“Star Trek has called me, and I’m going to serve” Bob Orci Talks Trek on Mission Log Podcast

In a very special Mission Log Podcast supplemental, Star Trek writer Bob Orci sat down to talk about what it was like coming into Trek for him, how he listens to fans’ feedback on his work, Trek’s place on TV, what’s next for Trek, and he even responds to recent events getting heated right here on the Trek Movie message boards. We get almost two full hours of Bob Orci talking about Star Trek, what he loves about it, and why he and co-workers wrote the last two movies the way they did. Read some of the highlights and listen for yourself after the jump.

Mission Log Podcast Supplemental 058A: Bob Orci

Listen to the full interview on the Mission Log Podcast

Coming up Trek
Mission Log Podcast hosts John Champion and Ken Ray both came into the work of Star Trek in their own ways — we all did, and it’s a part of what makes Trek special and unique to us. Bob Orci has been long known as the biggest Trekkie of any of the new guard responsible for Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness, so what is his story? Orci was born in Mexico City and would frequently visit family in Florida. There, a man named Richard Robau (yes, the man for whom Captain Robau is named) would sit down with Bob to watch The Original Series.

“[Robau] made it plain to me at that point that it was the first time that legitimate sci-fi had been on television. That was sort of my entry into sci-fi. Then, when Wrath of Khan came out, that was the first movie I saw in the theater.”

What really spoke to Orci about Star Trek was, of course, the characters and the stories they told.

“The idea that smart people could be thinking their way through problems, I thought was interesting. No matter how smart you are and no matter how moral and how much you’re thinking, sometimes you must do battle. That was an interesting goalpost of the series for me. You can be a genius astrophysicist who cares about nothing more than to maintain the peace and yet you may still have to fire your phasers and your photon torpedoes.”

This, says Orci, is the rationale behind Starfleet being called a “peace-keeping armada” in Trek ’09.

Orci didn’t want to touch Trek… at first

“Are you kidding? I didn’t want to touch it. [When Paramount called us] and said, ‘Hey, do you want to do Star Trek?’ Yeah, we’re interested, but I don’t wanna come and screw it up. I don’t wanna mess with something that I love. Unless we have an idea, we’re not just going to say yes.”

Trek is on the Big Screen these days, but should Trek be on TV?
It’s a question we all have an opinion on (heck, it’s one we’ve talked a lot about lately here on TrekMovie). Star Trek started on television, and so did Bob Orci, who talked a bit about how the two mediums have changed over the years and how Trek fits into it all both then and now.

“When I saw Star Wars I remember thinking, ‘yeah Star Wars is amazing, but I can’t watch it at home. I can watch Star Trek at home. I remember thinking [about Trek], ‘wow, this is a whole universe,’ where as Star Wars seemed like a one-off.”

“A lot of action and not enough philosophy”
The fact of the matter is: Paramount is making Trek for the big screen. But, is this a good home for the franchise? Or should it be back on TV? Orci says both have a place in the Trek world, and so does “new” media like the web.

“I do think Star Trek is wonderful for TV. I think it should be both [TV and movies]. I saw a Next Generation movie, I won’t say which, but I though ‘Ahh, it’s slightly succumb to the trappings of movie making. A lot of action and not enough philosophy.’ It’s interesting to read that criticism of some of the stuff we’ve done in the last two [films]. TV affords you [philosophy]. But, I do think that audiences are sophisticated enough that Star Trek can be Star Trek in both mediums now.”

But, Trek WILL return to TV, says Orci

“Star Trek ain’t going anywhere. It’s going to outlive all of us. And it’s going to be translated into every kind of delivery system you can imagine. It’s not going away from TV either. It just depends on when it comes back and how it’s programmed against the movies.”

“I can’t get into the new Star Trek ‘cuz it’s not really my character”

“We didn’t say yes [to writing Star Trek 2009] until we hit upon the notion, what if Spock as portrayed by Leonard Nimoy is someway indirectly responsible for coming back in time and changing the universe and making it an alternate universe. The question becomes are these peoples’ souls the same? I remember reading, “Well, I can’t get into the new Star Trek ‘cuz it’s not really my character. It’s not the same people”. That’s actually the debate of the movie: are they the same soul? [The characters] have to earn your love anew. . . These characters must stand on their own.”

