History Film / STARTREK

[[redirect:Film/StarTrek2009]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_trek_2009_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Space... the final frontier."'']]

->'''Spock:''' I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.\\
'''Kirk:''' See? We '''are''' getting to know each other.

''Star Trek'' is the eleventh movie in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' film series, released in 2009.

TheFilmOfTheSeries from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' creator Creator/JJAbrams featuring the characters from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' played by a new cast and is set in an AlternateTimeline during the time period of ''The Original Series''. Alternatively called ''[[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt J.J. Abrams' Star Trek]]'', ''Star Trek 2009/'09'', and ''Star Trek XI/11'' to keep confusion in check with the other Trek films.

In 2233, 32 years before ''The Original Series'' was originally going to take place, TheFederation Starship ''Kelvin'' comes across a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie "black hole"-like spatial phenomenon]] near a distant sun. Emerging from it is a massive ship called the ''Narada'' captained by [[AxCrazy a Romulan named Nero]] (Creator/EricBana). Nero kills the ''Kelvin'''s captain, and deploying weaponry vastly superior to that of the Federation ship, the ''Narada'' forces the ''Kelvin'' crew to abandon ship, with many crewmembers lost. While the survivors flee the devastating battle, a young boy is born amongst them: [[TheHero James Tiberius Kirk]], son of the first officer of the ''Kelvin'' (Creator/ChrisHemsworth), who sacrifices himself and the ship to buy time for his crew's escape. This incident ultimately sets a new series of events in motion; one of them being James T. Kirk (Creator/ChrisPine) growing up an angry, rebellious young adult until he is recruited by Captain Christopher Pike (Creator/BruceGreenwood) to join Starfleet.

As Kirk makes waves at Starfleet Academy, the ''Narada'' and Nero emerge again after years in hiding. The Federation scrambles its fleet to confront the warship, deploying the flagship ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'', commanded by Pike, for the first time. All the rest of the fleet is destroyed, with the ''Enterprise'' only surviving due to a brief delay in getting to the battlefield. When the ''Enterprise'' engages the ''Narada'', Pike is taken hostage. When they learn the ''Narada'' is from the distant future and begin to put together the events that lead to that future, it falls on [[TheKirk Kirk]] and [[TheSpock Spock]] (Creator/ZacharyQuinto) to overcome their initial mistrust of each other and on the ship's green, hastily put-together crew of cadets[[note]]actually, concerning those with major roles, it's three cadets (one of whom is a lieutenant, and another of whom is already a qualified doctor), an ensign, a lieutenant, a lieutenant commander who was ReassignedToAntarctica, and a commander who was told YouAreInCommandNow[[/note]]--([[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the young TOS characters]])--to somehow save the day.

The first theatrical ''Star Trek'' film to feature any of the original characters [[Film/StarTrekGenerations in 15 years]]. Released seven years after 2002's ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' (the biggest gap between series films to date) from which it takes a major ToneShift and, believe it or not, to which it is also a loose StealthSequel.

