Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek is the eleventh entry in the Star Trek film series, the eighth to feature original series characters, and, discounting time travel, the earliest film chronologically. The film has been novelized by Alan Dean Foster; the novel has in turn been released as an audiobook narrated by Zachary Quinto.

Introduction (blurb)
One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence, for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness, and obscurity

The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution of the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world.

Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities, must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that can stop him.

I
A child is born on Vulcan to Amanda Grayson of Earth. The child's father, Sarek of Vulcan, arrives late and is not present for the birth. The child is named for one of the early builders of Vulcan society: Spock. In space, the Federation starship USS Kelvin is attacked by a gigantic ship of unknown design and origin which emerges from a gravitational anomaly. Ayel, a crew member of the unknown ship, conveys his captain's demand that Captain Robau of the Kelvin take a shuttlecraft over, alone, to meet his captain face-to-face. George Kirk, the Kelvin's first officer, speculates that Ayel is a Romulan. Robau prepares to leave the Kelvin, handing over command to Kirk.

II
Robau arrives on the bridge of the alien vessel, whose commander refuses to speak to him. Ayel shows him a projection of a vessel with a rotating torus near its stern, which Robau does not recognize. He then asks Robau for information about an elderly Vulcan named Ambassador Spock, whose image Robau also does not recognize. When Robau tells the Romulans that the present stardate is 2233.04, the ship's captain becomes enraged and kills Robau with a bladed staff. Kirk orders that everyone else evacuate the Kelvin, including his pregnant wife, Winona, who is giving birth. He sets the Kelvin's self-destruct sequence, then pilots the ship on a collision course with the alien vessel. Winona gives birth aboard a medivac shuttle as it leaves the Kelvin. Before the Kelvin explodes, George Kirk speaks to his wife from the doomed ship's bridge. They agree to name their son Jim.

III
In a bowl-like "instructional concavity" at a learning center on Vulcan, the eleven-year-old Spock answers questions, including one about the theory of parallel universes. Three bullies taunt Spock about his human mother, and he attacks one who calls his father a traitor for marrying her. After Spock overhears a conflict between Sarek and Amanda about his behavior, Sarek encourages him to follow the path of logic, telling him that his decision to marry Amanda was logical. In Iowa, Jim Kirk's older brother George runs away from home, unable to cope any longer with their stepfather Frank. Jim follows in their father's Corvette, which Frank was hafing Jim wash preparatory to selling it. A highway patrolman on a floating bike chases Jim into an old quarry site, where Jim jumps out of the car just before it plummets into the quarry and explodes. On Vulcan, Spock, now a young man, is accepted into the Vulcan Science Academy. However, he has also applied to Starfleet, and chooses that path after a member of the Vulcan High Council refers to Spock's mother as his "disadvantage". Spock becomes the first Vulcan to decline admission to the Science Academy.

IV
In the Shipyard bar in Storm Lake, Iowa, Cadet Uhura, a specialist in xenolinguistics, orders a drink. Jim Kirk, now a young man, hits on her and asks what her first name is, but she refuses to tell him. Another cadet tries to stop Kirk from bothering Uhura, leading to a fight between Kirk and three cadets. The fight is interrupted by Captain Christopher Pike, who orders all cadets to leave the bar. Pike speaks to Kirk about his dead father and encourages him to join Starfleet. The next morning, Kirk rides his electric bike to the shipyard where the USS Enterprise is under construction. When a passing worker admires the bike, Kirk gives it to him. He boards the shuttle taking Uhura and the other cadets to Starfleet Academy. A thirty-year-old doctor sits down next to Kirk; after reciting a long list of disasters that could befall them in flight, he introduces himself as Leonard McCoy.

V
Four years later at the Academy, Kirk is romancing Gaila, a female Orion cadet, in her quarters. He hides under the bed when Gaila's roommate, Uhura, enters, having picked up chatter in the language lab about a prison escape in Klingon space. Uhura hears Kirk's movements, and Kirk, not at all abashed, dresses and leaves the room. Kirk, McCoy and Uhura take part in a simulation in which Kirk is in command of a Starfleet vessel that receives a distress call from the USS Kobayashi Maru, a disabled vessel in the Klingon Neutral Zone. Five Klingon warbirds appear and fire on Kirk's ship. In the administration room overlooking the simulator, the computer consoles go dead for a moment, then come back on. The Klingon vessels stop firing and lower their shields. Kirk orders their destruction with one photon torpedo each, then prepares to rescue the stranded ship's crew. In the upper room, the administrators react with shock to Kirk beating the test; among them is Commander Spock, the simulation's programmer. On the mysterious Romulan vessel, the Narada, Nero, its captain, awaits the emergence of a distinctive ship from a vortex in space. As the ship appears, Nero says, "Welcome back--Spock."

