Tag: Star Trek

“It’s Continuing Mission…to Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before”

Let me first thank all of my loyal followers; I am pleased to have hit the 100 mark. This is my 162nd post in just about three years and I’ve still got a ways to go! I hope you all are enjoying these and much as I am enjoying re-watching them!

Star Trek Beyond

The film released the same year as the fiftieth anniversary of the original series.  Idris Elba (Heimdall in the MCU) joined the cast as villain Krall.  Sadly, Leonard Nimoy passed away the year previous, but Spock Prime is mentioned in the film, and this was the last appearance of Anton Yelchin as Chekov; he passed away in an accident about a month before the film released.

The film begins with a goodwill mission gone awry, but still funny (and Chris Pine has a devil of a time saying the alien race’s name).  Alas, Captain Kirk is getting a bit jaded after 966 days in deep space; he’s starting to wonder what are they trying to accomplish.  But maybe some leave on the Federation station Yorktown will bring a reprieve.  Or as Bones classifies it, a snow globe in space waiting to break…ever the optimist.  Bones and Kirk toast to Kirk’s birthday, a little early considering the circumstances, sharing some of Chekov’s Scotch (acquired without his knowledge possibly).  Jim is now a year older than George ever became and he is seriously wondering what he believes in.  In Yorktown you seriously have to wonder which was is “up” and we discover that Spock and Uhura have broken up.  Sulu has a family and Chekov likes to flirt with alien females.  Spock also receives word that Ambassador Spock has passed away (in deference to Leonard Nimoy’s passing).

We, the audience discover that Kirk has applied for a Vice Admiral position, but the discussion is put on hold while the Enterprise embarks on a rescue mission through a nebula.  But the victim is a traitor.  There is a swarm of enemy ships waiting above the planet on the other side of the nebula.  They attack the Enterprise.  Kirk orders the crew to abandon ship after fighting off the invaders, led by Krall.  They are searching for the artifact he brought back from the last mission.  First, Kirk tries to separate the Bridge dish from the ship to give it a fighting chance, but the enemy is ruthless and cuts everything to pieces.  Then they take the escape pods.  The battle ends with survivors crashing to the surface and the dish of the Enterprise sliding into a field.  [Within the first half hour, they have utterly destroyed the Enterprise, again.  Why must every Star Trek film destroy the ship?]

Scotty finds an alien woman, Jaylah, who is willing to help him.  She wants to get off this planet as much as the Enterprise crew.  Spock and McCoy escaped together and Spock was injured.  The pair manages to get along, though they snip at each other all along the way, as they are wont to.  McCoy even gets Spock to reveal the reason behind his break-up with Nyota; Spock feels it is his duty to help repopulate New Vulcan and he wishes to step away from Starfleet.  [So both Spock and Kirk are planning on leaving, but haven’t told anyone…nice going.]  Uhura and Sulu are with the remains of the crew, held prisoner by Krall.  Chekov is with Kirk.  They make their way to the saucer supposedly to find what Kirk stashed, but it reveals their guest’s treachery.

Uhrua and Sulu discover why Krall wanted the artifact; with the technology left by the inhabitants of the planet, he can suck the life-force from his prisoners and extend his own.  With the artifact, he can do so on a grander scale.  And plans to attack Yorktown.  Scotty discovers that Jaylah has been living in the remains of the U.S.S. Franklin; a wreck over a hundred years old.  They eventually meet up with Kirk and Chekov (and there’s a wordless battle over the captain’s seat) and begin to plan their escape.  Scotty manages to find Spock and McCoy just as they are about to be attacked.  McCoy patches the Vulcan up a bit better and Spock reveals that he gifted Uhura with a rare gem from Vulcan, which emits low level of radiation, meaning they can lock on to that signature to try to beam out their crew.  Short version?  He low-jacked his girlfriend…which Bones helpfully points out.

Kirk gets to ride a motorcycle as a distraction against the guards, using Jaylah’s holographic technology and Jaylah gets to kick some butt.  Scotty beams the crew out of danger.  Then just comes the task of getting a spaceship that was never meant to take off from land and hasn’t run in a hundred years to fly back into space.  To start, just tip yourselves off a cliff and hope to reach terminal velocity before hitting the bottom.  The crew pulls it off and race after Krall, who has already left for Yorktown.  And worse news, Krall used to be Captain Balthazar Edison of the Franklin.  He feels that the Federation forgot about him and thus swears vengeance upon the Federation.

