a lot of fun putting new twists on familiar ideas, they offer little new to the larger tapestry of Star Trek stories. Contrast those in-jokes to learning about Janeway looking for her one-time Voyager shipmate Chakotay on Prodigy , or seeing a mature Seven of Nine take the Captain’s chair at the end of Picard . Look how much better Discovery became after launching into the undiscovered country of the 32nd century instead of filling gaps (or making new gaps) in the TOS era.

These constant returns to the past violate the basic premise of Star Trek . Sure, some of the best Trek entries involve trips to the past. But the core mission of the franchise is about moving forward, boldly going into a future we can only imagine in the present. Viewers don’t want to see a past that’s already been explored so thoroughly over the last few decades. We want to see how this universe has progressed, how the actions of Kirk, Picard, and the other Captains have affected the universe in ways good and bad.

In short, a Star Trek origin movie is wrong headed, mining nostalgia and references instead of seeking out new life and civilizations.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!

• April 17, 2024 | Alex Kurtzman On Streaming TV Challenges And How Shorter Star Trek Seasons Helps Avoid “Filler” Episodes
• April 16, 2024 | Watch: Did This Moment On ‘The View’ Just Accidentally Hint Whoopi Goldberg Is In The Next Star Trek Movie?
• April 16, 2024 | See The Organians Return In Preview Of ‘Star Trek’ #19
• April 15, 2024 | Actor Talks “Authentic” Scotty On ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’; Season 3 Production Passes Milestone
• April 15, 2024 | Review: ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 4 On Blu-ray Brings It All Together

Paramount Pictures Officially Confirms Star Trek Origin Movie For Its Upcoming Film Slate

| April 11, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 238 comments so far

Today, the road to the next Star Trek feature film took a small but significant step towards becoming reality.

Paramount makes it official

Earlier this year, it was reported that Paramount Pictures was developing a new Star Trek feature film in parallel development to the “Star Trek 4” sequel to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond . Today the studio made the reports official as they announced their slate of films for 2025 and 2026, an official list which includes what Paramount is now calling “Untitled Star Trek Origin Story.” The studio also confirms the previously reported details: The film is “set decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film.” Toby Haynes ( Andor , Black Mirror “USS Callister”) is directing based on a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith ( The Lego Batman Movie ), with J.J. Abrams returning as producer.

The Star Trek movie was just one of many the studio confirmed as part of their 2025/2026 slate at their CinemaCon presentation today. Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins led the studio’s presentation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. This is the first time Star Trek has been part of the studio’s annual CinemaCon event since Robbins took over in 2021.

The “Star Trek 4” sequel to Beyond was not part of today’s CinemaCon presentation, presumably because with the recent hiring of a new screenwriter , that film would not be ready for theaters by 2026. It has also been reported that the origin story movie is set to start filming by the end of the year. There are no details yet on the plot, specific time setting, or cast. If Paramount can move fast enough they could get the origin movie into theaters by 2026—in time for Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.

Find more news and analysis on  upcoming Star Trek feature films .

Related Articles

Star Trek Origin Movie , TNG

Watch: Did This Moment On ‘The View’ Just Accidentally Hint Whoopi Goldberg Is In The Next Star Trek Movie?

Star Trek 4

‘Star Trek 4’ Removed From Paramount Picture’s Release Calendar

Kelvin Universe , Star Trek 4

Paramount Studio Chief: ‘Star Trek 4’ Close To Starting Line; Says Audiences Want More Kelvin Crew

Hawley Trek

Noah Hawley Laments Paramount Halting His “Really Fun” Star Trek Movie Just Before Production

Fool me once … ( also I want a movie but until someone gets a set built I’m not holding my breath )

I’m not pre-ordering my tickets…..

You would need a title and a premiere date to order tickets. This film has neither.

I’d wait to believe it until you actually see a movie trailer for it. Noah Hawley was in the casting stage when they cancelled his Trek movie. They might have even started on the sets.

The film is on Noah’s IMDB Credits list…

Yep. I heard ferries exist too!

Car ferries?

Even now, it potentially doesn’t matter. They could pull a Zaslav and shelve the film after it was all but released.

I won’t believe it until my butt is in the theater seat and the film starts playing.

We don’t need the origin story. We have it already. It was called “Enterprise”.

I didn’t realize there was such a large interest in a Star Trek origin movie. It’s their money to burn.

I still believe this is their way of rebooting the “prime” universe from the beginning and remaking it in a new image. I see no other point of doing an origin movie. First Contact and Star trek: Enterprise were origin enough IMO.

I don’t quite get it either. We already got that with First Contact and Enterprise. What else is there that could interest the general public.

Yeah, and for me, the period between First Contact and Enterprise just doesn’t seem that exciting. The period between Enterprise and the Nero incursion would be more interesting, I guess.

They wrote that the origin film would be “set decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film”. That film (in-universe) is set in 2233 (Nero incursion) and 2258 (main plot) respectively. So “decades before” would be after Enterprise, probably after the formation of the Federation, most probably before the Nero incursion, maybe around the turn of the century.

It’s just odd they are calling it an “origin” movie if it happens after Enterprise.

I’m curious what they mean by “origin”. The origin of Starfleet would be before Enterprise and the origin of the Federation would be after.

Also, the origin of Star Trek would have to be before the events of First Contact.

…assuming there is a concern about canon whatsoever, of course.

Many assumptions to be made at this point for sure.

Assuming this announcement doesn’t get added to the pile of previous unmade-movie announcements.

They’re calling it an origin movie to appeal to newcomers and casual fans.

Maybe we’ll see the founding of the Federation?

We already saw that in the infamous final episode of Enterprise. If they revisit that, they’d have to include the NX-01 crew and do a *lot* of deaging. 😉

They could show the first year of the Federation or something.

The obvious way to go is just do the Romulan war which leads into the founding of the Federation and what Enterprise was supposed to do.

That’s really the only thing fans actually want to see in terms of a prequel story.

Which was already scripted for Berman nearly 20 years ago by the band of brothers screenwriter.

Yep. I heard that’s what they were considering doing until the Kelvin movie got greenlit instead.

