Into Darkness

The first teaser trailer for the next Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, came out today.

There’s a lot of interesting things in that 1min video. For awhile, it’s been rumored that Benedict Cumberbatch, whose playing the villain, would be Gary Mitchell.  In TOS, he was an old friend of Kirk’s who developed godlike powers and Kirk had to kill (because Kirk is the only godlike being allowed on his ship). That’s not confirmed in the video, but a few shots of a blonde Starfleet officer looks a lot like Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, who was also part of that story, which lends credence to that idea.

There also appears to be a shot of the Enterprise, or another starship, crashing into water, as well as a shot of a ship rising out of the water. If it is Gary Mitchell, and he has godlike powers, that could be a powerful demonstration, pulling a starship down from orbit and crashing it. Or going Yoda and lifting it back out. Would definitely set the stage for his power.

I’m excited for this movie and also cautious. The first JJ Abrams Trek was a good movie, but the Trek elements were a little iffy. This one has potential to touch on the philosophy of Trek, humanity rising above its darker nature, hence the title. But at the same time, if the movie just revolves around a powerful being, once again, threatening Earth, and the Enterprise spends the majority of the movie at the bottom of the ocean?