TNG wasn't a reboot, it was an expansion pack.

Merchandising items are subsidized to generate some attention, given... but it's far from being considered canon in terms of authenticity by TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT episodes on Teevee and by all 11 films.

In fact the only true references are written within scripts which then, get transfered to celluloid or digital formats.

Every magazines, books, comics, novels (name it) are derivations based on some original "material" distributed & produced by Paramount. For examples, Okuda's Encyclopedic works or Mandell's STSC were licensed through staffing duties they performed while being contracted for.

Sequel.

The movie had many well done scenes, but I found it pretty lazy/weak on the overall storyline.  I like the new actors and I think they all did great jobs.  I can understand that no new movie is going to be 100% faithful to canon.  The thing I disliked most was how they bent the rules of the Star Trek universe...a lot...to fit their storyline, and even then it didn't always make sense.

Some of these points have been mentioned, and some have been clarified a bit with Frogboy filling in info from the novel, but here were my issues:

1.  No Supernova explosion is going to sneak up on a FTL race like the Romulans.  It would certainly be dangerous to habitable worlds, but they have time to detect it and prepare for it.

2.  You can't use a black hole to suck up the leading edge "shockwave" from a supernova.  Too big.  A black hole big enough to do this is more dangerous than the supernova itself.

3.  Why is Ambassador Spock carrying 20 gallons of red matter when only a drop is necessary.

4.  You don't have to drill into a planet to destroy it with a black hole.

5.  The future Spock assisted transport across light years was conveniently far fetched even for the Star Trek universe.

6.  Why did Nero and Spock get sucked back in time when they fell into the black hole?  It would have taken very little explanation to say they were stuck in the event horizon and engaged their warp drives to go back in time rather than be destroyed.

7.  Why was Spock's mother hanging out in the Vulcan elder sacred area?  OK, I will give them a pass on this one to forward the plot, but seriously, she wouldn't be in there.

8.  Why didn't Kirk and Sulu take phasers with them to attack the driling platform?  Maybe Nero's ship would have detected the energy reading from phasers?  So they had to take hand to hand weapons?  (See, I'm trying to help them here!)

9.  Ejecting the warp core would not have saved the enterprise from the black hole, it would have destroyed the Enterprise.  They needed the warp core to maintain their speed, and the resulting proximity to the antimatter explosion would have destroyed the ship, not thrown it clear.

10.  Delta Vega was not so close to Vulcan for Spock to watch his world get destroyed.

Finally the movie didn't feel that satisfying in that Nero was a villain who got very little screen time.  The whole "save the Federation" plot felt incidental to Kirk being able to trick Spock out of his command.  As someone pointed out, I also noticed Kirk got the crap pounded out of him in every fight he was in, though I suppose they weren't quite fair all being against superior numbers or stronger aliens.  The old Kirk has always outwitted those he couldn't outfight, but he was a bit more of a weasel in this movie.

I would have liked to have seen Kirk be more of a hero so I felt like he earned that Captain's chair.

That said, it was an enjoyable special effects action movie with many funny, well acted scenes.

I offered an explanation earlier, possibly not precise enough... so let's try this again;

-- Gravity and matter interact within singularity.

-- Lack of nuclear reactions collapses specific Star into (sometimes) SuperNova.

-- Threshold of "pressures" can turn the resulting activity to BlackHole conditions.

-- Planet gravitational field is stronger in the center & matter surrounds that *TINY* point in space.

-- Detonator (red matter) uses elements in the core (possibly magma or Iron in our case) to implode it.

In theory.

Yeah, good point, I suppose it could be a catalyst and need some dense matter there to get going.  Using red matter on a neutron star remnant wouldn't be an issue, but maybe you need the core of a planet to get a proper sized black hole.  Of course, then they would have a problem with the black hole they created with all the red matter at the end of the movie.  Even assuming all of it got dumped, it should have only created a tiny singularity, nothing with an event horizon big enough to trap a ship...it would have just punched through the ship leaving a rather largh hole.  Of course, that is really splitting hairs.  Star Trek was never much for hard science fiction, it is just disappointing to see how far out they went with science fantasy in this movie.

As I remember Kirk had always had an interest in Antique. IN Star trek 2 we see his appartment with tons of antiques. Bones in that scenes tells Kirk to regain his command before he becomes a permament addition to his antique collections. Spoks gives him an old book and says he has a fondness for antique.

I have to assume that his love for for Antique comes from a young age and must be why he took the car instead of a hover vehicule.

I have to read the book. Seems to be the book is 10x better than to movie. They should of done a 3 hour movie and explain those things to us. it would of been a lot better methinks.

Agreed!