''Star Trek'' is the first entry in what has been officially dubbed the "Kelvin Timeline". Is followed by the 2013 sequel ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and the 2016 sequel ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''.
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!!This film provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Tropes A–B]]
* AbusiveParents: Kirk's [[WickedStepmother stepfather]], Frank, is implied to have been if not abusive, then at least obnoxious.
* AccidentalPervert: Kirk gets knocked onto Uhura during a fight, and accidentally puts his hands on her breasts to steady himself. He smirks; she pushes him off.
* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Quite a few, mostly involving Spock.
* {{Adorkable}}: Pavel Chekov, definitely.
-->'''Chekov:''' I can do zat I can do zat I can do zat!
* AlienBlood: The Romulans have green blood, seen most notably when Sulu stabs one through the back.
* AlienGeometries:
** [[BigBad Captain Nero's]] ship, the ''Narada'', is a surreal MechanicalMonster of [[http://www.coronacomingattractions.com/sites/default/files/star_trek_2009_narada.jpg giant metal tentacles and spikes]].
** The red matter black holes. From the front, they look like your standard-issue, vaguely funnel-shaped SwirlyEnergyThingy; from the side, it's clear that they're ''missing a dimension.'' RealLife black holes are spherical.
* AllAsiansKnowMartialArts: Subverted. Sulu has "advanced hand-to-hand combat training"... namely [[HeroesPreferSwords fencing]]. Which is European, not Asian. Considering it's also a ContinuityNod, it makes sense. (This time, he uses a switchblade katana, though, suggesting he might know kendo in addition to traditional fencing.)
* AllThereInTheManual: A major sticking point for fans is how you need to read the comic book tie-in to be able to make any sense of Nero's motivation for ''anything''. It's also only in a deleted scene barely alluded to in the film that you learn the Romulans were actually in a Klingon prison during the 25-year TimeSkip rather than just sitting on their asses waiting for Spock to show up.
* AlternateRealityGame: A bunch of Romulans attempting to warn the Vulcans are being pursued all across Europe by [[BigBad Nero's]] thugs while both sides are using the new ''Star Trek'' movie the humans are premiering as cover and [[MindScrew oh God my brain hurts]]. It's chronicled [[http://trekmovie.com/category/star-trek-xi/star-trek-arg/ here]], see if you can figure it out...
* AlternateTimeline: The explanation behind the franchise's ContinuityReboot. Thanks to time-travel, the alternate universe in the film is now fundamentally changed. WordOfGod confirms that, because of this, the "prime" timeline encompassing the prior ''Trek'' canon still "exists". This has led to the FanNickname for the new films' timeline as "The JJ-verse". In 2016, shortly before the release of ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', the timeline got officially dubbed the "''Kelvin'' Timeline".
* 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).
* AlwaysABiggerFish: On Delta Vega, Kirk is pursued by a furry brown monster, which is promptly eaten by a huge six-legged red thing that bursts up through the ice. Subverted, since instead of ''saving'' Kirk it just means that he's now being chased by something even ''worse''.
* AMFMCharacterization: Our first encounter with a young James T. Kirk is him hanging up on his step-father in favor of blasting the Music/BeastieBoys over the radio, establishing his disregard for authority even before the character says a single word.
* AndStarring: "With Eric Bana And Leonard Nimoy".
* AndTheAdventureContinues: The film ends with the crew of the ''Enterprise'' warping off [[OpeningNarration to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before]].
* ApocalypseHow: In the future, a solar system is annihilated; [[spoiler:Spock Prime mentions a supernova that destroyed Romulus and Remus]]. In the present, planetary annihilation [[spoiler:happens to Vulcan and almost happens to Earth, courtesy of [[BigBad Nero]] and his Red Matter]]. It was stated that, if not dealt with, the end result of the future disaster could have resulted in galactic annihilation.
* AppliedPhlebotinum: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Red Matter]], among other things.
* AxCrazy: [[BigBad Nero]] has been driven nuts by the loss of his wife and homeworld, blaming Spock and the Federation and vowing to destroy them all.
* BadassCrew: C'mon, you know it. Pretty much every significant member gets their own sparkling moment of badassery.
* BadassInDistress: Captain Pike allows himself to be taken hostage to save the ''Enterprise'', categorically refuses to divulge the secrets of Earth's defenses before being forced to by mind parasites, and after going through that experience, retains enough presence to grab Kirk's gun and blast two Romulans in the middle of his own rescue.
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Since the destruction of Vulcan as revenge against Spock is his major motivation,]] Nero gets a lot of what he wants. [[spoiler:Destroying the rest of the Federation because he can is just a bonus.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: As we see Kirk making love to a woman, we're led to think it's Uhura, but when the lights turn on, we see it's Gaila, her Orion roommate.
* BaldOfAwesome: Captain Robau's memetic badassery is aided in large part by his awesomely hairless head.
* BaldOfEvil: [[BigBad Nero]] and his crew all have hairless heads. Except the solitary woman. She got to keep her hair, apparently. In the backstory, it's explained that Romulan men shave their heads when grieving. Nero and his crew are in permanent grief, so they're bald forever.
* BarBrawl: Kirk gets into one of these with a few Starfleet cadets.
* BarFullOfAliens: In the same bar where the aforementioned brawl happens you can see that a big chunk of the clientele is alien.
* BashBrothers: When Kirk and Spock beam onto the Narada and start shooting up everything in sight.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Kirk provoking Spock on the bridge. It was already shown that Spock wasn't in his right mind due to the fact that he effectively marooned Kirk on Delta Vega, but Kirk, at Spock-Prime's suggestion, pushes him further to reveal that the destruction of Vulcan and the death of his mother hurt him far worse that he's showing.]]
* BavarianFireDrill: [=McCoy=] ''makes Kirk sick'', then cites the prerogative of Starfleet physicians to transport their patients with them in order to get Kirk aboard the ''Enterprise''.
* BeamSpam:
** When necessary, ships are capable of firing ''a lot'' more at once than in most ''Franchise/StarTrek'' works.
** [[TheFederation This universe's Federation]] also seems to [[AvertedTrope comprehend the concept]] of [[PointDefenseless point defense]].
** This Starfleet has traded extremely powerful but slow-shooting giant laser beams for [[MoreDakka rapid firing but weaker pulse weapons]] as a result of Nero's changing of the timeline. The ''Kelvin''[='=]s Phaser banks struggled to counter the ''Narada'''s MacrossMissileMassacre and Starfleet changed to their tactics accordingly.
* TheBeautifulElite: No one in the galaxy is ugly save for a couple of RubberForeheadAliens here and there, and apparently Starfleet-issue uniforms for female cadets and medical staff consist of sundresses and go-go boots.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Subverted. Uhura has no interest at all in Kirk, despite Kirk's attempts at flirting with her and her absolute refusal to even give him her name. Three years later, we see why: she's in a relationship with [[spoiler: [[StudentTeacherRomance Spock]]]].
%%* BenevolentBoss: Captain Robau. And Captain Pike.
* BerserkButton:
** It is perfectly okay to talk shit about Commander Spock's Momma... as long as you do it while he's under heavy sedatives and has all four limbs tied down. Otherwise, you are going to get [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]]. [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Epically.]] Kirk is intentionally trying to find a Berserk Button on Spock to show that he is 'emotionally compromised'. He still probably doesn't expect what he gets when he finds it.
** [[BigBad Nero]] is this when TheFederation gets involved with his plans. Somewhat justified because [[spoiler:he found out that Romulus blew up during a super nova that Spock didn't get to in time to deploy the Red Matter. And TheFederation relied on Spock to deliver the Red Matter to stop said supernova in a specially-commissioned ship built for speed. It wasn't fast enough]]. Before the moments where he does gets angry and speak himself, ''he is silent and lets TheDragon speak for him''.
* BestialityIsDepraved: Played for laughs during Kirk and Uhura's first meeting, when he proves he at least knows what "xeno-linguistics" means.
-->'''Uhura:''' I'm impressed... and here I thought you were just a dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals.\\
'''Kirk:''' Well, not ''only''.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] gets one when he rescues Kirk from an enormous monster on the ice planet Delta Vega.
* BigDamnGunship: Spock pilots the ''Jellyfish'' [[spoiler:(Spock Prime's ship)]] on a collision course towards the ''Narada''. The ''Narada'' retaliates with all the missiles she has. Things are looking bad for Spock at first--until [[spoiler:the ''Enterprise'' warps in with phasers blazing]].
* BigOlEyebrows:
** Compared to [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatner's]] Kirk, many people point this out about Creator/ChrisPine's Kirk.
** Creator/ZacharyQuinto's eyebrows. All the better to give Spock's classic FascinatingEyebrow.
%%* BigWordShout
* BilingualBonus: When Chekov (played by Russian-born Anton Yelchin) successfully transports falling Kirk and [[FanOfThePast Sulu]] to safety, he exclaims a little something in Russian, "Ё-моё!" or "Yo-moyo!", the closest English equivalent being "holey-moley!" (both in meaning and outdatedness). On the commentary track, Creator/JJAbrams claims to have been at a screening in Russia where the audience went nuts at this part.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: At the beginning of the film, James Kirk is being born as his father prepares to face certain death. George Kirk gets to hear his son's first cries and suggest a name for him before dying.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Nero and his crew are defeated, and Kirk gets promoted to captain of the ''Enterprise''.]] The sad part however is that way before the ending, [[spoiler:Nero succeeded in erasing Vulcan from existence and the Vulcans are now an endangered species]].
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: The first of the ''Narada's'' crew to die (the one kicked onto an exhaust port by Sulu) is black.
* BodyHorror: The {{Squick}}y four-faced alien in a DeletedScene.
* BrickJoke: The novelization ends with Admiral Archer's beagle materializing in the transporter room.
* BrilliantButLazy: Jim Kirk, despite having an "off-the-charts aptitude," initially never thought much about of a life outside of repeatedly getting into trouble with the law.
* BroadStrokes:
** Time travel does not ''quite'' explain all the stylistic differences in this movie, as it is technically in an AlternateContinuity and is not a complete ContinuityReboot. (Warp drive leaving a ship blind, for example.)
** It's implied that the ''Narada'''s attack (the one that killed Kirk's father) initiated a sort of "Cold War" for the Federation, leading to their design philosophies changing.
* BuildingIsWelding: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZFWr0vR8Q trailers]] show the USS Enterprise "under construction", with lots of welding depicted. Also the viral marketing site for the film showed lots of welding and not much else.
* ButtMonkey:
** Captain James T. Kirk of the USS ''Enterprise''. Many of the film's action sequences, and much of its humor, involve him getting owned in one way or another. He also gets stranded on planets and has freaky and potentially embarrassing reactions to vaccines.
** He [[spoiler:gets choked by Spock at one point and by a Romulan at another]]. Both times with some pretty good acting by Pine. It ''hurts'' as you try to catch your breath afterwards. Pine actually mentioned in an interview that he admires Creator/HarrisonFord for his ability [[WrestlingPsychology to take a beating like it really hurts]], and that he considers that an underrated skill.
* ButterflyOfDoom: The advanced technology of this continuity's Starfleet compared to the Original Series, as well as the many, many dramatic changes in the lives of the main characters, all happen simply because Nero and Co. showed up, as Spock points out.
-->'''Spock:''' Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with the attack of the USS ''Kelvin'', culminating in the events of today, thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party. Whatever our lives were, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes C-D]]
* CallBack:
** The BigDamnGunship moment. [[spoiler:The ''Enterprise'' destroys the ''Narada'''s missiles just in time to save Spock's ship, just as Captain George Kirk's ''Kelvin'' had done for the escaping shuttles 25 years earlier.]]
** A small one with the soundtrack: [[spoiler:When Spock rams the ''Jellyfish'' into the Narada, the background music is a modified version of the track that plays when George Kirk does the same with the ''Kelvin''.]]
* CallToAdventure: Delivered to Kirk by Captain Pike.
-->'''Pike:''' Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives--including your mother's, and yours. [[DareToBeBadass I dare you to do better.]]
* CanonDiscontinuity:
** Subverted. Though this film and any sequels that follow [[ContinuityReboot revamp]] the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] era of the Franchise/TrekVerse in a [[AlternateTimeline divergent, parallel timeline]], they still accept the previous shows and movies as canon as they're [[StealthSequel a loose continuation]] of that continuity. Contrary to popular belief, the timeline in the new movies is not the original timeline having been altered, but simply [[AlternateContinuity a new, separate timeline altogether that branches off]] the original one as a weird result of TimeTravel. The creators were not going to disrespectfully erase 43 years of iconic sci-fi.
** The events of the prequel series ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' remain as part of the history shared by both timelines--ironically enough, given how divisive the show was to fans.
* CannonFodder: Chief Engineer Olson is a little too gung-ho during the spacejump and promptly incinerates himself--and yep, his jumpsuit armor is [[RedShirt red]].
* CaptainObvious: Spock's observations on [=McCoy's=] new station are plenty obvious to [=McCoy=], anyway.
-->'''Spock:''' ''[on intercom]'' Dr. Puri, report?\\
'''Leonard "Bones" [=McCoy=]:''' It's [=McCoy=]. Dr. Puri was on Deck 6. [[HesDeadJim He's dead.]]\\
'''Spock:''' Then you have just inherited his responsibilities as Chief Medical Officer.\\
''[[=McCoy=] looks at a burning medical room full of casualties from the attack]''\\
'''[=McCoy=]:''' Yeah, tell me something I don't know!
* CassandraTruth: Kirk attempts to warn Pike to stop their flight and not go to Vulcan because it was a trap by the Romulans, recognizing the so-called "natural disaster" as the arrival of the ''Narada''. Pike thinks he's trying to get more attention and Spock is more than happy to want to toss Kirk out of the bridge on his ass, but Uhura agreeing with Kirk's warnings makes them back down enough to at least try to figure out if Kirk is right. When they get to Vulcan, they get their answer.
* CasualCarGiveaway: When Kirk is leaving for Starfleet, he hands his motorcycle over to one of the construction workers at the dock.
-->'''Construction Worker:''' Nice bike.\\
'''Kirk:''' ''[tossing the keys]'' It's yours.
* CatchPhrase: Almost every word that proceeds from Spock Prime's mouth. The amount of original dialogue written for Leonard Nimoy was vanishingly low.
* CavalierConsumption: Kirk during the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test is shown casually munching on an apple while [[spoiler:destroying the simulated Klingon attackers with trivial ease thanks to hacking the sim computers]]. The gesture was added by Chris Pine because he heard once that eating an apple makes you look more cocky. Whether intentional or not, this is one of the many {{Continuity Nod}}s, this time to ''Wrath of Khan'', where Shatner!Kirk talks about the test while casually consuming an apple.
* CelebrityParadox: It is established that Kirk is a fan of Music/TheBeastieBoys. One wonders how different the lyrics of "Intergalactic" are in this universe, especially considering the final stanza:
-->''If you try to knock me you'll get mocked\\
I'll stir fry you in my wok\\
Your knees'll start shakin' and your fingers pop\\
Like a pinch on the neck from Mr. Spock!''
* ChekhovsGun:
** A deleted scene shows Nero about to be interrogated by a Klingon on Rura Penthe using Centaurian slugs, who gloats about what the slugs will do to Nero. Nero escapes before this can happen. He later uses the same slugs to torture Pike.
** The Klingon transmission that Uhura tells Gaila about, while Kirk is hiding under Gaila's bed, plays a small but vital part in Kirk's attempts to make Pike take him seriously.
** One that is loaded and fired in a single scene: when Kirk lands on the drilling platform, he presses a button and his parachute is reeled in to his backpack. Shortly afterward, Sulu is left dangling over the side of the platform, held only by his parachute; he presses the corresponding button, and as the parachute is reeled in he is lifted up until he can get onto the platform.
** An early scene establishes that Spock as a kid is rather touchy about people disparaging his human mother. [[spoiler: Later on, as soon as Kirk tries that route in trying to expose that Spock is "emotionally compromised", he [[BerserkButton flips out]] and beats the crap out of Kirk just like he did to his school bullies years earlier.]]
* TheChewToy: While Kirk is still TheAce we all know and love, he's on the receiving end of most of the asskickings in the film, from the heroes ''and'' villains alike! Likewise, his tragic backstory, his reaction to the vaccine, and being chased by not one, but ''two'' monsters within minutes of landing on Delta Vega, seem to suggest that the universe is actively conspiring to screw with him!
* ChewingTheScenery: Nero treats the set like a giant multi-course meal, chewing it with great gusto over many scenes.
* ClimbingTheCliffsOfInsanity: In order to escape his landing pod on Delta Vega, Kirk has to scale an ice cliff with minimal equipment. He later topples down a much larger cliff in order to escape a gigantic carnivore native to the planet.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: When Kirk, Sulu and Engineer Olsen are parachuting to the drill platform, Sulu is wearing (and coded) gold (for Command), Olsen is red (for Engineering), and Kirk, who "wasn't supposed to be there anyways," is wearing blue (for Sciences).
* ComicBookAdaptation: By IDW Comics; the first ''Trek'' film to be adapted for comics since ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''.
* CommandingCoolness: Commander Spock. He manages to keep his cool until Kirk mashes his BerserkButton.
* CompositeCharacter:
** This universe's version of Uhura, being a CunningLinguist, owes a bit to [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Hoshi Sato]], as well as to Nichelle Nichols creating the character as a linguist originally (even if she never really spoke any alien language in the show and actually used a dictionary to speak Klingon in one of the TOS movies).
** The re-imagined ''Enterprise'' is an elemental fusion of the original ship from ''The Original Series'' and the heavily-refit version from the first six ''Star Trek'' films.
* ContinuityCameo: ''"But, sir! If we ignite the red matter--..."'' While not a straight movie-to-movie example, the ''Narada'' managed to sneak in an almost blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Creator/WilWheaton--Wesley Crusher in TNG--during one of the more hectic battle scenes.
* ContinuityNod:
** Every single character gets their famous catch phrase or mannerism in the flick. "Wessels", "Giving her all she's got", "[[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder I'm a doctor, not a—]]", etc. And...
--->'''Kirk:''' This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS ''Enterprise''.
