Reinvention of the wheel unnecessary, but changing a flat is

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2009)

Marketing a really good movie these days takes some creative genius and though up until this point I have not been overly impressed with JJ Abrams (I hated Cloverfield - go ahead and shoot me), Star Trek was outstanding.
Being a child of the early 70's, I was familiar with the original Star Trek from way back. I am sure the original was off the air before I had access to television, but I did watch every single episode of the re-airing, as well as every movie (ad nauseum I might add) and even to the point that I can claim to be nearly a Trekkie (though not quite, never been to a convention).
Honestly, JJ Abrams reinvented this classic in my opinion. He totally destroyed any concept of the original story line, but stayed true to form with time travel, odd alien life-forms (including the lovely green seductress and a very young James Kirk). I do think they might've chosen a better model for the young Spock than the well known villain from Heroes, but hey, he pulled it off wonderfully.
I absolutely LOVED seeing Leonard Nemoy! I wasn't actually all that surprised, but at the same time was because this was not Gene Roddenberry's work. As ALWAYS he gave a charming and epic performance as the aging Spock from the future, and JJ Abrams even let him have the character (more true to form with what one would surmise from half Vulcan/half human). I was pleased with the storyline on the whole - except....
The one flaw with movies these days is the cliffhanger. It seems we are left with our popcorn in our hands wondering "is that it" at the end of the blockbusters these days. This one is no exception. I want to know now how they are going to satisfy us. Will there be a series? If so, they will have to COMPLETELY re-make Star Trek into a new image, because they have to rebuild the entire Vulcan society (since the entire planet was demolished), but here's my question, now that the young Spock is aware that his error in judgment is what caused the calamity in the first place, with the entire Romulan population being obliterated (except for that dreadful Nero who comes back to torture everyone), will he make the same mistake again in this new time line they have created? If he does not make that same mistake, and Romulus is somehow NOT destroyed, then there will be no Nero to come back and kill Kirk the elder, and Spock will not return in the AWESOME Vulcan ship....and....uh, oh dear, I've gone all cross-eyed.
I was hoping that when the Enterprise stared at the Romulan vessel being totally annihilated in the black hole, that out the other side we would see an alternate reality, one where the elder (not yet captain) Kirk is sitting on the deck of the the ship, before the captain went over to Nero's ship and before the crew ejected. On that side, Nero's ship collides with "itself" (the one that was emerging from the black hole fixing to destroy the other vessel), is completely demolished, and the young Kirk peers across the black hole at his father, who will now live to come back to Earth, be reunited with his wife and baby, and thus set into motion the correct time-string, where Vulcan is not destroyed, and everything returns to the normal story as we know it.
Now that would have made a fine ending, I think.
How else are they going to explain Scotty's advanced knowledge of teleportation, and so on and so forth? Plus, we have Spock the elder now back on Earth to rebuild Vulcan with some serious knowledge in his noggin! Lord this is confusing.
On the whole, I loved the movie and it has done to me exactly what JJ Abrams intended, awakened my love for Star Trek.