Star Trek Beyond trailer: your first look at J.J. Abrams' other space movie

Star Trek Beyond trailer
Star Trek Beyond trailer

You could say that the stars are aligning, because the Star Trek Beyond trailer launched today, the same week that Star Wars: The Force Awakens premieres in theaters across the globe.

It's a minute-and-half long YouTube trailer showing actors Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Zach Quinto and Zoe Saldana, among others, aboard the Enterprise - briefly.

Their space voyage is cut short when the iconic Star Trek ship is destroyed and the crew is dispersed on an alien planet. Its inhabitants don't look very friedly.

"We've got no ship, no crew. How are we going to get out of this one?" asks Captain Kirk. What they do have plenty of is the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," which plays overtop the trailer.

J.J. Abrams hands off Star Trek Beyond Justin Lin

The Star Trek Beyond, at least from the debut trailer, doesn't seem to take itself as seriously as the previous movie, Star Trek Into Darkness.

That may be because Fast & Furious director Justin Lin is in the captain's seat on this one, replacing J.J. Abrams as the person behind the camera.

Abrams is still a part of the movie via a producer credit, as shown in the YouTube trailer. He's apparently busy with that other aforementioned space-based movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The Star Trek Beyond release date in theaters is July 22, 2016. That should be when the new Star Wars movie ends its run in discount movie theaters, making it the perfect time to launch us back into space.

Matt Swider