Chris Pine

It’s been a while since the crew of the Starship Enterprise visited a strange new world in search of new life and civilizations. The Star Trek of television was full of strange new worlds; the Enterprise seemed to discover one every single week. The Trek movies, so focused on special effects, violence, and intricate revenge plots, have frequently strayed from Trek’s original mission. And while there’s plenty of action and excitement in Star Trek Beyond, there’s also a clear attempt to return this series to its core principles: Exploration, diplomacy, teamwork, and the hope for a better tomorrow. After the missteps of the punishingly bleak and the unfortunately rehashy Star Trek Into Darkness, it’s a necessary and welcome course correction; a Star Trek back into the light.

It is interesting that, given a reboot could theoretically go off in any direction it chooses, that the relaunched Star Trek has begun to repeat events from the first Star Trek movie series. Star Trek Into Darkness was essentially a revisitation of The Wrath of Khan; the movie not only reintroduced the title character, it also flip-flopped the famous end of Wrath of Khan where Spock dies saving the Enterprise. (This time around it was Captain Kirk who made the ultimate sacrifice ... for about 8 minutes, and then he got better.) Certainly the circumstances of the film are very different, but Star Trek Beyond shares one crucial ingredient with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, namely the destruction of the Starship Enterprise, and the shipwrecking of its crew on a distant alien planet.

J.J. Abrams’ first two Star Trek films weren’t entirely about spectacle — they certainly dealt with some #issues and bigger ideas, but they were still glossy, big budget blockbusters at the end of the day. Although co-writer Simon Pegg has said that Star Trek Beyond goes back to the series’ roots — more fun, more interesting concepts — his co-star Chris Pine has a slightly more cynical take on the franchise.

Although we’ve already seen the first official trailer for Star Trek Beyond, there’s still plenty we don’t know about the upcoming sequel, directed by Justin Lin and co-written by star Simon Pegg. We know Idris Elba is the villain, that Kingsman’s Sofia Boutella plays an awesome-looking alien, and…that’s about it. A new set video with the cast sheds a little more light on what we can expect from Beyond, including some new weapons and uniforms and one very intriguing secret regarding John Cho’s Sulu.

Who doesn't love a good buddy flick? Maybe it's because even when we're down on our luck, our current romance has gone to hell, and our list of old flames looks like it came from America's Most Wanted, most of us can usually take some comfort in the company of a good friend. Our pals know how to pick us up, cheer us on, and keep us from popping one too many Ambien.