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Krall (Star Trek)

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Captain Balthazar M. Edison , better known as Krall , is the main antagonist of the 2016 sci-fi action film Star Trek Beyond , the third installment of the rebooted Star Trek film series.

He was a human senior officer at the MACO Organization who had been mutated into a reptilian form by alien life-extending technology after crashing upon a planet with his crew. Thereafter, Krall dedicated himself on destroying the Federation for abandoning him and his crew.

He was portrayed by Idris Elba , who also played Russell "Stringer" Bell in The Wire , William Roque in The Losers , Colin Evans in No Good Deed , The Commandant in Beasts of No Nation , Shere Khan in the 2016 The Jungle Book live-action remake, Brixton Lore in Hobbs & Shaw , Macavity in Cats and Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad .

1 Biography
2 Personality
3 Creation and Conception
6 Navigation

Biography [ ]

In the twenty-second century, Edison joined United Earth's Military Assault Command Organization (MACO), rising to the rank of Major, and fought against the Xindi and then the Romulans in the Earth-Romulan War. After the founding of the Federation, MACO was absorbed into Starfleet and Edison was given the Starfleet rank of Captain. In 2163, he was appointed a commanding officer of the USS Franklin , the first Earth ship to have reached warp four.

A year later, the Franklin disappeared. Popular speculation ranged from the ship being captured by the Romulans to the ship being caught by a giant green hand. Having crashed on the M-class planet Altamid, Edison and the other Franklin survivors felt abandoned by the Federation. Sinking into madness, the survivors came to despise the Federation for its ideals of peaceful cooperation. Transformed, Edison began calling himself "Krall" during this time. Finding a cache of weapons, ships, and technology on Altamid, Krall and his forces began plotting their revenge against the Federation for their embrace of diplomacy and tolerance that he never agreed in the first place.

Their equipment included humanoid drones and swarm ships, as well as technology that prolonged life by absorbing the life from other beings, transferring energy from the victim to the user, resulting in the said user being physically morphed and mutated into having at least some of their victim's physical characteristics. It was this technology that mutated Edison into Krall, at the cost of his already damaged mental health, causing him to lose some of his human personality, have somewhat slurred speech and usually speaking in an alien language.

Learning of an ancient bioweapon, the Abronath, Krall began reassembling the components. About one hundred years after the Franklin crashed on Altamid, Krall learned the USS Enterprise had the final component. During the Enterprise to Altamid, Krall and his forces destroyed the starship and took many of the surviving crew prisoners. Once Krall obtained the final component, he left to destroy the nearby Yorktown with the bioweapon, with Captain James T. Kirk and the remainder of the surviving Enterprise crew following in pursuit.

Krall's forces were destroyed, and Krall himself was defeated by Kirk when Kirk opened an airlock on the station. Sucked out into space, Krall was enveloped and disintegrated by the very bioweapon he planned to use on the inhabitants of Yorktown . Afterward, Kirk and Commodore Paris closed the file on Krall and the crew members of the USS Franklin .

Personality [ ]

Back when he served as a MACO officer in the 22nd century, Edison became an unemotional and hardened man who witnessed millions of Humans perish by alien hands during Xindi and Romulan conflicts. Battles that Edison endured had deteriorated his better qualities as a person in some ways, given that he deeply resented what he saw as being put out to pasture: His calling as a soldier rendered obsolete by the Federation's embrace of diplomacy and tolerance by the time of its foundation.

However, Edison's resentment twisted into hatred after he and his ship crash-landed on Altamid, with Edison himself, Anderson Le , and Jessica Wolff as the only survivors and never getting any response from the Federation when he sent out a distress call. Believing that he had been abandoned by the Federation, his resentment festered into violent hatred, and he resolved to destroy the Federation and prove that peaceful coexistence led only to weakness as in his final captain log, he declared war on the United Federation Of Planets.

When he was still human, Edison is a dark-skinned, middle-aged British man with a beard until the usage of energy transference technology to expand his lifespan deformed him into a reptilian humanoid like his fellow surviving crews. Aside from his appearance, the alteration of his physiology also resulting his voice become deeper than usual and Edison's physical strength exceeded that of his original strength, as he easily overpowered Kirk in their first confrontation. However, after he drained the energy from several of Kirk's human crew, Edison's appearance becomes closer to his original self and his voice also restored to normal. However, his physical strength also reverted to the original, as when confronted Kirk once again, Kirk now able to fight toe on toe against him.

