Warning: prepare yourself for a strange hybrid of theological and scifi geekery!
If you are a fan of Star Trek, you may have already seen the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek film "Star Trek Into Darkness". In the trailer, we are given a glimpse of the villain, though we are not given his name. There is speculation in may be Khan, the best known foil to Captain Kirk. There is also some buzz that it may be Gary Mitchell, a villain from the original series (he appeared in the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before"). When I heard that the villain maybe Mitchell, I looked him up.
Here is the article I found: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Gary_Mitchell
In that article, the writers state that Mitchell, who develops super-human traits after an encounter with the galactic barrier (I warned you this would get geeky!), should "become oracular, in the sense of Moses or even Cotton Mather."
Well, there you have it. If the villain of the upcoming Star Trek film does indeed turn out to be Gary Mitchell, remember that part of the original inspiration for the character was none other than the Puritan, Cotton Mather himself!
