reviewed by Fred Dixon
Star Trek Into Darkness is a well-crafted movie
indeed a talented and attractive cast, excellent special effects, pulse pounding
action, and above all a good story. There are also lots of references to Trek canon, but
they do no render the movie inaccessible to the casual film-goer. Nestled underneath it
all this is some incisive political commentary. In the Star Trek Writers Guide, Gene
Roddenberry stated that the stories should deal with 20th Century problems
within a 23rd Century context. With Star
Trek Into Darkness, now we have advanced into the 21st Century. One would
hope by the time humankind makes it to the 23rd Century that almost all the
problems of our time would have been solved. This would include intolerance, hunger,
poverty, disease, war and economics. Roddenberry also hoped that human beings themselves
would have evolved more. He did not want his characters to have personal flaws. However,
such perfect individuals or societies might get in the way of interesting story telling.
With Star Trek Into Darkness, we indeed have the
21st Century set in the 23rd.
As Commodore
Pike noted in the first new movie, Starfleet was lacking something. That something to him
was aggression, creativity, and risk taking. Admiral Alexander Marcus, the head of
Starfleet, took this a step further. He believes Starfleet lacks a certain amount of
viciousness and ruthlessness needed for survival. The 23rd Century Federation
has become too civilized perhaps. The Admiral has reasoned that the barbaric Klingons are
a grave threat to the Federation and the Federation is simply not up to the task. As set
forth in the 2009 movie Star Trek, the timeline
has been altered. Instead of the Enterprise coming across the SS Botany Bay, Admiral
Marcus has. He encounters Khan Noonian Singh first. The admiral finds the qualities he is
looking for in Khan and puts him to use. He strikes a bargain with him. Design advance
weaponry capable of destroying the Klingons in exchange for reviving the rest of
Khans crew all seventy-two of them. The Admiral then establishes a black
project. A super starship is designed by Khan and built by Starfleet at a secret site in
orbit around Jupiter. When Marcus reneges on their deal, Khan commits acts of terror on
Earth. He takes it out on Section 31 (the black ops unit) and Admiral Marcus himself. Khan
escapes to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS, a
place he believed Starfleet would not dare to follow him to. Marcus
illegally orders the Enterprise to find and kill him. Kirk is all too willing to follow
this order and avenge the death of Pike. Spock and Scotty caution Kirk not to follow
through, but for different reasons Spock cites regulation and Scotty cites safety
reasons. The Enterprise is to use a new missile technology to standoff at the edge of
Klingon space and fire at an unpopulated province of Qo'noS where Khan is hiding. Only the Enterprises
warp core has been sabotaged to prevent the Enterprise from getting away undetected. Once
disabled, it would only be a matter of time before the Klingons would find the ship. The
Klingons would certainly destroy it and start a war with the Federation. The
technologically inferior Klingons could not win this war and would be defeated by the
Federation.
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