Creation and Conception [ ]

When the role of Krall was being devised as the main antagonist, the writers of the movie wanted to differentiate him from the main antagonists in the previous two reboot films, the Romulan Nero and Khan Noonien Singh , both of whom were driven by revenge. Regarding Krall, Simon Pegg explained that his motives would be more complex and mysterious than previous main antagonists that appeared so far. Similarly, Star Trek Beyond Director Justin Lin wanted the character to have a legitimate reason for hating the Federation, which the filmmakers had decided they wanted to examine in the movie.

The costume designed for Krall was intended to seem unique and merge with the alien's body. "Justin wanted you to look at Krall and not be sure whether it's him or an armor, where the man within starts and stops," reflected Costume Designer Sanja Hays, "and he wanted you to not be sure how he changed, and what really happened with him. Justin wanted us to create something you hadn't seen in previous Star Trek movies or previous sci-fi movies."

Idris Elba on set for his role as Krall, discussing how his role would work out to Justin Lin.

As Justin Lin saw it, there was only one real contender for the role of Krall. "Idris was my top choice by far," the director said. "Because a lot of times antagonists don't really have a lot of screen time. So you need someone who can command a presence and be able to fully commit and carry that through very surgically. We had a great first conversation." During that initial discussion, Elba and Lin conversed for about an hour. "But at the very end, he paused," continued Lin. "I was like, 'Aw, shit.' He goes, 'It's gonna be four hours of make-up every morning, right?' I said, 'Yup…' It was four hours every morning, and he was awesome. He's delivering a 100% every time." Commented Simon Pegg, "Our villain is a very interesting force [....] We worked with Idris [Elba] on the fine details, which was a really productive process [....] He was really good at pitching little character details, which we were able to adapt and put in." Doug Jung said about the character, "He's got the classic Star Trek villain qualities to him." Kirk actor Chris Pine noted about Elba's performance as Krall, "He was very alive and present, and changing stuff from one take to the next." In Pine's opinion, Elba thereby "came up with this really rather an extraordinary character." Uhura actress Zoë Saldana offered, "I really liked this character, Krall. I like what he's about. He also represents a lot of individuals in the past 10 to 15 years [....] [He's] a very lethal Big Bad – and, the make-up is astounding!" Sulu actor John Cho remarked, "The composite [character design] I saw was incredibly frightening." Cho also called Krall "an interesting bad guy." McCoy actor Karl Urban agreed, "He's a worthy adversary because, like all good villains, he forces the protagonists to question themselves and to question their direction.".

In backstory that was conceived for the movie but omitted from it, Krall's takeover of the alien society and technology on Altamid would have been portrayed as having been possible because the aliens were essentially mindless, weapon-less drones.

Navigation [ ]

1 The Boiled One
3 Johnny Worthington III

Krall's Bizarre Vampire Powers In Star Trek Beyond Explained

Justin Lin's 2016 film "Star Trek Beyond" came at a strange juncture in "Star Trek" history. Paramount had two enormously successful "Star Trek" films in 2009 and 2013, both taking the ordinarily talky and contemplative franchise into a quicker, more violent, action-packed direction. Audiences flocked to those movies, both helmed by J.J. Abrams, enjoying the fact that "Star Trek" now more closely resembled "Star Wars." One year before "Beyond" was released, however, the Disney-backed Lucasfilm released "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the first "Star Wars" theatrical feature film since 2008. "The Force Awakens" was a massive success, and the public's itch for space action was now being satisfyingly scratched. It, too, was helmed by J.J. Abrams.

With real "Star Wars" back in the public eye, audiences no longer needed the supposed "fake 'Star Wars'" action that the new Trek films provided. "Beyond," as a result, was not as massive a hit as its forebears, and Paramount put the kibosh on further entries. Note: we may still get a fourth "Star Trek" film in the Kelvin continuity , but I'll believe that when I see it.

In all three of the Kelvin movies, the story revolves around a passionately evil villain who sought revenge. For "Beyond," the villain was Krall (Idris Elba), a strange alien monster with access to millions of destructive space drones, and a device that allows him to "vampire" life energy out of people. He crash-landed on the planet Altamid a century ago and spent the ensuing time salvaging ancient Altamid technology and scheming against the Federation.

Krall's "DNA vampire" powers aren't well explained in "Beyond," so co-writer Doug Jung talked to Trek Core in 2016 to clarify a few things.

