'Star Trek Into Darkness' Screened for Dying Trekkie by JJ Abrams

Never underestimate the power of nerdom. It transforms imagined worlds into realities, disparate fans into communities, and, in the case of one man dying of cancer, can make dreams come true. J.J. Abrams, director of the upcoming movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness" has reportedly granted a terminally ill Trekkie's last wish to see the new film before his death, according to IFC.

The friend of a lifelong "Star Trek" fan named Dan who is dying of two different forms of cancer took to website Reddit to tell his story. Dan had gone to see "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" hoping to see the prologue of "Star Trek Into Darkness," but it wasn't included with the film. Shortly after, he discovered he only had weeks left to live. Sad in and of itself, but even more so for Dan because it meant he wouldn't live long enough to see the full film.

Not long after the post went up, Dan's wife posted an update saying that Abrams had reached out to the couple and offered Dan a private screening of the film.

"Hi everyone, it's Daniel's wife, we are of course sworn to secrecy, BUT we are officially allowed to say we saw it and we enjoyed it IMMENSELY as a film and as a gesture," she wrote. "Also, it was truly amazing that a film-maker so secretive as JJ Abrams was kind enough to show this to us. ... We were so touched when [Abrams] was concerned that we wouldn't 100% enjoy the screening as it's still being worked on....... Be assured we enjoyed it 110%!"

She continued: "It is also so wonderful for his friends & his family to finally hear some good news from us, they know how important film is to Daniel & could not think of a better way to please him. So this gesture really has brought a lot of smiles all around. it was a wonderful thing to see with Daniel and a wonderful thing to see Daniel enjoy - Making someone as ill as he is smile for any length of time really makes a difference. (At this point making me smile is good too)"

Directed by Abrams, "Star Trek Into Darkness" stars Chris Pine (Captain Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy), John Cho (Sulu) and Simon Pegg (Scotty).

The first teaser trailer for the film was recently released and the results were stunning. In a hair-raising one-minute sequence, the trailer flashes images of a futuristic metropolis under attack, mass destruction, and plenty of shocked faces like an approaching hurricane gathering strength.

It's a teaser, so, there's not much narrative unity tying everything together, but there are more than enough intriguing tid bits to whet appetites until next summer. Some kind of lake of fire, a huge spacecraft emerging from the water, explosions inside a space ship, a blonde caterwauling, and distraught future people all careen by at neck-breaking speed in the trailer's last seconds.

"When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction," says the film's official plot synopsis.

"Star Trek Into Darkness," hits theaters May 17, 2013.