Watching the Star Trek Movies (SPOILERS)

[The Baron]

Thought it would be fun to re-watch these, since I finally picked up a copy of Star Trek - Into Darkness from the cheapie bin, which  means I now have copies of all of them.

 

So, on into space, the filmic frontier...

[Mark S. Ogilvie]

I've watched it with commentary and I think they did say it was all done before cgi. I think they were trying to really take advantage of the big screen.

[Philip Portelli]

This might be jumping the phaser but the last "real" ST film, Star Trek: Nemesis also was released in December, 2002, just five days before Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

What were they thinking?
 
The Baron said:

It was definitely a December release, I'm fairly certain,

 

Yes, yes, I'm quite old.

[The Baron]

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (1982)

 

Directed by Nicholas Meyer

Screenplay by Jack B. Sowards / Story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards

 

I would have been about 19 when I first saw this - Star Trek is one of the few properties where I always go to see the picture in the cinema as soon as possible after it comes out.  I thought it was a great improvement over the first picture, much better-written,that's for sure!

 

Rqandom thoughts below:

1. The regulars are much more like their old selves in this, more like the old friends that they are.
2. Lots of literary references in this, what with A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick, and, of course, Genesis. All tied into the whole Kobayashi Maru, "dealing with life and death" theme
3. Wasn't overwhelmed  by Kirstie Alley as Saavik, but then I wasn't that overwhelmed by Saavik as a character.  It's an interesting idea, Spock having a protege, I just felt like it wasn't carried off all that well.
4. I thought the James Horner score was OK.
5. I liked the running gag of Kirk with the glasses. I thought of "Time Crash" - "You don't even need them, you just think they make you look clever."
6. It feels like there was a bit of a plot re-set from the first picture -  Kirk is a desk admiral again.
7. Plot Foul-up:  That Starfleet officers as experienced as Chekov and Terrell could could not notice the difference between Ceti Alpha V and Ceti Alpha VI is inexcusable. Chekov was a navigator, for heaven's sake!
8. Always good to see Paul Winfield again.
9. Bibi Besch was OK as Carol Marcus, but I really wasn't wild about Merritt Buttrick, although some of that is probably down to the way the character was written. To my mind, it's a little heavy-handed that the guy who distrusts the mighty Captain Kirk (and through him, Starfleet) is portrayed as such an obnoxious young punk.
10. Always good to see Ricardo Montalban, an excellent, expansive actor, well-suited for this kind of role, one of the few people who can out-bombast Shatner.  I gather he worked cheap on this because he was eager to reprise the role.  the reveal of his character was well-done. He had lots of good line-readings on this, a particular favorite of mine was; "'Admiral'?  Admiral! Admiral..." Of course, if they were bringing this character back today, they would doubtless feel obliged to find an actual Indian actor to play the role.
11. There has been squawk that Khan recognized Chekov although Chekov hadn't been introduced as a character the last time Khan was on the Enterprise. It's a bit of a slip, but I'm willing to by the notion that Khan saw Chekov offscreen somewhere, even though we-the-viewers hadn't seen him yet.  More implausible to me is the notion that Kirk dumped a notorious war criminal on a planet somewhere and no one checked up on him in fifteen years.
12. The ear worm scene is sufficiently creepy.
13. Poor Peter Preston - the earnest young Loved-One-We've-Never-Heard-of-Before. you knew he was doomed.
14. I liked the guy on the spacedock waving.
15. "We're the only ship in the quadrant." Again?
16. In the end, Kirk beats Khan only because he better understands how things work on a starship.
17. Why does Scotty bring his severely injured nephew to the bridge instead of directly to sickbay?  Was there any other reason than so that the bridge crew could do their best "Oh, no!" reactions?
18. I did like the red uniforms in this. A vast improvement over the ones in the previous picture.
19. the rat in the space station was a nice touch.
20. I remember when I first saw this and it came to the reveal that David was Kirk's son, the woman sitting next to said, in a melodramaitc voice "Kirk was stunned!"
21. "You lied." "I exaggerated."
22. Iliked the battle in the nebula. I'm told that it was sort of a riff on a picture called The Enemy Below, but I've never seen it, so I couldn't say.
23. I thought that Spock's death scene was well-acted by Shatner and NImoy. I also liked the scene of Spock's funeral, with Scotty blasting away on the bagpipes, and then Nimy getting to read the "Speace, the final forntier" bit at the end.

 

Overall: This is my favorite of the Star Trek movies, I don't think they ever quite equaled this picture.  Of course, we'll be revisiting this film later on, when we get to Into Darkness...

[Mark S. Ogilvie]

Again this is where the book by Vonda MacYntire fills in a lot of the blanks. Saavik was actually the product of a Romulan/Vulcan rape, she and many like her were left on a planet to die and found by a vulcan ship. It was Spock who had to convince the vulcans to Saavick and the other half breeds. She also had a relationship with Scotty's nephew, he had a crush on her and she wasn't used to having friends. The reason that Scotty showed up on the bridge with his nephew was that due to battle damage the lift shafts were all messed up.
I didn't like David either and I didn't get his anger toward starfleet or why his mother kept his existence a secret. A lot left out there.
It was also mentioned in the book that Khan bumped into Checkov as one was leaving the turbo lift and one was getting on. Sort of thing he'd remember with his perfect memory.

