"Star Trek Beyond" can be appropriately compared to the state of the political climate in the United States. Even actor John Cho believes that both are similar and the fact is not lost on the entire cast of the film.
In "Star Trek Beyond," the members of the Federation stand against the main villain Krall, which is an alien that strongly believes in conflict and in fact, survives on it. This makes the Federation stand in direct opposition to the Federation's ideology of peace, unity and coexistence.
Cho believes that the current state of politics in the U.S. is quite similar to the storyline presented in "Star Trek Beyond," according to an interview with The A.V. Club. While one set of politicians constantly obsesses over different people coming to kill people in the country, the other group demands peace and unity in times of trouble.
"I think it does make the themes of the movie more resonant with us," Cho told the publication. "Oddly, the tumult of this year reminds me of the late '60s, when Roddenberry created Star Trek. It was a similarly divisive time in America ... Times seem similarly dark."
Cho further explained that the ultimate message of "Star Trek" is that people should try to live as best as they can. It promotes the side of humans that work toward peace, cooperation and understanding, rather than the feeling of divide, control and jealousy.
This is not the only storyline of the movie. "Star Trek Beyond" reveals that Cho's character, Hikaru Sulu is gay. In part, it was an homage to George Takei, the man who played the role of Sulu in the original "Star Trek" television series. Since then, he has evolved to become a popular LGBT activist, according to Bustle.
However, Takei soon opposed the revelation of Sulu's sexual orientation. Cho says that he had anticipated opposition from Takei, but for a different reason altogether.
Cho anticipated that Takei would have objected because he way a gay actor who played the role of a straight man, which must have been difficult for him. But since then he has been an LGBT activist and this homage means a little to him.
Following the Sulu revelation, Takei wrote a post on Facebook that it would have been nice if the filmmakers had decided to introduce a new character and depict his story from scratch, rather than to re-invent an existing character.
The following video talks about Takei's response: