When I heard that JJ Abrams was being handed the reins to the next Star Wars trilogy, I think like many others, I felt encouraged by his previous effort at helming a major sci-fi franchise: Star Trek. Personally, I felt that the first new Star Trek movie (not so much Into Darkness) managed to walk the incredibly fine line between catering to devotees and being accessible to neophytes. It was clear he had respect for the source material without being slavish to it.