Star Trek (2009 film)
Star Trek is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the 11th film in the Star Trek franchise, and is also a reboot that features the main characters of the original Star Trek television series portrayed by a new cast, as the first in the rebooted film series. The film follows James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) aboard the USS Enterprise as they combat Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan from their future who threatens the United Federation of Planets. The story takes place in an alternate reality that features both an alternate birth location for James T. Kirk and further alterations in history stemming from the time travel of both Nero and the original series Spock (Leonard Nimoy).[3][4] The alternate reality was created in an attempt to free the film and the franchise from established continuity constraints while simultaneously preserving original story elements.
Star Trek
- J. J. Abrams
- Damon Lindelof
- April 7, 2009 (Sydney Opera House)
- May 8, 2009 (United States)
127 minutes[1]
United States
English
$150 million[2]
$385.7 million[2]
The idea for a prequel film which would follow the Star Trek characters during their time in Starfleet Academy was discussed by series creator Gene Roddenberry in 1968. The concept resurfaced in the late 1980s, when it was postulated by Harve Bennett as a possible plotline for what would become Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but it was rejected in favor of other projects by Roddenberry. Following the critical and commercial failure of Star Trek: Nemesis and the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, the franchise's executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriter Erik Jendresen wrote an unproduced film titled Star Trek: The Beginning, which would take place after Enterprise. After the separation of Viacom and CBS Corporation in 2005, former Paramount Pictures president Gail Berman convinced CBS to allow Paramount to produce a new film in the franchise. Orci and Kurtzman were soon approached to write the film, and Abrams was approached to direct it. Kurtzman and Orci used inspiration from novels and graduate school dissertations, as well as the series itself. Principal photography commenced on November 7, 2007, and ended on March 27, 2008. The film was shot in locations around California and Utah. Abrams wanted to avoid using bluescreen and greenscreen, opting to use sets and locations instead. Heavy secrecy surrounded the film's production and was under the fake working title Corporate Headquarters. Industrial Light & Magic used digital ships for the film, as opposed to miniatures used in most of the previous films in the franchise. Production for the film concluded by the end of 2008.
Star Trek was heavily promoted in the months preceding its release; pre-release screenings for the film premiered in select cities around the world, including Austin, Texas, Sydney, Australia, and Calgary, Alberta. It was released in the United States and Canada on May 8, 2009, to critical acclaim. The film was a box office success, grossing over $385.7 million worldwide against its $150 million production budget. It was nominated for several awards, including four Academy Awards at the 82nd Academy Awards, ultimately winning Best Makeup, making it the first (and to date only) Star Trek film to win an Academy Award. It was followed by the sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond in 2013 and 2016, respectively.
Plot[edit]
In 2233, the Federation starship USS Kelvin investigates a "lightning storm" in space. A Romulan ship, Narada, emerges from the storm and attacks the Kelvin, then demands that Kelvin's Captain Robau come aboard to negotiate a truce. Robau is questioned about the current stardate and an "Ambassador Spock", whom he does not recognize. Narada's commander, Nero, kills him, and resumes attacking the Kelvin. George Kirk, Kelvin's first officer, orders the ship's personnel, including his pregnant wife Winona, to abandon ship while he pilots the Kelvin on a collision course with Narada, since the Kelvin's autopilot is disabled. While Kirk sacrifices his life, Winona gives birth to James Tiberius Kirk.
Seventeen years later on the planet Vulcan, a young Spock is admitted to the Vulcan Science Academy. Realizing that the Academy views his human mother, Amanda, as a "disadvantage", he joins Starfleet instead. On Earth, following a bar fight with Starfleet cadets accompanying Nyota Uhura, an adult Kirk meets Captain Christopher Pike, who encourages him to enlist in Starfleet Academy. There, Kirk meets and befriends doctor Leonard McCoy. Three years later, Commander Spock accuses Kirk of cheating during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. Kirk argues that cheating was acceptable because the simulation was designed to be unbeatable. The disciplinary hearing is interrupted by a distress signal from Vulcan. With the primary fleet out of range, the cadets are mobilized. McCoy and Kirk board Pike's ship, the Enterprise.
Realizing that the "lightning storm" observed near Vulcan is similar to the one that occurred when he was born, Kirk convinces Pike that the signal is a trap. Arriving, the Enterprise finds the fleet destroyed and Narada drilling into Vulcan's core. Narada attacks Enterprise and Pike surrenders, delegating command of the ship to Spock and promoting Kirk to first officer. Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, and Chief Engineer Olson perform a space jump[5][6] onto the drilling platform. While Olson is killed mid-jump, Kirk and Sulu disable the drill, but are unable to stop Nero launching "red matter" into Vulcan's core, forming an artificial black hole that destroys Vulcan. The Enterprise rescues Spock's father, Sarek, and the high council before Vulcan's destruction, but Amanda falls to her death before the transporter can lock onto her. As Narada approaches Earth, Nero tortures Pike to gain access to Earth's defense codes.