TWOK: The Wrath of Kirk… “Khan was in our minds”.

We talked about having a coda at the end of the first movie of Star Trek finding the Botany Bay. So Khan was in our minds. Now, [2009] comes out and there is a big push to do Khan. We collectively stepped back from that because we felt like we were falling into the trap of using a villain based on previous knowledge of the villain, and that we were somehow relying on the audience’s expectation of love and hate of Khan to make that story work. So, we stepped back and said, ‘lets say it’s not Khan’.

But, after writing the story about this man, John Harrison, they came back to Khan.

“After we had that story, well, now can it be Khan? We started at Khan, went away from Khan, and then came back to him.”

“Sorry, that’s what Star Wars is for.”
A golden moment comes about a third of the way into the podcast during a great discussion about Star Trek being intellectual in a way that makes it better than your typical “popcorn movie”.

“I think some people are put off and confused by something that is so topical. On the message boards where, obviously, you get a lot of detractors that may or may not represent huge percentages — but, non-the-less they’re fans and they need to be heard — [They say], ‘I don’t wanna have to face those things when I’m eating popcorn in the theater.’ And, though they meant that as a criticism, I actually still take that as a compliment. It means that they sat through a popcorn movie that shook them up a little bit. That’s hard to do! It’s only because of the legacy and power of Star Trek that we were able to actually have this meditation on current events.

Look, I get it. You definitely go to the movies to escape, but you can escape and still think. The movie can be entertaining and still have something to say.”

At this point, Rod Roddenberry, who had apparently been listening in from the back of the room, decided to pipe up.

“Sorry, that’s what Star Wars is for.”

On listening to fans for STID
MLP co-host John Champion brought up the point that Orci and crew actually have listened to fans’ criticisms on the 2009 film and incorporated those criticisms by changing things in Into Darkness. Orci listed off a few of the specific things that changed because fans were vocal.

  1. We addressed Kirk’s quick ascension [to captain]. . . that’s why he’s demoted.
  2. We addressed the brewery [engineering]. We went to San Francisco and got a proper warp core.
  3. We attempted to try and grow the trifecta [Kirk, Spock, and Bones] by having Bones in there.
  4. We tried to make Scotty less humorous, gave him meat to chew on. He resigns over the Enterprise’s mission not being about exploration.

So, John’s follow up question is of course: what criticisms of Star Trek Into Darkness will Bob Orci and co. take into account for the next one?

“I am hoping that these movies have earned us a degree to go a little more sci-fi. In the first two movies, Paramount has been great in just trusting us in what we were going to do. You can’t blame the evil studio for whatever you hate. You have to blame us. My hope is that these movies have earned us the right to show another side of Star Trek that we have not fully shown yet. A genuine sci-fi mystery; that would be nice.

The third one — and this is based slightly on fan response — the third one should just be unpredictable with as many new elements as possible.”

Sexism in Star Trek? What about the Alice Eve underwear scene?
Ken Ray asks one of the tough questions while he has the chance. How does Bob Orci feel about that infamous scene that has really split fans down the middle?

“Breaking news, you heard it here first. That was not Damon [Lindelof]’s idea. It was JJ’s. Originally, they were going to open that torpedo in orbit, in space. So, originally, we had Kirk chasing her into a room where she was changing into a space suit. It seemed more purposeful when we actually conceived it. For production reasons, we just simply couldn’t afford to go out into space, so it turned into the desert floor. And, that scene, though when she is on the desert floor she is in a different outfit, you could argue that she didn’t need to be in a different outfit when she’s on the desert floor. So, it’s a slight holdover from the original conception of “everyone’s changing into a spacesuit”, which of course made a lot more sense.

I can’t claim to be an expert on feminism and gender politics at this moment. I could point out that you see Kirk half naked as well in both movies. He’s in his underwear, so’s Uhura. Did the movie need that scene? No. Have half the websites I’ve seen criticizing that scene used that exact photograph to publicize their own article about the scene? Yes.

I’m actually torn about it. I don’t know. You can’t watch Miley Cyrus on the VMA’s and not be confused about the state of feminism today.”

