If you were to ask any of my fellow "Star Trek" fans (yes, I'm a 'Trekker' too) which movie starring the original crew is their favorite, I bet a majority of them would say "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"! And for good reason. Unlike the first "Star Trek" movie, this one features a true villain - the genetically engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) - who had previously had a confrontation with Captain Kirk and his crew in the original series episode "Space Seed". In addition, we also meet Kirk’s son David (Merritt Butrick), who he didn’t know existed, and Mr. Spock dies! Plus, it's action-packed and lots of fun. In case you've forgotten how amazing this installment of the original franchise was, I've put together this awesome trivia list featuring some fun facts about Admiral James T. Kirk’s final confrontation with the evil Khan for you to test your knowledge about this fan-favorite film, brilliantly written and directed by Nicholas Meyer. Enjoy!
After the release of "Star Trek The Motion Picture", executive producer Gene Roddenberry wrote his own sequel. In his plot, the crew of the Enterprise travel back in time to set right a corrupted time line after Klingons use the Guardian of Forever to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. This was rejected by Paramount executives, who blamed the tepid reception and costs of the first film on its plodding pace and the constant rewrites Roddenberry demanded. As a consequence, Roddenberry was removed from the production and, according to Shatner, "kicked upstairs" to the ceremonial position of executive consultant.
Producer Harve Bennett viewed all 79 episodes of the original Star Trek series, and chose “Space Seed” as the best candidate for a sequel; Spock even remarks at the end that it would be interesting to return in a hundred years or so to see what type of civilization had grown there. This is the first time a feature film was made as a sequel to a specific television series episode.
In “Space Seed”, approximately eighty genetically-engineered supermen were left behind on Ceti Alpha V by the Enterprise. By the time of this film, only fifteen (including Khan) are left. Twenty were killed by Ceti eels, the rest through other means (presumably as a result of the explosion of Ceti Alpha VI).
On account of budget limitations, sets and props were reused wherever possible. Space Station Regula One was the space station from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", turned upside-down. Terrell and Chekov's environmental suits were also originally used in the previous film. The Enterprise torpedo room and Spacelab transporter sets were originally parts of the Klingon bridge built for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”. In order to save money, shots of the Enterprise departing from dock, and in space, were taken from the first Star Trek film.
Nicholas Meyer has always insisted that the books in Khan's library were just titles he selected at random from a bookshelf. However, given the titles, plots, and the analogies in regards to Khan, this seems extremely unlikely. Two of the titles are "Moby Dick" and "Paradise Lost", both of which center on vengeance for someone harmed by a higher power. "King Lear" is the story of a man having to live with bad decisions.
The shot of the three Klingon battle cruisers in the Simulator Room is from the opening sequence of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Despite this, no member of the Klingon species makes a physical appearance in this entire film, making this the only installment in the original 10-movie series not to feature any Klingons.
The Enterprise bridge set from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was redressed for use as the Kobayashi Maru simulator, the Enterprise bridge, and the Reliant bridge. The circular set was built as a set of modular "wedges", which allowed them to be rearranged for a similar, but distinctive, look. Also, for the Reliant, the seat covers were changed, and the turbolift door was painted blue. In one shot, when the turbolift doors are open, a ship diagram for the Enterprise can be seen inside the lift.
When Spock and Saavik speak to each other in Vulcan, Leonard Nimoy and Kirstie Alley actually spoke in English, and then the sound people - including Marc Okrand, in his first association with Star Trek - created the Vulcan words to match the movements of Nimoy's and Alley's mouths, which they later overdubbed.
During the three-day filming of Spock's death sequence, no visitors were allowed on the set.
The shot of Spock's coffin on the Genesis Planet was a last-minute addition, filmed in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Originally subtitled "The Undiscovered Country", but that subtitle eventually went to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Kim Cattrall was Nicholas Meyer's first choice for the role of Saavik, And auditioned for the role but eventually proved unavailable. In “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”, the sixth film of the series, Saavik was supposed to return as a major character and Cattrall was signed on. However, Cattrall did not want to be the third actress to play the role of Saavik, and the character was changed to Vulcan officer Lieutenant Valeris.
The famous "Space, the final frontier" monologue is heard for the first time since Star Trek, now narrated by Leonard Nimoy, however this has been changed slightly. Instead of saying, "...its five-year mission..." and "to seek out new life," this now says, "her ongoing mission..." and "to seek out new lifeforms".
The movie script originally called for Dr. McCoy to say "He's dead, Jim." at Spock's death. DeForest Kelley feared the line would draw unintentional laughs and insisted this be changed. In this film, it is Scotty who says "Sir, he's dead already."
Captain Spock's mind meld with Dr. McCoy wasn't in Nicholas Meyer's original script, nor did he direct the scene. This was added after test audiences said they wished there was hope that Spock could be revived. When Paramount Studios ordered the change, Meyer threatened to have his name taken off the film. However, according to Leonard Nimoy's autobiography "I Am Spock", Harve Bennett approached him during the original filming of the scene and suggested doing a mind meld with Bones "as a thread we could pick up in a later film." In this account, it was Nimoy who suggested the single word "Remember..." He makes no mention of the studio ordering this change, nor of this being due to any audience test screenings. He does state that Paramount Studios had concerns from the outset that audiences might not accept the death, and that Meyer had reservations about the scene, as he wanted Spock's death to be final.
