Line #32 YMMV/StarTrek2009


1	* AccidentalInnuendo: Uhura is quick to remind Spock about her "oral sensitivities"[[note]]actually "aural" sensitivities[[/note]].
2	* ActorShipping: A lot of fans love to ship Creator/ChrisPine and Creator/ZacharyQuinto, with tons of fanfics and fan edits that pair them together, which is unsurprising considering the two are playing the characters who basically invented shipping, Kirk/Spock. The two are actually good friends in real life and love to play up their closeness in interviews. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Quinto is actually gay in real life. They even have their own PortmanteauCoupleName, "Pinto". Some fans also ship Pine with Creator/KarlUrban (Urbine) and Quinto with Creator/ZoeSaldana.
3	* {{Adorkable}}:
4	** A number of fans find Chekov adorable, with he being the youngest member and his thick accent.
5	** Nero. He was a major fanboy of Spock in the prime timeline and bits and pieces of his former nature still show through the madness occasionally.
6	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Nero an angry and vengeful man blinded by rage at the people who could have saved his home planet, or is he simply ''insane'' and driven off the deep end by grief and rage? A lot depends on whether you see his mission (killing Spock and destroying the Federation [[FishOutOfTemporalWater in the past]] to take revenge on them for failing to save Romulus in the future) as an act of righteous anger or just the irrational death throes of a broken man with nothing left to live for. A common observation about the story is that Nero could've warned his people about their planet's destruction if he ''really'' wanted to save it; depending on how you interpret his actions, either he didn't do that because [[CassandraTruth he didn't think anyone would believe him]], because [[RevengeBeforeReason he cared more about punishing the people he held responsible]], or because [[AxCrazy his traumatic experiences drove him crazy]]. ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' leans towards the latter interpretation when it revealed [[spoiler:The Federation was trying to help evacuate Romulus, but a terrorist attack destroyed the shipyards building the evacuation fleet and led them to call it off.]]
7	* AluminumChristmasTrees: Safely parachuting from a planet's orbit wearing a space suit. It sounds like pure science fiction, but it's actually been done twice on our own planet. At the time of this film's release, the world record for highest parachute jump had been set in 1960 by American Air Force officer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger Joseph Kittinger]], who [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior parachuted from Earth's stratosphere]] in a manner almost exactly like that depicted in the movie. Then, three years after the movie came out, that record was broken by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excelsior Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner]], who parachuted from the stratosphere about 24 miles from the ground (again, almost exactly like Kirk and Sulu did it).
8	* AngstWhatAngst: Nobody but Spock seems particularly bothered by [[spoiler:the destruction of Vulcan, one of the core worlds of the Federation, and the death of its six billion inhabitants]]. Scotty doesn't even seem to be aware that it happened, which is bizarre considering he's stationed on a planet ''in the same solar system''.
9	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
10	** The main theme, known as "Enterprising Young Men", especially in the opening credits. Something about that crystalline, somber yet uplifting horn solo sends chills down your spine every time. Especially the brief variation that plays on the drill platform when Sulu whips out his folding katana, throws off his helmet, and looks ready to rumble. And, of course, its bold usage accompanying TheReveal of the alt-universe USS ''Enterprise''.
11	** Naturally, the inclusion of "Sabotage" by the Music/BeastieBoys in Kirk's scene as a delinquent youth.
12	* BaseBreakingCharacter: James T. Kirk.
13	** There's many of a debate whether Kelvin Timeline Kirk actually ''deserves'' to be [[RookieRedRanger the Captain]] of the ''Enterprise'', given that he is shown to be arrogant, risk-taking, and willing to disregard Starfleet protocols when it suits him; defenders point out that Kirk always had those traits, they just seem more pronounced here because Kirk is a younger man, and he also demonstrates heroism, bravery, and intelligence.
