Star Trek Into Darkness Easter Eggs [SPOILERS]

Here are the ones I noticed; feel free to mention any I missed in the comments.

* The uniforms worn by Admiral Marcus and the other admirals at Starfleet HQ evoke Kirk's Admiral's uniform from the opening minutes of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

* Kirk sleeps with two Caitians; this cat-like race also produced one of the members of the bridge crew on Star Trek: The Animated Series.

* Sulu briefly takes command and ponders a possible future as a captain in Starfleet, saying, "Captain has a nice ring to it." In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (and a Voyager episode with a flashback to that same time period), Sulu was captain of the USS Excelsior.

* Section 31 is responsible for reviving and manipulating Khan. Section 31 is the same super-secret Starfleet black ops division that recruited and manipulated Dr. Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

* The Kelvin Archive, target of the first terror attack and secretly a base for Section 31, refers to the USS Kelvin, the ship briefly captained by George Kirk in the previous film. It's likely called The Kelvin Archive because Nero's attack on the Kelvin prompted Starfleet's move to a more militaristic stance.

* Kirk craves, and is eventually granted, a five-year mission. He later references this in his "Captain's Oath," which is nearly word-for-word Shatner's opening dialogue from The Original Series, except with the Next Generation modification of "...where no one has gone before," instead of "...where no man has gone before."

* Among Admiral Marcus's collection of model spaceships is Zephram Cochrane's warp-capable breakthrough and a Vulcan starship from Enterprise, as well as the previously-mentioned USS Kelvin.

* When Chekov takes over engineering and has to wear a red shirt, he looks distinctly uncomfortable. Red-shirted crew members are notoriously disposable.

* Security Officer Cupcake, from the 2009 film and the IDW comics, appears.

* The Mudd incident from the IDW comics is mentioned, and her ship is used in Kirk's covert op on the Klingon homeworld. (That's right, her ship. You are reading IDW's in-canon Abramsverse Trek comics, right?)

* The Klingon mining facility on Praxis appears to have exploded decades earlier than in the original timeline (as seen in The Undiscovered Country).

* McCoy uses his "I'm a doctor, not a..." line.

* Leonard Nimoy cameos as Spock asks his older, more experienced self about Khan when the ship and every life on it as threatened.

* Chris Doohan, son of Scotty Prime actor James Doohan, appears again (he was in the '09 film) as a transporter operator.

* Carol Marcus mentions Christine Chapel, who in this universe apparently felt the need to head to deep space after a fling with James T. Kirk. In the original series, Nurse Chapel was  key member of Dr. McCoy's medical staff, and played by Majel Barrett, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

* Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Morrison are listed in the credits, and apparently their voices are among those Kirk hears (or imagines hearing) when he wakes up from being, um, dead. They played Kirk's parents George and Winona in the 2009 movie. (From MTV.com.)

* In the film's final scene, Kirk welcomes Carol Marcus to the Enterprise family, and Marcus responds that "It's nice to have a family." In the original timeline, the two have a son together, David Marcus. (From MTV.com.)

* The Daystrom Institute is mentioned. Richard Daystrom was a scientist on the original series.

* Jonathan Archer's USS Enterprise (NX-01) is visible among Marcus's model ships. (From the comments to this post.)

ADD's Personal and Spoilery Review of Star Trek Into Darkness

Warning: This review contains spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness. Do not read any further if you want to be surprised by the events of the film.

The four years between 2009's Star Trek directed by J.J. Abrams and the release of his sequel film, Star Trek Into Darkness, were four of the longest years of my life.

Not just because I was waiting for more of the new universe of Trek Abrams and his team had created. I loved the 2009 movie (here's my review to prove it), but also because it was a rough four years. The economy had begun its long slide into hell in 2008, and in 2010 that fact hit home when I was laid off from my job, a period of unemployment that lasted for some 19 months. I wasn't the only one to lose his job in that period; many people were in the same boat. Many people I knew personally. The world had seemingly changed, and we wondered if it was ever going to change back, if there was even a place for us anymore. One of the things that got me through that nearly two years was Star Trek, both the franchise in general, watching it, writing about it -- and J.J. Abrams's new vision in particular, which fired my imagination and got me excited not only about Star Trek, but about the idea that perhaps it was going to survive after all. After the release of Nemesis, the last of the Next Generation movies (and deservedly so), and the cancellation of Enterprise, it was clear the 1990s-era cultural love affair with Star Trek (Kirk and Picard made on the cover of Time, dude) was well over, and us Trek nerds were once again in the minority.

