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The last three Star Trek films have charted a new course of destiny for the crew of the Enterprise, thanks to Nero screwing with the space-time continuum in the first outing. This alternate timeline has given the filmmakers dramatic license to sculpt an entirely new path for the crew, without having to fit them into a predetermined destiny.
And yet, while not exactly the same, patterns have emerged across all three films, which suggest that even though specific stories and plots may be different, there are tonal and thematic similarities across the timelines of both generations of feature films. Looking at these, we can predict what the next three adventures might be.
We can hardly consider Nero to be V’Ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But both films are origin stories, of sorts, depicting Kirk who isn’t a Captain but strives to be, and Spock who we find on Vulcan deciding on the right path for himself. At stake in both films is the fate of planet Earth itself.
When we get to Star Trek Into Darkness, the parallels are a little more obvious with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Certainly the antagonist is the same, and while Into Darkness twists the plot around by having Kirk be the sacrifice instead of Spock, the themes that unravel are intentionally similar.
Star Trek Beyond is remarkably similar to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in how the two films literally play out. Both feature a near shot-by-shot spacedock sequence that shows the Enterprise pulling into port with onlookers in awe at the sight of the impressive starship. A weapon of ultimate power is being pursued by an alien nemesis who despises the Federation. The Enterprise is dramatically destroyed in a blaze of glory. In The Search for Spock, Kirk and crew capture a Klingon ship to escape from the Genesis planet. And in Beyond, the crew utilize an old starship to get off the planet.
What can we expect, then, when we look ahead to a fourth, fifth, and sixth adventure with today’s crew?
Star Trek 4
I think it’s likely the plot won’t feature the crew time traveling to the 1980’s to bring two humpback whales into the future. However, Paramount has confirmed the return of Chris Hemsworth in the role of Captain Kirk’s father, as depicted in the first film. For this to happen, there has to be some sort of time travel element to reunite Kirk with his father. Already, the story feels like it could be warmer and fuzzier than the last three outings, tonally mirroring Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Just as Sean Connery‘s presence as Henry Jones, Sr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade brought a welcome dose of light-hearted fun and sense of family after the dark and gritty Temple of Doom, a Pine-Hemsworth duo could match the playful brightness of The Voyage Home.
Star Trek 5
Is it possible that the filmmakers could look to the William Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier for inspiration on this adventure?
One of the aspects of the new films that I am enjoying is the Enterprise venturing further and further from Earth with each sequel. In Beyond, the ship goes to an uncharted nebula in a distant part of the galaxy. The Final Frontier takes the Enterprise through the Great Barrier at the edge of the galaxy in search of a God who lives on a mythical planet.
It would be fitting, then, with the new films hovering in and around the Federation, to finally take the crew to the brink of science and space as we know it. It doesn’t need to be the planet Shakari from The Final Frontier, but a fifth adventure should challenge the crew by taking them to the ominous edge of the frontier.
Star Trek 6
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country re-grounded the franchise at the very end of the original crew’s run by bringing them back to the heart of the Federation, with a political plotline involving an assassination attempt that could thrust the Federation and the Klingon Empire into war. Nicholas Meyer returned to direct, and brought back his signature submarine-warfare style of starship battling.
Box office-permitting, should we make it to a sixth adventure, the one element to the franchise we haven’t seen since the original crew days is, indeed, some great equally-matched starship battles. Whether it was Nero’s starship, the Narada, or Admiral Marcus’s Vengeance from Into Darkness, or Krall’s drone ships from Beyond, the Enterprise has been mismatched from the very beginning.
This poses a different strategic dynamic for Kirk, and dramatically, is less interesting than when the Enterprise squares off against an equally-matched U.S.S. Reliant in The Wrath of Khan, or a Klingon warbird in The Search for Spock. In these cases, we’re able to see Kirk’s military training on display. As much as his reputation precedes him with his various other personality-traits, Kirk was always known throughout the galaxy by his enemies as being a brilliant military strategist. We haven’t seen this yet in the Chris Pine incarnation of the franchise as yet.
If the plot of the sixth film returns the Enterprise to the Federation to fend off a Klingon or Romulan invasion, it would be great to see the cat-and-mouse space battles from The Undiscovered Country played out as a massive multi-starship war, to give Kirk a last chance to save the galaxy before retiring and warping off into the sunset.