14	** There's also the matter of Creator/ChrisPine's performance as Kirk. Creator/WilliamShatner has made a nice career out of AdamWesting his most famous role, and the film's creators and Pine himself were aware it would be a bit of a challenge to portray Kirk as true-to-character without devolving into a parody of impression of Shatner. It's debated if Pine pulled it off or not (consequently, ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' showed he could pull off Shatner's Kirk a few years later).
15	* CommonKnowledge: Everyone knows the film features all the characters [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether meeting as teenage cadets]]. Except it doesn't. Only Kirk, [=McCoy=], Uhura and Chekov are expressly cadets; Spock is an Academy instructor, Scotty is a long-serving officer who was ReassignedToAntarctica due to an unfortunate transporter accident, and Sulu is either a cadet or a recent Academy graduate (it's never stated). Also: Chekhov (who's portrayed as a teenage prodigy) is the only character who's a teenager in the movie; most of the others are young adults in their twenties, while [=McCoy=] is a middle-aged man who enlisted in Starfleet late in life and Scotty, who as mentioned above was already an officer, is of similar age.
16	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
17	** Captain Robau, who has about five minutes of screen time, has gone down in ''Trek'' lore as one of the most [[MemeticBadass badass]] captains ever.
18	** Gaila is proving very popular. She stars in one scene, is a face in a crowd scene, and that's ''it''. This may have something to do with her being an Orion who presumably has lots of sex or just the fact that she's another female face.
19	** Sarek of all people takes this from some parts of the fandom who find his open admission of love for Amanda and the fact that he is finally portrayed as a good but flawed father had won him many fans, especially after ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'', which many claims assassinated his character.
20	** Kind of a {{meta}} example: Creator/SimonPegg reportedly loved Scotty's companion Keenser so much that he pushed for him to get a bigger role in the franchise than was originally planned. (In the first draft, he was a one-shot character who wasn't seen again after Scotty leaves with Kirk and wasn't even shown to rejoin Starfleet, let alone become part of the ''Enterprise'' crew.) He was popular enough with the fans and crew to appear in both ''[[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness Into Darkness]]'' and ''[[Film/StarTrekBeyond Beyond]]''.
21	* HarsherInHindsight:
22	** When the ''Enterprise'' fails to go to warp, Pike sarcastically asks helmsman Sulu, "Is the parking brake on?" Seven years later, Creator/AntonYelchin would die in an accident caused by the failure of his car's parking brake.
23	** There's an in-universe case of this in that scene too. It's PlayedForLaughs in the moment, but if they ''had'' gone to warp with the rest of the fleet, the ''Enterprise'' would likely have met the same fate as the other ships. Sulu's beginner's mistake, and the consequent delay, probably saved a lot of lives.
24	* HeartwarmingInHindsight:
25	** Creator/LeonardNimoy reprising the role of Spock to [[PassingTheTorch pass the torch]] to the new cast is incredibly heartwarming since he was the next TOS cast member to pass on in 2015.
26	** [[https://screenrant.com/zachary-quinto-ancestry-star-trek-spock-quote/ On a 2022 episode]] of ''Series/WhoDoYouThinkYouAre'', Creator/ZacharyQuinto learned that his great-grandfather, P.J. [=McArdle=], who was a union leader in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had used the phrase "May it live long and prosper." in a letter to the editor of ''The Amalgamated Journal'' in 1899. As Quinto put it:
27	--->'''Quinto:''' The fact that a hundred and fifteen years later, or something, I would get cast a character who is known for that very phrase... There was something about it that felt bigger than me... There was something about it that felt kind of cosmic.
28	* HilariousInHindsight:
29	** [[Creator/ZoeSaldana Uhura]]'s roommate is a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe who'd been getting on her nerves for bringing guys (including Kirk) into their room. Fast forward to ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014''...
30	** On the commentary, the "cliffs" in Iowa (actually part of a quarry) were caused by the "2011 earthquake". There actually was an earthquake in an unusual part of the United States (the East Coast) in 2011.
31	** A "lightning storm in space" occurs on the day of Kirk's birth. His father, Creator/ChrisHemsworth, would later play {{Film/Thor}}.
32	** [[Creator/KarlUrban McCoy]] is Skurge in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', [[Creator/ZoeSaldana Uhura]] is Gamora, one of the Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2014}}, and after ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', [[Creator/BenedictCumberbatch Khan]] is Film/{{Doctor Strange\|2016}}.
33	** Kirk's mother, played by Creator/JenniferMorrison, names him after her father. Her father's name is James, but he's better known as ''[[Series/OnceUponATime Prince Charming]]''. Made even more hilarious as Creator/ChrisPine plays the Prince--a deconstruction of the Prince Charming archetype--in ''Film/IntoTheWoods''.
34	** So that's where Kirk gets his penchant for getting into trouble and kicking ass from; his parents are Emma Swan and Thor.
35	** Spock quotes Franchise/SherlockHolmes during the film. Quite apt, considering [[Creator/BenedictCumberbatch who ended]] [[{{Series/Sherlock}} up bring cast]] as the BigBad in [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness the sequel]].
36	** Near the end of the film, Nero yells Spock's name as a reference to ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]''. [[spoiler:In ''[[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness Into Darkness]]'', ''Spock'' gets to yells the iconic '''KHHHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!''' himself near the end of that film.]]
37	** Towards the end of the DVDCommentary, Creator/JJAbrams mentions he talked to Creator/GeorgeLucas during filming, asking what would make this film better, and Lucas answered more lightsabers. In 2013, Abrams became director of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel ''Film/TheForceAwakens''. In general, the film draws [[SpiritualLicensee many comparisons]] to ''Star Wars'', making it even funnier.
38	** Zachary Quinto would [[https://www.themarysue.com/things-we-saw-today-zachary-quinto-learns-how-a-distant-relative-of-his-is-connected-to-his-iconic-star-trek-role/ learn]] on ''Series/WhoDoYouThinkYouAre'' that his great-grandfather once used the phrase "Live long and prosper" while writing in a worker's union newsletter. As the newsletter was dated 1899, his great-grandfather likely learned it from a then-recent stage play about Rip Van Winkle.
39	* HoYay:
40	** Kirk/Spock is the granddaddy of all slash pairings, and the subtext is definitely there in this adaptation.
41	** Kirk/Bones too, what with their VitriolicBestBuds dynamic.
42	* ItsPopularNowItSucks: Parodied by Website/TheOnion in the video "[[http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable']]", which "showed" how the hardcore Trekkies were upset when the movie was critically acclaimed, on the basis that it was "theirs". "They" were particularly annoyed about its inclusion of demographic-pandering things like a sensible plot, actors who care about what they're saying, and [[AliensSpeakingEnglish aliens who speak English]].
43	* JustHereForGodzilla: Many of the original fans only turned up to see Creator/LeonardNimoy as Spock for one last time. [[spoiler:Not really the last time until Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness.]]
44	* LesYay: Uhura and her roommate seem very comfortable being in their underwear around each other.
45	* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt:
46	** Kirk getting chased by a gigantic toothy monster. Kudos to them for giving the monster a face made of NightmareFuel, but there couldn't have been a single person in the audience who was the remotest bit worried for Kirk. And lo and behold, he doesn't get a scratch that isn't gone by the end of the movie. ''Quelle surprise''.
47	** And, of course, an impressive subversion with the [[spoiler:destruction of Vulcan]].
48	* MemeticBadass: Captain Robau, now being adopted by some segments of the ''Trek'' fandom as their own personal Creator/ChuckNorris. [[OneSceneWonder And he's only in the movie for about five minutes.]]
49	* MemeticMutation:
50	** "Fire everything!", "I like this ship! It's exciting!", "Wictor-wictor...", "SPOOOOOOOOOOOOCK!"
51	** "Chekov can do zat. HE CAN DO ZAT, HE CAN DO ZAT! MOVE, MOVE!"
