Stargate Universe continues to impress with its greater emphasis on drama and characters compared to previous incarnations of the show.
In episode 'life' we see the ancient communication stones being put to use again as Scott and Camile take their turn to visit home. We finally get to see Ming-Na's character 'Camile' getting some decent screen time. Her same-sex relationship with her lover back on Earth is utterly convincing and surprising to watch on a Science Fiction series.
Scott has to deal with a former lover who has since had his child, 8 years ago without his knowledge.
Back on Destiny, hopes are raised when Rush discovers another 'Icarus-like' planet approximately 1 year away therefore giving the crew an opportunity to get home. This is too late for one of the crew members who has just ran out of medication and is causing all sorts of tension and arguments to ensue. In the middle of all this, Johansen is conducting a psychiatric review of everyone on board Destiny and we are not entirely surprised to see that almost everyone is not exactly thrilled about their situation, well except Rush perhaps.
Because I love Star Trek so much, I feel like it is my solemn duty to defend it against the nit-pickers. But the reasons below why Star Trek XI sucked on the YouTube video transcends nit-picking. It is a simpleminded attack on 2009's best movie to date and also a movie which is generally considered to be one of the best Star Trek films ever. The movie is flawed, no doubt about it. But the reasoning behind those who are determined to smash it is flawed even more.
Here is the first video: I won't bother posting them all, you can seek out the rest on YouTube. I cannot find numbers 80 - 100, presumably the nitpicker has not uploaded them yet, or else he ran out of steam.
Who cares? Lens flares might not be your thing but I'd hardly say that the movie sucked because of it. Also, I personally found that they blended the exterior shots with the interior shots very well. but there are lens flares in life and I personally think they add more realism to the moving image. Were they overused? Perhaps, 2. Romulan Skinheads: This one is based upon the reasoning 'why don't they look the same as before?' Well my friend, you may have missed this small point. This movie is a reboot; it’s the same reason why the buttons on the Enterprise Bridge don't have toothpaste caps for buttons anymore.
3. Daddy Kirk: Um, this one makes no sense, sorry. Is this some kind of protest at Hollywood casting?
4. CGI Eyeballs Alien: What the problem with this again? Too different from the norm for you? why do you even watch Sci Fi if you are going to criticise the look of an Alien. If you hate this, then you must be absolutely disgusted by a Ferengi.
5. Nokia Product Placement: And the problem is? Cellphones? Who said it was a cellphone? How do you know that Nokia do not make the communicators? Perhaps Nokia was absorbed into the new economic world order....I dunno.
6. Beastie Boys: Again, and the problem is? This is a superb song and I found it worked really well with the scene of a young rebelious Kirk. What song would you have used?
7. Robocop, 'Utterly Pointless': Can you please explain why this is utterly pointless? Personally I thought it looked awesome. Does there have to be a back story for every single person in the film? Perhaps his 'Robocop-ish' suit was for protection from the elements while flying a hoverbike at some dangerous altitudes, who knows?
8. There's Canyons in Iowa? Um, yes there is. This is a Science Fiction film and it is set in the future. In the future there are man-made canyons in Iowa, probably quarries. yes.
9. Little Kirk is Neo: Because he jumps out of the car going 80 Mph (was it going 80mph?) this makes it worthy of some silly comparison to the Matrix?. Um ok.
10. Why is that shitty music still playing after the car has gone over the cliff? Well this is an interesting point. During the production of film and television and even some creative home made videos, there is a vital but little known area called 'editing'. This is where a soundtrack is overlayed upon the moving images for dramatic effect.Click here for more info.
11. Gasoline. Prices? Peak Oil? Mate, even a 6 year old with half a brain could come up with a reason for this. How about, um perhaps it’s not Gasoline. Maybe it’s an alternative fuel that they are using in the Mustang? My god, they are already doing that now, in 2009! 'The Future Begins!'
12. Time Travel And the problem is? Time Travel is an often used device in many Sci Fi genre film and TV shows, your point?
13. Shaky cam Again, your point? This is again used for dramatic effect, used very effectively in such awesome shows as Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and even some of the External shots of Babylon 5. All brilliant science fiction. Did they suck too? Shaky cam is a technique often employed by many film and tv shows.
14. Kirk is a bar hopping drunk ass Jerk. Yes. Yes he is.
15. Budweiser product placement. Yes, they have Budweiser in the future and they probably have Scotch whiskey too, is that bad also? They probably even have ale from other planets...Omg!