VI
An assembly is called of all Academy cadets. Kirk assumes its purpose is to give him a commendation for beating the Kobayashi Maru test, but in fact it is a disciplinary hearing at which he is accused of cheating. His accuser is Spock, whom he is meeting for the first time. Spock announces that Kirk used a hidden subroutine to change the parameters of the test. Kirk argues that since the test was rigged to be unwinnable, he was justified in changing the conditions. Spock counters that the purpose of the test was to present the cadets with a "no-win scenario", and that Kirk defeated this purpose. The hearing is interrupted by a red alert due to a distress call received from Vulcan. The graduating cadets are ordered to a hangar to be given their assignments. Kirk and McCoy proceed to the hangar; McCoy is assigned to the Enterprise, but Kirk is grounded because he is on academic probation.

VII
Uhura angrily confronts Spock over her assignment to the USS Farragut rather than the Enterprise. Spock says he made the decision "to avoid the appearance of favoritism", but reassigns her to the Enterprise. McCoy injects Kirk with the vaccine for the Melvarian mud flea virus, which will induce the virus' symptoms in him for an hour, then exercises his right to bring him aboard the Enterprise as his patient. McCoy and Kirk are shuttled to Starbase 1, where they board the completed Enterprise for the first time. Spock is the ship's science officer; Pike is its captain. Because the assigned helmsman is ill, the post is filled by Hikaru Sulu, who experiences a momentary difficulty in leaving Starbase when he forgets to disengage the external intertial dampener. McCoy leaves Kirk in Sickbay, asking him to stay out of trouble.

Characters

 * Ayel • Nensi Chandra • • Gaila • Amanda Grayson • Michael Johnson • Alnschloss K'Bentayr • Keenser • George Kirk •  • Tiberius Kirk • Winona Kirk • James Komack • Gretchen Lei •  • McGrath • Nero • Petroski •  • Richard Robau •  •  •  •  •

• Vader • Counter • Burke (Cadet) • Blake (Cadet) • Fugeman • Tiberius Kirk • Korax (Cadet)

Starships and vehicles

 * Jellyfish • Gilliam • Moore • Narada • •  • USS Centaurus •  •  •  •  •  • USS Kelvin (NCC-0514) •  •  •  • USS Walcott

Outposts and stations

 * Starbase 1

Regula 1 • Starbase 3

Planetary locations

 * Earth : Iowa (Riverside • Riverside Shipyard) • San Francisco (Starfleet Academy)

Planets and planetoids

 * Delta Vega • Earth • Vulcan

Stars and systems

 * Laurentian • Sol • Vulcan

Races and cultures

 * Human • Klingon • Orion • Romulan • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Federation • Starfleet

Ranks and titles

 * admiral • ambassador • captain • commander • commanding officer • chief medical officer • chief engineer • security • helmsman • communications officer • lieutenant commander • lieutenant • ensign • cadet • doctor • first officer • tactical officer • navigator

Other references

 * logic • animal • beagle

Cast
The cast of the movie includes actors who have previously done acting and/or voice work in non-canon Star Trek productions; Greg Ellis and Leonard Nimoy. The film also introduces Zachary Quinto in the role of Spock, who also narrates the audiobook adaptation of the film's novelization.

Timeline
The main narrative of the story takes place in 2258, however it opens with several sequences set prior to this showing events in the lives of James T. Kirk and Spock (dates are given for events in the story, others are extrapolated from previously established dates in the Star Trek Chronology (marked C).:
 * 2230C - Spock is born.
 * 2233 (Stardate 2233.04) - Attack on the USS Kelvin and the birth of James T. Kirk.
 * 2241C - Eleven year-old Spock is bullied in school.
 * A young James Kirk steals his stepfather's car.
 * 2249C - Spock rejects an invitation to study at the Vulcan Science Academy.
 * 2255 - Captain Pike convinces Kirk to enroll in Starfleet Academy.
 * 2258 (Stardate 2258.42) - Nero attacks Vulcan leading to a series of events resulting in cadet Kirk being promoted to captain and taking command of the USS Enterprise.
 * 2387 - In the primary universe Nero and Spock are pulled into a black hole/wormhole created by Spock's attempts to stop the destructive effects of the Hobus supernova.