Star Trek Into Darkness
Director: J.J. Abrams
Screenwriter(s): Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Alice Eve, John Cho
Paramount Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 133 Minutes
Release Date: May 16, 2013

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

With Star Trek Into Darkness, the 12th motion picture in the Star Trek franchise, director J.J. Abrams stays true to the main themes of Gene Roddenberry‘s classic television series while meeting all the requisite components of an action-packed summer blockbuster.

Roddenberry’s 1966 series highlighted the camaraderie of the USS Enterprise crew and the bonds of friendship between Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy, but Star Trek is remembered most for using science-fiction allegories to explore present-day dilemmas.

In Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof introduce post-9/11 anxieties into a futuristic utopia, examining how a universe built on peaceful intergalactic diplomacy deals with acts of terrorism and, as a result, the increasing militarization of the United Federation of Planets.

Commander John Harrison (Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch) carries out a series of terrorist attacks, bombing a secret Starfleet installation in London before attacking Starfleet headquarters in San Francisco. When the saboteur escapes, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) leads a mission to the Klingon homeworld of Kronos to hunt down the most wanted man in the universe.

Sometimes it pays to be a little bit subtle, but when it comes to something like the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, it doesn’t because people want answers now. So leave it to Playboy to ask the questions, and leave it to J.J. Abrams to stand his ground and skirt around questions that everyone wants to know.

Check out what he had to say about both franchises here after the jump.

While the director wouldn’t talk about plot specifics, he did talk about how he would approach making Star Wars: Episode VII:

We are less than a month away from the release of the long-in-the-works tentpole sequel Star Trek Into Darkness and now that the last of the trailers has been released it is time for the tricking out of short clips from the movie to begin. Today we have one that those of you lucky enough to catch the nine-minute preview last December before IMAX 3D screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will remember.

You can watch it here below.

Star Trek: Countdown To Darkness
Trade Paperback
Story by Roberto Orci and Mike Johnson
Script by Mike Johnson
Pencils by David Messina
Inks by Marina Castelvetro
Colors by Claudia Scarletgothica
Cover by David Messina and Claudia Scarletgothica
IDW Publishing
Release Date: April 23, 2013
Cover Price: $17.99

Anticipation is running high for the upcoming summer blockbuster season, and Star Trek Into Darkness is most certainly at the top of most fans’ lists as “˜must see’ material. The buzz surrounding the film has been so huge during the last year that it certainly feels to be an enthusing time to be a sci-fi geek. And in tradition to form with the previous Star Trek movie, IDW Publishing has released a prequel to the upcoming movie entitled Star Trek: Countdown To Darkness.

Prior to the events of the upcoming movie, the crew of the USS Enterprise, under the authority of Captain Kirk, arrives at the planet Phaedus to conduct a survey of the development of the intelligent race on the surface. Observing the protocol of the Prime Directive, the crew aims to observe the “iron age” home-grown species from orbit – until a high tech jamming signal from the planet disables communication and transporters.

Two trailers and a viral campaign later, we have our third trailer for the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek Into Darkness. Though it is a bit of a retread on what we have seen before, this trailer puts emphasis on just how vulnerable the Starship Enterprise really is, and just how eager Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is to avenge the glorious Federation after it has been hit by numerous interstellar terrorist attacks.

Hit the jump to check out the final trailer for the film.

Just what does it mean to be outgunned, outmanned, and outmatched in the Star Trek universe? Well, based on this trailer, it looks like the people of the starship Enterprise have their work cut out for them. But no matter what stands before our heroes, Captain Kirk knows what he has to do to put an end to the villainous John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch). So, we will see how strong Kirk’s will is to put a stop to Harrison when Star Trek Into Darkness opens in theaters on May 17, 2013.