16. Your Mom's a whore. ??? I guess you started to run out of ideas when you got this far.
17. If Vulcans hate humans so much, why don't they study math in their own language? Perhaps you have once more forgotten the entire point of breaking the communications barrier to advance the story in almost all Sci Fi shows. They are speaking English for the benefit of the audience, the readouts are also for the benefit of the audience, um just like every other sci-fi film or TV show ever made.
18. British Vulcans American Vulcans?
19. Spock's fake plastic hair. Is it plastic? Looks like hair to me.
20. Uhura Sex object. Did someone edit some porn into your version of the movie? I think I missed that scene.
21. Chris Pine, douche bag.. Ken Doll.. Kirk is now a drunken lout. Well I don't know Chris Pine so I do not know if he is a douche bag or not, what is a douche bag anyway? Ken Doll? ... Again, you have a problem with Hollywood casting? Was Shatner a Ken Doll too in his day? Perhaps. Drunken lout? Well at the beginning of the movie he got drunk in one scene, I guess this makes him a drunken lout. ???
22. Green Alien Bimbo You said she needs a better paint job? Looked fine to me. Looked...um.....Green. Was that not the point? a bit of humour and homage to TOS?
23. Comrade Chekov, could that Russian accent be more outlandish? Probably not, but again is that not the point? You forgot to also mention that his accent is completely inaccurate with regards to his pronunciation of the letter 'V', but again, it's just like Koenig did it, did you hate him too?
24. Where is 24? you suck.
25. The Macbridge. Looks awesome to me and I hate Mac's!
24. (Oh there it is) Balloon hands. 2 words my friend, 'comic' and 'relief'.
25. Transporter Beam, why does it now swirl around like the Tasmanian devil? My god, you are correct. When I first saw the new Transporter beam effect I thought 'hang on, why did they copy the Tasmanian devil?' then I thought 'why did the Tasmanian Devil copy a Tornado?' then I thought 'why did that Tornado copy the effect of my flushing toilet'?
26. Why is it that their HALO master chief suits don't burn up in the atmosphere? And what's with those parachutes?
There is a common thread running through the sci fi genre and Star Trek in particular. It deals with 'Technological advancement'. Advancing technology is part of the very core of speculative fiction and they use this to explain why they can fly faster than light and teleport people.
You have a problem with the suits not burning up in the atmosphere, but you are ok with teleportation?
27. And all of a sudden Sulu has a sword? Yes Sulu has a sword.
28. Space Drill. Why does it not burn up in the atmosphere? How does this thing work? And why? Why not use explosives? Trying to drill a hole in the ground from space is the mostrediculous thing ever invented. Romulans can fly at warp speed, defeat the inertia of faster than light acceleration, fire complex weapons of mass destruction and you are wondering why their fucking drill doesn't 'burn up'. Um, again, because it’s made of some super fucking spider silk alloy from a hill tribe in the outer reaches of Mongolia OK? Who knows!
Should Scifi writers explain every single thing to cater for people like you in the audience who yell 'how's that supposed to work!?' or 'that's impossible!'
Explosives?. In Star Trek they can fire intense fictional beams of destructive power and you would prefer they lobbed a few grenades?
Drilling a hole from space is cool. it looks cool and lets say. oh I dunno, given that the purpose of this ship is to 'mine'. Then maybe, just maybe whatever it is they mine might be dangerous and require the Romulan crew to remain at a safe distance.
29. Then they tell us some bullshit about turning a planet into a black hole...WTF? They did not 'turn' the planet into a black hole.
Red Matter is a fictional material in Star Trek and you are trying to debunk it? (Slaps forehead)
30. Leonard Nimoy. He serves no other purpose in this movie. Besides being a gimmick, blah blah blah. Leonard Nimoy is a legend. He refused to participate in Star Trek: Generations for the reason above, but in this movie he is a vital component to explain the back-story and to teach his younger self about what he has learned in his own experiences with logic and feelings. You are a fool to dismiss his role.
31. Convenience. Are you talking coincidence? Because I agree with you, there are a few coincidences in this film which do seem suspicious. But then, coincidences happen every day. I am not going to trash this film over this point, but its easily the best one you have come up with so far. Well done. 31st time lucky I guess.
32. The Future is 'lame'. 200 Years from now, we still use Nokia Phones, still have to deal with sexually harassing beer swilling assholes, still drive fossil fuelled cars, vaccines have toxic and dangerous side effects and they still haven't improved the wheel chair. How do you know we still use Nokia Phones? Who is guilty of sexual harassment in the film? How do you know the car is fossil fuelled? Vaccines have always had side effects, the new ones in the future probably will also. Again, 2 words 'comic relief'.