MLP Co-hosts Ken and John continue to play off of each other as well as always by offering up two very civil yet directly opposing viewpoints on the scene. At this point, the interview gets real. The interviewers take Orci’s response to the underwear question as a way to ask him about all of the other bits and pieces that they may not have liked about the film: Kirk’s death scene, the Khan scream. . . The whole discussion starts just after the 1 hour mark. Don’t miss it.

Keep up with Mission Log Podcast
If you aren’t already an avid listener of the Mission Log Podcast (a Roddenberry podcast), start listening. The series examines Star Trek — it’s messages, how those messages played when the show aired, and how they play today — one episode at a time. They started with The Cage and are working their way through The Original Series. Plus, every one in a while, they have great supplemental episodes like this one. Check ’em out and subscribe.


Be sure to check out the Mission Log Podcast


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Just keep it real Bob!

Just do what the actor Karl Urban wants: an original story that is in keeping with the philosophies and pathos that made “Star Trek” a household name.

This was very interesting.

Many of these insights have been heard/read elsewhere online.

“That’s what Star Wars is for” – right on the button, Rod!

Thank god Ahmed wasn’t able to call into the podcast!

(I’m kidding!)

““I am hoping that these movies have earned us a degree to go a little more sci-fi.”

SEE EVERYONE !!!!!

+1 dswynne1.

I think the genuine sci-fi mystery is a good approach, and something I crave.

Lets really see and experience some “strange new worlds”, “new life” and “new civilizations”.

You could have a fast-paced, planet-hopping mystery, with the Enterprise going to a region nobody has seen, and unwittingly getting involved in something epic.

“The third one — and this is based slightly on fan response — the third one should just be unpredictable with as many new elements as possible.”

YEP! SOUNDS LIKE HE’S PRETTY MUCH FOLLOWING MJ’S 6 “TWEAKING” RECOMMENDATIONS.

The haters should be ashamed of themselves. Should have just been polite to the guy and given him a chance to improve movie #3. He’d still be here if they hadn’t been such jerkweed asses to him and embarrassed him publicly.

“This, says Orci, is the rationale behind Starfleet being called a “peace-keeping armada” in Trek ’09.”

Wrong. In ST09, they called the FEDERATION a “peace-keeping armada.” That’s what pissed off fans–not the idea of calling Starfleet an armada, but the idiocy of calling the Federation an armada.

It’s like saying “the aft nacelle” in STID. It’s careless, sloppy writing that could have been corrected easily.

Thanks for the article!

8. K-7,
MJ was not the only one who made that suggestion.

@9. The you go, again, PaulB. Orci is listening to the fans and making some changes based on what has been put forward on this site, and all you offer is another one of you continual “bitching moments.”

And you complaining about the nacelle thing says it all to me.

Very sad!

Unfortunately these tent pole action movies are usually just a series of gags and special effect shots strung together with barely there dialogue and story.

STID was a very, very bad movie.

I can’t imagine anyone couldn’t make a movie that was twice as good for half the money.

But they would have to care about story and character and not just stunts and special effects.

STTWOK was ten times better than STTMP, and for a fraction of the cost.

There needs to be some major house cleaning here. J.J. and the rest should be shoved out the nearest airlock without an environment suit.

@10

He’s talking multiple points, including the way women were portrayed, going more scifi, strange new worlds type of star Trek, more story and less action — these are nearly item for item the tweaks that MJ provided in that list.

Yes, many people have brought these all up, but MJ’s list was by far the best collection of this information in one place. And MJ was positive and offering these as “tweaks” — he never was one of those a-holes here who attacked and ridiculed Bob Orci.

Okay, well this seems a bit long for me. Can someone who listens please say if they address the issue of Uhura and Spock/Uhura and what was said please? Thanks in advance if you do.

@#10 Marcus

Very true. All he did was collect suggestions made by other people a few times over and compiled them into one list. I’m not knocking that in the least, but I didn’t see anything there that I hadn’t read at least 2 or 3 times before from other people…

Anyway, my biggest issue (obviously) is how they handle Uhura, Spock, and Spock/Uhura. Then of course I am concerned about the team…

I may not be the biggest fan of Into Darkness out there though it wasn’t a bad movie either but I do have a lot of respect for Orci and Kurtzman. That respect was certainly renewed by the comment of not blaming the evil studio but blaming them instead.

Well, it’s good that somebody cared enough to synthesize all of this stuff into one list, and do it in a positive way for Orci to use.

Heck, some people here can’t even take the time to listen to a podcast by Bob Orci.

PaulB,

After reading your post, I am embarrassed to be a Star Trek fan today.

I think a good choice going forward on Trek with Orci and Kurtzman maybe moving on is David Kemper – the showrunner from “Farscape” and Lily Taylor, another key collaborator from the show. They’d bring not only the requisite drama, action, emotion, intellect, great dialogue – things actors love, They’d also bring in sex appeal (while maintaining good taste), something the ORIGINAL SERIES had but has faded. Farscape had really great femme fatales and that’s something Star Trek needs. I also think Adam E. Fiero from “24” could be a great Star Trek writer.

17. I listened to it more than once. And I probably will again. This is the Orci that respects Star Trek.

I’m telling you, they are going to hit the next one out of the park. With no Lindelof and w/o Abrams directing, the stupid jokes will decrease and it will feel more like a real science-fiction movie. Orci is going full sci-fi. He his going to develop Bones more into the Spock-Kirk-McCoy that we know from TOS. And I hope they will NOT force a character into it so awkwardly like they did with Khan.

Maybe it will be a race against time to save the entire universe and the big E explore new areas of space and existence. It will be due to over-use of Red Matter from the 2009 movie (to book-end trilogy). The Klingons will be in the way and the crew is forced to work with them. The famous Id-Ego-Super Ego of the triumvirate will be at the moral center of the movie. THAT will be the main theme.

This could be the best Trek movie of all time. Here’s hoping….

12… TWOK cost 1/10th as much only because Paramount charged to TMP all the costs of the abandoned Star Trek: Phase II television series, and TWOK reused all the expensive sets and props from the first movie, keeping its costs low. If TWOK had been made in a vacuum with no TMP preceeding it, it too would have cost a fortune.

Oh, BTW , Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) – Yeoman Janice Rand. I’m just sayin’.

I’ve said it on these boards before: listening to hardcore Trek fans was the downfall for STiD. How many comments did we all read for years, where fans wanted the next movie to feature Khan, Gary Seven, Gary Mitchell, the Borg, Klingons, Romulans, etc etc etc…

The goal of ST09 was to take Trek mainstream. Brilliant movie, best Trek movie ever, in my opinion. Trek finally won mainstream appeal. Mission accomplished.

But STiD catered to the rerun wishes of the hardcore Trek fans, and the result was just an OK movie. But I believe that boborci has now finally figured that out, and I’m expecting the next film to be the best yet.

BTW, I LOVED “INTO DARKNESS” and don’t get all the negativism and why would anyone want DAMON LINDELOF to leave. I want him to take over Star Trek. Do you know his resume? I just don’t get it.

Thats an interesting read and will listen to the audio later.
Now, I have a confession to make. From really not liking Into Darkness on release, and quite vehemently so, I got it on DVD and, after several viewings, i’m quite staggered to find i’ve become rather fond of it!
I’m quite pleased about that because there has obviously been so much love put into it and so much attention to detail it seems almost churlish to disregard all of that because of a slightly messed up story. Now I see that they went back and forth on the Khan thing I can see why it is so.
Next time Bob get that story nailed down and put all the fun character stuff and humour around it.

“We addressed Kirk’s quick ascension [to captain]. . . that’s why he’s demoted.” ~ Orci
——————————

Fastest demotion, promotion, demotion is the history of the franchise.

…but, I get it though. If this was a story for a television series, I think the situation would have been fleshed out for a few episodes. hehehe…

——————————
“We addressed the brewery [engineering]. We went to San Francisco and got a proper warp core.” ~ Orci
——————————

I think it would be neat to see the warp core evolve into the one from “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”.

——————————
We attempted to try and grow the trifecta [Kirk, Spock, and Bones] by having Bones in there.” ~ Orci
——————————

I just hope the Kirk, Spock, and Bones dynamic takes over the foreground.

K-7

Look, I’m nobody’s mother, and I’m not trying to be, really, but I ask respectfully if you could please quit with the “jerkweed asses” stuff. It just doesn’t do anything to move the discussion forward and only serves to flame the conversation and steer it into insult territory.

I don’t consider you a bad person or anything, I just think you could perhaps choose your words better. I understand that you feel strongly about your position and want to support your arguments but I don’t think people can “hear” what you’re “saying” past your vitriolic statements.

Anyway, I do look forward to what BR does with the third movie. I hope it’s not a Klingon War plot or that it follows any previous plot seen in TOS or the movies. As a matter of fact I think it would be cool to have the crew come across a new life-form that is so alien that it shakes up the way we view ourselves and what it means to be “human”. Devil in the Dark style. Shake up our perception of good and bad.

Oops, just don’t “do” Devil in the Dark, seeing how I just asked for the next film to not be derived from an old plot.

I got a feeling Into Darkness will be looked at as the Quantum of Solace of the new Trek Trilogy: You either loved it or hated it… Something tells me the 3rd will be the Skyfall of the bunch… a little less frenetic action, more story… And yes, that means Star Trek (09) was more akin to the reception Casino Royale received, after Bond had been away for 4 years at that point, most people really enjoyed it.

“I think some people are put off and confused by something that is so topical. On the message boards where, obviously, you get a lot of detractors that may or may not represent huge percentages — but, non-the-less they’re fans and they need to be heard — [They say], ‘I don’t wanna have to face those things when I’m eating popcorn in the theater.’ And, though they meant that as a criticism, I actually still take that as a compliment. It means that they sat through a popcorn movie that shook them up a little bit. That’s hard to do! It’s only because of the legacy and power of Star Trek that we were able to actually have this meditation on current events.

Look, I get it. You definitely go to the movies to escape, but you can escape and still think. The movie can be entertaining and still have something to say.” ~ Orci

——————————————-

Story tempo of “Star Trek: into Darkness” was too fast to notice.

During the first 45 minutes of the film, the action and drama sequences were firing off too rapidly. Even though there were dramatic pauses, the speed of the movie made them feel like action sequences. Everyone around me thought the film was made for someone with ADHD.

If Orci can slow the tempo down a little, I think people could be able to distinguish and appreciate the substance.

The only thing I really “hated” was the death scene.

@24

You are correct, THX. Yes, I will cool things down and refrain from that language, I just could not believe that PaulB would use this great moment, where Orci showed he is listening to us in regards to the next movie, to get it another one of his petty “bitch sessions”, and this time, about “Nacelles,” for Christ’s sake. That guy’s mean-spirited comment really set me off.

@ Boborci interview,
“non-the-less they’re fans and they need to be heard — [They say], ‘I don’t wanna have to face those things when I’m eating popcorn in the theater.”

What “fans” say this? Not Star Trek fans, surely. And I haven’t really read this criticism anywhere — well I guess the focus group results the studio did of the International audiences. Then again I’m not in the habit of reading user comments on pop-review sites like RT. But seriously, who doesn’t want to watch something meaningful if it can be presented in an entertaining way? STID was hardly a documentary.

I don’t know … if that’s the feedback they’re getting from the new audiences attracted to Star Trek (the ones responsible for the record breaking box office), enough so that Orci feels he has to comment on it, I don’t know how the studio is ever going to let them have a free hand in the third movie.

It’s odd … Orci says they are responsible for everything in the movie, and Paramount had absolutely nothing to do with anything in it. Yet he goes on to say they’ve hopefully earned the right from the studio to do a real scifi movie. At best this is contradiction — so, they just second guessed correctly what the studio wanted, despite wanting to make a much more interesting film? It seems to me then that the studio obviously had a hand in their decisions even if they didn’t have to directly ask, or otherwise get involved.

“I am hoping that these movies have earned us a degree to go a little more sci-fi. …A genuine sci-fi mystery; that would be nice.”

I love that. It is very encouraging that Bob is thinking of making a real sci-fi movie. It is the 3rd movie, so they can take risk this time around. They can keep the action scenes & all that but add sci-fi elements to the mix.

@5. K-7 – September 21, 2013

“Thank god Ahmed wasn’t able to call into the podcast!
(I’m kidding!)”

lol

“What “fans” say this?”

Most movie fans say just that. Why do you think tentpole action “popcorn” movies make the lions share of movie revenue?

Are you living under a rock or something? :-)

@31. Ahmed, thanks for the humorous reaction to my jest.