The long, four-year stretch of Treklessness was only moderately alleviated by hints and allegations of what the next movie might entail; its release date kept getting pushed further and further away, and I began to wonder if I'd live long enough to see its release. I wish I could tell you I'm kidding, but I love Star Trek that much, and the wait was that frustrating for me. As the lights went down last night and the Bad Robot logo danced across the screen, I could feel that four years wash away with a great sense of relief. I made it to the next one. Star Trek is back, and I had a job, and enough money to buy tickets at ridiculous 3D prices to bring my son and my wife out for an evening at the movies, watching the new Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the gang get put through their paces.

I should note that the evening came at the end of a pretty awful, and certainly frustrating week. I had taken the week off, partially because of Into Darkness and my hopes of seeing the Wednesday night midnight showing. What I had hoped would be a week of relaxing and not thinking much about work instead turned into a week of pain, fear and frustration and not thinking much about work. On Monday a routine annual physical for my 17-year-old son ended in disaster as he had a reaction to a vaccination and collapsed in the doctor's office, slamming his head into a wall and breaking his nose. Upon awaking from a brief period of syncope (Syncope was also one of the film studios with a vanity card at the beginning of Into Darkness, how weird is that on multiple levels?), he had some convulsions that, as a parent, scared the living shit out of me. He recovered pretty quickly (literally getting a clean bill of health in the same doctor's office an hour before we went to see Into Darkness), but the rest of my week included a day lost to lower back pain, ice packs and heating pads, and an allergy attack that drove me to pick up some Claritin-D, which I take against medical advice, but which is the only medication that moderates my somewhat severe seasonal allergies. If you're asking what this has to do with Star Trek, read the headline again. This was a personal event for me, this movie, and I want to put it into context. Also, if you're still reading by now, I assume you don't mind the spoilers, which, yes, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IS KHAN.

I knew this ahead of time, having read that obnoxious review from down under a few weeks back. Obnoxious not because it contained massive spoilers (like this one is about to), but because it was written from a spoiled, entitled point of view that didn't appreciate at all what Abrams and Orci and Kurtzman and company have done. Like Bones McCoy reviving a dead man with inspiration from a tribble, they have taken something seemingly strong (if you're a fan Star Trek seems like an unkillable force of nature) that is actually quite fragile most of the time, dependent on cultural whims and easily overshadowed by much dumber entertainment that by virtue of its fairy-tale imbecility seems to appeal to the entire planet. Did I mention J.J. Abrams is directing the next Star Wars movie?

So yes, Benedict Cumberbatch plays Khan. (True story: A friend of mine who is a big Trek fan actually thought the villain's name was "Benedict Cumberbatch" up until a couple of weeks ago.) If you come into the story with no previous attention having been paid to the copious theories about the true identity of the bad guy, you might be surprised (well, not anymore; my bad); at various times the clips and teasers and IDW's Countown to Darkness comic had me convinced it was Gary Mitchell or Robert April, but there were convincing arguments that it might be Garth of Izar or even, (could they? WOULD they?!?) Khan himself.

But before we get to Khan, we have an original series-worthy opening vignette on the planet Niburu, where still-new and still-brash Captain James T. Kirk has been assigned to monitor a pre-warp civilization and not violate the Prime Directive. The Federation, you see, has rules against allowing peoples who have not achieved faster-than-light travel to know that the universe is full of other living beings with big starships and phasers and whatnot. It's the futuristic, cultural equivalent of the old "Old enough to pee, old enough for me" justification. "Old enough to warp, old enough to, erm, know other people can warp too. I said WARP TWO, Sulu!" But I digress.

