My Favorite Things: Epic Hiddles vs Cumberbatch Dance-off

While raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens are splendid in their own right, there is a multitude of awesome things out in the world. As Christmas approaches, I thought I'd take a look at some of these in a series I'm calling My Favorite Things.

Okay, so this isn't actually Christmas themed, but both Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston rank highly among my favorite people in all of time and space. So, when this video began making its rounds on the Intarwebs, I thought it would be perfect for inclusion in this series. Because let's face it, why wouldn't an epic dance-off mashup video featuring Hiddles and Jinglebell Christmaswreath* be the stuff fangirl dreams are made of?

See SpaceLock in Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser

It's here! It's here! Christmas has come early for Star Trek fans. Well, it's come early for me at least. I woke up this morning, admittedly late, to a tweet from a friend that the teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness premiered this morning.

When J.J. Abrams decided to release this trailer in advance of the sneak preview fans will get during the The Hobbit in IMAX beginning next week, he decided to set phasers to stun. The trailer, with narration by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch, is an action-packed minute that will leave you gasping for breath and wanting more. 

"You think your world is safe. It is an illusion, a comforting lie told to protect you. Enjoy these final moments of peace. For I have returned to have my vengeance."

Chills, my friends, chills.

Before I go on, however, let me stop for two minutes, to say that trailers like this are getting very formulaic. I'm reminded of Inception (BRRWWAAHHHHHHHH), The Dark Knight Rises (When Space Francisco is Ashes, Mr. Spock, you have my permission to die), and the very recent Iron Man 3 trailer (Explosions at key moments in the trailer highlighted by crescendos). Does that detract from the stunning visuals and the sheer epicness of the trailer itself? For me, no way. I've been super excited for this all year, and I get this movie as an early birthday present!

CONFIRMED: And the Star Trek 2 Villain Is...

This post contains spoilers for Star Trek 2.

But really deep in our hearts, we already knew this. The details have been few and far between. We learned months ago that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch would be appearing in J. J. Abrams' 2013 Star Trek sequel. The rumor mill began to churn out stories that he would be playing Khan Noonien Singh, first played by Ricardo Montalbon in the TOS episode "The Space Seed" and again in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, which both featured the original cast. Then, we heard that instead of Khan, Cumberbatch would be portraying Sybok, Spock's brother. However, confirmation has come that Benedict Cumberbatch will indeed be playing Khan and will be Star Trek 2's villain.

Of course, the set photographs that were reported on weeks ago did allude to the fact that Cumberbatch's character would be no friend of the Enterprise crew. In fact, the pictures featured Cumberbatch grappling with Zachary Quinto's Spock. We reported in the last few days that Leonard Nimoy himself had let his it slip about his appearance in the film. This news has been confirmed and Nimoy will indeed be reprising his role as Spock Prime. Klingons will also be in the film!

So, here we have it. Suspicions confirmed: Benedict Cumberbatch is Khan. Honestly, I cannot think of another actor for that role, and that is not just by bias toward Benedict Cumberbatch talking.

Did you see this coming?  Who would you have cast in the role of Khan?

This article was originally published on Word of the Nerd Online on May 1, 2012.