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crack_van2009-06-01 05:45 pm
cupidsbow.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2009-06-01 05:45 pm
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Star Trek: Reboot! (Fandom Overview)
Woooohoooo! <--- I feel this is an appropriate response to the original crew of the Enterprise making a come-back. After all, Kirk/Spock is the pairing that started the juggernaut that is slash fandom. And is it any wonder? This fandom has it all... The infuriatingly "lucky" Human! The logical half-Vulcan! Pon farr! Mind melds! Sex pollen Inhibition-lowering substances! Swordfights! BFF soulmates! Sarcastic Doctors! Dying for each other! AND IT'S ALL CANON. :)
And now, with the Reboot, there's the added bonus of the whole story going AU. Awesome. That means anything goes!
So, just in case there's some poor lonely soul out there who has no idea who the hell Kirk and Spock are or what I'm talking about, behind the cut is a quick run down on who's who in the Star Trek Reboot universe.
Much like other recent revisionings of old tales, the Reboot is all about the young and shiny characters -- basically it's a Star Trek College AU. You see, the Enterprise crew we know and love have been graduated from Starfleet Academy early and sent off into battle due to a mysterious attack on Vulcan.
The key points are these: in The Original Series universe, the Romulan homeworld was destroyed in a natural disaster, despite Spock Prime's best efforts. As a result, a Romulan nutjob called, appropriately, Nero, manages to go back in time with his state-of-the-art mining ship, and immediately starts altering history. Because he's a nutjob, he decides that it's all Spock's fault and the best thing to do is kill everything Spock holds dear -- Vulcan, Earth, Starfleet. In the process, Nero kills Kirk's dad way before he originally died, destroys a big chunk of Starfleet, implodes Vulcan and most of the population, including Spock's mother, and nearly destroys Earth.
Yup. Big changes to the timeline, and there's no reset button in sight.
Enter the Rebooted Crew.
Look, I can't even do justice to the ways all the ripples affect the characters. You have to know Original Trek to really get it, and if you know already, you don't need me summarising it. The big things are that Kirk is a lot more self-hating due to a shitty childhood, and Spock is a lot more emotional, while still presenting a front of Vulcan calm. *shivers* Together it's pretty much fireworks from day one. Apart from that, Uhura is the really big change; she's a kick-ass xenolinguist, and also Spock's girlfriend. Yeah, none of us saw that coming, but it's kind of hot. Oh, and Spock Prime came through from the future too, and turns up to mind-meld with Reboot Kirk at a key moment, which has spawned about a gazillion fics already.
I've tried summarising the rest of the plot about six different ways, but I keep getting caught up in backstory and stuff, so I've decided brevity is the better option. Instead, I shall just say that if you want a more detailed plot summary, I've linked to some overviews for both Original Trek and the Reboot at the bottom of this post, and they should fill you in on all the juicy bits.
And now the part you've all been waiting for...
James T. Kirk - Jim (Chris Pine)
Captain James T. Kirk might be the youngest starship captain in 'fleet history, but before that he was just plain old Jim Kirk, a rabble-rousing bad boy from Iowa who rides a motorbike and hangs out in bars, getting drunk, picking up women and fighting three-against-one (he's the one). Then he gets double-dog-dared by Pike to enlist in Starfleet, and that's pretty much all it takes. He's a rebel looking for a cause, and with the Enterprise he's finally found it. Oh, and he hangs off ledges and cliffs a lot. Don't ask me; it's a thing.
Spock (Zachary Quinto)
Half-human, half-Vulcan, all bad-ass. Spock's a rebel with a cause right from the start: he really hates it when people diss his mother, and he'll say so with his fists, or by giving the Vulcan Science Academy the shove and going to Starfleet instead. Then one day his world gets turned upsidedown by some upstart called James Kirk who cheats on the test Spock designed, the Kobayashi Maru. Kirk just pisses him off like nobody else, which is kind of a problem for a Vulcan, so Spock does his very best to make Kirk go away, up to and including strangulation, not that it works. It's just as well first, second and third impressions don't stick though, because Spock ends up First Officer of the Enterprise, with Kirk as his Captain.
Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy)
I know, I know, Spock Prime in the movie is an old dude, but I couldn't find a decent picture, so you've got Young Spock Prime here. This is the Spock who gave his life so Kirk Prime wouldn't end up in a no-win situation (a la the Kobayashi Maru -- oh the irony). He travelled through time in the wake of Nero, and mind-melded with New Kirk, telling him how to take down New Spock in order to gain control of the Enterprise. Spock Prime also considered Kirk Prime his t'hy'la (friend/lover/brother). Seriously, it's canon.
Leonard McCoy - Bones (Karl Urban)
How awesome is the Chief Medical Officer! He joins Starfleet because his wife "got the whole planet in the divorce," and in the process gains a best friend in James Kirk. Just one small catch -- he's space phobic! But he's just as irascible and funny as you'd expect. Except for that bit where he called Kirk a stallion, because that was weird subtext right there; slashy, no doubt, but weird.
Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana)
Dear Uhura,
All of us in fandom would just like to say that: 1) we like that you are a xenolinguist and are awesome at it, 2) we really hope you get to wear a whole uniform in the next movie, and 3) go you for not picking Kirk! I think I speak for fandom as a whole when I say that choice is very refreshing. Although I kinda hope you get to do more than be a love interest, even though Spock is cool. You deserve to be a captain one day in this 'verse. As the only major female character, we pin our hopes on you continuing to be awesome like that.
Love us.
Hikaru Sulu (John Cho)
His first attempt at helming the Enterprise is a little rocky, but Sulu being awesome with a sword will never get old. Sadly there wasn't room for him to do much else in the movie, but the swordfight was totally worth it. Go Sulu!
Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin)
The tiny Wussian baby genius on the wessel, and so adorable he might as well have had 'mascot' tattooed on his forehead. He saves Kirk and Sulu's lives with a nifty transporter move, and speaks in the funniest fake Russian accent ever. In fanon he and Sulu totally rule the betting pool on the ship, and we can but hope that something equally fabulous appears in future canon.
Montgomery Scott - Scotty (Simon Pegg)
Scotty, even more eccentric than in the Original Series, and also funnier. Notable for needing a towel, accidentally losing Archer's dog in a transporter test, and for having a sidekick with, it must be said, weird sexy vibes. Where are you going with that, Powers That Be?
Nero (Eric Bana)
Ah, Eric Bana has finally found the perfect role. Every scene-chewing moment is perfect in this. That's mainly what he does: act craaaazy, chew the scenery and punch Kirk, so it's just as well he does all three with panache.
Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood)
The father figure for Kirk, inspiring him to join Starfleet. Ironic, really, as it was Spock he mentored in the Original Series. The key thing he does plotwise is put Acting Captain Spock and Acting First Officer Kirk in charge of the Enterprise when he goes off to face Nero. Then he gets tortured and paralysed. :(
For canon information about characters, histories, etc, check out the Star Trek wiki, Memory Alpha.
Guides
Overviews
Original Series![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ship_manifestos
Archives
Communities
There are many, many, many communities for both The Original Series and Reboot. I've tried to link to the major fic-related ones here -- it is not a definitive list. If you look at the userinfo pages for the larger communities, they will often link you to smaller, more specialised communities.
LiveJournal
trek_news (newsletter)
st_reboot (Reboot fanworks)
startrekfic (Reboot fic)
trekfics (fic for all Trek incarnations)
st_xi_kink (Reboot: anonymous prompts, all pairings, with a huge outpouring of fic)
newtrekslash (Reboot slash fanworks)
reboot_genfic
kirkspock
spock_uhura
chekov_sulu
mccoy_slash
kirkspockuhura
kirk_mccoy
DreamWidth
And now, with the Reboot, there's the added bonus of the whole story going AU. Awesome. That means anything goes!
So, just in case there's some poor lonely soul out there who has no idea who the hell Kirk and Spock are or what I'm talking about, behind the cut is a quick run down on who's who in the Star Trek Reboot universe.
The Premise
Much like other recent revisionings of old tales, the Reboot is all about the young and shiny characters -- basically it's a Star Trek College AU. You see, the Enterprise crew we know and love have been graduated from Starfleet Academy early and sent off into battle due to a mysterious attack on Vulcan.
