Doctor Science Knows

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Star Wars in Star Trek

Here is the list of Star Wars references/homages/visual references friends and I have spotted in ST:Reboot, so far. Note that very few of these can be explained as due to "FX by Industrial Light & Magic"; most of these are writing and/or directorial choices. I have a theory, which is mine (as always), but I wanted to get the list up separately so people can appreciate how substantial and pervasive the SW influence is.

1. Spock watching destruction of Vulcan = Leia at the destruction of Alderaan

2. Scotty's Ewok-like friend, who I am informed is called a "clanger" in the SW-verse.

3. The snow-monster on Delta Vega, and the way it appears out of the foggy snow -- the whole SV sequence was *very* strongly reminiscent of Hoff.

4. the way SpockPrime pulls an Obi-Wan to rescue Kirk in the DV cave

5. when the doors open to the DV station, it sounds like Chewbacca.

6. When Nero confronts Kirk, he's in front of a space window that looks pretty much exactly like the Emperor's room on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi.

7. Nero and Kirk fight on a catwalk above a huge mechanical abyss, like Vader & Luke in "Empire".

8. "I am not our father" -- though this may be or also be a reference to Nimoy's books I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock

9. An actual cameo appearence by R2D2, ffs.

10. The style of Spock's "Jellyfish" ship, the engine sound reminded me of a pod racer. The jinking of Spock flying the Jellyfish ship.

11. The maze of destruction around Vulcan that the Enterprise warped into (reminded me of the asteroid field in "Empire").

12. The whole Romulan ship evoked the Death Star in design and role.

13. The mission for Kirk and Spock to beam aboard, sabatoge something, rescue Pike, and then leave evokes the similar rescue-Leia scheme in ANH.

14. The early "send detachment to the planet to sabatoge the drill" evoked the ROTJ scene of Han and Leia going down to sabatoge the shield.

15. Luke--sorry, Kirk--was suddenly a "farmboy"; I mean, Iowa, yes; farmboy, no, IMO. Kirk also raised ostensibly by his 'uncle'--whose voice was that on the car, chiding for him to come back.

16. "There's always a bigger fish" moment on DV.

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3 Comments:

  • Well, I can't really tell who copied who because I honestly didn't know who came first. and as far as same sequences are concerned, there are always same scenes on every space related movie. :)

    Watch 24 Online

    By Anonymous Joseph Jones, at 1:31 AM  

  • It's Hoth, not Hoff.

    By Blogger LA, at 8:07 AM  

  • My extremely simple theory is that Abrams said in about a zillion interviews prior to making the film that he'd never been a fan of Star Tre, and had always loved Star Wars. That he'd make a Trek film far more like Star Wars than would be in the hands of someone who actually liked Star Trek in the first place seems hardly surprising.

    "15. Luke--sorry, Kirk--was suddenly a "farmboy"; I mean, Iowa, yes; farmboy, no, IMO."

    It's long been non-canon that Kirk was raised in Riverside, Iowa, a farming community. And it's canon that he loved to ride horses, which I doubt he did in downtown Des Moine.

    By Blogger Gary Farber, at 8:39 PM  

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