As long as they’re remaking classic Trek…

I have a confession to make. I laughed while watching a big dramatic moment of Star Trek: Into Darkness last weekend. I don’t mean I snickered, chuckled, tittered or giggled. Heck, I can’t remember ever really doing the last two of those. No, I mean I burst out into raucous peals of uncontrolled laughter that shook my body and made me lean forward in my seat with the sort of stretched smile that only comes from a sincere guffaw.

And this was at a dramatic moment of the film.

I was the only one in the theater laughing.

I’m not sorry.

I suppose at this point I should give you a spoiler warning, because I was laughing at a big dramatic moment, and if you haven’t seen the film yet, you might get angry at me for even mentioning it at all.

So, consider this space in here your spoiler warning.

Last call for spoilers. In a moment I’m going to get into the story and why I laughed.

Anyone still here? Well, I’ll write for the crickets then. They might enjoy Star Trek movies. And here we go…

So, by now I don’t think it will surprise anyone that the big villain of this film is Khan Noonien Singh.* I confess that disappointed me after the great lengths to which the studio, the filmmakers, and the actor had gone to deny this fact. Heck, when I first took my seat I was hoping Cumberbatch’s character was going to be a twist off of Squire Trelane. Benedict Cumberbatch as Squire Trelane would have been great.

I’m getting off track. Back to the big dramatic moment.

In a scene directly mirroring The Wrath of Khan, Kirk (instead of Spock) braves radiation poisoning to realign the housing of the warp core, complete with dramatic death on the other side of the glass barrier from Spock, their hands pressed against the glass. (Don’t even get me started on this.)

Spock watches Kirk die, leans back and bellows, “KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!” That’s right, Spock screams out the most quoted Kirk line written since the original series ended. The line that has become a classic geek reference. Spock, who even in his most emotional moments is nothing like Kirk (and does not have the history with Khan that Kirk did in that famous moment from Wrath of Khan).

I chuckle just thinking about it. And yet I was the only person in the theater laughing. Which makes me wonder – was it just me? Did the moment actually work in the context of the scene for an audience full of people who maybe haven’t seen Wrath of Khan a dozen times?

If you’ve seen it, I’d love to hear what you think. Was this as funny as I found it, or do I just have a strange sense of humor? (I’m fine with it either way. I’m just curious.)

* Not that the character actually gave his whole name when he revealed the truth. Oh, no. He just said that his name was Khan, as though there had never been another Khan worth noting in all of history. I mean seriously, can you imagine a military man like General Douglas MacArthur getting the Buck Rogers treatment, waking up in the twenty-fifth century, and introducing himself by saying, “My name is Doug”? Not that I’m comparing MacArthur to Khan. Just needed a famous military name.)

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