Wheel chair? How would you improve it?
33. Captain Pike (enter pointless ramble here) How can I rebuke a pointless ramble? Oh, I just did.
34. Star Trek Earwig You are confusing this creature with the ones from The Wrath of Khan. This was to be homage to Star Trek II. Besides the creature went into Pikes mouth, not his ear.
35. Jokes about farm animals Uhura's line in the bar was not the funniest line ever written. But it was not too bad I thought. Why would you say that this is a reason the film sucked?
36. Enterprise built in space in the teaser, but on the ground in the movie. I cannot remember seeing any 'space' scenes in the teaser do you? It was built on Earth.
37. Somebody needs to tell the cameraman about tripods. Whats the problem with this? You don't like the angle of that shot? So?
38. Lens Flares again. You are definitely running out of steam I think.
39. Unlikeable characters Most people (fans and non-fans) agree that the characters were excellent. Steam running out.... getting desperate to reach 100!
39. Red Matter. 39 again? can nitpickers not count? What’s wrong with the term 'red matter' exactly? Why it is not explained? um, let’s see...probably because this is a science fiction movie. I bet if someone offered a seminar to explain it, you would show up and wait while everyone else stands outside and laughs at you.
40. Nero So you don’t like the baddie. fine, I did not particular like him either but Eric Bana did a great job of what he had and brought more life to an otherwise thinly developed character. He looked mean and acted mean though. Good enough. 41. This movie sucked way too much like Star Wars. Your opinion is noted.
42. Kirk is abandoned on Hoth where he runs into a Wampa. I guess its the same as Kirk being abandoned on Rura Penthe (I mean Hoth) and running into a Small Mammoth (Wampa) your point? (Fox News!, Its all connected people!)
43. There's always a bigger fish? Need more coal?
44. Sidekick Alien Wasn't exactly the most poignant character in the movie but the problem is?
45. Pikes says that Starfleet is a peacekeeping force. The Peacekeeping forces of today are interventionists blah blah blah... Um, so you think that Starfleet's role of peacekeeping somehow negates its Prime Directive? Can you please explain this to me? How do you know that? what makes you think for one moment that Starfleet intervenes with pre-warp civilisations?
46. Explanation of the nickname 'Bones' is stupid Why? how is any nickname properly explained? do you have some kind of official documents which detail the rules of nicknames?
47. Idiotic sex jokes, lost in space Pseudoscience Can you explain this one better please? you make no sense.
48. Scotty just happens to be on Hoth (Delta Vega) Agreed, one hell of a coincidence. I would have changed this to include Scotty in a different way but I would not say the movie sucks because of this flaw. Just silly.
49. Jeffrie's tube. The Enterprise has a willy wonka tube as well. Problem? water turbine uses tubes. Would you prefer they used something else?
50. Enterprise Engine room looks like a boiler room Personally I think this was one of the more realistic aspects of the film. Why would the engine room be carpeted with shiny plastic walls (likeTNG)?. I would expect a futuristic Engine room to probably look more like a futuristic boiler room....probably. TNG hater too?
51. Where is Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Rand for more sexual harassment opp's Again with the sexual harassment, please explain where Kirk sexually harasses someone? please explain!
52. Mindless action. In what way was it mindless? Jerky etc etc? go and buy new glasses if you cannot follow what is going on.
53. Phaser Pistols behave like Stargate guns and have the same sound effect. Those phaser pistols were an excellent homage to 1960's design and looked and sounded fucking awesome.
54. Old Spock meets new Spock. So he changed this fucking mind! oooooooo, what a terrible thing to do in a film, besides the crisis was over, why not meet him?
55. Old Spock tell Kirk to piss off Young Spock so he can take command. Drinking being a heel (Heel?) cheating on tests, and being a cocksucker (?) makes him a manipulative slimebag. Drinking (once) cheating (Kobayashi Maru cheat was central to Kirk's Character), being a cocksucker and a manipulative slime bag. So what the problem here? sounds like this was a young Kirk to me? how do you know that he wasn't. Why watch an origin story at the risk of not liking the young characters?
56. Galaxy Quest is better...blah blah blah. Sure, you have your opinion. Galaxy Quest was an awesome film for sure, but then I could also say that 'Notting Hill' is better than 'the Matrix'. Not exactly comparable though I think.
57. Someone forgot to tell the guy who plays McCoy that we wasn't really supposed to be playing McCoy in a real Star Trek film blah, shitty take-off, blah, insult the intelligence of anyone who watches it blah blah... Karl Urban did a superb job (as you said afterward) and whats the point of this criticism again? 58. Sulu played by Korean actor. And you admit that this one is a bit 'nit-picky' ???? my god man! what about the 57 before and the rest yet to come? good lord.
