Location of R2-D2 Easter Egg Revealed + More Star Trek Easter Eggs

Star Trek 2009 cast with J.J. Abrams

Last month we reported that Paramount launched an Easter egg contest to find the hidden R2D2 in the new Star Trek movie. Now they have revealed where to find the Star Wars droid, details below plus we list many of the other easter eggs in the Star Trek movie.

 

R2 in the debris field
The location of R2 was announced on the Star Trek Facebook page:

R2-D2 LOCATION ANSWER (**SPOILER ALERT**)

During the Drill Machine sequence as the Enterprise comes out of its barrel role amidst destruction of the other Federation ships above Vulcan, we cut to an interior Enterprise bridge over the shoulder of Kirk that is looking out through the front viewscreen. In space, R2-D2 is floating in the debris from about the top middle of the screen to the bottom right.

Unfortunately Paramount did not release an image of R2 so we will have to wait for the DVD for that (as we will not put up bootleg images here at TrekMovie.com). And yes Paramount did misspell ‘barrel roll’, but hey I do that all the time so who am I to talk.

More Star Trek Easter Eggs
The Star Trek movie has lots of little things that can be noticed on multiple viewings, here are some (in chron order): [UPDATED: 6/11 5:00 AM PST]

  • CAMEO: Randy Pausch can be seen in the first scene walking by Capt. Robau saying “Captain, we have visual”
  • Scenes of Vulcan from Vasquez Rocks, a location used often in Trek, including for Vulcan for Star Trek IV
  • The surround screen tests for the young Vulcan children are similiar to the multi-screen tests for the resurrected Spock in Star Trek IV
  • CAMEO: Greg Grunberg plays the voice of Jim Kirk’s stepfather during Corvette scene
  • Mention of ‘Slusho’, part of the viral campaign for Cloverfield, in Iowa bar scene, Slusho drink can also be seen on menu
  • During bar fight, Kirk hits one of the cadets over head with bottle of Saurian Brandy
  • CAMEOS: JJ Abrams father and father-in-law can be seen watching bar fight
  • Sign seen as Kirk drives motorcycle into Riverside Ship Yard reads ‘Sector 47’, the number 47 is a recurring theme on the Abrams shows Alias, Fringe and Lost, as well as TNG era Trek
  • Kirk bumps his head entering shuttle to Starfleet Academy, possible homage to Scotty bumping his head in Star Trek V
  • As shuttle pulls away from shipyard, there is brief musical sting from Alexander Courage’s Star Trek theme
  • Spock mentions possibly pursuing the Kolinahr in the future, something Spock Prime pursued in TMP
  • Spock tells his mother “fine is not acceptable”, in Star Trek IV after not being able to answer the question “how do you feel?” early in the film, at the end Spock asked Sarek to tell Amanda “I feel fine”
  • CAMEO: Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is one of the Vulcan Council Members during Spock’s appearance in front of the Vulcan Council
  • Another 47 mention when Uhura talks about “47 ships” from a Klingon armada that were destroyed
  • During Kobayashi Maru simulator Kirk eats an apple, an homage to the Genesis cave scene in Star Trek II when Kirk at apple while telling story about how he beat the Kobayashi Maru
  • During Academy trial scene there is an Adm. James Komack on the dais
  • CAMEO: “Madea” star Tyler Perry plays Adm. Barnett, the Academy president
  • The Federation Fleet is said to be in the “Laurentian System”, possibly a reference to the “Laurentian Abyss” referred to in Transformers and/or The Hunt for Red October
  • CAMEO: Stargate Atlantis star Paul McGillion appears as the Barracks Leader in hangar scene
  • Last name called for assignment was “Vader USS Hood”, reference to Star Wars
  • In the academy hangar scene, one of the shuttles is called “Moore”, possibly for Star Trek veteran writer/producer Ron Moore
  • As ships fly out away from Starfleet Academy one of the San Francisco buildings has a Tagruato logo, another Cloverfield reference
  • When Chekov is trying to log in to his station the computer voice is by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, her last role in the Star Trek franchise before her death
  • Sulu tells Kirk his combat training is in fencing, in the TOS episode “The Naked Time” Sulu shows off his fencing abilities
  • Chief engineer Olsen wearing red jumpsuit dies a ‘red shirt’ death
  • Nero tortures Pike using ‘Centaurian Slugs’ which are an homage to the Ceti Eels of Star Trek II
  • Spock’s line “If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” is the same line Spock speaks in Star Trek VI (which was taken from Sherlock Holmes)
  • Kirk is stranded on Delta Vega, a planet seen in the second Star Trek pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (or a planet with the same name)
  • Kirk’s duffel bag from the escape pod says “Enterprise D” possible TNG reference
  • Spock Prime tells Kirk he “has been and always shall be his friend”, just as he said to Kirk in Wrath of Khan
  •  CAMEO: During mind meld, former New Voyages Spock Jeff Quinn can be seen as Vulcan inspecting Jellyfish under construction
  • McCoy asks spock if he is “out of his Vulcan mind?”, a question that McCoy Prime asked Spock on a couple of ocasions in TOS and the movies
  • Spock’s comment about “roaming the halls weeping” could be reference to Spock’s loss of control in TOS “The Naked Time”
  • A tribble can be seen (and heard) in cage in Scotty’s workshop (on table he has his feet up on when first seen)
  • Scotty refers to ‘Admiral Archer’s Beagle’, referring to Jonathan Archer from Enterprise, although not the same dog as Porthos
  • Spock keying in the equation from the future for trans-warp beaming into Scotty’s computer is homage to Scotty keying in formula from the future for transparent aluminum into Plexicorp computer in Star Trek IV
  • CAMEO: When Spock returns to the bridge to say “Mr Chekov is correct”, Star Trek Phase II’s James Cawley can be seen standing next to him holding clipboard
  • When Spock and Kirk beam back after mission to Narada, there is another brief sting from the Courage Star Trek theme
  • Kirk offers to beam the crew of the Romulan Narada off before they are destroyed, the same offer was made by Kirk to the Romulans in “Balance of Terror” (also refused)
  • When Pike is seen at the end he is wearing admiral uniform very similar to those of The Motion Picture and is in wheel chair, as he was in “The Menagerie”

