A Romulan mining ship? Even better than a century advanced, what need would there be for offensive weapons. A super tanker takes out a battle fleet?

Ignoring the Star Trek historical records (well, virtual anyway), and the ice planet nod to Star Wars, what about ohhh, I don't know, the laws of physics?
A hundred thousand feet, or so, of external mass extending down to a level with breathable atmosphere, for the mining head, would introduce an enormous strain on all physical points, including additional gravity and a tendency toward rotation.

Sky diving from space? Fall like a bullet - or drift? How does a chute retract? Serves no purpose, and would be unreliable for a second attempt.

Even with the standard SciFi cop out of "advanced technology", the question becomes a matter of why? Advanced technology would be toward automated processes that limit exposure to sentient life forms. It would be easier to either blast from the ship itself, or use robotic vehicles to operate from the surface.

A supernova that threatened, what was it...half the galaxy? That aside, it would have started with cooling and compression. Romulous and Remus (Vulcan?) (earth centric naming of mythical being for major species - no one has a problem with that?) would have been evacuated long long before a supernova.

The Trek universe is built upon flaws and illogical application of theoretical technology, governed by current limitations.

I did enjoy seeing Kirk with bruises and cuts all the time.

 bout spock got some

Im a  friend of death, a brother of luck and a son of a bitch!

The PUV James Keeling (AKA The Crypt) when they first saw the Romulan ship?

(BTW; Great Review by Nuchtchas @ http://www.scifidig.com/ )

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~~Hey, what kinda party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker~~

Overall I thought the movie was really entertaining and the acting was pretty good. Could have done with less lens flares though. The end left me a little cold though. Kirk and crew had not even completed the Academy, yet he is made captian and the rest of the crew stays on as well? They were all either teenagers or in their early 20s. I don't like the idea of trusting a kid with a '92 Ford Festiva, much less a star ship! I mean what's next, the cast of One Tree Hill or The OC showing up as members of an away team? (lets hope they're all wearing red shirts).

Now on to a few of the specific points:

1 - I think that little detail was a correction to an inconsistency in the canon. Since Vulcans and Romulans are really the same race with differing philosophies, it is perfectly plausable and in fact quite likely that the Vulcans would have shared a great amount of information on them with Humans. It makes more sense that Humans would have known what Romulans looked like.

4 - Since that first encounter was occured apparently right at the time of Kirk's birth (thus Spock's as well), it makes sense that Nero would be trying to kill Spock's father to prevent Spock from ever being born. I got the impression that their time-travel technology was not very exact, so he couldn't be sure exactly sure where in the time line they landed. I get the impression that he thought they went back farther than they actually did.

5 - I got the impression that Spock and Uhura were an item long before the events of the movie. I did think it was neat how they portrayed Spock as having to constantly struggle against his Human side to keep his emotions in check, yet heh does allow himself to experience some level of emotion.

7 - The whole red matter / black hole thing is just a deus ex machina. The Chandrasekhar Limit states that you need a star of at least 1.44 solar masses to have sufficient mass to collapse into a singularity. Later it was shown that some white dwarf stars meeting the Chandrasekhar standard would collapse into neutron stars. Either way, there is simply no way, regardless of any advanced technology, that a little drop of red goo could create a black hole.

11 - Yeah I totally agree. An impulsive kid who has absolutely no practical experience aboard a star ship might get to inventory the laundry or something, but that's about it.

17 - I guess it was one badass mining ship.

18 - Warp travel would not require shields since the ship is not actually moving through its local space. The matter-antimatter reactor generates the massive amounts of energy required to create gravitons (currently a highly theoretical particle) which form the warp bubble. By manipulating the graviton field, the bubble can contract spacetime in front of the craft and extend it behind the craft. Technically it should be possible to go into warp sideways or backwards by simply manipulating the graviton field. Since the spacetime immediately around the craft is inside the bubble and everything inside is essentially motionless, there would be no need for shields.

