It feels like only yesterday that the Reject HQ crew was sitting just a few feet from Leonard Nimoy as he flirted with Neil’s mother after a mind-blowing screening of Star Trek – a film that surprised everyone by being better than good. Now, we’re waiting to return to the stars. To go where so many audiences have gone before. Unfortunately, that trip is still a ways off. Fortunately, screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were nice to enough to give SFX Magazine an interview where they give word on the project – and it might be word that fans of Khan and Klingons might not want to hear.

Every so often, a film emerges from the fray to prove its popularity and warrant a sequel. More and more, franchises are planned out in advance, but when one film turns into a franchise, a cash register sound goes off in the ears of the studio. Even though the kid stays in the picture, sometimes the director does not. Maybe the director is done working with the material. Maybe the producers want a more seasoned hand. Maybe a simple schedule conflict keeps him or her out of the chair for the next round up. But the show must go on, so the producers find another director to fill the slot – a director who ostensibly inherits all the strengths and weaknesses of a franchise birthed by someone else. Cinematic sloppy seconds that could have easily turned into sloppy sequels if it weren’t for a steady, talented director guiding the ship. Here’s a list of the ten best.

In seeking out an allegory for Star Trek 2, wouldn’t it be nice if they left leftist politics and the subject of torture alone? You said, yes? You may not want to read this then.