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FILM 11 OF 14 · 200911
STAR TREK

Star Trek

NOMADIC PICK · GREAT STARTERA fast, fun gateway for newcomers.
US RELEASE
8 May 2009
UK RELEASE
8 May 2009
RUNTIME
127 minutes
UK CERTIFICATE
12A
DIRECTED BY
J. J. Abrams
MUSIC
Michael Giacchino
BUDGET
$150 million
BOX OFFICE (WORLDWIDE)
$386 million
FIRST STARDATE
2258.42

WRITTEN BYWritten by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

PRODUCED BYJ. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof

IN BRIEF

SPOILER-FREE

In an altered timeline, a reckless young James Kirk and a conflicted Spock must learn to trust each other when a vengeful Romulan from the future threatens their worlds.

SYNOPSIS

SPOILERS
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSISHIDE SYNOPSIS

In 2233 the Romulan mining ship Narada emerges from a strange storm in space and attacks the USS Kelvin. Its commander, Nero, kills Captain Robau, and first officer George Kirk stays aboard to steer the Kelvin into the Narada while the crew escape, among them his wife Winona, who gives birth to their son James during the evacuation. History has been changed.

Years later, Spock, half human and weary of prejudice on Vulcan, turns down the Vulcan Science Academy and joins Starfleet, while a restless James Kirk is talked into enlisting by Captain Christopher Pike. At the Academy Kirk befriends Leonard McCoy and beats the unwinnable Kobayashi Maru test by reprogramming it, which Spock, who designed the test, regards as cheating. The hearing is cut short by a distress call from Vulcan. McCoy smuggles Kirk aboard Pike's Enterprise, and Kirk realises they are flying into a trap. Nero destroys the waiting fleet, takes Pike prisoner after Pike makes Kirk first officer, and uses red matter to create a black hole inside Vulcan. Spock saves his father Sarek, but his mother Amanda dies as the planet collapses.

After clashing with Spock, now acting captain, Kirk is marooned on the icy world of Delta Vega. There he meets an older Spock from the original timeline, who explains that he failed to save Romulus from a supernova in 2387, and that Nero, blaming him, followed him back through a black hole. With engineer Montgomery Scott and an equation from the older Spock, Kirk beams back aboard the Enterprise at warp and goads young Spock into losing control, forcing him to step down. Kirk takes command. Above Earth, he and Spock board the Narada, rescue Pike and destroy the drill, and Spock flies his older self's ship into the Narada, which is consumed by a black hole. Kirk is made captain, with Spock as his first officer.

BEHIND THE CAMERA

After Nemesis and the end of Enterprise, Paramount looked for a fresh start. Paramount president Gail Berman recruited Mission: Impossible III writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and J. J. Abrams, first attached as producer, agreed to direct in February 2007. The writers used time travel to create an alternate timeline, freeing the story from established continuity while keeping the familiar characters, with Leonard Nimoy's older Spock as a bridge to the past. Abrams favoured real sets and locations over green screen, filming in California and Utah between November 2007 and March 2008 under the cover title Corporate Headquarters. Moved from Christmas 2008 to May 2009, it was a critical and commercial hit, taking about $386 million worldwide.

DID YOU KNOW?

  1. 01Majel Barrett recorded her final role, the voice of the Enterprise computer, shortly before her death in December 2008.
  2. 02Its Academy Award for Best Makeup is the only Oscar a Star Trek film has won.
  3. 03Michael Giacchino's score keeps Alexander Courage's original Star Trek theme for the end credits.
  4. 04The United Kingdom was the film's biggest market outside the US, taking around $35.4 million according to Box Office Mojo.

CONNECTIONS

  • The Kobayashi Maru test was introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), where Kirk admits he beat it by reprogramming the simulation.
  • Captain Pike first appeared, played by Jeffrey Hunter, in the pilot “The Cage”, footage later reused in “The Menagerie” (1966).
  • Spock Prime's story follows on from TNG “Unification” (1991), where he went to Romulus to work for reunification with Vulcan.

AWARDS

Academy Award for Best Makeup, plus Oscar nominations for sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects; Hugo Award nomination (Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form)

SOURCES WE CHECKED