While busy monitoring life on Niburu, Kirk (spoilers!) goes ahead and violates the living shit out of the Prime Directive when he saves Spock's life (against Spock's stated and somewhat hilarious wishes) by allowing the natives to see the Enterprise as it saves Spock from dying in a volcano he is trying to stop from erupting and destroying the population. Kirk lies in his log about these exciting events, which really get the movie rolling quite well, while Spock, being Spock, is painfully honest in his report to Starfleet, which gets Kirk busted back down to Commander, as Chris Pike, disappointed and fatherly, takes command of the Enterprise once more, and Spock is reassigned to another ship. This was one of the elements I was concerned about after reading that early, spoilery review, but it is believable and dramatic on the screen and flows logically (see what I did there?) from the events of the previous film.

Following all that, we see "John Harrison" (Khan, but that's not yet revealed in the movie) manipulate a desperate father into carrying out a terrorist attack on an important Starfleet facility; Kirk, Pike, Spock and other captains and first officers gather at Starfleet HQ in San Francisco, and during a meeting to plan response to the attack, Kirk realizes they've been tricked into assembling all in one place so Harrison can carry out his real plan, which is to kill all those captains and first officers.

There are layers within layers as far as these events and their true motivations go, but it's never confusing and it all made sense to my wife, who I always use as a baseline for the comprehensibility of Trek, since she likes it but is not engaged in a lifelong love affair in the way her husband is. She understood what was going on throughout, and especially liked that Kirk twigged to the real attack just seconds before Harrison started shooting up Starfleet, killing Chris Pike and providing a serious investment in Harrison's capture (or killing) for both Kirk and Spock, to both of whom Pike was a mentor.

I should mention that I was really happy the earlier film found a way to keep Pike around, as he has always fascinated me, kind of being the Captain Pete Best of Star Trek. Bruce Greenwood did nice work as the character, but in Uncle Ben fashion, his death here really moves Kirk to the next stage in his development as an officer and as a human being, and the death scene, with Vulcan mind meld, is brilliantly and movingly depicted. Zachary Quinto is a miracle as Spock, a complete reinvention that requires no willing suspension of disbelief at all. Even when Leonard Nimoy is onscreen (and he is here, briefly), Quinto still utterly inhabits and channels our most beloved Vulcan with genuine and powerful credibility. Whatever differences there are in his character as opposed to Original Spock are convincingly assigned to the destruction of Vulcan and the death before his eyes of his beloved mother Amanda in the previous film. Of course he would be different, emotionally. But he is still Spock, and he still commands our respect, our affection, and our sense of wonder.

The hunt for Harrison is a Zero Dark Thirty-like secret and deniable mission into Klingon space. The new Klingons don't look a lot like any previous Klingons, but if you're going to quibble about Klingons not looking like other Klingons, perhaps you've picked the wrong franchise to invest yourself in. The previous movie couldn't even make Romulans that looked like the Romulans from the previous movie (Nemesis), and those Romulans were from the same universe (I'd explain, but I'm exhausted just thinking about it, so, trust me). I always just think about how different Caucasians look from Africans look from Asians look from blah blah blah -- there's a wide disparity in appearance on our world, perhaps the disparity is wider for Klingons and Romulans, okay?

In one of the movie's cleverest reversals, we realize Kirk lied to Admiral Marcus (a scenery-chewing Peter Weller) when he said he was going to hunt Harrison down and kill him. Instead, Kirk decides to be true to his own moral compass and despite his righteous outrage over Pike's death, he decides to capture him alive and bring him back to face justice for his actions. Imagine if Bin Laden's hunters had made the same choice? There's some sophistication to be found in the ideas of this film, believe it or not, and I choose to believe it's not coincidence or accidental evocation. Into Darkness, for all its action and Easter eggs (hello, reference to Harry Mudd from the IDW comics), is about not just terrorism but our response to it and even possibly our implicit role in its existence. This movie asks questions I wish Los Estados Unidos had asked, as a people and at the highest levels, before invading Iraq, or after finding out where Bin Laden was. But as in Into Darkness, there are people who don't want the public to know the truth about terrorism, its motivations and causality, and they use violence and patriotism to stifle debate and destroy any chance of learning the root cause for such desperate actions.

