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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released in North America on June 4, 1982, by Paramount Pictures. It was a box office success, earning US$97 million worldwide and setting a world record for its first-day box office gross.
- Overview
- Summary
- Memorable quotes
- Analysis
- Background information
- Awards and honors
- Apocrypha
- Appendices
Admiral James T. Kirk faces his greatest challenge yet. Suffering through doubts about his place in the galaxy, he is thrust into action once more against his most bitter foe – Khan Noonien Singh, who has escaped his exile on Ceti Alpha V and now seeks revenge on Kirk. With a powerful new device in the wrong hands and a no-win scenario in play, the...
Act One
IN THE 23RD CENTURY... "Captain's log, stardate 8130.3. Starship Enterprise on training mission to Gamma Hydra. Section 14, coordinates 22-87-4. Approaching Neutral Zone, all systems normal and functioning." A female Vulcan sits in the command chair on the bridge of the Enterprise. While the senior staff work at their consoles, the officer, Saavik, makes a log entry, then orders Commander Sulu, manning the helm, to project a course to avoid entering the Neutral Zone. Suddenly, Uhura receives a distress call from the Kobayashi Maru, which has struck a gravitic mine near Altair VI... inside the Neutral Zone. Despite warnings from both Sulu and Captain Spock, Saavik orders the ship to enter the Zone in order to beam the survivors aboard. Upon entering the Zone, the Enterprise is confronted with three Klingon battle cruisers, which open fire. The Enterprise is heavily damaged; many of the bridge officers are killed. Saavik has no alternative but to order the surviving crew to abandon ship. Then the filtered voice of Admiral Kirk is heard. The bridge viewscreen slides aside, revealing a lighted room beyond. The Enterprise is a stage and the Kobayashi Maru was a test – one Saavik does not believe to have been a fair test of her command abilities. Kirk explains that the no-win scenario is a situation every commander may face and that how one faces death is equally important as how one faces life. Saavik seems ruffled at the advice, but Kirk offers that now she has something new to think about. As Kirk begins to leave, Dr. McCoy asks him if it would not be easier to just put an experienced crew back aboard the Enterprise. "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor," Kirk replies while on his way out. Uhura wonders aloud what the admiral meant by that. Outside the simulator room, Spock awaits Kirk's opinion of the cadets' performance. Kirk notes that the trainees wreaked havoc with the simulator room and Spock alike. Spock notes that this is a common occurrence with the Kobayashi Maru test and then recalls Kirk's own experience, noting that the admiral took the test three times and that his final solution was somewhat "unique." "It had the virtue of never having been tried," Kirk says. He then thanks Spock for his birthday present, an antique copy of A Tale of Two Cities, reciting the book's first line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." and asking his friend if it's meant to be a message. Spock replies "None that I'm conscious of, except of course, "Happy birthday." Surely, the best of times." Just then, Spock is called to a space shuttle to take him to the Enterprise to prepare for Kirk's inspection. Kirk tells Spock he is going home and the Vulcan watches Kirk walk off with concern on his face. Later at night, Kirk has retreated to his apartment, to be greeted by Leonard McCoy, who presents him with a bottle of finely-aged Romulan ale, vintage 2283. For a present, the doctor hands him something in a case – reading glasses. "Oh, Bones, this is... charming," Kirk says. McCoy notes that for most patients of Kirk's age, he usually prescribes Retinax V, which Kirk is allergic to. Noticing Kirk is acting stranger than usual, especially after giving him the glasses, McCoy questions whether Kirk really wants to carry on the duties of an admiral or to be "hopping galaxies" in a starship. Kirk confesses it to him, and the two share a drink sitting by the apartment's fireplace. McCoy admonishes Kirk to get his command back (in stark contrast to his previous assessment of Kirk's command fitness) before he gets too old. "Starship log, stardate 8130.4. Log entry by first officer Pavel Chekov. Starship Reliant on orbital approach to Ceti Alpha VI in connection with Project Genesis. We are continuing our search for a lifeless planet that will satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis experiments. So far, no success." Meanwhile, Commander Chekov is aboard the USS Reliant, which orbits Ceti Alpha VI in connection with Project Genesis, searching for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis experiment. Although Ceti Alpha VI should be incapable of supporting life, Chekov detects a minor energy flux reading on one dynoscanner. They promptly report this to Carol Marcus at Regula I, a space station orbiting a planetoid. They believe it is something they can transplant, since it may only be a particle of preanimate matter. Marcus is unsure and tells them that there "can't be so much as a microbe or the show's off." Chekov and his commanding officer, Captain Clark Terrell, then beam down to the surface to investigate in environmental suits. "There's nothing here. The tricorder must be broken," Chekov tells Terrell as they fight their way through clouds of dust until they discover what appears to be a crashed derelict vessel, which Terrell remarks looks like cargo carriers. Inside, Chekov soon discovers that the derelict is the shelter for the crew of the SS Botany Bay, a ship he remembers all too well. Panicking, he rushes a confused Terrell toward the exit, only to find a group of cloaked figures waiting outside nearby. On board