Once the Franklin passes through the nebula, they have to disorient the swarm ships.  They beam Spock and McCoy onto one enemy ship, cutting off Bones’ famous line “Damn it, I’m a doctor, not a -”  And in order to drown out the swarm’s communication, they blast rock music, which is classified in the twenty-third century as “classical.”  It is rather awesome to see the enemy ships just explode in a wave of sound and the Yorktown shields repel them in a similar fashion.  But a few of the enemy make it into Yorktown.  McCoy and Spock do what they can, but the Franklin has to burst out of the water to take them out.  But Krall now looks like Edison and blends in with the crowd.  He’s going to take the device to the central air circulator, hook it in, and watch everyone disintegrate in Yorktown.  It comes down to Kirk chasing after him and a midair fight between the two.  Kirk does attempt to talk sense into Edison, but the man is too far gone.  So Kirk attempts to vent the device into space and almost follows himself; better to die saving lives than live taking them, he declares to Edison.  That is the world Kirk was born into.  Edison is not so lucky.  Spock and Bones catch Kirk before he can go splat on the “ground” in Yorktown.  “What would I do without you, Spock?”

The recent events have proved to Kirk that he is not ready to settle down as a Vice Admiral.  His place is in the stars, with his crew.  We shed a few tears as Spock goes through Spock Prime’s final effects, and finds a picture of the original crew (from the fifth movie.  Only four of the original main cast of the Original Series are still alive.  James Doohan, the original Scotty, passed away in 2005.  DeForest Kelley, the original Bones, passed away in 1999.  That leaves William Shatner, the original Kirk, Nichelle Nichols, the original Uhura, Walter Koenig, the original Chekov, and George Takei, the original Sulu).

A fairly happy ending; Bones has arranged a celebration with the rest of the crew for Kirk’s birthday.  It appears as if Spock and Uhura are back together and the command crew all stand alongside each other, watching the new Enterprise being built for their continuing mission.  Both Spock and Kirk have decided to stay aboard.  All of the main cast share reading the ending titles.  In the middle of the crawl, the movie is dedicated in loving memory of Leonard Nimoy and for Anton.

Ready for new adventures

I appreciated the small moments they inputted in memory of Leonard Nimoy because he was a huge pop culture icon (and frankly, without him, there may not be any Star Trek.)  But this movie seemed to drag compare to the previous two.  Krall seems a stereotypical villain and while I’m okay with Kirk saving the day, can we give the poor guy a break?  And stop breaking his ship!  That part annoyed me the most.  I am ultimately glad that the crew is staying together because it would just be sad if they broke up.  To me, the best parts are when the command crew is all doing their job, surviving together through a crisis. And the theme is still amazing!

On the plus side, I have discovered some amazing fanfiction stories (and I want to investigate some more).  I highly recommend checking out

What Sulu Sees by IsmayDeVain

beamirang’s stories, particularly Genesis if you can find them

And I just discovered kcscribbler’s works on AO3; they are wonderful and leave me laughing for a full minute at times.

Next Time: A slight change in plans; I’m going to go ahead and start Star Wars, pending my schedule.  And yes, it may be a bit controversial, but to me it is the most logical, and I will progress in episode order, inputting Solo and Rogue One between Episode III and Episode IV.

“One day, I’ve been off this ship. One bloody day!”

Star Trek Into Darkness

The second of the new Star Trek movies, bringing back all of our favorite characters.  Joining them is Peter Weller (popped up recently as Elliott Mason in MacGyver) as Admiral Marcus, and yes, that is Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith from Doctor Who) that briefly appears at the beginning of the film.  And of course, Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Smaug and the Necromancer in the Hobbit trilogy, Dr. Stephen Strange in the MCU, amongst a dozen other roles) as John Harrison.

The film opens on an alien planet, Nibiru, where McCoy and Kirk are being chased by the natives.  This is a distraction so that Sulu and Uhura can drop Spock into a volcano and render it inert so it doesn’t destroy the planet and the entire civilization.  Events, of course, do not go entirely to plan.  Ash from the volcano forces Sulu and Uhura to head back to the Enterprise, leaving Spock in the volcano.  The Enterprise is actually sitting on the bottom of the ocean at the moment, but Kirk sees no other way of rescuing Spock aside from rising out and showing themselves to the primitive natives, and violating the Prime Directive (prohibits members of Starfleet from interfering with the natural development of alien civilizations).  So now, the Nibiruians worship the Enterprise.

In London, a couple visits their sick daughter until a man (Harrison) approaches the father, saying he can save her life.  Back at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, Pike meets with Kirk and Spock to address their recent mission.  Spock reported Kirk’s actions, which Kirk tried to hide his wrongdoing, considering he did it in order to save Spock.  Starfleet command has voted to take the Enterprise from Kirk; he will be sent back to the Academy.  Their argument, Pike points out, is that Kirk feels like the rules don’t apply to him.  He’s been lucky and he uses that argument to support his actions.  Pike finds Kirk again that evening and reveals he has managed to become the new captain of the Enterprise and has finagled Kirk to be his First Officer; Spock has been reassigned.  “It’ll be okay, son.”

