…it is an awful lot of fun to know what they got “wrong.” In a pathetic kinda way I guess, but I’m too old to change.

I also want to defend my nerdgassing over the picky continuity details. The whole point of nerdgassing isn’t about calling the creators on their “mistakes,” it’s about having fun. Those heated discussions my co-workers, customers and I used to get into at the comics shop about how we would cast a Watchmen movie or whether Superman could beat the Hulk in a fight (yes, duh) and over the continuity conundrums that the Crisis on Infinite Earths created were fun.

I know that the relative goodness or badness of this ST movie won’t depend one iota on how accurately the creators adhere to canon, but nerdgassing about the canon is part of the fun of being a nerd/geek/dork/dweeb.

And these creators obviously care at least a little bit about continuity or they wouldn’t bother putting Iowa license plates on Kirk’s vette. They did that for the geeky in-crowd. Nobody else would give a shit where Kirk grew up — it could be Rigel 4 for all most of the audience would know. So if the creators expect me to appreciate that they got the Iowa detail right, they should also expect me to call them on getting stuff wrong.

So there.

This is clearly a reboot, a reimagining, so car-driving Kirk and premature Romulans, as well as premature Chekov and what looked a lot like a shuttle bay with quite a bit more than a couple shuttlecraft are irrelevant. Also the “split the difference” art design is important for the signal it sends; we’re appreciative of the iconic quality of the source material and want to respect it and incorporate it, but this is something very different at the same time. Going either of the other artistic directions you name would’ve sent very different signals.

The challenge is that this isn’t like re-imagining The Day the Earth Stood Still or the James Bond franchise. Trek fans really approach ST as a sort of parallel universe, rather than a body of fiction. Consistency and adherence to the laws of that universe are therefore expected and demanded, lest that universe collapse on itself and be lost in the eyes of we the fans.

Sure, I reflexively cringed at all the retcons, but also respect that, in this context, there is no “con” to “ret” anymore, and despite myself I keep getting pulled back in to watch it over and over again, finding myself increasingly delighted by this vision of a young Kirk that hadn’t ever occurred to me, but in its way explains so much about the character. It’s a convincingly consistent vision in that way - which is the real way that matters, as its the characters and the overall vision that are the really precious part of the ST universe for me.

If this is as good as I hope it will be, the question will be whether or not we Trekkies (Trekkers…whatever…) can accept our precious universe being “demoted” to regular fiction, as fiction is rebooted and reimagined all the time. Fiction is a far more living and fluid substance than the fabric of an actual universe after all. I fear that those of us who can’t will be potentially depriving themselves of what should be a real treat - especially for fans for whom the characters are an important part of their experiences and imaginations.

You mean exactly like what happened with the Star Wars franchise? Probably.

I predict the fans will go to see this in droves, all the while absolutely destroying it on their blogs, anxiously awaiting the extended DVD release, so they can get one more glimpse of the ST universe. The franchise itself will sell this thing, it’s a shame.

Rob, Fair points. You may also ask: why use question marks.

now to business: the reconciliation of the story of David and the showbread in 1 Samuel 21 with Jesus’ recounting of this story in the Gospel of Mark is found in the fact that as the story unfolds, it seems that Ahimelech knew nothing of the conflict between David and Saul. In fact, he knew that David was Saul’s son-in-law. It seemed strange, and dangerous to him, that David was traveling alone. Plus, we can imagine that David looked tired, weary, disheveled, and probably looked like he had been crying a lot. He acted like a lunatic but there was no reason for Jesus to relate that in Mark since he was merely illustrating the hierarchy of authority (god’s law vs. man or vice-versa): is bread food or is bread law? The real question is, how did Jesus hear the story in the first place since it happened over several thousand years in Jesus’s past - so that’s like trying to reconcile my version of the fall of rome with Nero’s.

Canonically speaking the Romulan issue is huge. We could say that young Kirk is using an historians synaptic device that temporarily gives him knowledge of the Corvette’s controls, or that the Enterprise was constructed during a time of experimental building procedures using some anti-grav tech that ultimately failed, or that Kirk somehow lost his memory of serving with Pike, but the Romulan problem could only be explained by an alternate universe or other drastic explanation. and if so, then why bother. If the producers went so far as to put Iowa on the Vette plates, then they obviously were concerned about canon, otherwise why even attempt to be canonical. Why even name the lead character Kirk.

I happen think pro football is completely boring and I don’t understand its cultural appeal at all and I can’t imagine ever wading into a sports blog’s comment thread and insulting the participants because I don’t get what it is they love about the sport.