Star Trek Beyond

[griffeytrek]

Ugh! Beyond was a very mixed bag for me. I actually liked the opening section where it gave Kirk some character moments, and showed off the tedium of the 5 year voyage. But then we hit Yorktown, and we feel like we are back in the JJ Abrams "Cargo Cult" approach to Star Trek. Just mimicking things while screaming "make it bigger!". Without ever attempting to understand the things he was mimicking. The destruction of the Enterprise was long, drawn out, astonishingly dull as it got overwhelmed in standard modern CGI visual hash, and ultimately devoid of any emotional impact. The viewer had no emotional connection to this ship. The movies had never bothered to establish the ship as just as much a character as the crew. It was just the thing upon which the explosions happen. So when it was destroyed all we felt was "we're doing this again?" From there is is a weird patchwork of some good interesting moments, interspersed between some really stupid ones. The Spock and McCoy scenes were some great character work. I just wish we could have had those in a better movie. The Scotty with the new alien girl danced between interesting and compelling and "oh God WHYYYY?" such as every time an anachronistic Beasty Boys song was played to take us out of the world of Star Trek. The USS Franklin was actually one of the more interesting elements of the movie. It was rather a shame that it was clearly a one shot throw away. An actual good nu Ship design.

And then the stupid starts to ramp up. The Motorcycle. The Beastie Boys. The Biological Weapon. The confusing horrible mess that was Idris Alba! Idris Alba is one of the finest actors working today. But acting through heavy 3d makeup and effects is a very specialized niche of acting. There are a handful of actors that are good at it. (so many of them Star Trek, Babylon 5 and similar veterans) Idris was fully enclosed in a suit he could not act through. He looked like a brick. And his tragic story got confused. So much so that the audience didn't understand it. But that's okay, now it's time for the high speed Mission IMpossible chase through the Gerbitrail tubes to stop the bio weapon. And in the end they are right back where they started. "Yeah we just painted Enterprise over Lexington's Name. I'm sure nobody will notice tee hee."

I liked it better than JJ Abrams two offerings, which I best describe as Mission Impossible in SPACE!!!!!
This one was almost there. The plot almost made sense. (looking at you into darkness, looking at you...) But it was a weird rollercoaster of good and bad. It has the best self contained story of the nuTrek trio, but its the one I will come back to and rewatch the least. Because when it is stupid, it is oh so stupid.

[cloudkitt]

Really, my problem with this episode is it felt the most TOS-y and really didn't have the kind of stakes or power that the previous movies did. Yes, the Yorktown seems fine but the previous two movies had the entire Federation at risk

Oh God this is exactly what Star Trek needs to stop doing. I am so tired of these constant galaxy-ending stakes and Beyond was a merciful reprieve from it. Now even the television shows are completely incapable of trying to make us care about something without threatening ALL LIFE IN THE GALAXY. Discovery even had to up it the entire MULTIVERSE. And then even the Picard series had no different ideas for stakes.

[Thebestoftherest]

It is nice having stakes small enough we can comprehend and believe.

[CharlesPhipps]

It is nice having stakes small enough we can comprehend and believe.

Is there a single reason to care about the Yorktown?

The Enterprise crew was far more relevant to me than Space Station Snowglobe.

Places like the Yorktown exist to get blown up so we can get to the real stakes.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Precisely the same problem with Insurrection, which had a lot of great touches throughout, which together are more interesting than the abc plots that Beyond used. I think it is a two fold problem.

[CharlesPhipps]

Precisely the same problem with Insurrection, which had a lot of great touches throughout, which together are more interesting than the abc plots that Beyond used. I think it is a two fold problem.

I admit, I felt the problems of 500 Baku weren't worth a movie.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Precisely the same problem with Insurrection, which had a lot of great touches throughout, which together are more interesting than the abc plots that Beyond used. I think it is a two fold problem.

I admit, I felt the problems of 500 Baku weren't worth a movie.

In universe, it is a critical display of the Federation.

That makes it a bit before it's time considering it came out before 9/11. Then again that is the proportional to anything going on in the middle east during the Clinton administration.

[Link8909]

Oh God this is exactly what Star Trek needs to stop doing. I am so tired of these constant galaxy-ending stakes and Beyond was a merciful reprieve from it. Now even the television shows are completely incapable of trying to make us care about something without threatening ALL LIFE IN THE GALAXY. Discovery even had to up it the entire MULTIVERSE. And then even the Picard series had no different ideas for stakes.

It is nice having stakes small enough we can comprehend and believe.

Is there a single reason to care about the Yorktown?

The Enterprise crew was far more relevant to me than Space Station Snowglobe.

Places like the Yorktown exist to get blown up so we can get to the real stakes.

I'd say the stakes were still very large in Star Trek Beyond, even galaxy spanning, Krall/Edison wouldn't have stopped with Yorktown Station (which was very populated with Starfleet Officers and Civilians possibly numbering in the millions), he would have continued on and used the Abronath weapon on any Federation world, it's just of the sake of the film the Yorktown represented the Federation and what it stands for, which also is everything Krall despises.

I'm fine with Star Trek doing threats that effect the galaxy and none of what Discovery or Picard do are deal breakers for me, but I do agree we need a bit of variety in terms of stakes, I do feel that Star Trek Picard does this better than Star Trek Discovery as there was more to it than defeating the big bad as it was giving the same power to the androids that organic life has always had over artificial life, and Picard convincing them to not give in and become like those that fear and hate them, and that there are people that will fight for their rights to exist.

[Riedquat]

I'm with people on the eyes rolling at forever raising the stakes. And upgrading the bad guys too for that matter - Krall has huge power, thousands of ships, handed to him which hadn't been discovered before, which I found quite a problem (and I overall very much liked Beyond). Give me a cunning villain instead - worked for Kahn, where we got to know him and what made him tick, he wasn't just something there for the heros to defeat. There were arguably high stakes in STII (although he'd probably have been able to attack on planet at most) but that was really just there to set the scene for the personal conflict between Kahn and Kirk - there was a connection between them.

[Link8909]

I'm with people on the eyes rolling at forever raising the stakes. And upgrading the bad guys too for that matter - Krall has huge power, thousands of ships, handed to him which hadn't been discovered before, which I found quite a problem (and I overall very much liked Beyond). Give me a cunning villain instead - worked for Kahn, where we got to know him and what made him tick, he wasn't just something there for the heros to defeat. There were arguably high stakes in STII (although he'd probably have been able to attack on planet at most) but that was really just there to set the scene for the personal conflict between Kahn and Kirk - there was a connection between them.

I've think you've hit on something, I think what most of us want in a villain is personality, to be crafty and cunning, to challenge the heroes not just physically, but in what they believe in, to have that personal connection to the heroes, to be more than just a fleet of ships, or to have something more to why their the villain beyond evils sake.

If they're like that then it doesn't really matter how high the stakes are, for example the Borg threatens the very existence of the Federation in First Contact, yet what kept them from being just a throwaway villain to be beaten was their connection to Captain Picard, as well as the nature of what they are and why they do what they do.