They get a call late in the evening, after the archives have been blown up in London (by the father we saw earlier.  Harrison’s blood managed to save his daughter).  Kirk wonders why Harrison, revealed to be part of Starfleet, targeted essentially a library.  Then formulates that Harrison’s next target must be their very meeting.  As soon as he shouts “clear the room,” a small craft appears outside the windows and open fires.  Kirk manages to get alongside the craft and attempts to jam the engine.  He succeeds, but Harrison warps out before it crashes.  And Kirk sadly discovers that Christopher Pike was killed in the attack, his last moments watched by Spock (who even mind-melded with the man).  [Wonderful acting on Chris Pine’s part; you can read his character’s devastation on his face]  The next morning, Kirk approaches Admiral Marcus for permission to hunt Harrison down.  He’s hidden on the homeworld of the Klingons, Kronos.  Marcus gives Kirk permission to sit on the edge of the Neutral Zone and fire new photon torpedoes to take out Harrison.

On their way to the Enterprise, Spock argues with Kirk over the morality of simply executing Harrison without a trial.  They are also joined by Carol Wallace, a Science Officer assigned to transfer the new torpedoes.  The torpedoes that Scotty doesn’t want to allow on the Enterprise.  He and Kirk get in an argument, Scotty uncomfortable with the militaristic nature of their endeavor.  Scotty ends up resigning.  Kirk then instructs Chekov to take over as Chief of Engineering, “go put on a red shirt.”  (Chekov looks appropriately worried; red shirted crew members are notorious for dying on Star Trek)  With a look to Spock, Kirk announces to the crew that they will covertly set down on Kronos in order to capture Harrison and bring him back for trial.  Kirk leaves Sulu in charge…and oh boy, Bones is right, we should never piss off Sulu, that message was on point.

Before they head down to Kronos, Spock deduces that Carol Wallace is actually Carol Marcus, the Admiral’s daughter.  She snuck aboard the Enterprise to take a look at the torpedoes.  Kirk warns the away team that they cannot be tied back to Starfleet, then there’s a brief argument aboard the shuttle between Spock and Uhura over his willingness to die in the volcano; Spock reveals he chooses not to feel the fear of death again, which he experienced the day Vulcan was destroyed and when he melded with Pike.  There’s a brief chase and Kirk makes them fit between two structures, Spock isn’t sure it counted, but they’re soon cornered.  Uhrua asks that Kirk let her speak Klingon and tries to negotiate their way out.  Until Harrison open fires, admittedly saving Uhura’s life, but everyone else begins firing.  Harrison surrenders to Kirk when he demands how many torpedoes were aimed at him.  Kirk accepts his surrender on behalf of Pike, then proceeds to beat Harrison until Uhura stops him.

Kirk’s questioning of Harrison doesn’t go quite according to plan; it raises more questions than answers.  He calls Scotty and asks the man to investigate the coordinates Harrison gave them.  And Carol and McCoy head to a deserted planetoid to open up the torpedoes.  “When I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo!”  It’s all fun and games until McCoy gets his arm stuck in the torpedo as it’s about to detonate.  Luckily, Carol disarms it by pulling out the wiring.  And it’s not fuel inside the torpedoes; there are people locked in cyrotubes inside.  They were Harrison’s crew and he hid them there after Marcus woke him up for his military mind.  Admiral Marcus is preparing for a war and discovered a ship full of people genetically engineered to be superior in every way.  And Harrison’s real name?  Khan [which even a fairly Star Trek-illiterate person knew meant bad things].  Khan points out to Spock “you can’t even break a rule, how can you be expected to break bone?”  Marcus needed Khan’s savagery.  [Benedict’s performance is also excellent; precise and calm, which makes it all the more menacing]

A huge ship arrives, helmed by Admiral Marcus and he’s not pleased that Kirk didn’t do exactly as he was told, nor that he’s spoken to Khan.  Marcus demands that Kirk hand Khan over, but Kirk has Chekov take them to warp drive.  Marcus aboard the Vengeance is able to catch them and knock them out.  And now he’s deemed them criminals and intends to fire on them.  He beams his daughter out when she tries to protect her new friends and Kirk pleads for the lives of his crew.  They were only following his orders.  But Marcus will kill them all…until their system is rebooted.  Guess what Scotty found?

