A Brief Guide to Star Trek

long-term fans.
Entertainment Weekly
called J. J. Abrams’
Star Trek
‘clever and infectious’, while the
Boston Globe
dubbed the movie ‘ridiculously satisfying’. While most critics accepted the new film in the style of a Hollywood summer blockbuster, the
Chicago Sun-Times
’ Roger Ebert worried that Gene Roddenberry’s more thoughtful
Star Trek
had ‘been replaced by stories reduced to loud and colourful action’. Somereviewers came to the conclusion that this reintroduction to
Star Trek
lacked some of the ideas-driven narratives that had frequently been featured in the best TV episodes and films in
Star Trek
’s past. Many held out the hope that free of the need to relaunch the concept, any sequel films would be better able to introduce an element of the cerebral
Star Trek
so central to Gene Roddenberry’s original conception of the show.
    Among the strong points of J. J. Abrams’
Star Trek
was the emotional core in the relationship between Kirk and Spock. Kirk has a strong personal reason for tackling Nero and his Romulan band: they were responsible for the death of his father on the USS
Kelvin
. Having been born into conflict, Kirk has grown up with a huge challenge hanging over him – could he ever live up to the example set by his father? It’s what Pike uses to lure Kirk into signing up with Starfleet. Of course, Nero’s presence in this universe is due to the activities of Spock Prime in the original
Star Trek
universe.
    Spock faces a similar series of emotional challenges. His home world is attacked by Nero in revenge for Spock Prime’s failure. Attempting to rescue several Vulcan leaders, Spock witnesses the death of his mother as the planet is vaporised. As seen in the young Spock scenes, the Vulcan has long struggled with his human emotions, so the loss of his human mother further complicates his struggle between logic and emotion.
    Kirk and Spock are connected by more than just being in Starfleet, and finding themselves aboard the
Enterprise
at a moment of crisis. They’ve both lost parents in violent incidents, and both parental deaths were caused by the same antagonist: Nero. Spock’s role is to counterbalance Kirk’s rash nature and over-emotional involvement in events, while Kirk’s passion serves to temper the Vulcan’s cold logic and allows him to see the value of human feelings. It is only through pushing Spock to display his anger that Kirk gains the captaincy of the
Enterprise
at the crucial moment. It all faithfully harks back to the positioning of the original characters in
The Original Series
along an emotional continuum.
    Both characters have older mentors who guide them in their actions: Pike for Kirk and Spock Prime for both Kirk and Spock – they are both essentially surrogate parental figures. The third wheel – Dr McCoy – is an enabler for both characters. It is McCoy who brings Kirk aboard the
Enterprise
, a ship he is not supposed to be on, but it is also McCoy who challenges some of Kirk’s planned actions.
    These characters and the emotional connections between them were wrapped up in a cracking plot that was simple for audiences to understand and engage with, with a series of action set-pieces (the opening battle, an assault on a drilling platform, an attack on Nero’s ship) that impressed more casual viewers. While the movie set out to appeal to non-
Star Trek
fans, it was equally loaded with touchstones that reached out to fans of all of
Star Trek
’s previous incarnations. The use of Vasquez Rocks was a prominent visual shout-out to
The Original Series
, but there were many more, covering much of the
Star Trek
canon. During the opening bar fight, Kirk uses a bottle of Saurian Brandy as a weapon. The Kobayashi Maru test sequence (lifted from
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
) sees Kirk eating an apple, something Shatner’s Kirk is seen doing in
The Wrath of Khan
when he confesses how he beat the same test – although this apparently came about as Pine simply happened to be eating the apple during a break in filming. There are other
Khan
references, such as Spock quoting Sherlock Holmes and Spock Prime telling Kirk he ‘has been and always shall be’ his friend. Sulu was able to put his fencing training into practice during the assault on the mining rig – he was also seen displaying his fencing skills in the early
Star Trek
episode ‘The Naked Time’. The same sequence sees the unfortunate Chief Engineer Olsen wear a red-tinged space suit,