Reliant, Commander Kyle attempts to raise communications with Terrell but receives no response. He and Chekov are held captive by the mysterious inhabitants, their leader revealing himself as none other than Khan Noonien Singh, and it further turns out that the planet they were investigating is in fact Ceti Alpha V, which was devastated by the explosion of the sixth planet six months after Khan and his followers were exiled to the planet by Kirk fifteen years earlier. In order to find out not only why the two are there, but also Kirk's whereabouts, Khan forces juvenile Ceti eels into their ears, rendering them subservient to his every command. Under the command of now-Captain Spock, the Enterprise is being used to train Starfleet Academy cadets, and Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu come aboard to assist in a short training cruise. Chekov contacts Regula I to inform Dr. Carol Marcus, the head of the Genesis project, that Kirk has ordered them to take possession of the Genesis Device. Khan and his Augment followers have commandeered the Reliant, and Chekov informs Khan that Marcus will attempt to confirm the "order," something that Khan is counting on. A furious Dr. Marcus attempts to contact Kirk (who turns out to have been formerly her lover) to confirm the order, but the signal is disrupted at its source. Carol's message is thereby confusing and Kirk's replies cannot be heard by Marcus. Marcus and the Genesis Project personnel prepare to vacate Regula I before Reliant arrives. Kirk, after consulting with Starfleet Command, converses with Captain Spock in his quarters, who encourages Kirk to assume command. Kirk protests, insisting that it is okay for Spock to retain command during the mission (perhaps remembering what happened when he usurped the command of another captain of the Enterprise), but Spock assures Kirk that, by contrast, he has no ego to be bruised by Kirk taking over for him, and further asserts that it was a mistake for Kirk to accept promotion, as commanding a starship is Kirk's "first, best destiny." Kirk agrees and assumes command, ordering Enterprise to set a course for Regula I. "So much for the little training cruise...", Sulu notes as the Enterprise enters warp speed. Khan, in full command of Reliant, has the ship set on an intercept course with Enterprise. Khan's second-in-command, Joachim, while pledging his loyalty and that of his comrades, tries to convince Khan that by escaping the planet, he has now evened the score with Kirk. Khan is not content to merely be even with Kirk, however, and reveals his intention to take revenge on the admiral. While en route to the space lab, Kirk shows Spock and McCoy a briefing video on Project Genesis, the ultimate goal of which is revealed to be the creation of a torpedo-like Genesis Device, which can be fired at a lifeless planetary body and transform it into a habitable world. McCoy is alarmed at the implications of this, since if a Genesis Device were used on an already inhabited world the terraforming process would obliterate all life on the planet in mere seconds. "As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create," Spock mentions, although McCoy points out that the Genesis Device makes it possible to do both simultaneously, leading to a potential armageddon. Their discussion is interrupted by Saavik, who informs them that another starship is on an intercept course. A Federation starship named Reliant. Near Regula I, Enterprise finds the Reliant waiting for them. Despite Reliant failing to answer hails, Kirk is reluctant to raise shields – as, Saavik reminds him, regulations prescribe. The two ships edge closer, and Kirk orders yellow alert after finding the situation to be "damn peculiar" but still doesn't raise shields because the Reliant claims they can't use their communications system due to their chambers coil emissions. Spock quickly discerns that this isn't true, as Khan orders the shields on Reliant raised, then locks phasers. This is detected by Spock, and Kirk finally orders shields up but it is too late as Reliant opens fire, knowing exactly where the ship's most vulnerable points are, disabling the Enterprise's main energizer and warp core, leaving only the battery to power the ship, and fatally injuring several cadets. Engines are down, shields inoperative, and there is only enough power for a few phaser shots, which isn't enough against Reliant's shields. Reliant fires a photon torpedo from its aft launcher at the Enterprise which causes the crippled vessel's bridge to erupt in flames. While Kirk is trying to hold the heavily damaged Enterprise and her injured crew together, Uhura announces that Reliant is signaling, wishing to discuss terms of their surrender. Kirk, taken aback for a moment along with the bridge crew, orders Uhura to put Reliant's commander on screen. Kirk is shocked to see Khan in command of the Reliant. Khan arrogantly announces his plans to destroy the Enterprise, to which Kirk pleads with Khan to take him as prisoner and spare his crew. Khan agrees, but also demands all information and material on the Genesis device. Kirk pretends to comply, but actually transmits a signal using Reliant's prefix code (1-6-3-0-9) that causes Reliant to lower her shields. Despite Khan's intelligence – he knew exactly where to hit the Enterprise for maximum damage – he is still relatively inexperienced with a starship. When he realizes what Kirk is doing he is unable to immediately find the controls to override the command lowering the shields. With the few shots auxiliary power can give him, Sulu is able to fire a few well-placed shots at the Reliant, damaging photon control and the warp drive (which also disables her phasers). An enraged Khan is reluctant to withdraw, but Joachim reminds him that Enterprise, with its disabled power systems, can't escape. Both ships limp away for repairs and the match ends in a stalemate.
Act Two
Kirk is furious at himself for being lulled into a false sense of security, spitting, "I did nothing! Except get caught with my britches down. I must be getting senile." He then surveys the wounded in sickbay and attends Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston on his deathbed alongside a grieving Scott. With impulse power restored, the Enterprise arrives at Regula I. Kirk and McCoy form a landing party, and Saavik reminds Kirk of General Order 15 barring the admiral, as a flag officer, from beaming into a dangerous situation without armed escort. Kirk disputes the existence of such a regulation, but then relents and invites Saavik to join the landing party. Kirk leaves Spock in command of the Enterprise, but not before the latter admonishes the former to be careful. (To that, McCoy replies that they will all be careful.) Aboard the station, they find the personnel murdered and discover Chekov and Terrell semi-conscious and weakened inside a storage compartment. When the two officers come to, they claim they overcame the effects of the Ceti eels and reveal that the crew of the Reliant is marooned on Ceti Alpha V. Terrell calls Khan completely mad and that the genetically engineered superman blames Kirk for the death of his wife. Continuing their investigation, the Enterprise crew finds that the station's records of the Genesis Device have been erased. Exploring the station leads them to a transporter that has recently been activated. Checking the coordinates, Kirk realizes they beamed into the Regula planetoid. Kirk asks for a damage report from Enterprise. Spock reports that "by the book, hours would seem like days" and that main power will be not be available for two days. Kirk orders Spock to leave orbit if the Enterprise hears nothing from them within one hour. Uhura protests that they will not leave them behind, but Kirk retorts that if they hear nothing, there won't be anybody there to leave behind. They follow the transporter coordinates and materialize inside a cavern. The Genesis Device is there, but before Kirk can move, he is attacked by his son, David Marcus, who accuses Kirk of trying to steal Genesis. Carol, David's mother, tries to defuse the situation, but before she can elaborate the team is threatened by Chekov and Terrell, who it turns out are still under Khan's control. David brashly tries to rush the two, but Saavik tackles him to the ground just as Terrell fires on him, misses, and vaporizes the third scientist, Jedda instead. On the bridge of the Reliant, Khan gleefully orders Terrell to kill Kirk. However, Terrell resists Khan and the eel causes him extreme pain. To escape it, he turns his phaser on himself and commits suicide. Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel slips out of his ear before being vaporized by Kirk. Khan, shocked to find Kirk alive and well, beams the Genesis Device up to the Reliant before vowing to leave the admiral and his party marooned inside Regula forever by destroying the Enterprise, whom Khan believes will be crippled for at least two days, prompting Kirk to scream at Khan in blind rage. Later on, Kirk avoids Carol and David's questions about Khan by asking for food. Carol and David show Kirk, McCoy, and Saavik the Genesis cave, which was created by a smaller Genesis Device: deep within Regula there is a stable ecosystem that was created in just one day. Meanwhile, Khan moves the Reliant back towards the spacelab where he expects to find the Enterprise, completely helpless. However, Khan is astonished to find that the Enterprise is not there. In the cave, Saavik asks Kirk, who casually eats an apple, about his performance on the Kobayashi Maru scenario. McCoy tells her that Kirk is the only one to beat the no-win scenario, and Kirk admits he reprogrammed the simulation. David chuckles and says he cheated, and Kirk qualifies that he "changed the conditions of the test." Kirk then promptly contacts Enterprise, and Spock says they should prepare for transport. Kirk smiles at a dumbfounded Saavik and asserts that he does not like to lose. Saavik asks for clarification while beaming back aboard, and Kirk reminds her of Regulation 46A: Spock made his report using an improvised code to deceive Khan; instead of immediate repairs taking two days, they only took two hours and moved the Enterprise out of range of the Reliant's sensors. "You lied," Saavik tells her mentor. "I exaggerated," Spock replies. Kirk explains, "Hours instead of days; now we've got minutes instead of hours.
Act Three
After assessing the situation, it is determined the Enterprise can not outrun or outgun the far less damaged Reliant. Kirk decides to take the fight to the nearby Mutara Nebula, whose ionized gases will disrupt both ships' sensors and shields, making the fight an even one. Spotting the Enterprise fleeing, Khan orders Reliant to pursue, but Joachim is reluctant, so Khan acquiesces. Back on the Enterprise, Spock notes with his sensors that Reliant is reducing speed and seems to be backing off its pursuit. To ensure that Khan will follow him, Kirk has Uhura contact Reliant and proceeds to taunt his nemesis, saying "We tried it once your way, Khan. Are you game for a rematch? Khan... I'm laughing at the superior intellect." Mocked and enraged, Khan orders full impulse power above Joachim's protests and recklessly heads into full pursuit. "I'll say this for him – he's consistent," Kirk remarks about his nemesis as the Battle of the Mutara Nebula commences. Both ships are quite hampered by the conditions, but this is a good thing for Kirk, since both ships are reduced to an equal level of non-functioning systems, whereas in open space Enterprise would have been the more disabled vessel. The opening of the battle consists of a game of cat-and-mouse with both ships. Computer-targeting does not function, so both crews must rely on manual firing commands by eyeballing the opposing ships on their static-filled viewscreen. Sulu, more experienced, narrowly misses the Reliant due to turbulence, while Khan fires a torpedo aft at the Enterprise, but both fail to land a hit. As they maneuver half-blind around the nebula, suddenly the static on the Enterprise screen clears enough to reveal that the ships are about to collide. They veer apart and narrowly miss colliding, and at such point-blank range even manual firing is enough for each vessel to inflict key hits on the other. The Reliant manages to destroy the port torpedo tube of the Enterprise, which then returns fire and damages the Reliant bridge deck, causing an explosion that kills several of the bridge crew including Khan's most trusted lieutenant, Joachim, whom Khan vows to avenge. Main power on the Enterprise goes out again and the warp drive chamber in engineering floods with radiation, forcing Scott to take the mains off-line just before he and most of his crew pass out. A shaken, but physically recovered Chekov enters the bridge offering his