THE WRATH OF KHAN Is The Greatest Piece Of STAR TREK Property Ever: A 40th Anniversary Post

Since its inception in 1966, there have been eight live action Star Trek series from the three season run of 79-episodes on NBC to the first season of the new Strange New Worlds series on Paramount+, three animated series from the short lived early ‘70s incarnation with the original cast to the more recent offerings like Lower Decks and Prodigy (also Paramount+ productions), and 13 movies from THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) to the rebooted run launched by J.J. Abrams in 2009.

But no matter how many more versions of Gene Roddenberry’s creation we will be inundated with in the future, one thing I’m betting will still be certain - the single greatest property in the entire franchise will remain to be: STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982).

I’m making this declaration, which I believe won’t be a controversial opinion, because today is the 40thAnniversary of the release of the acclaimed sequel, and the film’s status as the best, most satisfying piece of the Star Trek Puzzle should be celebrated on this milestone.

The first film in the franchise, Robert Wise’s STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, was a bit of a let down for fans, as it was criticized for being too cerebral instead of action-oriented, too special effects-driven instead of story-driven, and, most sadly, too long and boring to be a major sci-fi player in the era of the whiz-bang of STAR WARS.

But for the follow-up, the filmmakers, headed by Nicholas Meyer as director, and Jack B. Sowards as screenwriter, got back to basics by making the film not just the sequel to the first film, but also a sequel to one of the original episodes of the ‘60s series: “Space Seed,” which featured Ricardo Montalbán as 20th century genetic superman Khan Noonian Singh. After Khan attempted to take over the Enterprise, Captain Kirk sentenced him and his crew to inhabit a dying world in order to create their own society, but in the 15 years since their exile, the terrain was laid to waste by a nearby planet exploding, and Khan has vowed revenge on Kirk should their paths cross again.

This happens when executive officer Chekov unwittingly discovers Khan and company’s location while on a mission, and he steals their starship, and sets after Kirk while spouting such delicious dialogue as: “I’ll chase him around the Antares maelstrom and round Nibia and round Perdition’s Flame before I give him up!”

Kirk, now an admiral, and his trusty crew including Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Mr. Scott (James Doohan), Mr. Sulu (George Takei), Lt. Uhuru (Nichelle Nichols), and the aforementioned Chekov (who wasn’t even in “Space Seed” but was still recognized by Khan), in the Enterprise go up against Khan in the stolen starship Reliant in a series of compelling battles that are matched with compelling exchanges that make up the sharpest, and most powerful screenplay that’s ever graced a STAR TREK movie.

Another powerful factor in the film’s success is William Shatner’s performance as Kirk. Director Meyers forced Shatner to do take after take until his patented over-acting mannerisms had faded, and some more solid, serious acting could go down. Without a doubt, it’s the man’s finest work on screen. O Captain! My Captain! Indeed.

As a kid, STAR TREK II was a godsend. If you think that before it appeared, there was only the three seasons of the original series, and one boring movie – the budding franchise was in its awkward phase until KHAN came along. Then the whole enterprise (sorry) was up and running. The sequels that followed were hits largely beloved by critics and fans, and the many spin-off series that came after added greatly to the overwhelming oeuvre , and it’s very possible that none of it would’ve happened without STAR TREK II.

One funny thread that ran through the classic ‘90s sitcom, Seinfeld, had to do with Jerry’s belief that the 1982 sequel was “the best of those movies.” In the eighth season episode, “The Foundation,” Jerry quotes WRATH OF KHAN at the funeral of his best friend’s (George Constanza played by Jason Alexander) fiancée, telling the parents of the deceased that she’s not dead if we remember her, which paraphrases a line said by McCoy about Spock’s death. Later in that ep, George recreates Kirk’s classic “KHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!!!!” yell:

Perhaps the best, and funniest Seinfeld/Star Trek moment is when Jerry and George show more emotion over recalling Spock’s death in KHAN than they did at the funeral they just attended. George: “It was a hell of a thing when Spock died.” Jerry: “Yeah.”

When J.J. Abrams took the helm of the STAR TREK movie series, rebooting it in 2009, there was much talk that he was more of a STAR WARS guy (he would later go on to make two of those movies), and that the only Star Trek he was familiar with was KHAN. This is a convincing theory as the two TREK movies he made have heavy callbacks to KHAN, including scenes that are directly remakes of scenes in the original film, and the resurrecting of the supervillain character by way of a far inferior version provided by Benedict Cumberbatch. You can read more of my bitching about Abrams’ KHAN misfire in my review of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS from 2013.

So 40 years to the day after its release, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN still remains as the greatest story/entry/production/whatever in the vast Star Trek multiverse. If you don’t believe me, go to Paramount+ and watch, or re-watch, the movie I’ve been babbling about for the last over 900 words. After that, can you really tell me that’s there’s better Star Trek than that? I think not.

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Spoiler Alert: This Post Is About Spoiler Etiquette

Not long ago, I was hanging with friends, and I mentioned that I been catching up with a new show on HBO (I’m not going to say which one) in the midst of a conversation about shows that everybody had been watching lately. I said to one of my friends that I wished he hadn’t, at a previous meeting, dropped a Spoiler from the third episode of the series – it was actually just one word that he said when he remarked about how nothing was really happening in the show’s first few episodes, and then - the one word. Now, it was a loaded word – think a major plot point that can be summed up with one or just a few words like murder, or car accident, or divorce. So I was miffed that I had heard that word before I had gotten to that point on my own. 

I had only seen one episode, which was largely set-up, and was still trying to feel out the tone of the show. When that word was spoken by father, my brain noted it, and it greatly affected how I watched the show from then on. Since my friend knew that I had only seen one episode, I would think he’d keep mum, so I told him that when I got to the point where the event happened that he so sloppily spoiled, and that his careless blurting out of the word diluted the impact of the scene.

 

His reaction floored me - he laughed like what I said was ridiculous, and invalid. Nobody else laughed at this, mainly because nothing funny was said at all – just somebody offering their opinion on something that they found important – the experience of viewing a program or movie with somebody who has already seen it obnoxiously spoiling a key moment.

 

Which brings us to the Urban Dictionary’s definition of Spoiler:

The thing that maybe bothered me most is that my friend reacted as if this was the first time anyone had ever voiced this opinion. Now, I’ve been a big fan of film since I was a kid, and the idea of not ruining people’s experience is one that has been big in the pop culture conversation that I’ve been in for over four decades. I’ve worked in video stores, and movie theaters where I’ve had thousands of conversations with co-workers, and customers, about keeping important plot points to yourself unless you know that the person you are talking to is caught up with whatever TV show, movie, or book you may be discussing. I seriously, but stupidly thought this was something that everybody knew - in fact, I hesitated even blogging about this because these points feel so redundant, so obvious, and so universally relatable.

 

But instead of being reasonable, and respectful to a world that he knows his son has passion for and has written about for decades, my friend just said, “I don’t care about Spoilers.” In all of those previous conversations, and the many many many that I’ve had or read online, I’ve never heard or read or seen that statement. That’s because it’s a bullshit thing to say. Everyone I’ve ever known or talked to about this cares about not having their experiences spoiled, and I know there are shows that it would’ve highly annoyed him if, say, someone spouted out who was the murderer in in a show he had invested a number of hours viewing. 

I mean, that’s why we watch these things in the first f-in’ place! We want the real storytellers to reveal this stuff to us, not somebody who says that they don’t care about other’s experience. This is major common courtesy stuff! I comfort myself in thinking he just said that in the defensive. Some people just can’t concede a point in the moment, you know. Even one as rock solid as my argument.

 

It was also sad to me because in the 18 years of maintaining this blog, I’ve referred to Spoilers hundreds and hundreds of times (Google it). I’ve started many reviews with Spoiler warnings, and I’ve highlighted the word Spoiler in red so that readers will be aware that they might be coming. So I guess I learned that my friend doesn’t read my blog although they've often said they did. I’ve long suspected that they just skimmed it, and now I know for sure what’s up.

 

Fun fact: The phrase “Spoiler Alert” has existed long before the internet - it has been traced back to a review of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN in 1982.

 

I received an invite to the latest Marvel movie, DOCTOR STRANGE: THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (love that title), and it had this request for critics:

 

I mentioned this to another friend – sent them the screen capture above – and they replied, “Hmm. You’d think that would go without saying.” Well, apparently not. I mean, again, I hesitated to write this post because I would think that everybody reading a movie blog would know this drill. But, yeah, apparently not.

 

So millions and millions of people care about spoilers. Movie studios spend a lot of money and time trying to hide the things that DOCTOR STRANGE request specified so that audiences can have a fresh experience going in. Iconic film critic Gene Siskel (of Siskel & Ebert fame) notably would wait in the lobby while trailers for other movies were playing because he didn’t want to see anything from upcoming movies before seeing them himself. Siskel passed away in 1999, so I wonder how if he had lived, he would maneuvered during the internet age when a glance at any social media platform can reveal something from some current film without any warning. I bet he would and just not go on the internet, just like he didn’t enter the theater until after the coming attractions.

 

Here ends my rant. Good Gawd, that felt good to get out of my system!!!! I guess I was triggered by the shocking event of somebody being so clueless to something that’s so embedded in our pop culture experiences. Revealing spoilers to somebody, especially without asking or acknowledging where they are in viewing said show or movie, is a definitive cultural taboo. The rule of respecting other’s experiences by not spouting out spoilers is something I’m very glad exists for the people that do care. You know, everybody, but my so called friend.

