Whenever a new Star Trek or Star Wars entry appears on the horizon, the fan boys and girls get into weird vitriolic discussions of which is better. It’s a silly discussion because it’s all about personal preference, but more than that the franchises have different goals. Star Wars is space opera. Broader emotional contexts of good vs. evil, with a better action focus. Star Trek is a more cerebral endeavor. Often denounced for being slower and more talky, but also being willing to delve into complex ideas of humanity and politics more fully. I get it though. It’s natural to defend your favorite, but really they are different entities. It’s just a silly argument to have. So they should all just stop.

In addition, the same director J.J. Abrams, is taking over the Star Wars franchise as well.  Which is a good thing, because I am here to tell you that, after what he did with Star Trek: Into Darkness, without question…. Star Trek is better.

OMG – this movie is so… like… awesome!

At their worst, the Star Trek movies were low-budget looking, goofy films that broke character arcs 30 years in the making (See Star Trek V: The Final Frontier). But even then, even at their lowest, they were still about big ideas. Even the reviled fifth film of the original cast was about the implications of going in search of God. That’s big stuff tackling religion, cult groups, and the influence of belief. What was needed to go mainstream but still stay true to the Star Trek vision was a better sense of action and pacing. Into Darkness has that in spades.

Just like what Abrams did with his previous reboot of the franchise, this latest voyage moves at a breakneck speed. While less time is spent discussing moral implications to make way for action, Abrams assumes you can connect the dots yourself and presents the arguments in the midst of all the carnage so as not to slow anything down, as when Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) have a domestic dispute while avoiding Klingon death ships.

It’s your turn to do the dishes.

The movie opens with a crazy chase scene through a visually stunning red forest, as the crew of the Enterprise breaks all sorts of rules about not interfering with the natural evolution of a native people. Their desire to stop a volcano from exploding lands Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) in hot water, losing his command of the world famous space vehicle as punishment.

But when terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) attacks Earth and kills off major officials, it forces Kirk back into action in an off the books operation, flaunting all rules to go after the assassin. This leads to trouble with Spock who loves to quote all the regulations being broken and even more with chief engineer Scotty (Simon Pegg) who has to stand on his convictions against the captain he serves. In the middle of all it, Abrams balances the relationships with humor and sensitivity. What elevates this material from simply smart to greatness is that the cast gels perfectly as this starship crew: a group of people who hang out all the time and know each other really well. The intense and the jovial coexist in a way that would only happen with people who have been through it all before.

The plot holds many surprises so I am afraid of describing too much. But the big ideas in this installment deal with allegiance to family and friends, allegiance to country, notions of whether the ends justify the means, the needs of the many outweighing the few, the fluctuating line between good and evil, our relationships with death, and the ultimate willingness to show compassion to our biggest enemies. This is great stuff. And through it all we get crazy huge space fights, insane space walks, massive explosions, and the practically trademarked countdowns to death that makes Star Trek so famous. Take one spectacular scene of Harrison and Kirk rocketing through a junk field, towards a door on another ship, in nothing more than their thin space suits. There are two separate countdowns going on. The first being whether or not Scotty can open the door they are blasting toward in time before they splat into the side of it, and the second being random junk cracking Kirk’s visor and creating the timer of how long his can visor hold on before it falls apart.

And just so you know, since Abrams has created an alternate timeline in the first film, he continues that notion pulling in many direct references to both the tv show and the movies in ways that are ingenious and feel fresh even though they are old. He presents old plot concepts that we all know and have seen before in a fresh way that works for veterans and newbies to the series alike. My friend had never seen the previous movies and asked me at what point I knew such and such was going to happen. I knew it earlier than she did because I have seen all the earlier films. But it doesn’t matter, we both got to enjoy it in different ways.

I’m a bad … BAD man. Forgive me.

One special note, Cumberbatch as Harrison is a great villain. Not only does he fill the screen with his imposing presence, but he is a complete character. We feel both compassion and hate for him. That’s hard to do and it’s all the more impressive because his story causes us to reflect on ourselves and wonder who the real villain is. Who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy is not always so clear. At some point everybody in the film is in the wrong and that’s what makes it so right.