In case you didn't know, IDW Publishing created an official, four-part animated "prequel" to Star Trek (2009) called Star Trek: Countdown, which tells the back story leading into the movie. You don't necessarily have to read it before seeing the film ... it's really a "treat" for the hardcore Star Trek fans (me!) that's intended to "pass the baton back" from the TNG movies to this (new) original-series movie and tie everything together.
In my reviews, I won't be outlining the plot; rather, I'm just going to comment on a few things that jumped out at me. So ... here's part #1.
First, the name "Nero." I'm not a fan. It's too "Roman." It isn't "alien" enough. Even though the fictional "Romulan Star Empire" is modeled after the real Roman Empire, it doesn't necessarily mean that Romulan names have to follow suit.
This isn't the first time that Star Trek has "humanized" alien names. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, "Caithlin" Dar was the Romulan consul to Nimbus-3. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, "Chang" was the name of actor Christopher Plummer's Klingon general. Also, in Star Trek Nemesis, the Reman Warbird was called Scimitar.
Of course, "we" hardcore fans can always explain away these things via the "universal translator" argument — i.e., "Nero" and "Chang" and "Scimitar" are the English translations of Romulan, Klingon and Reman names, respectively. In the case of Caithlin Dar, the movie novelization suggests that her given name has to do with her being one-quarter human (and is also the reason why she doesn't have a pronounced Romulan brow). However, none of this is canon.
Getting back to the back story, the stardate is 64333.4, which, after I run it through my not-so-complex Excel cheat sheet, corresponds to the Earth year 2386.
Ambassador Spock says he's been living on Romulus for 20 years, which is … almost correct, but not as precise as you'd expect Spock to be. It was actually in 2368, three weeks prior to the TNG episode "Unification I," that Spock was reported missing from Vulcan. So, we're really talking about 18 years on Romulus, but it's close enough. Ever since he was "resurrected" in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, our favorite half-Vulcan has been a lot more easygoing.
Well … there's easygoing and then there's … utterly wrong dialogue. When Spock addresses the Romulan Senate, he begins his oration with "Friends, Romulans, countrymen … we share the same ears." Although this elicits laughter from the assembly, I nearly returned the book to Borders at that very moment.
Another bit of strange dialogue comes from one of Nero's crew members when she says to a Romulan named Thrai, "No time to explain, big boy. Just get your ass up here!" Again … chalk it up to that quirky Romulan-to-English translation.
Interesting thing about the name "Thrai" … I recognized it instantly because it's a word created by author Diane Duane for her Star Trek "Rihannsu" (Romulan) novels. A thrai is a predatory animal that lives on ch'Rihan (Romulus).
In addition, one of Nero's crew members is named "Ayel," which (coincidentally?) is similar to another Diane Duane creation: Commander-General "Ael" is a major Rihannsu character in her novels.
Spock drops an interesting tidbit during his first conversation with Nero. He's the Federation ambassador to Romulus, not the Vulcan ambassador. Since his abrupt departure for (or defection to?) Romulus 18 years ago, Spock's become something of a persona non grata to the "Vulcan Council" — a new term that seems to refer to the government. There'll be more to say on this subject in the subsequent parts of the prequel.
This part ends with a surprise Reman attack against Nero's ship, which indicates that relations between the Romulans and their former slaves have deteriorated since Star Trek Nemesis. However, what should come to the rescue but the Federation Starship Enterprise-? (letter unknown at this time) led by Captain … Data? Wait, didn't he die at the end of Star Trek Nemesis?
C'mon back for Star Trek: Countdown #2 — Data to get the scoop.
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