New Star Trek Trailer Troubles Fans

A new trailer for the upcoming installment in the Star Trek film franchise was unveiled this week, and the film is also set to get prominent exposure when a trailer plays during screenings of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The reaction to the new trailer from fans -- and from some big names attached to the Star Trek universe -- has not been nearly as positive as the film's producers had probably hoped for.

The trailer is noisy and frenetic, set to a Beastie Boys soundtrack, and it features non-stop action and wisecracks from the central characters, including Chris Pines' James Kirk and Simon Pegg's Montgomery Scott. While noise, explosions and jokes are certainly not unheard of in a Star Trek film, making those aspects of the movie the central focus of the trailer runs counter to the perceived intellectualism of the Star Trek franchise. It doesn't help that the film's director, Justin Lin, is proudly billed in the trailer as the director of Fast & Furious.

George Takei, who played Sulu in the original Star Trek TV series and several theatrical films, said in an interview with Tech Insider that he thought the trailer "doesn't have that element that made Star Trek what it was."

Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series, tweeted that the trailer looked like "a generic science fiction action movie" that was "dressed up in Star Trek costumes."

Fan reaction to the trailer has been overwhelmingly negative, and the most positive responses have expressed hope that the trailer is misleading and that the film itself will have a more appealing tone.