The 2009 Star Trek movie was an enjoyable way to reboot a franchise that’s come to include the Priceline Negotiator, Professor X, and the guy from Quantum Leap.
I'm not a Star Trek fan, but my boss is, and he is greatly disappointed that J.J. Abrams’s creativity seems to have lasted for only a single movie. Based on what we know of next week's Star Trek Into Darkness, Abrams takes one more trip to the well and destroys the USS Enterprise. Again.
Behold another summer blockbuster that has its villain purposely getting captured (see: The Dark Knight and The Avengers). Why not just have the Smoke Monster from Lost be the Big Bad?
To refresh Abrams's memory, this here blog would like to provide a handy reference guide to all the times the Enterprise has detonated, crashed, or been blown up. In chronological order:
Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock (1984)
Yesterday's Enterprise (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (1990)
Cause and Effect (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (1992)
Parallels (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (1993)
All Good Things… (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (1994)
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Here's the thing, though. If the Enterprise does blow up next week, it should stay blown up. As a student of the Joss Whedon School of Drama, I am firmly in the camp that says when a character dies, they are dead. None of this lame time warp, magic, deus ex machina mumbo jumbo that lets storytellers dip into the same pool of stories twice. R.I.P. Wash, Fred, Agent Coulson. The list goes on.
If J.J.'s going to blow up the Enterprise but bring it back in the next Star Trek, does that mean he's going to bring back Vader for the new Star Wars? I hear Patton Oswalt has some thoughts on this.