Overall the Kelvin movie was probably the better choice in terms of box office but I probably would’ve preferred the Romulan war idea because it did sound more original and different.

Couldn’t they just carry on from the end instead of squeezing more new shows in between what we already have?

For how little Trek lore has fleshed out that imaginary bit of history, do we really need to be putting some detail to how we went from post-apocalyptic hellhole to utopian paradise in fifty years? Maybe some enterprising human stole a replicator off a Vulcan ship and reverse engineered it? Seeing the sausage being made may not be a great on screen adventure…

Eastern Europe isn’t the best example – while they’ve done okay extricating themselves from the communist wasteland, it was (and is) without its setbacks.

that’s what makes me so crazy. Discovery was the chance to reboot the “prime” universe but they have stubbornly stuck to this quisling versio

Not only that, they already did a Star Trek origin movie. Star TRek 2009. But sure lets put more money in it, have it fail, and then blame the box office on why we will never get more trek. Thats a great idea!

That was really a Kirk and Spock origin story. There’s a century of Federation/Starfleet before them that we know almost nothing about. Plenty of room for a good one-off story. Maybe a story 20-ish years before Discovery , with Captain April and Lt. Commander Pike? Could have a young Sarek, too.

First off do we even know what they mean by “origin”?

Could be about the founding of the federation, the Romulan War, or the early days of starfleet pre-Enterprise.

It may have nothing to do with Kirk and Spock, the Enterprise, might not be any kind of reboot or reset.

My gut says it’s set in the Kelvin timeline and it takes place post USS Kelvin but pre-2009 Trek. And I’m fine with that.

They already said it will be based in the prime universe, not the Kelvin. I don’t know why they framed that press release that way but I guess since the Kelvin movies are the current movies they wanted to make clear to people this movie is before all of that I guess.

And obviously will have nothing to do with Kirk and Spock because it will be before they were even born.

These announcements feel like Groundhog Day, don’t they? Maybe that’s the story they should tell.

A feature length version of Cause and Effect…

I’m guessing Romulan Star Empire Wars era setting.

Yeah, maybe it’s the concept Rick Berman pitched: a Romulan War film where the NX-01 is off vacationing at Risa.

How about Star Trek: Federation . Founding of the Federation, which is immediately followed by a crisis requiring the urgent launch of USS Federation (NCC-01). Scott Bakula has a cameo appearance as President Archer.

Here we go! :D

Star Trek Origins: The Future Begins

Yeah but it’s not as exciting when we literally have a thousand years of that future now.

This is why prequels bore so many people when we already know so much about the future it’s setting up.

At least with the Kelvin movies they were smart to not make it a traditional prequel and people still hated those too.

I will never understand the obsession of going backwards when you have a fanbase that is constantly begging to go forward and prequels don’t attract new fans at all because they are made for oddly old fans in mind. You only cared about how Anakin became Vader in the prequels if you watched the OT.

We really know almost nothing (in canon) about the entire century that elapses between Enterprise and Discovery , though. I would have preferred Kelvin Movie 4 or even a post-TNG original movie (maybe with Patrick Stewart making a cameo) but I could get behind a canon treatment about the first years of the Federation.

If it’s really something good or interesting fine. If it’s just ‘this is how the Federation was formed” we already got that already.

Now if it’s the Romulan war or something then that’s at least something people can get excited about. But yeah we already know how it ends so maybe that won’t be it either.

I just can’t really get to excited about a prequel movie.

Yeah, I think the Romulan war would be a great premise for a movie, BUT according to TOS the battles were fought with “primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels which allowed no quarter, no captives, nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication; therefore, no human, Romulan or ally has ever seen the other.”

In other words canon would have to be completely ignored – we all know Enterprise completely disregarded the TOS take of the war as the NX-01 had visual comms, phase cannons and photonic torpedoes. If the story is a good one, I am totally good with ignoring canon, but of course others are not.

Yeah that’s always the issue with the Romulan War thing, it’s really hard to make a compelling story about it when you are fighting it without directly engaging the enemy.

That said I’m 100% convinced they will just ignore that and do what they want or just find an excuse to change ot. Look at SNW, this the show that has shown the Gorn years before they were supposed to be seen and completely changed Khan’s original timeline using TCW as the reason..

Discovery had an entire Klingon War when that didn’t remotely exist in canon.

So yeah it probably won’t matter that much end of the day. They will just make what they want and then will use some excuse to do it. That’s been the case since Enterprise as you said.

Exactly! Very well put!! I just wish someone from TPTB would listen already!

Think about it prequels are easy to make because most of the writing is done for you. You don’t have to come up with where these characters will go.

Only if they are old characters though. But this sounds like Enterprise and not SNW and it will be all new characters.

So, it would be set after Enterprise and before the Kelvin fiasco. Awesome.

Probably the Romulan Wars. And with no Enterprise. Not excited

If only I could insert the Will Farrel “I don’t believe you!” GIF.

Whatever this turns out to be, hopefully it will be interesting. More likely it will turn out to be just another dead Trek movie project.

So many of these stories do seem to go absolutely nowhere! However, I am not as negative about an origin story as some fans are. At this point, I am more neutral on the movie. I can see that under the right circumstances it could be quite interesting. Although prequels can be a tough sell to Star Trek fans. Ultimately the fact that’s a movie could work in its favor though. Less storylines to produce over the years might help keep the story focused! Though I am not sure it would be a box office draw.

I’ll believe it when I’ve seen it in theaters, listened to TrekMovie’s review, and have the blu-ray on my shelf 4 months later.

Where to place the Blu-ray tho?

Before ST09 or after Beyond? …or.. Before TOS?

They go in order of release, for me. But could this be the first Trek film I don’t purchase on disc? Time may tell…

It’s an origin story taking place in the prime universe so it will go either before or after Enterprise basically.

I’ll believe it when it actually happens. Also, Seth Grahame-Smith is not a good writer, so that doesn’t bode well.

My thoughts exactly.

I liked the book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but not the movie.

I absolutely loved the Lego Batman movie, though. If he is able to incorporate Trek lore with as much care as he did for Batman, it could turn out to be a very good movie after all.

