Spock as captain of the ship beaming down to rescue his parents while his ship is in danger, Chekov being a boy genius with transporter skills that rival Scotty’s own, ejecting Kirk off the ship because he was being difficult, Nero marooning Spock on a satellite to watch the destruction of Vulcan when the view would have been so much better from Nero’s ship, Kirk not being eaten by the local wildlife and stumbling into the very cave Spock was marooned in (and not being eaten either despite his advanced age), Scotty also being stationed in the same place in a facility with the equipment necessary to effect sophisticated beaming technology not yet invented for 100 years, Spock publicly making out with Uhura on the transporter pad just before beaming off on a dangerous mission, only sending two men to battle an entire ship full of superior Romulans which should they have failed would have blown their only chance to save the world, waiting around a rapidly forming blackhole to shoot the bad guy who was already a dead man, and finally last but not least, the promotion of Kirk from cadet to captain of the Enterprise without any explanation.

I definitely didn’t see any of that coming.

Um. A scenery-chewing crazy-go-nuts cardboard Bad Guy shows up and starts killing people … so the self-entitled douchebag Good Guys suit up, ship up and go stop him. The end.

Yeah. It’s amazing no one ever thought to do that plot before.

Being nominated and, particularly, winning an Oscar helps classify you as a “prestige film,” which is good for the future of Trek.

All in all, cinematic Trek is doing better than TV Trek these days in terms of new product, attention, and bringing in new money. But a rising tide lifts all boats.

ST2009’s very good box office and a possible Oscar win could set up ST2012 for an unusually large budget. It could also help in international ticket sales.

Big stars might be more likely to be associated with an Oscar-related property.

Also, I read yesterday that big stars are becoming more affordable in terms of upfront salary demands.

Recall that international sales apparently are helped by big Hollywood stars in your movie.

Without meaning to in any way slight big names (e.g., Christopher Plummer) that have already appeared in Star Trek properties, Oscar might make Star Trek a star vehicle in a good way.

You can question whether the Academy Awards are worth much, but winning one still means something in terms of popular recognition and prestige (to the extent that any popular film might be said to have prestige).

The last Star Wars films, Revenge of the Sith, was nominated in the same category, but lost. (It did not win any Oscars.)

It’s a shame that Shatner and Nimoy never received an Oscar for Khan, as their portray of Spock’s death scene is absolutely one of best acted scenes in Trek or any genre. Nor did they get anything for STIV:TVH back when Nimoy’s directorial meteor was rising (remember the “lightning in a bottle” quote, anyone?)

Nimoy should have been nominated for best supporting actor this year just as a gimme-due because of to his value to the Trek community and for his willingness to bridge the generations. He could have said “screw it” and kept with his photography work like a good semi-retired actor, but he showed up one more time for “God and Country” (to paraphrase Kirk in STVI.)

The last time I was interested in the Oscars was when streaking was in vogue, or when George Scott told them where to stick it by refusing his for “Patton”, or the so-called ‘liberal’ Hollywood community booing Michael Moore during his speech. The Oscars…about as real as a movie…about as real as it *doesn’t* get…

This witty comment brought to you by Congress–the entertainment division of Wall Street.