#jjverse

An escape pod approaches the Yorktown with a distress call. The lone occupant Kalara says her ship and crew are stranded on the planet Altamid. It's on the other side of the nebula near the Yorktown. Kirk volunteers the Enterprise for a rescue mission, using their advanced sensors to navigate the nebula's thick debris fields. They arrive at Altamid and are quickly met by a vessel of unknown configuration that starts jamming their comms before breaking up into a swarm of "bees" that attack the ship. They're frighteningly methodical, attacking with suicide runs. First they take out the deflector array, then sever the warp nacelles, then start boarding the ship by impaling the hull with breaching pods. Phasers do minimal damage as they only destroy a few bees at a time, and the swarm completely avoids torpedoes.

The leader of the swarm, an alien named Krall (hi Idris Elba!), begins looking for the weapon artifact stored aboard the Enterprise. He has the ability to drain the life from other humanoids, leaving them as dessicated husks. Kirk gets to the artifact first and gives it to a crewmember with a facehugger-style head to hide. Scotty reroutes impulse power to draw from the warp core so they can try to escape at impulse, and the swarm severs the saucer from the stardrive section to cut the power feed. Spock and Bones are in the turbolift when this happens and their car is launched into space before a bee captures them, but they're able to kill the pilots and take control of the bee themselves.

The impulse drive is still attempting to draw power from the warp core, and in order to switch it back they'll need to perform an actual saucer separation, removing what's left of the neck from the saucer. Kirk orders the crew to abandon ship while he performs the separation but like Kirk and McCoy, the escape pods are all captured by the bees. Scotty hides himself in a torpedo and launches it, knowing the bees will avoid his torpedo, letting him fly to the surface. Uhura helps Kirk fight off the invaders as they prepare for saucer separation but Uhura is stuck on the neck section with Krall when the separation is complete.

Even with impulse engines drawing from saucer power, they don't have enough boost to escape the gravity well of the planet. Kirk orders the bridge crew to escape in Kelvin pods. It's a cool escape pod system on the bridge, likely added because of George Kirk's sacrifice flying into the Narada. It's a single pod bay with individual pods loading in one at a time. Kirk is the last of the bridge crew to escape in a pod, and the saucer crashes to the surface below.

Most of the crew have been rounded up by Krall. Kirk, Chekov and Kalara's pods land near each other, Scotty escapes his torpedo before it careens off a cliff, and McCoy and Spock crashland their bee. Scotty meets an alien named Jaylah who has been stranded on this planet for years. She is a highly skilled melee fighter and engineer, developing holographic duplicates of herself to confuse in a fight, and she's constructed many traps to protect her home. Her home, as Scotty discovers, is the 22nd century Earth Starfleet vessel Franklin, humanity's first Warp 4 ship. Jaylah and her family were captured by Krall years ago and she escaped, fending for herself ever since.

Kirk and Chekov get Kalara to admit that she lured them into an ambush. She claims her crewmates were being held hostage by Krall and he'd let them go if she lured the Enterprise here. Chekov isn't able to scan for the rest of the crew, but the tricorder range is limited so Kirk suggests they hike back to the saucer and see if they can get its sensors online. While there, Kirk heads to the lockers to pretend to retrieve the weapon, and Kalara attacks him and informs Krall of its location... just as Kirk and Chekov wanted. The artifact is obviously not here, and they are able to get Krall's communication frequency from her call. This turns into another Inception-style gravity bending fight scene as Kirk and Chekov run through hallways to avoid Kalara and Krall's other minions. They end up igniting the saucer's thruster fuel tank which buys them time to escape, but flips the saucer and kills Kalara and the other minions. While looking for other survivors, they get caught in one of Jaylah's traps, an amber-colored gas that quickly solidifies and encases them. Jaylah frees them from it after Scotty assures her they're friends.

Uhura, Sulu, and the rest of the crew are rounded up in a camp. Krall reveals to Uhura that he can speak English, broken as it is, and he harbors a deep hatred for the Federation and its ideals, which he believes to be a lie, of peaceful coexistence that stand in stark contrast to the natural competition of evolution. Uhura and Sulu are able to break out of their holding cell thanks to a rather acidic sneeze by Keenser, Scotty's tiny alien assistant, and they find a monitoring system that's tapped into Federation frequencies. Krall knew that the weapon was aboard the Enterprise the moment Spock cataloged it. Once Krall knows it's not aboard the Enterprise, he realizes one of the crew must have it, and threatens to kill Sulu unless it's given up. The facehugger alien opens the back of her head to show it, and Krall is able to complete his superweapon, the Abronath, which he tests on said facehugger alien, who is dissolved before Uhura's eyes.

Spock is impaled by a piece of shrapnel on their landing, and McCoy has to improvise a cauterizing implement after pulling out the piece. Spock explains why he and Uhura broke up to McCoy, stating that he's planning on resigning his Starfleet commission to return to New Vulcan. He hasn't spoken to Kirk about it yet. There's plenty of banter to be had between the two, something that we hadn't seen quite enough of in the last two films, and they're definitely making up for lost time. Just as they are found and surrounded by several bees, Scotty reactivates the transporter on the Franklin and beams them over one at a time.

