The Biggest Unanswered Questions In Star Trek Beyond
There's no denying Star Trek Beyond is an action-packed thrill ride. But now that we've caught our breath and returned from the edges of our seats, we can't help but wonder about a few things—and we're ready to go in search of answers, with the hopes that finding them won't be a five-year mission. Oh, and there are SPOILERS AHEAD for anyone who hasn't finished watching the movie yet.
Why didn't Krall just leave Altamid?
Krall hated the Federation for making peace with the alien enemies he'd fought for most of his military career, and he resented them even more when they didn't come rescue him and his crew after their crash on Altamid. Over the years, he and his lieutenants took control of the technology left on the planet by previous alien races and began to build up an army with an eye toward claiming vengeance. They even took to harvesting the life forces of other aliens to lengthen their own lifespan.
But if they had spaceships and a swarm of workers, why didn't they just leave the planet? They could have taken the swarm back to the Franklin and fixed it up so that it could return to the Federation. If Krall/Edison really hated it that much, he could have resigned and been done with it. But no—he had to be all melodramatic and try to prove how weak humanity had become by making friends with aliens.
What will happen to Krall's alien swarm?
Krall took a majority of his forces into space to tear Yorktown a new one. The villain seemed to be in good shape until Kirk and the crew showed up in the spaceship equivalent of a station wagon from the '80s, the USS Franklin. The majority of the swarm was destroyed when Jaylah and Scotty blasted "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys, answering the age-old question of whether or not "classical music" was capable of knocking out a horde of aliens.
That still leaves us with the problem of the rest of Krall's forces on the planet of Altamid. It's possible that some of the other captured alien crews could take over and reengineer the swarm to serve them, helping them get off the planet while taking control of a powerful army. Let's just hope that they don't have any...Krall intentions. (Sorry.)
Is Manas still alive?
Mana was one of Krall's lieutenants and the tough-as-nails warrior responsible for killing Jaylah's father. Towards the end of the film, he battles Jaylah one-on-one as Kirk creates a distraction and extracts the captured crewmembers. Their Tekken-style fight takes them all over Krall's prison camp, jumping from platform to platform and trading blows while Kirk tries to motocross jump his way over in order to rescue Jaylah. She knocks Manas off the platform in time to dive towards Kirk's hand to get to safety—but we never really see Manas die.
Now, we're fairly positive that Manas won't show up in future installments of the series, but he's a pretty hardy fighter, so part of us believes he survived the fall. If he did, he could be next in line to control the alien swarm and continue on with Krall's plan to tear apart the Federation—albeit without the help of an ancient artifact that releases a bioweapon capable of tearing apart flesh in seconds. We suppose that's a comfort?
When did Sulu have time to get married and start a family?
During their five-year mission, the crew of the USS Enterprise was granted shore leave on the Starbase Yorktown. This is where we got a peek at Sulu's family, which includes his husband and daughter. After we dispensed with the "aw"s and fawned over the cuteness of his little family, we got to wondering when he had time for all that. The events of Star Trek Beyond take place during the third year of the five-year mission, and Sulu's daughter looks only a bit older than a toddler, so he and his husband must have adopted her when she was only a year old.
We can't imagine that Sulu had much time to spend with his daughter before having to leave for the mission aboard the Enterprise, but we guess they kept in constant contact as she grew up via Skype—or whatever better version of FaceTime they have in the future.
Where was all of Yorktown's security?
When Krall attacked Yorktown, he had a pretty easy time of it considering he lost about 98% of his forces to "Sabotage." He managed to penetrate the gates with only three ships and even got all the way to the ventilation system without much trouble. Even the USS Franklin was able to break through and fly all around the starbase before crashing into one of the artificial rivers.
So where was Yorktown's security during all of this? For such a major station, you'd think they'd have more precautions for events like this. Or, at the very least, better first responders. Even after the Franklin made its water landing, we didn't see many security vehicles, or even Federation crafts, show up to the party. Greg Grunberg's Commander Finnegan has a lot of beefing up to do if he wants to keep the starbase safe from would-be terrorists.
How come Krall never checked up on the USS Franklin?
We understand Krall's life-stealing process left him more alien and messed with his mind every time he used it, but he, Manas, and Kalara should have been privy to the location of the USS Franklin since, you know, they crashed onto Altamid in it. Krall should have placed sentries around the perimeter of the craft, just in case any of his prisoners were ever to escape and maybe make a home base out of it—kind of like Jaylah did. We're not going to presume to give him advice on how to be a more effective warlord hellbent on vengeance, but a little precaution could have gone a long way.