Sci-Fi Classic Review: STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982)
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- Опубліковано 28 лют 2020
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, by virtue of being made for a fraction of the cost of the less well-regarded Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was not only an enormous success for Paramount and a savior of the franchise, but is considered by a lot of Trekkies and Trekkers as the best Star Trek film ever made.
If you're looking for a "review" in the traditional sense, then let me just say I love this movie. This video, however, is a "review" in the literal sense (using the Miriam-Webster definition "a retrospective view or survey"), in that I'm going over the history of the film and its place in sci-fi cinema history.
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Related written reviews:
Star Trek (2009) - www.emagill.com/rants/eblog074...
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - www.emagill.com/rants/eblog253... - Розваги
![Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan [Podcast]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jJBeggUtLbg/mqdefault.jpg)
STIITWOK without a doubt is the best of the Star Trek movies. Story , acting , directing. Including the reduced budget...”Less, definitely is more.” As good as it gets!
Crazy amount of script changes etc before arriving at this masterpiece. Didn't realise Roddenberry was against much of it. Thank V'ger we didn't get the Klingon/JFK version. That could have been horrendous. Those ear bugs still freak me out. Thanks dude, enjoyable insight to an all time great.
I agree, well done
Agreed. Except maybe a tie with "Undiscovered Country". "From Hell's heart I stab at thee!" Great stuff.
"Kirk, my old friend... Have you heard the old Klingon proverb that says revenge is a dish best served cold?... It is very... COLD... in spaaaace..."
Excellent review again. Much appreciated. Personally, the cinema release version is too short for me. The film speeds past and I'm always surprised at how quickly the point when the Enterprise arrives at Regula One occurs. I think the deleted footage should have been retained. If this was to be the final Trek film then it would be especially important. The acting can be a bit hammy at times, but Montalban was always perfect casting as Kahn (both passion and intelligence) and Shatner is a much better actor than he's usually given credit for (when he doesn't overplay).
I agree with you
Well done. I adore this movie and already knew most of the information, but your delivery was great. Thanks!
Thank you, this review is so enjoyable, I love the respect and appreciation you show for all the work done on this film, and I learnt so much. Also, great work on the soundtrack you added, especially the track that comes in at 13:33, it really highlights the emotional intensity behind the film's impact and achievement!
Nice review with a lot of interesting information that I had never heard before (and I'm 55 and have been a "Trekkie" since I was a boy).
Oh and I agree... I enjoyed TMP but I can see why some fans call it "The Motionless Picture" because of how slow paced and "cerebral" it was (The "Klingon Attack", "Dry Dock" and "Leaving Dry Dock" being the best parts for me).
I concur that TWOK is the best of all the TOS movies.
I think it's ironic that like how the network wanted a second pilot; because "The Cage" was thought to be too high brow AKA cerebral ;) that it took the 2nd pilot "Where No One Has Gone Before" with more action, to win over the network.
History seemed to repeat itself.
Thanks for posting this video, I enjoyed it
LIve long and prosper
Sincerely
Hondo Murray
Council Bluffs, IA
That’s a neat parallel between the two pilots and the first two movies. I hadn’t ever thought of that!
Another one I saw i 70 mm 6-track on release. The Ceti eel in the ear sequence was horrifying at that time, the audience was screaming.
Yes we were
Best Star Trek movie. Ever! It’s in my top ten best sci-fi movies of all time. Great video. Thank you.
Just commenting again about a few odd things about the film. I realise the whole point of the script is about Kirk not having faced death/a no win scenario, but anyone with any familiarity with TOS knows Kirk lost a brother ('Operation Annihilate') and the brother's wife and son, Edith Keeler, his first captain and role model ('Obsession'), as well as saving large sectors of the galaxy from destruction ('The Changeling', 'The Doomsday Machine'). Kirk lived on a planet where Kodos had a great many people killed. It's a very strange contrivance in 'TWOK' to contradict the TV show to this degree. Another contrivance is that the Reliant's computers can't recognise that star maps show there should be another planet in the Ceti Alpha system, while Chekov can't remember this system is significant. Also, Kahn's remaining followers are all the wrong ages to be either any of his original followers, or their children.
Numinous20111 Not bad nitpicks. I think you can chalk up the first part-all the times Kirk has faced death-to the fact that Bennett and Meyer weren’t fully steeped in Star Trek lore when they wrote the movie. As for the computers not recognizing the Ceti Alpha system and not knowing how it had changed, that’s something that’s always bugged me. As for the differing ages of Khan’s crew, that might be a little too nitpicky.
Don’t get me wrong though. I LOVE nitpicking Star Trek. I annoy my wife whenever we watch an episode, because I’m constantly announcing new nitpicks. It doesn’t mean I don’t love Star Trek-quite the contrary-but I just really love finding narrative holes.
@@TheUnapologeticGeek I know. It's just that I find them strange decisions, especially given how famous ST fans are for spotting continuity issues. There is a 1st season TOS episode where Kirk and senior crew members exit the briefing room on the opposite side to the established door side. The actors told the director when filming that the show's fans would write in about this and sure enough they did! :)
Fascinating
I was bothered by the concept that Kirk "not having faced death" but his response "Not like this" made it easier for me to accept. I mean, you are correct that he has faced death many times but much like how each time we lose a friend or family member; it is unique because the relationships are unique...perhaps "Not in this way" says it all.
@@hondomurray7927 You're right. I just found it strange all the same. In the same way that Shatner surely should have known (in 'The Final Frontier') that "I lost a brother once." would cause the fan base to say 'Hang on!'. Couldn't someone have realised that would cause a continuity problem and tweaked the line?
Excellent video on so many levels. You are an outstanding entertainer on your own merits.
Fans are left to wonder what would have happened to the franchise if this had been the original Star Trek Movie, it would have had a completely different trajectory.
Very nice video! Seems like you had the idea of going through these before us 😀
No Market Media You’re going much faster, though! I probably won’t get to ST3 for another month or two.
Fantastic review.
Love Star Trek Forever , Captain Kirk And Khan 💘 💘 💘 💘
Great review.
Just found this, or youtube finally brought it to my attention. Great review. But....pronunciation of names...not always exact. But I enjoyed the humor of the cuts and the information.
I Love all the Star Trek films. I enjoy watching them every time their on, along with the original Star Trek series. Thank You
Wrath of Khan is not only the best star trek movie its so good its up there with the best films of all time for me anyway
I really enjoyed this and you know Khan is my favorite of the movies. I found the music a bit distracting at first, but I guess it’s ok.
Diane Magill-Davis I think I had it turned up just a notch or two too high. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. Live and learn!
Your intro made me cringe a little, but the rest of your video was astounding. Thank you so much for this informative retrospective.
I agree about the intro. Lol
I almost hit the back button to look for a different video to watch but I'm glad I stuck around a bit longer; everything after the intro was worth watching.
Thanks again for a great review. I agree this is a great film. I have enjoyed most of the Star Trek films execpt for the last STNG films which wore poorly written and directed in my opinion.
5:46 It always bugs me that the container of warp-drive so shaky here.
Great review. I love your details. It is amazing how they brought aboard people with no familiarity with the series who did a fantastic job. I attended a Science Fiction convention in San Antonio where Walter Koenig spoke and answered questions. It was when they were planning Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. He mentioned they brought somebody on board who had a lot of experience making commercials. He explained in commercials a lot is done in a short time and they felt that would help solve the problem of a slow pace like Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Any idea who the "commerical person" may have been?
He was probably referring to the producer Rob Sallin, who had his own company that specialized in commercials.
@@TheUnapologeticGeek Thank you for the quick reply.
@@rsacchi100 You’re welcome!
Yeah, the Genesis Cave... that looked bad even then, I‘ve seen better matte paintings in 1950s films. Other than that, it was breathtaking on the big screen, and I‘m sure the effects would still look great in a theatrical release. A Sci-Fi and Star Trek landmark.
He gave a bunch of arguments that it was terrible, but at the end he said that everything was fine.
great video.,
Don't let their comments get you down! They're jealous that they can't make a great review. 🖖
He (you) did a GREAT review; it was the music at the beginning that almost scared me off (nothing personal).
Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!
I think when Trek is brought back--and we know it will be--it should focus on the Mirror Universe. Perhaps, we open with a Starship (USS Midway) being caught up in a matter distortion wave, and before being sucked in manages to leave a space buoy revealing their fate. They have gone to the Mirror Universe. The Enterprise now has a mission. They must devise a doorway into the Mirror Universe, and take the ship and her crew across the barrier and into the Mirror Universe to save the crew of the Midway, without violating the Prime Directive.
I’d watch that.
Best ST Movie mmm! either The Wrath of Khan or The undiscovered Country . Tricky!
fucking love this video thanks to you im gonna see if this movie on Netflix and smoke hella weed and watch the shit out of it thank u
I like the way you think.😎
This is my fav star trek movie
Where are the USUAL SUSPECTS? You didn't have to draw any parallels like I do, but just mention that star trek 2's legacy includes a reference to a 1995 crime thriller. By the way, love your reviews.