Here's the reason why;

The rate upon which we are served technological advancements in our current rationalized reality.

They kept up with us rather than using perspectives over *old* truth. Imagination is much more than fantasy, fiction or weird science - it's an intellectual deduction at least.

makes me really want to see the deleted scenes. ought to be interesting when it comes out

OK...this sentence is REALLY convoluted, but I think I know what you are saying.  Maybe.

The problem is that limitless science fantasy removes all constraints and tension from a plot.  There are no boundaries or challenges that can't be answered with some gadget.  Hence, there is no real danger or risk, because everything is "fixable".  It is weak storytelling, though it works just fine for movies because movies are about stunning images.

The old Star Trek canon was important because it was always setting the limits on the technology.  The borg were so dangerous because they had superior technology and had to be fought in innovative ways.

This is one reason why people groan when they see a time travel plot in Star Trek nowadays.  In the old days time travel was used to create interesting scenarios or allow the protagonists to explore different eras.  Nowadays time travel is just used to change the rules whenever people don't want to deal with the old ones.  So rather than get a Star Trek Prequel, we get a Star Trek alternate reality that on one hand alienates old timers but on the flip side, can be easily written off as being a "once off" if it doesn't work out.  You see, it is not making a hard commitment to the new audience it is trying to capture either.  It is kind of like when some girl cheats on her boyfriend with you, then starts dating you exclusively.  You win in the short term...but is she going to cheat on you next?

Want convolutions? Here's some more;

If people perceive Ambassador Spock "explanations" as being the direct cause of an alternate reality, though.

All i saw in that film was Nero using time travel to find him (that makes 2+ coming from the future) BEFORE Romulus was **being** destroyed by his attempt to either contain or prevent the SuperNova accident. The timeline "flaws" experienced by everyone occured AFTER or during both the Kelvin destruction (i'll even submit to you that the Narada showed up in the past by wrongfully calculating an exit point) and Ambassador Spock was left on Delta Vega (on purpose if for anything other than witnessing Vulcan destruction alone) where he met with Kirk & Scott.

AFAIC, some reality alterations are much more than just a coincidence IF & WHEN interpreted by elder Spock.

Btw, this movie was a clear Reboot not a Prequel.

Yes, I agree with this totally, that was my point, it wasn't a prequel.

Everything else is indeed pretty convoluted.  The way the movie described it Nero and Spock both got trapped in the event horizon of the black hole and time travelled to the past rather than get destroyed.  Nero came out first and destroyed the Kelvin and proceeded to wait around 25 years for Spock.  Why he expected Spock to come out later, we have no clue, because as far as we know Nero went in first and wouldn't know to expect Spock....whatever, more muddy plotline.  The timeline flaws occurred the moment Nero started screwing things up in the "past" starting with the destruction of the Kelvin.  At that moment, he created the alternate timeline from the one which was his own history.

My point about Delta Vega was that old Spock was supposed to be there to see the destruction of his homeworld, but he wouldn't have been able to see Vulcan from that location anyway.  And if it was so close that he could see it, it would not be where Kirk got dumped.  All plot contrivances in a flashy action movie.

To which i can only reply; Is Venus always aligned with Earth?

The "cinematic image" itself of him seeing Vulcan imploding was quite puzzling, indeed. As i don't have an orbital map of the Vulcan system handy or a proper explanation for it, either.

That doesn't invalidate theory though, such as;

-- An Eagle can see a fish from 1000+ feet above.

-- Laforge had an implant to see.

-- We, as film goers, look at an event from a first-person POV. I doubt i would be forced into bringing a telescope in a theater to stare at a pixel wide proportion (resolution aside, zoomable) on the silver screen from my seat. IF Delta Vega is far enough (considering hypothetical distances taken in ANY context) from me and the Abrams' camera filming and Spock standing somewhere away from Vulcan, then the Entreprise or the Narada were closer than everyone else.

Meaning - had none seen Vulcan implosion, which other photographic proof needed to be shown by producers? The Narada leaving from an invisible point in space?

Identify it.

Yeah...I kind of think you are missing my point.  Everything WAS done just perfectly by the producers for the audience to understand what was going on in the story.  Apparently they moved Delta Vega into the same solar system as Vulcan....and I kind of thought they had already left the Vulcan star system when they jettisoned Kirk...but maybe they turned around for him.  My point is none of it really makes sense, it is just conveniently placed to forward the story.

Is there any other way? They'd be insulting people's intelligence should they try otherwise.

Strange, isn't it? A slight imperfection and crowds would husher out of their seats to riot over such a detail however snappy (Cliché) or incohesive.

No, they are insulting intelligence with spoon feeding.