Read more: Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry Always Regretted Cutting One Character From The Show

Balthazar Edison

Late in the film, it will be revealed that Krall was actually once a human named Balthazar Edison, a Starfleet officer who served on board a starship called the U.S.S. Franklin. Edison was able to stay alive on Altamid thanks to the DNA vampire technology which prolonged his life but also caused him to mutate. Edison has been alive long enough to remember the days before the Federation -- his ship and uniform are from the era of "Star Trek: Enterprise" — and he resented that the Federation made peace with previously violent enemies like the Xindi. For years, he's been searching for a destructive relic that he could as a biological weapon to kill millions and wipe out the Federation.

When Krall uses his vampire technology to siphon the life out of captured Starfleet officers, his mutations begin to correct themselves. Throughout the film, he looks more and more human. Jung said that the "Beyond" makeup team had to design the un-mutation carefully, so as not to reveal to audiences too soon that Krall was actually a human. He said:

"We had a lot of different versions. We hinted at it a lot more at one point. We talked about it more at one point. And then ultimately we just sort of decided that we needed it to be part of the whole reveal package. It's a complex idea, if you really think about what he had to do and how he had to get there. [...] [T]here was actually another phase that we took out, where Krall became too human-looking, and you would have connected the dots a little more."

No one, Jung said, was able to guess Krall and the crashed NX starship were connected. He was proud of that.

Krall's Timeline

The film explains that the local technology on Altamid physically transformed Balthazar Edison into a non-human species, but why does he use the name Krall, and why doesn't he speak any human languages when audiences first see him? That will require a little delving into the timeline of events in the broader "Star Trek" chronology . Edison, recall, was commanding a ship that resembled the Enterprise from "Star Trek: Enterprise," and his uniform matched that series as well, making his life contemporary with Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula).

"Enterprise" takes place in the 2150s, and by Trek's history, the Federation was formed in 2161, after the Xindi War that destroyed the state of Florida and killed millions. That means the U.S.S. Franklin flew through a wormhole, post-Xindi conflict, and crashed on Altamid in the mid-2160s. "Star Trek Beyond," incidentally, takes place in 2263.

Altamid was uninhabited when Edison crashed, only occupied by abandoned technology. Edison, as well as a pair of surviving crewmates, would lure passing alien ships to their planet, drag them down to the surface with killer drones, and use an infernal machine to absorb the DNA of the survivors. Edison so hated the Federation's gentle humanity that he deliberately abandoned being human. He turned into an alien, changed his name, and deliberately stopped using human language.

Krall sustained himself, vampire style, for 100 years before attacking the new U.S.S. Enterprise, captained by James T. Kirk (Chris Pine). Because Kirk's Enterprise was populated by many humans, Krall vampired human DNA back into his system, and he began to change back.

All the above exposition is given in "Star Trek Beyond," however in a non-explicit fashion. Krall is still a revenge villain, but his backstory is good for a Kelvin movie.

Read the original article on SlashFilm

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NOTE: The following post contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Trek Beyond .

Three years after Star Trek Into Darkness hit theaters, the Enterprise crew (and Paramount Pictures) are back with another bold adventure into deep space: Star Trek Beyond . The third film in Star Trek 's "Kelvin" timeline, Beyond sees Captain Kirk and his team in the third year of a five year mission. In the midst of going where no man has gone before, life in space has begun to take a toll on Kirk and his crew - as several members of the adopted family contemplate whether they're truly cut out for life in deep space.

Nevertheless, when Starfleet is asked to mount a rescue mission for a marooned crew, the Enterprise sets out to explore a nearby nebula - where they come into contact with a mysterious and powerful leader: Krall. TV spots for Beyond teased there would be more to Krall than some viewers might have expected (especially those who were hoping the character would have some connection to the Klingon race) but, even for those who know the film's "twist," Krall's backstory could still be a little confusing.

No doubt, some fans will have absorbed all the connections but, for those who were left wanting to know more or felt like certain details flew by too fast, we're breaking down Krall's origins - and explaining what, other than the destruction of Starfleet, the villain was attempting to accomplish in Beyond .

Who is Krall?