assistance, which Kirk accepts and orders him to man the weapons control station. Kirk, still struggling with a strategy to trap Khan, listens to Spock, who suggests that Khan's battle plan to that point suggests "two-dimensional thinking." Kirk, inspired by Spock's comment, orders the ship to descend vertically. Khan isn't prepared for Enterprise to drop "down" its Z-axis as he passes overhead and then rise "up" directly behind him. Reliant's torpedo pod is destroyed by a torpedo fired by Chekov, and a phaser blast and torpedo hit blows off its port nacelle. Reliant is crippled and drifts away, trailing plasma. Most of Khan's crew is killed in the process, and Khan himself is left maimed and barely alive. In a last-ditch effort to destroy Kirk, Khan activates the Genesis Device, which will reorganize all matter in the nebula – including the Enterprise. With the mains offline, the warp drive is inoperable and the Enterprise cannot escape the large explosion that the device will trigger. Unnoticed, Spock exits the bridge while Kirk orders a withdrawal at "best possible speed". Spock arrives in the engine room, only to be blocked by Dr. McCoy from entering the lethally irradiated dilithium reactor room. After first feigning compliance, an apologetic Spock nerve pinches McCoy and mind melds with the doctor, simply saying "Remember..." He then dons Scott's radiation suit gloves, enters the chamber, and endures the life threatening radiation while repairing the main reactor. McCoy and Scott yell at Spock to get out immediately, but he continues to work, ignoring their pleas. As Enterprise crawls away from Reliant, the bridge crew starts to resign themselves to the seeming inevitable. Sulu says what everyone is thinking; "We're not going to make it, are we?", which David silently confirms to Kirk. On Reliant's bridge, Khan quotes Moby Dick using his last breaths: "No... no, you can't get away. From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." Spock finishes his work in engineering, bringing the warp engines back online just in time. Kirk, believing Scott to have worked a miracle, orders Sulu to engage immediately and Enterprise streaks away into warp just as the Genesis Device explodes, completely destroying the Reliant and killing Khan and his followers. The Mutara Nebula condenses around the explosion, creating the Genesis Planet. Kirk contacts engineering to congratulate Scott, but he is surprised to hear McCoy's voice gravely reply that Kirk needs to come down. Kirk looks over and notices the empty chair at the science station. A look of horror washes over Kirk's face as he rushes down to engineering to find Spock on the other side of the reactor room's wall. McCoy and Scott restrain him from rushing in and flooding the engine room with radiation, with Scott saying that Spock is already dead. Devastated, Kirk calls out for Spock and follows as the Vulcan, blinded by the radiation, staggers to the side of the transparent wall, finally resting against it. Spock attempts with difficulty to explain to Kirk his reasoning: "Don't grieve, admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh..." to which Kirk replies, "the needs of the few," and Spock nods, "or the one..." Spock states that he himself never took the Kobayashi Maru simulation "until now," and asks Kirk, "What do you think of my solution?" Kirk, stricken with grief, can't reply. "I have been and always shall be your friend. Live long and prosper." He holds out his hand, in the traditional Vulcan salute, and Kirk presses his hand up to the glass as well, watching helplessly as Spock slumps to the floor and dies. It takes all of his resolve to keep his composure as he sees his closest friend die in front of him. This time, there is no going back. Spock's funeral is held later, on the torpedo deck. Kirk says a few words in Spock's honor, concluding with a befitting statement: "Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... Human." The crew watches (with Scott playing "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes) as Spock's body is launched in a torpedo casing into the atmosphere of the newborn Genesis Planet. Afterward, Kirk is in his quarters and tries to read from the book Spock gave him on his birthday but discovers that one of the lenses of his reading glasses was broken during the final battle with Reliant. Exasperated, he tosses them on the table as David enters. Kirk tries to be dismissive, but David confronts him, telling Kirk that he (Kirk) never really faced death. When Kirk admits that he hasn't, David points out that Kirk earlier told Saavik that how people face death is as important as how they face life. Kirk says those were just words, but David thinks they are good words, from which good ideas come. He then tells Kirk he is proud to be his son. The two of them hug, awkwardly at first but then with genuine warmth. "Captain's log, stardate 8141.6. Starship Enterprise departing for Ceti Alpha V to pick up the crew of USS Reliant. All is well. And yet I can't help wondering about the friend I leave behind. There are always... possibilities, Spock said. And if Genesis is, indeed, life from death, I must return to this place again." Later, on the bridge, Dr. McCoy, Carol Marcus, and Kirk stare at the Genesis Planet on the main viewscreen as the Enterprise departs for Ceti Alpha V to pick up the surviving crew of the Reliant. McCoy notes that as long as they remember Spock, he will not truly be gone. Kirk softly quotes the last lines of A Tale of Two Cities; something Spock was trying to tell him on his birthday. Upon McCoy's inquiry as to how Kirk feels, he answers: "Young. I feel young." On the Genesis Planet, the torpedo casing containing Spock's body has soft-landed among the jungle flora of the newborn world, teeming with new life and new possibilities. Spock's voice provides the final words: Enterprise
"Any suggestions, Admiral?"Prayer, Mister Saavik. The Klingons don't take prisoners
- Saavik and Kirk, after the Kobayashi Maru exercise
"Physician, heal thyself"Is that all you gotta say? What about my performance?"
"I'm not a drama critic."
- Kirk and McCoy
"How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say?"
The screenplay for Star Trek II was written by director Nicholas Meyer, compiled from a number of drafts which all contained one or several dominant themes. One element was clearly going to be central to the audience's emotional response. Meyer explained: "Once you decide that you're going to have the death of Spock, then how does that affect the other people? Why is it there? I got a lot of stick from a lot of people from the very beginning about the idea of killing Spock. Somebody said, 'You can't kill him.' And I said, 'Sure you can; the only question is whether you do it well.' If his death proceeds organically from the theme and the story of the movie, then nobody's even going to notice it until it's on you, and no one will question it."
In other words, Meyer was determined that his film would be about something and would do more than tell an adventure story. "We were giving birth to planets, and Kirk was meeting his son, and Spock was dying. You sort of looked at that and said, 'Well, what unifying ideas are running through here?' And then you thought, 'Ah! This is going to be a movie about...
Notes
•This movie was the first Star Trek release to occur in the 1980s. •The Wrath of Khan, the second Star Trek feature film installment, is traditionally regarded by fans as the best in the series, and considered by many non-fans as an excellent science-fiction picture. In 2014, it was ranked by Empire readers as #89 in a poll to determine the 301 greatest movies of all time. •The film earned US$14,347,221 at the US box office in its opening weekend, a record at the time which was broken two years later by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This film, in turn, was out-grossed by the next film in the series •The film earned GBP£1,499,226 at the British box office upon release, and debuted at no.2 just behind Rocky III. •When the film first appeared in theaters in June 1982, the opening credits listed the movie simply as Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan since there was no "Star Trek I" due to the first movie being called "The Motion Picture." •This was also done for the official movie novelization but subsequent prints of the film retitled it Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. •Writer and producer Harve Bennett had never seen anything Star Trek related but binge watched the entire Original Series to prepare for this movie. •According to William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories, the original title of the film was The Undiscovered Country, the undiscovered country in this case being death. According to Shatner, as he told Chris Kreski in quoting Nicholas Meyer, Meyer was outraged when Paramount marketing exec Frank Mancuso renamed the film Star Trek: The Vengeance of Khan without consulting him. Meyer said that the title was ridiculous and that they would be forbidden to keep it with George Lucas making a movie called Revenge of the Jedi at the same time. Months later, Paramount changed the subtitle to The Wrath of Khan, and Meyer hated that even more but was made to live with it, although it became a moot point when Lucas changed the title of his movie to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Meyer's original title was eventually used for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which Meyer also directed. •As with The Motion Picture, the movie was pre-sold to the ABC TV network for first time airing in the USA under a similar arrangement. This entailed two airings of the film, the first to run no earlier than 1985. Its ABC premiere was on 24 February 1985, and its second run was in 1988 (ABC ran the film a third and final time on 18 June 1989, in conjuncture with their third re-run of The Motion Picture that year ). Like the The Motion Picture, the television version of the movie featured deleted or alternate scenes, reintegrated for the television airing, that were originally cut from the theatrical version, and with some mild censoring, akin to the below-mentioned British television version. Unlike The Motion Picture (in the form of its "Special Longer Version") however, this ABC version has not seen any home media format releases in the home market, nor were several scenes and takes included in the later, 2002 "The Director's Edition" DVD release. •Several cuts were made to the film for its theatrical release in the United Kingdom in order for it to receive a more favorable classification (A for advisory, rather than the more restricted AA rating which was for over-14s only). The BBFC requested that the close-up sequences of the Ceti eels infecting Terrell and Chekov, and the later close-up of Chekov's eel leaving him, be removed as they were "almost X[-rated]". Seventeen seconds in total were removed. The initial VHS release in the UK was of this cut version; an uncut version – marketed as the "Original Full Length Version" – was not released until 1988. As of 2018, it remains the only Star Trek film released on VHS in the UK to carry the BBFC's 15 certificate, although for its subsequent DVD releases it carries the more moderate 12 certificate which was introduced in the 1990s. The edited version is still used for television broadcasts in the UK. The movie premiered on the ITV network on Wednesday 14th May 1986. •Many of the outer space scenes in the first half of the movie are reused from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. These include the Klingon battle cruisers in the Kobayashi Maru sequence, the shots of the travel pod, the 'Enterprise's departure from dry dock, and its first jump to warp speed. •Khan's apparent recognition of Chekov and his remark "I never forget a face" are somewhat ironic, since Khan debuted in TOS: "Space Seed", the twenty second episode of the first season and Chekov did not make his first appearance until Star Trek's second season, in TOS: "Catspaw". It is possible, however, that Chekov was on the Enterprise at the time and Khan had seen him off-screen. •In fact, as noted in the Special Edition DVD's text commentary, Walter Koenig often joked (at conventions and in interviews) that his character had made Khan wait overly long to use a bathroom on Khan's visit to the Enterprise and that was why Khan remembered his face so well. •In his DVD commentary track, director Meyer said that he was aware of the discontinuity but ignored it. Meyer acknowledged that he could have just as easily put Uhura on the Reliant and kept the consistency, but he preferred Chekov and referenced the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle frequently contradicted himself in his books about Sherlock Holmes, saying that the continuity did not matter, as long as he had the audience engrossed in and enjoying the story. •Kirk says, "I know what he blames me for" after being told that Khan blames him for the death of his wife. Taken at face value, this is untrue; until that moment Kirk was unaware Marla McGivers had died, as he did not check in on the planet and Khan did not include this detail in his earlier exchange with Kirk. Given Kirk's demeanor, it is more likely that he is alluding to the fact that he marooned Khan in the first place (though with the ultimately vain hope that Khan and his people could colonize the planet where they had been marooned) and therefore had deduced that Khan was bent on revenge. •McCoy's line "He's really not dead... as long as we remember him" was improvised by Nicholas Meyer during filming, after he read an article on the set, concerning the possibility of Raoul Wallenberg being alive. Wallenburg was a Hungarian Jew who famously saved many Jews from the Holocaust (though accounts vary as to how many he actually saved). Referring to Wallenberg, Simon Wiesenthal said in the article, "He's really not dead, as long as we remember him." (Meyer noted this in the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan DVD audio commentary.) Since Star Trek III: The Search for Spock would show not only McCoy having had Spock's complete brain patterns (katra) transferred to him during a mind meld in the engine room but also Spock himself having been regenerated by the Genesis Effect, that line took on both ironic and prophetic meanings. •No visitors were allowed on the set during the filming of Spock's death to keep it a secret as much as possible. Nicholas Meyer remembered, when they shot the scene, he looked around and saw members of the crew, including cinematographer Gayne Rescher, crying and did not understand their reason for bursting into tears. It was much later, he admitted, when he understood the significance of that scene. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan DVD audio commentary) •The events of the film were novelized by Vonda N. McIntyre and adapted into a photostory by Richard J. Anobile. •In the years since this movie, when he would be asked about Khan, Ricardo Montalban would compare how he played the character both times. In the original episode, he presented Khan as a powerful but well-disciplined leader for his people. But when it came time for the movie, he incorporated the fact that Khan's wife, Marla McGivers (from the episode), had died during their exile, and showed Khan being driven mainly by passion, having turned into an obsessively vengeful man whose chance at revenge against Kirk had arrived. •Montalban also said in promo interviews for the movie (which can be seen on the Star Trek II DVD set) that he realized early on in his career that a good villain does not see himself as villainous. He may do villainous things, but the character feels that he is doing them for righteous reasons. Likewise with heroes, Montalban said he always tried to find a flaw in the character because no one is completely good or completely evil. He then compared Khan to this, saying that while Khan had a rather distorted view of reality and, therefore, comes the villainous acts, he still feels that his acts of vengeance against Kirk is a noble cause because of the death of his wife whom he loved dearly. •In other various interviews at the time of the movie and afterward, some of which can be seen on the Star Trek II DVD features disc, Montalban has also spoken about how he almost turned the role down as he wanted a rather substantial part after coming from six years of Fantasy Island. Montalban changed his mind when he read the script and realized that the other characters were talking about Khan even when he was not on screen and so it made the part seem even more substantial. Montalban also recalled that, when he first started reading the script after having accepted the role and was trying to articulate Khan, that to his horror, he sounded like Mr. Roarke and was terrified that the audiences would laugh at him. Montalban contacted producer Harve Bennett and requested a tape of "Space Seed", and after several viewings of the episode, Montalban began to recall how he had played Khan and was much more comfortable afterward. •At a high level, the characters of Khan and Kirk can be seen, respectively, as Captain Ahab and the great white whale from Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, which was found among Khan's possessions. Khan quoted several lines from the novel almost exactly – even down to his dying curse. The ambiguous allegorical nature of the novel was not reproduced in the film, however. The original series episodes "Obsession" and "The Doomsday Machine" and the Star Trek: The Next Generation film Star Trek: First Contact were also inspired by Melville's novel. •As with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Paramount filed for and obtained design patents on some of the costumes, props (including the Ceti eel), and ships from this film. •The special effects scene in which the Ceti eel got into Chekov's ear was filmed with a large recreation of the ear on a plate. The model which was used was later put in storage and was shown by Penny Juday in the special feature "Inside Starfleet Archives" on the TNG Season 2 DVD. •The pre-launch background dialogue overheard on the bridge as Kirk and McCoy arrive is almost identical to the checklist overheard in main engineering before the Enterprise launches in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. •Since Kirk's birthdate was established in Federation computer records in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II" to be March 22nd (actor William Shatner's actual birthday), this establishes that the beginning of this film is set on March 22nd, 2285. •This is the only TOS movie in which a Federation ship fires its phasers. All other films in the TOS series have the ships firing photon torpedoes. The next film in the series to have a Federation ship fire its phasers was Star Trek Generations, twelve years later. •Kirk and Khan do not meet in person in the entire film and all of their interaction is done using viewscreens and communicators. This was because Montalban was filming the original Fantasy Island film and scheduling conflicts meant that he and Shatner were never on set at the same time. •As noted later, this was somewhat disappointing to Montalban since Shatner and Montalban did not meet on set either but he'd wanted to. •This was the fourth of five Star Trek projects to be adapted into View-Master reels. •This film marks the first appearance in the Star Trek franchise of an isolation door in main engineering. It can be seen lowering during the "surprise attack" sequence following Khan's hijacking of the Reliant. That door later became the shuttlebay door on the Enterprise-D. •There is a "No Smoking" sign on the door of the simulator room during the Kobayashi Maru test. It only appears in the earliest part of the scene. According to Mike Okuda's DVD commentary, it was removed at the request of Gene Roddenberry, who did not envision smoking as part of the Human lifestyle of Star Trek's future. Nevertheless, St. John Talbot was seen lighting up in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and characters would later be shown smoking in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: Picard. •During the scene at Kirk's home where he and McCoy share a drink, a Commodore PET personal computer is recognizable at the rear of the set. At the time of filming, William Shatner was the commercial spokesperson for the Commodore line of home computers, including the PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). Although it's likely the PET in the scene was intended to be a Trek-era computer, given this film establishes that Kirk collects antiques, it could also have been part of his collection. •The encounter between the Enterprise and the Reliant is glimpsed in ST: "Ephraim and Dot" (although the Enterprise is mistakenly labelled NCC-1701-A). •The film's title, like so many others was altered by the teen soap drama Gossip Girl which starred Wallace Shawn as New York attorney Cyrus Rose in the second season episode "The Wrath of Con" albeit Shawn was not featured in it. Airdate Monday May 4th, 2009
Dating
The film alone does not clearly identify the year it is set on other than that it is somewhere in the early to mid 2280s. Based on some of the film's dialogue, the film was set fifteen years after "Space Seed". Khan: "... marooned here fifteen years ago by Captain James T. Kirk." According to a line in the script, it was more accurately fourteen years after the episode. Kirk: "He wants to kill me for passing sentence on him fourteen years ago." "Space Seed" in turn aired in 1967 and is considered to be set in 2267. This suggests The Wrath of Khan would be set in 2281 or 2282 though it cannot be fully confirmed given the six month gap could mean it's either early 2282 or very late 2281. Nick Meyer's commentary on the special edition DVD, explains that the intention was that the film depicted Kirk's 49th birthday. Kirk was born in 2233, so this would support the year 2282. Other accounts within and after the film suggest the events of the film took place later in the 2280s. The label on the bottle of Romulan ale that McCoy gives to Kirk as a birthday gift reads 2283. In Star Trek Generations, in the Nexus, Kirk imagines himself eleven and nine years into the past, to the years 2282, when he met Antonia, and 2284, to the day he told her he was returning to Starfleet. All those accounts suggest the events of this film occurred afterward, as Kirk was at the beginning of the film supervising command-track cadets at Starfleet Academy as an active Starfleet admiral. According to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Chronology, and Star Trek Encyclopedia, (3rd ed., p. 691) the events of The Wrath of Khan in fact occurred one year later in 2285. This date was finally canonized in 2022 on a commemorative plaque for the Reliant which appeared in PIC: "The Star Gazer". (X)
Script
Despite its weaknesses, Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been a box-office success, so it came as no surprise that Paramount Pictures decided to develop a sequel. Gene Roddenberry's first proposed storyline saw the Enterprise crew going back in time to make sure the Klingons did not stop the John F. Kennedy assassination. This idea was rejected and Roddenberry was forced to step into the background as "executive consultant" (at the request of Paramount executives who blamed him for the relative failure of the first film due to the constant re-writes he demanded) and Star Trek was handed over to newly-commissioned Paramount Television executive producer Harve Bennett. It was Bennett's job to develop a script that could be filmed on a reasonable budget (US$11.2 million, nearly $24 million less than the budget of TMP) and put a new Star Trek feature in the theaters in the summer of 1982. One of his biggest problems was finding the right approach to the material. The Motion Picture had adopted a very serious and epic style, which many felt was inappropriate. Somehow, the sequel would have to capture the essential heart of the show and give the audiences what they had been waiting for.
received the following awards and honors:
•In order to explain Khan's recognition of Chekov, Greg Cox's novel To Reign In Hell established that Chekov was a security officer at the time of this episode and he led the security team that escorted Khan and his people down to Ceti Alpha V. He also led an assault against Khan and his followers to retake engineering, but were forced back.
Credits References
19th century; 20th century; 2185; 2267; 2283; 2284; 3rd class neutronic fuel carrier; abandon; able seaman; aft thruster; age; airlock; allergy; "all hands"; Altair VI; Amber; "Amazing Grace"; amusement; analysis; Antares maelstrom; antique; apartment (James T. Kirk's San Francisco apartment); area; Armageddon; arrival; assumption; atmosphere; attack; attack course; attention; authority; auxiliary power; bagpipes; battery; battle; battle stations; bearing; biblical references; birthday; birthday present; bionetics; blood; "bloodsucker"; blue shift; boatswain's whistle; body; "Bones"; bookshelf; Botany Bay, SS; Boy Scouts; bridge; bridge (game); bridge simulator; briefing room; "by the book"; cadet; cargo bay; cargo carrier casualty; "caught with my britches down" (britches); cerebral cortex; Ceti Alpha; Ceti Alpha V; Ceti Alpha VI; Ceti eel; chambers coil; channel; chance; cheating; checkers; children; Christmas tree; Ciardi, John; civilization; class D; coil emission; collection; command ability; command console; commander; commendation; comm-pic; comm system; combination code; compartment; computer; computer console; comrade; concept; conclusion; console; coordinates; cosmos (aka universe); course heading; craylon gas; creature; crew; criminal; damage; damage report; danger; Dante; Dante's Inferno; data; data bank; data chart; day; death; defense field; departure; destiny; detonation; dinner; "dirty work"; distance; distress channel; domestication; doppler compensator; drama critic; duty officer; dynoscanner; ear; Earth; effect; efficiency rating; ego; Einstein, Albert; elevator; emergency channel; emergency light; emergency situation; enemy; energizer; energy flux; engineer's mate; Enterprise, USS; Enterprise-class; escape pod; estimating; eternity; eulogy; evasive action; event; Excellency; exile; experiment; face; fact; Federation Science Bureau; fermentation; fire extinguisher; fireplace; firing switch; flag officer; floor cleaner; fondness; food; food supply; frequency; friend; French language; funeral; galaxy; Gamma Hydra; Gamma Hydra sector; garden; gas cloud; General Order 12; General Order 15; Genesis cave; Genesis Device; Genesis effect; Genesis Experiment; Genesis Planet; Genesis Planet sun; Genesis wave; genetic engineering; geoplastics; gift; "give the word"; God; goose; gravitic mine; gravitronics; green; Green, R.N.; hair; hairstyle; hate; heart; Hell; hello; hijacking; Holy Bible; hospitality; host; hour; hull; Human; humor; hyperchannel; idea; impression; impulse power; information; ingenuity; "in over our heads"; inspection; intention; intercept course; intruder alert; "it never rains but it pours"; jamming range; JBK sensors synthostasis; joke; judgment; K't'inga-class; katra; Khan's wife; King Lear; kilometer; Klingons; Klingon aphrodisiacs; Klingon battle cruisers; Klingon Neutral Zone; Klingon proverb; Kobayashi Maru; Kobayashi Maru personnel; Kobayashi Maru scenario; laboratory; lie; life; lifeform; life sign; life support system; listening; light; log buoy; logic; loitering; luxury; madness; main energizer; main power; main stage flux chamber; mains; maintenance crew; Mark IV bridge simulator; marksman; marooning; mass; matter; meaning; medical tricorder; memory; memory bank; message; meter; microbe; midshipman first class; military; million; "mince words"; mind; minute; mission; mistake; Moby Dick; model; molecular structure; month; moon; moons of Nibia; mooring; moral implication; motor; murder; Mutara Nebula; Mutara Nebula, Battle of the; myth; nebula perimeter; "neck of the woods"; Newton, Isaac; Niagara, USS; Nibia; ninny; No smoking sign; "no-win situation"; odds; offspring; "on leave"; orbit; order; ore; override; parabolic course; Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained; "par for the course"; particle; passenger; passion; "pat on the back"; patient; pawn; peace; perdition; performance; period; permission; pet; phaser; phaser emitter; phaser lock; phaser power; photon torpedo; physician; photon control; photon torpedo; place; plan; planet (world); planetoid; poem; poetry; population; port; power; power (politics); pray; preanimate matter; prefix code; prefix number; prestage flux chamber; prince; prisoner; product; problem; progress; Project Genesis; Project Genesis Summary; promotion; proposal; proverb; quadrant; quarters; question; quoting; radiation; radiation poisoning; red shift; Regula; Regula I; Reliant, USS; rescue; rescue mission; respect; resting place; result; retinal scan; Retinax V; "Revenge is a dish best served cold"; rigor mortis; risk; rock; Romulans; Romulan ale; running light; sacrifice; sailing ship; sand; San Francisco; "sauce for the goose" (goose; sauce): scientific research laboratory; scientist; Scots language; Scott's sister; screen; search; section; Section 10; Section 14; Section 15; security scan; security procedure; self-expression; senile; senior officer; sensor; shield; ship's bell; ship's company; shore leave; signal; Signet; simulator room; slit; solution; "son of a bitch"; sorrow; soul; space; space body; spacedock; space shuttle; spacesuit; speaker; speed; standard orbit; "stand by"; starbase; starboard; Starfleet; Starfleet Command; Starfleet Corps of Engineers; General Orders and Regulations; Starfleet Headquarters; Starfleet Operations; starship; static; static discharge; steal; strength; student; subatomic level; suggestion; sunrise; Surak; surprise; surface scan; surrender; survival; survivor; tactical display; tactical situation monitor; tale; Tale of Two Cities, A; tape; target; Tau Ceti IV; teacher; test of character; test site; thermonics; thermowave multiplexer; thing; thinking; thought; throat; Tiberian bat; tiger; toast; torpedo bay; torture; trainee; trainee crew; training mission; training voyage (training cruise); tranquilizer; transmission; transporter; transporter room; travel pod (unnamed); travel pod 05; treaty; tricorder; type 2 phaser; United Federation of Planets; velocity; victim; voice message; Vulcan; Vulcan language; Vulcan nerve pinch; Vulcan salute; Wallis, D.E.; warp drive; warp engine; warp speed; Wave Matrix ETM Storage; weapon; weapons console; weapons pod; "wee"; week; wind; wisdom; word; wound; yellow alert;
Sources
•Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2002 •The Art of Star Trek, Judith, Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Pocket Books, 1995 •Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan The Director's Edition •Anderson, Kay. "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, How the TV Series Became A Hit Movie, At Last," Cinefantastique Magazine, volume 12, issues 5-6 (double issue) spring 1982 •A Picture is Worth a Dozen Names at StarTrek.com
External links
•Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works •Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at Wikipedia •Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at the Internet Movie Database •Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan script at Star Trek Minutiae •"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" at MissionLogPodcast.com, a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Directed by Nicholas Meyer. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan. With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.
- (130K)
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Nicholas Meyer
- 1982-06-04
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was the novelization of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Written by Vonda N. McIntyre, it was first published by Pocket Books in paperback – as #7 in the numbered series – in July 1982.
Sep 15, 2024 · When Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn hit theaters in 1982, fans were treated to a showdown between two adversaries who had first crossed paths on television and were once again out to do battle...
- Nicholas Meyer
- Contributor
- William Shatner
Oct 16, 2023 · The Wrath Of Khan changed that when Meyer pitched the central encounter between the Enterprise and the hijacked USS Reliant as a World War Two submarine battle in space, particularly come the battle later in the Mutara Nebula.
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Overview. The starship Enterprise and its crew is pulled back into action when old nemesis, Khan, steals a top secret device called Project Genesis. Jack B. Sowards. Screenplay, Story.