That's the real spoiler of Into Darkness; that Khan has a good reason (from his point of view, at least), for what he does. Perhaps moreso than in "Space Seed" and Wrath of Khan, his motives are understandable and even evoke some sympathy. We don't necessarily agree with his choices, but we understand his rage and his frustration and if you're anything like me, there are points in the film where you wish he and Kirk could find common ground. They do, briefly, ally themselves against their common foe, in one of the most thrilling divergences from Wrath of Khan. Ricardo Montalban and William Shatner never were in the same place together in that much-loved film; here, though, they work together, they fight each other, and Chris Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch bring a jolt of chaotic, unpredictable electricity to their scenes together.

I don't want to go over the plot beat by beat, and I am not spoiling the actual ending, but I will say that every worry I had about the evocation of Wrath of Khan was overcome by the excitement and artistry on the screen during Star Trek Into Darkness. The destruction of Vulcan is a plausible reason that the Botany Bay is discovered not by Kirk and crew, but by a more pro-active and reactive Starfleet looking to gird itself for war. Nero's arrival and its implications for the future have scared the shit out of men like Admiral Marcus (much more the villain here than Khan, and I totally dug Cumberbatch as Khan), and changed Starfleet.

While I hope any future movies in this franchise explore strange new worlds in a manner in keeping with nearly 50 years of Star Trek history, the use of such tropes as tribbles, Section 31 and friction with the Klingons (hey, was that Praxis in orbit around the Klingon homeworld?) flows organically in Into Darkness, and I have no complaints.

I read a lot of dissatisfied and unhappy reviews of this movie, claiming it is a hollow echo of Wrath of Khan and misappropriates a lot of the situations and dialogue from that film. Me, I choose to see it, like the first movie, as an entirely credible reimagining of a beloved story, familiar events and beloved characters as seen through the lens (flare, ha ha) of a truly altered timeline. Of course they will find themselves in similar situations to what we saw before; of course they might say similar lines of dialogue in those circumstances. If every movie from here on out rehashes and reheats stuff Star Trek made a meal of decades ago, then I would agree that Abrams and company have failed in their mission. But this time out, I had even more fun than I did with the 2009 movie. I fucking loved Into Darkness, and the only moment I might have considered cutting was Leonard Nimoy's cameo, as I think this crew is ready to fly into its own future. But my wife felt it made perfect sense that in that much danger, with the ship and every life on it threatened, our new, young Spock would turn to his older self for advice. And you know, she's right. And it was glorious to see the two Spocks interact again, just for a couple of minutes.

It reminded me of just how much Star Trek has given me over the 47 years of my life. Last night, it gave me and my wife and our teenage son a fantastic night at the movies, after which we went out for a marvelous dinner and talked mostly about how much we loved the movie we had just experienced together as a family. I had resolved not to talk about it, so as not to be a bore. But they, casual fans of Star Trek, who might never have watched it at all if not for knowing me, they loved it, and they wanted to talk about it. And I, of course, was delighted to do so. Star Trek Into Darkness is great entertainment for anyone looking to be entertained, and great Star Trek for anyone who still loves these characters and believes there is life left in them yet.

Final Star Trek Into Darkness Trailer

With one month to go before the U.S. release of Star Trek Into Darkness, here is the action-packed final trailer for the film, with many new shots and sequences not seen in previous trailers. Included are some annoying flipped shots (keep an eye on where the Starfleet insignia is on Kirk and Spock's shirts), and as this shot-by-shot analysis reveals, the strongest suggestions yet that the villain of the movie may indeed be Khan. The title card similarity to the original Wrath of Khan trailer is too spot-on to be coincidence, but it certainly could be misdirection. The presence of apparent cryo-tubes, however, suggest not. A month from today, and hopefully not sooner, we'll know for certain.