The key points are these: in The Original Series universe, the Romulan homeworld was destroyed in a natural disaster, despite Spock Prime's best efforts. As a result, a Romulan nutjob called, appropriately, Nero, manages to go back in time with his state-of-the-art mining ship, and immediately starts altering history. Because he's a nutjob, he decides that it's all Spock's fault and the best thing to do is kill everything Spock holds dear -- Vulcan, Earth, Starfleet. In the process, Nero kills Kirk's dad way before he originally died, destroys a big chunk of Starfleet, implodes Vulcan and most of the population, including Spock's mother, and nearly destroys Earth.
Yup. Big changes to the timeline, and there's no reset button in sight.
Enter the Rebooted Crew.
Look, I can't even do justice to the ways all the ripples affect the characters. You have to know Original Trek to really get it, and if you know already, you don't need me summarising it. The big things are that Kirk is a lot more self-hating due to a shitty childhood, and Spock is a lot more emotional, while still presenting a front of Vulcan calm. *shivers* Together it's pretty much fireworks from day one. Apart from that, Uhura is the really big change; she's a kick-ass xenolinguist, and also Spock's girlfriend. Yeah, none of us saw that coming, but it's kind of hot. Oh, and Spock Prime came through from the future too, and turns up to mind-meld with Reboot Kirk at a key moment, which has spawned about a gazillion fics already.
I've tried summarising the rest of the plot about six different ways, but I keep getting caught up in backstory and stuff, so I've decided brevity is the better option. Instead, I shall just say that if you want a more detailed plot summary, I've linked to some overviews for both Original Trek and the Reboot at the bottom of this post, and they should fill you in on all the juicy bits.
And now the part you've all been waiting for...
The Characters
James T. Kirk - Jim (Chris Pine)
Captain James T. Kirk might be the youngest starship captain in 'fleet history, but before that he was just plain old Jim Kirk, a rabble-rousing bad boy from Iowa who rides a motorbike and hangs out in bars, getting drunk, picking up women and fighting three-against-one (he's the one). Then he gets double-dog-dared by Pike to enlist in Starfleet, and that's pretty much all it takes. He's a rebel looking for a cause, and with the Enterprise he's finally found it. Oh, and he hangs off ledges and cliffs a lot. Don't ask me; it's a thing.
Spock (Zachary Quinto)
Half-human, half-Vulcan, all bad-ass. Spock's a rebel with a cause right from the start: he really hates it when people diss his mother, and he'll say so with his fists, or by giving the Vulcan Science Academy the shove and going to Starfleet instead. Then one day his world gets turned upsidedown by some upstart called James Kirk who cheats on the test Spock designed, the Kobayashi Maru. Kirk just pisses him off like nobody else, which is kind of a problem for a Vulcan, so Spock does his very best to make Kirk go away, up to and including strangulation, not that it works. It's just as well first, second and third impressions don't stick though, because Spock ends up First Officer of the Enterprise, with Kirk as his Captain.
Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy)
I know, I know, Spock Prime in the movie is an old dude, but I couldn't find a decent picture, so you've got Young Spock Prime here. This is the Spock who gave his life so Kirk Prime wouldn't end up in a no-win situation (a la the Kobayashi Maru -- oh the irony). He travelled through time in the wake of Nero, and mind-melded with New Kirk, telling him how to take down New Spock in order to gain control of the Enterprise. Spock Prime also considered Kirk Prime his t'hy'la (friend/lover/brother). Seriously, it's canon.
Leonard McCoy - Bones (Karl Urban)
How awesome is the Chief Medical Officer! He joins Starfleet because his wife "got the whole planet in the divorce," and in the process gains a best friend in James Kirk. Just one small catch -- he's space phobic! But he's just as irascible and funny as you'd expect. Except for that bit where he called Kirk a stallion, because that was weird subtext right there; slashy, no doubt, but weird.
Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana)
Dear Uhura,
All of us in fandom would just like to say that: 1) we like that you are a xenolinguist and are awesome at it, 2) we really hope you get to wear a whole uniform in the next movie, and 3) go you for not picking Kirk! I think I speak for fandom as a whole when I say that choice is very refreshing. Although I kinda hope you get to do more than be a love interest, even though Spock is cool. You deserve to be a captain one day in this 'verse. As the only major female character, we pin our hopes on you continuing to be awesome like that.
