Strangers and Aliens: Science Fiction & Fantasy from a Christian Perspective

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS plot revealed . . .

In news that has been reported pretty much everywhere . . .

I want to know what you strangers and aliens think about this information. We’ve got the official synopsis, and I have a few thoughts of my own . . . but let the fanboy speculation begin!!!

Here is the official synopsis of Star Trek Into Darkness. Vague spoilers ahead . . .

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

So we now know about the villain. An “unstoppable force of terror” is involved, and a “one man weapon of mass destruction.” I think they are two different things. I think the force of terror created the weapon of mass destruction.

But I could see the case for Khan still being made.

I know Gary Mitchell, the guy with glowing eyes who turned into a God and almost killed his best buddy James T. Kirk in the second pilot that they made for the original series, is also being tossed around a possibly suspect. “Friendships torn apart” seems to reveal this.

But what interests ME, personally, is the “manhunt into a war-zone” aspect. When they first revealed the title, I said that I hoped the title meant we would get something of a “Heart of Darkness“/”Apocalypse Now” vibe, of journeying through a dark, deadly land to find one of their own who has gone bad.

This refers to the Jospeh Conrad book, Heart of Darkness, which was adapted into the movie Apocalypse Now — both tell the story of a man journeying physically and metaphorically into the dark interior of a jungle (the Congo in the original, Vietnam during the war in the movie) in search of Kurtz, who has gone mad and believes himself to be something of a god to the inhabitants. Star Trek has played with this idea before.

And I can’t help thinking they are using this as their roadmap. If so, I heartily approve of the title.

What do you think? Do you believe I have gone mad?  We know what the title is, we know what the synopsis is . . . there is SO much more to talk about!

Posted

in

,

by

Ben

Tags:

,

Comments

15 responses to “STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS plot revealed . . .”

  1. Mike Poteet Avatar
    Mike Poteet

    Hm. Intriguing. I am not convinced it will be either Khan or Gary Mitchell, although certain Kurt Urban’s slip of the tongue (or was it?) over the summer lends credence to the latter – far more than Khan (although, yes, “one man weapon of mass destruction” – but, at least in Prime timeline, Khan wasn’t really from within Starfleet’s own ranks). Makes it sound like the Bad Guy is some kind of Frankenstein-like experiment gone wrong.

    I’m a little concerned at the “Detonated the fleet” language. Wasn’t most of the fleet already wiped out at Vulcan last go-round? Will Enterprise be a one-ship “fleet,” a la BSG, by the time this movie is through?

    I think you are dead-on on the Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness analogy. I don’t think Trek has really ever done that story before — although it has come close (Eric Gill in “Patterns of Force,” maybe?) — so I am all for this. Sounds like it will be a new (albeit darker) direction for the franchise, which was the whole point of the reboot, even if it is a new take on a canonical character.

    Supposedly, characters who’ve shown up in the IDW comic (including Gary Mitchell) aren’t going to be in the films – but who knows?

    Maybe the Starfleet guy gone rouge is Finnegan from “Shore Leave”! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Ben Avatar
      Ben

      I’ll say this: Finnegan has crossed my mind more than once. They brought him back as an Admiral or something in the DC Comics, and that was fun. So, Finnegan — the goofy prankster . . . it’s a logical progression to “unstoppable force of terror”. Right? 🙂

      Patterns of Force was the one I was thinking of specifically, but there was also the episode with the pre-logical Vulcan world that believed Starfleet to be gods, and I thought there was an episode of people who worshipped Data (might be wrong there, I’m really fuzzy on that).

      Reply
  2. Doug Curtis Avatar
    Doug Curtis

    I thought Simon Pegg had also let it slip that it was Gary Mitchell who was the villain in this film, which makes perfect sense. If he is still the character which tries to break through the barrier and receives superhuman powers, then he’s the “weapon of mass destruction.” I’m a little dubious on the friendship part, as Gary Mitchell was Kirk’s friend in the academy, and we didn’t see him anywhere in the previous movie. So, that’s going to be a bit of a sell.

