popgeek

Via Bleeding Cool:

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

If I had to guess, I'd say we're looking at a mashup of the original series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and Star Trek II, with Gary Mitchell filling the role of a vengeful bad guy who has deep roots in Kirk's past.

With that last line, killing someone seems inevitable.

Will Spock die, and if so, who will care? The first film found a terrifically unique way to both trade on memories of the original cast and stories, and establish its own fresh identity. If you kill a Spock who's only a movie old, as opposed to one with nearly twenty years associated with the character, who cares? Nimoy was iconic when he died; Quinto is still that guy from Heroes who made good.

Unless maybe the key to Spock's inevitable resurrection lies with the one being in the universe who can truly be said to replace Spock should Spock die...some kind of trade-off in the third film where old Spock sacrifices his life to resurrect new Spock. So they get to once again have their cake and eat it too.

IDW has been publishing an ongoing series of stories tied into the new movie universe; throughout the series, the creators of both the films and the comics have dropped occasional hints that the comic would somehow provide small hints at what direction the movie sequel would take. The first story in the IDW comic series adapted "Where No Man..." so would it be possible to imagine that the new movie starts with Gary Mitchell already as a powered-up crazy person with a hard-on for Kirk? Basically, they can skip over his origin and get to the good stuff.

"Where No Man" works in part because it quickly and effectively sketches the relationship between Marshall and Kirk, then challenges that relationship. The budget prevented Marshall from any FX-heavy displays of his power, which worked in the story's favor--it became far more creepy to suggest his capabilities than illustrating them ever could be. Will the story have the same punch if Gary Marshall basically plays Khan--an outsized, highly destructive force with the full weight of a modern Hollywood budget at his disposal?

I am so freaking excited to see this flick.