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  • Benedict Cumberbatch’s Star Trek Villain Named

    Just days after the first teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness sent the internet into a whirlwind of speculation and rumor, Paramount has released a new image for the movie. It shows Zachary Quinto as Spock, Chris Pine as Kirk, and Benedict Cumberbatch as the movie’s villain, named by the studio as John Harrison.

    This means the speculation that Cumberbatch could be playing Khan Noonien Singh, Gary Mitchell, or Garth of Izar were all incorrect. Other than that, not much is known about the new antagonist, who’s name doesn’t match any established Star Trek Villains. Of course, this could all be a ploy by Abrams and the production to throw off fans hungry for any small scrap of a spoiler.

    Trekmovie, however, reports that Abrams has confirmed Harrison is the character’s name. In addition, Abrams revealed to reporters who visited his production studio this week that the Klingon empire will factor into the movie’s story. Klingons themselves will be seen and the Klingon home planet of Qu’noS will also be revealed.

    Another big reveal for Star Trek fans is that Alice Eve (who was rumored to be playing Elizabeth Dehner to Cumberbatch’s Gary Mitchell) will be playing Carol Marcus. In the original series’ timeline, Marcus was an old flame of James Kirk, and the mother of his son. The character featured heavily in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where she and her (and Kirk’s) son, David, were brilliant scientists working on the Genesis device that proved crucial in both that movie an Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

  • Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser Trailer Features Cumberbatch Villain

    Ever since J.J. Abrams successfully rebooted the Star Trek movie franchise back in 2009, speculation has been increasing as to where the new Star Trek‘s story will head. With the entirety of The Original Series and six movies to pull material from, the second movie could conceivably go just about anywhere.

    Today, trekkies and trekkers alike got their first real peek at Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel due out next summer. The teaser trailer features plenty of smash-cuts, near-reveals, and Inception-inspired horns, but doesn’t give much away. It’s narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the villain, the identity of whom fueled much of the speculation surrounding the movie. More on that in a spoilery section below the trailer.

    The common rumor is that Cumberbatch will be playing Khan Noonien Singh, the villain from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. However, Star Trek II is really about Captain Kirk and the choices he’s made, good and bad, and how poor choices can sometimes have effects years later. The new Star Trek Kirk simply hasn’t made enough of those choices for the Khan story to be meaningful. The filmmakers would have to cram the discovery of the Botany Bay and Khan’s exile to Ceti Alpha V into the first half of the movie, then fast-forward over the entire original series to make Khan’s revenge credible. No, it simply doesn’t fit.

    My guess is that Cumberbatch will play Gary Mitchell, the villain of The Original Series pilot and third episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. In it, Helmsman Mitchell is transformed into a powerful psychic being through an encounter with the galactic barrier and has to be put down by Kirk. This story would fit well into the new Enterprise crew’s early years, and the final shot of Cumberbatch in the trailer clearly shows him wearing a vandalized Starfleet uniform, implying his former service.

    Also, the reveal of Alice Eve’s character in the trailer shows just how much she resembles The Original Series’ Elizabeth Dehner, Mitchell’s eventual semi-partner in crime:

    (image)(image)

  • Zachary Quinto Gets Nimoy’s Approval As Spock

    When Leonard Nimoy does anything, a lot of people take note, beacuse…well, because he’s Spock, for Thor’s sake. And when he visits the set of the upcoming Star Trek sequel–helmed by Nimoy’s good friend J.J. Abrams–speculation begins that he’s going to make a cameo on the film.

    Sorry, Trekkies. Nimoy says he was just visiting the set to see some of the designs he hadn’t seen yet, namely the bridge, and won’t be taking part in the sequel.

    “When I was in the last film, none of my work was on the bridge of the Enterprise. So I wanted to see the bridge, and the bridge was extraordinary. It’s beautifully designed and put together,” he said.

    About the man who is portraying the character Nimoy made famous, he says, “Zachary Quinto and I have dinner whenever we can…my feeling is that they don’t need me. They’ve got a wonderful cast. Zachary…has taken on the character of Spock, and I think he is wonderfully suited.”

    Quinto has been in the news recently because fellow actor Jim Parsons of “Big Bang Theory” fame recently came out rather quietly in a New York Times article, and Quinto did the same thing last year, saying he preferred to talk about his activism rather than his personal life.

    “The fact that these things are such hot-button issues right now, socially and politically, I would much rather talk about that than talk about who I sleep with,” Quinto said. “I would love to be a voice in this maelstrom of chaos and obsessive celebrity infatuation that says, ‘Let’s talk about something that matters.’”