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STAR TREK Into Disappointment

Opening today at nearly every multiplex in the galaxy:

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS 

(Dir. J.J. Abrams, 2013)

At first, it seemed that it was just that this sequel was just messier and less fun than Abram’s 2009 reboot. That the freshness of how that movie so entertainingly re-established Star Trek’s most iconic characters with new faces had faded.

But as the quick-cut convolutions of the plot swirled around my head, aided by the heavy lens flare (now in 3D!), I began to shudder. Abrams, along with screenwriters Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof, were no longer simply paying homage, they were blatantly ripping off scenarios, dialogue, and the emotional pull of what many consider the best of the original run of STAR TREK movies.

Of course, I’m talking about STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (from here on: STII: TWOK).

Nicholas Meyer’s 1982 sequel to Robert Wise’s STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) was a game changer for the franchise. The first one, which brought the cast back from the popular '60s TV series in part to capitalize on the STAR WARS craze of the late ‘70s, was seen as too cerebral, and worse – boring, but the second one was a terrific action adventure that appealed to both fans and a mass audience, without sacrificing the smarts (largely thanks to an excellent screenplay by Jack B. Sowards and Meyer).

Abrams had already touched on STII:TWOK in his first installment of STAR TREK, with the Kobayashi Maru element (the no-win scenario Starfleet test) and a few lines, but here the allusions are out in full force starting with Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain from 300 years in the past that, c’mon, everybody knows going in who he’s going to turn out to be.

The entire cast returns headed by Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, who again lives to ignore Federation regulations, have sex with alien women (he’s in bed with two of them early on), and perform death defying stunts at early possible chance.

Their amusing rivalry has died down, so Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock are settled into the friendship as seen on the old series, and Spock’s romantic relationship with Uhuru (Zoe Saldana), something that was somewhat shocking when it was introduced 4 years ago is also background fodder here. As for the rest, Karl Urban as McCoy, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, and John Cho as Sulu, they’re around mainly to say their character’s classic lines (McCoy: “Damn it Jim, I’m a Doctor not a torpedo technician!”).

So the movie has Kirk being demoted for breaking the Prime Directive (you know, the deal where Starfleet can’t interfere with the development of an alien civilization) in the film’s big ass opening volcano sequence, then made First Officer under Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood, also returning from the previous film). When Pike is killed by Cumberbatch (who has some effectively sinister moments but is no Ricardo Montalban) in a gunship in a violent assault in San Fransisco, Kirk and crew chases him down with the Enterprise to the Klingon territory of Kronos.

With the Klingon entanglements, sometimes confusing negotiation tactics, and muddled back story about Cumberbatch’s people each encased in hollow photon torpedoes, I got a bit drowsy, but I snapped too when I realized they were not only trying to replicate the high points of the 2009 reboot (revealing that they can do something new with warp speed, Leonard Nimoy cameo, etc.), they were mounting a re-approximation (with an obvious variation) of one of the highest points of the entire franchise, i.e. Spock’s death scene in STII:TWOK.

No doubt, some folks are going to enjoy that they did this. The film goes so by fast, with a lot of kinetic energy surrounding the immaculate CGI, that movie-goers are likely to get caught up in it all, and then love that they recognize the set-up with some of the same dialogue as it unfolds, but when I saw that they were so transparently aping what worked so well in the past it felt forced and a bit desperate to me.

I also didn’t buy the extra villainy of Peter Weller’s (ROBOCOP!) angry Starfleet admiral Marcus (father of Alice Eve as Carrol Marcus, another element from STII:TWOK), who threatens to destroy the Enterprise and everybody on it just to get to Cumberbatch.

On The Daily Show earlier this week, Abrams admitted, as he has many times before, that as a kid he was never into Star Trek, adding that “it always felt too philosophical to me.” Here it really shows that his STAR WARS-ified sexed-up version of the world that Gene Roddenberry created just aims to be mindless entertainment. 

At its previous best, say in STII:TWOK, Star Trek was never mindless, even in its most failed forays, say the William Shatner-directed STAR TREK V, it had an aim to question and seek out new possibilities.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, surely to be a blockbuster knocking IRON MAN 3 out of the #1 position at the box office this weekend, is a disappointment on many levels, the biggest one being that it retreads sacred ground with no new purpose.

Now Abrams will go off and reboot STAR WARS (set for Summer 2015) for probably even bigger box returns. That franchise is obviously better suited for him (and he’s actually a fan of it) so I hope the Force is strong with him in that galaxy, because he really broke the Prime Directive of this one.

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