I liked this too, it had just the right mix of action and emotion.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Regarding the perceived “plot reset,” the generally accepted timeline has it that 10 years passed sinc ST:TMP, leaving an opening for Kirk to have commanded another five year mission (perhaps two) between films. When you get to “Generations” and Kirk describes his failed love affair with Antonia, there break-up occurred just prior to the events of this movie. Sulu’s daughter was also born during this gap.

Mark beat me to the punch regarding Saavik’s Romulan/Vulcan heritage. As Mark indicated, Peter Preston is developed far more in the novelization, and that development continues into the next installment, when Scotty returns his nephew’s body to his sister. We also learn that… no, don’t want to get too far ahead of the discussion.

“Of all the souls I have encountered on my journey, his was the most… (choke) human.” I can’t help but feel Spock would have been insulted… or at least feigned insult.

[Dave Elyea]

Even tho we haven't gotten to Into Darkness yet, enough of us must have seen it to make me wonder if the comment about the need to cast an Indian actor as Khan today was meant to be ironic.

[David Warren]

Why Indian? I thought Khan was an advanced human from Austrailia?

[Philip Portelli]

Not to mention:

• Kirk having a son that no one knows about though given Kirk's track record....
• But Kirk knew about David which bothers me though I understand his reasons.
• Kirstie Alley...beautiful...YMMV. Sexy....yep!
• Apparently Spock was supposed to die at the beginning of the film but they changed their minds. For the better.
• Liked Scotty's nephew. Too bad they killed him off. Too bad they never did anything with Kirk's nephew either.
• Terrell--why captains shouldn't beam down!
• Amazingly Kirk and Khan are never face to face, just ship to ship.
• Chekov is still a great screamer.
• Roddenberry was upset over Kirk killing the ear worm so quickly, without trying to understand it. Well it did just ooze out of Chekov's head!
• Saaik was more interesting than Decker and Ilia at least how they were filmed.
• At this point, Starfleet got really militarized.
• Great to hear a bit of the Vulcan language though it never caught on like Klingonese.
• Glad to see some Spock/McCoy scenes. DeForest Kelly is underrated as an actor and he was retired from show business except for the Trek films.
• "Remember." Still get chills.
• The most quotable Star Trek movie....ever!

[Philip Portelli]

Khan's full name was Khan Noonian Singh. Sounds Indian to me.
 
David Warren said:

Why Indian? I thought Khan was an advanced human from Austrailia?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Speaking of “Remember” reminds me of all the fan speculation and conversations about what that actually meant. Similarly, Yoda’s “There is another… Skywalker” revelation prompted similar debate. A friend of mine said, “I know! I’ll bet it’s Leia!” to which I replied, “No, that would be stupid.”

[Richard Willis]

In Space Seed they said that he was a Sikh, which a religion that is mainly found in India. The name "Singh" is specifically a Sikh name. My veterinarian is a Sikh and also has that name. It is odd that a Sikh in both the TV series and both movies does not wear the turban required by his religion. (It is a religion, not a race.)

Philip Portelli said:

Khan's full name was Khan Noonian Singh. Sounds Indian to me.
 
David Warren said:

Why Indian? I thought Khan was an advanced human from Austrailia?

[Richard Willis]

Wasn't overwhelmed by Kirstie Alley as Saavik, but then I wasn't that overwhelmed by Saavik as a character. It's an interesting idea, Spock having a protege, I just felt like it wasn't carried off all that well.

A lot of people today are surprised that Kirstie Alley originated the role of Saavik. I enjoyed the character because she was the first young Vulcan woman who had dialogue. Up until then, if Vulcan women appeared at all (except for T'Pau) they were in the background in ST:TOS. The recasting of Saavik in the next two movies was, I think, because Alley was unavailable due to her being greatly involved in TV series and miniseries.

More implausible to me is the notion that Kirk dumped a notorious war criminal on a planet somewhere and no one checked up on him in fifteen years.

IIRC, Kirk made one of his famous unilateral, extra-legal decisions by colonizing the uninhabited planet with Kahn and his people, so Starfleet didn't know to check on them. Although I really love this movie, I thought Kahn's hatred was a little overplayed. It's not like Kirk knew the planet would be as drastically changed as it was.

I did like the red uniforms in this. A vast improvement over the ones in the previous picture.

They were an improvement but I can't imagine working all day in what looks to be a very hot, confining uniform. I also missed the branch-specific colors, which they brought back later.

I remember when I first saw this and it came to the reveal that David was Kirk's son, the woman sitting next to said, in a melodramaitc voice "Kirk was stunned!"
"You lied." "I exaggerated."

Kirk couldn't believe a son of his would have that much hair. ;-)