** There's a reference to an "[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Admiral Archer]]"; though the captain of the first Starship ''Enterprise'' would be pushing 150 by the time of the film, WordOfGod says it's meant to be him (and [=McCoy=] Prime did live to at least 137). The reference, incidentally, is [[spoiler:his dog being eaten by the transporter]].
** Spock quotes SherlockHolmes's line about improbable truth, which he also did in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''.
** Nero has a hilarious nod to ''Wrath of Khan'': '''"SPOOOOCK!! SPOOOOOOCK!!!"'''
** One scene has the bridge crew formulating a plan. As in the old days, Kirk is in the Captain's chair, in one of the classic poses, [=McCoy=] is standing behind him, Spock is pacing. [[MoodWhiplash And then Spock snaps at Kirk to get out of the chair.]]
** Kirk intentionally angers Spock, including mocking his parentage, but he's not doing it to be a {{Jerkass}}; he's doing it because he had to. The same thing happens in the ''TOS'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise This Side of Paradise]]" when Kirk has to piss off Spock to release him from the effect of the spores. [[spoiler:Spock Prime undoubtedly had this incident in mind when he counseled Kirk on how to provoke Spock into an extreme emotional response.]]
** Sarek's reply to a young Spock about why he married Spock's human mother: "As Ambassador to Earth it is my duty to observe and understand human behavior. Marrying your mother was... logical," is the same answer Sarek gives an adult Spock to the same question in the TOS episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel Journey to Babel]]".
** Nero's mind-control slug bears a resemblance to Khan's Ceti eels, though it's not exactly the same thing.
** Sulu also knows fencing, which it turned out he was enthusiastic about in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime The Naked Time]]". Here he finds a more practical outlet.
** Captain Pike was the captain of the ''Enterprise'' in [[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage the original pilot episode]], and also appeared in a later episode involving Spock. Near the end of the film, he is seen [[spoiler: in a wheelchair]], another continuity nod (or perhaps MythologyGag?) to that later episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E11TheMenageriePartI The Menagerie]]" (though he's obviously in better condition).
** Spock Prime's surprise at hearing his younger self marooned Kirk for mutiny is another nod, since in the episode "The Menagerie" he himself mutinied and literally kidnapped the wheelchair-bound Captain Pike. It was so effective a mutiny that nobody even realized he'd done it until they were well on their way to Talos IV, Spock's intended destination.
** "I have been, and always shall be, your friend."
** [=McCoy=] calls for Nurse Chapel when Kirk has an allergic reaction to the vaccine he was given to sneak on the ''Enterprise''.
** Chapel might be seen on-screen when Kirk and Spock beam back to the ''Enterprise'' with Pike at the end of the film, but isn't named in the scene, so it's left ambiguous.
** The overly-cocky British guy who gets himself needlessly killed early on in the Vulcan mission is [[RedShirt dressed in red]].
** When the ''Enterprise'' drops out of warp, the ship veers left, but everyone on the bridge leans to the right--a nice little nod to the old series' "[[StarTrekShake special effects]]".
** Spock accusing [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] of lying to Kirk when letting him "infer universe-ending paradoxes would ensue" if they met, and [[spoiler:Spock Prime]]'s answer, "Oh, I... implied" is a callback to ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]''. Saavik accuses [[spoiler:Spock]] of lying, to which he replies, "No, I... exaggerated."
** The whole hair-splitting on [[FromACertainPointOfView whether or not something is a lie]] is also a major plot point in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''.
** [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] giving Scotty his own formula for transwarp beaming recalls Scotty in ''Film/{{Star Trek IV|TheVoyageHome}}'' giving a 20th century scientist the formula for transparent aluminum with the justification, "For all we know, he invented the stuff."
** At one point, [=McCoy=] asks Spock "[[ParentheticalSwearing Are you out of your Vulcan mind?]]", just as he did in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', before the latter's HeroicSacrifice.
** The planet Kirk is stranded on, "Delta Vega," appeared in the first (chronologically speaking) episode of TOS, "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E3WhereNoManHasGoneBefore Where No Man Has Gone Before]]", as the planet where Kirk and Spock planned to maroon their god-like friend Gary Mitchell.
** There's an early nod to [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries the animated series]]' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E2Yesteryear Yesteryear]]", in which young Spock experiences an outburst of emotion and proceeds to pummel another Vulcan child mercilessly for insulting Sarek and Amanda.
** Spock speaks with his mother about undergoing the rite of Kolinahr, the purging of all emotions, which was what Spock was doing towards the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''.
** The ''Enterprise'' escapes a subspace anomaly by ejecting the warp core and detonating it, just like in ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection''.
** Abrams has stated that one of the reasons for Starfleet's increased militarism is because of the ''Narada'''s attack on the ''Kelvin''. It's not without precedent in ''Star Trek''; the same thing happened after [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the Battle of Wolf 359]] and [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine the destruction of the USS]] ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Odyssey]]'' in the main continuity. And as an added bonus, Wolf 359 was a battle in which the Federation was nearly destroyed by a Borg ship. The ''Narada'', which nearly succeeds in destroying the Federation, also had Borg technology integrated into it.
** A human mind-melding with a Vulcan exposes the former to the onslaught of the latter's powerful emotions. Kirk's tearful reaction after receiving [[spoiler: Spock Prime]]'s memories of [[spoiler: Vulcan's destruction]] mirrors that of Picard's breakdown after melding with Sarek in the TNG episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E23Sarek Sarek]]".
** In one shot, [[http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd1001.jpg Captain Pike has a block of light]] across his eyes, similar to shots such as [[http://everystartrekever.com/files/2012/07/Kirk-and-the-Eye-Treatment-720x537.jpg this]] on TOS.
** Spock [[spoiler:Prime]] recites the "Space, the final frontier" monologue before the end credits, just like in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''.
** When Spock turns down his admission to the Vulcan Science Academy, a minister says, "No Vulcan has declined admission." Since they (not-very) subtly insulted his mother, Spock retorts, "Since I am half-human, your reputation remains untarnished." This refers to the climax of ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'': As [=McCoy=] tries to stop Spock from entering the dangerously-radiated Engineering, saying "No human can tolerate the radiation in there!", Spock retorts, "As you are so fond of pointing out, Doctor, I am not human."
* ContinuityReboot (alt-universe): One ''particularly troubled'' Romulan from [[spoiler: Spock Prime]]'s timeline [[ButterflyOfDoom wreaks utter havoc with the timeline]] [[spoiler:to avenge the destruction of his homeworld, and take revenge on Spock]].)
* ContinuityRebooter: Spock Prime and Nero basically serve as this. Given the actions taken by Nero, it seems that the new AlternateUniverse is going down a slightly DarkerAndEdgier path.
* ContrivedCoincidence:
** Every single officer of higher rank than the main characters is killed or, in [[spoiler: Captain Pike]]'s case, incapacitated, resulting in the crew that we know from the original series. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that it's the crew's origin story, but it can stretch WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.
** Except Uhura's superior--she's just a much better linguist than he is.
** Scotty comes on board after the previous Chief Engineer has already [[RedShirt succumbed to stupidity]], and he has just ''invented transwarp beaming''. Sort of. [[spoiler:Not that Spock Prime has nothing to do with giving Scotty his own completed theory]].
** A deleted line from Spock suggests there was the hand of fate in there.
** Maybe the biggest one. Spock gets annoyed with Kirk and drops him on the nearest planet after [[spoiler: Vulcan is destroyed]], which is also where [[spoiler: Old Spock]] is hanging out, because Nero wanted him to bear witness. So far so good. Then Kirk just happens to land within running distance of [[spoiler: Spock's cave]], when he could have landed anywhere on the planet. That's... incredibly unlikely. And then [[spoiler: Scotty just happens to be stationed in an outpost only a couple of miles away. It's possible that Kirk's pod was deliberately dropped nearby a Federation installation, but that doesn't explain what Spock is doing so close by]]. The film ''tries'' to lampshade this coincidence by having [[spoiler: Old Spock]] ask Kirk, "How did you find me?" But, Kirk is too freaked out to answer that question.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: During the drill fight Sulu is almost sucked into the laser drill, but apparently is ok since he didn't actually touch it. In the same fight Sulu, Kirk, and two Romulans fight on top of the drill, which occasionally emits fire through some vents. The heat doesn't affect them unless they're standing on the vents when they're venting flame.
* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction: Nero has caught Kirk by the throat and is seemingly going to choke him to death, until he's told the ''Jellyfish'', the Vulcan ship they've been using as an explosives source, has been stolen by Spock. Immediately he runs off to deal with this, leaving Kirk to fight his minion instead.
* CoolBike:
** Kirk's motorbike, a quietly purring little number that seems to indicate that high-efficiency vehicles will not only succeed in the future, but will be considered badass.
** The motorcycle cop that attempts to pull young Kirk over rides a ''flying'' hoverbike.
* CoolOldGuy:
** [[spoiler:Spock Prime]], still stoic, but with a quiet dignity and a keen mind that allows him to manipulate Kirk into taking his rightful place as captain of the ''Enterprise'' and saving the day.
** Captain Pike is a confident and charismatic leader whom the ''Enterprise'' crew obviously highly respects.
* CoolStarship: In tradition with all things ''Star Trek'' and in no particular order:
** The starship ''Enterprise'' is completely pimped-out like a [[TheFifties 50s]]/[[TheSixties 60s]] hot-rod complete with interiors that could only be described as "an UsefulNotes/{{Apple|Macintosh}} Store on crack," and she never looked so good.
** The Romulan mining vessel ''Narada'' gets a special mention for not looking out of place if it was being flown by [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Mi-go]]. The fact that it's TheJuggernaut with infinite SpikesOfDoom pretty much cinches the fact. Heck, there's a reason that some fans call it, "Satan's Batmobile." Oh, and even better? The ''Narada'' also apparently had Borg tech integrated into it.
** Spock's ''Jellyfish'' is a nifty little Vulcan vessel (literally) packing some "Earth-shattering" heat. Bonus points for being built and designed by [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Geordi [=LaForge=]]] in the prime timeline.
** The Federation survey cruiser USS ''Kelvin''.
** The Shuttles from ''The Original Series'' are back.
* CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel:
** Subverted yet played with as we see the young TOS crew at the beginning of their Starfleet careers, albeit in a technologically advanced new timeline in which the events of ''The Original Series'' could never possibly occur.
** The opening is set 32 years before TOS; however, the starship ''Kelvin'' still looks like a major upgrade to the original ''Enterprise'' despite being its forerunner.
* CrazyEnoughToWork: From start to finish, almost every plan ''sounds'' patently ridiculous. Until it's put into action. Diving out of a shuttle? Hiding behind Saturn's rings? Transwarp beaming onto an enemy ship, hoping that you can rescue the captain, blow up the super advanced weapon, and make it back in time for dinner?
* CrusadingWidower: Nero carries out his plot due to believing that the Federation [[spoiler:let Romulus be destroyed, killing pretty much everyone he loved in the process]].
* CurbStompBattle: Spock uses a Vulcan nerve pinch on Kirk and downs him in ''two seconds flat''. Second one: Spock gives him the pinch. Second two: Kirk is on the floor. The best part is that Spock just looks ''annoyed''; Kirk wasn't even a threat to him.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Although the ''Narada'' crew was held prisoner by the Klingon Emprire for 25 years, in deleted scenes, Nero still could have taken his ship to Romulus after escaping, even [[spoiler:Spock Prime's ship after capturing him]], and used all that future tech to help his race conquer their enemies. No wonder Spock decided Nero was crazy. Pike points this out to Nero during his interrogation. But Nero responds that it's not the Romulus he knows, and his loved ones would still be dead.
* DareToBeBadass: Kirk's CallToAdventure takes the form of a dare issued by Captain Pike, challenging hims to live up to his father's legacy instead of drifting through life in small-town Iowa.
-->'''Pike:''' Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives--including your mother's, and yours. I ''dare'' you to do better.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Heavily alluded to with Kirk, who lost his father [[BirthDeathJuxtaposition just minutes after his birth]], was frequently abused by his [[AbusiveParents stepfather]] while his mother was off-planet--his brother Johnny ran away when Jim was still young because he hated their stepfather so much--nearly killed himself by driving a car off a cliff when he was twelve, possibly survived [[FinalSolution Tarsus IV]] (if future movies keep with [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]]), and was already a repeat offender long before enlisting in Starfleet.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Unquestionably so. Even during the ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' years, the Federation and Starfleet were still mostly set up around peaceful missions. In the reboot, Pike describes Starfleet as a "humanitarian and peacekeeping armada," and the rest of the film is spent fighting. WordOfGod states that this was due to the ''Kelvin's'' encounter with the ''Narada'', which caused Starfleet to take on a much more militaristic turn.
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Spock:
--->'''Spock:''' ''[to [=McCoy=]]'' However, if crew morale is better served by my roaming the halls weeping, [[SarcasmMode I will gladly defer to your medical expertise]].
** [=McCoy=] gets his share in, as Karl Urban is seemingly channeling the ghost of Creator/DeForestKelley.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After Kirk successfully bullies Spock out of the Acting Captain's chair and takes over, Spock lends his expertise to Kirk's crazy rescue plan, even though it's not the course he'd choose. Their friendship grows from there.
* {{Determinator}}: James Kirk, who doesn't believe in no-win scenarios and is certainly one stubborn fellow once he sets his mind to accomplishing something, be it graduating from Starfleet Academy early, [[TakingAThirdOption finding a way to beat]] the supposedly unbeatable [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Kobayashi Maru]], or stopping [[AxCrazy Nero]]. He takes more [[ButtMonkey beat-downs]] than any other character and is consistently degraded or [[YouHaveToBelieveMe doubted]] by those around him, but keeps coming back for more in order to protect his homeworld. He is certainly not too worried about getting himself killed in the process, either.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Kirk hits on Uhura at the beginning of the movie, but she turns him down. It is later revealed that she and Spock have an established relationship. Which is slightly disturbing, as Spock's [[HotForTeacher not at the Academy as a student]]. The IDW tie-in comics show that Kirk is actually quite supportive of Spock and Uhura's relationship.
* DiegeticSwitch: Young Kirk blasts the Music/BeastieBoys' "Sabotage" from his stolen car's stereo. The music continues even after he's run the car off a cliff.
* DisappearedDad: Kirk's father dies in an extremely awesome HeroicSacrifice.
* DisposableWoman: [[spoiler:Amanda, Spock's mother, dies just to twist the knife of angst deeper for Spock.]] Of course, so does a significant portion of the Vulcan race, but still.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Nero decides to wait 25 years for Spock to come through the same black hole that pulled him into the past, makes Spock watch [[spoiler:Vulcan get destroyed, and then moves on to systematically destroy the other planets of the Federation. All of this is because Spock turned up mere minutes too late to save Romulus from a super nova.]] (Countdown's backstory doesn't count as the film's writers have established it as non-canon material.)
* DistressCall: From Vulcan. Provides the impetus for the second act.
* DistressedDude: Pike is kidnapped by Nero.
* DivorceAssetsConflict: The conflict has already finished and Dr. Leonard [=McCoy=] tells Kirk that his ex-wife took everything from him.
-->'''[=McCoy=]:''' Well, I got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones.
** And thus is born a great friendship and a famous nickname.
* DoomedByCanon: Consciously averted. One of the stated reasons why the writers set the film in an AlternateUniverse is so that events ''aren't necessarily'' a ForegoneConclusion. Things no longer need to turn out quite the way they did before, and AnyoneCanDie.
* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler:Vulcan]].
* DoubleConsciousness: Spock feels divided between his human and Vulcan halves. Learning to harness his anger over [[spoiler:his mother's death]] rather than suppress it as a Vulcan would is a major moment of growth for him.
-->'''Sarek:''' You will always be a child of two worlds. The question you must answer is: What path will you choose?
* TheDragon: Nero's second-in-command, Ayel. Kirk has to defeat him one-on-one in order to rescue Captain Pike.
* DramaticIrony: Kirk and [=McCoy=] on meeting Spock for the first time:
-->'''Kirk:''' Who was that pointy-eared bastard?\\
'''[=McCoy=]:''' I don't know, but I like him!
* DrinkOrder: A Klabnian fire tea, three Budweiser Classics, two "Cardassian sunrises" and the Slusho mix. Uhura and her friends party '''hard'''.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: "Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved over 800 lives, including your mother's, and yours." For the record, that averages out to ten lives every nine seconds.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes E-F]]
* EarthShatteringKaboom: Nero's plan being [[spoiler:to destroy every single planet in the Federation, just to get back at Spock for not being able to stop Romulus from being destroyed by a star going supernova in time. He actually gets as far as destroying Vulcan, and is in the process of trying to destroy Earth before he is stopped by Kirk and Spock]]. Technically, it's an implosion, rather than an explosion as [[spoiler: the red matter is injected into the planet's core and ignites, setting off a black hole]].
* EasterEgg:
** In the scene where the ''Enterprise'' first appears at Vulcan, after they come out of their slow barrel roll to avoid the debris, you can see [[Franchise/StarWars R2-D2]] in the bottom left corner of the screen.
** A menu in the bar Kirk and Uhura meet in has the "Slusho" drink from ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'' in it. The logo of the makers of the drink appears on a building in an establishing shot of San Francisco. The [[spoiler:big red ball]] Abrams tries to get in most of his projects is [[spoiler:the Red Matter]].
** Speaking of Abrams' overall work, the name of the USS ''Kelvin'' is this film's use of the "Kelvin" mark he puts in most of his films and TV series.
** Speaking of ''Cloverfield'', the [[spoiler: giant red monster that attacked Kirk when he landed on the snow planet]] is reminiscent of the ''Cloverfield'' monster due to the shared bent-arm walking style and six limbed form. It appears ''Cloverfield'' has now unofficially become the earliest point in the ''Star Trek'' film timeline. Interesting...
** When Kirk and Spock first enter the bridge of the ''Jellyfish'', [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Jellyfish_cockpit.jpg the control chair and viewport]] form [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:VulcanIDIC.jpg the triangle-and-circle-within-a-circle symbol of IDIC]], the Vulcan philosophy of "infinite diversity in infinite combinations". This is not surprising considering the ship was built by [[spoiler:the Vulcan Science Academy]].
* EmbarrassingNickname: [=McCoy=] is particularly fond of bestowing these upon people when frustrated or angry, especially in regards to Spock, whom he personally nicknames the "pointy-eared bastard" or "green-bloodied hobgoblin," to name a few.