I’ll believe it when I’m sat i theatre turning off my phone with my Star Trek Origins screensaver and eating popcorn out my STO popcorn bucket (the lid in shape of the Starfleet A insignia )

He co wrote The Flash right? I really liked that , I could imagine something similar happening with Nero as happened with Zod in that (going back to 1st film via timetravel)

This is what’s over at Box Office Mojo: Untitled Star Trek: Beyond Sequel (????)

Grain of salt, anyone?

There are apparently two movies planned. Origin and Trek 4…

Actually there are three now including one that we all thought was DOA two minutes after it was announced.

Three movies in development from a studio who has cancelled four of them for 8 years now. And this will be the fourth new script for the next Kelvin movie.

That’s why everyone is very very confident this one is happening for sure. 🙄

The only thing we can take to the bank is we will see Section 31, starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh!!

Pretty much.

And a studio that is broke and in debt with junk status. None of these will likely be made or just the super cheapy origin movie if they can keep the budget low.

My thoughts exactly as well.

I’m pretty sure you got your facts wrong.

Sigh. Why do the powers that be always want to go backward in the ST timeline and do origin stories and such?

Lack of confidence in new ideas and to make it as cheaply as possible, are two things that come to mind right away.

It’s simple. They don’t want all that trek nerd baggage. They want a movie anyone would go to see and understand.

How’s that working for them?

You don’t get it.

I don’t get it either? It’s not like the prequel stuff has been huge home runs or big money makers.

The Star Wars prequels made a lot of money. That’s what Paramount still looks at, even though they have yet to duplicate that financial success.

Yes but that’s STAR WARS! It’s going to make a lot of money period. And those prequels came out when it was just the OT and nothing else for literally decades. There was a lot of hype just returning to those stories.

This is not the same thing, especially when we already had so many prequels in Trek now and with mixed results. That said I’m not saying it can’t be successful but I don’t see any huge hype around it either because most fans just seem to want to go forward and not backwards.

All the negativity over this ‘announcement’ is well deserved. Just make a fcking movie already Paramount, Jesus.

But I suspect IF this one is real it’s probably a much cheaper movie being new actors and maybe something with a lot less explosions and FX. I suspect it will probably be around $100 million.

It’s certainly doesn’t sound like something they are pushing to make a billion dollars or anything. Only people who cares about a prequel will be mostly old fans and even they aren’t exactly excited about yet another prequel judging by all the reactions so far. Maybe they will attract an A list star or a well respected one to bring more hype to it.

But same time I been pushing to just do something NEW with new characters and setting forever now. Stop trouting out Kirk and Picard, take a real chance with the franchise for a change. I was hoping it would be Post Nemesis but I should be happy I finally got half of what I wanted lol.

But I’ll believe it when I see it. I have literally been saying this line for six years now and I’m really tired of saying it. 🙄

Yup, exactly. Assuming it even happens, the premise sounds weak. Not surprised.

Yep. Unless it’s something truly mind blowing it’s not going to elicit a lot of excitement. Sure we’ll all go lol but I don’t see this thing having any real pull beyond the true believers.

It probably got the greenlight because its really cheap and it’s becoming embarrassing how long this franchise has languished.

I really only go to movie theaters to see Trek films (much prefer the comforts of home to see movies), so yup I’ll be going, good or bad. And yes, it is really pathetic the way this franchise has been treated on the big screen for the past 20 years. Disgraceful.

Ummm… what premise?? The only thing we know is that it is an origin movie. Nothing else. There IS no premise yet…

I think he means just another origin story itself feels a bit tired. But yes we don’t specifically know what that means yet but anything before TOS at this point just doesn’t really get a lot of fans all that hot and bother.

Whatever it ends up being it’s just filling in to more history we already know.

I get it. But no matter what era they make a movie in, there will be complaints. We have done prequels – some fans hate that. We have done same era as TNGish – fans complained. Likewise, we have had a show set in the future (soon to be another) – fans complained. There aren’t many options left.

Before TOS: Enterprise, JJ movies, Discovery, SNW just after TNG era: Picard, Prodigy, Lower Decks Future: Discovery, Starfleet Academy

Do they just make things in the era of TNG, DS9 and Voyager? No matter what is produced, there will always be a fan base that is unhappy.

Most people seem to really want the Legacy show though. I think for the majority of fans they may not agree with everything but there is definitely a sense they rather go forwards than backwards and why 4 of the 5 shows are post Nemesis shows.

And if you gave the option between a Legacy movie or this prequel idea, it wouldn’t be close.

I just don’t think making a prequel movie is the best idea out there. And I don’t think new audiences will remotely care one way or the other.

I’m going to start reporting you now. One guy got the boot for being an obsessive troll and like you was already banned before anyway.

Leave me alone from this point on. I mean it.

What a total disappointment. I wanted to see the Kelvin crew return. It’s going to be 10 years between films.

Please be Kirk and Spock at least.

Check the first paragraph of the article out again. This one is presumably being developed ‘in parallel’ to the Kelvin crew sequel.

Recast Kirk and Spock, I presume?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the main character is Kirk’s great grandfather, Tiberius something or other.

And not surprised there was no announcement of the next JJ verse movie. I predicted a few weeks ago that one wouldn’t get made by 2026 or the 60th anniversary. Frankly I don’t even know why they are even bothering with it anymore? Whenever it’s supposed to come out it’s already going to be the last one and over 10 years since the last one came out.

What’s even the point? They are clearly moving on from it.

As far as the origin movie why not just make it for the 60th anniversary? Why rush it? It’s already been nearly a decade, what’s one more year at this point and you can Marley it better in an anniversary year.

Its the reverse of ST 6, here we getting the prequel movie instead of the final cast film (for the anniversary)

Someone on another board said we are probably getting the sequel to First Contact so it would make sense to have it for the 6Oth anniversary 30 years apart lol.

“[S]et decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film?”

Gimme Archer & T’Pol, or else…

Neither actor has any interest in returning to Star Trek, so that won’t happen.