Kirk and his crew first encounter Krall after passing through the nebula and approaching an uncharted planet, Altamid, where they expect to find a marooned crew of space travelers. Armed with a fleet of pointy ships and nondescript humanoid soldiers, Krall strategically dismantles the Enterprise , boards the Starfleet vessel in search of an ancient alien relic, and captures the ship's crew as they attempt to escape - transporting the survivors down to a make-shift prison camp on Altamid. While much of the bridge crew is captured by Krall, Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, and Chekov manage to slip away - and eventually stumble upon a century old Starfleet ship, the U.S.S. Franklin - which a fierce young warrior, Jayla, has been rebuilding (in the hopes of escaping Altamid). According to log files and archive footage, the Franklin and her crew (the first to explore deep space) landed on Altamid but was unable to unable to leave the planet or send a distress signal to Starfleet. While the crew and Captain Balthazar Edison were honored as heroes, the Franklin's fate was lost to history... until now.

On the planet's surface, in an exchange with Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Krall makes reference to his age - and an unnatural means by which he has managed to survive beyond his years. Shortly after, the villain is shown entering an alien machine, through which he transfers the life-force energy from two Enterprise crew members into himself. The process restores his body and alters his alien-like appearance to look more "human." It's the first reveal that Krall's scaly look might not necessarily be what he has always looked like - and, instead, is simply the side effect of drawing bio-energy (and DNA) from alien prisoners he captured on Altamid.

As Krall becomes more human, Uhura notices the villain bears a likeness to the Franklin's old captain and investigates Edison's logs from his time commanding the Franklin . In the logs, Edison details his frustrations with commanding a starship. A former military commander, who battled the Romulans and Klingons for years, Edison was assigned to the Franklin when Earth made peace with it's former enemies and, together, the civilizations formed Starfleet. As his time on the Franklin drug on, the soldier began to resent Starfleet's peaceful union with his former enemies - a bitterness that was calcified when Edison and the Franklin crew became stranded on Altamid (and Starfleet did not find them). In his final Captain's log, Edison makes it clear that he blames Starfleet for the fate of his ship, stating: " You'll probably never see me again, but if you do — be ready ."

Edison, along with two of his crew members, managed to survive on Altamid by harnessing technology that was left behind by an advanced extra terrestrial race - including a population of networked workers (and mining ships) as well as the machine that allowed Krall to extend his life by stealing energy from other beings. As a result, Krall and his lieutenants, Kalara and Manas, began enslaving other alien races that found their way to Altamid - using their prisoners as fuel to keep them alive in the hopes of one day escaping the planet and taking revenge against Starfleet (for abandoning the Franklin ). Over the years, as Edison and his crew mates drained others of their life, the Franklin survivors began to get lost in the monsters they were becoming - both physically and mentally, ultimately leading Edison to retire his birth name in favor of the moniker: Krall.

What is Krall's Plan?

During the decades Krall was stranded, he learned that the same alien race who left tech on Altamid had also developed a dangerous bio-weapon - one the beings deemed too dangerous for use (even by them). Instead, the aliens dismantled the weapon - and split the device into pieces that, through the years, came to be known as relics (their true use unknown to Starfleet).

After reengineering the alien swarm to serve as an army, rather than a workforce, Krall retrofits comm tech to spy on the nearby Starfleet space station, Yorktown, hacks into classified files, and discovers the Enterprise is holding one of the missing pieces. In order to draw Kirk and his crew through the nebula and to Altamid, Krall sends his second lieutenant, Kalara (also a Franklin survivor who had been consuming energy from Krall's prisoners) to Yorktown in a battle-damaged ship - under the pretense that she had escaped an attack on her crew and needed Starfleet's help rescuing them. When the Enterprise emerges from the nebula, Krall unleashes the swarm - disabling and then boarding the starship in search of the weapon.

Kirk manages to hide the artifact from Krall by sending it into space with one of his crew members; however, when Krall threatens to kill Sulu, imprisoned on Altamid, the crew member hands the artifact over. With every piece of the alien artifact in his possession, Krall reassembles the weapon, boards his command ship, and heads to Yorktown - unleashing the swarm onto the space station's defenses and making his way to Yorktown's air purification system where he intends to unleash the bio-weapon and kill everyone on the station.

While the film doesn't spend a lot of time unpacking Krall's motivation, beyond a relatively straightforward revenge mission, the former military commander makes it clear he believes humanity has become soft - and that Starfleet's peaceful collaboration with other alien races is a lingering betrayal to the men and women who fought to protect earth from malevolent extra terrestrials. To that end, Krall asserts that Kirk and his crew are weaker because of their reliance on each other, and that his actions are in service of saving humanity - by proving that humans will only become stronger through sheer will, difficulty, and heartbreak.