Credit: © 2009 PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION

The most recent voyage of the Starship Enterprise is without doubt the most exciting and thrilling in many a ringed moon — massively enjoyable. With Star Trek, J. J. Abrams and crew have performed the seemingly impossible task of taking a franchise equally enriched and encumbered by a considerable canon, and producing something new and vital, all while pleasing existing fans by acknowledging this heritage.

In the now popular tradition of the prequel, this film traces the backstory of the crew of NCC-1701 (The Original Series to the uninitiated), detailing how they all came to take their places aboard the Enterprise. Conflict is brought about by the “seriously disturbed Romulan”, Captain Nero (Eric Bana), who blames Spock (Zachary Quinto) for the destruction of his home-world and swears transtemporal revenge. The Enterprise and its not-yet crew set about putting paid to his diabolical plot.

The action is compelling and the special effects exceed even the considerable expectations of fans. What is unexpected, however, is that the film is crackling with witty reference, both spoken and visual, to other science fiction, especially previous Star Treks. This device enables the film to please long-time fans while simultaneously reinvigorating the Star Trek project to entice a whole new generation of Trekkies.

Sadly, this scorching display of talent masks a serious failure. Central to science fiction — and Star Trek in particular — is the exploration of contemporary social and political problems, in a future setting. What has lent such endurance to Star Trek is its sustained ability to deliver moral and political ideas in a popular format, thus securing a place in the hearts of many fans. It is a disappointment that this movie disavows such responsibility. Captain Nero, rather than embodying any ethos, is merely an evildoer to be hunted down. Such an asinine central plot reaffirms, rather than opposes, the infantile public discourse of our day. Indeed, some characters, such as Chekov (Anton Yelchin), seem to appear on screen only for us to laugh at their comedic foreign accents. Such apparent racism is unbecoming of a franchise founded on the idea of describing an idealized multicultural society.

We trust, however, that like the young crew of the Enterprise, the crew behind this fantastic film will grow into their role and set their prodigious abilities to not merely telling a story fabulously well, but, in the best tradition of Star Trek, telling a story worth telling.