Star Trek Into Darkness (Rhoades)

“Star Trek” Beams

Down Once Again

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Back in my day at Marvel Comics, we had a license with Paramount to publish “Star Trek” comic books. But they were a pain to produce because the actors had likeness approval. Patrick Steward was particularly difficult, first saying the drawings made his head too round, then too pointy.

I’d been a fan of Gene Roddenberry’s creation since the days of William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy. I’d dealt with Stewart’s capriciousness. And I’d had coffee with Avery Brooks to discuss a movie project.

However, I admit I faced the 2009 reboot by J.J. Abrams with trepidation. How could he hope to replace Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock with a couple of then-newcomers (Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto)?

But he pulled it off.

That’s why I was looking forward to the new Abrams sequel, “Star Trek Into Darkness.” And not disappointed.

You can catch a warp-speed ride at the Tropic Cinema.

In this one, the youthful Captain Kirk (Pine) gets demoted to First Officer for breaking the Prime Directive, which puts him in London to ward off an attack on Starfleet headquarters by a rogue agent known as Harrison (played by Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, who starred as the great detective in BBC’s “Sherlock”). Question is, who is this villainous guy Harrison and what does he want?

All the crew is there: Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho), Bones (Karl Urban), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Along with Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood), Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve), and Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy).

“We wanted to approach this movie not as a sequel, but as a stand-alone so you never had to see the first film that we did or the original series,” says Abrams.

A new series of comic books foreshadowing "Into Darkness" were released (now published by IDW). But spoilers have been minimal. You’ll have to see the movie to figure out the agenda of the enigmatic Harrison.

“We wanted to make this movie, without question, a bigger movie,” says Abrams. “A more emotional movie, more action and more intensity.”

Spoiler alert: Yes, Captain Kirk dies of radiation poisoning. Because “Star Trek Into Darkness” is really about the Wrath of Khan.

srhoades@aol.com