* EmergencyTraineeBattleDeployment: A plucky band of cadets get summoned to an attack on Vulcan because the actual fleet is otherwise occupied. Battles ensue and by the end of the movie, they all earn battlefield promotions akin to their positions in the main timeline.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Kirk choosing to sabotage the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test rather than accept defeat. This has been his ECM ever since it was first discussed in ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan The Wrath of Khan]]'', but this was the first time we got to see it happen canonically.
** Young Kirk trashing his stepdad's antique corvette in Iowa while trying to evade a hoverbike cop in contrast to young Spock on a school day answering every single question given by a computer correctly.
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether:
** Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. Justified though, as A) everyone in Starfleet has to go there, B) technically, only three of the characters were seen on-screen attending said school, and C) Spock was actually an ''instructor''.
** Regarding some of the age discrepancies among the students, it's also safe to assume that [=McCoy=] is a mature student (since he was ''already'' a medical doctor when he started at the academy) and that Chekov has skipped a few years of school (justifying why such a young academy ensign is in such a responsible position would seem to be the point of Pike's "whiz-kid" comment in his first scene). These might both be a result of the alternate time line, of course.
* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: Spock's ship, the ''Jellyfish'', has a spinning module around its core that seems to take the place of static warp nacelles.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: According to Bones, as soon as you leave Earth you may as well kiss your life goodbye.
-->'''Bones:''' Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence!
* ExactWords: Spock Prime insists that his presence be kept secret from Spock. Kirk infers from this that [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet universe-ending paradoxes will ensue]]. Spock Prime expected Kirk to do just that... but he never actually ''said'' that would be the consequence, so technically he did not lie.
* ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: When the ''Enterprise'' is getting sucked into a black hole near the end and they're running the warp engines at maximum power, Scotty is running around in Engineering trying to hold the ship together. A pipe cracks overhead and steam comes venting out.
* ExpospeakGag: The rest of the fleet jumps to warp, but the ''Enterprise'' just whines a bit. As Sulu tries frantically to figure out what's wrong, Captain Pike tries to give him a hint, but Spock needs to spell it out for him.
-->'''Pike:''' Is the parking brake on?\\
'''Sulu:''' Uh, no. I'll figure it out. I'm just...\\
'''Spock:''' Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?
* ExplosiveInstrumentation: Justified in TheTeaser, when ''an entire ship'' is exploding. Averted entirely otherwise, even when [[spoiler:the ''Enterprise'' is visibly ''cracking'' under the stress of a black hole]].
* ExplosionPropulsion: When Scotty [[spoiler: ejects and detonates the warp cores in order to free the ''Enterprise'' from the black hole that just consumed the ''Narada'']].
* ExpositionBeam: [[spoiler:Spock Prime]]'s mind-meld with Kirk serves as a quick way to explain Nero's plan and motivation to both him and the audience.
* FaceDeathWithDignity:
** [[spoiler:Nero solemnly closes his eyes before the ''Narada'' is destroyed.]]
** Extra points for George Kirk. C'mon, the man didn't even ''see'' his son and is in the process of saying "I love you, I love you, I love..." to his wife during his HeroicSacrifice.
* FacelessGoons: A deleted scene has the Klingon guards at Rura Penthe wearing face-concealing helmets. WordOfGod says this was because they weren't sure whether or not to give the Klingons their more popular [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] ridged foreheads, or go with TOS's dark skinned humanoid look. In the end they just decided to cover the front of their heads and not worry about it.
* FailsafeFailure: The ''Kelvin'''s autopilot function gets destroyed at the wrong time, leaving George Kirk to ram it himself.
* FanService:
** The scene with Uhura undressing while Kirk hides under the bed, and Kirk's [[ShirtlessScene general clotheslessness in same]]. Strangely though Kirk manages to avoid [[ClothingDamage ripping his shirt]].
** The deliciously curvaceous [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Orion]] Gaila wearing just lingerie in the same scene.
* FantasticRacism: Deconstructed. The original series PlayedForLaughs or treated as semi-justified the YouAreACreditToYourRace attitude Spock would encounter from other Vulcans for his human blood. Here, the Vulcan kids, as well as the High Council (in a snootier fashion) really pile it on Spock, and it's treated in the same light real-world racism generally is.
* AFatherToHisMen: Pike is something of a father-figure to Kirk.
* FauxAffablyEvil: "Hi, Christopher, I'm Nero." Creator/EricBana has [[LargeHam a lot of fun]] swinging between this and a more general evilness.
* FieldPromotion: Kirk goes from a Cadet up to acting Captain during the movie.
* FingerGun: Kirk "fires" his gun in sync to the firing of photon torpedoes during the ''Kobayashi Maru''.
* FirstNameBasis: How Nero treats his opponents.
-->'''Captain Pike:''' I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?\\
'''Nero:''' Hi, Christopher, I'm Nero.
* FireForgedFriends: The main crew, especially Kirk and Spock.
* FixFic: SlashFic fans of the film who support Kirk/Spock tend to have Uhura a) end her relationship with Spock on amicable terms b) get dumped by Spock c) run off with Bones, Scotty, Chekov... any one else with a penis... or d) get eaten by the Gorn. It's starting to get a bit ridiculous.
* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five-Temperament Ensemble]]: Kirk (choleric), Sulu (melancholic/choleric), Spock (melancholic), Uhura (phlegmatic), "Bones" [=McCoy=] (sanguine), Chekhov (sanguine/choleric), and Scotty (leukine).
* ForcedToWatch: Nero giving his nemesis a front-row seat to Vulcan's destruction.
* ForWantOfANail:
** Why everything is different in the new timeline. See also ButterflyOfDoom, above.
** Additionally, had Sulu, new to the position of helmsman of the ''Enterprise'', not left the inertial dampers engaged (the "parking brake on"), the ship would have probably been destroyed with the rest of the armada. By arriving a minute or so later, Nero had time to see the ship's name and realize the Spock from the current era was probably onboard as well.
* FreudianExcuse: Nero, once a simple Romulan miner, had his life ruined when Ambassador Spock (and the Federation) failed to save his home planet from a supernova. Angry, he wants to kill nearly everyone (specifically, destroy Earth).
-->'''Nero:''' When I lost her, I promised myself retribution; and for 25 years I planned my revenge against the Federation and forgot what it was like to live a normal life.
* FrickinLaserBeams: Phasers go from "continuous-beam" in prior ''Trek'' works to pulse weapons in this film.
* FrictionlessReentry: Kirk, Sulu, and Chief Engineer Redshirt do a skydive from low orbit around Vulcan, with no sign of atmospheric burn. Granted, one ''can'' assume their spacesuits are specially constructed to allow safe re-entry. As they are dropping through the atmosphere vertically, their tangential speed (which would cause the friction) is basically zero.[[note]]See also recent examples of successful stratosphere jumps.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes G-H]]
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: Nero. His backstory is that, in the late 24th century, his home planet (with his pregnant wife on it) was destroyed in a supernova, which, for some reason means that he wants to destroy every planet in TheFederation. To make matters worse, no one ever points out the fact that he's gone back in time a hundred and fifty years before the supernova took place and therefore has ample opportunity to, oh, I don't know... ''WARN HIS PEOPLE THAT THEIR PLANET IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED''.\\\
This is a bad case of AllThereInTheManual, as reading the prequel comic reveals that Nero witnessed the beginning of the supernova, but the Romulan senate [[IgnoredExpert refused to listen to him even with concrete evidence]]. So once he goes back in time, he figures that if that senate wouldn't listen to him, the one he would now face sure as hell wouldn't. In the comic he also works closely with Spock on the Federation science project to prevent the disaster, hearing promises that everything will end up all right... only for it to [[GoneHorriblyWrong go horribly wrong]]. That in turn makes Nero's desire to destroy Vulcan and the Federation more understandable. Spending a decade inside a Klingon Prison after going back into the past didn't help his sanity either.
* GenreShift: The film has a very different tone from every show and movie that came before it in the [[Franchise/StarTrek franchise]]--more of the fun, funny, ray gun action; the same WorldBuilding SpaceOpera; and less Technobabble or forced moral message.
* GilliganCut: Before beaming Kirk and Spock onto the ''Narada'', Scotty declares that if its layout makes any kind of sense, the area he's beaming them to is an isolated cargo area. Cut to Kirk and Spock materializing in the middle of the command deck.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Gaila, Uhura's Orion roommate, another ContinuityNod.
%%* GuileHero: Kirk.
* GunshipRescue:
** [[spoiler:The ''Enterprise'' drops out of warp and fires its weapons to destroy the missiles from the ''Narada'' that are headed towards Spock's craft, the ''Jellyfish''.]]
** The ''Kelvin'' gets a GunshipRescue moment when Captain George Kirk destroys a whole volley of missiles from the ''Narada'', including one that comes within meters of destroying the shuttle carrying his wife and the infant Jim.
* HandsomeLech: Kirk eyeballs every woman in the vicinity (even while being dragged through Sickbay by [=McCoy=], sick as a dog from space flu), but the only woman he (visibly) scores with is Uhura's roommate.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** One of the finest and most moving in the entire ''Star Trek'' canon. The movie begins with George Kirk staying behind on the U.S.S. ''Kelvin'' to save the escaping crew, including his pregnant wife and her child. Kirk becomes a legendary hero for this action, given that in his extremely short time as Captain, he saved 800 lives. This is made all the more poignant considering that, when you look closely, you can actually ''see'' missiles from the ''Narada'' being intercepted just before they are about to impact on his wife's shuttle. There was, quite simply, no chance of survival without him.
** Captain Robau as well. "If I'm not back in 15 minutes, evacuate the crew," basically means Robau sacrifices himself to buy time for the evacuation of the ''Kelvin''. He knows he is going to his death.
** And Pike too, after a fashion. He pulls a Robau, going off to sacrifice himself to Nero (and let's face it, Robau's fate ''has'' to be in his head as he does all of this) while the crew mounts a counterattack. Though, it's also subverted a bit when [[spoiler:Kirk shows up later to pull Pike off the ''Narada'' before it blows]].
* TheHerosJourney: Near-perfect example, in double for both Spock and Kirk, including the Miraculous Birth: James Tiberius Kirk, born on the day of the destruction of the ''Kelvin'', son of the hero George Kirk of the same battle; Spock, born the [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human]] son of the Vulcan Ambassador Sarek. In fact, in the novelisation we learn that during Spock's birth, a star was going supernova elsewhere in the galaxy. The novelisation actually states that the birth of Spock and the death of an entire inhabited solar system are equal in magnitude according to ''the universe itself!''
* HeterosexualLifePartners:
** Kirk and Spock. [[spoiler:Spock Prime goes to incredibly risky lengths in order to preserve the natural development of the galaxy's greatest bromance.]]
** Kirk and [=McCoy=] become inseparable friends from the moment they meet, and are united in their dislike of Spock long before he befriends either of them.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: The Romulans were well on the way to becoming allies with the Federation as of ''[[Film/StarTrekNemesis Nemesis]]'', only for their entire planet to get blown up by a supernova.
* {{Homage}}: The lines and mannerisms of the ''Original Series'' cast.
* HitlerCam: Used near the end of the film to compensate for [[spoiler:the height difference between Spock and Spock]].
* HumansAreWhite: The movie did pretty well at averting this. Though human extras are still predominantly white, there's a lot of color. Among named characters, Uhura is black and Sulu is Asian (naturally), and the head of the Starfleet Academy Board, Admiral Barnett, is black.
* HurricaneOfPuns: Michael Giacchino certainly had fun naming the songs in the soundtrack. A few [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin self-explanatory examples]]:
** "Nailin' the Kelvin"
** "Enterprising Young Men"
** "Nero Death Experience" arguably takes the cake as "Worst Pun".
** Unless it's "Nice to Meld You".
** "Nero Sighted". "Nero Fiddles, ''Narada'' Burns". Those Nero puns just don't get old, do they?
** "Labour of Love" as Kirk is being born. "Does It Still [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture McFly]]" as something to do with time travel happens. Ouch.
** This is practically Michael Giacchino's calling card.
** Hella Bar Talk = Bela Bartok (Hungarian composer).
** "I've Fallen and I Can't Beam Up!"
* HyperspeedAmbush:
** The Starfleet relief force on its way to [[spoiler: Vulcan]] gets beaten into scrap metal immediately upon exiting warp. The ''Enterprise'' only narrowly escapes the same fate because it is LateToTheTragedy.
** [[spoiler: The ''Enterprise'']] pulls one off during the film's climax, [[spoiler: saving Spock by tearing up Nero's MacrossMissileMassacre via BeamSpam]].
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Many of the Vulcans who insult Spock for acting emotional fail to realise that they are guilty of the ''same'' thing, showing clear irritation and even mild anger when he fails to respond to their vicious barbs about his mother! Likewise, when the bullies finally goad the young Spock into losing his temper, you can see they are utterly ''[[BringMyBrownPants terrified]]'' when he proceeds to beat the crap out of one of them!
** When Kirk is on the bridge, trying to elicit an emotional response from Spock [[spoiler:at Spock Prime's orders]], Spock tells him "I will not allow you to lecture me on the merits of emotion", then gets violent when Kirk implies that Spock never loved his mother. This despite the fact that he lectured Kirk about the merits of fear, and brought up [[DisappearedDad Kirk's father]] in the same speech, barely hours before. Of course, the circumstances were ''slightly'' different, but still...
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes I-J]]
* IAmNotMyFather:
** Jim Kirk does not enjoy constantly being compared to his deceased father.
** Played directly for laughs as [[spoiler:Spock Prime replies "I am not ''our'' father" when New Spock mistakes him for his father Sarek towards the end]].
* IfIDoNotReturn:
** George Kirk gets one from Captain Robau.
** James T. Kirk and Spock get one from Captain Pike.
** Spock says this to Kirk, and Kirk refuses to listen, [[SubvertedTrope subverting]] the [[OtherStockPhrases Tell Her Yourself]] response by saying, simply, "It'll work."
* IgnorantOfTheCall: Due to the timeline incursion and the death of his father, Kirk grows up to be, according to Captain Pike, "the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest [U.S.]" Pike spurs Kirk to join Starfleet by succinctly summing up his father's HeroicSacrifice, and daring Kirk to do better than that.
* IGotYouCovered:
** When they invade ''Narada'', Kirk stuns one of the Romulans so Spock can do a mind meld and find out where Spock Prime's ship is. While Spock is doing so, Kirk shoots another Romulan who was approaching from behind.
** Pike returns the favor when he shoots a Romulan while Kirk is freeing him from captivity, yanking the pistol right out of Kirk's belt to do so.
* ILikeThoseOdds: Kirk displays some drunken bravado just prior to the BarBrawl.
--> '''Cadet:''' Hey, farm-boy, maybe you can't count, but there are four of us and one of you.\\
'''Kirk:''' So, get a couple more guys and then it'll be an even fight.
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder:
** Wouldn't be ''Franchise/StarTrek'' without it.
--->'''Bones:''' Dammit, man! I'm a doctor, not a physicist! Are you actually saying they're from the future?
** Also played with in the beginning.
--->'''Bones:''' I don't need a doctor, dammit, I ''am'' a doctor!
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Played with. Despite Kirk and Spock materializing in the middle of their bridge, Nero's crew is still good enough to miss them by inches and send them scrambling for cover. Our heroes get precious few hits themselves until they can get behind cover and aim properly.
* ImpossiblyTallTower: Huge megastructures can be seen in the far distance in the Iowa scene.
* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: In the ComicBookAdaptation prequel, the ''Narada'' is a mining ship upgraded with reverse-engineered [[TheAssimilator Borg]] technology.
* IncompletelyTrained: The crew of cadets forced into SavingTheWorld.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Nero actually seems to believe that destroying Vulcan, Earth and the Federation will save Romulus, when it was destroyed due to a sun going supernova, and blames them for letting it happen when they tried to save Romulus and were simply too late. Made all the more ridiculous by the fact that Romulus still exists in the time period he is now in and he is doing nothing to warn them to evacuate or otherwise do something practical and obvious to avert the disaster. It is implied that he doesn't care about Romulus anymore, that he just wants revenge on a Federation that helped cause the destruction of all that he knew and loved... and that he's just insane.
* InstantSedation: Another Star Trek staple, here played for laughs.
-->'''Bones:''' I'm going to give you a mild sedative. ''[injects Kirk in the neck]''\\
'''Kirk:''' Ow! How long will that ta-- ''[falls over]''
* InSpiteOfANail:
** James T. Kirk's father dies thanks to Nero's meddling with the timestream, and Kirk grows up an angry, disaffected youth. Yet, against all odds, vastly different circumstances work out in the end to bring the core crew of the ''Enterprise'' together, [[YouCantFightFate as if willed by Destiny itself]], along with [[spoiler:Spock Prime's meddling]].
** The IDW comics are running through various ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' storylines. There are differences, because the characters are different, but Gary Mitchell still [[AGodAmI becomes a god]] when they cross the Galactic Barrier, and the "''Galileo'' Seven" still end up trapped on Taurus II while studying a quasar.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: The other characters have no trouble understanding a word Chekov says, despite him having a [[FakeRussian "Russian" accent]] thicker than ''borscht''. This is inverted, however, when the computer can't understand his passcode, because of his mangling of "Vwictor Vwictor". (Incidentally, Creator/AntonYelchin really is Russian-born. The accent is still very, very fake, especially being that the quirks of it are actually Slovakian, and not Russian, as commented on in the DVD behind the scenes extras.)
%%%
