Over the weekend, a trailer for Star Trek Beyond leaked online (dubbed in German) and started popping up all over social media. In response to that, Paramount released the official trailer (in English) for our viewing pleasure soon after.
We’re assuming it was a German who leaked the trailer, because it was in German… so all we can say is… “Thank you Germany, for this early Christmas present!”
The trailer is not what I expected – it’s not bad in any way, but I admit I was expecting something a little more nostalgic because the film is released in a very important year in Trek’s history.
Having said that, the trailer is one heck of a romp, and it’s obvious that Justin Lin has definitely brought a bit of The Fast and The Furious to the 23rd century. Whether that is a good or a bad thing remains to be seen!
The preview is one minute and thirty-four seconds of action, including what appears to be the destruction of the Enterprise, the imprisonment of the Enterprise crew, and a never before seen bad guy (who looks a bit like Ambassador G’Kar from Babylon 5).
To watch it, click here to be taken to Paramount’s YouTube channel.
As you can see from those snapshots I took while watching the trailer for the second time, the whole gang is there, and stuff looks like it gets pretty serious. A lot of people are saying that the Enterprise is destroyed – but I have to point out that the ID on the crew uniforms says the name of a completely different starship… so is it the Enterprise that crashes, or is it a sister ship? What’s also of interest is that Roberto Orci, John D. Payne and Patrick McKay’s names’ are still in the credits so maybe some elements of the original script were kept by Simon and Doug during their rewrite.
I have the strangest feeling this trailer might polarise Star Trek fans as it has a completely different feel to the series’ and the TOS and TNG films that have gone before it, and even to the first two reboot features.
I wasn’t overwhelmed by it – but I wasn’t disappointed by it either. I think the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer is to blame for that. The main trailers we’ve seen for the seventh Star Wars film have blown me away and transported me back to my childhood. Those previews of the new Star Wars film have been majestic, nostalgic, emotional and beautiful in every way, and in comparison, the Star Trek Beyond trailer was raucous, a little confusing, and… a little small… for want of a better word!
Having said that, I have faith in Simon Pegg and the creative team behind the new film, and I have no doubt they have tried to create a movie worthy of Trek’s 50th Anniversary.
As you take a look at the trailer, please keep in mind that it’s almost impossible to get the story of a film or assess its quality from less than two minutes worth of footage. This trailer is obviously just to whet our appetites and, I think, to show fans that we’ve been listened to. We wanted a Star Trek film that wasn’t Earth-centric, we wanted more action, and we wanted new alien encounters… and it looks like all of those boxes have been ticked.
io9 have a break down of the trailer here, by the very lovely and always amusing Katharine Trendacosta, which includes a series of screen grabs, gifs and guesses at what might be going on. Check it out.
We’re still a little more than seven months away from the release of the film, so more previews will come.
It will be interesting to see how they compare to this first glimpse of the third reboot film.
Enjoy!
scifimojo.com 