No hard feelings, guy, OK?

@ 33. K-7 – September 21, 2013

“@31. Ahmed, thanks for the humorous reaction to my jest.

No hard feelings, guy, OK?”

K-7,

Absolutely.

#19 – “Maybe it will be a race against time to save the entire universe and the big E explore new areas of space and existence. It will be due to over-use of Red Matter from the 2009 movie (to book-end trilogy). The Klingons will be in the way and the crew is forced to work with them. The famous Id-Ego-Super Ego of the triumvirate will be at the moral center of the movie. THAT will be the main theme.”

There you go. People scream that they want Star Trek exploring “strange new worlds and new civilizations” and yet the only suggestion here is what would make the third movie anything but original, in the way that so many people say they want and indeed demand.

Bob Orci – “…A genuine sci-fi mystery; that would be nice.
The third one — and this is based slightly on fan response — the third one should just be unpredictable with as many new elements as possible.”

I don’t envy these two writers one bit…the problem is that even when they have introduced a new kind of technology and substance (of alien origin) like Red Matter, they get dumped on big time by so many. They can’t have this alternate universe Enterprise capable of being underwater and leaving the ocean to rise up, take flight into space without being people getting angry about how “unrealistic”, “unscientific”, such a scene is…

These two examples are original ideas, specific to this version of Star Trek. They are as legitimate and as *scientific* as anything else used in a Star Trek universe of the future.

I guess the humour that someone criticized here was too subtle for them. If the humour we heard in STID was due to Damon Lindelof’s influence, then I am sorry to see him go. However, I am confident that not all of it was his and I am sure that Orci/Kurtzman will be able to share a few genuine nuggets of humour via our characters in the next movie.

The characters in STID were serious most of the time because they had reason to be. I would not want to see a less humourous third movie. That would indeed make Star Trek dark and totally unrecognizable. TOS was also television’s first dramedy.

@boborci

Bob, you and the fereration council have done a wonderful job with ST, however i think a movie with originality will suit ST better like ST09. I have high hopes that you and the powers that be will write something not just great but spectacular. There are alot of places to go in space… PLEASE PLEASE BE ORIGINAL!!!!

34. Keachick
“…the problem is that even when they have introduced a new kind of technology and substance (of alien origin) like Red Matter, they get dumped on big time…”

—————————–

If a little tiny drop opened up a planet sized black hole, the entire vile of red matter should have created a solar system sized black hole. Its has to do with the volume of the red matter used. Even though the concept is a neat science-fiction device, the problem resides with its overall execution.

When the red matter canister ruptured, at the end of “Star Trek ’09”, the size of the black hole should have been enough to devour everything. Earth, Enterprise, Moon, Mars, etc…

It all about the execution.

Poor Orci.

I very well liked STiD but I loved ST09.

I do not think Orci is deserving of all the hate. STiD was still a very good film. It must break his heart that a loud group of small fans will rate it as the worst trek .That is just NOT TRUE.

I hope Orci knows that those people represent less than 5% of all Trek fans.

I hope Orci will find solace in STiD’s reception from RT, Metacritic and even IMDB.

RT = 87/100

Metacritic = 72/100

IMDB = 8/10

I feel so sad and sorry for him.

Having to defend his work when it is far for mediocre.

Trek 09 was excellent and magnificent.

Trek 2013 is a very good and a solid film.

WhatCulture had an article on how Chris Pine successfully portrayed James Kirk. Here is the article:

http://whatculture.com/film/star-trek-how-chris-pine-made-us-believe-hes-kirk.php

That interview really made me appreciate Bob a lot more and I really hope they get to do a SciFi story in the next one. I’m really fed up with big black ships. From what I heard in this interview Bob understands that. He also now understands that taken too much from the past is bad. I mean, I like subtle references – inside jokes if you will. The NX-01 in the office, Praxis, Section 31 worked for me and were great references. However, as a Trek fan, I don’t want to be able to predict the plot – no matter how much inside knowledge I have. I watched STID with a friend who knows Star Trek, but is not necessarily the die-hard fan I am. When we left, he said: “I wish they had left Kirk dead. That would have been brave and opened up new possibilities.” What is also interesting that apparently quite a few of the things I hate about the new movies are actually choices made by JJ. Maybe him being off to Star Wars is a blessing in disguise.

