Orci/Kurtzman Q&A - Lots of Interesting Bits

[Sionnach Glic]

Highlights of Orci & Kurtzman May 18-20 Q&A

* Open to TNG character in sequel (if done 'organically')
* 10,000 surviving Vulcans does NOT count off-worlders
* Vulcan's red sky (was) seasonal
* SpockPrime will adhere to a 'Temporal Prime Directive' to minimize introducing future tech into new timeline
* Enterprise being built at Riverside Iowa Shipyard to 'commemorate the sacrifice' of George Kirk
* New timeline still bound to canon events that took place in the prime timeline (like Botany Bay, V'Ger, etc)
* Spock Prime's viewing of the destruction of Vulcan was cinematic license and 'impressionistic' and could have involved a telescope or other device
* No 'canon' explanation for what Nero and crew were doing for 25 years between Kirk's birth and arrival of Spock Prime, open to 'fan fiction'
* The Admiral Archer mentioned by Scotty is the same Jonathan Archer from Enterprise (and Enterprise is part of new timeline)
* The attack on the Narada put Winona Kirk into labor preventing Kirk from being born in Iowa (as in the Prime timeline)
* Inconsistencies between film and "Countdown" can be explained that the comic is not canon
* Keenser was in Starfleet while on Delta Vega, just like Scotty
* Paramount expected to make the script available (checking on this)
* Kid on road ('Johnny') was "originally meant to be" Kirk's brother George Jr. and "still could be"
* There's money, or some kind of credit system in this universe
* The second 'lightning storm' referred to in the film was created when SpockPrime's jellyfish arrived back in time
* Bridge viewscreen changed to window/HUD to justify the bridge's placement atop the ship instead of in a more secure location
* Damon Lindelof contributed 'a lot' to the story of Star Trek
* Lindelof will be 'breaking the story' with Bob and Alex on sequel, Bob and Alex will write final screenplay
* Survivors and telemetry from Narada attack on Kelvin exposed Federation to Romulans (explaining why Kirk knows about Romulans and so film does not violate canon of "Balance of Terror")
* Although 'Prime' is used to distinguigh Nimoy's Spock, the team have no name for the new timeline
* Star Trek wiki Memory Alpha was an 'invaluable resource'
* New Stardates work by taking the year (as in 2233), with the month and day expressed as a decimal point from .1 to .365 (as in the 365 days of the year)

Some interesting stuff there. It seems the timeline will be progressing normaly (Eg, V'ger will still show up at around the same time) where there was no direct intervention, as it should be. Admiral Archer is indeed Captain Archer from ENT (so poor Porthos indeed). Confirmation of the new stardate system. An explaination of why there's freaking windows on the bridge. This UFP is capitalist. The prequal comic thing isn't canon (yay, no Borg Narada!). And confirmation that the 10,000 survivors quote only reffered to those who escaped Vulcan.

[Nickswitz]

I like that they put this out there, I'm beginning to really like Abrams as the new director.

[Aaron]

Why the christ would they hobble themselves by having V'Ger and presumably the Whale Probe show up?

[Lazar]

Wow, I really appreciate them doing this. And it's good to know that there are more than 10 000 Vulcans left.

[Nickswitz]

If they do it right, it may be pretty good, Well, the whale probe is pretty bad, but V'Ger could be cool.

[Aaron]

If they do it right, it may be pretty good, Well, the whale probe is pretty bad, but V'Ger could be cool.

It probably could be but there isn't much point to revitalizing ST if you have the same things go on. Unless they don't plan to ever mention this again, in which case it's nerdservice.

[Tsukiyumi]

Considering the age of the crew, V'Ger could show up in Trek XX I guess.

[Graham Kennedy]

Well realistically there's nothing that can have happened in the new timeline that would stop V'Ger or the Whale Probe showing up.

However, the fact that V'Ger is on its way doesn't mean that it will still be Kirk and the Enterprise who deal with it or that a movie will focus on it. I severely doubt they are going to remake TMP; they might make some mention of it being dealt with in passing by another ship, or just leave us to assume that it was.

[LaughingCheese]

Spock Prime's viewing of the destruction of Vulcan was cinematic license and 'impressionistic' and could have involved a telescope or other device

I still don't like it.

We don't see him using anything, for one.

That's a real stretch to label something that incorrect "cinematic license."

PLEASE use some kind of display device next time.


OTHERWISE, great movie.

[Nickswitz]

If they do it right, it may be pretty good, Well, the whale probe is pretty bad, but V'Ger could be cool.

It probably could be but there isn't much point to revitalizing ST if you have the same things go on. Unless they don't plan to ever mention this again, in which case it's nerdservice.

But it might not be the same thing, maybe they'll handle it differently, remember, the E_n is a lot bigger now, so they could do some things with that.

Considering the age of the crew, V'Ger could show up in Trek XX I guess.

Yeah, and since they'll have different experiences their decisions will be different.

[Tsukiyumi]

Well realistically there's nothing that can have happened in the new timeline that would stop V'Ger or the Whale Probe showing up.

However, the fact that V'Ger is on its way doesn't mean that it will still be Kirk and the Enterprise who deal with it or that a movie will focus on it. I severely doubt they are going to remake TMP; they might make some mention of it being dealt with in passing by another ship, or just leave us to assume that it was.

What year did TMP take place in, though? 13 years later than Trek XI? I don't think they'll need to worry about it for a while.

[LaughingCheese]

Well realistically there's nothing that can have happened in the new timeline that would stop V'Ger or the Whale Probe showing up.

However, the fact that V'Ger is on its way doesn't mean that it will still be Kirk and the Enterprise who deal with it or that a movie will focus on it. I severely doubt they are going to remake TMP; they might make some mention of it being dealt with in passing by another ship, or just leave us to assume that it was.

What year did TMP take place in, though? 13 years later than Trek XI? I don't think they'll need to worry about it for a while.

Umm, wasn't Kirk in his fifties or something??

Yeah, I'd say more like 30 years.

[Aaron]

Umm, wasn't Kirk in his fifties or something??

Yeah, I'd say more like 30 years.

He was in his mid thirties in TOS, so late forties at least. He gets command of the Big E in his twenties now...so yeah. A while.

[Lazar]

I still don't like it.

We don't see him using anything, for one.

That's a real stretch to label something that incorrect "cinematic license."

PLEASE use some kind of display device next time.

But the thing is, what we saw was Spock's mental images as he was exchanging them with Kirk, so they could be distorted by Spock's emotions and perceptions. Maybe he just remembered being on Delta Vega and seeing Vulcan explode, but he didn't really focus much on the telescope or viewing device that he was using.

What year did TMP take place in, though? 13 years later than Trek XI? I don't think they'll need to worry about it for a while.

2273 according to Memory Alpha (although 2279 would seem like a nicer date to use, because TOS and the other TOS movies all seemed to just add an even 300 years to the year of production).

[Bryan Moore]

These guys fucking rule. What an effort.