Spock's injury is able to be better treated on the ship, and thanks to that necklace he had Uhura keep that happens to have a unique radioactive signature, they're able to track down where Krall's camp is. ("You gave your girlfriend a tracking device?") Scotty reconfigures the transporter, an older model that was originally intended only for cargo, and believes he can get about 20 crew at a time with it so long as they can erect transport enhancers near the base. Jaylah is apprehensive about helping them go back there, fearing they will all die like her father did, but Scotty gives her a pep talk and Kirk has an idea about how to mount a distraction during the rescue attempt.

Using a vintage motorcycle that was aboard the Franklin, the holographic duplicator, and a canister of that insta-amber gas, many Kirks drive many motorcycles around Krall's base, distracting Krall's minions while the rest of the team gather up the crew and beam them to the Franklin a group at a time. Jaylah gets separated from the rest of the group and loses her transport beacon when she gets into a big ole fight with the guy who killed her father, but Kirk is able to get her out when he does a big ole Fast and the Furious style stunt of jumping off his bike as she falls off a roof and grabbing her while he's in process of being transported.

As they are all rescued, Krall mobilizes his bee fleet for departure. Now that he has the Abronath, he can use it against Starbase Yorktown. Kirk asks if Scotty can get the Franklin up and running to pursue them, and Scotty thinks it's impossible without a "jump-start"... which would involve dropping the Franklin off the cliff it sits on and waiting until it hits terminal velocity before firing thrusters. So of course they do that, because Sulu is Sulu and can fly anything. I can't stress enough, once we see the Franklin in full silhouette, how much it resembles the NX-01 Enterprise. This is not the last homage to the Enterprise era in the film, which is great because it means the filmmakers know that they still have to acknowledge anything before 2233 as canon to both timelines.

Pursing the fleet, Spock and McCoy beam over to one of the bees since they have prior experience flying them. They quickly fight off and eject the drone pilots, and then examine how the thousands of ships in Krall's swarm coordinate with each other. Recalling the Enterprise signal jam that was most likely a broadcast storm attack from the swarm, they realize that such a system of coordination and communication would be vulnerable to VHF frequencies. Jaylah has a boombox with Earth music on it that she's been rocking out to throughout the film. They plug it into the ship and broadcast "Sabotage" which not only disorients the bees, it actually blows them up. Yeah. They blast Beastie Boys to blow up ships. Is it dumb? Yes. Is it awesome? FUCK. YES. They surf a wave of exploding bees and give the frequency to Greg Grunberg at Yorktown's command center, who boosts the signal, repelling the attackers.

Krall's ship manages to break through the airlock and they take the Franklin to pursue it into Yorktown. They're able to stop his ship but he escapes from it. On the Franklin, Uhura watches an old recording of the crew and realizes she recognizes the voice of Captain Balthezar Edison in the recording... it's Krall. Edison was a MACO who served on NX-01 Enterprise during the Xindi campaign in the Delphic Expanse and fought in the Earth-Romulan War. When the Federation was founded, MACO was dissolved and Edison was absorbed into Starfleet and given the Franklin. Somehow the ship got lost, possibly through a wormhole, and stranded on the planet Altamid. Edison felt abandoned and betrayed by the principles of the Federation, and discovered that the former inhabitants of the planet had left behind a bunch of mining drones and life-extending technology. They find more dessicated crew corpses and realize he might look human now.

And he does, almost. He still has the Abronath and plans to release it into Yorktown's air recycling system, where it will kill all inhabitants of the station. Kirk pursues him atop a skyscraper that houses the central chamber of the system and they fight while Scotty attempts to shut down the system to prevent it from getting spread. After a fight of both fists and of ideals between Kirk and Edison, not to mention some bizarre tricks of intersecting artificial gravity fields at that altitude, they manage to get an emergency valve open to the outside and Edison gets sucked out into space with the Abronath activated, only consuming him, Kirk also careens toward the valve but is caught by Spock and McCoy, who still haven't figured out how to land their bee yet.

Commodore Paris tells Kirk that after his actions, the vice-admiralty position he applied for is his, but he realizes that vice admirals sit behind desks all day, so he declines the appointment. His first best destiny is on the bridge of a starship, and they just so happen to be building one at Yorktown. Spock opens a box of Spock Prime's belongings and finds a promotional cast photo from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and realizes he should stay with his crew after all. McCoy organizes a surprise birthday party for Kirk with the whole crew, where they toast to the crew and to absent friends (as Chekov is center in frame). Scotty manages to pull some strings and gets Jaylah an application to Starfleet Academy. And the five-year mission is resumed after a brief hiatus as the new starship built at Yorktown is christened NCC-1701-A, USS Enterprise.

NITPICKS

The JJverse films standardized stardates so they follow the Gregorian calendar, with the number following the point being the day of the year from 1-365. So for the film to start on 2263.2 means it's January 2nd, 2263, and Kirk is celebrating his birthday. But Kirk was born on the day of the Kelvin's destruction, which was 2233.04 (I assume leading zeros are optional), otherwise known as January 4th. Maybe McCoy was starting the celebration a few days early, or maybe Kirk's log was 2 days before.

