Star Trek (2009) directed by J.J. Abrams was a game changer for Star Trek, which had lain dormant since the cancellation of Enterprise. This movie brought it back to our screens. It was an exciting time. The decision to do a "soft reboot" in canon using time travel and an alternate timeline was a clever concept and brought in a new generation of fans. But what does this movie have to do with the new Star Trek Picard, which will be set back in the original prime timeline? Plenty. The inciting incident of this movie takes place in the prime timeline, and this event will have a profound effect on the life of Jean-Luc Picard. Join us as we conclude our countdown of the 10 episodes and movies you should watch before Star Trek Picard. Next week, we look at the first episode of Picard! 

----more----

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of the stars.

And I am a nerd.

This is episode 10 of the podcast. Today we finish our look at the 10 episodes and movies that you should watch before Star Trek Picard.

Today, we’re looking at JJ Abram’s Star Trek 2009 movie, because although it creates a whole new Star Trek timeline, it’s inciting incident takes place in the prime universe, and its impact will have a profound effect on Jean-Luc Picard’s life.

 

The IMDB description for this movie reads

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

This movie first appeared in cinemas on the 6th of April 2009

 

Punch it.

 

I was very excited about the impending release of this movie. Star Trek was back! Ever since the cancellation of Enterprise, Star Trek had been dead. The franchise was off the air.

We didn’t know when or if we’d ever see it again.

 

Paramount decided to bring it back in the form of movies, and hired JJ Abrams to create the first one.

Some fans were very cautious about this movie. Claims that this movie would be more open to wider audiences, suggested it would lack the heart and soul of Star Trek.

I too was cautious, but optimistically so. I just wanted a good story. I wanted Star Trek back.

 

One of the first things you notice when this movie stars is the lens flare. A common trick to make CGI look more realistic is to add a little lens flare. To give the illusion that these computer-generated images were shot with a real camera. JJ wanted to go for a very realistic believable star Trek universe, so he added a lot of lens flare to his cgi. And so it didn’t look out of place, he also added a lot of lens flare to the live-action footage.

Except, in my opinion, he went way overboard. They actually had people on set with torches, (sorry, flashlights, for you American listeners) shining light into the lens of the camera. It’s a bit distracting. But, it’s his style.

 

The next big thing you notice is that the viewscreen is a window. And communication messages appear as translucent overlays on that window.

It could be argued that the bridge of the enterprise shouldn’t be right up the top of the saucer. It’s a vulnerable position. There’s no need for it. It’s not like they’re looking out a window.

JJ Abrams and his team were trying to provide a justification for the position of the bridge, and so, they made the viewscreen an actual window.

I wasn’t a fan of this approach and was disappointed when Star Trek Discovery followed suit.

 

But we get an epic space battle. Right up front, we realise this will be a much more action-packed star trek. And that was welcome. Star Trek movies had always fell a little flat on the action front. Even the borg battle in First Contact was over way too quickly.

 

I love the scene where someone gets blown out of the ship due to a hull breach and it suddenly goes silent, because, of course, there is no sound in the vacuum of space. Nice touch. Very atmospheric.

 

So this ship is the USS Kelvin. Named after JJ Abr