Into Darkness, Diamonds and Bing

The wait for the US is almost ALMOST over. Less than 24 hours to go until we can see how the movie will perform on home territory after already breaking records across the globe. Simply it's the biggest Star Trek movie YET.

It's been a few days since my last roundup but hey, it's been a busy time for Star Trek Into Darkness and I just had to share a couple of things.

The first is the gorgeous .gif file from Are You #The1701 which I've added above. You can get it from the site by hitting the "play" button bottom left.Watch closely and you'll manage to spot five or six scenes from the move that have been featured within the trailer.

Also, have you been on Bing today??? If not, get over there pretty quick, type "beam me up" (no quote marks) into the search bar; let the page do the rest. Once it settles out, you'll find yourself here! The ship warps away on the first page you come to but you can still click where it was to get "onboard" (second pic down)

beam me up - and get here!

Bridge + tribbles - click on the Enterprise in pic one

This is where you land after clicking the far right planetoid

Central planet take you to Earth

Note the search bar and...of course.. the tribbles (why?!?!?). I also believe that you can now use the Bing search engine in Klingon which should make the experience at least a bit more understandable. Anyway, aside from clicking on the Enterprise there are also two worlds to click on - one which takes you to Earth and some trivia and the second to another image of the iconic Starfleet flagship (erm...? why not Vulcan or Qo'noS?) plus a few more trivia bits to click on as demonstrated above.. Should fill a five minute coffee break....

Besides that there's this awesome little featurette on the new movie which includes soundbytes from JJ, Zachary Quinto, Alice Eve (and I've included a pic above because of who she's listed as), Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana. Good for a watch, nice teaser. That is all, folks. Just strange how now they seem to be back-tracking on Eve's character when we already know precisely who she's playing and have done for flippin' ages!!! Come on, give us at least some credit, it's not like there's someone else's ID that's a secret in this movie or anything!!!!




One other little gem I've managed to pick up today is the rather spiffing Benedict Cumberbatch video that's floating around of him trying to work out if Star Trek episode titles are real or fake. He's not too bad but I'll let you guys judge.Thanks to benedictcumberbatch.co.uk for pointing this one out

Over on trekmovie.com there's some new TV spots (the last ones apparently) before the release of the movie TOMORROW in the US and I've added them all here for your delight. There's some new pics on there too but we've already featured them on SKoST in previous features.  There's not a lot new here apart from some review quotes and generally a massive amount of over-hype...but we're all expecting that anyway?

If you're not totally videoed out with those three then settle in for some opinion and comment from these boys as the actors behind Chekov, Pike, Scotty, Harrison, Kirk and Spock drop a few lines in about Star Trek Into Darkness. Be warned there might be some tiddly spoilers before you start clicking play. Below videos from trekmovie.com

Perhaps also worthy of a quick side note is that the graphic novel, Countdown to Darkness has been released in it's combined form with an altered cover in the UK. I would have rather it retained the same concept as the prequel comic to the 2009 reboot but since I don't work for Titan I suspect that's why it's been changed (!)

I've added the design we thought was going to be used as well here as a comparison. I think we know which one would have been better received....

In other related/unrelated/delete as applicable news, Diamond Select have announced their new USS Excelsior and USS Enterprise-E models for later in the year.

Of an unspecified LIMITED run, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E is toted as the Star Trek First Contact edition. Featuring a new, detailed paint scheme based on the movie, this new ship is visually distinctive from the previous edition, which was based on its appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis. All toy ship images from Diamond Select Toys

Later in the year, the 16 inch long USS. Excelsior,  NCC-2000 (so it's from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) features new sculpted parts and includes all-new sound files with quotes from Captain Sulu, using the voice of actor George Takei. I've also included the video below which demonstrates the second vessel plus some pics of the new Enterprise variant alongside the older Nemesis version...spot the difference!

Remember recently we also talked about the new and upcoming Kirk and Spock action figures

from Diamond Select? Well there's a third on the horizon in the form of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his standard Starfleet uniform. Now the spiel for this says we're seeing him in a "...captured in the middle of a previously unseen engagement with the Borg, firing his phaser aboard a Borg ship, with a fallen foe at his feet." but if I'm honest that's a bit lame. At least with the Kirk and Spock figures they're in poses that link them with classic episodes of The Original Series. This just looks a bit false and doesn't carry well. I just can't see Picard in this situation.

