Star Trek Beyond trailer shows new aliens, returning cast, Enterprise trashed

Paramount, the studio behind both of the space movie franchises, released on Monday an explosive, high-octane, cheeky trailer teasing the forthcoming Star Trek Beyond. 

Set to the Beastie Boys' blistering track Sabotage, the trailer sees the Starship Enterprise seemingly destroyed, with its crew (returning actors Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin) forced to crash land and deal with some intimidating alien races (including dancer-actress Sofia Boutella as a gutsy fighter and celebrated actor Idris Elba as a daunting new villain).

After two films that "reboot" the film series — directed by J.J. Abrams, who has moved onto reviving Star Wars (although remains on as producer) — the next Star Trek movie will be helmed by Justin Lin, best known for directing four of the Fast and Furious films.

"As great as J.J.'s films were, there's still a lot to be mined from these characters," Lin told Deadline Hollywood in June.

"[The Enterprise crew members] haven't really gone on their five-year mission, so what we experienced in the TV show hasn't been touched on yet. That sets up an opportunity for exploration and the deeper you go, the more you are examining humanity. Those are the things that I absorbed as a kid and hope to tap into and embrace and celebrate. By the time this movie comes out, Star Trek will have been around for 50 years." 

Pegg as scriptwriter

"People don't see [Star Trek] being a fun, brightly coloured, Saturday night entertainment like Avengers," Pegg told Radio Times in May.

However, this new lens isn't necessarily going over so well online, where Star Trek fans and others mocked the trailer for appearing to mimic Marvel's movie efforts and for its drastic departure from the series Gene Roddenberry created in 1964.