Now Kirk has a new idea; he’ll use Khan to board the Vengeance and get Marcus to stand down.  Kirk orders Spock to take command; the ship needs someone who knows what they’re doing in charge and Kirk is running on a gut feeling.  [Interesting note, at this point, there is still an hour left in the movie, meaning a lot more is going to happen, including the bulk of conflict and action]  While Kirk and Khan engage in a space jump, Spock calls his older counterpart.  He vowed to never reveal the future to his younger counterpart; they must follow their own path.  Nevertheless, Khan was the most dangerous adversary they ever faced and they only defeated him at great cost (reference to the second original movie I believe, I’ve only watched it once)  Luckily, we have Scotty to throw in some humor during the tense situations and all three men fight their way to the bridge.  Scotty stuns Khan and Kirk tries to get Marcus to step down.  The Admiral will have none of it.  “War is coming, and who is going to lead us?  You?  If I’m not in charge, our entire way of life is decimated.”  While everyone is distracted, Khan strikes.  He knocks out Scotty and breaks Carol’s leg.  He knocks Kirk out of the way with a few extra punches then crushes Marcus’s head.  “You should have let me sleep,” he hisses to the Admiral.  Khan calls the Enterprise and is not concerned that Spock has discovered that Khan truly is a war criminal, banished for mass genocide on anyone deemed less superior.  Khan makes it easy for Spock, give him the torpedoes of his crew and he’ll return Kirk.  Vulcans do not lie, the torpedoes are aboard the Vengeance.  Khan beams Kirk, Scotty, and Carol back to the Enterprise.  “After all, no ship should go down without her captain.”

Chaos erupts.  Khan fires on the Enterprise, then the torpedoes detonate aboard the Vengeance.  Spock was not so cruel as to kill Khan’s crew; all seventy-two cryotubes are safe with Bones.  But the Enterprise has sustained too much damage; the ship loses power and begins to fall.  Scotty and Kirk race to Engineering, with some help from Chekov when gravity flips around.  Spock orders everyone to abandon ship; he will stay behind and do what he can.  The bridge crew refuses to leave.  In Engineering, they discover the warp core is not aligned, meaning there’s no way to reboot power.  Kirk knows of a way.  He knocks Scotty out and opens the door to the core, which is filled with radiation.  He climbs in and kicks the components back into alignment.  The Enterprise is saved and rises out of the clouds (still awesome).  Spock knows there is no such thing as a miracle and runs to Engineering when Scotty calls him.

Accompanied by the amazing soundtrack theme

A door separates Kirk and Spock, keeping the radiation from everyone else.  Spock tells Kirk that he saved the ship, the crew is safe because of him.  Kirk comments that the stunt with Khan was something he would have done; and entering the core room was something that Spock would have done (the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…and what happened in the second movie).  Kirk admits he’s scared and asks Spock how to not feel.  But Spock cannot control his emotions at this time.  And he recognizes that Kirk rescued him from the volcano because he is Kirk’s friend.  Kirk puts his hand to the glass and Spock mirrors him; their fingers move to the Vulcan greeting, then Kirk’s hand falls.  Spock is silent for a moment, then yells “Khan!” in rage.

They’re not out of danger yet; the Vengeance falls past them and crashes into San Francisco Bay.  Khan jumps into the ruins and Spock beams down to pursue him.  Bones is devastated when Kirk is brought to him in a body bag.  Then the tribble on his desk trills; the one that was dead that he injected Khan’s blood into.  He orders Jim put in a cryotube, but he needs more of Khan’s blood.  Uhura goes down to stop Spock from killing Khan, protecting her boyfriend from being crushed to death like Marcus.  Spock manages to knock Khan down and proceeds to beat him…what was Khan saying about Spock not breaking bones?  Uhura has to explain that the madman is the only way to save Kirk.  A final uppercut knocks the psychopath out.

Over a black screen we hear bits of the first movie; George and Wionna naming Jim, Pike daring Jim to do better, and then Jim is awake.  McCoy was able to transfuse Khan’s blood, but it’s taken its toll.  Spock is there and Kirk thanks him for saving his life.  A brief final scene takes place after we see that Khan and his crew have been put back to sleep.  A memorial service for all the damage done the previous year and Kirk speaks to the crowd that there will always been those who mean to do us harm and we risk waking the same evil in ourselves trying to defeat them.  But vengeance is not who we are.  It is Chris Pine’s voice that gives us “Space, the final frontier.”  The Enterprise is rechristened and will begin a five-year mission.  We see the bridge crew preparing to depart, joined by Carol Marcus.  Kirk is excited and ready for a long journey.

Of the three new movies that are currently out, this is my favorite (there are rumors of a fourth installment coming in 2023).  It takes a bit for the story to truly get going, but the action all falls together at the end.  Excellent performances by the whole cast.  Benedict Cumberbatch plays Harrison fairly affable so you want to believe this strange man will help, while hiding his true identity…for those who didn’t guess early on; so it helps not being completely to speed on prior Star Trek lore.  And this Khan is less creepy than the original for some people, which helps as well.  I thought Kirk’s death was a strong, poignant moment and thought for a moment the first time through that they had actually killed off the main character.  (And there is lots of fanfiction to delve into this moment and the developing friendship between Bones, Spock, and Kirk.)

Up Next: Star Trek Beyond