From Sunday's New York Times story on the forthcoming Star Trek movie:
For the “Trek” faithful there are plenty of nods to past television episodes and movies, familiar catchphrases and Kirk’s notorious solution to a supposedly unwinnable mission simulation. But there is also a conscious effort to inscribe this “Trek” in the storytelling traditions popularized by Joseph Campbell, in which heroes must suffer loss and abandonment before they rise to the occasion. The filmmakers admit that this is a deliberate homage to their favorite films, like “Superman,” “Star Wars” and “The Godfather Part II”.
And who does not remember the "hero" of Godfather II "rising to the occasion"? We can now all look forward to Captain Kirk being left by a mistreated wife, killing his brother, and sitting around on his ship forlornly remembering when he still had a conscience.
--Isaac Chotiner