The figure will feature limited articulation and a detailed likeness by Patrick Piggott (prototype shown), and will come in shelf-ready display packaging. I just hope that the final production version is a bit better than this because the pose and Picard just don't look right somehow. I'm not even sure I like the dismembered Borg. Is this a bit extreme? Or am I just overreacting?!

This latest announcement is due for release in the Autumn (Fall) of 2013...I think I'd rather have Spock and the Horta thanks if anyone's looking for ideas for Christmas..

.If you're liking what you see or want some more Star Trek Into Darkness goodies, check out the link below to the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness and see what else we've been rabbiting on about over the last few weeks. We've still got the novelisation review to come...

Star Trek Into Darkness: Into Motion

Stateside is still waiting for the arrival of the movie while in the UK we just can't move for any more reviews. It's like being in an avalanche. Seriously.

While it's a real mixed bag, Paramount continues with its marketing campaign and this time on Are You #The 1701? you can search the site and find the link to motion versions of the character posters that have already been released. It's not the hardest search - it's the Bad Robot logo if you must know. If you're not fussed, here's the link through to the images. I was expecting more than some flying dust over the pics. They also now carry the revised launch dates for the US.

Now if images are your thing then you're gonna LOVE this next bit. I've had a bit of a hunt across the 'net and found these beauties hiding out from the movie. Apologies if you've seen them before. I hadn't until today so I hope you enjoy. I've captioned where applicable! I believe they are from startrekmovie.com (also feature pic above is from the same place via Pinterest)

Talking about Spock in the turbolift

Confronting Harrison in the Enterprise brig

Flying to the Klingon homeworld

In Command

Cumberbatch as Harrison

Aboard the Enterprise in sickbay

Uhura on Qo'nos

Uhura, Scotty and McCoy on the Enterprise bridge

It's definitely interview time for the cast with not only John Cho pulling time on the main startrek.com site but writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman dropping in for a chat about their script too. This is a great one, looking at how they wrote the film, the development process and even how it all started off as well as their reactions to the whole Harrison/Khan/Mitchell conspiracy theories that have been swirling around the internet for many months.

Over on iO9 there's a new interview with Simon Pegg which gives insight into the sets used for the movie and some of them are a little surprising - not as much greenscreen as you might have imagined! Also there's a hint of at least one deleted scene in there that MIGHT make it onto the DVD/blu-ray release. In line with this, The World's End director and associate of Mr Pegg, Edgar Wright revealed on his Twitter profile that he directed one of the shots in Star Trek Into Darkness and by the looks of things it's on the Klingon homeworld....

There is some rumbling, particularly on trekmovie.com that Wright "could" be in the frame for directing Star Trek 3 if Abrams is over on Star Wars duty. I think this is HIGHLY improbable even though it's a nice rumour to hear. So that means so far we've got a movie about the Klingons at war directed by Edgar Wright set for the 50th Anniversary in 2016....

Talking of hearing and again, on the trekmovie.com site, you can listen to an interview with Michael Giachinno and 22 minutes of the brilliant soundtrack from the new movie which is available for preorder on Amazon (sidebar here on SKoST) and is out on May 28th 2013. I am seriously excited and wanting to get hold of this asap. I may have mentioned that before...

Two more titbits for you before I head off for the weekend - firstly, if you're seeing the movie at an Odeon cinema in the UK, be sure to get some food before you go in as you can get a free Starfleet badge with a combo purchase. It looks a bit plasticky but it's a momento of the event nontheless. I've dropped a pic of the promo board here if you want to check any details.


The last bit is that The Guardian newspaper in the UK will be running a Making of... supplement on Saturday 11th May 2013 as part of its publication. I've dropped the gorgeous cover shot here so you'll know what you're looking for. It's different to the rest of the recent promo materials and who's going to grumble about the Prime battle phaser sitting alongside the reboot Enterprise...?

You can still check back over the build up to the launch of the movie by clicking on the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness label below. Be sure to come back and check out our review of the movie and novelisation tie-in soon!

Morning After Star Trek Into Darkness

I now know everything.

Ok, not everything everything, just everything to do with Star Trek Into Darkness but for a lot of people that moment of revelation is still to come and just to reinforce that, Paramount have continued the onslaught of marketing with a few new bits for us.

