When J.J. Abrams' Star Trek first came out in 2009, everyone was talking about what the director had done for the fatigued franchise. 'Reboot' and 'reimagined' were words that proved to be popular, and the film's story itself ticked the boxes of prequel, sequel, and spin-off, all at the same time. A gold mine of Hollywood's current adaptation fueled era of Brand Recognition, the film tops the list of Star Trek box office takings even when adjusted for inflation. Despite opening up a whole new timeline with a galaxy full of new possibilities, Abrams and co. instead decided that with its sequel, Into Darkness, they would go and revisit old Star Trek as much as possible. This includes everything from cheeky little references - anyone who has seen the opening credits to Star Trek: Enterprise must surely have smiled at Admiral Marcus' desk - to whole story devices that at times border on perhaps the only adaptation method its predecessor didn't, that of a remake. In fact Into Darkness seems to use such a number of story ideas taken from previous entries throughout Star Trek's near 50 year history, that at times it seems almost cut and pasted together. Going back to Admiral Marcus for example, the Robocop actor previously appeared in the Star Trek: Enterprise season 4 two part story Demons & Terra Prime. Here he played the character of John Frederick Paxton, a violent and tyrannical leader who swiftly disposes of those who stand in his way ... remind you of anyone? Although a character of this sort is far from unique to Star Trek, and with such a great performance first time round it's easy to see why Weller was called back, the more you look at the number of other similarities the film has to what has come before, the more it becomes obvious that Into Darkness isn't as shiny and new (well ok, it is rather shiny) as you might think. As an in depth look at the very story of Into Darkness, it hardly needs to be said that the following pages contain
spoilers...