52	* MoralEventHorizon: See [[MoralEventHorizon/StarTrek here]].
53	* {{Narm}}:
54	** The absurd overuse of {{Lens Flare}}s, even when there's no apparent source for them.
55	** Nero's line "Hi, Christopher, I'm Nero" for how awkward it sounds, making it sound like he's a customer service representative.
56	** When Nero finds out that Spock foiled his plans and [[SayMyName shouts his name]]. It wasn't so much the shout that was narmy, but the fact that when he shouts it the second time, Nero looks like he's had too much Romulan ale. Plus, Creator/EricBana's delivery can make you wonder if you just heard a PrecisionFStrike.
57	** A lot of Nero's line reads sound like an angry toddler, especially the infamous "I want Spock dead '''NOW'''!"
58	* NarmCharm:
59	** Normally Nero's [[EvilIsHammy delightful hamminess]] would count as {{Narm}}, but Creator/EricBana accomplishes the impressive task of making it ''work''.
60	** Chekov’s “Russian” accent is still obviously fake-sounding, despite his actor actually being Russian-born this time. But let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be Chekov without his signature “nuclear wessels” accent, now, would it?
61	* NeverLiveItDown: As far as the internet is concerned, this movie and ''everything'' Creator/JJAbrams will ever make from this movie on will be nothing but one giant LensFlare, even after ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and all his other works since then have significantly toned them down.
62	* OlderThanTheyThink:
63	** In one article in preparation for the film's release, ''Entertainment Weekly'' addressed [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks hardcore fan outcry]] about the redesign of the ''Enterprise'''s bridge with a "Through the Years" photo comparison of previous bridge sets, pointing out that it's actually been redesigned significantly for previous movies too--it just got more attention in this one, considering the movie's already controversial ContinuityReboot status.
64	** Likewise, the controversial EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether premise of the 2009 film? Per a ''Starlog'' magazine from ''1988'', the idea was being kicked around by both ''Franchise/StarTrek'' creator Creator/GeneRoddenberry and ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Star Trek II]]'' director Creator/NicholasMeyer as an AlternateUniverse television series. ''Star Trek II'' producer Harve Bennett also wanted to use it for ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Star Trek VI]]'', but his proposal was rejected in favor of a story featuring the entire TOS cast (his story would've featured only Creator/WilliamShatner and Creator/LeonardNimoy as Kirk and Spock in the present day).
65	** The fact that Spock and Uhura are a couple drew fan outrage, as there was only some mild flirting in TOS. However, Creator/NichelleNichols and Creator/LeonardNimoy have stated that the Uhura/Kirk kiss was intended for Spock, and Roddenberry had intended for them to be a couple but couldn't because of the blatant racism towards Nichols at the time, so when they were told that Spock and Uhura would be a couple in the reboot, they wholeheartedly approved of it.
66	** This isn't the first ''Trek'' movie that has fun with {{Lens Flare}}s. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GykzQzVyVZQ EC Henry noted]] that ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' has plenty of gratuitous lens flares.
67	** In Harve Bennett's first draft for ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'', the villains were supposed to be Romulans. Spock's role remained relatively the same, except he goes feral and kills several Romulan miners when they were drilling for dilithium on the Genesis Planet.
68	** The supernova threatening the entire Romulan Empire draws ire because SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale, but this is hardly the first ''Star Trek'' film having such issues, with ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' also having a shockwave traveling interstellar distances when the Klingon moon of Praxis explodes with enough force for ''Excelsior'' to feel it on the far side of the Neutral Zone.
69	** The idea of stardates being based directly on Earth calendar dates was originally considered for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' well before its first usage here.
70	* OneSceneWonder:
71	** Captain Robau, despite appearing for a few minutes [[spoiler:[[SacrificialLamb before dying]]]], is [[AFatherToHisMen a]] [[TheCaptain total badass]].
72	** Lieutenant George Kirk, thanks in no small part to Creator/ChrisHemsworth's eventual superstardom, to the point that producers actually considered bringing him back in the shelved ''Star Trek XIV''.