59. JJ is crap Whether you agree or not. The fact is we can now look forward to a rebirth of Star Trek thanks to JJ Abrams. If Michael bay had made this film (like you said) then the film would have had no story at all. It would have been badly cast (JJ's casting was spot on) the editing would have been at a nightmarish speed and he probably would have found a way to get the US military and some US flags in it somehow. If this film had failed, it would have spelled the end of Star Trek. Thank god people like you, are in the minority.
60. 'Enterprise' is better even with its pandering, dumbing down and sex scenes. Bro. Are you ok? do you have an aversion to Sex?
61. Alternate timelines do not explain everything. You are right, they don't. But rebooting a movie for a different fucking century does. Based on this logic, would you prefer that the new Battlestar Galactica characters walk around in the 1970's sets wearing the same 1970's capes?
62. StarfleetAcademy. Whats wrong with it? You mention of developing characters is silly. These characters have already been vastly developed in every other TV show and movie. This is a prequel.
63. Kobayashi Maru My god. What did they do to upset you? They pretty much re-created this scene, exactly like Kirk explained in 'The Wrath of Khan'. What more do you want? 64. Three Years Later Let me see the 3 years! let me see the 3 years! why? what did we lose? Kirk in class, acting arrogant (I thought you hated that).
65. Kirk grabs Uhura's boobs Dude, this was by accident. It was not harassment. two words. 'comic relief'. Your constant intention to paint Kirk as a pervert points to something deep within your own psyche I think.
66. Everyone gets promoted. No they don't. The ship is full of cadets. 3 of them get promoted. 67. Admiral Archer's Beagle. Yes. Your point? Admiral Archer is 156 years old. So? problem? Connections to old shows are good, they make it fun for the Star Trek audience. Also this was probably the 11th Beagle that Archer had for all we know.
68. Nero and his henchmen never age. How do you know this? did you see extra scenes of the movie that the rest of us did not? or are you simply saying that because they do not look too different 25 years later? Romulans live much longer, this was established Trek lore...long long ago. 69. Nero Screams then kills Capt Robau. You broke out laughing at how ridiculous it was? Not in the cinema I hope!, I would have fucking crucified you if you did that in the cinema while I was there. (Movie fans hate people that do that) Nero kills Spock because he furious to discover he has arrived somewhere in the past and has lost Spock, and therefore his ability to exact revenge upon him and his kind.
70. The Romulan Mining ship. Why would a simple mining ship be armed to the teeth with missiles, lasers and enough firepower to destroy a planet? Again, if you actually watched this film you would already know that it does not.
The Romulan ship has no lasers.
It does not have enough firepower to destroy a planet.
It does have missiles, yes. Is it so wrong that a mining vessel which may be subject to hijacking for its precious cargo vital to the Romulan economy not have some missiles for protection?
71. Perhaps it (the Nerada) was copied from Stargate Sg-1 Looks similar, you are right.
But if you are an avid fan of any scifi, I think you will agree that coming up with a completely 100% original starship design can be difficult since almost all shapes and sizes have already been done by someone.
72. Why are they wading around in puddles on a Spaceship? because there is a great deal of moisture build up in the mining machinery. That's why.
73. Its nice to have all those fancy ledges and platforms to fight on. So....you would prefer to make a film with sets that have no ledges or platforms? Weird.
74. Wouldn't the black hole suck in the entire solar system? No. They were not in the solar system, they warped away. If you had actually watched this movie, you would know this.
75. Beating us over the head to remind us this is Star Trek. So you are upset that Scotty has an accent, Checkov has an accent and they repeat lines from the old show. Was this not the point in making a Star Trek prequel? would you have preferred they deleted all these things? This is one insane reason for suckage. 76. I can't wait to kick some Romulan arse Brilliant line. Whats wrong with it? fans know the moment we saw him dressed in red that he wasn't going to kick anyone's arse. Also did you not note Kirk's reaction to the line? he was a little confused by the eagerness of the 'red shirt' too. You missed the whole point of that scene dude.
77. Miniskirts. This movie did an excellent job of blending the 1960's TOS look and feel in an updated setting. Everyone loves a mini skirt my man!
Well, not everyone. You obviously don't and I wonder why?
78. Stop telling me I'm a trekkie. So if you wanted a reboot, you want a 'full' reboot minus the uniforms, romulans etc. You make no sense! what are you actually saying here?