Well that is all we have for now. If you have found any others, let us know and we will add them to the list

 

 

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I think these were great! Funny how many things they put in the movie for fans. You could hear the laughter or comments for most of these in the theater.

Spock mayes a reference to “Walking the halls weeping,” a reference to “The Naked Time.”

Ayel holding Kirk by the neck in the area is a possible homage to The Search For Spock where Kruge holds Kirk up in the air by the neck. Ayel’s death is also similar to Kirk’s.

#3 – Correction – Last sentence should say “Ayel’s death is also similar to Kruge’s.”

Addition to Academy hangar scene: the last name called out by the first roll call is Vader. He gets assigned to the Farragut.

Captain Pike’s whistle to break up the fight is the same as the whistle communication sound in TOS.

Didn’t Bob Orci say that it WAS Porthos who got beamed? Something about the wonders of vet science in the future?

It is probably nothing, but it seemed to me that there is a slight allusion to Jerry Goldsmith’s ST:TMP score right at the end of the film, around the point that Spock Prime says “Thrusts ahead” (or something like that) and we cut to the crew on board the Enterprise.

I believe, the “Laurentian Abyss” is also the place where Megatron was dropped off at the end of Transformers. A possible Orci-Kurtzman connection.

According to imdb triva heres the original opening:
“The original opening for the movie was going to feature the Enterprise NCC-1701 under the command of Robert April, with George Kirk second in command. At the climax of the scene the Enterprise would have been destroyed, and the Enterprise featured through most of the movie would have been its successor, the NCC-1701-A (which didn’t debut until Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) in the original timeline). However, Paramount told Kurtzman and Orci that the one thing they absolutely could not do was destroy the Enterprise, even if they were going to replace it with a newer one, and so the “original” Enterprise was rewritten into the USS Kelvin, with Captain April becoming Captain Robau.”

I guess theyd used the original design of the NCC 1701 model and had them in the Cage/Where No Man-esque uniforms on a similar bridge set to TOS?..(not EXACTLY the same but similar as the Ent and the uniforms kept getting make overs all the time anyway and that bit is set well B4 The Cage) …maybe a big star as April too? Ford, Cruise?

i know it wouldve meant blowing up the Ent (again) and they probably didnt want the new one to be known as NCC 1701-‘A’

Majel’s voice is also heard in the pod when Kirk lands on Delta Vega.

Spock saying, and I’ll maul this: “Once you’ve eliminated all that’s logical, what’s left, no matter how improbable, is most often true” from TWOK. It’s said by ZQ Spock on the Bridge at some point.

“Kirk bumps his head entering shuttle to Starfleet Academy, possible homage to Scotty bumping his head in Star Trek V”

Oh JESUS. Really stretched for references aren’t you!? Hahahaha.

#13–not stretching as that was what I thought during my first viewing.

The whole “Kirk upsets Spock” routine is right out of “This Side of Paradise.”

“I have been and always shall be your friend” from TWOK.

Much depends on where one draws the line between in-universe reference to drive plot, and ‘winking’ to the fans.

