If you understand the phrase “like Spock rising from the dead on the Genesis planet,” read on…

After a three year break, Star Trek will return in 2008 with a new film directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by his same team that cranked out “Mission: Impossible III.” I would be thrilled about this, if it weren’t for the fact that I saw a ten minute clip from Mission Impossible III at Wondercon in San Francisco. I’m not exaggerating here when I saw that nearly the entire clip was one long string of crashes, gunfire and explosions, none of it particularly interesting. It felt like a ten minute parody of an action movie, which I’m almost sure was not the intention of the creative team. At the end, I was left wondering why they didn’t show us the little things — things like plot, character development, etc… Things that would appeal to anyone over the age of eight.

Don’t get me wrong, I love action as much as the next red-blooded Star Wars-raised American male. Deep Space Nine was my favorite Trek, and it also happened to be the most action-packed, devoting its last few seasons to a major interstellar war that almost destroyed the Federation. But if I were to go through and pick any 30-second battle sequence from DS9, I’m absolutely certain it would demonstrate more heart, innovation and story than that 10 minute explosion they showed us from Mission Impossible.

On the other hand, Abrams is responsible for two of the best TV shows (supposedly — I haven’t watched either) in recent years: Alias and Lost. Hopefully he’ll forego the emptiness of that MI:III trailer and stick to the intrigue and mystery that have made those shows work.