%% Please no natter. The "W" sound, accurate or not, is in homage to Walter Koenig.
%%%
* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Korean actor John Cho plays Sulu, who is Japanese-Filipino.
* InterspeciesRomance: Spock/Uhura (half human/Vulcan + human), Sarek/Amanda (Vulcan + human) and Gaila/Kirk (Orion + human).
* IronicEcho: When Kirk and [=McCoy=] first meet, [=McCoy=] tells Kirk, "I might throw up on you," since they're about to fly into space, triggering his phobia. Three years later, [=McCoy=] has gotten used to the idea, and stares in wonder at the shiny new ''Enterprise'' while Kirk, sick as a dog from the vaccine [=McCoy=] gave him, warns ''him'' about imminent vomit in turn.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kirk, Captain James T. At first, it's almost as if he wakes up in the morning and thinks of new ways to piss off any and every body he encounters. Wrecks his stepdad's car and stands up to the cop who tried to pull him over. Participates in a bar fight that some cadets start (they punched him first) because he kept hitting on Uhura (who's completely uninterested in him). Reprograms an unwinnable test, which is cheating, to prove that he can win it (by thinking outside the box). Shows no remorse when caught because he doesn't feel he's in the wrong. Indeed, Kirk demonstrates the same wheeling, dealing, and conniving traits of a MagnificentBastard. The differences are--first, Kirk was never out to hurt anyone just for his own ends. Second, it is made clear he's only acting up because he lacks a challenge worthy of his smarts--once the adventure kicks off, Kirk repeatedly throws himself into danger to save people, despite inevitably ending up [[ButtMonkey getting his ass kicked]]. Most importantly, he uses his cunning to save the universe. This movie states overtly what the series were more subtle about: Kirk's Jerk tendencies are also the qualities that make him TheCaptain we all know and love.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes K-L]]
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Sulu fights Romulans with a folding sword that looks a lot like a katana, though it could also be a saber. He describes his combat training as "fencing."
* KeyUnderTheDoormat: According to a deleted scene, the young Kirk found the keys to his step-father's Corvette above the sun visor.
* KillSat: The ''Narada's'' drill has the look of one, being dropped into a planet's atmosphere in order to fire a beam that bores its way to the planet's core, where pressure can ignite the Red Matter into a [[EarthShatteringKaboom planet-destroying]] singularity. Nero could probably use the drill to annihilate whatever surface target he pleases, but since he's planning to destroy the whole planet anyway, he doesn't bother to aim it.
* KillAllHumans: Nero plans to do so, in addition to other species.
* KirksRock: The landscape of Vulcan is a clear homage, with the distinctive shape of the rock formation appearing many times along the horizon.
* LabPet: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Admiral Archer]] allows his pet beagle to be used in a teleportation experiment... with unfortunate results. [[spoiler:(WordOfGod has it that this will likely be a BrickJoke later in the film series.)]]
* LargeHam: [[BigBad Nero]], especially when he gets angry. Creator/EricBana has a lot of fun ChewingTheScenery to little bits.
-->'''Nero:''' '''SPOCK! ''SPOOOOCK!'''''\\\
'''Nero:''' '''Fire everything!'''
* LaserCutter: The ''Narada'' has an enormous laser drill, intended for mining, that Nero uses to make holes for launching Red Matter into to cause [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet-Shattering Kabooms]].
* LastMinuteBabyNaming: At the beginning of the movie, when Kirk's parents are naming him. He's named for his maternal grandfather, and his middle name is his paternal grandfather's.
* LensFlare: This film uses a lot of lens flare. This was a style decision by Creator/JJAbrams, who stated it was to represent a bright future. He [[http://io9.com/5230278/jj-abrams-admits-star-trek-lens-flares-are-ridiculous later admitted]] he went overboard with the lens flares. Most of flares in the movie are real, not CGI, as the set was ''very'' brightly lit, with the ship shining everywhere, causing the flares.
* LetsGetDangerous: Sulu admits his "advanced combat training" is actually fencing, which earns a seemingly-justified OhCrap face from Kirk and a laugh from the audience. In the fight on the drill that immediately follows, Sulu defeats his opponent (while Kirk gets his ass kicked, no less, resulting in Sulu killing ''Kirk's'' opponent as well).
* LiteralCliffhanger: Kirk suffers this trope once when only a kid, giving him plenty of practice for the amount of times it happens to him as an adult (twice in this movie alone).
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes M-N]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: It's practically the ''Narada's'' SignatureStyle.
* MasterSwordsman: Sulu's "fencing" with a fold-out katana proves to be more than a match for two of Nero's Romulan crewmembers.
* MeaningfulEcho:
** Several lines from early in the film are repeated later, such as "Cupcake," "I might throw up on you," and "That depends on your definition of winning."
** Elder Spock's self-introduction echoes ''Film/{{Star Trek II|The Wrath of Khan}}'' and ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}'', more than twenty years earlier:
-->'''Spock:''' I have been, and always shall be, your friend.
* MeaningfulName:
** When your parents name you ''Nero'', they probably have a [[AxCrazy specific destiny]] in mind.
** The USS ''Kelvin'' is named after physicist and engineer Lord Kelvin (of whom the unit of temperature gets its namesake) as well as J. J. Abrams' grandfather Harry Kelvin. The registry number (NCC-0514) is also Harry's birthday.
** Narada was a figure in Hindu mythology who travelled to distant worlds and realms. Rather appropriate for a time-travelling ship.
* MercyKill: When [[spoiler:the ''Narada'']] is trapped in a black hole, [[spoiler:Kirk offers Nero the chance to surrender and save his crew. Nero refuses and Kirk orders his crew to deliver a CoupDeGrace from ''Enterprise'''s forward battery]].
* MildlyMilitary: Starfleet is semi-militarized in response to the fate of the ''Kelvin'', but has its female personnel ''in sundresses'' (admittedly this is a ContinuityNod to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''). However, they act more military in this film than Starfleet often does, for instance convening a quasi-CourtMartial in response to Kirk cheating on the ''KobayashiMaru'' test. (How military, exactly, Starfleet is [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the series and script]]: Prime Kirk and Benjamin Sisko were both very open about the fact that they were primarily soldiers, not explorers or diplomats; Jean-Luc Picard considered himself the opposite.)
* MilitaryMaverick: Kirk and Spock (the latter because [[spoiler: after learning that the Vulcan elders of the Vulcan Science Academy thought his parentage a disability, he joined Starfleet]], and the former because... hey, he's Kirk (and he always was a bit of a [[CowboyCop cowboy]])!
* MinoredInAssKicking: [[TheSpock Spock]], very scarily. Helps that Vulcans cannonically have three times the strength and endurance of a human.
* MissingMom: Spock's mother [[spoiler:dies nanoseconds before she can be beamed to safety aboard the ''Enterprise'' when Nero attacks Vulcan.]]
* MonumentalDamage: Narrowly averted. The [[spoiler:''Narada'''s giant drill]] sure looks like it's going to crash into the Golden Gate Bridge, but just barely misses it.
* TheMountainsOfIllinois: Young Kirk's excursion with his stepfather's car starts in an environment that generally resembles Iowa, but ends at a high cliffside that certainly doesn't exist anywhere in Iowa (yet), overlooking an distinctly American southwestern landscape.
** There may be no mountains, but there are plenty of limestone and other dimensional stone quarries, and the long shot we see of the car approaching the edge does show the kind of regular, smooth faces that would be seen in a quarry.
* MoodWhiplash:
** After a particularly intense scene in the bridge [[spoiler: wherein Kirk manages to [[BerserkButton enrage Spock by mentioning that he never loved his mother]] and [[CurbStompBattle gets his ass whooped]], [[TheEngineer Scotty]] breaks the tension by saying "I like this ship. It's exciting!"]]
** And previously, after discovering most of the fleet has been destroyed by the ''Narada'', suddenly Nero greets them with a casual, almost bored;
--->'''Nero:''' [[FauxAffablyEvil Hi Christopher, I'm Nero...]]
* MoreDakka:
** Federation ships have a ''lot'' of firepower in this continuity, in the form of [[BeamSpam multiple phaser banks, rapid-firing energy turrets]], and [[MacrossMissileMassacre many photon torpedo launchers]]. WordOfGod says that the fight between the ''Narada'' and ''Kelvin'' forced the Federation to upgrade their fleet.
** The ''Narada'' also has a lot of firepower, mostly in the form of [[MacrossMissileMassacre lots of really nasty green missiles]].
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: [[spoiler:[[TheSpock Spock]] and Spock Prime]] meet at the end of the film and they have a nice chat.
* MythologyGag:
** It's subtle, but when Spock stands up during the hearing after the [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Kobayashi Maru]], he performs [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the Picard Maneuver]].
** When Nero fires his drill at San Francisco Bay, he ends up drilling in the same spot the HMS ''Bounty'' crashes in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.
** Nero destroys 47 Klingon ships offscreen: the number 47 was a RunningGag in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.
** The short-sleeved skirt uniforms worn by female Starfleet personnel are somewhat reminiscent of the skant uniform seen in the early seasons of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''.
** At the end, the dress tunics everyone wears are clearly meant to be the similar ones from '''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. And it's probably no coincidence that Pike winds up in a wheelchair... "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS1E11TheMenageriePartI The Menagerie]]", anyone?
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[BigBad Captain Nero]]
* NecessaryFail: Interesting case. As pointed out in InSpiteOfANail, it seems that not only did history continue in spite of [[BigBad Nero's]] actions, it seems certain things happened only ''because'' of it. [[spoiler: The destruction of Vulcan]] actually serves to bring Spock and Kirk together in common cause.
* NeckLift: Romulans, being related to Vulcans, certainly aren't on the weak end of the [[PunyEarthlings alien spectrum]], because Ayel necklifts Kirk. Bonus points for doing it over a huge pit inside the Romulan ship.
* NegativeSpaceWedgie: Red Matter-induced black holes behave more like {{Swirly Energy Thing|y}}ies than real black holes, especially since they appear to be two-dimensional.
* NeverTellMeTheOdds: Kirk, who just plain doesn't care about statistical calculations and pretty much lives to defy them, as he informs Spock on multiple occasions.
* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: [[spoiler:Spock Prime's reason why he couldn't go to the ''Enterprise'' with Kirk, although he was ''implying'']]. As noted in AlternateContinuity, [[spoiler:Spock Prime can meet himself and not disappear from the timeline]], so this is an example of PlayingWithATrope.
* NeverTrustATrailer:
** The trailers seem to have been specifically edited to imply or outright lie about events. For example, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Nero]]'s line "Your father... was a great man. But that was another life." is from two lines. One about Kirk's father, and the second half about Kirk himself, from Nero's original timeline]].
** They also imply a romance between Kirk and Uhura. In the actual movie, Kirk does show interest in Uhura, but she doesn't give him the time of day. [[spoiler:Or her first name.]]
** The trailer also seems to imply that when Kirk assumes the captain's chair (when [=McCoy=] says "We have no captain and no first officer to replace him"), it is done in a dramatic fashion. It's actually more PlayedForLaughs, as [=McCoy=] and the crew are astonished that the trouble-making Kirk is now in charge, since they were unaware that Pike promoted him when they left the ship for their task.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Kirk is usually on the receiving end of these, one of which is delivered by Spock. Young Spock also gives one to a bully. See BerserkButton.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Averted. The ''Narada'' is caught in the midst of a black hole that has opened up from ''inside'' the ship. After their offer of rescue to the Romulan crew is refused, the ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' proceeds to open fire in order to make sure they ''don't'' survive that.
* NoOSHACompliance:
** The ''Narada'' has platforms suspended over huge drops, with no railings. ''Hundreds'' of them. Of course, this allows the Romulans to get around more quickly, so it may be a deliberate design feature. Yes, they jump off, but remember that like the Vulcans, they have three times the strength and endurance of a human. Also, the ''Narada'' is a refitted deep-space mining vessel, so we're seeing the massive cargo bays that would have normally carried mined materials. The platforms and walkways were mostly made from scrap when it was refitted into a warship and aren't part of the normal design.
** There are also scenes where power cables are seen in puddles of water.
** Perhaps some credit should be given to the engineering sections in this movie... this ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' may just be the nearest thing we'll get to an OSHA-compliant ship in the Franchise/TrekVerse ("Gentlemen! I call my invention... a ''seatbelt''."), although still far from perfect in that regard, like for example the lack of barriers to prevent entering the transporter pad when it's in operation.
** The ''Enterprise'' view screen is a glass (or transparent aluminium) window that leads directly out into space, but doesn't have any form of blast shield or emergency bulkhead in case it breaks. While you could argue that the ship has shields for that, they frequently go offline and aren't that reliable as a safeguard.
* NonSequiturThud: PlayedWith. At the end of the bar fight, when Captain Pike breaks it up, Kirk says something to Pike that is lucid, but it's obvious he's dazed. It's probably one of the more accurate depictions of the effects of somebody getting repeatedly punched in the face.
-->'''Pike:''' You alright, son?\\
'''Kirk:''' You can whistle really loud, you know that?
* NormalFishInATinyPond: ''Narada'', a mining vessel from the year 2387, can destroy most of Starfleet in 2233. [[AllThereInTheManual This is explained in other material]] as ''Narada'' having been upgraded with reverse-engineered Borg tech: it also did a number on the ''Enterprise''-E back in the prime universe. (Though as [[Website/SFDebris Chuck]] put it, "You don't get credit for stuff that got left on the cutting-room floor.")
* NoSuchThingAsHR: Starfleet, where a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown is practically a recruiting tool.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore:
** For the characters, the events of this film are just another event, but for the fans with the benefit of oversight, it heavily alters ''Franchise/StarTrek'' mythology.
** [[spoiler: The destruction of Vulcan.]] The devastated look on [[spoiler:the older Spock's face]] cements that until then, the changes could have simply turned this into a CloseEnoughTimeline. Now ''nothing'' will ever be the same. WordOfGod was that [[spoiler:Vulcan was destroyed]] for exactly this reason--to show that things are not the same, and that this is deadly serious.
* NotSoStoic: Spock, as per usual.
* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: When Kirk and Sulu get plucked out of free-fall by the teleporter, they still have momentum and slam onto the teleporter floor... but then stand right up.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes O-P]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Jim Kirk practically turns this into an art form, frequently acting like a [[HandsomeLech womanizing idiot]] or [[TheFool playing the fool]] throughout parts of the film. However, it quickly becomes clear that he's not nearly as stupid as he leads people to believe, effectively beating the supposedly unbeatable [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Kobayashi Maru]] through rather ingenious means and then [[spoiler: stopping Nero's [[RoaringRampageofRevenge rampage of revenge against the Federation]]]]. Prior to joining Starfleet, it's even stated by Pike that Jim's the only “genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest."
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: As per the comic {{prequel}}, these on both Romulus and Vulcan are a major reason for the delays that led to [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] not being able to do his mission on time.
* ObviouslyEvil: Nero and his crew have evil-looking tatoos, dark clothing and unhealthy skin colors, so that you won't accidentally mistake them for good guys. Better yet, their ship, the ''Narada'', looks as if [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]] designed it.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Simon Pegg temporarily reverts to his natural English accent when he asks for a towel.
* OffTheShelfFX: Among the props used on the ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' bridge are supermarket price scanners. (The filmmakers are honoring a fine old ''[[Franchise/StarTrek Trek]]'' tradition: In TOS, Dr. [=McCoy=]'s surgical lasers were actually "Swedish modern" salt-and-pepper shakers that the show's prop guy found on sale at May Company in LA.)
* OhCrap:
** This exchange causes Kirk to have this expression:
--->'''Kirk:''' So what type of combat training do you have?\\
'''[[FanOfThePast Sulu]]:''' Fencing.
** [[TheEngineer Scotty]] tries to beam Kirk and Spock aboard [[spoiler:what he assumes is the Romulan ship's cargo bay. Instead, they beam onto the bridge, surrounded by Romulans]].
** Also: [[spoiler:"I've got your gun."]]
** In case you missed it: '''FIRE EVERYTHING!'''
** The entire bridge crew gets one when they emerge from warp and find that [[spoiler:the fleet has been destroyed]]. More than that, the expression on their faces when the ''debris'' from [[spoiler:the fleet]] is directly in their path.
** Spock gets a low-grade one when it's first reported that Vulcan is in trouble.
* OminousLatinChanting / OneWomanWail / EtherealChoir: During the final battle and destruction of [[spoiler: Nero's ship]], of course.
* OmnicidalManiac: Nero's stated desire is to use Red Matter to turn ''every single Federation planet'' into a black hole.
* OrificeInvasion: Nero uses a creature with similar properties to the worms from ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' on Pike to get him to talk. But it's through the mouth this time, and fortunately far less graphic.
* OverrankedSoldier: Although most fans agree that if you are James Tiberius Kirk, you belong into the captain's chair, Kirk's [[spoiler:promotion from cadet directly to first officer]] strains the SuspensionOfDisbelief for many. In order for it to happen, everyone above him in the chain of command has to die or be captured. Everyone in Starfleet. The ''Enterprise'' is staffed entirely with cadets. And Spock, who disqualifies himself after beating the crap out of Kirk (which is precipitated by Kirk himself, so make of that what you will).
* PairTheSmartOnes: Spock and Uhura. Uhura is one of the top cadets in her class, was once Spock's teaching assistant, and earned her spot on the ''Enterprise'' by knowing more Klingon and Romulan than the sitting communication officer. Spock is one of the Academy's most smartest and esteemed graduates and is first officer of the ship. The fact that she was once his teaching assistant definitely underlines that she's smart enough to keep up with him.
* ParentalSubstitute: Pike is about the closest thing to a true father figure Kirk ever had. He looks out for him and encourages living up to his dad's name. It could be vaguely lampshaded when he asks "You alright, ''son''?" after his Iowa bar fight.
* ParentheticalSwearing:
