Awesome. I am not a Trekie, so I can't say whether it stuck to the original or not. But as a first time viewer, I was thouroughly entertained. It was very funny, had great special effects, great acting, and a good story. Even at 2 hours long, I wasn't really ready for it to end; I wanted to know what happened next! Now I want to go back and watch all the orignal stuff!
Action movies are definatly not my favorite genre, but the action in Dark Knight was amazing. It was perfect, from the very first scheme the Joker pulls to the very last confrontation, it's just so clever you're looking over at your friend going "Damn!" Maggie Gyllenhaal is very believable as Rachel, much better than Katie Holmes. Christian Bale is not my favorite Batman/Bruce of all time, but he does well too. His Bruce is pretty funny as a clueless playboy. Aaron Eckhart is a great Harvy Dent standing up for justice, very inspiring. It'll be interesting to see if he plays two-face in a next movie. Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon I thought was great, he showed great talent and doesn't get enough attention for his role. And, of course, Heath Ledger. He was psychotic, witty, scary, funny, clever... brilliant. His Joker was EXACTLY as I would imagine a villian of that nature to be in real life. Convincing, gripping, powerful. If you have to die an untimely, tragic death, this is the legacy you want to leave behind.