"But Mark," you're saying. "Why are you just blogging about it now? The trailer's been online for a few weeks." What, you're talking about this?
That's actually the "announcement teaser." That's right, movie promotion has gotten so ridiculous these days that trailers have trailers. Before I started typing up a blog entry, I wanted to wait for the full trailer, which went online yesterday!
I know that 2009's gritty reboot of Star Trek had its detractors. Many die-hard Trekkies felt that the optimism and the bright future predicted by Gene Roddenberry, and the haughty sci-fi and weighty debates about the human condition were abandoned to make just another big dumb action movie. To be fair, many made the some complaint about the Next Generation films, too. I, though, loved 2009's Star Trek to pieces. For the first time in a long time, it was a Star Trek movie that actually felt like a movie. It was critically acclaimed, was a massive hit, and it looked like Star Trek was back in a big way.
The sequel was originally supposed to come out this past summer, but director J.J. Abrams got so busy making Super 8 that the film wound up getting pushed back. Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, the writers of the first film, are returning to scripting duties, and this time around their bringing their fellow Lost writer and guy who wrote Prometheus, Damon Lindelof.
The entire cast of the first film is back, led by Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. And this time around, they're doing battle with a mysterious villain played by Bennedict Cumberbatch, best known as Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock, and the current #1 pin-up boy for many a girl geek.
Speculation is still running rampant on who the villain may be. Along with the release of this trailer, came the revelation of the character's name: John Harrison. Those more knowledgeable in Star Trek canon than I have identified John Harrison as a very minor background character who was in a dozen or so episodes of the original series. Many are saying that this is just an alias, and John Harrison's true identity will be revealed in the film, much like how Marion Cotillard's character in The Dark Knight Rises was originally announced as Miranda Tate, but as the film went on, we learned she was actually a very familiar Batman character.
Ever since the end credits rolled on the first one, the #1 contender for the villain has been Khan. During interviews for Dredd, Karl Urban, reprising his role as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, let slip that the villain is Gary Mitchell. Mitchell was the villain on the original series' second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Mitchell was one Capt. Kirk's dearest friends who was granted God-like powers when he came into contact with a mysterious energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy. Kirk was then forced to kill his friend before he went mad with power and re-made the universe in his image. So who is the villain? We'll know for certain when the movie comes out.
But, something that didn't get as much fanfare was the announcement of another returning character. It was revealed that Alice Eve is in the cast as...Dr. Carol Marcus. For those who've never seen Wrath of Khan, Dr. Marcus was an old flame of of Capt. Kirk's, and the mother of Kirk's son. Might this film include the conception? Does this connection to Wrath of Khan lend more support to the theory that Khan is the villain?
Many mysteries are surrounding this film right now. And I like that. That's why I'm kind of reluctant to go see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in IMAX because I don't want to see the first 9 minutes.
But enough of my rambling! Here's the full trailer!
In the off-chance the YouTube police have it taken down by the time this goes up on Tuesday morning, here's the link to see it at the Apple Trailers website.
So what are my thoughts on this? Very similar to my thoughts upon seeing the trailer for the first film. I'm still getting used to seeing Star Trek on such an epic scale. The mystery of the villain is really played up, and I'm starting to get really, really interested. And the whole thing with doing the Vulcan salute through the glass? Man, they're really playing up the allusions to Wrath of Khan.
Needless to say, I will be there on May 17, when it hits theatres.
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