Movies With Butter

There's a sizable percentage of the Trekkie fanbase that thinks the Star Trek franchise never needed to boldly go into 3D -- and although Star Trek Into Darkness will boast an added third dimension when it touches down in theaters on May 17, those fans can at least take solace in the knowledge that director J.J. Abrams agreed with them.

Admitting that "the idea of doing Star Trek in 3D was ridiculous" to him, Abrams revealed in a recent interview that "The studio said, ‘You have to make it in 3D if you’re going to make it, for economic reasons.'"

If that sounds like a senseless mandate, never fear -- as Abrams put it, "That was very helpful in some ways, because it let us work with stereographers and the 3D crew in a way that didn’t assume we just loved 3D."

Of course, even for those of us who don't mind 3D, hearing that a movie is being post-converted -- as is Star Trek Into Darkness -- is a cinematic red flag. But for what it's worth, Abrams says filming Darkness in 2D was actually an advantage. Admitting he has "trouble" with 3D on occasion, Abrams insisted, "The fact is that we’ve been using techniques that haven’t been used before in 3D. They’ve figured out things. They’ve made enough movies now with this new process that they can understand ways to eliminate some of these problems. Things like breaking shots into zones, 3D zones, using multiple virtual cameras. A lot of this has made me a believer, whereas before I was really against it ... There’s this myth that if you don’t shoot the movie in 3D it doesn’t look good. Actually, the opposite can be true."

So there you go, Trek fans -- if Abrams is to be believed (and after the Star Trek reboot, we're inclined to take him at his word), Into Darkness will go sufficiently boldly whether you purchase a ticket in 2D or 3D. At the very least, he sounds like he's happy with the movie he ended up making, and that can only be a good sign.

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