Captain's Log: Stardate 041013

* Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness #4, the final issue of the in-canon prequel mini-series, arrives in comic book stores today (as does the latest issue of the ongoing Star Trek series, both published by IDW). Here's a new interview with writer Mike Johnson, discussing how the prequel ties in to Star Trek Into Darkness, being released in theaters next month.

* In this lengthy preview for STCTD #4 (spoilers!), I'm pretty sure we're seeing the foundation for the motivation for "John Harrison" in the new movie; I'm now of the opinion that Benedict Cumberbatch may be playing a de-aged Robert April. Remember, getting younger is the core of Robert April's one previous Star Trek appearance.

* Unlike some people, I consider The Animated Series at least partially canonical. It was executive produced by Gene Roddenberry, written by D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, Walter Koenig and other Star Trek writers, and starred William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForrest Kelley, James Doohan, Majel Barrett, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols. It aired originally on NBC. Come on, if you don't think that's Star Trek, I don't know what the hell to tell you.

* Here's the best round-up I've seen yet of high-resolution images from Star Trek Into Darkness. Yes, I downloaded every one. You will, too.

Captain's Log: Stardate 022313

* Entertainment Weekly has posted its Star Trek Into Darkness cover story from last week's print issue, in which director J.J. Abrams talks about the sequel, taking on Star Wars, and more.

* Startrek.com talks to actor Richard Herd, who you may remember as the head lizard on V in the 1980s, or more recently as Tom Paris's father on Star Trek: Voyager. Herd is another character actor whose love of Star Trek comes as a pleasant surprise. I always assume it's just a job for most actors; when it turns out it really means something to them, that's nice to know, and probably explains the quality of Herd's performances in Trek. Update: Here's part two.

* 10 facts about Spock Must Die, the first real Star Trek novel, which was written by James Blish. A pretty indispensable piece of Star Trek history, Spock Must Die always struck me as about as canonical as the very best animated series episodes.

* Mick Martin has posted the fourth in his series of review of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes I told him were awesome. Perhaps coincidentally, Mick covers three truly great episodes in this batch, and also kindly links to this blog.

* For some reason, they're re-releasing ST: TNG on regular, non-hi-def DVD, at a lower price point but with hideously designed packaging. This seems like a huge mis-step from multiple points of view.

* I have a review copy of Stuck on Star Trek, but I can't work up the whimsy to crack it open. If you're the type who enjoys goofy stuff like this, I bet you'll love it. Certainly it recalls such kitschy 1970s' fare like ColorForms and the animated Star Trek series.

Captain's Log: Stardate 021613

* William Shatner talks about Star Trek, his new animated film Escape from Planet Earth, possibly appearing on The Big Bang Theory and more in a new interview with Collider.

* There's some impressive footage in this making-of video about the forthcoming Star Trek video game.

* Here's a preview of the upcoming Star Trek Visual Dictionary. Speaking of previews, here's a rundown of IDW's May Star Trek comics, which includes the first post-Into Darkness issue of the ongoing new-timeline series.

* The remastered version of Star Trek: The Next Generation's classic two-parter The Best of Both Worlds is coming to theaters ahead of its Blu-ray release. Why do they always do these things on a weeknight?

* Hi-res versions of some recent images from Star Trek Into Darkness.

* 38 things you can learn from the commentary track to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

* 41 minutes of all-era Star Trek bloopers. Glorious.

Captain's Log: Stardate 021313

* Los Angeles is the site of a full cast reunion of Star Trek: The Next Generation this weekend. It seems like TNG's cast, of all the Star Trek series, have the most respect and affection for each other. Look at the joy and love on the faces of Sir Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes in the photo accompanying the story linked above. I think that's pretty rare in as competitive a place as Hollywood, and it's heartening to see.

* At i09, a scientist inspired by Star Trek discusses how futurists can affect the future.

* The new Star Trek video game coming out in April promises an unprecedented chance to explore the Enterprise. That sounds pretty amazing. Wish I liked video games or had the patience to learn.