Spock maroons Kirk on Delta Vega after he attempts mutiny. There, Kirk encounters an older Spock from an alternate timeline, who explains that he and Nero are from 2387. In the future, Romulus was threatened by a supernova, which Spock attempted to stop with red matter. His plan failed, resulting in Nero's family perishing along with Romulus, while the Narada and Spock's vessel were caught in the black hole and sent back in time. They were sent back 25 years apart, during which time Nero attacked the Kelvin, changing history and creating a parallel universe. After Spock's arrival, Nero stranded him on Delta Vega to watch Vulcan's destruction. Reaching a Starfleet outpost, Kirk and the elder Spock meet Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, who devises a trans-warp transporter system, allowing him and Kirk to beam onto Enterprise.
Following the elder Spock's advice, Kirk provokes younger Spock into attacking him, forcing Spock to recognize himself as emotionally compromised and relinquish command to Kirk. After talking with Sarek, Spock decides to help Kirk. While Enterprise hides within the gas clouds of Titan, Kirk and Spock beam aboard Narada. Kirk fights Nero and rescues Pike, while Spock uses the elder Spock's ship to destroy the drill. Spock leads Narada away from Earth and sets his ship to collide with Narada. Enterprise beams Kirk, Pike, and Spock aboard. The older Spock's ship and Narada collide, igniting the red matter. Narada is consumed in a black hole that Enterprise escapes.
Kirk is promoted to captain and given command of Enterprise, while Pike is promoted to rear admiral. Spock encounters his older self, who persuades him to continue serving in Starfleet, encouraging him to do what feels right rather than what is logical. Spock becomes first officer under Kirk's command.
Chris Doohan, the son of the original Scotty, James Doohan, makes a cameo appearance in the transporter room. Pegg e-mailed Doohan about the role of Scotty, and the actor has promised him his performance "would be a complete tribute to his father".[46] Chris Doohan previously cameoed in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Greg Grunberg has a vocal cameo as Kirk's alcoholic stepfather.[47] Grunberg was up for the role of Olson but dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. Grunberg was also interested in playing Harry Mudd,[48] who was in an early draft of the script.[49] Brad William Henke filmed scenes in the role which were cut out.[50] Diora Baird appears in a deleted scene as an Orion cadet that Kirk mistakes for Gaila.[51] Star Trek: Enterprise star Dominic Keating also auditioned for the role.[52] Paul McGillion auditioned for Scotty, and he impressed producers enough that he was given another role as a 'Barracks Leader'.[47] Abrams offered Ricky Gervais a role in the film, but he turned it down due to being unfamiliar with the series.[53] James Cawley, producer and star of the webseries Star Trek: New Voyages, appears as a Starfleet officer, while Pavel Lychnikoff and Lucia Rijker play Romulans, Lychnikoff a Commander and Rijker a CO. W. Morgan Sheppard, who played a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, appears in this film as the head of the Vulcan Science Council. Wil Wheaton, known for portraying Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, was brought in, through urging by Greg Grunberg, to voice several of the other Romulans in the film.[54] Star Trek fan and Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch (who died on July 25, 2008) cameoed as a Kelvin crew member, and has a line of dialogue.[55] Majel Barrett, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, reprised her role as the voice of the Enterprise's computer, which she completed two weeks before her death on December 18, 2008.[56] The film was dedicated to her, as well as Gene, to whom the film was always going to be commemorated as a sign of respect.[57]
Orci and Kurtzman wrote a scene for William Shatner, where old Spock gives his younger self a recorded message by Kirk from the previous timeline. "It was basically a Happy Birthday wish knowing that Spock was going to go off to Romulus, and Kirk would probably be dead by the time," and it would have transitioned into Shatner reciting "where no man has gone before".[58] But Shatner wanted to share Nimoy's major role, and did not want a cameo,[59] despite his character's death in Star Trek Generations. He suggested the film canonize his novels where Kirk is resurrected,[60] but Abrams decided if his character was accompanying Nimoy's, it would have become a film about the resurrection of Kirk, and not about introducing the new versions of the characters.[57] Nimoy disliked the character's death in Generations, but also felt resurrecting Kirk would be detrimental to this film.[18]
Nichelle Nichols suggested playing Uhura's grandmother, but Abrams could not write this in due to the Writers Guild strike.[61] Abrams was also interested in casting Keri Russell, but they deemed the role he had in mind for her too similar to her other roles.[62]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