79. Did I mention the lens flares? Yes you did. I like them. Especially during the scene where the Enterprise arrives above Vulcan. The flares added to the sense of chaos.
80. This was basically Star Wars with a bit of this and that. No it wasn't. You say that it failed to achieve anything that Star Trek was originally about. Like what? this was one movie.
Did you want all the morality and optimism of Star Trek in one package? This film had to re-establish Trek without alienating the mainstream audience by bombarding them with the morality tales that we have come to know and love.
Personally I think this was a good move. Besides, Kirk did offer an olive branch to Nero (very Trek like) and the future Earth looks pretty clean green and good to me. I want to live there.
81. ?
So, after 80 reasons why Star Trek Sucked, I'd say that maybe 2 of your reasons have merit. Thats a pretty bad ratio if you ask me. It's also painfully obvious that you went into this film with the intention of hating it. Your reasoning proves that you did not actually watch the movie properly since many of your reasons are either simply innacurate or prove you lack of knowledge of Trek lore, such as your errors in numbers 29,36,66,67,68,70 and 74.
To read more hate talk from the Fox News of Sci Fi, head over there now and say 'hello'.
Ok, here it comes. Stargate Universe's inaugural 'time-travel' story.
Many of the 'I hate time travel' people have already stopped reading this so I might as well continue.
They did a good job. Yes thats right, SGU has brought a little more originality to the classic time-travel plot line.
The crew of Destiny end up in a jungle on a planet looking for supplies when they spot a dead kino lying on the ground. The memory banks are full and they return to Destiny to watch....themselves.
That's right, we watch them, watching themselves. We find out a great deal about the characters as they playback footage from the Kino about their disastrous time on a planet that they never visited for more than a short while.
People are killed and Alien creatures swarm the crew but in an interesting and quite original approach to the time-travel plot, they manage to conclude the episode in such a way which had me scratching my head for a bit.
I know I am not explaining this very well, but trust me this is an excellent twist on the classic TNG-esque Time Travel storyline.
I said in a previous review that one of the only things I did not like about the show was the communication stones, but I have to admit this show was absolutely superb and it would not have happened without this plot device.
The crew of Destiny contact Earth, where the powers that be have discovered a way to 'possibly' get them all back home. Eli, Chloe and Young use the stones to swap bodies on Earth and while the plan to save them is being hatched they all go off on a it of a personal journey. Eli visits his mum but cannot tell her that he is actually Eli because she would not be able to handle it. Some very touching scenes ensue and Eli's character development suddenly gets a major boost.
Some hilarious moments happen between the characters in their 'alternate' bodies and the episode ends on a particulary disturbing note.
This episode had comedy and drama all in one. A fantastic episode with some superb moments for all the major characters!
Well, I hunted and hunted for images of R2D2 in Star Trek and I scoured the web for an image of it. All the images I found online all are wrong. Like the one below (which of course an image of the Enterprise shuttle)
But here is the REAL one! Hooray!
Hi Res Version!
As you can see, R2D2 is floating through the debris field in a shot where the director obviously figured out that the audience attention would of course be on the giant Romulan ship, while completely ignoring this little robot floating gently to the left of the screen.
But here he is! Undeniable proof that R2D2 somehow was transported through space and time in order to witness the destruction of Vulcan.
I guess the chances are that he was then sucked into the black hole and sent far far away with all the debris from Vulcan...
*Update, although I found this a while back, it was the good folks over at Gizmodo who finally received confirmation from a source at ILM that this is the real deal. (thanks for the linkback!)
*Update, some people online are saying that this image is Photoshoped but I want to help prove that it is not. The best way to do this I have found is to play your copy of 'Star trek' with Media Player Classic and use the amazing frame advance feature to get the still... that's how I done it.
I am truly amazed that I seem to be one of the few people who spotted this, yay for me! lolz.
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keywords: star trek r2d2 easter egg, rs-d2 in star trek
The water on board Destiny is running out because an alien creature from the desert planet that we saw in episode 3 has somehow made it aboard and is hogging all the water whenever someone opens the tank.
Colonel Young and Lieutenant Scott make their way through the Stargate to replenish their supply of water from a barren ice world, meanwhile the whispy cloud of miniature alien razor blades manage to rip apart one of the crewmembers who confronts it in a corridor.
Stargate Universe is still throwing out really good episodes and this one was very good. 'Water' did not have quite the feel of jeopardy of previous episodes and there is not a great deal of action in it, but the usual characters all have great moments to shine.
Stargate Universe continues to impress with its greater emphasis on drama and characters compared to previous incarnations of the show.