* One of the cornerstones of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's reputation as a quality series is the brilliantly-realized episode "Far Beyond The Stars." Here's a look back, celebrating the challenging and affecting episode's 15th anniversary.

* Speaking of DS9, here's a rundown of what's on the newly-released four-disc soundtrack to the series.

* Writer Peter David, who has a slew of quality Star Trek novels on his considerable resume, has returned home after suffering a stroke recently; here's an update on how he's doing.

Captain's Log: Stardate 021113

* Entertainment Weekly showcases five new images from Star Trek Into Darkness. Click through after the fifth one for a few of the previously-released pics from the film as well.

* I've never been much of a model builder, but this Revell 1/500th scale Enterprise looks beautiful. The Star Trek Into Darkness Kre-O toys, not so much. I'm hoping for a line of 6-inch STID action figures like we got for the previous film in '09, but those did not seem to sell all that well, and I haven't heard anything about new figures for the new movie. I did  get a full set of Playmates 6-inchers from last time around, but Uhura was tough to find and pricier than the rest. Not that she isn't worth it.

* "He's not playing Khan." Actress Alice Eve, the new Carol Marcus, has flat-out denied that Benedict Cumberbatch is portraying the guy who stole Marcus's Genesis Device in the original Star Trek timeline. And with that, I think I am officially exhausted by the question of who Cumberbatch's character may or may not be, as much as I am looking forward to Star Trek Into Darkness.

* Toy Fair 2013 is underway in New York City. Here's a look at all the Star Trek merchandise being promoted at the event. None of it really sends me over the moon -- I find Diamond's "dynamic" six-inch Trek figures particularly disappointing -- but I have to admit that those retro alarm clocks featuring Gold Key artwork look like a fun item.

Captain's Log: Stardate 020913

* Here's a full rundown of the contents of the Blu-ray releases of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 and The Best of Both Worlds, coming in April. The Best of Both Worlds was originally a two-parter that bridged seasons 3 and 4, ending with the unforgettable cliffhanger in which Picard had been transformed into Locutus, spokesman for the Borg as they attempted to assimilate humankind.

* I think it's smart that they're releasing BOBW as a standalone release, as the quality of the episodes merits such treatment, and it'll also likely convince some skeptics that TNG is worth picking up in Blu-ray. I bought the initial TNG Blu-ray sampler, and will certainly buy BOBW when it comes out, but I don't know if I have the money or the interest necessary to invest in the entire series in Blu-ray (or any other) format. There are episodes of TNG that I love dearly, but there are many more that I don't much care for. Perhaps it's a result of having seven seasons instead of three, but I could watch almost any episode of the original series and enjoy the time as well spent. I've bought the entire series on DVD, then again on Blu-Ray, and had probably a third of the episodes on VHS back before DVD became the thing. But I just don't have that same passion for the entirety of The Next Generation.

* I don't mean this as a condemnation of TNG; I watched the entire series in its original broadcasts, and love the characters and the actors who brought them to life. I would love to have an animated version of Star Trek: Countdown so that those actors could voice the great prequel to the 2009 movie that IDW published in comics form, a story that featured Picard, Data and other TNG characters to great effect, effectively a farewell to the TNG era, certainly a far better one than the last TNG movie, Star Trek Nemesis.

* So, yeah, Best of Both Worlds on Blu-ray? After the May release of Star Trek Into Darkness, that right there is the Star Trek Thing I Am Most Excited About in 2013.

Captain's Log: Stardate 020813

* Rumours abound after Entertainment Weekly's coverage this week of Star Trek Into Darkness included a tag that could be giving away the long-held secret regarding the antagonist of the film, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. If you don't mind spoilers, or possibly being toyed with by Entertainment Weekly, click here to find out more.

* Here are the two Star Trek Into Darkness Entertainment Weekly covers, and a batch of new images from the film.

* One of my favourite guest stars on the original Star Trek was actor William Windom. His character, Commodore Matt Decker, makes a list of the worst captains in SF history.

* Did you see the spectacular new image of galaxy M106? Here's the equally-amazing story.

