Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series. The original Star Trek was an American television series, created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation Starship Enterprise. These adventures were continued in an animated television series and six feature films. Four more television series were produced, based in the same universe but following other characters: Star Trek: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new Starship Enterprise set several decades after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager set contemporaneously with The Next Generation; and Star Trek: Enterprise, set in the early days of human interstellar travel. Four additional feature films were produced, following the crew of The Next Generation, and most recently a 2009 movie reboot of the series featuring a young crew of the original Enterprise set in an alternate time line.
(www.wikipedia.org)

The Federation starship USS Kelvin is investigating a massive lightning storm in space, when a Romulan ship, the Narada, emerges from within the storm, overpowers them, and demands their captain, Robau, transport to their ship. When questioned by the Romulan captain Nero, Robau professes no knowledge of the Vulcan Ambassador Spock, and that the year is 2233, prompting the Romulans to realize that they have somehow traveled back in time. Nero kills Robau and orders the Kelvin’s destruction. Acting Captain George Samuel Kirk, Sr. orders the evacuation of the ship onto shuttlecrafts, including his pregnant wife Wynona, who was entering labor. While he sacrifices his life to steer the Kelvin into the Narada, he leaves open a communications channel and hears his wife give birth. He then names his new son James before the collision, which destroys the Kelvin but only damages the Narada while the shuttlecraft escape.

Several years later, a young Vulcan named Spock grows up on planet Vulcan and eventually joins Starfleet. On Earth, James Tiberius Kirk has a run-in at a local bar where Captain Christopher Pike challenges him to emulate his father’s heroism, inviting him to join Starfleet, which he accepts. Three years later, Kirk draws the ire of Spock by cheating during the unbeatable Kobayashi Maru test the Vulcan had created. During Kirk’s suspension hearing, Starfleet receives a distress signal from Vulcan and with the primary fleet away, the cadets are mobilized to help crew the ships in orbit. Leonard McCoy smuggles Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise. Onboard, Kirk warns Pike that the fleet is heading into a trap. The Enterprise arrives at Vulcan to find the fleet destroyed and the Narada drilling into the planet’s core. The Narada attacks the Enterprise and Nero orders Pike to surrender himself. Pike agrees, promoting Spock to captain and Kirk to first officer. En route to the Narada, Kirk and Hikaru Sulu perform an orbital skydive onto the drilling platform and destroy it. Nero launches red matter into the planet’s core, creating a black hole within it, destroying it. Spock rescues some of the planet’s elders, but his mother dies along with the majority of the planet’s population. Nero sets a course for Earth.

After a heated argument with Spock, Kirk is marooned on Delta Vega for mutiny. On the planet, Kirk encounters Ambassador Spock, who tells Kirk he is from the future and to save time, relays his story through a mind meld. The Ambassador explains that, in the year 2387, he was on a mission to stop a supernova from destroying the galaxy by using the red matter to create a black hole to consume it. Before he could enact his plan, the supernova had destroyed the planet Romulus. Nero, one of the few surviving Romulans, plotted his revenge on Spock. During Nero’s attack on Spock, both were caught in the event horizon of the black hole, sending them back in time; the Narada had arrived first, and when Spock eventually appeared, they captured his ship, and stranded him on Delta Vega to watch Vulcan’s destruction.

Ambassador Spock insists that Kirk must become captain of the Enterprise and the two travel to a nearby Starfleet outpost. There, they meet Montgomery Scott who beams onto the Enterprise with Kirk. Once aboard, Kirk deliberately enrages Commander Spock to force him to acknowledge that he is emotionally compromised, thereby forfeiting command to Kirk. The crew devises a plan to ambush the Narada by hiding behind Saturn’s moon, Titan, and once there, Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Narada. Kirk rescues Pike while Spock retakes Ambassador Spock’s ship, destroys the drill, and lures the Narada away from Earth before piloting a collision course. The Enterprise arrives and beams Kirk, Pike, and Spock away. Spock’s ship and the Narada collide, which ignites the remaining red matter destroying both ships and creating a black hole. The Enterprise escapes by ejecting and then igniting the ship’s warp core, with the resulting explosion pushing them clear of the black hole.

Back on Earth, Kirk is promoted to captain of the Enterprise and Captain Pike to Admiral. Soon after, Spock encounters his older self in a hangar. Ambassador Spock is departing to help establish a new colony with the remaining Vulcans. The younger Spock informs his older self of his wishes to leave Starfleet to aid his people. Ambassador Spock tells his younger self that he and Kirk need each other and that he should do what feels right. Taking his advice, Spock remains in Starfleet, becoming first officer under Kirk’s command.
(www.wikipedia.org)

NY Times Review
A bright, shiny blast from a newly imagined past, “Star Trek,” the latest spinoff from the influential television show, 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. The famous captain (William Shatner, bless his loony lights) and creator (Gene Roddenberry, rest in peace) may no longer be on board, but the spirit of adventure and embrace of rationality that define the show are in full swing, as are the chicks in minis and kicky boots.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 95% for tomatometer

Director J J Abrams has made summer 2009 an event. Emily Blunt

Six-and-a-half years after Hollywood left the Enterprise crew for dead, … Kirk is back, baby, and he’s better than ever. Mike Scott

J.J. Abrams proves his masterpiece can translate into great work on the big screen that all Trekkies will love. Jolene Mendez

Amazon
J.J. Abrams’ 2009 feature film was billed as “not your father’s Star Trek,” but your father will probably love it anyway. And what’s not to love? It has enough action, emotional impact, humor, and sheer fun for any moviegoer, and Trekkers will enjoy plenty of insider references and a cast that seems ideally suited to portray the characters we know they’ll become later. Both a prequel and a reboot, Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk (Chris Pine of The Princess Diaries 2), a sharp but aimless young man who’s prodded by a Starfleet captain, Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), to enlist and make a difference. At the Academy, Kirk runs afoul of a Vulcan commander named Spock (Zachary Quinto of Heroes), but their conflict has to take a back seat when Starfleet, including its new ship, the Enterprise, has to answer an emergency call from Vulcan. What follows is a stirring tale of genocide and revenge launched by a Romulan (Eric Bana) with a particular interest in Spock, and we get to see the familiar crew come together, including McCoy (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Chekhov (Anton Yelchin), and Scottie (Simon Pegg).

The action and visuals make for a spectacular Big-Screen Movie, though the plot by Abrams and his writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who worked together on Transformers and with Abrams on Alias and Mission Impossible III), and his producers (fellow Losties Damon Lindeloff and Bryan Burk) can be a bit of a mind-bender (no surprise there for Lost fans). Hardcore fans with a bone to pick may find faults, but resistance is futile when you can watch Kirk take on the Kobayashi Maru scenario or hear McCoy bark, “Damnit, man, I’m a doctor, not a physicist!” An appearance by Leonard Nimoy and hearing the late Majel Barrett Roddenberry as the voice of the computer simply sweeten the pot. Now comes the hard part: waiting for some sequels to this terrific prequel. –David Horiuchi