# 5 – Vader was assigned to the hood, not the Farragut.

# 11 – That doesn’t sound like Majel’s voice in Kirk’s pod on Delta Vega. I could be wrong, but if it’s Majel then her voice was modulated in a way that her voice with Chekov wasn’t.

Thanks for the suggestions
i have updated the article with the ones that I felt were true easter eggs with some clarifications
Vader is assigned to the USS Hood
The Sherlock Holmes quote was in Star Trek VI

also the computer voice on the pod on DV is not Majel

Come on Anthony, you cant have miss that! One word : fencing!!

Some of the other easter eggs in there are so mainstream that we Trek fanatics may not consider them easter eggs:

Scotty saying “I’m Giving He All She’s Got”
Bones saying “I’m a doctor, not a physicist” and “Good God, Man!”
Sulu being a fencer. . .

I consider Uhura having the first name Nyota a bit of fan service, too, considering that that name only existed previously in extended universe fiction.

Also, how the wind howls on Delta Vega, sounding a lot like the wind on some planets in TOS.

12. AJ – June 11, 2009
Spock saying, and I’ll maul this: “Once you’ve eliminated all that’s logical, what’s left, no matter how improbable, is most often true” from TWOK. It’s said by ZQ Spock on the Bridge at some point.

Actualy. Spock said that in Star Trek 6

One of the other shuttles in the hanger scene is called the Gilliam, Possibly a reference to Terry Gilliam or to a Dawn Gilliam, who served as script editor on the movie though and was also involved in scripting on Alias and Mission Impossible III.

The communicators used on the Kelvin seemed to be almost exactly the same as the TOS communicators.

And some of the biggest nods to past treks that I noticed were the sound effects…
-TOS communicator chirp
-TOS transporter sound
-The transporter also had a deep hum similar to ‘The Cage’
-Intercom button beep is exactly the same as one of the TOS button press sounds
-Bridge ping very similar to the TOS bridge ping
-Sound of the weapons arming on the Kelvin was similar to the phaser/torpedo firing sound in TOS
-Heard a few instances (on the Enterprise bridge and in the shuttle on Delta Vega) of something like the console warbling sound from the Enterprise-A in ST 5-6

There’s probably more but I can’t remember them all right now. I was happily surprised to hear so many familiar sounds though! :)

Probably not considered Easter Eggs, but I thought it was cool how each character stated their full name somewhere in the movie…I way to establish themselves. Also, McCoy’s reference to, “all I have left are my ‘Bones””.

Not sure if these qualify as “East Eggs” but:

– at one point Dr. McCoy asks Nurse Chapel for something; don’t recall if you actually see her or not.

– the communicators used by the crew on the USS Kelvin appear to be dead ringers for the TOS models

– the testing scene of young Spock is very reminiscent of the retraining of adult Spock in ST IV

– the Klingon warbirds during the Kobyashi Maru test are almost identical to the K’Tinga class ships from ST:TMP

– the shuttlecraft carrying McCoy and Kirk to the Enterprise does an almost identical flyover as the travel pod in ST:TMP

– the chair and viewscreen on the Jellyfish form the classic Vulcan IDIC symbol

Nero’s almost whispered “Spock” toward the end reminded my of Kirk’s thunderous “Kahn!” in ST II

I liked that Kirk was eating an Aple on the kobioshi maru test. A big nod to Trek 2. Also when Spock was quoting the odds to Kirk about the Possiblity of success for completing the mission. Loved that line. The wat kirk and Spock worked together on the Narada was just like they did in the Tos Prime Universe when they took on the salt monster. Kirk Parachuting was a nod to the many books that the Shat wrote where Prime Kirk did it several times and the cut scene in Generations where Shat Kirk is seen Parachuting.

Hey, I treated the closing theme and dedication as a nice goody too- not really an Easter egg, of course.

Captain Mike: B’Elanna also parachuted from orbit on a holodeck in VOY.

“the chair and viewscreen on the Jellyfish form the classic Vulcan IDIC symbol”

Oh, WOW!

#25 – – the Klingon warbirds during the Kobyashi Maru test are almost identical to the K’Tinga class ships from ST:TMP


Yes, but what is their actual size? ;)

Minor Spoiler for the Trek 09 book. I read the Trek 09 Book and at the end Archers beagle Porthos Beams onto the Big E. But i will not say where in the book that it happens.

R2D2 as debris from a destroyed spaceship. LOL. Now, THAT’S what I call a great easter egg. ;)

In addition to Adm. Komack, one of the name signs in the hearing scene reads “Nensi Chandra,” probably a reference to Capt. Chandra from “Court-martial” (with “Nensi” being a probable allusion to Salman Nensi, a character in the novel Memory Prime named for a real-life friend of Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens).