I’ve only heard Bakula say that about Quantum Leap , not Enterprise . And this is a feature film, a lot harder for an actor to turn down. I agree with his decision to ignore the QL reboot (that series didn’t capture the heart and soul of the original at all) but if Paramount approached him with “we want you to play President Archer for a few scenes in this movie” I doubt he’d say no.

No, no no. You’ve got it all wrong. It’s a story about a little design firm vying for the chance to design the Enterprise. It’s a story about a plucky band of mechanical engineers and physicists who come together to do the best pitch of their lives in a bidding war with three other firms. So, an origin story…from a certain point of view. ;)

I would watch,THAT!

I would write that!

I would direct that! (If I was Christopher Nolan)

No, I want Nolan doing ThePrisoner! He’s already got a script from the guy who wrote 12 Monkeys and the best stuff in Blade Runner, from over a decade back.

You probably meant it as a joke, but I’m also intrigued by this idea :D

Charlie Kaufmann does star trek.

Sure, you can store anti-matter in a glass jar. What could possibly go wrong?

Y’know, I know this is said partly in jest, but I wouldn’t mind that kind of movie if it was sort of a space race / WWII / Cold War drama, kind of a mix of Oppenheimer and The Right Stuff.

There’s a geo (spatio?) political angle (firm up the borders of the Federation, mitigate threats, and establish new allies while keeping up the exploration / first contact initiatives), the pressure on the engineering team to deliver groundbreaking new tech (and probably the cost of failed experiments, accidents, etc.), and then recruiting and training a new kind of crew – a starship crew (as Captain Merrick described them in ‘Bread and Circuses’.)

In essence, the origin of Starfleet as we know it – the first long-duration missions, the best of the best crewmembers, cross-trained, multidisciplinary, and for the first time, widely multi-species, etc.

Glad you all like. Paramount, you can send the check to: bmar, care of….

I’m thinking there’s going to be peace in the Middle East and nuclear fusion power is going to be a reality before they ever get back to the theaters.

Once upon a time I enjoyed Star Trek. Since the Nu Trek era began. I havent enjoyed any of the story arcs. They are just too aweful. There is a multitude of reasons why throught the web. Strange New Worlds S1 corrected course, however S2 not so. There are forces at work at Paramount. They are hell bent to destroy Star Trek. If Kurtzman and crew are in charge of the new movie. Get ready for more fantasy drama nonsense, and less plausable sci-fi.

Same here. I can’t get into NuTrek much at all. It feels like a shell of the golden era. For me that will always be 1966-2005.

But if others like it and getting new fans I’m very happy for them.

Same here. I’ve found a few gems in SNW S1, PIC S3, and S1 of Prodigy, but otherwise have been very disappointed in “NuTrek.” Of course I wish the franchise the best, but so far it’s been more misses than hits for me.

Yes I truly love Picard season 3! The best thing to come out of NuTrek so far. I don’t hate SNW but it railroads canon too much for my taste but it does feel like Star Trek again.

I haven’t seen Prodigy yet but I plan to watch it when season 2 begins and will watch season 1 before that one. Everyone kept saying it’s for kids and I’m far from a kid these days lol. But others here convinced me it’s a show for adults too so will give it a go

Wow, hell-bent on destroying Trek. Hell-bent, you say!! Just a tough melodramatic, are you?

Really don’t care about prequels and just want to keep going forward. Why not a movie in the 25th or 26th century with new crew and characters?

I may care more if Archer is involved or something. But I suspect this movie will bomb like the last one did. Only fans cares about prequels. New fans won’t care at all.

At least it’s in the prime universe again I guess.

But 25th or 26th century would still be a prequel to Discovery’s 32nd century :D

That doesn’t bother me because we don’t know anything about those time periods. We already know plenty about everything before TOS because it’s all been said or told now

Yeah I said this to another member the other day discussing any post Picard stories and that it will be completely new stories in a period we don’t know so it’s not the same thing. When you’re doing something like a TOS prequel you only have so much room and while it can certainly be interesting and creative it basically just like filling in to more stuff we already know.

That said the Section 31 movie time period is at least more interesting because it covers a much wider time period and they can be a lot more freer with the technology, etc so looking forward to that at least.

Yes I will admit although I’m not a big fan of the Space Nazi the time period of the movie intrigues me more. I always been curious of this period and the lead up to TNG, mostly because we know very little about it.

Discovery (in my view) kind of ruined everything in the Trek timelime. Just my opinion. Anyone who wants to just forget it happened, I’m in. Kidding, not kidding.

Agreed! I also don’t think it will be allegorical science fiction or be anything thought provoking. It will be a fast paced action adventure story that’s empty of depth and soul. Modern Star Trek is more interested in spectacle than compelling stories.

I’d guess that it means “origin of the TOS crew,” but that’s kind of weird, because we saw that in 2009.

Maybe this time they’ll start when they’re toddlers. (I kid, but not really). :)

They are going to re-do ‘A night in Sickbay’ like they did with Wrath of Khan/Into Darkness. It’ll be the same but different…..

Could this be their way of doing a George Kirk movie?

I would want to watch that, colour me intrigued…

“set decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film.”

Original 2009 Sta Trek film Sounds so wrong.

there is only two star trek origin stories i want to see the formation of the federation and it’s first few years if they have to adapt the rise of the federation novels for the movie and the origins of the borg they could adapt the plot ffor thet from the star trek destiny novels for a movie

Spot on, on both points!

2025? I hope it works out…

First we hear we are getting a Star Fleet Space Academy series that no one wants. The idea was mentioned in the 1980’s and shot down by fans. Now a retake on a Star Trek Origins films. Is any one currently running the Star Trek franchise in TV/streaming or film even listening to what the fans both old and new are saying?

It would seem not, sadly. How about establishing the time period between TUC and TNG, there’s a literal ton of stories to tell there? How the possibilities for storytelling within the franchise have been squandered over the years makes me frustrated, and frankly confused. SO many missed opportunities.

The upcoming section 31 movie will be set during that time frame as we know a young Rachel Garrett who later in life will be the captain of the enterprise c and defend the Klingon colony of narendra 3 will be in the movie maybe we will get to see the ent-b also again

Pointless movie as no audience will come see it at best it will make half its budget back. I mean they spent $250M on the 2009 movie and it showed on screen….you already know they are not spending that level otherwise it would be a Kelvin cast sequel!