The viewscreen on the Enterprise bridge has to be built to similar tolerances as every other bulkhead on the ship, especially as it is forward-facing and contains the senior crew of the ship. Therefore, there is no way in hell they wouldn't have built it to be able to withstand a few blasts from a freaking hand phaser.

Where is the deflector array on the Franklin?

Why wouldn't they return the Teenaxi who got beamed up with Kirk? Isn't that kidnapping?

FAVORITE QUOTES

Kirk: I ripped my shirt again.

Kirk: Captain's log, stardate 2263.2. Today is our 966th day in deep space, a little under three years into our five-year mission. The more time we spend out here, the harder it is to tell where one day ends and the next one begins. It can be a challenge to feel grounded when even gravity is artificial. But, well, we do what we can to make it feel like home. The crew, as always, continues to act admirably despite the rigors of our extended stay here in outer space. And the personal sacrifices they have made. We continue to search for new life forms in order to establish firm diplomatic ties. Our extended time in uncharted territory has stretched the ship's mechanical capacities. But fortunately our engineering department, led by Mr. Scott, is more than up to the job. The ship aside, prolonged cohabitation has definitely had effects on the interpersonal dynamics. Some experiences for the better, and some for the worse. As for me, things have started to feel a little episodic. The farther out we go, the more I find myself wondering what it is we're trying to accomplish. If the universe is truly endless, then are we not striving for something forever out of reach? The Enterprise is scheduled for a reprovisioning stop at Yorktown, the Federation's newest and most advanced starbase. Perhaps a break from routine will offer up some respite from the mysteries of the unknown.

McCoy: I found this in Chekov's locker. Kirk: Wow. McCoy: Right? I mean, I always assumed he'd be a vodka guy. Kirk: A vodka guy, exactly.

McCoy: You guys break up? What'd you do? Spock: A typically reductive inquiry, Doctor. McCoy: You know Spock, when an earth-girl says "it's me not you", it's definitely you.

Paris: It isn't uncommon, you know, even for a captain, to want to leave. There is no relative direction in the vastness of space. It is only yourself, your ship, your crew. It's easier than you think to get lost.

Uhura: How do you know our language? Krall: I know your kind. Uhura: I am Lieutenant Nyota Uhura of the USS Enterprise. And you have committed an act of war against the Federation. Krall: Federation? Federation is an act of war!

McCoy: They say it hurts less if it's a surprise. Spock: If I may adopt a parlance with which you are familiar, I can confirm your theory to be horseshit.

Jaylah: I am Jaylah. And you are Montgomery Scott. Scott: Aye, Scotty. Jaylah: Come now, Montgomery Scotty.

Scott: Wait a minute, is this your ship? Jaylah: No, Montgomery Scotty. It's yours.

Chekov: Do you even know what the combustion compressor looks like? Kirk: It's square, right? Chekov: No, it's [Kirk fires] round. Kirk: That's what I said.

Scott: Music's a bit old fashioned for my tastes, not to mention very loud and distracting, but hey, well played. Jaylah: I like the beats and shouting.

Scott: I have an idea, sir, but I am going to need your permission. Kirk: Why would you need my permission? Scott: Because if I mess it up, I don't want it to be just my fault.

Spock: Leaving me behind will significantly increase your chances of survival, Doctor. McCoy: Well that's damn chivalrous of you, but completely out of the question. Spock: It is imperative that you locate any surviving crew. McCoy: Here I was thinking you cared. Spock: Of course I care, Leonard. I always assumed my respect for you was clear. The dialogue we have had across the years has always... McCoy: It's okay, Spock. You don't have to say it. Well, at least I won't die alone! [Spock is beamed out from behind McCoy] Well that's just typical.

Spock: Lieutenant Uhura wears a vokaya amulet which I presented to her as a token of my affection and respect. McCoy: You gave your girlfriend radioactive jewelry? Spock: The emission is harmless, Doctor, but its unique signature makes it very easy to identify. McCoy: You gave your girlfriend a tracking device? Spock: ...That was not my intention. McCoy: I'm glad he doesn't respect me.

Krall: Your Federation has pushed the frontier for centuries, but no longer. This is where it begins, Lieutenant. This is where the frontier pushes back.

Kirk: I think you underestimate humanity. Edison: I fought for humanity! We lost millions to the Xindi and Romulan wars. And for what? For the Federation to sit me in the captain's chair and break bread with the enemy? Kirk: We change, we have to. Or we spend the rest of our lives fighting the same battles.

Kirk:You won the war, Edison. You gave us peace. Edison: Peace is not what I was born into.

Edison: You can't stop it. You will die. Kirk: Better to die saving lives than to live by taking them. That's what I was born into.

Kirk: I heard about Ambassador Spock. Is that what you want to mention that time in the turbolift? Spock: More or less. I trust your meeting with Commodore Paris went well. Kirk: More or less.