The past two weeks have brought us a veritable bonanza of Star Trek Into Darkness promotional material since Paramount Pictures officially set the film’s marketing campaign to warp 9, starting off with the release of a killer teaser poster. A few days later a minute-long announcement trailer hit the web. This past weekend a 9-minute preview begin showing in front of IMAX 3D screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey while standard 2D and 3D screenings of Peter Jackson’s latest fantasy epic got a snazzy new trailer that features even more footage from one of 2013’s most anticipated tentpole blockbusters. Today that trailer has surfaced online courtesy of iTunes.

You can watch the trailer here below.

The darker tone of the movie is established right after the studio and production company logos with a montage of scenes narrated by Bruce Greenwood, returning as Admiral Christopher Pike, as he tells Chris Pine‘s Captain James T. Kirk that although he has much greatness in him, he also has not a trace of humility, causing him to pull reckless stunts that will likely get him and his trusted crew killed – a point which is punctuated by each of the principal cast members looking pensive and mournful. We get shots of a Federation funeral service, a mass gathering of closed coffins, and then once Benedict Cumberbatch‘s villain John Harrison (if that is indeed his real name….sorry, couldn’t resist) enters the fray, the trailer pretty much resembles the announcement teaser from there on in, with some exceptions. Scenes of mass destruction, people looking sad and frightened, and the Enterprise crashing into an ocean close things out.

I noticed there is not a single moment of levity in this trailer. Granted, J.J. Abrams‘ first Trek adventure was not a non-stop laugh riot, but at least it contained some welcome humorous interludes to offset the grim tone of the plot, and that was established in that film’s first full trailer that premiered in November 2008. Even Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies knew well to not get overly serious about things most of the time, and that approach did not always work it was good to know the filmmakers. Hopefully the next trailer will liven things up a bit. After all, the universe is not really worth saving from complete annihilation if you can not have some fun while doing so.

Star Trek Into Darkness opens on May 17, 2013.

Trailer

[Source: iTunes]