Love us.
Hikaru Sulu (John Cho)
His first attempt at helming the Enterprise is a little rocky, but Sulu being awesome with a sword will never get old. Sadly there wasn't room for him to do much else in the movie, but the swordfight was totally worth it. Go Sulu!
Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin)
The tiny Wussian baby genius on the wessel, and so adorable he might as well have had 'mascot' tattooed on his forehead. He saves Kirk and Sulu's lives with a nifty transporter move, and speaks in the funniest fake Russian accent ever. In fanon he and Sulu totally rule the betting pool on the ship, and we can but hope that something equally fabulous appears in future canon.
Montgomery Scott - Scotty (Simon Pegg)
Scotty, even more eccentric than in the Original Series, and also funnier. Notable for needing a towel, accidentally losing Archer's dog in a transporter test, and for having a sidekick with, it must be said, weird sexy vibes. Where are you going with that, Powers That Be?
Nero (Eric Bana)
Ah, Eric Bana has finally found the perfect role. Every scene-chewing moment is perfect in this. That's mainly what he does: act craaaazy, chew the scenery and punch Kirk, so it's just as well he does all three with panache.
Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood)
The father figure for Kirk, inspiring him to join Starfleet. Ironic, really, as it was Spock he mentored in the Original Series. The key thing he does plotwise is put Acting Captain Spock and Acting First Officer Kirk in charge of the Enterprise when he goes off to face Nero. Then he gets tortured and paralysed. :(
Other Notable Characters
- Sarek, Spock's father (Ben Cross)
- Amanda Grayson, Spock's mother (Winona Ryder)
- Winona Kirk, Kirk's mother (Jennifer Morrison)
- George Kirk, Kirk's father (Chris Hemsworth)
- Gaila, Uhura's room-mate (Rachel Nichols)
- Captain Robau, captained the Kelvin (Faran Tahir)
- Admiral James Komack, one of the few named admirals in both 'verses and so crops up in the fic (Ben Binswagner)
Predominant Ships
- Kirk/Enterprise (lol... I couldn't help myself :)
- Kirk/Spock
- Spock/Uhura
- Kirk/Spock/Uhura
- Chekov/Sulu
- Kirk/McCoy
Online Fandom
For canon information about characters, histories, etc, check out the Star Trek wiki, Memory Alpha.
Guides
- Star Trek and Star Trek/2009 Film on Fanlore
Overviews
- Wikipedia's Plot Summary
- I have been and always shall be...your friend by
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starryeyedmagic (picture heavy; compares the Original to the Reboot, with a focus on Kirk/Spock) - Star Trek: The Original Series the crack_van overview by myhappyface
Original Series
ship_manifestos- Where No One Had Slashed Before (Kirk/Spock) by killabeez
- Between Friends (Kirk/McCoy) by syredronning
- More than the Sum of Its Parts (Kirk/Spock/McCoy) by syredronning
- Spiced Peaches, the Spock/McCoy Story: one, two, three, four, five by montgomeryscott
Archives
- Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive (both TOS and Reboot)
- FanFiction.net: Star Trek: 2009
- Archive of Our Own: Star Trek: XI
Communities
There are many, many, many communities for both The Original Series and Reboot. I've tried to link to the major fic-related ones here -- it is not a definitive list. If you look at the userinfo pages for the larger communities, they will often link you to smaller, more specialised communities.
LiveJournal
trek_news (newsletter)st_reboot (Reboot fanworks)startrekfic (Reboot fic)trekfics (fic for all Trek incarnations)st_xi_kink (Reboot: anonymous prompts, all pairings, with a huge outpouring of fic)newtrekslash (Reboot slash fanworks)reboot_genfickirkspock spock_uhura chekov_sulumccoy_slashkirkspockuhurakirk_mccoyDreamWidth
- trek-news-feed (LJ newsletter)
- startrek (all Trek discussion and fanworks)
- ncc-1701 (Reboot fanworks and meta)
- startrek-reboot (Reboot fanworks and discussion)
- singularity (Reboot fic)
- trekfics (fic for all Trek incarnations)
- star-trek-flashfic (all Trek flashfic)
- vulcanreforged (fanwork about post-destruction Vulcan)
- kirk-spock