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 Synopsis
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
By Tom Hudspeth
It is 15 years since the
voyages of the Starship Enterprise and her crew under Captain James
T.
Kirk.
The now Admiral Kirk is an instructor at Starfleet
Academy.
Spock is captain of
the Enterprise, which is a training vessel.
Most of the old crew is either instructing or
have gone on to other ships.
Jim
Kirk
is going through a midlife crisis, he is bored and tired.
Spock
and McCoy talk him into going on one more trip into space, a two week
training cruise on the old ship.
Meanwhile,1st officer Chekov and Captain Terrell on the U.S.S. Reliant have
been enlisted to help a bunch of scientists to find a place to test their
new world builder bomb.
At
Ceti
Alpha VI,
they think they have found the place, but they need to transport down to
check something.
Once on the planet they are captured by a
mysterious group lead by Khan.
Seems that this is the planet Kirk left them on
after the original episode “Space Seed”.
Even though Chekov
was not on the original episode, he knows all about Khan, and Khan
recognizes Chekov.
Khan hates Kirk for marooning him.
It seems that Ceti
Alpha
VI
blew up six months after the
Enterprise
left them to start a new, secret, colony.
It shifted the orbit of
Ceti
Alpha
V, turning it
from a tropical paradise into a wind blown desert planet.
Khan introduces Chekov
and Terrell to the only native species to survive.
A worm that burrows into your ear and makes you
open to suggestion before killing you.
Khan, now controlling Chekov
and Terrell, takes over the Reliant and heads for the Regula 1 space station
to capture the “Genesis” device.
The head of the Genesis project and an old flame of Kirk’s, calls Kirk to
complain about the “military” take over of her project.
Her transmission is cut off and Kirk assumes
command of the Enterprise to find out what is wrong.
What he finds is the U.S.S. Reliant acting
suspiciously.
Suddenly, the Reliant opens fire on the
Enterprise, catching them with their shields down.
The
Enterprise
is hurt badly, but like any good villain, Khan has to call over to gloat.
Kirk uses a trick to get the Reliant to lower
her shields and the Enterprise
blasts the Reliant.
Both ships retreat to lick their wounds.
The Enterprise heads for
Regula 1 and the space station is empty, everyone killed.
They find Chekov
and Terrell in their search.
Kirk finds the transporters left on, the
coordinates aimed for deep within the dead planetoid the station orbits.
With no other leads, they all beam down to find
an under ground cavern.
There Kirk is attacked by his son, David
Marcus
and finds his lost love,
Carol
Marcus.
Also present is the Genesis device.
Chekov and Terrell,
under the control of Khan still, pull phasers and hold everyone prisoner as
Khan beams up the Genesis device.
Terrell then turns his phaser on himself and
dies.
Chekov faints and the worm
leaves his ear.
Kirk bravely shoots it.
Kirk taunts Khan, but Khan does not rise to the
bait.
Khan thinks he has marooned Kirk in a lifeless
asteroid.
There is some story explaining stuff the viewer needs to know, including the
purpose of the Genesis device.
Kirk calls Spock on the
Enterprise
and has everyone beamed up.
Temporary repairs have been accomplished and
Kirk is ready to battle Khan again.
Nearby is a gaseous nebula which will even the
odds.
Kirk taunts Khan until he follows the
Enterprise
into the nebula.
Once inside the nebula, they battle it out in a
weird game of cat and mouse.
Kirk wins by disabling the Reliant and orders
Khan to surrender, but Khan has one more ace up his sleeve.
He activates the Genesis device.
On board the Enterprise,
David
Marcus recognizes the
signature wave and warns Kirk of the danger.
Despite not having warp drive, they hopelessly
try to escape.
Spock
goes down to Engineering and McCoy tries to stop him.
Spock
neck pinches McCoy and mindmelds with him real fast.
He then goes into a room filled with radiation
and fixes the warp drive.
The ship blasts into warp as the Genesis device
goes off.
A mixture of the nebula, Regula 1 and the Genesis
device is creating a new planet, but Kirk is called to Engineering.
Spock
is dying inside the radiation filled room.
Nothing Kirk can do will save him.
There is a tragic death scene and they bury him
in space near the new planet.
Kirk
and David
resolve their differences as father and son, and Kirk gets over his midlife
crisis.
This was the second Star Trek movie and arguably the best with the original
cast. There is plenty of action, space battles and drama.
Several
new characters are introduced, including Saavik and
David
Marcus.
The new, and better, uniforms are shown for the
first time.
It is the first movie in a trilogy.
“Search for Spock” and “The Voyage Home” are the next two installments.
Each can be viewed separately and still make
good entertainment.
This is the only movie made as a sequel to an
episode.
There are NO KLINGONS!!!!!!
Every other Star Trek movie has at least one.
Don’t worry, there are three Klingon ships in
the opening sequence. (The same footage reused from STMP)
The original title was supposed to be “The
Revenge of Khan”, but “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” was filming under the
name “Revenge of the Jedi”.
Both films changed their titles.
Most of Khan’s men in the movie were active
Chippendale’s dancers, enjoy ladies.
Word had gotten out that they were planning to kill off
Spock in the movie, so they wrote the opening sequence where almost
everyone dies.
Spock’s expected
death now over, the audience could get on with the movie and
Spock’s real death at the end was felt more.
Interestingly, Saavik was supposed to be played by
Kim
Cattrall, but she was
unavailable.
Kristy
Alley
got the part, her first movie role, but she failed to return for the next
two movies.
Robin
Curtis played the
role of Saavik instead in the next two movies.
Don’t feel sorry for poor Kim though, she got the part of the betraying Lt. Valeris
in the “Undiscovered Country”.
The Lt. Valeris
role in Undiscovered Country was supposed to be Saavik, but the name was
changed to protect the now beloved character.
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