** Spock puts a certain quirk of the brow, twist of the mouth and inflection on the Vulcan salutation "Live Long and Prosper," turning it into the most polite yet obvious "fuck you" ever.
** See also [=McCoy's=] line when angry with Spock. "Are you out of your '''Vulcan''' mind?!"
** The deleted scenes also give us [=McCoy=]'s "same ship, different day" line.
* PermissionToSpeakFreely: [=McCoy=] asks Spock for permission so he can go off on him regarding Kirk's ouster from the ship.
-->'''Spock:''' I welcome it.\\
'''[=McCoy=]:''' Really? Ok, then: Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!
* PintsizedPowerhouse: Little Spock easily kicks the ass of a young Vulcan taller than him.
* PlayingGertrude: Winona Ryder plays Spock's mother. She is six years older than Zachary Quinto. Conversely, Ben Cross, who plays his father, is 30 years older, just to uphold the DoubleStandard.
* PlayingTheHeartStrings: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-7c0U9t9oc Labor of Love]]" accompanies George Kirk's HeroicSacrifice as he protects the 800 evacuees of the ''Kelvin''.
* PlotAllergy: [=McCoy=] uses Kirk's (expected) reaction to a vaccine get him aboard the ''Enterprise'' on medical grounds. Unfortunately, poor Kirk turns out to be outright allergic to the vaccine and experiences some... rather interesting reactions to it.
* PlotArmor:
** The ''Enterprise'' is the beneficiary here when it arrives at Vulcan and gets spared from destruction only by Nero's orders. This is, however, [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by Nero's desire to keep Spock alive to be on the receiving end of Nero's revenge.
** Later [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] and indirectly [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] when the crew realizes that Nero's incursion has created an alternate reality. Basically, whatever their lives and destinies ''might'' have been beforehand, they are undoubtedly different now. However, it seems that fate wants them all on the ''Enterprise'' regardless ...
* PlummetPerspective: In the opening, young Kirk steals his stepfather's classic car and drives it off a cliff, barely managing to leap out before it goes. The camera makes sure to linger overhead to watch the priceless antique fall out of sight.
* PointDefenseless: Averted by Starfleet ships, if not by the ''Narada''. Both times we see the ''Narada'' engage in combat with a Starfleet vessel, the Starfleet ship does an admirable job of shooting down the incoming fire. [[MacrossMissileMassacre There are just too many missiles]].
* ThePowerOfFriendship: [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] cites this trope as the reason why Kirk and Spock ''must'' learn to work together; it is the only way the ''Enterprise'' can defeat Nero.
* PowerTrio:
** Downplayed, but still present. The traditional Kirk-Spock-[=McCoy=] dynamic, typically seen as the codifying power trio, is seen in its infancy. Kirk, here a brash hothead, actually ends up playing TheMcCoy more than the TropeNamer, who is more [[TheKirk Kirk-like]] in response.
** However, it's suggested that Uhura has been "upgraded", so to speak, and they're now a FourTemperamentEnsemble, with [=McCoy=] as sanguine, Kirk as choleric, Uhura as melancholic, and Spock as phlegmatic. There's good discussion of this [[http://liviapenn.livejournal.com/556613.html here]].
* PragmaticAdaptation: The Alternate Reality was introduced avert ContinuitySnarl and have total freedom with the characters and canon, but to also allow a feasible excuse for updating the technological and visual effects to a 2009 audience.
* PrecisionFStrike:
** Kirk's reaction after meeting [[spoiler:Spock Prime]]. Well, precision BS-strike actually, but close.
** A much subtler version is Spock's "Live Long and Prosper" to the Vulcan Science Academy. The novelization subtlely describes it as an equivalent to FlippingTheBird.
** When "[[Music/BeastieBoys Sabotage]]" is being played while little James Kirk is joyriding in his uncle's car, they happen to leave the F bomb in the song, when in normal cases it's burred out for PG-13 films. Perhaps this may have been the series' first F bomb used in a film.
** Who could forget this gem from Bones.
--->'''[=McCoy=]:''' Are you out of your ''Vulcan'' mind?
* PreemptiveDeclaration: Kirk says [[spoiler:"I got your gun,"]] ''then'' grabs [[spoiler:Ayel's pistol and shoots him with it]].
* PreMortemOneLiner: [[spoiler:"I got your gun."]] Cue OhCrap look.
* PressurePoint: Spock knocks Kirk out with the Vulcan nerve pinch before ordering him to be left on Delta Vega.
* ProductPlacement: For Nokia, Budweiser, and Jack Daniels. In exchange, a Budweiser macrobrewery stands in for the ''Enterprise'' engine room.
* PromotionNotPunishment: At the start, Kirk is actually about to be kicked out for cheating on the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test, then tops that by stowing away on the ''Enterprise'', then actually attempts a mutiny against Spock and disobeys the acting Captain's orders. Being that it is his disregard of orders that leads to the defeat of the BigBad and the saving of (almost) every planet in the Federation, one can begin to see how he actually skips all the way to the Captain's chair at the end.
* PromotedToLoveInterest: Spock and Uhura. There were a few scenes between them in early [=TOS=] episodes that could be seen as flirting, but it never really went anywhere. The film, on the other hand, has them in an established relationship.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes Q-S]]
* QuicklyDemotedLeader: Because it's not Captain Spock and Mr. Kirk we all remember. (Pike is KickedUpstairs to admiral.)
%%* RaceAgainstTheClock: A brief one, that gives the heroes a minor IdiotBall.
* RageBreakingPoint: Spock hits this twice, in both cases when other characters insult his mother and his half-human heritage.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The main crew verges on this, especially as compared to their [=TOS=] counterparts. Kirk's a ''cadet'' under disciplinary review, Scotty gets pulled out of his [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassignment to Antarctia]], Uhura intimidates Spock into reassigning her to the ''Enterprise'', and Sulu is a last-minute replacement for the ''real'' helmsman, who got sick.
* RammingAlwaysWorks:
** In some deleted scenes, the ''Narada'' got severely crippled after the ''Kelvin'' rammed into it, the ship and its crew were captured by the Klingons. They were taken to Rura Penthe (the prison planet from ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'') and it took them twenty five years to escape. Needless to say once they got their ship back the ''Narada'''s crew proceeded to pay back the Klingons in full. The resulting battle is where the transmission Uhura picked up came from.
** The ''Narada'' gets a round two from the ''Jellyfish'', which this time has the [[{{Unobtanium}} Red Matter]] to do most of the damage.
* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: The gravity readings when the Red Matter is activated on Vulcan, according to Chekov.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** Pike; Robau.
** Looking at the movie again, it would appear Nero is one of these as well. Even when his plans get foiled, or his mooks get punked, he never hauls off and declares YouHaveFailedMe. When Kirk and Sulu damage the drill the first time, all he did was just retract it and order the red matter deployed.[[note]]Then again, they did succeed in reaching the core, so they hadn't actually screwed up his plans.[[/note]]
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Scotty gets sent to a Federation outpost on a remote ice world after [[spoiler:one of his transporter experiments caused [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Admiral Archer]]'s dog to be involved in a freak transporter accident.]]
-->'''Kirk:''' [[spoiler: I know that dog. What happened to it?]]\\
'''Scotty:''' [[spoiler:I'll tell you when it reappears.]]
* RecycledINSPACE: While it's based on the '60s TV series, where the show dealt with themes of exploration and asking universal questions, the film more-or-less becomes ''Film/TopGun''... in space. Kirk is a maverick whose father died in an act of aerial heroism. He has an older, more tightly-wound buddy ([=McCoy=]), and a gruff superior officer (Pike) who appears to disapprove of him, but secretly thinks he has a certain untapped potential. There's also an "icy" rival (Spock), though he gets the hot/smart chick (Uhura) instead of our maverick. Spock kicks him off the ''Enterprise'' not because of his flying, but because of his attitude, but after he meets Spock's older self, he makes it back to the ship and proves he's the best of the best and by the end, he and Spock can be each others' wingman anytime--or rather, are and always shall be friends.
* RecycledTitle: ''Star Trek'' is already the original name of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the first series]] and [[Franchise/StarTrek the franchise as a whole]]. As of today, the 2009 film is currently the only work in the ''Star Trek'' franchise to be officially known as ''Star Trek'' with no subtitle, as the series was renamed ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', and the first film had the full title of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. Fans are calling it "''Star Trek 11''" or ''Star Trek: The Future Begins'' to differentiate it. It has also been labeled ''Star Trek '09'' while TOS is alternatively referred to as ''Star Trek '66'', nodding to their respective releases.
* RedPillBluePill: "So your daddy dies... you can settle for a less-than-ordinary life. Or do you feel like you're meant for something better? Something special?" Captain Pike offers James T. Kirk the chance to be equal or greater than Kirk's father, even if Jim were half the man of an officer that was Captain of a Starship for twelve minutes.
* RedShirt:
** Knowingly used and subverted by Creator/JJAbrams, but [[ContinuityNod it wouldn't be]] ''[[ContinuityNod Star Trek]]'' [[ContinuityNod without it]]. A poor fashion choice gets someone killed. Poor fashion choice and [[TooDumbToLive reckless stupidity]] ''from the Chief Engineer''. This is the only "red shirt" who dies in the film, unless you count [[spoiler: all the Academy cadets who were wearing red uniforms]].
** In an amusing subversion, the ''actual'' {{Red Shirt}}s--the "Cupcake" guy et al.--make it through the movie relatively unharmed.
* RedShirtArmy: [[spoiler:All the ships heading out to [[DoomedHometown Vulcan]] that aren't the ''Enterprise'']].
* RefugeInAudacity: Invoked when young James T. Kirk leads a police officer in a high-speed chase with his stepfather's classic car, which ultimately Kirk has to dive from when it starts falling into a ravine. Kirk pulls himself up from the quarry, dusts himself off, and as the officer confronts him, Kirk says:
--> '''James T. Kirk:''' Is there a problem, officer?
* ReimaginingTheArtifact: On ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Dr. [=McCoy=]'s nickname "Bones" comes from the term "Sawbones", which was an old nickname for doctors. Since the term has fallen from the parlance, this film has Kirk call [=McCoy=] "Bones" because, in his introduction, he explains he's joining Starfleet because "The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left is my bones."
* RelativeButton: Don't insult Spock's mother.
* TheRemake: This is basically TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
* RenegadeSplinterFaction: The ''Narada'' for the Romulans:
-->'''Pike:''' You've declared war against the Federation. Withdraw. I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location.\\
'''Nero:''' I do not speak for the Empire. We stand apart...
* RevengeBeforeReason:
** Nero refuses to listen to any plan or idea that does not fit with his goal to destroy every Federation planet.
** In a quieter example, Spock toward the end, when Kirk offers to rescue Nero ([[spoiler: who had previously destroyed Vulcan]]) from the singularity he created.
--->'''Spock:''' Captain, what are you doing?\\
'''Kirk:''' Showing them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with the Romulans. It's logic, Spock. I thought you'd like that.\\
'''Spock:''' No, not really. Not this time.
* RippleEffectProofMemory:
** Ultimately averted. One may think Spock Prime would have new memories of what his ''younger self just experienced''. Then again, he's the [[http://orangejuiceinbishopsgarden.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/mmwithemma.blogspot.com_.jpg Prime Reality version of Spock]] (hence his nickname), separate from the [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rrZmF3r07DE/UZ-aY6NXWeI/AAAAAAAAFDo/HNGBILLe0-E/s1600/Zachary-Quinto-in-Star-Trek-2009-Movie-Image.jpg New Alternate One]] who exists in a new spacetime continuum branching off the original universe. Despite being a younger incarnation, whatever happens to New Spock would most likely not, in any way, ''physically'' affect Spock Prime whose only affected by the [[http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/File:STO_timeline_diagram.jpg original timestream]] (anything in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise before the 2009 reboot). The same principle applies to anyone and anything that exists past the timeline diverging event in 2233.
** ''Star Trek'' has always had extremely variant versions of what happens due to time travel: [[ScrewDestiny the past being altered]], [[YouCantFightFate the past never altering]] ([[YouAlreadyChangedThePast because by time traveling you did what you were supposed to do to begin with]]); the past being altered [[InSpiteOfANail but not in any real, significant way]]; or even the [[TheMultiverse creation of alternate continuities]] (such as in this case, or what happened in the TNG episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]").
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Nero's entire motivation, after [[spoiler:the destruction of the Romulan home system and death of his family]]. A whole lot of Starfleet, a whole lot of Klingons, Vulcan (both the planet and species) and the freaking ''timestream'' are all casualties of it.
* RocketlessReentry: Kirk and Sulu drop from orbit onto the ''Narada'''s drill to disable it, but fail to stop Vulcan's destruction.
* RoleReprisal: Thanks to a loophole that the writers implemented, they were able to recast Creator/LeonardNimoy as "Spock Prime," the same Spock from the original ''Star Trek'' timeline.
* RuleOfCool: Notably, the only entry in the entire series to forego it's allegoric and philosophical roots and solely run on this--''and excel at it brilliantly.''
* TheRunaway: George Samuel Kirk, the older brother of James T. Kirk, ran away from home when the brothers were young to escape their [[WickedStepmother stepfather's]] constant abuse.
* RunningGag: Chekov's accent. Seriously. And [=McCoy's=] injections. And Kirk trying to learn Uhura's first name, which itself is a MythologyGag since Uhura never ''had'' a canon first name before now. ("Nyota" was {{Fanon}}. Though the fan in question was Creator/NichelleNichols...)
* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:First, Captain Robau, and then the USS ''Kelvin'' itself in the film's opening]]. Later on, [[spoiler:Spock's mother, Amanda Grayson]] dies just before [[spoiler:[[EarthShatteringKaboom Vulcan itself]]]].
* SacrificialPlanet: The movie shows the planet Vulcan being destroyed, and then heads for Earth to do the same.
%%* SavedByTheAwesome
* SaveTheVillain: Played with. When [[spoiler:the ''Narada'' is crippled by the artificial black hole]], Kirk offers assistance and fair accomodations for the crew as refugees. Even Spock gave a kind of inverted WhatTheHellHero to Kirk. [[spoiler:Nero venomously refuses any help and Kirk wastes no time in opening fire to make sure the ship doesn't survive.]]
* SceneryGorn: When the ''Enterprise'' arrives at Vulcan, it finds the other ships that warped there destroyed, and has to dodge large pieces of debris. It doesn't come out unscathed, either; a nacelle drags against a destroyed saucer section.
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Two main problems with the supernova scenario.
** First, the idea that a supernova could threaten to destroy the entire galaxy. The blast front would dissipate long before that from spreading out too far. The official novelization of the movie fixes this, saying the supernova had threatened everything in its vicinity.
** Second, the idea that a supernova could destroy the Romulus System before it could be evacuated. Having the shockwave travel at the required speed violates basic Einsteinian physics (i.e. it would have to travel faster than the speed of light, which is impossible). The only way this would make sense is if it was the sun of Romulus and Remus themselves that blew up. Otherwise the star systems in the vicinity would have, at minimum, ''years'' to evacuate, a daunting but hardly impossible task for a major warp-capable polity such as the Romulan Star Empire. ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' gives a non-canon explanation for this: [[spoiler:The supernova was not a natural phenomenon, but rather caused by Romulan experiments with treaty-banned subspace weapons. Because of this the shockwave traveled through subspace at FTL speeds.]]
* ScreamingBirth: Jim Kirk's birth at the beginning.
* SelfInducedAllergicReaction: [=McCoy=] injects Kirk with a vaccine, making him visibly sick. This allows [=McCoy=] to fast-talk a guard and get Kirk onto the ''Enterprise''. [[RealityEnsues Of course, some people have worse reactions than others.]]
* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: Uhura and [=McCoy=] are all still Starfleet Academy cadets called to active duty when a catastrophe looms. Kirk should be in the equivalent of detention, facing suspension, and gets bumped up to first officer.
* ShoutOut:
** The Red Matter ball looks identical to a couple that feature in ''Series/{{Alias}}''.
** To ''Franchise/StarWars'':
*** During the beginning of the battle between the Kelvin and the ''Narada'', one of the bridge staff says "All power to forward batteries."
*** The ''Enterprise'' going into warp comes ''this close'' to looking like going into hyperspace.
*** When the cadets muster in the hangar for their ship postings, Cadet Vader is assigned to the USS ''Hood''.
** Kirk and [=McCoy=] fly to spacedock aboard the Shuttlecraft ''[[Creator/TerryGilliam Gilliam]]''.
** When young Kirk is joyriding to the tune of the Music/BeastieBoys' "Sabotage", it might have seemed like an odd song choice until one remembers when William Shatner voiced displeasure over being told how to pronounce said word during an audiobook recording.
** An arctic planet inhabited by red multi-limbed-and-jawed creatures evokes ''Film/TheThing1982''.
* SingleBiomePlanet: Vulcan is a planet of stony desert full of KirksRock–like formations. Delta Vega is an ice planet.
* SkywardScream: Nero cuts loose when Spock steals the Jellyfish and its cargo of Red Matter.
-->'''Nero:''' '''''SPOOOOOOCKKKK!! SPOOOOOCCCKKKK!!'''''
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Slides a bit on down toward Cynicism from the bright and optimistic place ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' occupied near Idealism. But the scenery is a lot prettier.
* SmokeAndFireFactory: The bridge, medical bay, hallways and transporter room of the new ''Enterprise'' look all nice and spiffy. Of course, the engineering section ''has'' to look like it's powered by Miller Light--and those engineering scenes were actually ''filmed'' at a Budweiser Brewery.
* SophisticatedAsHell: {{Inverted|Trope}} by Scotty, speaking of the ''Enterprise'':
-->'''Scotty:''' She is one well-endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll pardon the engineering parlance.
* SoundtrackDissonance: At the beginning of the movie, as [[spoiler:George Kirk sends his ship on a collision course with the ''Narada'']], an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZSQJ-XnR78 extraordinarily beautiful musical piece]] plays.
* SourSupporter: [=McCoy=] stands by Kirk through all his crazy shenanigans, even when he can't quite see how Kirk's antics are helping anyone. When Kirk actually manages to gain the captain's chair, [=McCoy=] is incredulous.
* SpaceCadetAcademy: Any ''Star Trek'' series will probably reference Starfleet Academy at some point, and it features prominently in this movie.
* SpaceIsNoisy:
** Subject to the RuleOfDrama. When we're subject to a character POV, we either hear nothing or just the sound of their own breathing if they are in a space suit. If there are no character [=POVs=] to be subjected to, we can hear the explosions and jumps to warp just fine.
** Subverted when the ''Kelvin'' is being attacked. There's plenty of crashing and screaming before the hull ruptures and the woman is sucked into space, and then it goes completely silent while she is ''still flailing and trying to scream''.
* SpaceIsolationHorror: Dr. 'Bones' [=McCoy=] has a healthy fear of this. He goes on a lengthy diatribe of how dangerous it is to fly around in spaceships like shuttles and what may happen if they malfunction, how alien diseases are horrifying and how space in general is a collection of {{Death World}}s with an equally dangerous nothing in between them.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Sulu is a mild case early on. He fails to disable the space brakes delaying the ''Enterprise'''s jump to warp, which gives Kirk enough time to convince Pike to raise shields before arriving.
