Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Movie Info

Saying goodbye is hard to do…

Peace between the Klingons and Federation is becoming a reality.  Sent against his will to broker the agreement is Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) who still has misgivings about the Klingons after the death of his son and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  When it appears the Enterprise fires on the Klingon peace envoy, Kirk and Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are sentenced to life in prison on an asteroid.  Now Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the crew of the Enterprise must determine who is responsible for the attack and rescue Kirk and Bones before the chance for peace is destroyed.

I think every movie needs more me…

Directed by Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek IV:  The Undiscovered Country followed the relative failure of Star Trek V:  The Final Frontier in 1989.  The movie was rather well received and marked the last time the entire original crew appeared in a film.  The film was nominated for two Oscars for Best Makeup and Best Effects and Sound Effects Editing.

Though it isn’t a bad film, I’m not a huge fan of Star Trek VI.  I find points in the film rather tedious, but despite that, it is worlds above Star Trek V.  The movie does feel more like the more well liked Star Trek II and Star Trek IV (which isn’t a shock since Nicholas Meyer was responsible for Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan).  The adventure just seems too big for too small of a canvas.  The basis of the movie was the real life changes between the United States and the crumbling Soviet Union at the time the film was made…so I do like the true science-fiction aspect of the story.

The Hills Are Alive…with the grunts of Klingons!

As mentioned, this is the last time the whole original cast appeared together.  Originally, this was proposed as a prequel, but the cast and fans demanded the original actors and actresses.  To say the cast is “all together” is a bit of a misnomer since Sulu (George Takai) never appears with the rest of the cast as the captain of the Excelsior.  The “classic” cast is also joined by Kim Cattrall as a Klingon named Valeris (Cattrall was originally wanted for the Saavik character in Star Trek II and Valeris was supposed to be Saavik but people didn’t want her to turn traitor).  Christopher Plummer appears as Chang with David Warner as Gorkon.  Model Iman plays Martia the shapeshifting alien who doesn’t develop enough, and Christian Slater makes a cameo (his mother was the casting director).  Two future Star Trek alums appear in Michael Dorn aka Worf as Kirk and McCoy’s Klingon defense attorney and Rene Auberjonis aka Odo as an assassin in the extended version.

Second star to the right and straight on ’til morning

Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country does make special effects improvements over the previous films also.  The movie seems to finally have the quality computer effects that started to really come to pass in the 1990s.  I love scale models, but at least this film looks better with better quality shooting and style.

Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country, like many of the Star Trek “original cast” movies is about getting older, slowing down, and changing times.  It is a good sign of science-fiction to tackle these everyday subjects in a fashion that explores and expands on the subject.  It might not be my favorite film, but it does show an improvement and at least most of the old guard gets to go out on a high note.  Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country was followed by Star Trek:  Generations in 1994.

Preceded By:

Star Trek V:  The Final Frontier (1989)

Followed By:

Star Trek:  Generations (1994)