Star Trek: Retribution/YMMV


 * Crowning Music of Awesome:
 * The blaring tones of "A Tall Ship" when we get our first glimpse of the Fitzgerald, and again when the runabout shuttlecraft goes in for a landing and the camera swoops over the saucer section to show us the registry.
 * The music during the battle sequence over New Romulus, a mix of "39.1 Degrees Celsius," "Team Work," and "The Scorpion".
 * The music during the montage sequence as the crew readies Prentice's plan, a brilliant use of "International Code".
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: Prentice's piloting of the ship at New Romulus.
 * Then later, when Garr shows up to deliver a Hannibal Lecture to Prentice, the good captain shows him no fear, despite the fact that Garr is clearly trying to frighten him, even going so far as to turn his back on him at one point. Because of this, Garr gets increasingly more agitated as the scene progresses.
 * The moment when our heroes arrive at Sector 585, and unleash their new Borg weapons on the Romulans, as their shields easily absorb enemy return fire.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming:
 * The conversation in the shuttle, when you realize these two characters that had barely tolerated each other in Specter now seem to be close friends.
 * The moment during the launch sequence when Prentice offers Reyf the command chair "once more, for old time's sake." Reyf declines, telling Prentice that the Fitzgerald is his now. You realize right then how much respect Prentice has for Reyf, and you also realize that Reyf is acknowledging that Prentice is all growed up.
 * The scene in sickbay between Mitchell and Kal. You can't help but go "awww" when you see Mitchell sitting at Kal's bedside waiting for her to wake up.
 * After the escape from Romulan space, the end of the scene in Engineering between Ronston and Prentice. She orders him to bed with a tough-as-nails attitude, only for it to turn into a warm moment when she smiles after he leaves. It's the third hint of the movie that there's history between them we don't know about, possibly even some UST.
 * There's a scene in the Jeffries tubes between the pessimistic security chief and the ever-optimistic chief engineer. Mitchell calls her out for being negative, prompting a discussion about who's fighting for what. Mitchell cites her relationship with the blue-haired Kal as her reason to stay positive and hope for the best, which is when Hargrove admits that she's alone and very bitter about it (complete with a quote from Chancellor Martok), hence her general lack of optimism. What makes it a C Mo H is when Mitchell tells her she doesn't have to be alone if she doesn't want to, and asks her to join her and Kal for dinner once the crisis is over.
 * Hargrove even lampshades the moment with a Deadpan Snarker line, "This is getting maudlin."
 * The scene where Kendra contacts her ex-husband Merv to set things right.
 * Fan Dumb: Early on in the production, many viewers complained about the "[alleged] human leading the Romulan fleet" aspect of the storyline, citing the events of Star Trek Nemesis and questioning why the Romulans would be willing to become involved with a human again, much less take orders from one.
 * On the same day as the thread was first posted, a Troll at Scifi-Meshes.com said that the early preview clips sounded dumb with the producer's temporary voice tracks; the same user later said he felt the producer was too lazy to recruit a voice cast and that the clips seemed "amateurish" as they were.
 * The final straw came when the same individual made this post: "your episodes suck all it is is talking talkng talking the caracters hardly have any action there is no fighting its dull and just chatter boringggggggg."
 * Fans of Specter (as well as the site moderators) were...not amused.
 * Fetish Fuel: In a scene near the end of the movie, the Kristie android is shown wearing what looks like a black leather combat jumpsuit.
 * Fridge Logic/Fridge Brilliance. This movie is set in 2388, ten years after Nemesis. When word broke that the Enterprise would be making an appearance, many viewers immediately assumed it would be the NCC-1701-E, but were surprised when it was actually starship's concept Enterprise-F that showed up.
 * Growing the Beard: Whereas Specter was largely a Coming of Age Story for the cast (and at times seemed to have the same flavor to it as the first season of Star Trek the Next Generation), this time everyone's grown up and has experience, and behaves more like the Starfleet crews to which we've grown accustomed.
 * Hate Dumb: On the same day as the thread was first posted, a Troll at Scifi-Meshes.com said that the early preview clips sounded dumb with the producer's temporary voice tracks; the same user later said he felt the producer was too lazy to recruit a voice cast and that the clips seemed "amateurish" as they were.
 * The final straw came when the same individual made this post: "your episodes suck all it is is talking talkng talking the caracters hardly have any action there is no fighting its dull and just chatter boringggggggg."
 * Fans of Specter (as well as the site moderators) were... not amused.
 * Ho Yay/Les Yay: Commander Renee Mitchell and Lieutenant Commander Lesley Kal.
 * Revealed in a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, with Mitchell faithfully waiting by Kal's beside until she wakes up. And the Crowning Music Of Heartwarming that plays sure doesn't hurt.
 * At the same time, the version of this scene that uses the male producer's temp tracks was pure Uncanny Valley and borderline Nightmare Fuel.
 * Nightmare Fuel: Dr. Braiyon Garr's description of what happened to him after the anti-time explosion in the last film most definitely qualifies.
 * Specifically: he had already been exposed to harmful radiation several times by the end of Specter, and we already knew another dose of it could be fatal. But then when Reyf fired the magneton warhead at the end of Specter, it did something that sent the anti-time reaction off the scale, and in his own words, Garr was "almost ripped apart." The only thing that saved him was Borg nanoprobes, which over the course of nine months (shudder) rebuilt him essentially one cell at a time while maintaining his vital functions (read: he was conscious the whole time).
 * Sequelitis: Averted; the style of writing and direction, as well as the tone, of Retribution is very different than its predecessor, and in many ways superior. (This is a case of Real Life Writes the Plot, as the producer had gained experience with writing during Specter.) Invoked, however, in that many fans find the concept of a pending Romulan invasion as a primary plot to be less engaging than the high personal stakes that served as the primary plot driver in Specter.
 * Uncanny Valley: Like Star Trek Specter before it, the majority of the main cast are played by old Poser 4 figures...but once again, the mysterious Kristie android is played by the ultra-lifelike Victoria 3. This time, since the android is said to have been completed, and to avoid the Uncanny Valley effect from the first film with the ponytail prop, shots with the Kristie android are rendered at different settings from the other shots. The android looks great...but any other characters in the shots look noticeably different than they do in other shots rendered at normal settings. The effect is particularly jarring in the cargo bay scene where she first appears--we've been seeing Garr throughout the scene, looking just like the other cast members, but then suddenly when she appears he suddenly looks a little more lifelike.
 * Ironically, this was meant to reduce the awkwardness of having the android appear alongside the other cast, but if anything it makes the jarring effect even worse.
 * Pandering to The Base: Surprisingly, the creator has taken regular note of fan reactions to early preview clips, and several lines of dialogue are known to be the direct result of fan interaction in one way or another.
 * After Prentice reaches the bridge, his line about Federation starships with Romulan upgrades being wacky was inspired by a fan making an almost identical comment.
 * Later, after Garr appears, Prentice's line about the maniacal laughter was added at the urging of a viewer.