Someone obviously watched all 79 episodes of ST:TOS. Yes, there are differences because ST:TOS and ST:09 are alternate realities, but they overlap:

1) Chris Pike in ST:09 ends up in a wheel chair, retired, and Kirk replaces him as Capt. of the Enterprise. Ditto for SG:TOS (both The Cage and The Menagerie).

2) Sulu's love of fencing.

3) Kirk asking Chekov how old he was.

4) Bone's fear of … space, flying, etc. I'm a doctor not a …. Being divorced. Alcohol problems.

5) Starfleet Academy in San Francisco.

There are more, but these are the first that came to mind.

Loved the music as well in this movie.

That said, it's not that I *hate* Nero as a <I.character. I even sympathise to a degree, at least with his loss. It's just that I didn't find him to be all that great of a villain, his character blown to a broader scale than seemed to suit him, at least for my tastes.

As for the Vulcan children, okay, I can buy it form the standpoint of them feeling Spock's presence was detrimental to their species, and so they had to use whatever means necessary to get rid of him. Perhaps they'd heard of the human practice of bullying and felt that would work well to reach their desired end, so they tried it out, and were basically acting rather than actually feeling it.

I actually liked this moment. It allowed Kirk to show for the first time what the Federation is all about. He gave Nero the chance to work with them, and was gambling on the fact that perhaps this "villain" could be redeemed after all. However, I also love that when Nero said he'd "rather die", Kirk was like, "OK."

"The Vulcan children picking on Spock didn’t make much sense – they were exhibiting the very behavior they were accusing him for exhibiting, being emotional and hostile!"

Yes, but remember that they are indeed children – imitating the behavior of adults without really having the know-how. None of them are anywhere near the Vulcan (adult) ritual of Kolinhar, which would purge emotion completely. Also, I'd argue that their taunting was extremely logical. They saw Spock as something that was detrimental to them and their species, so they were trying to get him riled up to prove he didn't belong and perhaps get him removed from their school.

"The villain wasn’t all that great. A man hell-bent on revenge for the loss of his world – in particular his wife and daughter – to a natural disaster?? All because someone failed to help, not because that someone intended to destroy that world?"

A lot of people have made this complaint, and while I understand it, I don't agree with it. Think about 9/11. That was a couple of buildings and merely thousands of people – and people are STILL having nightmares about it 8 years after the fact. This man lost not just his beloved wife and unborn child, but his PLANET. Billions of people. His entire culture and race. Then, in going after Spock, he goes through a black hole, gets shot into another time, and has 25 years to brood and simmer. Not only that, but he's a Romulan. They're the kin to Vulcans who DON'T have their emotions in check. It surprises me that people say that this villain "makes no sense" or that he's a bad villain because he's irrational in his pain. Aren't we all? And if we lost our PLANET, might we not be thinking too clearly??

Also, I'd recommend reading the movie prequel comic, "Star Trek: Countdown", which both my friend Adam and I reviewed on this site. There, you get Nero's whole backstory, and I think you'll like him a whole lot.

Plus Spock just taught himself that he could lie. I would like more made of this, kthnxbai.

Regards,

Sylvia