Star Trek Beyond

I watched Star Trek Beyond this weekend, as I said I would, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the sour taste of Into Darkness, Beyond was wonderfully Star Trek. The story wasn’t based off of an older film or television episode, but it still felt like Trek. Simon Pegg, the writer/Scotty, grew up with and loves Star Trek, which really came across in the script. The cast remains perfect, and there is a heartfelt tribute to both the original cast and to Leonard Nimoy.

                As many of you know, this year marks Star Trek’s 50^th anniversary, and many fans were holding onto hope that Paramount would release something worthy of this milestone, and I’d like to think that they did. Certainly it was a better celebration of the franchise than Skyfall was for Bond. The plot took many typical action movie routes, but it also harkened back to the roots of Star Trek with the discussion of morals and grey areas, and science. Best of all, the feeling of hope that the television series were known to impart was back in full swing. I left the theatre happy and hopeful, which is something that hadn’t happened in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I usually leave the theatre happy and content, but the feeling of hope isn’t something one usually leaves a theatre with, and it certainly wasn’t something I left Into Darkness feeling.

                There was a great moment right at the start of the third act that could’ve just been a typical action movie moment, but the script from Pegg and Doug Jung elevated it by the simple inclusion of science in the dialogue. The humour and heart that was the soul of Star Trek came back in full swing for this film. The banter between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy felt plucked from The Original Series, and it was flawless. Every insult that McCoy threw Spock’s way came from a place of deep respect, and the viewer could pick up on that. From the way Kirk interacted with all of his crew, you could see the trust he has in them. And the easter eggs. Oh my goodness, the easter eggs. From references to the MACO and Xindi wars to the cast of TOS, the easter eggs were plentiful and amazing. If I have one gripe with the script, it’s an extremely nerdy one. At one point Scotty mentions that the crashed ship they find, the USS Franklin, was the first warp 4 capable ship, unfortunately, according to its registry number (and the fact its captain fought against the Xindi before becoming a captain) it was built after the Enterprise NX-01, which was the first warp 5 capable ship. Casual viewers won’t pick this up, but it did take me out of the movie for a moment, especially since the new Trek films have mentioned the NX-01 before.

                Nerdy griping aside, the film had a beautiful tribute to Leonard Nimoy’s passing woven into the story. Early in the film, Spock finds out about the passing of Ambassador Spock, and decides that he is going to leave Starfleet and go to New Vulcan to finish Ambassador Spock’s work. He believes that this is what the Ambassador would want. But at the end of the film he is given a package that contains several items from Ambassador Spock. Included in these items is a photograph of the original cast taken during the filming of their last movie together. This is the part where my eyes started welling up. The credits say that the film is in memory of Leonard, and following that was the simple message: “For Anton.” That’s where I actually cried a little. The Star Trek family lost two members in its fiftieth year, and instead of cashing in on that, Star Trek Beyond pays them a beautiful tribute that was full of hope for humanity. This message of hope is something that our real world, with its daily terror attacks and mass shootings, sorely needs. 

The greatest influence in my life

                Arguably the most important science fiction franchise in history turns 50 this year. Sorry Star Wars, but you wouldn’t exist if Star Trek hadn’t paved the way with its clearly superior writing and acting. Now, I’m a fan of many sci-fi franchises: Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, and those are just the ones with ‘star’ in the title. Yet, if I had to choose just one franchise to watch, read, and write about for the rest of my life, the choice would be startlingly easy: Star Trek. I learned so much from it, so many of my morals, my ideas about right and wrong, they come from Star Trek. My understandings of justice and acceptance, my ability to hold onto hope! My belief that things can get better, they all come from Star Trek.

                Star Trek debuted in the sixties. In a time of international tensions, and race riots, it portrayed a future where humanity was united. Where the country of your birth and the colour of your skin didn’t matter. At the height of the Cold War, it had a Russian officer working alongside American officers. At the height of the racial divide in the States, it had a black woman as an officer working alongside and in harmony with white people. For these reasons alone, it was ground breaking. Like all good science fiction, the stories the series told held up a mirror to society. Science fiction has the benefit of critiquing everything in a way that people don’t notice on the surface. Through episodes dealing with xenophobic aliens, it critiqued the Cold War. Through episodes dealing with alien races, it critiqued the racial divide in America.

