So the new film goes back to the beginning of Star Trek but what else have we learned from the trailers and the internet chatter about the movie? And yes, warning, spoiler alert ...
1 The young James Tiberius Kirk was bit of handful while growing up in Iowa, given to speeding across the countryside in a 20th century Corvette, being chased by hoverbike cops. His possibly borrowed car ends up down a deep canyon, despite a seeming lack of them in 21st century
Iowa (earthquake? dilithium crystal mine?) with the young Kirk finding that, not for the first time, his life would be a series of cliffhangers.
2 Kirk's father George was the "captain of a starship for 12 minutes". That would be the single-engined survey vessel the USS Kelvin, on which Kirk senior was first officer. Having saved 800 lives, he went down with the ship after coming under attack by Romulan Warbirds commanded by Nero (Eric Bana). Seemingly, this was soon before Kirk jr was born, as his mother was evacuated back to Earth, his lack of father turning him into an angry young man.
3 Kirk was encouraged to enlist by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), the very first captain of the USS Enterprise. A Captain Pike appeared in the pilot episode The Cage of the original series only to be replaced by William Shatner's James T. Kirk, and the character has turned up in other branches of the Star Trek universe. Something unfortunate would seem to befall Pike in the new movie for Kirk to assume command, with the soon-to-be immortal line: "Yeah, we do ..."
4 In this one, Kirk, who shared televison's first inter-racial kiss with communications officer Lieutenant Uhura in the original series, tries to get it on with her in a bar. Only she rebuffs his attentions and he gets into a fight with other patrons of the establishment. Kirk does get it on with another unidentified - apparently female, presumably human - colleague.
5 The morning after the bar fight - indicated by the scrapes and bruises on his face - Kirk sees the Enterprise under construction in its Earthbound "shipyard" for the first time. It's love at first sight.
6 Spock and Kirk don't exactly hit it off. They exchange dirty looks at Starfleet Academy and once in space they end up in a fight on the bridge of the Enterprise with Spock doing a nerve-pinch on his commanding-officer-to-be. He probably had it coming ...
7 Nero has developed a planet-destroying technology which resembles a giant airborne drilling platform. He destroys at least one unidentified planet with it, the world seeming to collapse upon itself as if it were caught in a Black Hole. In one trailer scene the platform can be seen hovering over San Francisco Bay - home of the Starfleet Academy. In another it appears to be taking aim at the planet Vulcan.
8 Spock beams down to the planet Vulcan, presumably to save his parents. Meanwhile, Kirk and Sulu are seen scrapping with Romulans on the rig above Vulcan - Sulu (John Cho) brings out a sword (a Japanese katana apparently); the Sulu of the original series (George Takei) showed his fencing skills off in the classic episode The Naked Time. Spock is later consoled with a hug from Lieutenant Uhura (Zoe Saldana) so something may have gone wrong with his rescue mission.
9 James T. Kirk's mother was named Winona Kirk. Spock's human mother, Amanda Grayson, is played by Winona Ryder. This coincidence should lead to it becoming a popular name for the female children of Trekkies, assuming they ever, er, mate.
10 While trudging around a snowy planet (Delta Vega apparently) Kirk gets chased by something which sort of looks like a combo of the monster from J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield and the polar bear from J.J. Abrams' Lost. No, really, it does ... .