Every time I hear someone named Khan or Cann I can't help but yell out KHANNNNNN!!!!😅
I don't know if you read these late comments but this movie - star trek 2 - is the direct inspiration if not basis for the 1995 heist film THE USUAL SUSPECTS. No one else seems to be aware of this. I guess TREKKIES aren't fans
of heist films. Anyway, the Kobayashi Maru test, which gives insight into character, shows up prominently in THE USUAL SUSPECTS, which has an unreliable narrator tell a federal cop a long story about how the heist ends up with 27
dead and a burning ship at a pier with him, the narrator, as the only survivor along with a Hungarian sailor. As the narrator has immunity, he leaves after his story (which includes a criminal mastermind named Keyser Soze and his menacing lawyer named Kobayashi) is told. Then the federal cop enjoys a cup of coffee while glancing around the d.a.'s bulletin board. Then he notices names and events on the bulletin board that the narrator has lifted for his
story. The cop is so stunned that he drops his cup and sees the bottom is labelled "Kobayashi Porcelain. Everything he has been told was a lie. The narrator is then shown outside on the street turning into Keyser Soze and he gets into a car being driven by the man shown in the flashbacks as the lawyer Kobayashi. What was real and what wasn't? The cop will never know. So the Kobayashi Maru is, in THE USUAL SUSPECTS, whether or not you the viewer enjoyed the movie as is or whether you feel cheated. The story told by the narrator is very enjoyable even if it was totally made up on the spot. Thx.
I read every comment, and I love The Usual Suspects. I remember watching it for the first time really late one night, and when it was over, it was one in the morning, and I had to contain myself from waking everybody else up to tell them they had to watch it too.
@@TheUnapologeticGeek did you feel the way I did,
@@claytondraper3810 I mean, it’s hard not to think of the Kobayashi Maru when you hear the name “Kobayashi,” but I’m not sure there’s any connection beyond that. Stranger things have happened, though. 🤷🏼♂️
@@TheUnapologeticGeek One heck of a coincidence. The unwinnable test and the indecipherable story. Also Kirk cheated to win and Verbal finally laid it all at dean Keaton's feet.
Either way Chris Macquarrie created a Faulkneresque masterpiece....everyone can be right and everyone can be wrong. Like Faulkner famously said "the past is never dead. In fact, it isn't even past." A Chinese box of a movie, and it is a shame no one really learned from it: after all, Pulp Fiction came out the year before, dazzling everyone like Jimi Hendrix's first concert. It may turn out to be The Velvet Underground of cinema. I love WOK and TUS
floored me. Who could have guessed there might be a connection between the two, maybe a huge connection. Who knows? Like Kirk said, no one wins and no one loses.
I've always felt a little ambivilent about this film. On one hand, it is absolutely the best Star Trek film, and up there with the best episodes. I didn't know Kirk and Kahn never meeting was a result of scheduling; all this time I thought it was pure genius. It's remarkable how intense their conflict is even though Kirk never beams over to something to blow it up.
On the downside, it lacks the thoughtfulness that made Star Trek so good, and it's worth noting that every bad Star Trek film made since is about some maniac getting revenge against Kirk or the Federation. In that it's a bit like Resident Evil IV; a brilliant change of pace that paradoxically ruined their series.
You get a heart for the Resident Evil 4 comparison. You're speaking my language.
Good Star Trek movie. If that Tribble dies, you die!
Star Trek the motion picture was fine it was like an extended version episode of the original series. It wasn't great but it was fine. My favorite is Wrath of Khan I think it is the best one. As for Jar Jar Abrams I can't stand that man as a director.
The problem with Trek movies since is that the producers came away with the wrong lesson from TMP's failings and TWOK's successes.
Very true.
@@TheUnapologeticGeek V'Ger was seen as too vast and faceless antagonist to be relatable the same way Khan was, but save for a couple of exceptions, too many Trek films have angry, petty human like villains.
And TMP can be indirectly credited for not making TWoK laughably cheap with its shorter more TV like production.
This was a bigger problem for the Abramsverse revival movies, every one of which has a scenery-chewing villain driven by revenge. This isn't an essential part of the Star Trek formula! It's just The Wrath of Khan! Everything doesn't have to be that.
It's interesting that Star Trek IV was such a success, given that it doesn't really have a villain at all and the premise has more in common with Star Trek: The Motion Picture than with the others.
@@MattMcIrvin Even Beyond got lumbered with "petty, bitter human/humanoid villain is angry in a campy way and seeks vengeance" (despite the fact it expanded ideas, interesting SFX, and had cool concepts like TMP and IV did).
i wonder what happened to this company called pixar...
That was Shatner and Montalban toned down? Their performances were so hammy I asked a Jewish buddy of mine if his religion even allowed him to watch the movie.
Fresh perspective on the original series is what allowed this film to excel. If this film had been the first Star Trek movie it would have absolutely crushed at the box office.
Far and away the best storytelling of the series.
Worst movie in ST
Repeated sport concussions are a terrible thing.
@@denniscarlson4674 hah first movie has a Oscar winning director and best box office. And righting by Roddenberry. And so what? You think they have sport concussions? You don't need whatch Star Trek.