I’m not convinced of the “Vader, USS Hood” thing. Couldn’t it have been “Bader,” perhaps an homage to the late Hilary J. Bader, who wrote for TNG? After all, there was a shuttlecraft Moore in the same scene.

Loved the ‘ping’ sound that occurs a few seconds into the movie as Kelvin whisks by. Put a smile on my face.

The shuttle’s name that Kirk and McCoy board to go to the Enterprise is named “Gillian” – an obvious homage to Dr. Gillian Taylor the cetacean biologist in Star Trek IV who comes back with Kirk and crew to the 23rd century………

There’s a point in the film where Nero shouts “Spock!!!” and it echos a bit and my wife swore that it was a “KHAAAAN” moment.

Ok. Instead of saying KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we can now all say SPOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

35 – I think it was Gilliam? Perhaps Terry Gilliam homage?

Then there’s the final scene with Kirk getting a medal…just like the final scene in “Star Wars” when Luke and Han got medals.

Why would anyone do an homage to one of the most contrived/slapstick/childish/degrading/pointless/groan-inducing “jokes” in the history of Star Trek?

Scotty bumping head…sheesh! Shatner must have laughed his *** off when they dreamed up that bit of drivel.

(Just to set the record straight…I actually think STV is better than most people give it credit for. There were HUGE budget issues that killed the ending but The Shat and team made some ill-advised choices that left the film feeling strangely uneven. Example: Spock refusing Kirk’s order to shoot Sidewalk…or whatever his name was…then quickly turning to ham-handed humor in the brig. Ugh! A brilliant and rare moment of geniune confilict between two beloved characters that is quickly forgetten. “You mean he’s your BROTHER brother?” Blue Blazes!)

Here’s two:

“I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.” — Pine’s Kirk says that, just as Shat’s Kirk did in “Wrath of Khan.”

Also, was it just me, or did Pine spend an awful lot of time dangling off of precipices? I thought fer sher they were reverse nods to Kruge’s demise at the end of “Search for Spock.”

Another Easter Egg that I picked up was, when Kirk met Spock Prime for the first time, Spock Prime said: “I am Spock” which I would take as homeage to Lenard Nimoy’s book: “I am Spock”

Also, I really took the entire Nero character as an homage to Montalban’s Khan: Wackjob baddie blames death of wife on Kirk/Spock, wields planet-eating weapon in revenge. No??

the sound design was one of the greatest aspects of the film, both in tribute and narrative. the muting of the noise and chaos during george’s suicide run was very powerful, and never (quite) used before in trek.

prime spock’s voice distortion during mind meld, the distance and overlapping made nice use of the emotive (the sadness, the almost moaning at the death of vulcan had two different readings…)

off topic. the ‘midwife’ nurses EYES were nifty as all hell. anime sexy! assuming that was subtle CGI, something rarely done so well.

CAMEO: When Spock returns to the bridge to say “Mr Chekov is correct”, Star Trek Phase II’s James Cawley can be seen standing next to him holding clipboard
Also having Spock say Chekov is correct brings to mind “The Way to Eden” when Irina tells him to ‘be correct, occasionally’. But I doubt anyone would acknowledge or accept that, as I seem to be the only one who loves that episode.

@33 I missed that reference to Salman Nensi.The TOS novel Memory Prime is one of my favorites. I really liked his character. He was Mira Romaine’s Godfather in the novel. I saw many of the cameos and easter eggs the first time I saw the movie. I almost missed the Tribble in Scotty’s lab the second time I saw the film. My husband has very sharp eyes and picked up almost all of the easter eggs. We just relocated to the UK and are still settling in. I hope to see ST09 one more time. I can’t wait for the DVD.

Hey Anthnoy. I have a challenge for Trek Movie. Find out from the Court how many easter eggs there are in Trek and then when the Dvd comes out put a challange to all of us to get the number of eggs and the closest ones or the ones who get it right could get a Dvd or something. What do you think.

Another sound effect I heard…that was a welcome treat…was during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. There’s a cose up of one of the sensor panels and you can hear the sound of Spock’s scanner from his Science Station.

I’d classify the script references to “cheating death” as a nod to TWOK dialog and themes.

Spock’s hazing on Vulcan is from TAS “Yesteryear.” In fact the whole “Spock Prime meeting his younger self back in time” subplot can be said to reference that ep.

By my third viewing, I saw R2D2s everywhere.. in the rocks outside the window while Sarek counseled kiddy Spock, in the blur between Pine and Saldana on the “talented tongue” line. But, I did NOT see RD floating in the space debris. Grrrr.