STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN

(June 1982, U.S.)

Here is my first important memory of the first sequel in the STAR TREK franchise, and that's that kids in school did not know how to keep their damn mouths shut! The word all over high school was, “Spock dies in this movie.” Well, thanks a lot, people! Did you have to give that one away before I had a chance to see it for myself? The other scoop was that this wasn’t so much a sequel to THE MOTION PICTURE, but rather a direct follow-up to an 1967 episode of STAR TREK called “Space Seed”, which I’d never seen before, in which Ricardo Montalbán had previously played the notorious Khan. It looked like I’d enter the new movie without the benefit of the story that preceded it. That didn’t stop me, however, from buying my ticket to what was already marketed as the most spectacular sci-fi movie for the summer of 1982.

The movie was, indeed, a fresh start to the franchise, in which seeing the first one was not a prerequisite. The crew we all knew and loved was aboard the USS Enterprise, including a new Vulcan character named Mr. Saavik, who also happened to be female (a female who went by Mister??). Within minutes, though, it appeared they were all dead from a Klingon attack. Oops, false alarm! Just a simulation test for the new cadets under Spock's command. Still, things are never quiet in space for very long. Trouble starts when two members from the USS Reliant (one of them Pavel Chekov) accidentally encounter Khan Noonien Singh and his loyal followers on what they believe to be the dead planet of Ceti Alpha VI. Turns out, it's really Ceti Alpha V having turned into a barren sand heap after Ceti Alpha VI exploded. Again, having not seen "Space Seed" yet, this is where I learned of the backstory in which the Enterprise discovered Khan's ship adrift in space and Kirk exiled Khan and his fellow supermen to Ceti Alpha V after they attempted to take over the Enterprise. Prisoners now, Chekov and Captain Terrell are put under a suggestive spell when indigenous creatures are inserted into their ear canals (geez, that really gave me the shivers!) and have now revealed the secret of the new Genesis project to their captor. The Genesis device can create life where life doesn't exist, but can also destroy life where it already exists. Not a good weapon to fall into the hands of the most dangerous man in the galaxy, who's also hellbent on finding and killing Admiral James T. Kirk for what he did to him fifteen years ago. All I can say is, thank goodness for movie dialogue that explains the backstory for those of us who (apparently) didn't watch enough STAR TREK on TV!

Okay, so things were about to change now for STAR TREK fans who felt less than satisfied with the slow pace and boredom of THE MOTION PICTURE. We wanted speed, we wanted juice and we even wanted a little blood, and Paramount Pictures heard us. War was about to be declared between Kirk and Khan, battles would now begin and revenge would be, as Khan put it, "a dish best served cold!" Along the way, we'd learn that Kirk had a grown son named David who was also one of the creating scientists behind the Genesis project. We'd also learn some valuable life lessons in which "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Still, even as the story and the action progressed and the crew of the Enterprise ultimately won the day over Khan, we who were watching knew it was all just building up to the dreaded inevitable...the death of Spock! With warp drive restored just in time to save the ship, we also witnessed the magic of the Genesis device as it transformed the lifeless planetoid into a living, breathing, blue and green planet. The ship was out of danger, but this was the moment everyone in the theater dreaded. Spock was dying of radiation poisoning and Kirk was the last one to be with him, though they were separated by glass. The two of them shared their final words of friendship before Spock died in front of Kirk’s eyes (and ours). Following a funeral (in which even Mr. Saavik, a Vulcan with seemingly no emotions, shed some tears), Spock’s coffin was shot into space and orbited around the newly-created planet. The final moment was the coffin resting peacefully on the planet’s surface. Spock was dead.

Okay, just forget J.J. Abrams’ pointless attempt at rebooting the STAR TREK franchise that began with his 2009 film. Those of my generation know that THE WRATH OF KHAN was the first true STAR TREK reboot. Though I only occasionally and modestly followed STAR TREK during reruns as a kid, I never considered myself a so-called “Trekkie”, so I cannot fully take into account or appreciate the reaction those type of fans had when they learned Spock would die in the new film. Many wrote letters of protest to Paramount at the time, one even paying for a trade press advertisement asking them to revise the film’s plot and Nimoy even received a death threat, or two. This, in my opinion, is where being a film fan takes a turn for the totally unreasonable (no matter what your feelings are, in the end, it’s just a movie). While I never take sci-fi and fantasy too seriously or too much to heart, the film does have its recognizable themes of life, death, friendship, sacrifice, regret and the emotional turmoils of aging. It’s impossible not to recognize how much older our beloved STAR TREK characters were since TV, as well as our own age. The first time I ever heard of or watched an episode of STAR TREK, I must have been six or seven years old. Now fifteen in 1982, I was a high school teenager with feelings of confusion and doubt that often accompany that age. Upon realizing his son David’s existence, Kirk’s immediate emotional reaction is to feel “old and worn out”. By the film’s end, however, even in the shadow of Spock’s death, Kirk feels young again in the shadow of the newly-formed Genesis planet. I suppose human emotions, like so many other things in life, are subject to change and reversal.

Ricardo Montalbán's return role as Khan Noonien Singh is perfect. His performance of pure anger, revenge and power surely carry the film, though not to take away from equally-engaging performances from William Shatner and the late Leonard Nimoy. There are elements to Khan’s vengeance that I didn’t fully understand as a kid. Some of his dialogue that includes, “He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition's flames before I give him up!” and “To the last, I grapple with thee. From Hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!”, I had no idea were direct paraphrases from Herman Melville’s MOBY DICK. It’s a deliberate homage by Director Nicholas Meyer, even making sure that we see a visible copy of MOBY DICK on the shelf inside Khan’s dwelling on Ceti Alpha V. Though, to consider a good man like James T. Kirk the sinister white whale is surely a stretch, while considering Khan the more obssesed version of Captain Ahab who continuously pursues his prey against his crew’s wishes seems more logical. He also manages to recognize Pavel Chekov upon seeing him on Ceti Alpha V, despite the fact that Chekov was not only an absent crew member in “Space Seed”, but also didn’t join the cast of characters until the show’s second season (it’s amazing, the little film flubs we in the audience are meant to try and conveniently overlook when they occur).

For me, a true film reboot is what literally saves a franchise from falling on its ass, which is what would’ve likely happened to STAR TREK were it not for THE WRATH OF KHAN. The interest was renewed and the films continued to thrive, even into the NEXT GENERATION phase and beyond. The second film incorporates a better pacing than its slow predecessor, though it’s pointless to compare such a film with something like STAR WARS. The battle sequences are lukewarm and unenthusiastic, at best. With this film, or any other STAR TREK, for that matter, it’s the dimension of drama (or even melodrama) we’re meant to give our higher level of attention to. The dramatic death of Spock grabs us, as we not only (temporarily) say goodbye to a beloved character, but also understand the deeper meaning of friendship and sacrifice between not only Spock and Kirk, but also Spock’s feelings of responsibility and devotion to those aboard the USS Enterprise.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Khan: "I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet. Buried alive...buried alive!"
James T. Kirk: "KHAAANNNN!"