Shot-By-Shot Analysis Of Star Trek Into Darkness Super Bowl Commercial

The Super Bowl Commercial for Star Trek Into Darkness is just half a minute but mixed in with stuff we saw in the previous two trailers is some new (and very interesting) stuff, along with some new (and very intriguing) dialogue. Below TrekMovie has a full shot-by-shot analysis of the commercial. We also have caps of what was in the ‘extended’ version available on the mobile app. As always, beware of Spoilers.  

 

Star Trek Into Darkness Super Bowl Commercial Analysis

Once again TrekMovie dives deep with a shot-by-shot analysis analysis of the new commercial. The captions below are based on what TrekMovie considers to be confirmed information. In some cases it will note when there is supposition or conjecture. Items that are new are indicated with "[NEW]". There are also a few ALERTS to dig deeper into some parts of commercial, looking at the implications (and some nitpicking).

(Click images to enlarge)

Let’s start at the beginning…


[NEW] Building in London (note Federation and Union Jack flags)

FLAG NITPICK ALERT!
Some Brits have noted that the stripes on the Union Jacks are backwards (The thin stripes go on the bottom on the left side and the top on the right)


Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine) at Starfleet meeting location



[NEW] Explosion inside some kind of large large storage bay (possibly in London…see below)

SAME SHIP ALERT?!
Details are hard to see but is the ship Harrison uses to attack Starfleet seen in the Teaser Trailer somewhere in this giant bay? 


[NEW] Explosion (terrorist attack) in London


Crowd reacts to something (could be London or San Francisco)

MOVIEBOMBER ALERT!
Even after TrekMovie alerted the world that some guy was photobombing (moviebombing) Star Trek Into Darkness, he seems to still be making the cut – as does the 23rd century hipster (dude with sunglasses). 


[NEW] Kirk (with Zachary Quinto’s Spock looking on) asks John Harrison "who the hell are you?"

GOODBYE GARY SPECULATION ALERT?!
Many have speculated the Harrison could really by Gary Mitchell. But the new Star Trek comics (as seen below) have shown that Kirk knows and is friends with Gary Mitchell, so he isn’t likely to ask him "who the hell are you?" Unless he has had a lot of work done.  


John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) looks menacing


John Harrison attacks some Klingons on Qo’noS


Uhura (Zoe Saldana) on Qo’noS


Harrison on Qo’noS


Kirk and Uhura on Qu’noS (likely watching Harrison beat up Klingons)


[NEW] Kirk hears Harrison (still likely in the Enterprise Brig) say "I am better" and asks "at what?"


[NEW] Harrison replies "at everything"

HELLO MORE KHAN SPECULATION ALERT!
"I am better…at everything" should feed the ‘Harrison is really Khan’ speculation fans. Of course Khan Noonien Singh was a genetically enhanced superman and was known to let people know how superior he was. 


"Nothing ever changes, except man. Your technical accomplishments? Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity. But improve man and you gain a thousand fold. I am such a man." – Khan in "Space Seed"


Dr. Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) screams



[NEW] USS Enterprise severely damaged and falling towards planet (possibly Earth)

GOODBYE ENTERPRISE ALERT?!
The above (and below) shots are somewhat reminiscent of the destruction of the original NCC_1701 in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. The ship has sustained a lot of damage and is shedding parts as it heads to a planet. Are we going to get a NCC-1701-A in the next movie? If not a replacement the ship is going to at least need to get a major overhaul, so is there a refit in the future?



[NEW] USS Enterprise continues fall and appears out of control

SUPER DOUBLE RED ALERT!
This spinning Enterprise in bad shape is likely linked to shots from previous trailers showing explosions and people sliding around the ship (those inertial dampeners are so unreliable). 


[NEW] Title card


[NEW – but seen in IMAX Preview] Spock in Niburu volcano prepares for death


[NEW] Title card


Uhura macks on Spock


[NEW] Title card



Spock jumps off a floating barge or platform (possibly in San Franciso)


[NEW] Title card


Kirk enters the USS Enterprise sick bay


Harrison in command chair of some ship



Some ship (not the
USS Enterprise) crashes into San Francisco Bay



[NEW] Crowd (likely San Francisco) reactions to explosion or crash



[NEW] Ship crashes into building (likely in San Francisco)




Title cards

Bonus shots in "extended" version

If you have the Star Trek mobile app and you scan the commercial you can watch an exclusive "extended" version of the trailer which is about five seconds longer. In addition to switching around some of the images there were a couple of shots seen in previous trailers but also one additional shot of Kirk, plus the addition of a "THIS SUMMER" title card (preceeding the bit about "OUR…WORLD…WILL…FALL").


[NEW] Title card


[NEW] Kirk tries to hang on


Kirk and McCoy jump off cliff into Nibiru ocean

Rank the Star Trek Super Bowl Spot

What do you think of the new commercial 

[poll id=”708″]

434 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Looks like the Enterprise gets rocked in this movie

Wow– and I thought I was the only one ignoring the Super Bowl.
Cool movie trailer– great new shots of the Enterprise.
But no major spoilers.

Sweet!

Can’t wait to see Benedict Cumberbatch in this movie!

Kirk’s “Who are you?” sort of kills the Gary Mitchell rumors.

Ok, I already cried.

Looks like we are gonna get that refit for the next film

Looks like a new Big E is on the horizon. This one obviously gets shite-canned! Looking forward to a fuller secondary hull and new improved engineering section.

Forgive me if this has been posed already, but…

Why would the new timeline make Khan younger?

