Trek is expected to top out at $380M worldwide. If Trek had been released in 2007 and performed as well, it would have ranked 14th worldwide and 7th domestically with those grosses.

We’ll be back in 2011 to see how well ST11 compares to Transformers 2. The good news is, Since Trek is being compared to “Batman Begins” which had a 123% improvement with The Dark Knight, ST11 can expect to hit almost a billion dollars worldwide. ;-)

The reviews are the worst I have ever seen for a blockbuster, and it’s become an exercise in one-upsmanship amongst reviewers to see who can more eloquently trash the film’s noisy, plotless existence.

But “Trans2’s” uber-success in no way diminishes “Trek,” and we should be happy that Trek is back like never before.

But who really cares what Transformers 2 or any other movie does in comparison to Trek? The only relevant issue is whether Trek earns enough revenue with respect to it’s total budget that makes it worthwhile to Paramount to make more equally fantastic Trek movies.

And that question has already been answered.

So whether you use it for action, romance, or to jerk some tears out of us during the appropriate scene, I’d like to see more of that. Using rock and roll, starting out from a 23rd century iPod or ship’s library, and then filling the theater.

That was cool.

The next movie will be the greatest sequel since Terminator 2 or the biggest flop since Insurrection (coming off a successful first film of TNG only First Contact…)

Just be warned all you folks out there who want something new, something like the Baku or Rufo or whatever awaits. My 2 cents is stick with what works and don’t try to do something different for the sake of being different, who cares what people think, just do what you feel is right and is good.

Then you have to take into consideration what the Vulcans would do. They have, in essence, become a metaphor for the Jewish plight following the Second World War. This is a broken, displaced people. There will have to be several schools of thought as to how to proceed. Then, take into consideration, who survived?

Did T’Pring (”Amok Time”) survive? Is Spock’s arranged spouse still among the living? If so, you would think there would be a movement to “purity” that, even though Spock be half human, he has a responsibility to continue the linage. I don’t think this would sit well with Uhura. Instant drama.

Also, what of Sybok? I know many people decry his existence as the worst aspect of “Final Frontier.” But, according to the continuity, he was exiled from Vulcan. He would have survived. Who says that upon his return he has to be searching for Sha Ka Ree? Why can’t he become, perhaps a fundamentalist in the venue of these religious extremists?

How better to shore up Kirk and Spock’s relationship as brothers-in-arms than to tackle Spock’s half-brother as a foil? Perhaps not a centralized villain, but someone as a foil.

Then you have to take into consideration the fact that the warriors three, Kang, Kor and Koloth, are still around. We can explore an all new relationship with them as a solid, Klingon front.

Oh, and the Doomsday Machine… as envisioned by J. J. Abhrams and today’s modern-day special effects… The possibilities boggle the mind, my friends.

I think what Kirk and crew really does need, however, is a permanent villain, not a one hit wonder villain who gets whacked by the end of the movie. You need a Joker, a Lex Luthor.

And if you wanted to mine the old material for that character, I think that General Chang, of Star Trek 6, would be far better a choice than Khan, because he’s Klingon and lives in the Klingon Empire, so he has a place to run where Kirk can’t get him.

In ST6 they didn’t meet until the sunset of their careers, but you’ve created a new universe, and in this one they could meet early on in their careers, generating a conflict that spans the series.

Chang was a very interesting character, and I really want to know how he lost that eye.