Rewatching the Stark Trek movies! The alternate timeline established in the 2009 movie comes to a end (of sorts) as the Enterprise crew goes… beyond.

Here’s what happens: It’s halfway through this new Enterprise’s version of the fabled five-year mission. The crew gets a break from exploration upon visiting the paradisical new space station, the Yorktown. After a ship is attacked inside a nearby nebula, the Enterprise investigates, only to be attacked as well. Now, Kirk and his crew are stranded and separated on a hostile world with an unlikely new ally and an enemy force with eyes on the Yorktown.

The young captain: The movie begins with Kirk feeling malaise, as all the time in space has left him with the same-old, same-old. The movie would have us believe that this adventure is what snaps Kirk out of his doldrums and renews his enthusiasm for space, but does that come across?

Lil’ pointy ears: Similar to Kirk, Spock experiences two big personal changes to his life at the start of the movie. He considers leaving the Enterprise and starting a new life for himself. Similar to Kirk, this adventure is what changes his mind and has him stick with the crew.

Ol’ pointy ears: It’s here that we learn Spock from the original timeline has died. Probably out of respect to the late Leonard Nimoy, detail of Spock’s death are minimal. We’re told he died of natural causes on New Vulcan, still helping rebuild Vulcan society after the shakeup in the 2009 film. From what I can tell, no tie-in fiction has brought him back from the dead… yet.

Welcome aboard: The big deal in this movie is the introduction of Jayla. She comes off a savage warrior woman-type at first, only to later be revealed as an expert engineer who gets the Enterprise flying again. It’s a scene-stealing performance by Sofia Boutella, and it’s too bad she didn’t come back for more sequels. Speaking of, the Trek wiki alleges that Jayla appears only in this movie and no other tie-in materials, not even the endlessly unwieldy Star Trek Online. Shouldn’t a Star Trek: Jayla comic series be a slam dunk?

Continuity café: There’s always talk of the Enterprise’s five-year mission. What happened at the end of year five, though? It’s never been revealed for this new timeline. In the original timeline, it happened in DC Comics’ Star Trek annual #2, where the Enterprise has one last conflict with the Klingons and the telepathic Talosians. Commander Decker from The Motion Picture also appears. After that, a couple of novels describe the Enterprise retrofit prior to TMP, but they are all contradictory.

What you leave behind: Having the crew be shipwrecked on a hostile planet makes for a fun, high-adventure romp. I don’t know that the character arcs are fully lined up with the main plot. It seems like character growth is only here in scenes where screenplay structure demands there be a moment for character growth and that’s it. We really could have used another movie or two (or more) with this cast in this timeline to continue their journeys, both cosmic and personal.

Next: Buying a sectional.

* * * *

Want more? Check out my novel MOM, I’M BULLETPROOF. It’s a comedic/romantic/dramatic superhero epic! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XPXBK14.