Four of the teaser TV spots have been re-edited with the updated US release date and even give brief new footage (such as the one above). They are entitled Battle, Forget, Spectacular and The Dark. Click on each for the Paramount YouTube vid. The MTV clip we were perhaps waiting for turned out to be something of a disappointment - how many times would you like to see the USS Vengeance taking to San Francisco Bay....again?! There's a fraction of new footage in these 16 seconds (16?!?!?) but don't get too hopeful as it's quickly into trailer territory.

McCoy finally got his character profile online today with the announcement coming from the echelons of the #1701 site. Here's Karl Urban getting all gruff in the movie and then all Australian in real-life plus some stills from the minute with the doctor. I spent most of the time looking at the shuttle in the background and the giant green screen...

Paramount have also been running a great campaign on Twitter today. Follow their UK account @ParamountUK and tweet using #IntoDarkness and you could win one of their Star Trek themed goodies. I managed to bag one this morning and will find out what it is tomorrow (May 10th). Vue Cinemas are also running a promotion and by following them and retweeting We've got planets full of #StarTrek #IntoDarkness goodies to give away! Just follow us & RT this message by noon on 13/5 to enter! #VueID  you could be in with a chance to win some MORE goodies. Oh - and add a third one to that from the Daily Mirror who are including a gamecard in their Saturday paper so you can play along right through to May 15th 2013 and win some stuff and even a near-space experience!

Thanks to +SimonAnd Schuster as well for the arrival of the novel tie-in today - very early and I'm looking forward to it - here's a sneak peak at the front and back covers if you can't wait...

One for the more dextrous among you - I've also received the Revell USS Enterprise featured in the new movie. For the unboxing of this stunning kit, jump over to this additional post here.

Also via the wonders of the Star Trek Into Darkness app you can get to see these awesome 8-bit USS Enterprise images. Of course to save you having to hunt for your phone I've added them below. The GIF is brilliant although the banner is a close approximation to the movie poster.

Finally for now, over on Are you The 1701? we got presented with two new stills from the movie - both linked to already released clips mind and focus on Carol's arrival on the shuttle to the Enterprise and Kirk and Spock aboard their little ship used on Qo'nos.

You can still check back over the build up to the launch of the movie by clicking on the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness label below. Be sure to come back and check out our review of the movie and novelisation tie-in soon!

Star Trek Into Darkness: Hours Instead of Minutes

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

It's 5.45am and I am awake. I'm awake because I can't sleep and I can't sleep because tonight, yes, TONIGHT I'm going to see Star Trek Into Darkness. 

At midnight.

This is going to be a long day.

It seems to be like the calm before the storm. There's very little movement as if we're all waiting for the first screenings later tonight...

First of all, the British Board of Film Classification have officially set the film with a 12A rating. The great news is that it was passed UNCUT so we're getting everything in the UK that everyone else is seeing. I've dropped the full text of the BBFC report here for you - just be aware that the following MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

To calm my nerves pre-movie night I dropped on four German trailers (eh?!) this morning. Nothing new to report in the big scheme of things but there were a few new pics that I managed to grab from them which might peak your interest and certainly did mine.

Carol gets physical (on the Vengeance?)

Scotty concentrates

Scotty (again - wow he's getting some coverage!) at phaser point on the Vengeance

So what was it about these pics that raised an eyebrow - the uniforms in pictures one and three look a lot similar to the one of Admiral Marcus we saw yesterday (here, left)....are we seeing a distinct link here? Am I going to be correct that he's got more of a prominent role than we thought. In fact back at the start of the campaign I suggested something along the lines of Peter Weller having a bigger villain role than Harrison because the latter seemed to be so in-your-face in the marketing material. Not that I'm putting two and two together in any way, whatsoever.

Add to that the new JJ feature in which he discusses upping the ante from the first film in '09, the way the characters evolved and how much he'll miss them all again (awww). He describes Harrison as a lot more complex adversary than they faced in Nero as well as where loyalties, and trust lie to deal with such a dangerous opponent. There are some shots from behind the scenes but mainly just listen to JJ talking about the movie - it seems like he might actually have enjoyed making it (shock!)

