Paramount has been promising us a Star Trek teaser all week, and now they’ve delivered. Star Trek Into Darkness, which unfortunately doesn’t seem to involve Charlie Murphy despite the title, has a teaser that looks more or less like every JJ Abrams movie teaser – SOMETHING F*CKING HUGE IS HAPPENING WE CAN’T TELL YOU WHAT IT IS BUT IT’S THE BIGGEST EVER AND EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT IT YOU DON’T WANT TO BE THE ONE TO MISS IT DO YOU?!?
Luckily Star Trek was the JJ Abrams project I actually liked, so I’m actually interested in this one. STID returns Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana, and adds Alice Eve for eye candy and Benedict Cumberbatch for Brit candy. Cumberbatch reportedly plays some version of the villain Khan, and the teaser (at least, the Japanese version of the teaser, which I’ve embedded) apparently includes a Khan reference that I wasn’t familiar enough with the source to get. Nonetheless, I pantsed this nerd from MTV Movies Blog and the following explanation fell out:
While it’s not Benedict Cumberbatch saying, “Alas, my true identity is Khan,” but there is a visual callback to the sequel’s second most iconic scene (behind “Khaaaannnnnn” of course).
The scene of course comes right before Spock’s death from radiation poisoning. Having just saved the entire crew, Spock says he’s good-bye to Kirk with a line that will choke up any good nerd worth his or her salt. “You are my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been and always shall be yours.”
It’s a clear reference, which seems like a curious choice for the first teaser, since everyone and their mother is assuming that Cumberbatch is playing some alternate universe version of Khan.
That alternate universe? You guessed it, ENGLAND!
I had to include at least one otter who looks like Benedict Cumberbatch:
In conclusion, I really wish Khan was an otter in this version.