Just when I thought director J.J. Abrams could not surpass previous successes such as television hits Alias and Lost or big-screen blowouts like Transformers, he has rocketed to the top of his game again ? this time at warp speed.

For the newest and arguably the most action-packed addition to the seemingly endless Star Trek series, Abrams created not another “continuing mission” but a new beginning. He skips all the way back to the start of the adventure, when Captain James T. Kirk of creator Gene Roddenberry’s original show began his first adventures.

I urge Star Trek purists not to watch Abrams’ alternate universe plot with too critical an eye; trust me, it works.

In this newest installation and prequel, Kirk (Chris Pine) is a rebel with attitude and too much intelligence for his own good. When he first enlists in Starfleet Academy (a campus complete with the old-school uniform designs), he surpasses all of his peers academically and still manages to find himself in heaps of trouble.

Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto wearing a prosthetic nose) dislikes the rash and argumentative Kirk from the beginning, grounding him from a mission to respond to a distress signal in deep space. Kirk, of course, ignores Spock’s warning and boards the Enterprise with the rest of the cadets to help save the galaxy.

As it turns out, the Romulans are at it again, Star Trek fans: traveling back in time, evil and bitter Captain Nero (Eric Bana) has targeted the peaceful planet Vulcan ? Spock’s home planet.

Throughout the film, Spock’s and Kirk’s battle of stubborn wills fuels tense arguments about the way to correctly engage the Romulans. Meanwhile, viewers will recognize the rest of the gang along for the ride: Doctor McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) all make their debuts, thrown together with just enough nostalgic references to the original series to keep fans happy.

Each character is portrayed almost perfectly (Urhura’s sensuality is a little questionable), from Scotty’s constant comic relief to McCoy’s irritated objection of “I’m a doctor, not a physicist!”

Yet what makes the film such a wild success, not only as a Star Trek movie, but as an all-around blockbuster, is not the individual triumphs. The fast-paced dialogue and unending action is never gratuitous or heady. The stunning visual effects somehow update the old show without completely throwing out the manual. Scotty is still busy beaming up his comrades and Pine’s portrayal of Kirk morphs from a cocky cadet into the cool and valiant captain of the Enterprise.

In short, Star Trek makes the rest of 2009 “blockbusters” thus far look like low-budget C-grade films.

With all of the time traveling, even the most dedicated fans will find new ways to look at their beloved sci-fi series. Romantic interests, surprising battles and nuanced attitudes between each of the characters revamp what many skeptics considered a dead franchise.

Somehow, the creators of the movie took a classic series and transformed it into a trek towards reviving the energy surrounding Kirk and the rest of his crew. Judging from the $79.2 million weekend gross, viewers have taken notice.

Abrams’ movie is a give-and-take creation with enough new elements to satisfy brand-new viewers and the right amount of wistful references to the original program for diehard Trekkies.

I predict Star Trek will remain in theaters over the next few months. For movie tickets and show times, visit Fandango. For more movie reviews, check out Disney franchise makes big-screen move.