It is theoretically possible to create a Star Trek-type warp bubble, but physicists predict that it would require far more energy than could thepretically be produced, something along the lines of several large stars worth of energy. Additionally, since the warp bubble forms a seperation boundry between the localized spacetime and the outside spacetime, it could not be controlled from the inside. Its a neat idea, but not very likely.

 20 - If I remember correctly, the Ferengi were not Federation members either, yet Quark's nephew attended the Academy and became a Star Fleet officer. Based on that precedent, it is possible that individual Orions joined Star Fleet.

That is about enough uber-geeking for me this evening. 

Just run the plays I call, Barnes!

 However, even by "Balance of Terror"  (Season 1, original series), even SPOCK did not know that Romulans were that offshoot fo the Vulcan race.

4 - Since that first encounter was occured apparently right at the time of Kirk's birth (thus Spock's as well), it makes sense that Nero would be trying to kill Spock's father to prevent Spock from ever being born. I got the impression that their time-travel technology was not very exact, so he couldn't be sure exactly sure where in the time line they landed. I get the impression that he thought they went back farther than they actually did.

Nope, he asked for Sarek, then showed Spock's ship.  Error in the script. 

5 - I got the impression that Spock and Uhura were an item long before the events of the movie. I did think it was neat how they portrayed Spock as having to constantly struggle against his Human side to keep his emotions in check, yet heh does allow himself to experience some level of emotion.

 Horsehockey.

7 - The whole red matter / black hole thing is just a deus ex machina. The Chandrasekhar Limit states that you need a star of at least 1.44 solar masses to have sufficient mass to collapse into a singularity. Later it was shown that some white dwarf stars meeting the Chandrasekhar standard would collapse into neutron stars. Either way, there is simply no way, regardless of any advanced technology, that a little drop of red goo could create a black hole.

Yup, garbage all the way.

11 - Yeah I totally agree. An impulsive kid who has absolutely no practical experience aboard a star ship might get to inventory the laundry or something, but that's about it.

Yup 

17 - I guess it was one badass mining ship.

Ya Think?

18 - Warp travel would not require shields since the ship is not actually moving through its local space. The matter-antimatter reactor generates the massive amounts of energy required to create gravitons (currently a highly theoretical particle) which form the warp bubble. By manipulating the graviton field, the bubble can contract spacetime in front of the craft and extend it behind the craft. Technically it should be possible to go into warp sideways or backwards by simply manipulating the graviton field. Since the spacetime immediately around the craft is inside the bubble and everything inside is essentially motionless, there would be no need for shields.

It is theoretically possible to create a Star Trek-type warp bubble, but physicists predict that it would require far more energy than could thepretically be produced, something along the lines of several large stars worth of energy. Additionally, since the warp bubble forms a seperation boundry between the localized spacetime and the outside spacetime, it could not be controlled from the inside. Its a neat idea, but not very likely.

Canon has shields up during warp travel, you don't throw away canon to get bad plot.

 20 - If I remember correctly, the Ferengi were not Federation members either, yet Quark's nephew attended the Academy and became a Star Fleet officer. Based on that precedent, it is possible that individual Orions joined Star Fleet.

The difference is that Naug was sponsered for his academy entrance by a starfleet captain, from a "nation state" that was at least friendly to the Federation.  By "Journey to Babel", Orions were still pirates and not an ally of the federation. 

Sergeant and Fire Team Leader, X-ray company, DOMREC.  And now a pusher too!

 i was a sad that there was none

~~Hey, what kinda party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker~~

 i even own a batleth

~~Hey, what kinda party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker~~

Eh, lets just fall back on the tried and true "alternate timeline" excuse then ;) 

Just run the plays I call, Barnes!

Why is it that almost every alien species in Star Trek is humanoid? Its always either that or "its life Jim, but not as we know it." 

Astrobiologists will tell you that it is highly unlikely that intelligent life from another planet would have evolved a phenotype so similar to our own. That's why I like The Rookie so much. Scott really plays the far more likely notion that alien life would indeed be alien to us. 

Just run the plays I call, Barnes!