History Film / StarTrek2009

* Similarly, if downplayed, the destruction of [[spoiler:Romulus is this for the Prime Reality. The loss of the Romulan homeworld and the repercussions for both the Star Empire and the Alpha/Beta Quadrants would end up serving as the foundation of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'''s first Season a decade later.]]]

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.

* The destruction of [[spoiler:Romulus is this for the Prime Reality. The loss of the Romulan homeworld and the repercussions for the Star Empire and Alpha/Beta Quadrants would end up serving as the foundation of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'''s first Season a decade later.]]]

** On the shuttle, Bones tells Jim "I might throw up on you." In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' (another J. J. Abrams production), Kate says the same thing to Jack when she's stitching his wound.

** On the shuttle, Bones tells Jim "I might throw up on you." In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Kate says the same thing to Jack when she's stitching his wound.

* DynamicEntry: The ''Jellyfish's'' collision course is haralded by the ''Enterprise'' warping into close range of the ''Narada'' from Saturn, phasers blowing the ''Narada's'' defenses out of the way so the ''Jellyfish'' can finish her run.

* 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.

* 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.

* UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: [[spoiler:Ayel]] tries to strangle [[spoiler:Kirk]] to death. [[spoiler:Kirk]] uses their close proximity to grab [[spoiler:Ayel]]'s gun and kill him with it.

* 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.

* 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]].

* 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]].

* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: In the ComicBookAdaptation prequel, the ''Narada'' is a mining ship upgraded with reverse-engineered [[TheAssimilator Borg]] technology.

* NonSerialMovie: Set in an AlternateUniverse from every previous ''Star Trek'' show and movie but this reality was created by somebody from the Prime universe travelling back in time and causing the timeline to split.

* ThisIsMyChair: Kirk is doing his signature slouch in the Captain's Chair. Spock (still his superior) walks past and snaps, "Out of the chair."

* DeathByCameo: [=R2-D2=] from ''Franchise/StarWars'' can be seen floating in the wreckage of the Kelvin.

* 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.

* FireForgedFriends: The main crew, especially Kirk and Spock.

* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five-Temperament Ensemble]]: Kirk (choleric), Sulu (melancholic/choleric), Spock (melancholic), Uhura (phlegmatic), "Bones" [=McCoy=] (sanguine), Chekhov (sanguine/choleric), and Scotty (leukine).

* 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.

* KillAllHumans: Nero plans to do so, in addition to other species.

* 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.
** Abrams handwaved it in the commentary by saying they'd dug a quarry in Iowa by the 23rd century.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Simon Pegg temporarily reverts to his natural English accent when he asks for a towel.

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: TheDragon has Kirk by the throat, holding him over a ledge and gloating about how weak humans are. Kirk makes some vague choking noises, prompting the villain to observe that Kirk "can't even speak!" Kirk's response? A suddenly lucid "[[PreMortemOneLiner I've got your gun]]!" at which point he promptly gives TheDragon back his ammo. Right in the chest.

* 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.

* 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''.

** 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 along with ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' and ''Series/StarTrekPicard''). The same principle applies to anyone and anything that exists past the [[PointOfDivergence timeline diverging event]] on stardate 2233.04 (or January 4, 2233).

* 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).

* 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.

* 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]].

* 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.

** The ''Narada'' gets a round two from the ''Jellyfish'', which this time has the [[{{Unobtanium}} Red Matter]] to do most of the damage.

* {{Unobtainium}}: Red Matter.

* 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.''

* 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]]]].