Revised Star Trek Into Darkness Synopsis Makes Some Changes

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Cumberbatch

Of all the Star Trek Into Darkness material we’ve seen so far, the official synopsis has been one of the most useful for trying to determine who Cumberbatch’s villain is, or at least what sort of character he is. Now a revised version of the official synopsis has been released, and while the changes may be largely for the sake of streamlining, it’s still worth noting the differences. Here’s the new version:

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

In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.

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.

Now compare that to the original version…

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 organization 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.

The clever folks over at TrekMovie put the two synopses under their super-duper microscope and pointed out several possibly important changes.

  • The new version adds that Kirk is acting “in defiance of regulations” in his hunt for Cumberbatch’s “John Harrison.” That certainly fits with Kirk’s history and personality. I do recall him stealing the Enterprise at one point…
  • They’ve removed the bit about how Harrison’s act of terror “detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.” As TrekMovie points out, that could just be a bit of prose streamlining, but it could also be because they decided “detonated the fleet” could be taken to mean that Harrison actually, literally blew up the fleet. I imagine it was a bit of metaphor, but blowing up Starfleet would certainly count as an act of terror.
  • They changed the description of Harrison as a “one man weapon of mass destruction” to “an unstoppable force of destruction.” Seems just a matter of semantics, but you never know.
  • The phrase “bring those responsible to justice” suggests Harrison will not be acting alone. Given his description of being a terrorist, that certainly makes sense.” In fact, the Cumberbatch scene shown in the nine-minute IMAX preview could hint at how Harrison operates and/or recruits followers.

Star Trek Into Darkness opens in theaters on May 17, 2013.