Even though it did OK financially and critically, there was a time when it seemed like Star Trek Into Darkness may have killed the future of Star Trek on the big screen. Into Darkness was voted the worst Star Trek movie ever made at Las Vegas' annual Star Trek convention. Seemingly out of spite, the attendees voted Galaxy Quest a better Star Trek movie than Into Darkness. And then, as final salt in the wound, J.J. Abrams went and abandoned ship, moving from Star Trek to Star Wars.

Things were not looking good. Until, that is, Fast & Furious director/franchise rejuvenator Justin Lin decided it was time to leave the racing world behind and board a spaceship, signing on as the director of the third movie. Bona fide geek Simon Pegg was upgraded from costar to a cowriter on the movie. The great Idris Elba was cast as a villain. It even got a title that was way more optimistic than Into Darkness: Star Trek Beyond. Things were looking up.

Now that the first trailer is out, there is no denying the franchise has gotten a huge infusion of new DNA. It doesn't look like it has the ships-crashing-into-cities bigness of the last movie. It's much more grounded. There's already way more alien activity and it looks for sure like the crew doesn't just visit one weird planet in the opening scene and then leave that geeky stuff behind. This looks like a classic Star Trek episode where the crew gets stranded on an alien planet and has to fight their way out...only with a megabudget.

Simply put, Star Trek Beyond looks fun. It looks very, very fun.

Star Trek Beyond hits theaters on July 22, 2016.