In 1977 George Lucas’ epic space opera Star Wars revolutionized films worldwide. With its combination of science fiction and high adventure, it became the highest grossing film of all time and studios clamored to create their own Science Fiction hit. Some met with success, but for every Alien, a Flash Gordon also emerged. While Paramount looked for their own big hit, the studio decided to go back into its own vault. Looking back, it was Paramount that had produced its own Sci-Fi phenomenon the previous decade, but not at the theater. This first taste of rabid fanboy affection was directed at a creation of Paramount’s television department. Star Trek: The Motion Picture had many fans salivating at the chance to see their favorite Captain and crew on further adventures in their faithful Starship.
So Paramount bankrolled the crew of the Starship Enterprise for their first big screen adventure. Hiring a veteran of the genre, Director Robert Wise, and bringing back all of the original television cast, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew set out to go where no man had gone before. Unfortunately for all involved, the first picture was not exactly what audiences were looking for. While audiences had marveled at George Lucas’ vision of intergalactic dogfights and lightsaber duels, Robert Wise had attempted to make a serious Science Fiction picture. Critically the film disappointed as well, as the picture turned off many with its slow pacing and stilted action. The film still pulled in a good sum at the box office and turned a healthy profit for the franchise, though audiences were looking for something more similar to Star Wars than 2001.
When the next installment of Trek was going to hit theatres, film makers would try and build on what actually did work in the first film. Star Trek II would try to feel more like the original series than the first movie did. While still trying to instill the picture with important relevant themes, much like the TV show always tried to do; further emphasis would be placed on the characters of the series and their relationships with one another. Also added would be a faster pace and a higher amount of action. To solidify the connection with the original series, film makers would even bring back a villain from the first season.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and Ricardo Montalban. Directed by Nicholas Meyer.
The film actually begins with a new character in the Captain’s chair. Saavik, played by Kirsty Alley, is heading up the regular crew including Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Mr. Sulu (George Takei), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Scotty (James Doohan). Taking the crew of the Enterprise into hostile territory for a rescue mission, the ship is confronted by deadly aliens, (perennial series villains) the Klingons, and immediately attacked. As the crew is seemingly wiped completely out, the main doors to the Enterprise’s bridge open up revealing the now promoted Admiral Kirk. In a well shot and amusing entrance, Kirk discusses the impossibility of a successful run in the training simulation Lt. Saavik has just participated in.
It is revealed that the Enterprise’s next mission will not be a police action or one of diplomacy, but will be utilized as a training vessel. The cadets of the Academy for the United Federation of Planets will be helming the old Starship and taking it out for basic maneuvers. Kirk is reluctant to merely be a mentor for students instead of making a real difference for the Federation, but is happy to be on the bridge of the Enterprise for any reason.
On the other side of Federation Space, the Starship USS Reliant, headed by Captain Clark Terrell (Paul Winfield) and his first mate Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), is on a science mission heading up a project called Genesis. The Genesis project is contained within a missile that will create a new ecosystem when detonated on the surface of a dead planet. Sensor readings from the supposedly “dead” planet indicate there may be life there after all. Expecting a lower life form on a virtually barren world, Terrell and Checov are horrified to find a band of superhuman exiles that take them prisoner and hijack their ship. Ricardo Montalban’s Khan Noonian Singh is the leader of the few surviving castaways. In the original television series run of Star Trek, Khan was the leader of a coup on Earth that threatened to take over the entire world. He and his genetically altered supermen were launched into space as exiles, where the crew of the Enterprise stumbled upon their ship in the Episode, Space Seed. After failing to commandeer the Enterprise the colony is left on a planet similar to Earth.
Unbeknownst to all except the marooned mutineers of the Botany Bay, a cataclysmic event transformed Khan’s new Eden into a living hell. A neighboring planet, Seti Alpha 6, exploded, causing Khan’s new world to change its orbit and become the lifeless rock he now inhabited. But with the entrance of the two Starfleet Officers, Khan takes his chance at revenge. Luring the Enterprise out with a distress call, Khan ambushes Kirk’s ship and her crew of trainees. Many are massacred as the Enterprise lies crippled.
