Star Trek Into Relevance

#RIPAntonYelchin

from jj via the bad robot twitter and from alice eve on instagram. 

Anton was such a beautiful , gentle soul . He sought out new life experience with an unabated passion . He was edgy , incredibly talented and beautifully knowledge . His smile was radiant and mischievous . Truly an old soul in a young mans body . He was a loving son . My heart , thoughts and prayers are with Antons family. Im devastated. Godspeed you gorgeous man. 

Terrible news out of Los Angeles today: Anton Yelchin has died at the age of 27 in a car accident. 

Cineplex Magazine July 2016

Chris Pine talking about Star Trek Beyond and Wonder Woman

Very promising news about Star Trek Beyond.

“Earlier this week, it was revealed that Star Trek: Beyond would undergo reshoots in order to add a new character: Shohreh Aghdashloo as the "High Command of the Federation.”

The press release reports (SlashFilm, Deadline, and more) have simply referred to this character as “the High Command of the Federation.” This is somewhat confusing. The highest rank in the Federation is the President, while the Vulcan government is known as the High Command. It could be she’s a Vulcan High Command ambassador or political representative within the Federation, or she could be the Federation President.

Either way, this has interesting implications for the film’s plot. It’s likely that these new scenes occur on Earth, as the Enterprise is off on its Five Year Mission. This could mean a flashback sequence within the film. But it seems more likely that the crew of the Enterprise is forced to communicate with the highest ranking members of the Federation when they run across some trouble out in the final frontier.

Commentary On Colonialism This definitely seems to be a major theme in Star Trek: Beyond, as Idris Elba’s villainous Kraal has problems with Starfleet’s mission.

According to Justin Lin, the politics of the Federation’s expansion is something he had thought about from childhood. He told BirthMoviesDeath how he incorporated these ideas into Beyond:

“What would happen if you go on a five year journey and you’re trying to not only explore but also maybe introduce other people to your way of thinking? What would that mean? What are the consequences of that? You’re spreading a philosophy that you think is great - are there going to be any philosophies that counter you? That was something I thought about since I was a kid, and we got to explore that.”

Sometimes Starfleet’s mission of exploration can come off as an attempt to convert more undeveloped parts of the galaxy to the Federation’s post-sparsity way of life. This has been explored in many of Trek’s past shows: The Next Generation and especially Deep Space Nine ran with this theme.

So, with this new casting, it’s possible that the filmmakers wanted to flesh out this storyline a little, showing the effect of Kraal’s actions on the Federation and maybe their attempts at a diplomatic solution.