1. Always Do Fan Service!
When faced with a backlash from long-term trekkies with the liberties that have been taken with the franchise they invested so heavily in, make sure you throw enough fan service in the sequel so they cant complain anymore. JJ might have given us the occasional Phasers on stun and Scotty shouting I'm Giving her all she's got Captain! but some fans were annoyed with how far the reboot had deviated from what Star Trek is really about. So in Into Darkness, JJ added nods and winks to fans that have followed Star Trek obsessively. He put references to Section 31 and the Gorn. Some uniforms resembled those seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and he included a few more Red Shirt jokes. Who doesnt love Red Shirt jokes? They never get old. Even Leonard Nimoy made an unexpected reappearance as older Spock. But it being JJ, like everything else in the film, the fan service had to be BIG. Screw throwing in a few references that trekkies will pick up on; he gave them whole scenes that they will recognise. Even the script was copied line for line. I am of course talking about the ''homage'' to the death scene from The Wrath Of Khan. But JJ was clever, instead of Spock dying; he switched it to Kirk dying. JJ knew that the old school Star Trek fans would love seeing a new version of a scene that is so iconic in the franchise, who could hate it? And dont worry, JJ never intended to kill Kirk, he was brought back to life by Khans magic blood 5 minutes later. It was just a big wink to the fans and to let them know that JJ gets Star Trek, he knows what its about so everyone can stop hating him. The inclusion of Khan and Carol Marcus added nothing to the story but who cares, the job was to win back the Star Trek fans of old and give the newbies a reference they might recognise. Everyone has heard of Khan, shove him into the script.
When you get criticised for not understanding a franchise like Star Trek, reference the movie that everyone loves and remembers. Steel whole scenes if you have to and the best thing is that the script writes itself. Not only will the magic from that film rub onto yours, but everyone will leave the cinema with a smile of their face. And at the end of the day isnt that the reason why Star Trek was rebooted in the first place? That and money.