sj, they're new. I think they needed a way to play dress-up while they were spending 25 years hanging around waiting for wormholes to open.

Thanks, amych. I didn't even realize that they were supposed to be Romulans until they said it.

One more Trek question: How was Pike injured in TOS? It has been ages since I saw that episode, and it struck me that Pike was older than he should have been.

if Starfleet is supposed to be HQ'ed in the Presidio, how the fuck can they see the TransAmerica pyramid and still be so close to the water?

Pretty much any movie you watch that's set somewhere you're familiar with the geography you're going to find something that doesn't make any sense.

In When Harry Met Sally they drive the wrong way on Lake Shore Drive to get to New York from the University of Chicago.

In Wayne's World there's palm trees and mountains in Aurora Illinois.

In Titanic there's pacific white sided dolphins in the north atlantic.

amych, they're explained in the tie-in comics. The markings are normally a temporary symbol of grief, and Nero and his men tattooed them on since they didn't intend to let go of their grief.

I saw Terminator Salvation tonight! It's a pretty awesome depiction of the War Against the Machines.

I'm so late into the Trek discussion that I might have missed something. So I don't know if this question has been answered. But what was with Uhura knowing all three dialects of Romulan, and others knowing that it was a difficult language to distinguish from Vulcan? I didn't think they'd had much contact with Romulans at this point, and they definitely didn't work out the relationship between Romulans and Vulcans until much later than this. The only possible answer is that Nero was off making the Romulans known to the universe in his 25-year hiatus. Which could answer the 'what was he doing?' question. But that doesn't quite work. That bit of discontinuity bothered me more than all the silliness of red matter, instant black holes and time travel that changes everything.

But otherwise, TREK TREK TREK. Pure awesomeness. My g/f fell asleep half way through. In future I am only going to see cult movies with other fans.

Also, are they planning future movies in this alternate universe? Because the coolest way forward would be to end the Trek franchise there, IMO.

I watched my first TNG episode (I think it was 'Code of Honor') with my dad. I was about 12. We always bonded over sci-fi. He bought me my first Isaac Asimov books.

I don't think JJ Abrams has a problem with strong women characters, so I think he did a good job of deepening her character and giving her some centrality.

He does cast his women in supporting roles, not leadership roles, though. As The Girl and I were remarking upon while watching old episodes of Lost the other day. Consistently, Jack, Locke and Sawyer lead while Kate and Juliet follow (even if the girls do get to shoot things quite often). And there are only really three women with whole-series-spanning, ongoing roles in the story, compared with a lot of male protagonists.

sj, re your question I seem to remember it was an accident during a training mission - he saved a bunch of cadets and got fried in the process. I love Bruce Greenwood, but he definitely strikes me as older than Jeffery Hunter, and that whole Cage incident was during his command of the Enterprise, which wouldn't have been any earlier than this, and probably later, since he seemed to have been at it for a while (given his conversations with the doctor) (and how's that for a run-on sentance - yeesh). And of course, Majel Barrett was second in command to Pike; Spock was just the science officer, but that can be explained by the suddeness of all the assignments.

I'm so late into the Trek discussion that I might have missed something. So I don't know if this question has been answered.

That's a definite continuity glitch since the Kirk-commanded Enterprise was the first ship to make visual contact with the Romlans ("Balance of Terror" - great episode, but a little bizarre if you've already seen the episode with Spock's father, since it's the same actor). The prior war they had no way to send or receive visual transmissions, so the establishment of the Neutral Zone was all done via radio.

I was absurdly pleased to see the return of Clifford the big red ball. I don't know why, but it amused me mightily.

He does cast his women in supporting roles, not leadership roles, though.

Alias and Felicity both had female leads. Fringe and Lost don't. So for TV, he comes out even.

[Please note that I am NOT NOT NOT positing that Felicity should be taken as a model of pro-feminist storytelling. But on his first and second times out, JJA did choose female protagonists.]

(And I don't think it's entirely fair to include his movies in this game since both MI:III and Trek came with pre-existing canon and characters.)

I'd say that Anna Torv is way more the lead of Fringe than Jackson or Noble, on the principle that it's the "detective" who is the central character, not the "interesting sidekick(s)".

I've only seen the first three or so eps of Fringe, so I'm sure you're right.

(I was going by Boxed Set where it seems like the focus of the discussion is generally Pacey and Denethor, but then, that's also typical for supporting roles. See also: Willow, Xander, Spike.)