Captain's Log: Stardate 020513

* In a video interview with Vanity Fair, Benedict Cumberbatch describes how he submitted his audition for Star Trek Into Darkness to director J.J. Abrams,

* The man my wife calls "The Fake Captain Kirk," actor Chris Pine, says he doesn't want Star Wars to interfere with J.J. Abrams directing the followup to Star Trek Into Darkness. I agree, and I like the fact that Pine cares enough to say something about it. I don't care if Abrams directs Star Wars, but I love what he's done with Trek and want many more such adventures.

* Actor Mark Allen Shepard reflects on his time playing Morn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Captain's Log: Stardate 020413

* Here's the Star Trek Into Darkness Superbowl commercial. Paramount supposedly paid nearly 4 mil to run this during "The Big Game." New, I think, is the Kirk "Who the hell are you?" exchange with the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who as you probably already know is Gary Mitchell, Khan, Robert April, or somebody. There's also some new shots of the ship apparently falling out of orbit. You have to hand it to Paramount, they certainly have kept Cumberbatch's character's true identity a secret for many months now while continuing to build excitement and anticipation for the new movie, which is out in theaters in May.

* Here's the trailer for Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 on Blu-ray. I haven't been buying these sets, but would be first in line for a best-of-TNG set that includes all the best episodes from all seven seasons.

* We got a Roku box a few weeks ago and I've been occasionally dipping into the vast storehouse of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes on Hulu Plus. I watched "The Lower Decks" yesterday and was impressed by how well it was written and performed. Then at dinner, my son Aaron got off his X-Box long enough to watch "Rascals" with me. He got a huge grin out of the scene where 12-year-old Picard hugs Riker and calls him "Dad." A terrifically entertaining episode, directed by Leonard Nimoy's son Adam.

Captain's Log: Stardate 020213

* The inheritor of Leonard Nimoy's legacy as the half-Vulcan Mr. Spock is actor Zachary Quinto. He proves he's a hilariously good sport as he plays "It's Spock, Do You Care?" The only way this could have been funnier is if it were William Shatner asking the question.

* All you need to know about M'Ress, the Caitian Enterprise crew member on Star Trek's animated incarnation, who had a much bigger impact on some viewers than I had previously realized.

* There's a new Star Trek video game shipping in April, ahead of the release a month later of Star Trek Into Darkness, the 12th Star Trek movie. Here are some images from the new Star Trek game, some of which are actually quite beautiful.

* Speaking of Star Trek: Into Darkness, here is a brief promotional featurette with comments from director J.J. Abrams, Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine and others.

* Talking Trek: Here's a recent interview with Tricia O'Neil, who played Rachel Garrett, Star Trek's first female captain in the TNG episode Yesterday's Enterprise, one of my personal TNG favourites.

Welcome to Star Trek Galaxy

I'm Alan David Doane and I've been blogging mostly about comic books, but occasionally about Star Trek, since 2002. I actually started writing about comics in the late 1990s, but we didn't call it blogging then and my first official blog was sometime in 2002. Not that you care, so, moving on...

I started watching Star Trek when it was in animated form in the 1970s, having been born too early to have watched the original series in its first run, coincidentally the same year it debuted, 1966. The cartoon was my gateway to the afternoon reruns of the live action series, which was my favourite TV series then and probably remains so now. I've loved a lot of TV shows since Star Trek, from The Prisoner to The Sopranos to Twin Peaks to Mad Men and beyond, but Star Trek's original three-season run has always fascinated me. Forty years or so after seeing it for the first time, I still can really immerse myself in some of the best episodes, like City on the Edge of Forever, or Mirror, Mirror. On another blog I once listed my 25 favourite episodes, and I think over the next few weeks I'll be porting articles like that over to here, so that eventually all my Star Trek posts will be in one central place.

In addition to housing all my existing Star Trek articles, this blog will contain news and commentary on Star Trek in all its incarnations, and maybe occasionally related TV and movies as well. So whether you're new to my peculiar methods of blogging or a longtime reader, welcome, and thanks for checking this out. Oh, and live long and prosper.