I believe they spent just under 160 mil on the 09 (not counting the interest payments for holding the finished film for six months to get a summer release, or prints/advertising.) You’re probably thinking of BEYOND with the 250 number.

I still can’t see the money on screen in the 09, shooting in the damn brewery was Corman-level cheap.

The Numbers have the 09 costs 140 and BO Mojo sez 150, so yeah, way under the 250m you mention.

Can the ethos of Trek be distilled by JJ? Bob orci was bad for trek.

Kurtzman seemed to fall into trap w/discovery season 1.

Season 2, Picard, Lower Decks and SNW definitely sealed my thinking that Trek was in right hands.

Is section 31 and Rachel Garrett the right pivot for Trek? I thought 24th/25th century had plenty of stories to still tell.

Enterprise C, and possibly Tasha Yar/Sela after the events of Yesterday’s Enterprise! This should reboot TNG/Picard if ST: Legacy doesn’t happen.

Lower Decks makes me laugh Picard made me cry (good) SNW made me feel like Kurtzman should be trusted 💯

Great. Abrams ruined Star Wars and he’s finishing of Star Trek.

JJ had a planed out story plot for what he wanted to happen in the sequels but rian johnson chose to deviate from what jj had payed out so when jj returned for episode 9 he had to try and make the best of it and make his original story plot work but with the changes Johnson had made altering it so he had to come up with another evil sith mastermind and chose palpatine and he did course correct Rey’s lineage though it was different from who he had initially planned it to be and with Carrie fishers untimely passing he had to rewrite more and he had Luke show up as a force ghost to help rey when she returned to ach-to as apparently he was never going to have Luke die until the the final battle

I hope it has nudity

….and “Invincible” level action. It’ll be a hard R Quinton Tarentino could love.

Yes, we are on the same page.

CinemaCon basically works like a network upfront. You see clips and hear a lot of announcements. When there’s no cast or start date for announced projects, there’s maybe a 50/50 chance that the project will actually move forward (I was with a former employer for over 8 years and we announced a lot of stuff that generated a lot of buzz but then never materialized).

I think Brian Robbins will be gone within the next 12 months and if Robbins is pushed out this film is dead in the water.

This is probably the right answer.

I have next to no faith this will actually happen but they only have themselves to blame lol.

I remember a former poster kept saying ‘well this a new regime ‘ they aren’t the old guys’. Uh huh. It just shows end of the day they might be different but they still answer to the same shareholders and they know another Trek film is risky. Maybe this will finally get beyond a script this time but no one will be convinced until they start shooting the thing.

Rehashing old fandom letter campaign complaints from 40 years ago, don’t equate to the modern sci-fi fan, let alone the majority of Star Trek fans of 2024. The majority of complaints in the article comments are that there isn’t enough new future timeline Star Trek, so why would people NOT want a Star Fleet Academy series – new stories, new characters, new ships, new alien species/planets etc? An Origin movie is a vague enough description that it’s probably likely that the fandom can’t come anywhere close to a correct theory on when in the Trek timeline, this movie could be set.

I agreed with a commenter earlier, a George Kirk prequel movie would satisfy a lot of the fans, and hopefully generate enough interest for new and casual Star Trek moviegoers to warrant their going to a cinema complex. As to want the hardcore Star Trek fandom really want? There is too much dissent and bitter recriminations gone by, for any serious agreement by the fandom of their requirements, to stick for any longer than the next Trek major media article to be issued. And even if a majority agreement could be achieved – then we have the Mount Everest of EP Alex Kurtzman / Secret Hideout control of Trek production, to climb. A movie or series could have a billion-dollar budget, stellar A-list cast and crew, critical media acclaim for the story / screenplay. A favourable release timing and viral marketing, but fall at the last hurdle – the box office, due to the mountain of hate piled up against Paramount, Kurzman and his associates.

Now, as to the overall custodianship of the Trek franchise and its operation as a business, in general by Paramount, and its contracted creatives? Well, that’s a whole Hollywood chapter in itself. And is any of that even relevant in the long term, with the behind-the-scenes Harry Potter Wizard chess moves that are going on at the studio ownership, and network controlling interest levels? Apologies for the extended and extensive reply.

The first thing to do in order make a successful Star Trek movie is to ignore Star Trek fans.

God, please, no origin stories.

Star Trek: The Beginning, Part 1 — A Final Frontier Origin Story

Star Trek has always been a production dealing with many human issues pushing open the veils of awkwardness, embarrassment, and unaddressed behaviors that represent our culture planet wide. Thank You Star Trek. The one thing Paramount+ did that was just totally in bad taste was cancel Prodigy, bunch of morons.

Every fan’s preferences are different, but over the years I’ve ended up streamlining various ‘franchises’ I enjoy to my own liking when it comes to a re-watch – and these days my own limited Star Trek ‘canon’ purely consists of kicking things off with ‘The Cage’ pilot storyline….followed by my specific favourite TOS episodes in ‘production order’ (starting with ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’, and skipping ‘The Menagerie’ two-part storyline)….followed by all the TOS movie storylines….and ending the Kirk crew’s adventures with ‘The Undiscovered Country’ as my preferred send-off for them all….then skip the antics of the ‘Generations’ movie, and instead continue on with my specific favourite TNG episodes (starting with the ‘Encounter At Farpoint’ introduction to Picard and his crew)….and then conclude the entire thing with the ‘First Contact’ movie’s storyline – which covers the development of ‘warp drive’, bringing everything full circle, and giving me all the ‘origin’ specifics I need..

All other ‘Trek-related shows and movies since then remain firmly on my ‘one-watch-only’ list, but I’m more than content with what I’ve outlined above.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get a ‘Star Trek’ movie which goes much deeper than glossy ‘pew-pew’ action and explosions in the future, but I remain hopeful.there might be a storyline that I really like again.

