"Star Trek Beyond," which opens Friday, like most of the rebooted properties flying around our movie theaters, delights in nostalgically resurrecting iconic characters and tweaking them anew. The balance is a delicate one, as seen in the pre-release debate around this film revealing Sulu (John Cho but formerly played by LGBT icon George Takei) as gay. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), on a diplomatic mission, appeals to a snarling beast looming above him in a crowded amphitheater. The last two beefed-up "Star Trek" movies, as if overcompensating for decades of Trekkie nerd-dom, threatened to make the once brainy "Star Trek" less distinct from other mega-size sci-fi adventures - just another clothesline of CGI set pieces strung together. The Starship Enterprise, led by Kirk (Pine, looking more natural in the role), is lured through a nebula where a would-be rescue mission turns into a trap set by the villain Krall, whose spectacular army of mechanical drones ("bees" he calls them) attack in an overwhelming swarm. In a galactic blitz, the Enterprise crashes down on a rocky planet where the ship's scattered crew tries to gather, survive and understand Krall's motives.