The use of an alternate time-line enables the tension of the unexpected, since survivability of both characters and worlds are all up for grabs. Paradoxically the comfort of the Star Trek character familiarity resonates through a brilliant new cast, as if we are really meeting the time honored characters as their younger selves. Unlike the articulated pauses in deep space that have made some Star Shlep films the stuff of hollywood non-legend, this film has no let up in so far as the suspense or action sequences and first rate use of effects and imagery. One small, dwarfed ding goes to the over-use of the typically over-sized bad guy space ship.