By @EnterpriseExtra for TrekCore.com

There’s no denying the promotional push for Star Trek Beyond hit warp 9.975 on Friday evening when Paramount Pictures staged a fan event for the ages.

From VIPs to exclusive footage, the studio provided an immersive experience for fans and media, sparing no expense, and capturing the unique emotion of a diverse (and sometimes divisive) fan base.

As a starting point, the location was an inspired choice. Welcoming fans onto the Paramount sets, where the bulk of 700-plus hours of Star Trek has been filmed, was a great move. (Much preferred over the myriad of choices where an event like this could have been staged in Los Angeles.) The setting provided an intimate connection to the series and the creatives behind what ends up on the screen.

That connection was enhanced by a brilliant theater-in-the-round setting for the night’s first event, a Q & A with a number of cast and crew, on Stage 31. The theater set resembled a supped up Star Trek conference room straight of Utopia Planitia (think Federation HQ in Into Darkness combined with any number of observation lounge sets in Star Trek history).

Circled by nine screens, so everyone had a great view, host Adam Savage of Mythbusters did a superb job of engaging fans with the VIPs on stage.

The evening began with the conference room style Q & A with Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin and executive producer JJ Abrams. That session, which included the breaking news bombshell from Abrams that the studio was in settlement discussions with Axanar Productions, was followed by an intimate, spirited and frank conversation with Trek’s biggest stars: Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Karl Urban (McCoy).

Seeing the Enterprise trifecta so connected with each other, their characters, the fans, the moment, was impressive, if not surprising, based on their set interactions from the previous two films.

Following the Q & A, all of the attendees were escorted outside of Stage 31 to a ceremony honoring the great Leonard Nimoy, as the street connecting those particular stages was christened “Leonard Nimoy Way” – and everyone cheered at the special surprise announcement.

It took approximately 20 minutes to get everyone relocated into the huge bleachers framing both the walkway and a small stage with the Trek’s ubiquitous insignia. With Nimoy’s family in attendance, including his son Adam, Zachary Quinto toasted his late friend and mentor in a moving tribute.

From there, the large Stage 32 doors slid open to reveal a standing-room only area where fans would be treated to the new Star Trek Beyond trailer and about 15 minutes of exclusive footage. But first, everyone was asked to turn their phones over to the Orion girls on hand.

The movement of the fans onto Stage 32 was quick, and soon everyone was enjoying new Trek footage on the big screen. The new trailer blew everyone away, with the crowd roaring its approval for every frame.

Spoiler warning!

As soon as the trailer finished, we were presented with two scenes not yet available to the public – beginning with an extended look at the Kirk/McCoy conversation that opens the theatrical trailer.

The emotion of an extended conversation between Kirk and McCoy sharing a drink was reminiscent of both the Kirk/McCoy conversation from The Wrath of Khan, and maybe more poignantly, the classic Pike/Boyce exchange the basically launched Star Trek at the beginning of “The Cage.”

The scene is clearly early on in the film and follows a “Data’s Day” type opening in which Kirk’s captain’s log is recounting some of the mundane, day-to-day events the crew is slogging through on their long journey.

It was a powerful scene, with warmth, humor and emotion, which appears to connect universes and continuity all the way from “The Cage” to the amazing bar confrontation between Kirk and Pike in the 2009 Trek film. If this scenes heartfelt impact successfully sets the tone for the entire film. Star Trek fans are in for a treat.

The other extended scene previewed for fans was not fully intact, and not completely finished in terms of effects and scoring, but showed a large portion of the now well-documented attack from Krall’s forces that disable the Enterprise and cause the crew to abandon ship.

The style of the attack presented is certainly unique in Star Trek lore (unless you want to talk about Voyager’s “The Swarm”), and its unrelenting, frenetic pace did not overwhelm the emotion and feeling of loss that was overcoming the crew as they struggled to save the ship and their lives.

The footage ended with a few more quick shots of different action scenes, included some Jaylah fight scenes, her taking a seat in the captain’s chair, and some shots from what appears to be some sort of slave labor camp where the Enterprise crew is being held, among others. All of the footage felt like it was too big to be contained by the screen, which ultimately is what every tentpole summer sci-fi blockbuster strives for.

End spoilers!

But the night wasn’t over. As soon as the last frame of footage was shown, a huge curtain swung open to reveal what can only be described as the ideal party setting for any Star Trek fan. Costumes and props expertly displayed, interactive photo ops, vendors, food and drink… and a number of Paramount and Bad Robot executives in attendance and walking the room to get feedback from the fans.

I found myself in conversations with three different studio executives, all of whom were interested in discussing the event and the film – wanting to know everything from what I liked, to what I was looking forward to, and what I wanted to see more of.

The highlight of the night for me came when I crossed paths with Star Trek Beyond co-writer Doug Jung. As I was working my way through the crowd, I noticed him walking with Bad Robot executive Lindsey Weber and I stopped him and said simply, “Hey, thanks for your work. The film looks great.”

He immediately stopped and could not have been more engaged, thanking me for the compliment, shaking my hand and then asking me to tell him what it was that connected with me tonight. That was an easy answer.

I told him that I love when Star Trek films feel like an episode of Star Trek. “I love when it’s about the crew and their small relationships that, of course, feel big, because a movie has to feel big.” (I told him that this is why I defend Star Trek: Insurrection, because it feels like a great two-hour episode of Star Trek.)

He acknowledged that that was one of their goals – to really show the crew in their day-to- day life in the midst of the five-year mission. He wanted the ship to feel lived in, something that was masterfully accomplished in the extended scene shown to fans with a captain’s log voiceover montage of Kirk walking through the ship, talking about their routine and his own unrest.

We discussed the intense emotion shared between Kirk and McCoy in their conversation glimpsed in the trailer, sharing a drink on Kirk’s birthday. In The Wrath of Khan, the scene featured McCoy counseling Kirk on his internal battle with age, while in this case McCoy counsels Kirk on the mixed emotion of losing his father on the day he was born and the motivations for his life choices.

He was clearly happy to hear me acknowledge that the emotion of that scene came through loud and clear, and he verified that they were definitely trying to capture the tone set in previous incarnations of that moment (from both the ‘life choices quandary’ of “The Cage” and ‘the birthday angst’ seen in The Wrath of Khan).

Ultimately the film’s box office success will rely mostly on the finished product and critical reception, but the evening as a whole seemed to completely justify Paramount’s decision to delay their promotional blitz until after the 2016 version of superhero films released in May.

The studio is clearly behind the film and planning a two-month leadup that will culminate in the brilliant idea to launch the world premiere on the eve of Comic Con, a night that will likely even surpass everything accomplished at this incredible Star Trek fan event.

EnterpriseExtra is the editor of TrekRanks.com, while living and breathing Trek on Twitter.