STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

If a franchise is to survive, it has to grow. And with growth, there will likely be change. Like Spock used to say, “It is illogical to assume things will remain the same.” So, after Star Trek The Next Generation ran out of steam with its 4th feature film Nemesis, it was decided that the series would be rebooted entirely. Not move on in the same timeline another 70 years and introduce a new crew, no: the J.J. Abrams film STAR TREK made it clear that this film no longer took place in the timeline we had been watching for so long now. It also explained how this particular change happened. And what’s more, Abrams wanted to focus on Captain Kirk and his crew again and not introduce other faces again. Crafting a new story on how this timeline’s Captain Kirk would get his command team together, the film went on to be a huge success. The inclusion of Leonard Nimoy as old Spock (hereafter: Spock Prime) also served to indicate that this would now be the official new Star Trek that Paramount would be continuing. Naturally, the box office success prompted Paramount to okay J.J. Abrams to take on a second adventure in this new timeline. Now it would remain to be seen if the first Abrams film was a fluke or if the intrepid director would be able to pull it off again. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS shows the crew of the Enterprise after they have come together but they are not yet a tightly functioning team. After an incident on a primitive planet in which the Enterprise has become visible for the life forms on that planet, Kirk is demoted to First Officer of the Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. Pike feels Kirk has been promoted to Captain too soon and wants him to have the chance by first being First Officer, to grow into being the Captain. Pike is killed however in an attack upon Starfleet by one John Harrison, who has been deemed guilty of another terrorist attack in London. Kirk foils the attack of Harrison but cannot stop Harrison from fleeing by transporting to the Klingon Home planet Qronos. Kirk is reinstated as Enterprise’s Captain and is ordered to go after Harrison and use new rocket weapons on Harrison’s hiding place on Qronos. Scotty however resigns his commission as Chief Engineer when he is not allowed to inspect the rocket weapons and refuses to admit them to the Enterprise. Kirk accepts his resignation and puts Mr. Chekov on Scotty’s post. On the way to Qronos his crew convince Kirk it would be better to capture Harrison than to just exterminate him. That is not the way Starfleet works. The Klingons however are less than cooperative but are quickly dispatched by Harrison who seems to be superhumanly strong and quick. To everyone’s surprise, Harrison surrenders to Kirk upon learning of the 72 rocket weapons ready in Enterprise’s weapons bay to strike. Back aboard the Enterprise, Harrison reveals himself to be Khan Noonien Singh, the Indian Prince who was genetically engineered to be a superior breed during the infamous Eugenics Wars of the late 20th Century. He was cryogenically put to sleep with his 72 crewmembers to await for better times but a corrupted Starfleet Admiral found him and woke him up. On their way back to Earth, the Enterprise is intercepted by the USS VENGEANCE under the command of the corrupted Starfleet Admiral Marcus.

It is clear that writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof are well versed in the previous Star Trek lore. Considering the high level of entertainment in this film, it is unfortunate that they chose to do something new with old elements instead of simply going for something new entirely. The fact that Harrison turns out to be Khan reflects poorly on the fact that this will automatically invite a comparison between the work of Ricardo Montalban 30 years before and the performance of Benedict Cumberbatch in this film. Although the story is worked out nicely, I personally would have preferred an original foe for this second film. Also the fact that this film shows various old tricks from new angles (now It turns out Starfleet is the baddie and not so much Khan, similarly so now it is Kirk who dies at the end and is revived and not Spock) does not count as well as presenting original elements in an interesting new setting.

Unfortunately, the writers also seem not to have a full grasp of the technical side as many grievous errors creep thru in the story. One such error is a sequence in which the USS VENGEANCE pursues the ENTERPRISE in warp while at the same time firing at the ENTERPRISE. If you are going faster than the speed of light, firing phasers or photon torpedoes will only result in your own ship’s destruction because phaser fire and photon torpedoes do not go faster than the speed of light themselves. That means that your ship will overtake the phaser fire and the photon torpedoes and you will hit your own ship, causing your own ship to be destroyed. Another grievous error is that if you pursue another ship in warp speed and you go at a higher warp speed than the ship you follow, one does not see the pursuer in one’s own warp wake. A second ship will create a second warp trail and not use the same as the first ship. It is unfortunate that quite a lot of other errors like this can be noted during the film, which could easily have been ironed out if someone had looked at the script with a more realistic / technical view. (In the years under Rick Berman they had an entire team for this troubleshooting and that worked very well.) The young cast in the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest are excellent in their parts. It is very gratifying to see that other actors can also bring similar feelings as in the Classic Show to the fore. Again, however, it is unfortunate that composer Michael Giacchino fails to deliver a score that stands on its own, also when heard without the film. It may not have been Mr. Giacchino’s idea to have to use the original theme of Alexander Courage (which sounds terrible played by as large an orchestra as that of Giacchino’s), but also in other themes Mr. Giacchino shows himself not to be up to the level of a Jerry Goldsmith, a James Horner or a Leonard Rosenman. If a third film in this timeline will be made, it will be unlikely that another composer will be asked to score it. Otherwise it might be interesting to hear what someone like Howard Shore would do, or Elliott Goldenthal. (Heck, James Horner is still alive, even if Jerry Goldsmith and Leonard Rosenman no longer are. Horner would most certainly be better than a third Giacchino score.)

For a film as big as this one, one might also have expected posters of more inventive originality than the derivative and dull posters that were used for this film. All in all, the film is very entertaining but fails to deliver the punch that STAR TREK II THE WRATH OF KHAN, STAR TREK IV THE VOYAGE HOME, STAR TREK VI THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY and STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT had. Still, it is interesting and fun to watch so let’s give them the benefit of the doubt for that third film. Even if that might take a while again, seeing that J.J. Abrams will be busy doing STAR WARS VII first.