The Kelvin Timeline and Unexpected Twists
When the Star Trek reboot came around in the late aughts, fans were excited to see a new interpretation of Captain Kirk. However, upon retrospection, Star Trek director JJ Abrams had some qualms about the film.
Star Trek: JJ Abrams Has A Big Regret Involving A Specific Casting Choice
Known as the Kelvin timeline -- named for the starship destroyed in the first five minutes of the first Star Trek reboot film -- the new reboot was a large undertaking. Revisiting the classic characters that started it all in Star Trek: The Original Series was one thing, but taking them to unexpected places, such as time travel, was another. Star Trek did this by creating an alternate timeline before the MCU made it in vogue. A rogue Romulan ship led by the incensed Nero (Eric Bana) inadvertently traveled through a wormhole, which brought them to the day of Jim Kirk's (Chris Pine) birth.
The Unintended Consequences and Regrets
By eviscerating the U.S.S. Kelvin, Nero created a new flow of events where Kirk didn't immediately join Starfleet. But Nero also had another unintended consequence. 'Our first 'Star Trek' movie was, if anything, an exercise in perfection of casting,” Abrams explained in the Star Trek oral history: The Fifty Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From the Next Generation To J.J. Abrams, via SlashFilm. “April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg helped us find the absolutely perfect actors. I'm proud of its telling and humor, but of course only see what's wrong with it. Among other things, I wish we had given Eric Bana a bit more to do other than be full of rage, given that he is such a fine actor.
Nero's cataclysmic event occurred when a star went supernova and destroyed his entire planet. Consumed with grief because of the loss of his pregnant wife, Nero blamed the only person he could. The flawed Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was tasked with destroying the star with Red Matter. But when he was too late, Nero accused him of being complicit. They were both pulled into the black hole; the rest was history. But while Nero had a compelling if tragic backstory, his scenes in Star Trek were less so.
For most of the movie, Nero is a ball of rage, screaming for Spock or simply torturing Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood). There were no scenes where viewers could be alone with the character and no substantial character arc. If hindsight is 20/20, Abrams was right to be critical. Bana spent his time in the film caked in makeup and becoming more unhinged.
The Legacy and Future of Star Trek Villains
Perhaps Bana would have liked more creative fulfillment as a Star Trek villain, but there was something old school about the film’s treatment of its antagonists. The expanded universe is at its best when it harkens back to the original series. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is basically a love letter to The Original Series. In humor and villainous archetypes, the series about Captain Pike's (Anson Mount) attempt to avoid his fate is a delightful trip down memory lane. Even Star Trek: Beyond felt like just one long episode of the flagship show. Nero was similar to other great Star Trek movie villains because he could not be reasoned with and was a solid jumping-off point for a series looking to do something different. As well as the same.
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