The Flickering Myth writing team discuss the first teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness…
The internet came to a standstill last Thursday as Paramount Pictures presented us with the first footage from Star Trek Into Darkness with the release of an online exclusive teaser trailer that gave us a glimpse at what’s in store when director J.J. Abrams unleashed his hotly-anticipated and hugely-secretive sci-fi sequel this coming May.
While The Daily Mail would have us believe that Star Trek fans are in uproar over a perceived lack of originality – stemming from an extra shot in the Japanese trailer teasing what appears to be Abrams’ nod towards the classic scene between Kirk and Spock from the classic Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – much of the debate centred around the impressive visuals and epic action sequences, not to mention the most burning question of all – just who the hell is Benedict Cumberbatch playing?
Of course, it wasn’t all entirely positive, with the bleak tone and use of voice-over drawing comparisons to the recent Iron Man 3 trailer, while the musical score also seemed to rely heavily on the ‘BWARM’ technique patented by Hans Zimmer. Like Luke Owen suggested in his opinion piece here on Flickering Myth, the teaser itself was fairly generic, but it’s certainly whet our appetites for the arrival of the full-length theatrical trailer, as well as getting both Trekkers and non-Trekkers talking about Star Trek. With that in mind, here’s the views of our writing team…
Chris Cooper: As a few people have pointed out, it’s highly reminiscent of both the The Dark Knight Rises and Iron Man 3 teasers. Intriguingly-voiced villain prophesying the destruction of something or other. But I can forgive that, as Cumberbatch sounds great and the visuals (especially the Enterprise hitting the water money shot) look fantastic. I’m not a huge Trek fan, but the 2009 reboot was really good, and hopefully they can keep it up. Looks promising.
Gary Collinson: It’s pretty much everything you could ask for from a first teaser trailer. Stunning visuals, what looks to be huge action set pieces, and absolutely nothing given away. Judging by the online response, the marketing campaign looks to be off to a perfect start and from what little we’ve seen so far, Into Darkness looks like it could be one of 2013’s best. Oh, and I suspect it’s going to be tremendous in IMAX.
Kirsty Capes: I agree with Gary, looks like the visuals are going to be even better than 2009, if that’s even possible. I’m not an action kinda gal but EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE and ugh I love it; really excited to see Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine back as Kirk and Spock, although not sure how that dynamic is going to play out after the conclusion of the last film. Also Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be an amazing villain. Majorly excited for this. Not impressed with the music being ripped straight off Prometheus though?
Martin Deer: As a non-Trekkie I was really impressed with the 2009 reboot and I’m liking this trailer. Effects looks great and it appears we could be in for a great conflict between Pine’s Kirk and whomever Cumberbatch is playing. Looking forward to it. The music is very Inception / Dark Knight-ish. but then a lot of trailers seem to be taking influence from Zimmer’s scores lately.
Piers McCarthy: Less lens-flare, thank goodness! (Always hate Abrams’ obsession with that bloody effect). As we know from the first one, the cast are perfectly molded to their characters and Cumberbatch is a perfect addition. Same with Martin, I know little-to-nothing about Star Trek but was majorly impressed by the reboot. I will certainly be buying a ticket for this one (despite Abrams’ occasional silly stylistic flourishes, he knows how to produce entertainment).
Liam Trim: I really wasn’t sure about Cumberbatch as a villain at first, or at least as a generic blockbuster villain. Even from this trailer though it looks as though he’s put his own stamp on this role. Future Bond villain anyone? As for the rest of the trailer, I’m excited for the film and the premise of the story seems good – so I’d say it’s a success.
Helen Murdoch: All you want from a teaser. Really good choice making Cumberbatch’s unnamed villain the focus. It definitely delivers on the “bigger darker” sequel idea. This was a Kirk centric trailer so I hope to see some more of Spock, Bones, et al. There is the Inception style music in there but this seems to be standard at the moment. Definitely excited for the full trailer.
Oliver Davis: I flat-out started weeping at my work desk when I saw it. Kirk touching Spock’s hand through the glass brought Wrath of Khan flooding back into heart. Which teases the question: is Khan Into Darkness’ villain?
Gary Collinson: I’m not so sure it’s Kirk’s hand – going by the colour, the sleeve looks very much like it could belong to Benedict Cumberbatch – perhaps it’s a deliberate attempt to throw us off the scent…
Trevor Hogg: I find that all of these world destruction movies are so overblown. There have been so many and there are many more to come. The trailer for the latest incarnation of Star Trek is part of the same tireless trend. It will be up to the villain to save the story and Benedict Cumberbatch certainly has dramatic range to do so; I hope he is not playing Khan as it seems funny with these franchise reboots to simply repeat the adversaries from the previous versions.
In general, there seems to be plenty of excitement for Star Trek Into Darkness here at Flickering Myth HQ, and like everyone, we’re all completely stumped by the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s villain. Is he Khan? Gary Mitchell? Dr. Tolian Soran? Evil Picard? According to reports, the upcoming 9-minute IMAX prologue won’t offer any answers, so we can probably assume the full-length trailer won’t be giving anything away either. I guess we’ll find out on May 17th, 2013 when Star Trek Into Darkness arrives in cinemas…
What did you think of the first teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness? Be sure to leave your comments below…
Originally published December 10, 2012. Updated December 13, 2019.
