REWRITE: of the Spock maroons Kirk on ice planet that just happens to have old Spock and Scotty BS

this has bugged me for years. no way would Spock throw the rule book out and maroon even a guy he hated on an ice planet full of snow monsters, hed put him in the brig! also Nimoy Spock AND Scotty just so happen to be on the ice planet? really? How convenient is that!? and Scotty just so happens to have a transporter device and was working on a formula that can beam ppl on to ships travelling at warp? (ok there were coincidences before in Trek films like Reliant just happening upon Khans planet, Spock ageing to just the right age on Genesis, Enterprise seemingly being the only ship around etc but nothing as blatant ridiculous as the whole ice planet thing)

so anyway to avoid all that BS my take would be the nerve pinched Kirk either escapes the brig (like Star Trek V) or escapes on way to the brig. either way Bones helps him escape/overpower guards.

then Kirk steals a shuttlecraft and takes off to rescue Pike (shades of Decker in The Doomsday Machine and Picards resuce in The Best of Both Worlds. and like TNG the shuttles are more advanced than in the TOS. have transporters etc) he gets near to Neros ship who is unaware as is celebrating Vulcans destruction. he sneak beams onboard (ok mine isnt free of contrivances either lol) and looks for Pike. but finds.. Nimoy Spock! being held captive, who saves Kirk from being killed by Neros guards - 'I have been and always shall be your friend..' (thereby avoiding the fairly silly Nero maroons Spock on an ice planet just near to a federation outpost where Scotty is) then we get the mind meld scene on the Narada (Patrick Stewart cameo in the mindmeld). As for Scotty hed just be on the Enterprise already (like sulu, chekov) not on the ice planet twiddling his thumbs waiting to beam onto a ship travelling at warp speed smh lol

back on board Enterprise Spock discovers Kirk has escaped to go after Nero on his own. He has has a crisis of conscience flips out at Bones. whose lecturing/arguing reveals Spocks anger at the loss of his planet/mother. Talks to Sarek. decides its logical to pursue and go with kirk's plan to take on Nero. (all in place of the Kirk magic beams on board and punks Spock to he can take command/Spock almost kills kirk on the bridge scene)

meanwhile Kirk and old Spock head to Spocks jellyfish ship (Nimoy would be in place of Quinto for the climax) as the Narada sets course for earth. in there he tells Kirk he has to stop Nero at all costs as earth is next and for Kirk to get Pike and use an evac pod to escape (spocks knows exactly where/how as he mind melds with a downed Romulan as Quinto Spock did in the film). he hands kirk a trinket telling him to give that to young Spock (they part ways with the 'thats cheating'/'a trick I learned from an old friend.. LLAP'). Spock blasts the ship out of the Narada as Kirk goes to rescue Pike. As in the film Kirk phasers random Romulans and fights Nero ('I know your face from earths history') as old Spock disables the drill now attacking earth, he warps away,the Narada follows. Enterprise arrives on the scene and Quinto Spock beams on board the Narada to assist Kirk as Nimoy Spock fires the red matter into the heart of the Narada. it ignites and opens a blackhole as Kirk Spock and Pike make it back on the Enterprise. The blackhole destroys the Narada and once again sucks in Spocks ship (presumably back to his own universe/time but who knows)

At the end Kirk tells Spock about his older self and hands him the trinket that turns out to be a hologram message from Shatner Kirk (in the maroon uniform deaged to Star Trek: Generations era) to show how close he and Kirk will become.. the message plays over a montage of the following months/years of various TOS call back stuff happening (glimpses of various iconic scenes reimagined), culminating in Kirk being given command of the Enterprise (so its at least a while before he gets made Captain). Shatner voice over ends with the 'Space the final frontier...' speech as the repaired/refitted Enterprise (looking more like the TOS movie version) goes to warp..

(the money saved on the ice planet sequence couldve gone to paying Shatner lol. but if they wanted an ice planet scene for the movie and to extend the run time then simply include/beef up the Nero on Rura Penthe prison scenes )