73	* QuestionableCasting: Many people's first reaction when the cast was first announced.
74	** Creator/WinonaRyder, in particular, became this in the editing room. They cast her as Spock's mother because there was originally supposed to be a brief prologue scene where we would have seen Spock's birth, with a much younger Amanda Grayson celebrating the birth of her son alongside her husband. When that scene was cut, many people in the audience were left wondering why a well-known actress who could easily pass for 30 had been put in unconvincing age-effect makeup in order to play such a small role.
75	** As a Korean-American, Creator/JohnCho as Sulu attracted controversy with fans until Creator/GeorgeTakei, the original Sulu, explained that Sulu is a pan-Asian character, meant to represent all Asian nationalities. Also, the original Sulu was canonically born in San Francisco (which has a sizable and diverse Asian population), and thus there was no basis for assuming that he would be of a single nationality any more than this would be true of a European, Latino, or African character. There is a bit of socieital bias in play here, as people only marrying members of their own national[=/=]ethnic group is in decline even in the present-day real world, and there is no reason to imagine that 300 years from now such a push for ethnic purity would reassert itself, especially when you have InterspeciesRomance going on!
76	** ''Creator/TylerPerry'' as the head of Starfleet?[[note]]He's there because he happens to be a big ''Star Trek'' fan himself and requested a role in the movie[[/note]]
77	* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/ChrisHemsworth in his [[OneSceneWonder single scene]] as George Kirk, considering he became [[Film/{{Thor}} an]] [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Avenger]] two years later.
78	* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Many pairings qualify, but Sulu/Chekov and Scotty/Gaila are notable for their HUGE popularity in proportion to the amount of canon interaction.
79	* TaintedByThePreview: The initial two trailers (the first featuring some shots of the ''Enterprise'' under construction, and the second being a somewhat random collection of clips from the film capped off by a shot of Spock Prime) were treated with indifference at best, and outright derision at worst by most film-goers. Averted in the end, however, as the third trailer was much improved and credited with creating much of the buzz that made the movie a success.
80	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Everything from the ''Enterprise'''s design to Spock's sideburns has been used as "proof".
81	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
82	** Nero in the novelization/comic version[[note]]A working stiff who risks charges of treason to help save his world, working with Spock toward the solution only to have the Vulcans slam the door in his face, dooming his race... and then having nothing to live for but revenge[[/note]] is more complex than what he was, even sympathetic, and could've actually outdone Khan.
83	** Considering how much screen time Christopher Pike gets in this film, it would have been pretty easy to fit in (at the very least) a [[TheCameo cameo]] from his old second-in-command "Number One", if only as a nod to Pike's first appearance in the TV show. Sadly, she's nowhere to be seen.
84	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
85	** Spock becoming the Captain of the ''Enterprise''. This film seems to go out of its way to treat Kirk's promotion to Captain as a ForegoneConclusion, despite the fact that Spock outranks him for most of the movie, Kirk never graduated from the Academy, and the movie takes place in an AlternateTimeline where [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore nothing is guaranteed to happen exactly like it did in]] ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]''. Though it might have earned the ire of some fans, it arguably would have made for a much more interesting story if Spock had ''stayed'' Captain after Pike's departure, and Kirk had become his First Officer instead. Not only would it have shaken up the classic dynamic from the TV show, it would have provided an interesting opportunity to see how the stoic Spock would handle being a leader and to see how the hotheaded Kirk would handle taking orders from someone else.
86	** Some people felt that it was a missed opportunity to have the ''Narada'' be an early version of the titular planet-killer from "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E6TheDoomsdayMachine The Doomsday Machine]]", to which it already shares a great number of similarities.
87	* WinBackTheCrowd: Love it or hate it, this movie got ''everyone'' interested in ''Star Trek'' again after years of decline, also considering what would happen with the StarTrekMovieCurse.

Context YMMV / StarTrek2009