You’re welcome, Sir. I apologise for not giving you the proper credit for creating your comic stories. I assume it was Mr. Aabh created the USS Tamerlane stories. My Error.

Sir, I will stick to my opinion that Captain Julie Cochrane would better command the Kelvin-Class starship (TOS Style – not JJ 90210-style)
USS Tamerlane than the Saladin-Class/Scout-Class USS Tamerlane. The registry number will remain the same. It is just the last two stories, the ship took a heavy beating and looks like she won’t come back.

Keep up the good work, sir. Look forward to your next story. Live long and prosper, Mr. Davis. Long life and happiness.

Thank you for the nod, Sotirios Moshonas! :)

—G.S.Davis
Tamerlane

The toughest was the series. I waffled between Byrne’s Romulans series and Countdown. I spent a lot of time waffling in fact. I finally settled on Countdown because of the amount of frothing and interest in the upcoming movie that it created.

Did it mesh perfectly with the movie? No, not quite. Was it a perfect series? Nope.

Did it heighten our interest at the time? Definitely.

Is it something that still creates interest and debate? I direct you to about 2/3rds of the comments above as the answer to that one!

In my experience, fans pick when the entertainment isn’t absorbing them. It’s a bit like romance … when a movie (or comic or novel or game, etc) rocks your world, then every flaw is just adorable and endearing, and the thought of picking at those flaws is just nonsensical. When a movie (etc) isn’t quite rocking your world, then those flaws are flaws, and picking at them is [one possible] way of _getting_ the entertainment the movie (etc) should have been providing, but didn’t. It’s the consolation prize of amusement. That’s certainly how I am with ST09 … I paid $X to see it twice and got $0.X value in entertainment from the film directly, and instead of asking for my money back, I can come here, where Bob Orci himself shows up to make the rest up to me so I didn’t waste my cash. How’s that for customer service?

“See? It’s funner to come up with explanations anyway.”

With movies we love, sure. There are one or two details in Avatar that I had to explain for myself, for example, but I didn’t mind because the whole (despite the shopworn nature of many of the parts) rocked me. Every time I see Avatar, I find _more_ to appreciate about, it and less to fuss over. With ST09, in my case, the curve goes the other way (which is why I stopped watching it, so I can preserve my appreciation of the parts I like). If ST09, or Countdown, rocks you, then it becomes fun – even an act of fannish affection – to play the game of providing the spackle for the little seams.

I really think our indulgence in these matters is directly proportionate to the impact of the whole. If the whole pleases us, the details can be waved away with a smile. If the whole displeases us, then every detail is a barb to pick at.

I just think, as the facts that are presented in the film, there is nothing that would 100% contradict what occurs in Countdown unless you start picking at it and picking at it. But nothing in Star Trek, across any of the movies or TV series, ever stands up to that type of scrutiny, so why should Countdown be any different?

Besides, there’s enough leeway in that mild meld sequence (this is the first time in Trek, ever, that we’re presented with being “inside” a mind-meld which is totally different) that any details glossed over can be just relegated to “it’s a mind meld, it’s weird.” ie. the good old “A wizard did it” standby answer.

Anyway, the Narada being part-Borg is I think one of the more inventive ideas of the comic. Mainly because if you look at the Narada, with it’s big ebony hard angles and the green glow of it’s interior, it totally (probably unconsciously), and just the devastating power of it’s weapons and it’s sheer size, looks very similar to how we’ve seen Borg ships presented. But you don’t see it in in-depth detail in the movie (the Narada regenerating itself) simply because the story didn’t need that to happen. And as for it not acting 100% like a Borg ship, it’s because the Romulan at the Vault said that it was backwards-engineered Borg technology, not 100% slapped on Borg technology.

Cripes, I just sat down with a friend and watched the movie tonight (he is an avowed non-Star Trek fan) and I had a five-minute debate with him why, according to him, didn’t the Captain of the Kelvin send over a hologram to Nero’s ship instead of himself. The whole conversation went something like: “Well, the bad guy has a hologram.” “That’s because the bad guy’s ship is more advanced.” “But why doesn’t the Captain have a hologram and send it over there.” “Cause he doesn’t.” And so on. Like I said, you look too hard, you’re going to find seams in ANYTHING. But where’s the fun in that?

To be perfectly honest, the only continuity glitch in the movie that bothers me is why the Jellyfish states it’s stardate of construction according to the stardate convention (2387) of the alternate reality and not the stardate convention (that would be, like, 64xxxx) of the Prime universe that it originated from. My mental no-prize solution? Old Spock fixed the internal clock of the Jellyfish when Nero was pulling it into the Narada hangar bay. Can’t save the galaxy if your watch is wrong.

See? It’s funner to come up with explanations anyway.

They may have been instructed to. While the comic writers did the scripting and presumably some of the finer details, the film’s own screenwriters have a “story” credit (or something similar – I don’t have it at hand) in the comic, which (I think?) means that the basic story details were handed down from that source, that the basic structure and critical details of Countdown were provided by O&K.

Exactly how much latitude the comic writers were given, and the exact level of O&K input, isn’t clear just from the credits, though (if anyone involved could clarify, that’d be keen).