    Reply
    1. Ben Avatar
      Ben

      Now that you mention it, I seem to remember Pegg saying something too. Can’t remember exactly what it was, though . . . but yeah, he may have revealed that.

      Reply
  3. Ben Avatar
    Ben

    “I’m a little dubious on the friendship part, as Gary Mitchell was Kirk’s friend in the academy, and we didn’t see him anywhere in the previous movie.” I agree, but that is going to happen with ANY character from the past that they try to bring in. There are not a lot of extra characters in the first movie to pull out and use in the second movie. So any “friendship” between Kirk and Mitchell (if they choose to do so) will have to be TOLD to us, not something that was SHOWN to us.

    Reply
  4. Ben Avatar
    Ben

    Hey, what about this:

    Three people from the previous movie who COULD be the “unstoppable evil” and the “one man weapon of mass destruction”:

    1. Pike. Think about it! Who else from the first movie would have an emotional connection with Kirk . . . so Admiral Pike turns into a god-monster, and now Kirk has to track down his father figure . . .

    2. Cupcake. Kirk never respected him. Now . . . Cupcake becomes an unstoppable force out for revenge.

    3. Uhura’s Orion Roommate. Kirk’s “love ’em and leave ’em” attitude was addressed in the original series . . . why not now? Gaila has been scorned, and hell hath no fury as that of an unstoppable one person weapon of mass destruction scorned!

    Okay. Maybe not.

    Reply
    1. Michael Poteet Avatar
      Michael Poteet

      I like the Pike angle.

      Did Gaila survive the destruction of the fleet at Vulcan?

      Reply
      1. Ben Avatar
        Ben

        Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. I don’t remember seeing her in the celebration scene at the end, but I don’t remember not seeing her either.

        Maybe that’s what happened. She didn’t survive, but she as reborn as a “one man killing machine”.

        Hm, well, at least one part of that theory doesn’t hold water…

        Reply
        1. Michael Poteet Avatar
          Michael Poteet

          Every other ship got toasted, right? Logically, it follows she didn’t… but, of course, as Spock Prime was fond of saying, “There are always possibilities…”

          As much as I’d hate to be rooting against Pike (“The Menagerie” is my favorite TOS episode of all time), I bet Greenwood could play a really scary evil version of the character.

          I suspect, when all is said and done, the baddie will be Gary Mitchell; and while I’m basically okay with that – I will pay good quatloos to see this film no mater what – I do wish, having gone to the trouble of establishing a new timeline, Abrams et al. would really be unafraid to do something NEW and DIFFERENT, 100%. At least a “Heart of Darkness” plot moves somewhat in that direction.

          Reply
          1. Ben Avatar
            Ben

            I think the evidence for Gary is the strongest. And I think that would also be the best direction to go int.

            And I also think that somewhere, toward the end of the movie (maybe post credits, maybe not) someone will find the Botany Bay.

  5. nope Avatar
    nope

    uhm.. its Garth guys. The guy kirk modeled his whole life on and who went crazy while he was in the academy.

    Reply
    1. Ben Avatar
      Ben

      Except in this storyline, that roll (guy who Kirk modelled his whole life on) went to Pike. It’d be bad storytelling to invent another mentor who we never saw but who had the same kind of impact as Pike . . .

      Before the teaser, I’d have considered Garth. Now? Not a chance in my opinion.

      Reply
  6. nope Avatar
    nope

    oh yeah. you are right… it is “heart of darkness”.. but more like apocolypse now since garth was an officer of his own starship.

    Reply
  7. nope Avatar
    nope

    but its hard to do a good version of darkness without an “r” rating. it has to be mentally scary (ie “seven” “event horizon”.. but at pg, how can you do it ?… I don’t think you can pull it off with a pg rating.

    Reply
    1. Ben Avatar
      Ben

      It’ll be PG-13, for sure. And I think they can tell an emotional and dark story without going R.

      I’m NOT sure they can tell a dark story with all those lens flares, though! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply