And here we come to the end of our journey together of the original crew of Star Trek. Kind of.
The sixth film in the series was initially planned as a prequel to the original series, with younger actors portraying the crew of the Enterprise while attending Starfleet Academy, but the idea was discarded because of negative reaction from the original cast and the fans. Faced with producing a new film in time for Star Trek 's 25th anniversary, Meyer, who previously directed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), and Denny Martin Flinn wrote a script based on a suggestion from Leonard Nimoy about what would happen if âthe Wall came down in spaceâ, touching on the contemporary events of the Cold War.
I watched it in the theater the day it came out. The Next Generation was on the air at the time, and I was a big fan. I wasnât really familiar with the Original crew as much, so while I enjoyed the movie, I didnât understand why this was a movie while something of similar quality was on the air every week on TV in Next Gen. You have to understand, Star Trek: TNG had just finished airing itâs 4th Season, (and was in the middle of itâs excellent 5th season) it was in its prime and firing on all cylinders by that point, so Iâm not going to blame me from 1991 from feeling this way.
But in retrospect, of course, looking at it from the perspective of The Original Series, this was definitely my favorite episode/movie/game with the original crew.
Now itâs time to re-watch it and see if that holds up!
On this rewatch, I was surprised at how little screentime Khan actually had in Star Trek II. Hopefully that wonât be the case with Chang. He looms rather large in my memory, but I think justifiably so. We shall see.
I like Star Trek VI, itâs definitely worth watching whenever itâs on, but itâs always seemed just a little off to me. Just a little overstuffed, a little too much shaggy dog going on. That whole side trip to the prison planet could be cut out completely and I wouldnât miss it. The âmystery that isnât really a mysteryâ of who killed Gorkon is weirdly paced. The thing with the assassination plot at the end, what was that all about? Why would the Klingon Empire and Federation conspire to kill the president? None of it derails the movie completely, it just throws the movie off a bit for my liking.
And if you want to find out what could have been, check out Walter Koenigâs pitch for ST VI.
Star Trek VI came out right after the fall of the Soviet Union, and itâs very much a product of its time. People wanted to believe that Russia and America would be friends, and there was a brief boom in thrillers about reactionary Cold War warmongers trying to keep the conflict going. The Package with Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones was the most memorable, and featured a similar conspiracy between generals on both sides to assassinate a leader and thereby restart the Cold War.
You just kind of have to twist yourself in knots to make that logic work, though. âYou and I, weâre enemies - so letâs work together so that we can keep being enemies.â
Theyâre not personally enemies. Itâs not a huge stretch to imagine people with a designated and high place in a certain order conspiring to maintain that order in the face of a future that may not need them.
Boy, did I enjoy this movie when it came out. I grew up loving the original series (in reruns! Iâm not that old), and this was a wonderful farewell to that crew.
As @Kyle_Wilson1 observed, the movie is a product of its time. The Iron Curtain had fallen, and we were filled with hope and trepidation about what would come next. The Undiscovered Country captured those competing impulses while staying true to the idealism at the heart of the original series.
Itâs not a perfect movie by any means, but it remains an all-time personal favorite of mine. I still remember watching it in the theater with my mom, who also loves Star Trek. In fact, Iâm seeing my mom next week for the first time in more than a year. Maybe weâll watch this together.
I love the humor in this one; itâs much more subtle and true to the characters (especially when coming right after the buffoonery of STV). Spock noting âIâve been dead beforeâ immediately comes to mind.