In the meantime, for my latest ‘alien contact’ fix, I’ve just finished up enjoying the excellent ‘Three-Body’ show’s inventive storyline and characters – the subtitled, 30-episode one produced by Tencent, which is currently available on YouTube and Amazon Prime (not the muddled 8-episode ‘3 Body Problem’ version by Netflix) – So much so, that I’m intending to buy the actual trilogy of books by the Chinese author, as I can’t wait for the next season to be made to find out what happens next. Some big ideas to come by all accounts, and I’m there for a bit more of that. .

The Netflix series is Superior

You’re welcome to your own preference of course.

But I far preferred the slow burn of the mystery and character build-ups in the Tencent version compared to the condensed and altered Netflix adaption. I just happen to find it a more satisfying and riveting version overall – and I will always prefer the way the ‘Judgment Day’ tanker got ‘nano-spliced’ in the Tencent version. Such an awesome sequence from start to finish!

Anyway, if the Netflix version actually gets a second season, I’ll certainly check it out too….but I am definitely looking forward to the next season of the Tencent show, which has been greenlit already.

The Tencent version is just boring to me and you can feel the Party’s hands all over it. Glad you liked it though.

I did indeed like it. A lot. I hadn’t read the books as I said, so didn’t know what to expect. Having read up on a few things since watching both shows, it seems that that there’s plenty of others that much prefer the slower build-up of the Tencent version too.

While it doesn’t include the likes of the brutal Netflix show’s opening, the hardship that the main female character endured was covered sufficiently for me throughout the show, and I’m just glad that I got to know her story by watching this version first.

And I sure didn’t miss the amount of unnecessary swearing that the Netflix version included either, which gave the Tencent version additional points. I don’t appreciate it my ‘Star Trek’ viewing, and I didn’t need it in the telling of this memorable sci-fi tale either.

And just to add, that even better for me is the fact that there’s now been a 26-episode ‘Anniversary Edition’ version of the Tencent show released, which has been re-edited by the director.

It seemingly cuts down on some ‘filler’ run-time that was added for the sake of the show’s producers initially, so that things will follow the original book’s contents even more closely now, and improve on the pacing of the show overall. I’m very pleased about that.

Whats so bad about swearing? The human race has been swearing since language was invented and we’ll be swearing 10,000 years from now.

Again, it’s just a personal preference thing.

There’s plenty of hard-edged movies and shows that contain wall-to-wall swearing which I can watch if I’m in the mood for them. But other times I’m equally inclined to watch something with less harsh language throughout.

I really disliked the F-bombs which the ‘Picard’ show included for instance, and didn’t think the ‘Star Trek’ franchise was the better for it. And I doubt that I would have enjoyed the Tencent ‘Three-Body’ adaption any better if it had contained bad language too.

Anyway, back to this supposed ‘Star Trek origin movie. I’d like to think it won’t be littered with F-bombs either.

PG13 are allowed 1 f bomb (like Guardians 3 I finally saw other night). And Trek is very comfortable to f bombs in Picard etc so safe to say we’ll be getting Treks first movie f bomb next film :)

Data said “Oh $hit” in Generations.

Which was very mild compared to what we heard in ‘Picard” Not that I would wish to show my younger family members the ‘Picard’ show anyway, considering it turned out to be so dire overall.

However, Data’s reaction was hilarious in that scene’s context I recall. Just a pity the rest of the movie was such a dud, and not part of my own ‘Star Trek’ canon anymore.

I’ll always wonder what the Tarantino script would have given us….

we don’t need origin stories for everything! in media res is the way to go – almost always – TOS just dumps you right in the middle of events without even the clunky intros of TNG Encounter at Farpoint.

If this movie does well will IT get an origin story? We’re going to end up at the pool of goo at the dawn of humankind waiting for Picard and Q to show up…

im happy with any good trek news… even if they made a direct sequel to the final frontier… but how many origin stories do we need? i’d be happy if someone forged a path forward and created new things…

So this one is set in the five-minute period between Enterprise and Discovery? Or the as-yet unexplored time between April 5th 2063 and Enterprise where it’s “stone knives and bear skins” and no Trek tech to speak of? Enterprise was the prequel! How’d that one work out?

If the movie is made ,I will judge it then.

I wanted the 4th Kelvin, do they know who their audience is? Nobody i know, Star Trek fan or general audience bothered to go see Beyond. It was like Nemesis all over again. The trailer was terrible, the movie was kind of meh to be honest. So in the intervening years since the 2009 somewhere they lost the audience. Star Trek 2009 was an event movie, and 2015 Force Awakens was as well. Good job letting JJ go to Disney so Star Trek died as a film series.

I’m guessing the fourth movie is still too costly to risk making another one at least right now.

Someone threw out an an interesting theory on the last thread discussing this for the 47th time that they suggested Paramount have no plans to actually make another Kelvin movie but just as a rouse for the next company that buys the studio.

It really makes sense at this point, they can dangle the idea the movie is in ‘development’ and then when someone actually buys it they can just decide to make it or cancel it.

I mean it doesn’t sound crazy considering where we are. It’s a movie that is working with their fourth new writer but there is still no director or even a starting date of any kind within the the next two years.

Them you have this origin movie that was just announced a few months ago and that’s already scheduled to come out next year. My guess is it will probably cost half of what another Kelvin movie would be. But yeah who knows if that will get made either, but it has a better chance than a Kelvin movie.

Ikr, Beyond totally killed interest the series , the Fast Furious teaser trailer was bad, the second trailer gave away the twist, the audience (who cared about that stuff) knew JJ had crossed over to SW (which gave the behemoth of SW7 even more publicity, making ST feel less an event), there was no hook for fans or even general moviegoers like there was for ST09/ID (like if Shatner had returned or the Borg being the villain again) and nothing ‘big’ happening in the canon like the previous ones (Orcis ST3 had the timeline under threat of being wiped out, which would’ve been a huge deal) the eventual movie was kind of meh as you say and was just abit nerdy and Insurrection looking (like it was for hard core fans only).

At the time i had some friends (some who were casual Trek fans, and some even disliked Trek) who thought 09/ID were awesome and they didn’t even bother to see Beyond bc of the trailers and the general vibe (its like it felt like abit of a turkey, like other big sequels/remakes that summer, Ghostbusters, Independence Day 2 etc, )

I actually agree with all of this and I personally think Beyond was the best of the three.