The remainder of the film is a cat and mouse game as the Reliant and Enterprise do battle in intergalactic Naval-style combat. Kirk and Khan play a game of wits as the Captain’s experience goes against Khan’s lust for revenge. In perhaps the best moment in the history of Star Trek, one of the series most important characters makes the ultimate sacrifice to try and save the crew of one of Science Fiction’s most popular space vessels.
Of all the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, none shine brighter than Star Trek II. It is at once a Space Opera, a tale of revenge, a story about getting older, a story about failure and the fear of it, a story of family, and a tale about playing God. It is the film that each in the series has tried to emulate in some way since its premiere in 1982.
Much of the credit is due to the film’s Director, Nicholas Meyer. Meyer recognized early on that while Star Trek was about adventures in outer space, at its core it was still a series that concerned naval adventures similar to Horatio Hornblower. Meyer saw where Star Wars was able to do aerial dogfights and fast action, the battles of Star Trek would look ridiculous trying to emulate that type of action. Instead, since Wrath of Khan the series has relied on battles similar to that of lumbering submarines, slowly moving but able to ratchet up suspense to a fever pitch. The final battle in Star Trek II between Kirk’s loyal crew of the Enterprise and Khan’s renegades piloting the Reliant is a masterstroke of editing and patient storytelling. The moment swells until reaching an emotional moment that Star Trek as a series has never been able to reach again either on the large or small screen.
It’s really a wonder that the film works as well as it does with the corners that were cut to keep costs down. For instance the bridges of the Enterprise and Reliant were actually the same set. When the different ships were shown, they were simply lit and shot differently. Many props and costumes were just reused from the original film. In fact, the opening sequence featuring Klingon Battle Cruisers is just footage used from the Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Really what drives this story is the relationships between the characters and also their relationship with the audience.
It’s not usual you hear the phrases “good acting” and “William Shatner” in the same sentence. If Shatner has ever had that moment, it is in Wrath of Khan. Kirk is the hero and master strategist. Shatner plays Kirk as supremely confident on the surface, but as a man secretly dealing with his fear of growing old. Finally he must face his own mortality and conquer his fear to regain his confidence and outwit his nemesis. For maybe the first time in the history of the franchise, Kirk really grows as a character and has some real depth.
Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley are equal to the task as Spock and Dr. McCoy. Nimoy’s stoic Vulcan advises logically and is always calm and reliable, just as Kelley’s impassioned McCoy is as always a great foil for him. All three principle actors have phenomenal chemistry that makes the film a real family affair. The three are brothers in arms and were the main relationship of the original television series. It is that same relationship that carries this movie.
There are Trek villains and then there is Khan. Ricardo Montalban gets to ham it up as the Goldfinger of the Star Trek franchise with iconic results. What makes Khan so imposing is a combination of his stature and his eloquence. Khan constantly quotes from some of the greatest stories of revenge ever, Shakespeare to Moby Dick, giving him an intellectual articulation for his all consuming fury. Khan is no mindless thug, he is in every way a match for Kirk. Intellectually he is even superior, but unlike Kirk he cannot see past his thirst for revenge and this is his downfall. Montalban combines just the right balance of sophistication, intellectual superiority, and bitterness.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a film that stands the test of time not because of its battle sequences or special effects, but because its story and themes are so intriguing. No Trek moments have held a tenth of the emotional magnitude that this film does in it waning moments. The franchise as a whole has lost a lot of momentum over the years and perhaps the series has depended on following the footsteps of Khan too closely. The last of the series, Nemesis, was almost a remake of Khan in many respects but rang hollow for many of the series’ fans. But the reason why the film worked in the first place was its emphasis on nostalgia. Fans wanted basically to Kirk as the hero and master strategist, and see a two hour episode of Star Trek, not necessarily a serious piece of Science Fiction. That is what film makers gave the fans. Many of those fans are still saying thanks for it.
