The new Star Trek movie Into Darkness is an interesting film. The juxtaposition of the new JJ Abrams Star Trek with the classic scene borrowed from the ending of Wrath Of Khan, but in reverse is a strange element indeed. The fact that this is an alternative universe with a different timeline is the reason that this movie is so different from the classic Star Trek movies. But how did they get from Khronos to Earth so fast? I am sure that there is an explanation somewhere. The one thing that the new franchise needs to do eventually is a mirror universe movie or episode that shows a totalitarian and evil Empire that is conquering space and killing their enemies. The mirror universe episodes of the Enterprise series were fascism and evil depicted in a realistic and gripping fashion. I hope to see more of the mirror universe starfleet and what the politics of this world are really like. The evil of the mirror universe Enterprise crew was portrayed perfectly. But getting back to the new movie, the insides of the engine room look less like the interior of the NCC-1701 A and more like the engine room of a seagoing battleship. That is a nice touch though, it is more realistic. The Klingons looked completely different to the aliens we are familiar with. But this is a minor gripe. The movie is an action packed and entertaining thrill ride, the brave sacrifice and resurrection at the end completes a film that takes the second Star Trek film and rearranges the elements to make something new and exciting.
We will wait and see if another film comes out and shows us more of the JJ Abrams Science Fiction vision. Will he tackle the third Star Trek film after this? Maybe he could do the film where the whales were extinct on Earth and they had to travel to the 20th century and retrieve 2 whales to repopulate the oceans of the future. That was the movie that had the giant Cetacean ship that was sending pulses of energy into the oceans looking for the whales that were nowhere to be found. The idea of trans-warp beaming is another idea that I do not remember seeing in the original series. They can beam from the ship to the planet and vice versa, but beaming from a planet to a ship that is traveling at warp speed would require impressive mathematics indeed. But that is why Spock had to bring the equation for trans-warp beaming back from the future. But the Star Trek Into Darkness film is strange; it is using scenes from the older Star Trek films and rearranging them into something new. They need to create an original script for the next film though in all seriousness. Reusing old scenes is not the be all and end all of filmmaking. There is a large Star Trek universe, there is plenty of room to think up an original plotline in an alternate universe. But why did they destroy Vulcan? The original films had the planet and the ancient Mount Selaya as a closing scene in The Search For Spock. That was an incredible scene, the depiction of the ancient temple on the mountain was done very well indeed.
Vulcan seems to be a planet that is mostly arid desert, but not to the extent of Tatooine in Star Wars. That planet had next to no plants on the surface at all. So where did the atmosphere come from? It must have had underground life that breathed in Co2 and gave out o2. The new Star Wars film is coming out soon as well; this will be very interesting to say the least. Considering the massive fan base and the number of novels that have been written to expand on the Star Wars extended universe; there is a lot of material to use. They could make a movie set after the destruction of the second Death Star that has Kyle Katarn in it and shows his theft of the sun Crusher and his fight against the remnants of the Empire. Many Super Star Destroyers survived the attack on Yavin IV and this means that the empire still poses a threat after their Emperor is dead. Many fans of Star Wars will be waiting to pass judgement on this film when it comes out; good or bad. Considering how long has passed since Return Of The Jedi was filmed; it will need to be set quite a while after that film if Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia reprise their roles. I hope George Lucas does not butcher this film as he did by releasing the special editions of Star Wars with the remade ending of ROTJ. The original film showed an old man as the ghost of Anakin Skywalker and the new versions show the younger Skywalker instead. That makes no sense. Another example of doing something just because you can. All Science Fiction fans are eagerly awaiting the film; me included. I will see then what he has decided to do with this universe.
Star Trek also has a massive amount of novels that could be used as source material to create a good movie; JJ Abrams does not need to use only the older movies as inspiration. There are many possibilities out there. The Star Trek Corps of engineers could be worked into a movie. They were mentioned in the movie The Wrath of Khan; but a Star Trek movie involving them would be interesting indeed.