* SpecialEffectBranding: Phasers have red and blue emitters for Kill and Stun settings, respectively.
* SpecialGuest: [[spoiler:Creator/LeonardNimoy as Ambassador Spock, credited as "Spock Prime"]].
* SpikesOfVillainy: Just ''look'' at the Romulan ship and the chain the drill is hanging from. Combined with SpikesOfDoom when we first see it emerging from the wormhole, spikes curving menacingly towards the tiny-by-comparison USS ''Kelvin''.
* StealthInsult: Upon rejecting admission to the Vulcan Science Council after being told [[YouAreACreditToYourRace that his "disadvantage" hasn't slowed him down]], Spock tells the elders to "Live long and prosper" in the most vitriolic way a Vulcan possibly could.
* StealthSequel: It was billed as an OriginStory {{prequel}}, but turned out to be a quasi-prequel, {{sequel}} ''and'' a [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] all in one. In addition to seeing Kirk and co. as rookies, we get [[spoiler: an aging Spock meeting his younger self, and we see how the Federation's conflict with the Romulans finally ends]].
* StrongFamilyResemblance: As a result of SeparatedAtBirthCasting:
** James T. Kirk bears such a strong resemblance to his father that some viewers initially mistook George Kirk for his son.
** Spock also shares a few features with his mother. His eyes are commented on by other Vulcans as being extremely human.
* StuffBlowingUp: The film features things exploding. Many things exploding. Explodily. Which were produced by Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic. And it was ''awesome''.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Spock's mother Amanda, unfortunately]]. It [[ItsPersonal enrages]] one of the heroes almost to the point of no return.
* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: Nero's ship, a 24th century civilian ''mining vessel'' that is capable of destroying 47 23rd century Klingon warships. Even considering the 150 year tech advance, that's still one hell of a mining vessel. [[AllThereInTheManual In the comic book accompanying the movie, it's explained that Nero's ship is equipped with reverse-engineered Borg weapons that he took from a research base]]. (Consider a 1945 cargo ship, with a 3" deck gun and a twin 20mm AA mount [not to mention an all-metal hull and diesel engines], transported back 155 years to 1790. It would be, hands down, the most powerful warship on the planet.)
* SwirlyEnergyThingy: Red Matter–induced black holes are oddly two-dimensional and surrounded by a swirly "lightning storm in space."
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes T-Z]]
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Starfleet ships favor BeamSpam, while the ''Narada'' employs MacrossMissileMassacre. One hopes the Klingons employ MoreDakka.
* TakeThat:
** Establishing Uhura's linguistics skills is a TakeThat against the "Klingon Dictionary" scene in ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry The Undiscovered Country]]''.
** Scotty's explanation of how he decided to test his Transwarp Beaming on "[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Admiral Archer's]] prize beagle":
--->'''Kirk:''' Wait, I know that dog. What happened to it?\\
'''Scotty:''' I'll tell you when it reappears. Ahem. I don't know, I do feel guilty about that.
** Also the sequence when Kirk's shuttlecraft arrives at the ''Enterprise''; instead of ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'''s interminable fly around the ship in drydock, this film has a quick and efficient scene where the shuttlecraft flies over the length of the ship before immediately landing in the shuttlebay which shows its scale and majesty without boring the audience to death.
** When Kirk first boards the shuttle, he hits his head on a pipe in the same way Scotty did in ''Film/{{Star Trek V|The Final Frontier}}''. William Shatner (Kirk's actor in The Original Series and the accompanying movies) directed that movie.
* TakingAThirdOption: Kirk, in regards to the [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Kobayashi Maru]], no-win scenarios, and life in general.
* TastesLikeFriendship: [=McCoy=] offering Jim a drink from his flask.
* TeacherStudentRomance: [[spoiler: Spock and Uhura]], though they didn't formally hook up until after Uhura left his tutelage.
* TellMeAboutMyFather: Originally subverted, as Kirk couldn't care less but Pike tells him anyways. Later the trope is played straight, when Kirk meets up with [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] and asks him about his father.
* ThanksForTheMammary: Kirk "accidentally" grabs Uhura's breasts during the bar fight scene. Cue a big smirk from Kirk and a sock on the jaw from Uhura.
* ThatsAnOrder: George Kirk ordering Medical Shuttle 37's pilot to take off without him, so that Winona and James can get to safety.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Another SignatureStyle of the ''Narada''.
* ThisIsMyChair: Kirk is doing his signature slouch in the Captain's Chair. Spock (still his superior) walks past and snaps, "Out of the chair."
* ThisIsADrill: The bad guys are futuristic miners, so Nero's is a drill that will [[spoiler:crack a planet's crust]].
* ThisIsAsFarAsIGo: [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] tells Kirk and Scotty that he cannot join them on the ''Enterprise'', "That is not my destiny."
* TimeshiftedActor: Leonard Nimoy as the elderly Spock and Zachary Quinto as the younger Spock.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Jim Kirk seems to have leveled up in between Starfleet courses.
** Chekov manages to level up, relative to his counterpart in the original continuity, by saving Kirk and Sulu through some very skilled transporter use.
** Starfleet in response to the attack on the ''Kelvin''. Part of the reason the ''Enterprise'' is more advanced than its counterpart from the Prime Universe is Starfleet's rapid realisation that there were things out there that had them ''severely'' outgunned. Pike even states that instead of just exploration, Starfleet has become a "Peacekeeping and Humanitarian ''Armada''".
* TooDumbToLive:
** The whole race of Romulans. Their whole sun goes supernova thus destroying Romulus in the process? Sorry, but you must be plain dumb in order to let ''that'' happen (according to ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', they caused it by testing weapons that were banned due to this specific reason). Not only do they possess a whole '''star empire''', which means they have more planets then just the one being threatened by the super nova, they should also have the technological possibilities to detect super novas '''in time'''. It's not like they happen as a total surprise. It shouldn't have been a problem at all to evacuate a planet in time. And to let Spock as the ''only person'' in the goddamned empire try to prevent it because they were too busy arguing. That's beyond dumb. Maybe more so, since the ship and technology Spock uses were built on Vulcan, which means ''somebody'' had sufficient advance notice and time to prepare a response.
** Due to his wanting to show up the rookies, Olson waits until the absolute last moment before popping his parachute. Kirk and Sulu pull their chutes at a safe distance above the platform, but Olson turns out to have waited too long, and winds up dropping right into the path of the mining laser beam, completely vaporizing him [[spoiler:and the explosives he was carrying for destroying the drill]].
** We also have the Vulcan bullies picking on Young Spock. It was clear from their reaction to Spock delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to one of them that none of them considered the possibility of their trying to "elicit an emotional response" in Spock might result in violence.
* TokenRomance: Spock and Uhura. Actually subverted in the sequel too: the romance allows the writers to remind the audience that Spock does in fact have feelings but just chooses to not show them. Roberto Orci said that they serve as a parallel to Spock's parents, which were also an interracial and interspecies couple, and thus it's quite plausible for Spock to fall for a human the way his father did, and it challenges his character in ways his counterpart never was. The romance also subverts the ''[[SassyBlackWoman strong independent black woman who doesn't need no man]]'' racist trope for Uhura as well as the ''[[ChickMagnet the hero always gets the girl]]'' trope (as Kirk doesn't get the girl that is in fact the already established girlfriend of ''The Nerdy Friend of the Hero''.
* TragicVillain: The tie-in prequel comic ''Star Trek: Countdown'' reveals Nero to be this as he truly entrusted Spock and the Federation to assist Romulus from imminent destruction.
* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot:
** The distance from Earth to Vulcan takes exactly as long as is required by the plot. The initial journey seems to take only a few minutes but the return trip takes the second half of the movie. 40 Eridani (the triple-star system identified in canon as Vulcan's system) is only about 16.5 light years from Sol. This means that crossing the galaxy would take less than 9 days.
** There's an instance of "turbolift rides only last as long as the conversation contained within." Duing the buildup to the ''Enterprise'''s departure, Spock takes a turbolift from the shuttlebay to the bridge, 80% of the total length of the ship, within seconds. Later Spock is joined by Uhura in the turbolift. Even after stopping and restarting the lift, the lift travels for at least 20 seconds.
* UltimateUniverse: With it usage of Broad Strokes, the movie could be seen as a simplified version of the whole franchise packed into "one neat little starter-kit for new fans".
%%* {{Understatement}}: [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] is king of these.
* UnnamedParent: Spock's mother's name is never said or shown in the film until the credits. (It's Amanda Grayson.)
* UnnecessarilyLargeVessel: The new ''Enterprise'' is roughly the size of the ''Galaxy''-class from the original timeline. Much of it consists of extremely cavernous open spaces. Jefferies Tubes have been replaced by catwalks. This partly due to the use of real world locations such as the National Ignition Facility as sets for filming the reboot movies as opposed to a soundstage or green screen CGI background.
* {{Unobtainium}}: Red Matter.
* UnrealisticBlackHole: As is common in science fiction, black holes are treated here as being almost infinitely powerful space vacuums that suck in everything around them almost instantaneously.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Kirk's final plan for defeating Nero.
* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: This time it has Kirk doing it, naturally. Thing is, he's taking it for the ''third'' time, and reprograms the computer so the Klingons have no shields, and does it with the finesse expected of the James T. Kirk original. Weapons... target-the-Klingon-Warbirds (sorry, battlecruisers. No such thing as Klingon Warbirds).
* VillainousBreakdown: Nero's call to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZVbVvZqBJM&feature=related "FIRE EVERYTHING!"]] when he realizes [[spoiler:Spock is doing a suicide run]]. He also has one when we first see him, upon realizing he's arrived [[spoiler:in the past]].
* VisualPun: Jim Kirk literally walks into a bar.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Bones is constantly bitching and Kirk is constantly giving him reasons to, but they definitely have each other's backs.
* VulcanHasNoMoon: Apparently Delta Vega is close enough for [[spoiler:Spock Prime to witness the destruction of Vulcan]] without a telescope. This ends up {{Handwave}}d as a psychic vision.
* WalkAndTalk: Twice, after Nero calls for the captain of an enemy vessel (the ''Kelvin'' and the ''Enterprise'') to surrender himself via shuttlecraft, said captain makes plans with his underlings on his way from the bridge to the shuttlebay.
* WatchingTroyBurn:
** Nero maroons [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] on Delta Vega for the express purpose of witnessing the destruction of [[spoiler:Vulcan]].
** Nero saw [[spoiler: Romulus be destroyed]].
* WeaponizedHeadgear: Kirk uses his dropsuit helmet as a bludgeoning weapon when he loses his phaser on the ''Narada'''s drill.
* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture:
** Implied by Dr. [=McCoy=], who boasts that he has a cure for everything that ails Kirk. Then again, [=McCoy=] infected Kirk in the first place. It stands to reason allergic reactions would be easily treatable.
** Based on the reference to Admiral Archer, human life expectancy is now considerably over a hundred.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's unknown whether Gaila was assigned to any of the Federation starships that were [[spoiler:destroyed in the battle with Nero at Vulcan]]. Deleted scenes show she was [[spoiler:also assigned to the ''Enterprise''. There was, in fact an also-deleted subplot about how she and Kirk are now awkward around each other once she realizes he only slept with her to get her to reprogram the Kobayashi Maru]].
* WhatTheHellHero: Inverted when [[spoiler:Kirk offers surrender terms to Nero]].
-->[[spoiler:'''Spock:''' Captain, what are you doing?]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Kirk:''' Showing them compassion. It may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus. It's logic, Spock, I thought you'd like that.]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Spock:''' No, not really. Not this time.]]
* WhatYearIsThis: When Robau doesn't recognize images of "our" Spock or his craft, the Romulans ask him what the current Stardate is. He tells them--and Nero leaps out of his chair and impales him.
* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: [[spoiler:Ambassador Spock's]] ship, the ''Jellyfish'', with three separately-rotating... things which are obviously scientific and important because they have a [[PowerGlows glowy thing]] in the middle.
* WhichMe: Near the end of the movie, Spock sees someone he thinks is his father, but it turns out on closer inspection to be his older self, who tells him, "I am not our father". He seems to be deliberately mixing his pronouns as a way of cluing Spock to his identity, as neither of them have any more pronoun trouble for the rest of the conversation.
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: When the baby Kirk is born, his parents discuss the name while PapaWolf is making his HeroicSacrifice.
-->'''George:''' What are we gonna call him?\\
'''Winona:''' We could name him after your father.\\
'''George:''' ''[laughing]'' Tiberius? You kidding me? No, that's the worst. Let's name him after your dad. Let's call him Jim.\\
'''Winona:''' Jim. OK, Jim it is.
* WithDueRespect: Young Spock saluting the Vulcan Council. See ParentheticalSwearing.
* AWizardDidIt:
** WordOfGod says that Future Spock seeing the planet Vulcan in the sky was actually a psychic vision similar to how Spock can sense large numbers of Vulcans dying over long distances in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
** The {{Novelization}} and ComicBookAdaptation say that Kirk's escape pod landed so conveniently near Spock's cave because the timeline was trying to repair itself by bringing Kirk and Spock together.
** Abrams says that the reason why technology is more advanced in the alternate timeline is because the shuttles evacuating the ''Kelvin'' scanned Nero's ship and then studied the futuristic technology.
** A tie-in comic about Nero says that a stellar cartographer on Rura Pente and [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture Vejur]] helped him work out where and when Future Spock would emerge from the [[UnrealisticBlackHole black hole]].
* TheWorfEffect:
** Nero's awesome (mining) ship wiped out a fleet of ''47 Klingon Warbirds'', conveniently off-screen, of course. Apparently getting your ass whooped to demonstrate someone else's badassery is [[PlanetOfHats genetic]].
** ''Countdown'', the prequel comic, has the trope namer doing what he does best, getting his ass kicked.
* WrongTimeTravelSavvy: [[spoiler:Spock Prime]] allows Kirk to infer that universe-ending paradoxes will ensue if he and his younger self interact. He just wants them to work together without using him as a crutch.
* YouAllMeetInAnInn: And have a roaring [[BarBrawl barfight]]. Kirk meets Uhura, Captain Pike, and some of his future security officers at a small-town Iowa bar near where the ''Enterprise'' is under construction in drydock.
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: The Vulcan Council congratulate Spock on overcoming the "disadvantage" of a human mother. Big mistake.
* YouCantFightFate: Despite how much events change due to Nero's interference in the timeline, the crew of the ''Enterprise'' end up together anyway.
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Kirk runs into the bridge, claiming they're heading towards a trap and Romulans who had attacked his dad twenty-something years ago are back. (It doesn't help that he's not even supposed to be on the ''Enterprise'' in the first place.) Thankfully Uhura is there to confirm it and Spock believes her. And Pike is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, enough to give Kirk one chance to speak his mind.
* YouKilledMyFather:
** Nero is responsible for the death of Jim Kirk's father, George Kirk, [[BirthDeathJuxtaposition only minutes after Jim's birth]]. Ironically, revenge for his father's death is never a main motive in Kirk's defeat of Nero.
** Played straight with [[spoiler: Spock's mother]], whose death takes place in the movie's actual present.
* YoungerAndHipper: HAH! The entire freaking ''crew''! Even if Pike can't be classified as "younger", he's certainly "hipper". The man actually has a sense of humor, not something ever seen with Pike Prime (keeping in mind that a lot of scenes with Pike Prime were either him as a very tired, very experienced captain... or as a [[Series/DoctorWho Davros-like]] man in a life support unit).
* YourSizeMayVary:
** The ''Constitution''-class of this continuity is bigger than it originally was (partially [[AllThereInTheManual explained]] by an InUniverse redesign). Shatner's was around 280 meters long. Pine's was designed to be closer to 360 meters (which was largely a result of a sleeker design and longer nacelles), although it was upscaled in the movie proper, because Abrams wanted an oversized shuttle bay, to be over ''700 meters'' long. For reference, that's around the same length as the ''Sovereign''-class of the ''TNG'' [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact movie]] era! [[http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/new_enterprise/monsterprise.jpg Here]] is a quick comparison chart, outlining the size descrepencies, and [[http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/new_enterprise_comment.htm#size here]] is the main article.
** In addition, Daddy Kirk "saved 800 lives" on the ''Kelvin'' (pre-time change) when the original ''Enterprise'' (newer and ''larger'' than the ''Kelvin'') had a crew of about 450. Assuming a great deal of casualties in that battle, that puts the ''Kelvin'' crew compliment closer to the 1,000 of the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Enterprise-D]]''.
* YouShouldKnowThisAlready: By this point we really might as well not bother spoiler-tagging [[spoiler:Spock Prime]]; even anyone who's seen the ''trailer'' and not the movie knows he's in it.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Believe me, when you get Spock [[NotSoStoic "emotionally compromised"]], it's not pretty.
* ZeerustCanon: Subverted. WordOfGod is that reverse-engineered technology based on the ''Kelvin's'' scans of the ''Narada'' is why everything appears more advanced than in the Prime Universe.
** Played with the USS ''Kelvin''. The ship seems to have marginally superior assets and technology to what originally would've been the forthcoming TOS ''Enterprise'' had Nero not shown up. However the creators had to keep certain design aspects of it in check since the ''Kelvin'' existed over 30 years before the events of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' (TOS) and thus it has some subtle '60s TOS elements, while still keeping it appealing to a 2009 audience.
[[/folder]]
----
->''The Future Begins.''