                Star Trek portrayed a universe where people were always given a chance to prove themselves. A universe where people were judged only for their actions, not their appearance. It taught me that this is how people should act. I grew up watching a world where skin colour didn’t affect how you should look at people, and through that I became a person who doesn’t judge others by that. I’m sure my parents had a little to do with that, but this is about Star Trek, not them.

                Deep Space Nine taught me that the world isn’t in black and white. It taught me that morals weren’t black and white, and that if something was the right thing to do for one group of people it wasn’t necessarily the right thing for other groups. Through characters like Dr Bashir, who through no fault of his own was an illegal eugenic, I learned that I could accept myself for who I was. Through Kira I learned that being religious was okay, but that I shouldn’t blindly follow it if something felt wrong. Through Sisko I learned that leadership and respect is earned through actions, and not just because of status. It taught me that even good people will do bad things if they believe it’s the right thing to do. And in the end, it taught me that victories of any sort only come through sacrifice.

                The Old testament in the bible has some interesting thoughts on justice, including that the sins of the fathers can be passed on to future generations. Star Trek showed me that this was wrong. It allowed me to see that no one should be tied to the wrong doings of their families or of their people. The most obvious example that springs to mind is when Jadiza Dax was put on trial for the supposed actions of Curzon Dax. The accusers argued that because Jadiza was the new host of the Dax symbiont, she should be held accountable for the actions of Curzon. Odo once said that “The law? Commander, laws change, depending on who's making them - Cardassians one day, Federation the next. But justice is justice,” which took me a while to fully grasp. It’s something that I get now. Everywhere in the world, there are unjust laws: from the gun laws in the States, to some of the laws involving First Nations in Canada. Are the people affected by those laws receiving justice? No, they aren’t, and because of Star Trek, I learned to truly appreciate the fact that laws do not always equal justice.

                Star Trek was a world that I wanted to live in. A world where everyone was accepted, and for a time, I felt like I could live in that world. I truly embraced my inner trekkie. Then I moved and got teased and bullied for it, so I hid it. I still loved Star Trek, but it became something I enjoyed in secret. The irony is apparent to me now, but it was necessary at the time. I always found it so odd that Star Wars was something people could love openly, but Star Trek wasn’t. It was because Star Trek was always something that made you think, and thinking was something nerdy. Because Star Trek was smart, it wasn’t “cool”. The real world was so biased and base, that people weren’t even being accepted because they liked things that required thought. But Star Trek gave me hope that this would change, so I held onto that hope, and I continued to love Star Trek. The Vulcan philosophy of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations gave me the belief that anything is possible, because there is literally an infinite amount of choices that we can make. I watched all the series, I read the books, I played the games.

                Then I fell away from it for a bit. The real world got too dark and depressing, and I didn’t want things that made me think, so I fell into a world of bright colours and flashing lights to distract myself. The lessons I learned from Star Trek were still there, but I distanced myself from the franchise. I still watched the movies, but I didn’t read the books anymore. I quit watching the TV series. I was denying myself of something that was literally part of me. But outside of my parents, Star Trek was the biggest influence on my life. I grew up with it. I was molded by it. And yet I denied myself of it. I don’t know why, other than I thought people would judge me by it. But Star Trek taught me to be true to myself. To not hide who I am.

                And I’m a trekkie. Star Trek is possibly the most important science fiction franchise ever made. It has made real world changes: from technological advances, to how we view others. It has influenced the lives of countless people through its portrayal of humanity and a better world. Even Martin Luther King Jr believed that it was important. I will argue forever that is a better franchise than Star Wars in every aspect (except in money making), and we all know that Star Wars wouldn’t even exist if Star Trek hadn’t paved the way. For Star Trek’s 50^th birthday, they have added the their first canonically gay main character, who just happens to be a person of colour, and they’ve announced the return of Star Trek to television.

                I, for one, am excited, and will definitely be going to watch Star Trek Beyond next weekend; even if I have to drive to another city to see it (our theatre here is terrible). In case you didn’t pick it up, Deep Space Nine is my favourite series. Followed by the Original, then The Next Generation. Wrath of Khan is my favourite film, followed by First Contact, then The Undiscovered Country.

                Qapla’ and Live Long and Prosper.

                That’s right, I snuck some Klingon in.