But you’re right, there was really no hook for the movie and that first trailer was just awful. It almost kept me away from watching it.

But the biggest problem is the new fans just lost interest by then. I always bring up the fact I had three friends who had never seen Star Trek before went to go see the first film and generally loved it. I thought it was truly bad but fine for a brainless action movie.

But by the time Beyond showed up all three had zero interest in the franchise by that point. They just stopped caring. I remember asking one of them that saw the first two movies in the theater if he planned to watch Beyond and his response was no because now Star Wars was back and he rather just watch that. And he thought it looked boring.

That’s the entire problem trying to get new fans onboard and a lot of them were like my friends who just saw these movies as another summer action movie but nothing beyond that. They never cared about the franchise itself and so it was very easy to move on when the next shiny toy showed up.

That’s exactly why I don’t see another one doing all that well because to newbies it’s still Star Trek and it’s not cool enough to fully get into and will probably bomb again unless the budget is just super low.

I watched Guardians Vol 3 the other night on dvd and it (and previous 2) kind of felt the same as Beyond abit , the look, the vibe, the action, set pieces, the humour, the rock songs etc . so really with Guardians (that Beyond tried to ape), along with the return of SW, Trek 3 had no chance with casual movie goers who would just consider it Guardians/SW lite , (between the generational event of SW7 and the next GOTG vol 2) .. Even more reason to have gone with Orci’s more ‘star trek’ version of ST3 featuring Shatner

I can’t name anyone who actually wants an origin movie. By the way, didn’t we get that one with First Contact already anyway?

It’s not up to you or anyone you pretend to know.

Another prequel? This is getting ridiculous now. Remember when Star Trek used to go forwards? Enough already!

Kurtzman said he didn’t have the authority to greenlight legacy. I wonder if that will be like Bennet’s academy years and never happen.

18 months is not enough time for a movie of this size unless this is ready to shoot in july.

The JJ-verse is an aberration no one is particularly a fan of. There is no one who wants to how that mess started. It’s done nothing but foul everything that went before, leaving ST-ENT, of all things, as the only remaining official classic canon. Bugger that.

I need Star Trek that is hopeful, aspirational, and inspirational. 15 yrs later neither Bad Robot or Secret Hideout has done anything close to that. Sec 31 and Starfleet Academy aren’t anything viewers want. I wish they’d just stop.

lol,if you say so…

EXCLUSIVE: Former Anonymous writer of Trek 4 shares his experience

Interviewer: Hello, we are here today to talk to a former writer for the very very very (like really very) long delayed fourth Kelvin movie. With the announcement of a prequel movie being released instead and yet ANOTHER new set of writers for the next Kelvin movie, we reached out to the only person who returned our calls; a former writer from the 2023 project.

To give us an honest insight into his experience he wishes to remain anonymous. For the sake of this interview he will be simply referred to as ‘GotohellParamount’. Thank you for meeting with me today.”

GotohellParamount’: “You’re welcome.”

Interviewer: “It sounds like your experience working on the last movie didn’t end too well. How is your relationship with the studio today?”

GotohellParamount: “Bleep them in their bleeping bleepholes. I hope they all die from bleeping Ebola.”

Interviewer: ‘That’s some pretty colorful metaphors. Can I ask what happened?”

GotohellParamount: “Their bleeps that’s what. We spent a year working on that movie. We lost the director to go work for Marvel because these bleepholes kept bleeping us around. I got so frustrated I finally texted the Head Studio Guy and said ‘will you people stop bleeping around!? Get off your bleeps and let’s make a movie already!!’

Three weeks went by and I finally got a response from them. It simply read ‘K’. Bleepholes!!! By the way you’re not going to ‘bleep’ any of these words out are you?”

Interviewer: “Um…of course not. Can you tell us a little about what the movie was about?”

GotohellParamount: “The gist was a huge black ship comes from the 25th century to the 23rd century wiping out solar systems in the Federation. It was a new villain who wanted…wait for it…vengeance. That bleep was going to be bleeping awesome!!”

Interviewer: “So who was going to be the villain?”

GotohellParamount: “That’s the greatest part of it all. He was going to call himself…you ready: Kaos. JJ Abrams himself came up with that name. But then the true reveal was that he was indeed Kirk’s great great great great great great great great great great grandson from the future and came to stop Kirk from destroying his planet so he had to destroy the Federation first. We were even thinking Chris Pine can play both parts but Paramount was worried he would demand twice the salary.”

Interviewer: “I interviewed Chris Pine a few months ago and he was hoping there would be more scenes of him riding another motorcycle. Did you include that in the script?”

GotohellParamount: “Do you remember the ending of Mission Impossible 2 with the motorcycle duel? Pretty much the same ending with our movie with Kirk versus his evil grandson; except it was going to take place either on Romulus or in San Francisco. We were still figuring it out. There was even talk of it happening on a lava planet… but that would’ve ballooned the budget.

Interviewer: “Sounds very exciting. How was he going to wipe out the solar systems?”

GotohellParamount: “The ship he was on had the power to destroy stars by breaking down their fusion reactions. The FX was going to be bleeping sick.”

Interviewer: “Wait so the ship was a…Star destroyer?”

GotohellParamount: “Yep but to get around copyright issues JJ wanted to call it a Destroyer of Stars. The man is a bleeping genius I tell you.”

Interviewer: “It’s definitely a name.”

GotohellParamount: “We were so proud of the script. We gave it to JJ to read it. After he put it down, he took off his glasses put his hand on my shoulders and said ‘this is the most original Star Trek story I’ve ever read and I’ve read three of them.’ You have no idea how much that meant coming from such a visionary like him.”

Interviewer: “I’m sure you were. Was there any casting possibilities before it was shut down?”

GotohellParamount: “Was there?? We reached out to some incredible actors! Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon. We wanted him to actually play Kirk’s evil grandson.

Interviewer: “Wait… weren’t all of them in Oppenheimer?’

GotohellParamount: “(Hard shrug)! I don’t know I haven’t seen it yet. Unfortunately Matt Damon’s agent was the only one who bothered to call us back. Apparently he always wanted to work with John Cho. Go figure? Too late now unfortunately.”