@ 33. K-7 – September 21, 2013

“@31. Ahmed, thanks for the humorous reaction to my jest.

No hard feelings, guy, OK?”

Yep.
I posted a previous comment but I think it is still in the moderation limbo !

Meh, I still say the Talosians should have something to do with the alternate universe. It makes sense by not making sense. Their illusions can confuse anyone into thinking anything. With the 50th anniversary coming up, it’d be nice to see the franchise come full circle.

This post by Paul B is just shameful. Bob Orci provides a positive message about how he had and is listening to the fans here as he preps Trek 2016, and PaulB continues his rabid “bitchathon” ways, while not even acknowledging one positive thing in Bob’s post here, when there are many positives to focus on for those who have been critical of STID…as many honorable detractors of STID like Ahmed have pointed out here today.

And to bring up the lame “Starfleet” versus “Federation” line from the first movie…come on, PaulB, 99% of us here (excluding you obviously) know that in Trek 2009 they were not able to make changes to the screenplay at all due to the Writer’s Strike. That is documented, and they had to shoot with a screenplay that could not be fine-tuned, or they would have likely changed that line. So that is unfair, as 99% of us here realized years ago, and which was discussed here numerous times. So pay attention next time to the history of these productions please, before you go off half-cocked with non-applicable crap like this.

And you second point, the “Nacelles orientation” mistake. Really, PaulB? Really? LOL. That’s the only other thing that you could come up today in response to Bob Orci’s 1.5 hour interview? That’s all you got? I mean, give me a fracking break — are you trying to get a cover story here for yourself on “Nacelle’s Monthly?” LOL

I think I speak for a lot of us here in that I am really getting tired of PaulB’s negative nitpicking here. I mean, fine, in light of this article, go ahead and bring up some of the major issues, but a “Nacelle orientation” screenplay error???

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
9. PaulB – September 21, 2013
“This, says Orci, is the rationale behind Starfleet being called a “peace-keeping armada” in Trek ’09.”

Wrong. In ST09, they called the FEDERATION a “peace-keeping armada.” That’s what pissed off fans–not the idea of calling Starfleet an armada, but the idiocy of calling the Federation an armada.

It’s like saying “the aft nacelle” in STID. It’s careless, sloppy writing that could have been corrected easily.

Marcus – This is a common complaint made about Red Matter. People with a background in chemistry have actually given a plausible explanation as to why this matter is held in such large volume on another site – Star Trek (2009) IMDb message board. This occurred some time back, not long after the release of this movie.

Their explanation is that it is more stable when contained in large volume and becomes unstable, especially in the presence of very high heat in small amounts.

“When the red matter canister ruptured, at the end of “Star Trek ’09″, the size of the black hole should have been enough to devour everything. Earth, Enterprise, Moon, Mars, etc…”

Not true. No matter how much red matter there might be, the only thing it would and did devour was the Narada and whatever was contained within that ship. Once again, this has something to do with the understanding of a type of chemistry and of the nature of black holes.

I am not a chemist or astrophysicist or whatever, so I cannot eloquently explain it, however reasonable explanations can be found for the whys and hows of this alien substance called Red Matter.

@42. Keachick I agree with you. A black hole is made of matter. If Red Matter is a catalyst that converts ordinary matter to super-dense black hole-like matter, then the size of the black hole will be dependent on BOTH the amount of Red Matter you are using AND the amount of normal matter available in the immediate vicinity which can be converted to super-dense black hole matter.

So in the Vulcan scene, the amount of Red Matter injected was the limiting factor, while in the Narada scene, the amount of ordinary matter in the immediate vicinity was the limiting factor.

Well done, Kayla! Thanks for putting this article together…I haven’t had time to listen to it so it was nice to get the highlights.
Bob Orci: Make it so!!!!

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5. K-7 – September 21, 2013
Thank god Ahmed wasn’t able to call into the podcast!

(I’m kidding!)
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HA…I KNEW IT.

Ahmed is the one that attacked Orci. He is just denying it. I was reading the article on Entertainment Weekly on why people are mad at STID and some people called out Ahmed for harassing Orci on trekmovie.

I comforted Ahmed about it a few days ago but he denied it.

I hope Orci comes back here. I miss him.