As early as the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention, Star Trek creator Roddenberry had said he was going to make a film prequel to the television series.[63] But the prequel concept did not resurface until the late 1980s, when Ralph Winter and Harve Bennett submitted a proposal for a prequel during development of the fourth film. Roddenberry rejected Bennett's prequel proposal in 1991, after the completion of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.[64] Then David Loughery wrote a script entitled The Academy Years, but it was shelved in light of objections from Roddenberry and the fanbase. The film that was commissioned instead ended up being Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In February 2005, after the financial failure of the tenth film, Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), and the cancellation of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the franchise's executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriter Erik Jendresen began developing a new film entitled Star Trek: The Beginning. It was to revolve around a new set of characters, led by Kirk's ancestor Tiberius Chase, and be set during the Earth-Romulan War—after the events of Enterprise but before the events of the original series.[65]
In 2005, Viacom, which owned Paramount Pictures, separated from CBS Corporation, which retained Paramount's television properties, including ownership of the Star Trek brand. Gail Berman (no relation to executive producer Rick Berman), then president of Paramount, convinced CBS' chief executive, Leslie Moonves, to allow them eighteen months to develop a new Star Trek film, otherwise Paramount would lose the film rights. Berman approached Mission: Impossible III writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman for ideas on the new film, and after the film had completed shooting she asked their director, Abrams, to produce it.[66] Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman, plus producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, felt the franchise had explored enough of what took place after the series,[67] Orci and Lindelof consider themselves trekkies,[68] and feel some of the Star Trek novels have canonical value, although Roddenberry never considered the novels to be canon.[69] Kurtzman is a casual fan, while Burk was not.[7] Abrams' company Bad Robot produced the film with Paramount, marking the first time another company had financed a Star Trek film.[70] Bill Todman, Jr.'s Level 1 Entertainment also co-produced the film, but, during 2008, Spyglass Entertainment replaced them as financial partner.[71]
In an interview, Abrams said that he had never seen Star Trek: Nemesis because he felt the franchise had "disconnected" from the original series.[72] For him, he said, Star Trek was about Kirk and Spock, and the other series were like "separate space adventure[s] with the name Star Trek". He also acknowledged that as a child he had actually preferred the Star Wars movies.[73] He noted that his general knowledge of Star Trek made him well suited to introduce the franchise to newcomers,[74] and that, being an optimistic person, he would make Star Trek an optimistic film, which would be a refreshing contrast to the likes of The Dark Knight.[7] He added that he loved the focus on exploration in Star Trek and the idea of the Prime Directive, which forbids Starfleet from interfering in the development of primitive worlds; but that, because of the budgetary limitations of the original series, it had "never had the resources to actually show the adventure".[75] He noted that he initially became involved with the project as producer only because he wanted to help Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindelof.[66]
On February 23, 2007, Abrams accepted Paramount's offer to direct the film, after having initially been attached to it solely as a producer.[76] He explained that he had decided to direct the film because, after reading the script, he realized that he "would be so agonizingly envious of whoever stepped in and directed the movie".[77] Orci and Kurtzman said that their aim had been to impress a casual fan like Abrams with their story.[78] Abrams noted that, during filming, he had been nervous "with all these tattooed faces and pointy ears, bizarre weaponry and Romulan linguists, with dialogue about 'Neutral Zones' and 'Starfleet' [but] I knew this would work, because the script Alex and Bob wrote was so emotional and so relatable. I didn't love Kirk and Spock when I began this journey – but I love them now."[7]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Official screenings in the United States started at 7 pm on May 7, 2009,[156] grossing $4 million on its opening day. By the end of the weekend, Star Trek had opened with $79,204,300, as well as $35,500,000 from other countries. Adjusted and unadjusted for inflation, it beat Star Trek: First Contact for the largest American opening for a Star Trek film. The film made US$8.5 million from its IMAX screenings, breaking The Dark Knight's $6.3 million IMAX opening record.[157] The film is the highest-grossing in the United States and Canada from the entire Star Trek film franchise, eclipsing The Voyage Home and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Its opening weekend numbers alone outgross the entire individual runs of The Undiscovered Country, The Final Frontier, Insurrection and Nemesis.[158] Star Trek ended its United States theatrical run on October 1, 2009, with a box office total of $257,730,019, which places it as the seventh highest-grossing film for 2009 behind The Hangover.[2] The film grossed $127,764,536 in international markets,[159] for a total worldwide gross of $385,494,555.[160] While foreign grosses represent only 31% of the total box office receipts, executives of Paramount were happy with the international sales, as Star Trek historically was a movie franchise that never has been a big draw overseas.[161]
