Here there be spoilers

In Star Trek, J.J. Abrams has sliced through a galaxy-sized pop-culture gordian knot not with the frenzied hacking of a desperate man but with the grace of a samurai. Ok, that’s probably overstating things, but it is nonetheless true that Abrams re-booting of the Star Trek franchise provides a solid foundation for future iterations.

I need not rehash the myriad complaints that Star Trek, in telling the story of the continuing adventures of humanity seeking new worlds and new civilizations, had become hide-bound, clunky, and entrenched. In a short documentary enclosed with the recent Star Trek: Alternate Realities collection, a writer from one of the recent series discussed the creative challenges caused by the insistence of the producers and the fans that each new story fit in with the Star Trek Universe. With over 700 tv episodes, ten films and numerous novels, the vast amount of continuity points tied the hands of anyone wanting to tell a new story.

So the new Star Trek does something that boldly tosses aside the received history while at the same time honoring and adhering to it. In a nifty judo move, Abrams takes one of Star Trek’s time honored plot devices—a plot device employed twice in the very first season of the original series—and uses it to create a whole new universe: time travel. Travelling through time and the effects of such travel on the “correct” time-line has been a constant theme throughout all Star Trek series. Abrams can use the notion that the timeline in the movie is not the same as the original series to explain away any inconsistencies major or minor. The bridge of the Enterprise doesn’t look like the original? Of course it doesn’t, this is the new timeline. Don’t remember Uhura and Spock getting it on? No worries, this is the new timeline. Can’t quite fathom what Leonard Nimoy is doing here? He’s the connection to all that you hold dear, and he’s visiting from the original timeline. Quite simple.

Long time fans need not worry, as with all Star Trek alternate realities, the corresponding characters retain key character qualities across iterations. Is Kirk going to bed every green-skinned female he can find? Sure. Is Scotty going to wail that he’s giving the Captain all he can? Yes. Is Bones going to be a doctor and not a nuclear physicist/philosopher/magician? You betcha.

The one oddity that Abrams brings to the mix is that quite often throughout the film, you could swear that you’re watching a much better Star Wars film than any that’s been produced since 1983. We’ve got a young speed-demon trapped in farm country pulled into intergalactic peril by an older man who knew and respected the youngster’s dead father. We’ve got jawa-like creatures rambling about making odd noises and fixing machinery, complete with very simlar music in the background. Why, there’s even a rousing award ceremony at the end complete with really tall curtains. This isn’t surprising. Abrams has said, “As a kid, Star Wars was much more my thing than “Star Trek” was.” But for a guy who talks about not being “distracted by the specter” of Star Wars, he certainly does a lot to make this film into a Star Wars in Star Trek clothing.

And perhaps that, in the end, is what makes Star Trek such a rollicking good time. By tapping in to the adventure and excitement that the original Star Wars brought to the screen, he is able to rescue the energy, humor, and, yes, serious themes that were present in the Star Trek series but have been buried under layers of super-serious navel-gazing. Abrams makes it easy to see what all the hub-bub is about.