Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Film and Plot Synopsis

After stopping off at Starbase Yorktown, a remote outpost on the fringes of Federation space, the USS Enterprise, halfway into their five-year mission, is destroyed by an unstoppable wave of unknown aliens. With the crew stranded on an unknown planet and with no apparent means of rescue, they find themselves fighting against a ruthless enemy with a well-earned hatred of the Federation and everything it stands for. Only a rebellious alien warrior can help them reunite and leave the planet to stop this deadly menace from beginning a possible galactic war. (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

‘Star Trek Beyond’ Movie Summary

The Federation starship U.S.S. Enterprise is in the middle of its five-year mission to visit strange new worlds. Along the way, they make a stop at the advanced star base Yorktown to resupply and have a bit of shore leave before resuming their exploration of places unknown. Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is struggling to find meaning in being the captain of a starship. Kirk has secretly applied for a promotion to vice admiral which will take him out of the captain’s chair and allow him to establish some roots. Kirk has recommended Spock (Zachary Quinto) to replace him. Unbeknownst to Kirk, Spock has received a communication from New Vulcan that the older Ambassador Spock from the alternate universe (Leonard Nimoy) has passed away. As a result, Spock is considering leaving Starfleet so that he replace the elder Spock in rebuilding the Vulcan society. Spock and Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) have ended their relationship, so Spock has no romantic ties that interfere with his decision.

Before either man can inform the other of their decisions, the Enterprise is dispatched on a rescue mission after an escape pod drifts out of a nearby, yet uncharted nebula. The pod’s sole occupant is an alien by the name of Kalara (Lydia Wilson), who informs Starfleet that her ship is stranded on a planet in the nebula named Altamid. Kirk’s leads his crew into the unexplored nebula, and upon arriving at Altamid, the Enterprise is attacked by a massive swarm of small ships. The small ships literally pull the Enterprise apart. The leader of the alien attackers, Krall (Idris Elba), leads a boarding party onto the crippled Enterprise. They kill or capture many members of the Enterprise as they attempt to find and acquire the Abronath, a relic that the Enterprise acquired during a recent mission. Kirk orders his crew to abandon ship via escape pods and hides the Abronath. The saucer section of the Enterprise crashes into the planet.

Krall’s boarding party takes the captured Uhura, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), and dozens of other crew members back to Krall’s base of operations on the planet. Kirk and Ensign Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin) team up with Kalara to locate and search the Enterprise’s crashed saucer section. Once onboard the wreckage, Kirk tricks Kalara into revealing that she is a spy for Krall who deceived them into walking into the swarm ambush. When Krall’s forces arrive at the Enterprise wreckage, Kalara is killed when Kirk and Chekov use the saucer section’s thrusters to flip the saucer over as a distraction for their escape.

At the same time, Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) desperately attempts to patch up an impaled Spock while they look for other survivors. Spock confesses his intentions to leave Starfleet and the end of his relationship with Uhuru to McCoy. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Montogomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg) finds himself alone and surrounded by Krall’s men. He is saved by Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), an alien scavenger who had previously escaped Krall’s base where her father was killed years before. Jaylah takes Scotty back to her home, which is a crashed Federation starship named the U.S.S. Franklin. The Franklin had disappeared without a trace nearly a century earlier. Scotty restores some of the Franklin’s systems and reunites with Kirk, Chekov, McCoy, and Spock.

If I may adopt a parlance with which you are familiar, I can confirm your theory to be horseshit. Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto)

Back at Krall’s base, the alien leader coerces the captured Enterprise crew members to turn over the hidden Abronath. Krall uses the device to complete the construction of an ancient bioweapon. Krall announces his intent to use the weapon to kill the inhabitants of the Yorktown. Then, Krall plans to use the Yorktown itself to attack the Federation, for which he has a mysterious grudge against. Before Krall launches, Kirk and his team free the captured crewmembers and bring them back to the Franklin. After the escape, Krall launches his devastating drone ships to attack the Yorktown.

Back on Altamid, Kirk and his crew formulate a plan to resurrect the remaining systems on the Franklin and make it space worthy again to stop Krall. Once in space, Scotty formulizes a theory that the swarm’s systems may be vulnerable to high frequencies such as radio. As they approach the swarm as it is beginning its attack on the Yorktown, the Franklin broadcasts “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys which begins destroying the swarm ships. At the same time, McCoy and Spock use a captured swarm ship to further disrupt the swarm. Only Krall’s ship seems to be unaffected and penetrates the Yorktown’s defenses.

On the Franklin, Uhura, Kirk, and Scotty use the Franklin’s logs to discover that Krall is Balthazar Edison, Franklin’s former captain. Edison was a pre-Federation human soldier who did not subscribe to the Federation’s ideals of unity and cooperation with former enemies. Edison and his crew were stranded on Altamid when the Franklin was pulled in by a wormhole. The Franklin’s survivors used the extinct native’s technology to prolong their lives at the cost of some of the lives of their ship mates, and Krall repurposed the native’s mining drone ships into the destructive swarm armada. Edison holds a grudge against the Federation for failing to rescue him and his crew and seeks to destroy it.

On the Yorktown, Krall has altered his appearance to better hide amongst the star base’s population. Krall seeks to introduce the bioweapon into the ventilation system of the Yorktown which would kill all living things on the base. Kirk pursues him into the near zero gravity system. The two captains fight, but Kirk wins when he ejects the bioweapon and Krall into space where the bioweapon safely disintegrates only Krall. Before Kirk can be sucked out into space as well, McCoy and Spock use their swarm ship to save him.

In the aftermath of the battle, Commodore Paris (Shohreh Aghdashloo) changes the status of Edison and the Franklin crew from missing to deceased. She also offers the vice admiral position to Kirk who turns it down so that he can resume command of the soon to be rebuilt Enterprise. At the same time, Spock makes the decision to remain in Starfleet believing that it is his best destiny. He also resumes his relationship with Uhura. Jaylah decides to join Starfleet Academy after Kirk recommends her for the program. The film ends with a group celebration for Kirk’s birthday where the three friends Spock, McCoy, and Kirk watch the progress on the construction of the new Enterprise.