Whenever you ask the question, “Which is the best Star Trek film?” there are several acceptable answers. (The Final Frontier and Nemesis are not among the acceptable ones.) But The Wrath of Khan is the one that no one will argue with, the same way Goldfinger is always an acceptable answer about which is the best Bond film.
As the title suggests, in this film, Khan Noonian Singh returns to take revenge on Kirk. It features an epic space battle, too many tropes and idioms to name, but here are a few: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. KHAAAAAN!!!!! The Kobayashi Maru. Trek characters quoting Moby Dick.
And so we therefore begin our first roundtable review of Two Weeks of Trek, inviting any and all robots to give their opinion on this film.
Citizen-Bot: This is one of my favorites. It really is classic, and for a lot of good reasons. I always loved the combat sequences. For some reason it reminds me of submarine combat– one good direct hit and you’re dead, and not very well-guided fire.
As with several of the films, this is first one where it has become difficult to “put the band back together,” a recurring theme with pretty much every film after this. Checkov is already second in command on another Starship. Spock is now a Captain and using the Enterprise as a training vessel, full of bright-eyed cadets, including Kirstie Alley as Lt. Saavik. I was kind of sweet on Saavik, or at least sweet on Kirstie Alley.
In any case, I also like the subtext delivered from the outset that Kirk thinks he’s getting old. Indeed, if time moved the same in the Trek universe as it does in ours, in Season 2 of Star Trek, they mention Kirk is 34. That was 1968. In 1982, he would be pushing 50. Shatner himself was 50 at the time of filming. But nothing beats a midlife crisis like having to face death, eh?
But the meat here is the interplay between Kirk and Khan. And that’s what truly makes this so classic.
Vagabond Prime: It’s also one of the few, if only, Trek movies where we see that ANYONE has any problems with Starfleet. David Marcus doesn’t trust anything Kirk and crew are up to. We don’t see Starfleet referred to as “the Military” that often.
Citizen-Bot: It’s an interesting viewpoint, and I also love the fact that he refers to Kirk as “that Boy Scout”– something which Carol quickly contradicts. But this idea of the militarization of science and discovery. . . well, let’s just say there’s a really good Iron Man movie in your theaters right now that puts an interesting spin on all of that as well.
Sith-bot: Ok, I’ll admit it here to Crom and country — I’ve never seen Wrath of Khan until now. I know, I know, my geek cred may be at stake here, but watching this film has always been on my list of “must see movies”, but I never really got around to it. Before you judge and flame, I can guarantee that ALL of you have either a comic, movie, tv show, etc. that you know you should have indulged in by this time in your life but haven’t. This is mine.
And I loved it.
I now get all the geek references I’ve been missing out on (and,honestly, pretended to understand) that Citizen-Bot mentioned in his part of this round table, but more importantly, I see why this is such a classic. Sure, the movie played out like a two hour long episode with better special effects and music, but that’s par for the course on movies based on TV shows. More importantly, WoK was the movie that Star Trek finally deserved and didn’t get in the Motion Picture — good writing, better acting and a story that was actually entertaining and moving.
Citizen-Bot: Completely agreed. This script is incredibly tight. Every piece has a purpose and drives at something else. This all-killer, no-filler approach to scripting was sorely lacking in so much of the original series and most of the other films. I daresay there was more character development for Kirk in this two hours than in the 50+ hours of on-screen time Star Trek had up to this point. And it brings up a valid point: in Space Seed, Kirk talks about wondering what sort of “seed” they’d planted by letting Khan and the Botany Bay be exiled rather than face destruction or incarceration. By not checking in on that seed, what he really sew was revenge in the heart of someone who is a truly dangerous enemy. If Cumberbatch really is playing Khan in Into Darkness, he’d not going to have the enmity that Montalban’s Khan had toward’s Shatner’s Kirk in this one.
Sith-Bot: Khan’s hatred of Kirk was aptly deserved, and his maniacal determination to destroy all Kirk held dear, even though victory was already in his hands, made perfect sense for his character and all we had learned about him in “Space Seed”. The fact I was yelling at the screen that Khan should take Genesis and rule the galaxy when he decided to go after the Enterprise is proof the writers fully understood his character and his desire to take revenge. I wasn’t rooting for Khan, just pissed he didn’t do what I thought made sense for the plot, but it made sense for his psyche.
Of course, no review of WoK would be complete without the ending — the death and ‘burial’ of Spock. The funny thing is, I knew what was coming and how the movie would end, but Spock’s sacrifice to save the Enterprise and his death scene with Kirk still moved me. Despite knowing Spock would come back, his death and Kirk’s eulogy still got me misty eyed.
Citizen-Bot: Anyone who doesn’t get moved by Spock’s death is not a true Trek fan, or maybe even a human. Even Saavik, a Vulcan,(technically half-Vulcan like Spock) sheds a tear.
Sith-Bot: Needless to say, I feel that I cheated myself by waiting this long to finally watch this film, and I fully get why THIS is the Star Trek movie that all others are compared to. If you haven’t seen it in awhile (or at all yet), go back and revisit this classic, especially if you can see it on blu-ray! The HD upgrade makes it look almost as nice as some of the modern sci-fi movies we’ve all become accustomed to, and you can probably pick it up for less than $10 at a local retailer or online.
Citizen-Bot: It’s also streaming on Netflix Instant Watch right now, so that’s an easy way to check it out. I’m with you, though, about having waited to see it. As I said before, I didn’t end up seeing it for the first time until. . . well, I had already seen 7 other Star Trek movies and 3 ½ series. The good news is, it’s never too late. As for picking it up for cheap, I’ll admit it: when we first got our Blu-ray player, it came with 7 free Blu-rays. You could pick from about 20 different ones, and 5 were Star Trek movies. I got Wrath of Khan as one of them. So, it’s out there, and you can probably get a deal on it..
Sith-Bot: So what are you waiting for? Go rewatch this classic again and prepare yourself for Into Darkness, which, according to rumor, may (or may not) be intricately tied to this movie!
Citizen-Bot: I’m still calling shenanigans on that whole rumor. Not that it might not be true– just that we shouldn’t read too much into it. (and why it’s a spoiler, I’ll never know. Just the same way people were all up in arms over whether or not the aliens in Avengers were Skrulls or Chitauri or whatever– doesn’t matter.) While Cumberbatch MAY be playing Khan, there’s no way that Kirk could have marooned him on a planet somewhere and caused him to want to take revenge. A decade and a half of time passed between Space Seed and Wrath of Khan. If Cumberbatch is playing Khan, he’s playing Space Seed-era Khan. And I think what’s key with this film and what makes it so classic is how obsessed Khan is with Kirk.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsYT8YHL-R0
Without that, we’ll see. And so, like I said before, I don’t think it matters whether Cumberbatch is Khan or his name is actually David Harrison or Gary Mitchell or whatever. Without that revenge motivation, Cumberbatch might be Khan, but he won’t be this Khan.
HOWEVER, we do know that Carol Marcus shows up in Star Trek Into Darkness. Maybe we see some romantic sparks fly between her and Kirk? The possible conception of a little David? Hmmmmm?
We’ll see in less than two weeks, and until then you should just watch this movie anyway– it’s one of the best of the entire franchise.
And I leave you with this:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r9qbvrprTU
Shatner’s acting is soooooooo powerful that when he yells KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!! the sound is able to break the law of physics and be heard through the surface of the planetoid and in the vacuum of space. Yes. Such is the power of Shatner.
We’ll see you tomorrow when we begin the Search for Spock and the Voyage Home. There be whales there, Captain.