Kirk and Khan never meet face to face during this film. All of their interaction is through viewscreens or communicators. This was because Ricardo Montalban filmed his scenes separately from the main production in order to accommodate his schedule of filming "Fantasy Island". Druids/A Night in a Harem (#5.6) through Daddy's Little Girl/The Whistle (#5.14) aired during the filming of the movie.
The battle of wits between Kirk and Khan in the Mutara Nebula sequence was inspired by the battle between destroyer captain Robert Mitchum and U-boat commander Curd Jürgens in The Enemy Below, which was also the inspiration for Balance of Terror. Another submarine movie connection is "Run Silent, Run Deep", where rival U.S. and Japanese submarine commanders both went to full stop in their underwater duel, in very close proximity, to avoid giving away their positions and to try to figure out what the other sub was doing. Both starships in the Nebula did the same thing.
The first Star Trek film to feature the "red tunic" uniforms, used in every original series feature film thereafter, and used on several occasions on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
In the Blu-ray special feature "The Captain's Log", Ricardo Montalban says that once he committed to this film, he realized that he had trouble getting back into the character Khan. After years of playing Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island, he found that he was "stuck" in that character. He requested a tape of “Space Seed” from Paramount Studios, and proceeded to watch it repeatedly. By the third or fourth watching, he had recaptured the essence of Khan's character.
This film officially establishes the 23rd century timeline as the time period for Star Trek and for its films. Before this film, this had never been officially established which century the original series took place. According to Gene Roddenberry, the original series could have easily taken place between the 21st and 31st centuries, and Stardates were used to allow for this ambiguity in the timeline.
It is revealed in the Blu-ray featurette "Designing Khan", that the U.S.S. Reliant design sketch was sent to Harve Bennett for review. He signed off on it while looking at it upside-down, and calls it the upside-down Enterprise. This was not corrected, because this gave some distinction for both ships that already looked so much alike belonging to the same fleet.
Saavik (Kirstie Alley) was originally intended to be a male Vulcan, but was changed later on to a female Vulcan/Romulan hybrid. Nicholas Meyer's rewrite wasn't thorough enough, though, and Saavik is referred to as "Mr. Saavik" throughout this film, especially during the launch sequence of the Enterprise. Although Star Trek fans and Naval buffs have pointed out that under military tradition and regulations, all superior officers are to be addessed as "sir" or "mister", regardless of gender, being that the true lady is the vessel herself.
Nicholas Meyer and Bibi Besch collaborated again in “The Day After”, a TV film about nuclear war. After completing that film, having learned a great deal about nuclear warfare, Besch stated that she should have approached the character Dr. Carol Marcus very differently, as a scientist more wary of the Genesis Device's destructive power.
George Takei initially declined to appear in this film. William Shatner called Takei and convinced him to reconsider.
Although Gene Roddenberry created Starfleet in Star Trek with a military structure, he deliberately avoided getting very detailed on the nature of that structure (what he called "excessive militarism"). However, director Nicholas Meyer decided to further expand this part of the Star Trek mythos, making the uniforms and insignias more military in style, adding a ship's bell and boatswain's whistle, and writing the dialogue to be more accurate to actual naval protocol. These details have greatly influenced the films and spin-off series that followed.
After reluctantly being convinced to appear in the first film, Leonard Nimoy initially had no interest in a second. Harve Bennett finally convinced Nimoy to sign onto the film with the offer of having a death scene.
Leonard Nimoy did not know about the final shot of Spock's coffin on the surface of the Genesis Planet. He first saw this at the premiere, and has said that his first thought was "I'm going to be getting a call from Paramount!"
The computer simulation of Genesis transforming a dead planet into a habitable one (and habitable planets into dead planets) is the first complete computer-generated sequence ever used in a feature film. It is a direct brainchild of ex-Boeing engineer Loren Carpenter, who after Boeing, went on to join George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.
Khan's muscular chest seen throughout this film is actually Ricardo Montalban's real chest, and not a prosthetic as is often reported.
According to Kirstie Alley, she slept with her Vulcan ears on at home during production.
Nicholas Meyer joined the film project after several drafts and scripts had already been completed and rejected. He asked the creative team to compile a list of the best elements of all previous versions to be considered for inclusion. "It could be a character, it could be a scene, it could be a plot, it could be a subplot, it could be a line of dialogue.”
Spock's death in the film was widely reported during production. "Trekkies" wrote letters to protest, one paid for trade press advertisements urging Paramount to change the plot, and Nimoy even received death threats. Test audiences reacted badly to Spock's death and the film's ending's dark tone, so it was made more uplifting by Bennett. The scene of Spock's casket on the planet and Nimoy's closing monologue were added; Meyer objected, but did not stand in the way of the modifications.
“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. Critical reaction to the film was positive; reviewers highlighted Khan's character, Meyer's direction, improved performances, the film's pacing, and the character interactions as strong elements.
“The Wrath of Khan “is considered by many to be the best film in the Star Trek series, and is often credited with renewing substantial interest in the franchise.
Some facts are taken from IMDB & Wikipedia.
Don't forget to listen to my fantastic podcast interview with author, screenwriter, and director Nicholas Meyer. During our conversation, he told me some fun behind-the-scenes stories of working on the blockbuster film “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan”, how he had never seen an episode of the TV series Star Trek when he approached to direct the film, how he wrote the screenplay of the movie in 12 days, as well as many other eye-opening stories from his incredible career! Click the links below to enjoy!
Episode 87 - HERE
Episode 88 - HERE
