“Star Trek Beyond,” the 13th film in the fabled sci-fi series and the third since J.J. Abrams rebooted the franchise and sent it into a parallel time line, opened Friday, 966 days into the crew’s “five-year mission” — 9/66 being the month and year that the original TV series debuted on NBC, where it would survive only three seasons.
Fifty years later, of course, the mission continues, with something of a cult following.
“To say ‘something of a cult following’ is the biggest understatement in history,” said actor Simon Pegg, who plays the ship’s longtime engineer, Scotty, and also co-wrote the screenplay for the film. “It has the cult following.”
And this is both good and bad. For “Star Trek Beyond,” Justin Lin (“True Detective,” “Fast & Furious”) took the helm from now-producer Abrams, who was busy directing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” It was a messy takeoff.
“It was not easy logistically,” Lin said from London. “But I knew what I was signing up for. I’d prefer to start from nothing, and build this movie together.”