* BuildingIsWelding: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZFWr0vR8Q trailers]] show the USS Enterprise under construction, with lots of welding depicted. Also the viral marketing site for the film showed lots of welding and not much else.

* BuildingIsWelding: The teaser trailer depicts the ''Enterprise'' under construction.

** The deliciously curvaceous [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Orion chick]] wearing just lingerie in the same scene

* SpaceIsolationHorror: Dr. 'Bones' [=McCoy=] has a healthy fear of this. He goes on a lengthy diatribe of how dangerous it is to fly around in spaceships like shuttles and what may happen if they malfunction, how alien diseases are horrifying and how space in general is a collection of DeathWorld s with an equally dangerous nothing in between them.

* ContinuityRebooter: Spock Prime and Nero basically serve as this. Given the actions taken by Nero, it seems that the new AlternateUniverse is going down a DarkerAndEdgier path.

* GilliganCut: Before beaming Kirk and Spock onto the ''Nerada'', Scotty declares that if its layout makes any kind of sense, the area he's beaming them to is an isolated cargo area. Cut to Kirk and Spock materializing in the middle of the command deck.

The first theatrical ''Star Trek'' film to feature any of the original characters [[Film/StarTrekGenerations in 15 years]]. Released seven years after 2002's ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' (the biggest gap between series films to date) from which it takes a major ToneShift and, believe it or not, to which it is also a loose StealthSequel. ''Star Trek'' is also the first entry in what has been officially dubbed the "Kelvin Timeline". Is followed by the 2013 sequel ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and the 2016 sequel ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''.

TheFilmOfTheSeries from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' creator Creator/JJAbrams featuring the characters from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' played by a new cast and is set in a divergent AlternateTimeline during the time period of ''The Original Series''. Alternatively called ''[[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt J.J. Abrams' Star Trek]]'', ''Star Trek 2009/'09'', and ''Star Trek XI/11'' to keep confusion in check with the other Trek films.

The first theatrical ''Star Trek'' film to feature any of the original characters [[Film/StarTrekGenerations in 15 years]]. Released seven years after 2002's ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' (the biggest gap between series films to date) from which it takes a major ToneShift and, believe it or not, to which it is also a loose StealthSequel.

''Star Trek'' is also the first entry in what has been officially dubbed the "Kelvin Timeline". Is followed by the 2013 sequel ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and the 2016 sequel ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''.

TheFilmOfTheSeries from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' creator Creator/JJAbrams featuring the characters from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' played by a new cast and is set eight years before ''The Original Series'', but in an [[AlternateTimeline Alternate Reality]]. Alternatively called ''[[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt J.J. Abrams' Star Trek]]'', ''Star Trek 2009'', and ''Star Trek XI/11'' to keep confusion in check with the other Trek films.

In 2233, over 30 years before ''The Original Series'' was supposed to take place, TheFederation Starship ''Kelvin'' comes across a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie "black hole"-like spatial phenomenon]] near a distant sun. Emerging from it is a massive ship called the ''Narada'' captained by [[AxCrazy a Romulan named Nero]]. Nero kills the ''Kelvin'''s captain, and deploying weaponry vastly superior to that of the Federation ship, the ''Narada'' forces the ''Kelvin'' crew to abandon ship, with many crewmembers lost. While the survivors flee the devastating battle, a young boy is born amongst them: [[TheHero James Tiberius Kirk]], son of the first officer of the ''Kelvin'', who sacrifices himself and the ship to buy time for his crew's escape. James T. Kirk grows up an angry teenager and a rebellious young adult until he is recruited by Captain Christopher Pike to join Starfleet.

As Kirk makes waves at Starfleet Academy, the ''Narada'' and Nero emerge again after years in hiding. The Federation scrambles its fleet to confront the warship, deploying the flagship ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'', commanded by Pike, for the first time. All the rest of the fleet is destroyed, with the ''Enterprise'' only surviving due to a brief delay in getting to the battlefield. When the ''Enterprise'' engages the ''Narada'', Pike is taken hostage. When they learn the ''Narada'' is from the distant future and begin to put together the events that lead to that future, it falls on [[TheKirk Kirk]] and [[TheSpock Spock]] to overcome their initial mistrust of each other and on the ship's green, hastily put-together crew of cadets[[note]]actually, concerning those with major roles, it's three cadets (one of whom is a lieutenant, and another of whom is already a qualified doctor), an ensign, a lieutenant, a lieutenant commander who was ReassignedToAntarctica, and a commander who was told YouAreInCommandNow[[/note]]--([[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the young TOS characters]])--to somehow save the day.

The first theatrical ''Star Trek'' film to feature any of the original characters in 15 years. Released seven years after 2002's ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' (the biggest gap between series films to date) from which it takes a major ToneShift and, believe it or not, to which it is also a loose StealthSequel.

Is followed by the 2013 sequel ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' and the 2016 sequel ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''.

* ZeerustCanon: Averted. WordOfGod is that reverse-engineered technology based on the ''Kelvin's'' scans of the ''Narada'' is why everything appears more advanced than in the Prime Universe.

* {{Zeerust}}: Averted. WordOfGod is that reverse-engineered technology based on the ''Kelvin's'' scans of the ''Narada'' is why everything appears more advanced than in the Prime Universe.
* ZeerustCanon: Played with the USS ''Kelvin''. The ship seems to have marginally superior assets and technology to what originally would've been the forthcoming TOS ''Enterprise'' had Nero not shown up. However the creators had to keep certain design aspects of it in check since the ''Kelvin'' existed over 30 years before the events of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' (TOS) and thus it has some subtle '60s TOS elements, while still keeping it appealing to a 2009 audience.

* ApocalypseHow: In the future, a solar system is annihilated; [[spoiler:[[BadassGrandpa Spock Prime]] mentions a supernova that destroyed Romulus and Remus]]. In the present, planetary annihilation [[spoiler:happens to Vulcan and almost happens to Earth, courtesy of [[BigBad Nero]] and his Red Matter]]. It was stated that, if not dealt with, the end result of the future disaster could have resulted in galactic annihilation.

* BadassGrandpa: Spock Prime, 157 years old and suffering unimaginable grief at the loss of his homeworld, still manages to keep it together enough to rescue Kirk from a giant ice monster and then put together a plan on the fly that saves Earth (and allows Kirk and the younger Spock to begin their bromance, to boot).

* MyFutureSelfAndMe: [[spoiler:[[TheSpock Spock]] and [[BadassGrandpa Spock Prime]]]] meet at the end of the film and they have a nice chat.

* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: [[spoiler:[[BadassGrandpa Spock Prime]]'s reason why he couldn't go to the ''Enterprise'' with Kirk, although he was ''implying'']]. As noted in AlternateContinuity, [[spoiler:Spock Prime can meet himself and not disappear from the timeline]], so this is an example of PlayingWithATrope.

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: As per the comic {{prequel}}, these on both Romulus and Vulcan are a major reason for the delays that led to [[spoiler:[[BadassGrandpa Spock Prime]]]] not being able to do his mission on time.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TheFinalFrontier "Space... the final frontier."]]'']]

:: And thus is born a great friendship and a famous nickname.

* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: When the baby Kirk is born, his parents discuss the name while PapaWolf is making his HeroicSacrifice. It ''really'' drives home the {{Tear Jerk|er}}ing poignancy of the scene in a way that more dramatic theatrics probably would not.

-->'''Kevin Murphy:''' And now the haunting, lyrical, kind of Samuel Barber-ish husband-killing theme. ''--Rifftrax''

--> '''Chester A. Bum:''' ''Live long and SUCK IT!!''

** This universe's version of Uhura, being a CunningLinguist, owes a bit to [[Series/StarTrekenterprise Hoshi Sato]], as well as to Nichelle Nichols creating the character as a linguist originally (even if she never really spoke any alien language in the show and actually used a dictionary to speak Klingon in one of the TOS movies).

** Young Kirk trashing his dad's antique corvette in Iowa while trying to evade a hoverbike cop in contrast to young Spock on a school day answering every single question given by a computer correctly.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Heavily implied to be the case with George Kirk, judging by the ''Kelvin'' salt-shakers in the bar and Pike's gushing about how George Kirk was in his opinion, one of the finest Starfleet officers to have ever lived. While George's actions in saving the lives of everyone about the ''Kelvin'' and his [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice]] were undoubtedly heroic, one does have to wonder how Pike managed to turn those 12 minutes into an in-depth dissertation? It's implied that part of Kirk's cynicism derives from living in the shadow of what he initially believed to be a over-glorified kamekaze run.

* CallForward: Commander Spock explains that the ''Kobayashi Maru'' test was a SecretTestOfCharacter to find out how a captain would act in the face of certain death. Captain Kirk faces near certain death in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. [[spoiler:Only Scotty rebooting the ''Vengeance'' saves Kirk and the ''Enterprise''.]]

** Several lines from early in the film are repeated later, such as "Cupcake," "I might throw up on you," and "That depends on your definition of winning."

* MeaningfulEcho: To ''Film/{{Star Trek II|The Wrath of Khan}}'' and ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}'', more than twenty years earlier:

* BadassCrew: C'mon, you know it. Pretty much every significant member gets their own [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome sparkling moment of badassery]].

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: See TearJerker.

* SoundtrackDissonance: At the beginning of the movie, as [[spoiler:George Kirk sends his ship on a collision course with the ''Narada'']], an [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZSQJ-XnR78 extraordinarily beautiful musical piece]] plays. This puts the scene into TearJerker territory.