Spot the Enterprise in the background (and the Bad Robot)

With Chris Pine

On the Nibrui planet set with Karl Urban

Also it's been good news for the US audience with the announcement that the film will now be opening on Wednesday May 15th from 8pm although those screenings are sure to sell out (if not already) in record time. Overall it will open a day earlier on Thursday May 16th rather than Friday May 17th according to the Daily Mail website earlier today. Selected cast and JJ were in attendance at the Mexico City premiere with Saldana and Eve once again taking a lot of the limelight.

Over on Are You #The1701 there's the request to send in THE1701 creations via Vine or Twitter using the #the1701 I am. of course, working on mine right this second for publication....actually, here you go...looks like we managed to sneak our shot in there today (can you spot it?)

So this is it, the final reminder that you can see all of the other updates via the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness label below. remember I'll be updating through the day so keep dropping back for more info!

Star Trek Into Darkness: The End in Sight

In the UK if you're reading this on Thursday 9th 2013, Star Trek Into Darkness is now in cinemas. The wait is over and we are now enlightened.

If it's Tuesday or Wednesday, you're still going to need a bit of a fix, right?

Star off by heading to the newsagents and picking up either (or both - sod it!) the SFX Star Trek special or this month's Star Trek Magazine which will give you some movie meat to slobber over. I'm off later to purchase so I'll let you know if they're worth the cover price.

How about this - two minutes of the cast talking with JJ about the movie. There's no spoilers and mainly it's JJ, Chris Pine and Simon Pegg doing the talking but it should ease the pain in preparation for later this week. If you're in the US or any other country, this is just another step/notch to tick off on the road towards premiere day which I hear will only be attended by Pine, Pegg and Cumberbatch in what is supposedly going to be a "low-key" affair in comparison to the other events across the globe we've seen in the last few weeks.

If that's not satisfied the hunger then how about this - a brand-new character profile and this time it's looking at helmsman Sulu played by John Cho.

This is about as non-specific and non-descript a preview as possible, focusing mainly on the opening Spock and the volcano sequence as well as some shots of Sulu going through the motions on the bridge of the Enterprise under the supervision of JJ Abrams during filming. As usual, here's some nice little screen captures from the limited new footage to keep you up to date. Featurette courtesy of SFX Magazine.

Great close-up of the new-style LCARS display aboard the shuttle

The volcano bites back

In discussion with Chris Pine and visionary JJ Abrams

And it's not over there. As the day draws to it's close in the UK, Are You #The1701 dropped the Carol Marcus sized bombshell of her character profile. 99.9% focused on the Meet Carol clip from recently it's an opportunity to welcome the newest crewmember onto the cast and see what she thinks about the relationships between the new science officer with Kirk and Spock. Additonally there's a few behind the scenes shots of Alice Eve working with a variety of actors and even one of Marcus regaled in the formal Starfleet greys complete with hat. Clip courtesy of Paramount.

Formal Marcus

In conversation with JJ

Still from video

Still from earlier trailer

I also caught this clip of Peter Weller talking about the movie over the weekend and forgot to post it - apparently he gives away a clue about his character in here but I can't for the life of me see it - please drop a note at the bottom if you do because I'm obviously missing the nose in front of my face, so to speak! The uniform he's wearing here does look slightly different to the one we've seen in the trailers (pic for comparison also left). Does this indicate that Marcus is actually part of some other organisation...say, Section 31 and this is THEIR uniform?! How about that for a possibility!

Also fans can look forward to an EXCLUSIVE clip being premiered on MTV News tomorrow. It'll be shown at 7.56pm ET so don't miss it! This will be followed by a half hour chat on the channel featuring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana and JJ Abrahms.

Just as a nice little addition to today's blog - how about Nimoy vs Quinto in this brilliant and quirky little viral from Audi. My favourite bit in this? It has to be Prime Spock singing along in his Mercedes to a certain timeless classic or maybe it's The Wrath of Khan homage...or maybe...ok, ok it's just all a bit good and who care's if it's a blatant attempt to sell cars this just turns into pure Star Trek indulgence after about one second.

"...Fascinating..."

You can't help but raise a smile when you watch it. Perhaps one of the best commercials to have come out of the franchise during the Star Trek Into Darkness promo campaign if I do say so myself! 

With not long to go, don't forget you can catch up by clicking the Countdown to Star Trek Into Darkness link below to see all the SKoST updates...and if I hear one more comment about Star Wars impacting on JJ's ability to do Star Trek 3.....!!!

All stills clipped by SKoST