Interviewer: “Well that’s all the time we have. Thank you for your incredible and honest insight. Any thoughts on the new movie announcement or the chances either one will actually get made?”

GotohellParamount: (Laughs for three minutes). That’s it.”

Interviewer: “Thank you.’

I laugh every.single.time! 😂

Well done per usual.

Nice. Don’t forget to throw the Beastie Boys in there someplace…wouldn’t be a Kelvin film without them…

Haha correct. How I let that one slide you got me. Having an off day I guess!

This was indeed hilarious! 😂

I love how you parody JJ Abrams. He doesn’t seem to have an original bone in his body looking at both his Star Trek and Star Wars movies.

Lol nope! I still remember watching Honest Trailer for Star Trek Into Dumbness and they even showed how much that movie copied the first one lol.

The fact both movies ended back at San Francisco when your series takes place in the freaking galaxy should tell you everything wrong with these movies.

that actually sounds like a legit potential Kelvin ST4 – Kirks evil great great grandson Kaos (Matt Damon) comes back to 23rd century to kill Kirk in his big star destroyer (sorry ‘destroyer of stars’) ship! Brilliant!!

That’s the insane part, this idea could actually pass for a Kelvin movie lol.

Thank you! 😁

Coming out of my lurker mode to say this is brilliant. I laughed my bleep off!

So glad you enjoyed it my friend! 😄

I bleeping love making them lol.

Another prequel? Why can’t they come up with new material?

‘Abigail’ Filmmakers Radio Silence on Their Genre-Hopping Vampire Thriller and Honoring Angus Cloud’s Final Performance 

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

• ‘Abigail’ Filmmakers Radio Silence on Their Genre-Hopping Vampire Thriller and Honoring Angus Cloud’s Final Performance  1 hour ago
• Marvel Lays Off 15 Staffers 2 days ago
• ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Renewed for Season 4; ‘Lower Decks’ to Conclude With Season 5 (EXCLUSIVE) 5 days ago

The Universal horror movie “ Abigail ” began as a modern-day twist on “Dracula’s Daughter,” but making a film about the legendary vampire’s blood-sucking scion wasn’t the reason why the filmmaking trio Radio Silence — producer Chad Villella and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett — wanted to make the project their follow-up to 2022’s “Scream” and 2023’s “Scream VI.”

Popular on Variety

“The hook of Dracula’s daughter sold the idea, but through a year-plus of development, it just becomes its own thing,” Bettinelli-Olpin says. “We get to do a heist thriller movie, and then we get to do a monster movie, and somehow make those two things live in one world.”

Adds Gillett: “At one end, you have this little girl in a tutu, and at the other end, you have exploding bodies. What the fuck could this journey possibly be that ends up that way?”

“It’s arts and crafts and make believe at the highest, silliest level,” Gillett says. “[We’re] talking to a makeup artist about designing a neck appliance that has a flap that can be torn off by another cast member. But you are asking that person to take that very seriously and make that art.” He laughs. “We had days where it’s two actors sitting across from each other crying, and then it’s like, ‘Oh well, we’re done with that scene. Let’s go toss Catherine in the body pit.’ It’s this wild, wild pivot from one moment to the next.”

Adds Bettinelli-Olpin: “When you’re making horror, every time we say ‘Cut,’ there’s giggles and laughter. And it’s infectious.”

That spirit was especially necessary for the production after Cloud, who plays one of the mercenaries, died weeks after wrapping his role.

“It was just so evident how much fun he was having,” Gillett says. “I don’t think we’ve ever worked with somebody that forces the other actors in the scene to pay attention. There’s not a false moment in anything that he does. He kind of gave everyone permission to be a little weird and take some swings that maybe they wouldn’t have otherwise, just because of how natural and charismatic he is in a scene.”

Cloud died just after the SAG-AFTRA strike suspended production on the film. When the cast and crew returned to set at the end of the year, “everybody involved really wanted to make sure that we finished the movie strong and did Angus justice,” Bettinelli-Olpin says. “We felt a responsibility.”

In an offhand moment early on in the film, Cloud’s character starts singing along to a song on the radio — The Jacka’s 2009 hit “Glamorous Lifestyle,” featuring Andre Nickatina — that the actor got to select himself. “He was like, ‘I can’t believe we’re getting this song in a fucking movie!’” Bettinelli-Olpin says. “To everybody’s credit involved, it was just never on the table to cut it. It was like, ‘No, that meant a lot to Angus. Let’s let that be a part of the movie.'”

Similarly, Bettinelli-Olpin says they filmed all the material they needed of the actor, so there was no need for any digital recreations or substitutions. “Every single thing of Angus is Angus in the movie,” he says. “There’s not even an ADR line off-camera that we needed for story. It’s all Angus.”

“We’ve gotten really close with her; we care about her deeply,” adds Bettinelli-Olpin. “For what it’s worth, Melissa, in our opinion, is fucking great in this movie. And hopefully, people get to see that and go, ‘Oh, she’s a talent.’”

While the filmmakers don’t know what their next project will be, they are excited about their new horror film production pact with Project X Entertainment and MRC. Their goal is to back two to three horror films a year that “don’t leave you depressed for days,” says Villella. “Even though our characters are going through hell and dealing with the most absurd situations, we want to have that triumphant feeling at the end.”

“As the guys who made ‘Scream 5’ and ‘Scream 6,’” adds Bettinelli-Olpin, “we would love to see more original movies with original voices.”

To that end, the Radio Silence team are open to making movies outside of the genre; they’re currently in development on a comedy project with Andy Samberg, for example. “But I also can’t imagine us doing a pass on any script,” Bettinelli-Olpin says, “and not being like, ‘Ooh, what if …’”

“‘What if this person explodes?’” Gillett jumps in. 

As they all start to laugh, Bettinelli-Olpin gives a playful shrug. “It’s just what happens!”

More From Our Brands

How design-savvy electric boats are shaping the future of yachting, new sports investment thinking boosts baseball, retail in midwest, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, ratings: tracker surges to its biggest sunday audience yet, verify it's you, please log in.