J.J. Abrams Sure Understands Cross-Promotion

So, the big Star Trek movie is coming out this weekend. It's directed by J.J. Abrams, who, as you may or may not know, is one of the creators and writers of Fringe. And, if you're writing for a show which two other studios have already paid for, why wouldn't you sneak in some free publicity for your movie?

If you missed last night's episode, there's a scene in which Josh Jackson and Anna Torv investigate a lead and encounter a man claiming to be Sarek (Spock's father), who proceeds to describe the plot of the upcoming film to them. And he was played by Clint Howard, who was in "The Corbomite Maneuver" episode of the original Star Trek (and, now that I look, has been on two of the other series as well). And I don't believe anyone actually said the words "Star Trek" once. Brilliant.

This isn't the first time Abrams has done this. Three years ago, he pulled a similar stunt in Mission: Impossible 3. And, since Paramount didn't seem to balk at giving free publicity to Disney's Lost on their dime, I guess Abrams figured Fox and Warner Bros wouldn't mind if he returned the favor for Paramount.

Seriously, this guy's a genius. I've seen bigger, stupider, and more involuntary examples before, but for one guy to get away with crap like this is really the work of a genius.