Critical response[edit]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 355 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Star Trek reignites a classic franchise with action, humor, a strong story, and brilliant visuals, and will please traditional Trekkies and new fans alike."[162] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[163] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[164]
Ty Burr of the Boston Globe gave the film a perfect four star rating, describing it as "ridiculously satisfying", and the "best prequel ever".[165] Burr praised the character development in the film, opining that "emotionally, Star Trek hits every one of its marks, functioning as a family reunion that extends across decades, entertainment mediums, even blurring the line between audience and show."[165] He continued: "Trading on affections sustained over 40 years of popular culture, Star Trek does what a franchise reboot rarely does. It reminds us why we loved these characters in the first place."[165] Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave the film an 'A−' grade, commenting that director Abrams "crafts an origin story that avoids any hint of the origin doldrums".[166] Similar sentiments were expressed by Rolling Stone journalist Peter Travers, who gave the film a 3.5 out of 4 stars. He felt that the acting from the cast was the highlight of the filming, asserting that the performance of Pine radiated star quality.[167] Likewise, Travers called Quinto's performance "sharp" and "intuitive", and felt that Quinto "gave the film a soul".[167] Manohla Dargis of the New York Times wrote, "Star Trek [...] isn't just a pleasurable rethink of your geek uncle's favorite science-fiction series. It's also a testament to television's power as mythmaker, as a source for some of the fundamental stories we tell about ourselves, who we are and where we came from.[168] Slate's Dana Stevens felt that the film was "a gift to those of us who loved the original series, that brainy, wonky, idealistic body of work that aired to almost no commercial success between 1966–69 and has since become a science fiction archetype and object of cult adoration".[169] Time Out London's Tom Huddleston praised the aesthetic qualities of the film, such as the design of Enterprise, and praised the performances of the cast.[170] He wrote, "The cast are equally strong: Quinto brings wry charm to an otherwise calculating character, while Pine powers through his performance in bullish, if not quite Shatner-esque, fashion."[170]
The chemistry between Pine and Quinto was well received by critics. Gleiberman felt that as the film progressed to the conclusion, Pine and Quinto emulated the same connection as Kirk and Spock.[166] Tim Robey of The Telegraph echoed similar attitudes; "The movie charts their relationship [...] in a nicely oblique way." Robey resumed: "It's the main event, dramatically speaking, but there's always something more thumpingly urgent to command their attention, whether it's a Vulcan distress signal or the continuing rampages of those pesky Romulans."[171] Burr opined that Abrams had an accurate understanding of the relationship between Kirk and Spock, and wrote, "Pine makes a fine, brash boy Kirk, but Quinto's Spock is something special – an eerily calm figure freighted with a heavier sadness than Roddenberry's original. The two ground each other and point toward all the stories yet to come."[165] Similarly, The Guardian writer Peter Bradshaw expressed: "The story of Kirk and Spock is brought thrillingly back to life by a new first generation: Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who give inspired, utterly unselfconscious and lovable performances, with power, passion and some cracking comic timing."[172]
Some film critics were polarized on Star Trek. Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club gave the film a 'B+' grade, and asserted that it was "a reconsideration of what constitutes Star Trek, one that deemphasizes heady concepts and plainly stated humanist virtues in favor of breathless action punctuated by bursts of emotion. It might not even be immediately recognizable to veteran fans."[173] In concurrence, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated that "the Gene Roddenberry years, when stories might play with questions of science, ideals or philosophy, have been replaced by stories reduced to loud and colorful action." Ebert ultimately gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars.[174] Similarly, Marc Bain of Newsweek opined: "The latest film version of Star Trek [...] is more brawn than brain, and it largely jettisons complicated ethical conundrums in favor of action sequences and special effects."[175] Slate journalist Juliet Lapidos argued that the new film, with its "standard Hollywood torture scene", failed to live up to the intellectual standard set by the 1992 Next Generation episode "Chain of Command", whose treatment of the issue she found both more sophisticated and pertinent to the ongoing debate over the United States' use of enhanced interrogation techniques.[176]
A 2018 article by Io9/Gizmodo ranked all 11 versions of the USS Enterprise seen in the Star Trek franchise up to that point. The version seen in the film placed in the second lowest position.[177]