“There’s another way to survive — mutual trust and help.” – Captain Kirk
Star Trek’s lore is vast and complex, keeping everything in the new film as accurate as possible was a daunting task. Luckily the writers of Star Trek Beyond had a little help from Memory Alpha, an enormous Star Trek fan wiki. Here’s what co-writer Simon Pegg told ComingSoon about using the fan-made source for reference:
“We had the entirety of ‘Star Trek’ history at our disposal, and it’s always there online. There’s an amazing Wikipedia online called Memory Alpha. It became Doug and my resource and the place that we’d turn to whenever we wanted to know, ‘What kind of weapons does an NX vessel carry?’ Memory Alpha has it.”
“Chekov, confirm whether or not Simon Pegg knows what he is doing. Affirmative, Mr. Spock.”
Memory Alpha’s help didn’t stop there. Pegg went on to add that the staff behind the wiki actually helped come up with the name and history of a device used in the upcoming film.
“We actually wrote to the Memory Alpha guys and got them to name a certain device in the movie. I sent them a letter saying, ‘Can you come up with this for me?’ In two hours, they came back with an entire etymological history of what the thing was.”
Checking in with hard-core fans was a good way to make sure Pegg and Jung’s original ideas fit well into the Star Trek universe.
Star Trek Beyond will follow the USS Enterprise crew as they find themselves stranded on an alien planet where they come into contact with a ruthless enemy.
Directed by Justin Lin, the film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg and Idris Elba
You can catch Star Trek Beyond in theaters July 22nd!