Two Maligned Star Trek And James Bond Movies Share The Same Villain Problem

Fan service is the lowest form of dramatic writing. In some cases, it's a cheap act of flattery meant to make the viewer feel special for knowing some semi-obscure character or moment from a previous film or episode. And sometimes it's an even cheaper act of sentimentality that seeks to spark engagement by bringing back a beloved character even though they've no relevance to the story being told.

Nothing can turn me off a movie or television series faster than this cloddish, emotionally fraudulent approach to storytelling. Sadly, it's more commonplace than ever. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is riddled with fan service, as are the new "Star Wars" films and series (though Rian Johnson's "The Last Jedi" largely manages to avoid it). But at least these franchises usually endeavor to provide a narrative and/or thematic purpose for the introduction of fan favorite characters. This cannot be said of J.J. Abrams' awful "Star Trek Into Darkness" and Sam Mendes' James Bond oddity "Spectre."

These two films have much in common. They were following up movies that were considered top installments in their franchises. Audiences brought an abundance of goodwill into the theater. These filmmakers were playing with house money; they could've gone in any creative direction without resorting to fan service. Instead, they shoehorned two iconic villains – Khan Noonien Singh and Ernst Stavro Blofeld – into their reinvented universes, where neither had any previous history with the protagonists. This proved disastrous for "Star Trek Into Darkness," and greatly hampered "Spectre."

After Abrams' 2009 blockbuster "Star Trek," fans were excited to see where the young, fresh-faced crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise would boldly go next. Because Abrams and his writers were working within their Kelvin timeline (separate from the canonical "Star Trek" universe created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966), they were free to introduce new characters and scenarios that, in time, could massively expand the brand's fanbase. Alas, Abrams went back to his "mystery box" bag of tricks, and teased fans with a peculiar new villain named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch).

From the moment Harrison was announced, speculation ran rampant that this character was Khan. Though Cumberbatch repeatedly shot down the Khan rumors, Abrams and the writers played coy. I went to a pre-release press event at Bad Robot in 2013 where reporters spent the better part of the day badgering the creative team with Khan questions. Many of my colleagues felt it would be a disappointment if Harrison wasn't Khan, but I was steadfastly against it. "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" was an event because Ricardo Montalban's character had been one of Captain Kirk's most formidable adversaries in The Original Series. He was a non-entity in the Kelvin timeline.

Cumberbatch's Khan reveal, which comes halfway into the movie, is a groaner. Yes, Kirk has it out for him because he killed his mentor Captain Pike, but there's no sizzle to their acrimony. The film ultimately hits a brick wall by switching up the end of "The Wrath of Khan" and having Kirk sacrificing himself to save the Enterprise. Spock's emotional reaction to his friend's death rings hollow, if only because these characters don't have the history that William Shatner's Kirk and Leonard Nimoy's Spock did. Fan service doesn't get more abhorrent than this.

Unlike "Star Trek Into Darkness," the rebooted, Daniel Craig-led version of James Bond was several films into its run when they decided to introduce 007's arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. But they faced the same problem in that Craig's Bond knew nothing of Blofeld. Unfortunately, director Sam Mendes and his writers made the same mistake that tripped up Abrams and company: they introduced Christoph Waltz' villain as Franz Oberhauser before, late in the movie, revealing that he's Ernst Stavro Blofeld. This is meant to elicit a gasp from the audience, but the moment lands with a thud because Bond never acted like he had a history with Oberhauser until Blofeld tells Léa Seydoux the not-so-shocking truth.

The "Spectre" team (Craig also had an uncredited hand in the rewriting) should've ditched the nonsensical half-brother twist, and simply kicked off the film with Waltz being identified as Blofeld. The family drama needlessly complicates an already complex narrative (that would've barely held up sans this added tsuris), and undermines what, for the most part, is an expertly directed 007 adventure enlivened by a number of mind-blowing action set pieces. It's a baffling misstep. Inserting Spectre into the rebooted series' mix wouldn't have been fan service had they'd done it straight up. Instead, they got way too clever with the reveal, and felt obligated to revisit this silly family dynamic in "No Time for Die." (I actually would've preferred the scrapped idea of making Ralph Fiennes' M the baddie.)

Please, directors and screenwriters, I beg you: no more fan service. Unless you're Joe Dante slipping Robbie the Robot or the Time Machine into the background of a trade convention. This is not only allowed, but encouraged.