EXCLUSIVE: Most Illogical! 11 Mistakes In The New Star Trek Movie
May 12 2009, Published 11:15 a.m. ET
The re-boot of Star Trek has many terrific qualities: characters we know and love, rousing action, and heart-stopping special effects. And it made enough money (more than $76 million) its opening weekend to satisfy a Ferengi.
However, as sci-fi film historian Richard S. Meyers points out exclusively to RadarOnline.com, not everything about the movie is -- well, logical. "In fact," he says, "some of it looks like it got mangled in a transporter beam." Meyers is a former reporter for Starlog, and the author of several books including SF-2: A Pictorial History of Science Fiction Films From Rollerball to The Return of the Jedi.
So in the spirit of Vulcan logic he feels obligated to point out 11 of the movie's flaws. Some you may consider nit-picking, others are indisputable gaffes whether or not you are a Trekkie!
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.
1. "The biggest mistake occurs at the end of the movie," Meyers told RadarOnline.com. "Spock is beamed from a seated position in his ship and materializes in a standing position on the Enterprise's transporter pad, despite the fact that all the other beamed characters re-appeared in their original poses throughout the film."
2. "When Kirk, Sulu, and the other crewmen perform their orbital dive to sabotage the drill, they plunge through the atmosphere above Vulcan. Didn't you see The Right Stuff? Friction, guys! They would have burned up like shooting stars."
3. "Arriving on Vulcan, Kirk and Sulu attempt to destroy the drill, they are miles above the planet's surface. Since the atmosphere is thinner than on Earth, they should have frozen to death or suffocated."
4. "When Kirk and McCoy meet on the shuttle, watch how the shoulder strap of our favorite country doctor keeps changing. First it's smooth, then it's not, smooth again, then not every time the camera angle changes."
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5. "Remember how Captain Kirk leaps away from Nero's henchman and lands near a gun on a walkway inside the Romulan vessel? Well, when the Romulan jumps after Kirk, he's wearing the same gun that was just seen on the walkway."
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6. "While Kirk is seen sneaking around the Romulan ship before fighting Nero, he's holding a Romulan pistol. That's the one he swipes later from the Romulan first officer before saying "I got your gun."
7. "Since Nero's red matter caused the black hole which sends him and Spock into the past, gasses from the supernova should also have come through with them. They didn't."
8. "Even in his emotionally charged state, Spock would never have stranded a Starfleet officer, or anyone, for that matter, on a nearly barren ice world miles from a Federation outpost. No man left behind, y'know? He would have confined the mutinous Kirk to the brig."
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9. "When Kirk's father George is flying the Kelvin toward the Romulan mining vessel, the reported time to impact doesn't jive with the actual time it took to crash into it. I guess they needed more time to come up with a middle name for their son."
10. "Captain Pike tells young civilian Kirk that if he joins Starfleet he could be an officer in 4 years, and make captain in 8. However, at the end of the film, after only 3 years as a cadet, Kirk is officially given command of the Enterprise. Yes, he held his own against Nero and saved the day, but he was also charged with cheating on his exam and guilty of disobeying direct orders from a superior officer. So his three-year rise seems most illogical!"
11. "And my biggest gripe? Simon Pegg, who does a fantastic job portraying engineer Montgomery Scott, has far less hair than James Doohan, who played an older Scotty in the original Star Trek series. Will the next film reveal he got hair transplants from a Tribble?"
Attention Starfleet wannabes! Did you notice any other mistakes in the new Star Trek movie? If so, email us at tips@radaronlne.com and we’ll include them in a future story.