Star Trek Beyond: 10 Things It Did Better Than J.J. Abrams

SPOILERS FOR THIS PARTICULAR ENTRY! RUN AWAY, SPOILERS FOR THIS ENTRY!

Do you remember Nero from Star Trek ’09, the Romulan from the future who blamed Spock for the desolation of his homeworld, and the genocide of his entire race? Chance are, you probably don’t, because Nero was utterly forgettable, and his motivations were fuelled almost entirely by his own insanity, and were utterly unfounded. In reality, Spock had attempted to save Romulus from a supernova, ultimately failing in his mission.

Is this Spock’s fault? No. In fact, he seemed to be the only person trying to prevent the catastrophe, and was risking his own life in the process. Still, Nero blamed Spock, and that was his motivation for destroying Vulcan, attacking The Federation, and generally acting like a homicidal maniac, intent in wreaking untold havoc across the universe. It made sense, but a simple conversation would have cleared things up, which just made Nero seem immature.

Good villains need great motivations. In Star Trek Beyond, Krall is revealed to be a Starfleet Captain, a soldier breed from conflict, utterly inexperienced in diplomacy, abandoned for lifetimes on an alien planet in an uncharted nebula of space. Like Nero, he’s somewhat insane, but his motivations are understandable; he knows only conflict, but Starfleet is not a military organisation, essentially making his role in life completely redundant.

Now that’s motivation.