Entertainment Geekly’s ‘Star Trek’ series ends at a new beginning.
This week:Beyond, and something different.
The bestStar Trekmovie in 25 years came out this summer.
Credit: Paramount Pictures
It stars one woman, was directed by another woman, and lasts less than four minutes.
I have no idea why a song called Sledgehammer became the tie-in song forStar Trek Beyond.
(If you take the music videos canon seriously no reason not to!
But this has been a year with lots of loose talk about whatStar Trekis, and whatStar Trekshould be.
(Some people likeBeyondspecifically because itfeelsso much likeStar Trek.)
The final shot of Sledgehammer finds theEnterprisestaring at a planet-sized face of Rihanna.
The shot holds for a few long seconds.
Now, I have no idea how much Rihanna actually knows aboutStar Trek, nor do I remotely care.
But theres no reason to be precious about whateverStar Trekis supposed to mean.
The best part ofBeyondis the first act.
Essentially a prologue, it finds Captain Kirk and his crew far on the outer reaches of space.
Theyre three years into the five-year mission.
Kirk is bored; things are getting episodic.
The crew is passing the time: Collecting artifacts from distant planets; falling into bed with each other.
Starfleet used to vibe naval, untilNext Generationreimagined itsEnterpriseas a family-friendly work environment, half-Googleplex and half-Sea Org.
The exception is Kirk.
Hes feeling a bit listless.
Hes getting older;Beyondstarts with McCoy insisting on celebrating his birthday.
This Kirk was born the day his father died; hes now older than his father ever was.
To perfect eyesight and a full head of hair!
He never really wanted to join Starfleet, like his dad; he just signed up on a dare.
Theres a clever new idea here, and I think the reference toWrath of Khanis important.
That Kirk was having a midlife crisis; nowadays, nobody waits until 50 to have a midlife crisis.
I loved playing the first 10 minutes of this film greatly, Chris Pine told me, aboutBeyond.
Its a willfully different energy than Kirk has been in the past.
We met Pines Kirk as an angry young man, recall.
He was louder, maybe at times more abrasive.
InBeyond, that angry young man has gone.
He still has his sense of humor.
But theres a mundanity to it, an everydayness to it.
Its only the first 10 minutes, he said.
What happens after those first 10 minutes?
TheEnterprisevisits Yorktown, a nifty space-sphere with skyscrapers pointed upwards and downwards and inwards and outwards.
At long last, confirmation: Sulu is married, and the spark isgone.
Pine has never had a love interest.
Its the Cumberkhan problem all over again, really.
The villain inBeyondis constructed around a Big Twist the monster was human all along!
when the movie would be vastly more interesting if it showed you all the cards at the start.
Was this always the plan?
Its enabled us to ask certain questions that might not have been asked then.
Is the Federation a good idea or not?
Is it just colonialism?
That is a good question and it echoes one of the best throwaways lines fromThe Undiscovered Country.
Its in that great dinner scene between theEnterpriseand the Klingons.
Chekov claims that the Federation believes all planets have a sovereign claim to inalienable human rights.
If only you could hear yourselves!
says Azetbur, an intelligent young Klingon woman.
Why, the verynameis racist.
The Federation is no more than a homo sapiens only club.
From what we see, there are an awful lot of humans in the Federation, and in Starfleet.
But whyisStarfleet so overrun with humans?
Heres a question: Why does Old Spock stay in the past?
Trek 09requires all the usual leaps in time travel logic.
This is a new universe, with familiar-looking characters who are nevertheless completely different people.
When I spoke to Pegg, he stressed that was the interpretation framed by himself andBeyondco-writer Doug Jung.
Were not governed by what happened in the original timeline, he said.
We discussed the potential fate of everybody being completely open.
Its not like they have to survive.
This isnt that universe.
Of course, part of the intriguing tension of the newTrekfilms is that their universe is neverentirelydifferent.
They must inevitably fight a madman named Khan.
If they inevitably watch oneEnterpriseget destroyed, they will inevitably find a shiny newEnterprise-Awaiting for them in spacedock.
(Remember:The Final Frontierimplicitly establishes that Uhura and Scotty have been/always shall be shore leave sweethearts.)
Its true that we dontseethat stuff on the original series.
I suppose one answer is: Theres no way for him to go back.
Spock was doing important work, before he traveled through the Red Matter wormhole.
He had spent decades trying to repair relations with the Romulan Empire.
Is it possible Spock didntwantto go back?
Do Vulcans feel nostalgic?
What about half-Vulcans who apparently dont care anymore about the Temporal Prime Directive?
Did Spock just wish he could go back to when things were simpler?
Did he give up on his own future?
Beyondasks none of these questions, maybe because theyre too complicated.
True radical change is flirted with, and abandoned; anEnterpriseis destroyed, and a newEnterpriseappears in record time.
InTrek 09, the ship was setting off on its five-year mission.
InInto Darkness, the ship was… well,actuallysetting off on its five-year mission.
Have they found new life or new civilizations yet?
Is there anything left to discover?
Beyondopened last week with a $59.6 million opening.
Like:
1.Thats an impressive opening.
2.Its a problematic opening.
Maybe people didnt likeTrek 09as much as Paramount thought they did andInto Darknesssurely didnt help matters.
But the latest reports are thatBeyondcost $185 million.
4.But the films opening clearly proves that the fan base is strong.
AfterInto Darkness, the fandom was upset; now, they are happy.
6.No matter how hard it tries,Star Trekwill never beatStar Wars.
Not even close; not in this generation, nor in the next one.
Whatever: There will be anotherStar Trekmovie.
Maybe it will be good.
(If theyre looking for a director, I hear Floria Sigismondi is available!)
FutureTrekshowrunner Bryan Fuller hosted a panel of only luminaries.Voyagerstar Jeri Ryan provided some food-for-thought interpretations of the Borg.
(They certainly werent exclusionary, she pointed out.)
Michael Dorn nerded out about Captain Kirk.
William Shatner was there, tireless.
So whatwasgoing through Shatners mind?
Warm moist lips, slowly coming towards me, said Shatner.
You know what I mean, Jeri?
It was wonderful, are you kidding me?
That was what was going through our mind.
But there was some truth in Shatners unreconstructed-horndog act, too.
This is why everyone is so excited about Fuller.
DidTrekalways belong on the small screen?
Maybe thats why I like Sledgehammer so much.
It is boldly going forsomething.
And it turns outBeyondis a place weve all gone before.