Oh, man. They should have asked Benedict “Most British Person Ever“ Cumberbatch about the flag.

Really hoping the CGI explosions are improved. And that last shot is just wow!

The ship crash to san fransisico bay is similar to Enterprise J

It’s been the most exciting thing about the game. :)

Seriously…looks epic!

The best ad for the movie was that power outage XD

#9: “Why would the new timeline make Khan younger?”

If Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Khan (no trailer has yet to reveal his name, only place we know John Harrison from, is the press release), what makes you think he’s playing a character that is his “actual age” (36 years old) ? Ricardo Montalban was 46 years old at the time of ‘Space Seed’ being aired. It’s quite easy in this day and age, to fake a persons true age, both going younger or older than the correct number.

I’m not entirely certain he’s playing Khan. I would suggest he’s playing an “Augment” of some kind, but not necessarily THE Augment, which is Khan.

With all the talk of “copying” Wrath of Khan, it would be a major letdown, if the movie ENDS as Star Trek 4 did; the launch of the NCC-1701-A.

The one thing JJ & company were forbidden to do was blow up the Enterprise in the last movie. Looks like they’re getting pretty close here.

I wish they’d left out the Enterprise getting torn to bits, it reminds of the previews for Star Trek: Generations where we see the Ent-D blow up in the trailer.

The Iron Man 3 ad is all kinds of lame.

Lens flares???

Could the flag thing be caused due tho the shot being flipped? Not unprecedented in a trailer

Also, still think plot may be augment but not khan related

This looks to be one Bad A$$ Movie. I sure can’t wait.

Look’s like the Big E really get’s into a big time fire fight. Should be good.

It has been confirmed that Cumberbatch is playing Robert April.

Is the power outage a part of “Into Darkness“ publicity?

@25
Not yet.

27

No, the power outage was an attempt to break Baltimore’s momentum and turn the game around for San Fran.

It’s working.

Well Lets hope they succeed then Morn, either that or it gets refited to look more like her 1960’s counterpart rather than a hotrod version of it.

actually I think when they started the show up in the 1960’s they said something about it looking like the original ship had gone in for 3 minor refits during the shows run. with small details like the impulse engines changing all the time till they settled on its now classic look.

one weird thing though, if the enterprise is in the atmosphere of earth, where’s the friction and the burn up?

I. Can’t. Wait. Bring it on!

Looking at the enlarged photo of the ” large storage bay ” which is presumably in London, do those look like they could be armored vehicles to anyone? Possibly flying ones?

“FLAG NITPICK ALERT!”

Well, it’s the 23rd century. Who knows if the UK decides to change the flag a bit.

That one set of damaged Enterprise photos has what looks like BUBBLES coming out of it, not debris. Look again, y’all. It’s in water.

PLEASE set a refit for good ol’ NCC-1701 and restore it’s original grace and beauty!!!

Flag shot not flipped! The stripes would still be wrong. Could be a redesign of the Union-Jack.Nah they screwed up. Still looks cool!

Loved it! I love Cumberbatch’s voice! :)

Why does it look like the Enterprise has bubbles emitting from it as it crashes towards the planet?

#37 LOL! Thought the same thing.

I think the second shots with the clouds are after it surfaces?

37. I’m pretty sure it’s not underwater in that shot. The bubbles could be smoke, plasma, debris…

I’m a little annoyed with all the app hoopla so far – all for ‘this summer’ and a quick shot of Kirk holding on.. and the chance to buy pre-release tickets on Fandango (which you can do right now without the app anyway, no?). I guess Fandango’s US only?

How about Cumberbatch is a genetic superman.

Those are not bubbles. Those are bits of hull debris and stuff from inside the ship being sucked out. Some of you guys kill me with your lack of visual comprehension.

Anybody else notice that the damage to the Enterprise saucer seems as if someone purposely tried to blow off the ship’s name from the hull?

I don’t know. Why are they making Star Trek unrealistic? Star Trek is about hope. Humans came into the scene with new ideas to solving the universe problems. And didn’t Earth just loose a fleet? Resources are valuable. You just can not just loose capital ships as if this is a game.
Earth and humans are about hope in the Star Trek universe. Bringing light into the darkness of warring factions. Not like the stuffy non-emotional Vulcans. Who do not get involved.

Wow, they really fraked up London!
I mean European cities in contrast to those in Asia were always proud of resisting the trend to add pointless Manhattan-like skyscrapers to their skyline. They always kept their european uniqueness while in Asia big metropolises become more and more homogenous (one of many negative aspects of globalisation)
Seriously, in the 23th century you need a Union-jack to distinguish London from San Francisco. How scary is that!

Water or not, the way the debris is being ejected from the ship still looks like someone used a bubble trail as a model. Someone should ask astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is taking shots of the Superdome from orbit in the ISS and twittering them live, to weigh in. He might even give us a demonstration.

:-)

Wouldn’t that totally rock- getting a definitive answer from an actual astronaut in zero gravity?

Those shots of the E are NOT underwater!

#48

San Francisco doesn’t have any skyscrapers like that, either. This is 250 years in the future, after all.

#31 The power outage was Scotty obeying the Prime Directive. As members of Star Fleet they want the 49ers to win.

So Deanna is making a cameo in this movie?

@51
“San Francisco doesn’t have any skyscrapers like that, either. This is 250
years in the future, after all.”

Yes i know. Thats the point. While watching the film, i won’t know which city is shown , unless a flag is there.

47. Sometimes hope gets tested.

#54

I imagine much like Star Trek 2009 there will be title cards telling you where they are.