Star Trek Beyond: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Kalara

Star Trek is a huge franchise that has recently been revived with the series Star Trek: Discovery. While the new series creates an interesting new timeline, the franchise regained its former status of glory in 2009 after J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trekas a movie series starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, and Karl Urban, amongst others. The movie series was both loved and hated by hardcore fans, with Star Trek: Into Darknessreceiving mixed reviews and paving the way for the third movie in the series Star Trek: Beyond.

However, Star Trek: Beyond failed to grasp audiences as well, courtesy of glaring plot holes. Regardless, it was the characters in the movie that had a lasting impact on fans and first-time viewers alike. One such character that deserves a mention is that of Kalara. While Kalara seems to be a distressed alien at first glance, it is soon revealed that she is a part of Krall’s (Idris Elba) crew, attempting to wage a war with the United Federation of Planets and Starbase Yorktown in specific. Akin to the initial impressions of Kalara, there are many other facets to her character that are unknown to fans. To realize the true importance that Kalara holds in the series, the movie, and its making process, it is important to know these unknown details about her character.

10 Kalara's Real Name Is Jessica Wolff

Kalara’s first appearance in the movie, as well as the Star Trek franchise, is when she comes to Starbase Yorktown in an escape pod during the year 2263 in the Kelvin timeline. She appears to be a distressed alien at first glance, who has come to seek the help of the Federation and the USS Enterprise to help her rescue her stranded crew from the planet Altamid.

However, through the course of the movie, it is soon revealed that Kalara was actually an enlisted Starfleet officer in the Federation and a human female. Her real name was Jessica Wolff.

9 Kalara Was Born During The Early-Mid 22nd Century

While most fans have an idea about how old the heroes in the franchise are, very little is known about the villains. Kalara is much older than when the events of Star Trek: Beyond takes place in the year 2263. She was born somewhere during the early to mid-22^nd century, which marked a significant period of change in the history of Earth, followed by other species in the galaxy. Given the fact that Edison was a Romulan war veteran, and Wolff his crewmate, they ought to be born during that time.

This was the time when Earth established a planetary system of government and launched expeditions into deep space by creating starships with Warp 5 technologies. Kalara is also thought to have experienced the attack on Earth by the Xindis and participated in the Earth-Romulan War, which preceded the formation of the United Federation of Planets in the year 2161.

8 Kalara Was A Crew Member Of The USS Franklin

The USS Franklin was a Starship-class vessel belonging to the Federation, captained by the legendary MACO veteran Balthazar Edison. It was the first ship from Earth that had Warp 4 capabilities.

The Franklin along with its crew that included Jessica Wolff, or Kalara, took off sometime during the years 2145-2151 from the Fleet Yards of San Francisco. While on a mission amidst the Gagarin Radiation Belt, in the year 2164, the starship along with the entirety of its crew vanished mysteriously never to be found again until 2263 of the Kelvin timeline.

7 Kalara Was A Sciences Division Officer In Starfleet

During her time as a Starfleet crew member under the employ of the Federation, Kalara, or Jessica Wolff, as she was known back then, was part of the Sciences Division. Her rank was that of an officer.

As part of the deep space exploration and defense branch of the Federation, her corps was responsible for specializing in medical and scientific research aboard a starship, as well as knowing various control functions on starships, starbases, and the Starfleet Command. Being an officer it can be assumed that she held a position of authority in Balthazar Edison’s crew.

6 Kalara's Ship Crashed Because Of A Wormhole Displacement

A lot of theories and speculations regarding the disappearance of the USS Franklin abounded in later years, with some considering them to have been captured by Apollo or forced to surrender to the Romulans.

However, in the year 2263, gauging from the distance that the ship had traveled Montgomery Scott surmised that it had to be a wormhole displacement that had resulted in the USS Franklin to disappear and crash land on the planet known as Altamid. Being a starship that had only Warp 4 capabilities there is no other plausible reason to account for the remote distance Kalara's ship had traveled.

5 Kalara's Owes Her Long Life To Technology Belonging To The Ancient Ones

Altamid, the planet on which the USS Franklin had crash-landed was the previous homeworld of an archaic civilization known as the Ancient Ones.

The Ancient Ones had created numerous technological marvels including the Abronath, as explained by Krall when he first uses the weapon on Ensign Syl, a huge Swarm ship fleet piloted by drones, as well as equipment that was capable of draining the life force of another being and imparting the same into the user’s body, thereby prolonging their life. It was through the use of this equipment that Kalara was able to enjoy a long life, albeit a cursed one.

4 Kalara's Mutation Is A Side-Effect Of Energy Transference

The energy transference technology of the Ancient Ones not only drained the life force of the victim and imbibed it into the user, therefore, helping them prolong their life; but it also took parts of the victim’s DNA and assimilated it into the user. It is for this very reason that Jessica Wolff ceased to remain a human after undergoing the energy transference ritual and mutated into an alien known as Kalara, who had even forgotten to speak English.

While Kalara might not be the deadliest villain the crew has ever faced, this reality of her usurping another being’s life and DNA most certainly makes her one to abhor.

3 Kalara Was Voiced By Two Different People

Star Trek: Beyond comprises of many things that it got wrong, but there are also many that it got right. One such thing that the movie did perfectly was the casting of Kalara.

While Kalara is portrayed on screen by Lydia Wilson of Ripper Streetfame; who also voices the character every time she speaks in English, there is another actress as well, who lends her voice to bring Kalara to life. Finnish actress and singer/songwriter Sara Maria Forsberg does the voiceover for Kalara, every time the latter speaks in an alien dialect.

2 Despite Not Being A Trekkie Lydia Dedicated Herself To The Role Of Kalara Because Of A Dream

Lydia Wilson, the actress who plays Kalara is not a Trekkie herself but understood the importance and value that the franchise held for everyone involved with it. She also claimed that it was a dream that she had, which actually motivated her to dedicate herself to the role.

She explains that in her dream, Zachary Quinto (Spock) acted like her spirit guide and explained to her how important and respectful this franchise is to the people whom it belongs to, and therefore, she must share the same respect.

1 It Took Four Hours To Achieve The Look For Kalara

There are various hidden details about Star Trek costumes, especially with the ones in Star Trek: TNG. However, it is hard to not notice the meticulousness that the make-up of Kalara embodies, as its exquisiteness is quite palpable. In an interview with Cinefex, Joel Harlow, the make-up designer for Kalara, said that achieving the task was extremely difficult.

It was so because Kalara’s face is supposed to be extremely smooth and therefore, completed as a single piece. Any breakage would have revealed the edge, thereby forcing Harlow to design the entire face as a single piece and then gluing it on. It took Lydia Wilson almost four hours in the make-up room to finally embody Kalara to perfection.

Source: screenrant.com