A question: when the Reliant attacks the Enterprise, and that engineering cadet (who is Scotty's nephew according to the novelization) is mortally wounded, why the hell does Scotty bring him to the bridge? I mean, to get to the bridge from Engineering, you have to pass Sickbay. What's going on here?
Ah, Star Trek. One of my earliest movie-related memories is lying on the floor of our apartment in Canoga Park, California, pretending to be asleep while my mom watched Star Trek V. Perhaps it would have been better for my sanity if I actually had slept instead of watching a film directed by William Shatner, but I was hooked. Right there, I was instantly a Star Trek geek.
Our cultural landscape is littered with movies adapted from popular television shows -- Charlie's Angels, Scooby Doo, S.W.A.T. -- but most are disasters. The only series to truly breakthrough and suceed on the big screen was Star Trek (unless you count Maverick, which I loved but not too many others did). But it wasn't easy for Gene Roddenberry's creation: the first film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was a slow, ponderous mess that was so awful that I'm surprised they greenlit a sequel.
But oh, thank Paramount they did, because Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan obliterates the bad memories of the turgid first film. Leaving behind that movie's "We are making serious science fiction" tone, director Nicholas Meyer injects Khan with the thing that made the series great in the first place: the interaction between Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nemoy), and Doctor "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley). He then throws in some great action, an outstanding villain, and one hell of a shocking climax, and ends up with what is arguably the best of the Trek films.
Classic scene: Spock's final moments. "I have been and always will be your friend. Live long...and prosper..." |
His days of galavanting across the galaxy long since passed, Kirk (now an Admiral) presides over Starfleet Academy, grading the cadets under Spock's tutilage. He projects a happy air -- "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young," he tells McCoy -- but everyone can tell he'd rather be doing just that.
Be careful what you wish for: while scouting locations to test the experimental Genesis device -- a bomb that creates life, rather than destroying it -- Chekov (Walter Koening) and the crew of the Reliant stumble upon the shelter of Khan Singh (the gloriously over-the-top Ricardo Montalban) and his crew. A genetically-engineered superman from Earth, Khan was marooned on this barren world decades ago by Kirk (in the episode "Space Seed"), and now he wants vengeance. He implants worms (don't ask) in the brains of Chekov and Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) and takes over the Reliant, heading for his revenge and to pick up the Genesis device, which he admires for its destructive capabilites more than the creation.
The Enterprise, on a training cruise and staffed almost entirely by cadets, is somehow "the only ship in the quadrant" and must respond to the situation. In addition to meeting up with Khan, Kirk finds the creators of Genesis: Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), who happens to be a former lover; and her son, David (Merritt Butrick), who happens to be the result of that affair. There is much technobabble, phaser fights, exploding computer consoles, and angst from Shatner (this is probably his best performance...for what that's worth).
Montalban gives Khan everything he has, and the result is magnificent. He quotes Shakespeare and Moby Dick, says "I will avenge you!" when a crewman falls, and gives us dubious Klingon proverbs: "Revenge is a dish best served cold." (That's actually Spanish.) The tension and rage between he and Kirk is impressive, especially considering that not once in the film are the two in the same room together.
Random triviata: The painting of San Francisco that serves as the background during the scene in Kirk's apartment was originally used in The Towering Inferno. |
While the later films excelled with their special effects, Khan is not nearly as impressive. The budget was rather tight, and it shows -- a shot of approaching Klingon battle cruisers is footage from the first film, and the bridges of the Reliant and the Enterprise are the exact same set with different lighting. When fake heads are used in the ear worm scenes, the difference is very noticable.
But where the film fails in effects, it makes up in character. The script crackles with wonderful exchanges (Kirk: "I would not presume to debate you." Spock: "That would be wise.") and the performances are great all around. Of all the Trek films, this is the most important -- without a success here, we probably wouldn't have seen the birth of The Next Generation five years later, nor would we get any of the even-numbered films that we would love later on (the odd-numbered movies all suck). Of course, we wouldn't have had to endure Star Trek V, either...but I think the trade-off is worth it.
Oh, and another question: when Carol tries to signal Kirk, Uhura tells him the signal is "jammed at the source." But previous dialogue says that the Reliant and Khan -- who is presumably the one doing the jamming -- won't reach the station for three days. What's going on there?
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