Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Difference between revisions
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (view source)
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After an environmental calamity, the Klingons' infrastructure collapses and their leader sues for peace. [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Does This Remind You]] of the end of the [[Cold War]]? It should. The [[Iron Curtain]] was coming down at the time of production and the Klingons had always been stand-ins for the Soviets. Kirk, ever the cynical cowboy, still doesn't trust the Klingons, but is volunteered by Spock to escort their leader to the peace talks without asking him first. But Kirk is not the only one who doesn't want peace - a mysterious conspiracy with accomplices from both sides of the conflict means to drive the Federation and Empire into a full-scale war, framing Kirk and McCoy for murder in the process.
Nicholas Meyer, the director of ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'', returned to the helm for this one. As evidenced by the page quote, the film lacks anything resembling subtlety, but its tongue-in-cheek satire and heavy handed moral is just as good if not better that way. If nothing else, it's considered much better than ''The Final Frontier
{{tropelist}}
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** Here's the situation: General Chang was inquiring as to what McCoy's status is as a medical practioner is. The way he asks it though, leaves it open to interpretation. Dr. McCoy is only happy to reply. Here is the full quote:
{{quote|'''Chang''': Dr. McCoy...Would you be so good as to tell me, what is your current medical status?
'''Bones''': Aside from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good!
* [[Alien Blood]]: The Klingons have Pepto-Bismol pink blood, in order to keep a PG rating.
** The red blood only appears in the extended cut. The reason the Klingon blood is pink in the film was to avoid a rating higher than PG. Ironically, Klingon blood is quite red everywhere else save this film.
** Klingon blood becomes red in all series taking place after the events of Star Trek VI. The Star Trek (particularly Mike Okuda) staff [[Handwaved]] this; saying Klingon blood only appears pink in microgravity.
* [[And the Adventure Continues...]]:
{{quote|'''Kirk''': Captain's log, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man, where ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|no one]]'', has gone before.}}
* [[Artificial Gravity]]: A rare example where the artificial gravity actually fails.
* [[Bad Vibrations]]: Captain Sulu's tea cup at the beginning of the film.
* [[Big Bad]]: General Chang.
** Also,
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Sulu and the ''USS Excelsior'' swooping in to even up the fight against General Chang and his Bird of Prey. While the original plan was to play this trope straight, the end result is a subversion; ''Excelsior'' doesn't do much but provide a second target, giving the ''Enterprise'' a much-needed breather.
* [[Bluffing the Murderer]]
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** Brock actually had problems doing Cartwright's anti-Klingon rant during the classified meeting because it was morally unpleasant for him personally. Multiple takes had to be done and pieced together. (That is, he had problems getting the lines out. According to the DVD, he was supportive of the message itself.)
** Brock Peters had til his death in 2005 done a ton of civil rights work, so playing a virulently racist character was problematic.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Subverted via [[Executive Meddling]]. At the film's start, we learn that the Excelsior has been cataloging gaseous anomalies... but in its [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment, it's the ''Enterprise'' that
* [[Chewing the Scenery]]: Chang in the final showdown; "Crryyyyyy HAVOK ... and let slip the dogs of war!"
* [[Clear My Name]]: Kirk and McCoy.
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'''Chekov''': You ''vant'' to go back?
'''McCoy''': Absolutely not!
'''Kirk''': ''...it's cold.''
* [[Continuity Nod]]
** This would have happened a lot sooner if ... everybody? ... [[William Shatner]] hadn't protested Sulu becoming Excelsior's captain in [[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II]], where it was supposedly supposed to happen.
** Hang on, the ''Excelsior'' debuted in [[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Star Trek III]]. How does this work?
*** [[All There in the Manual|The novelizations]] of the previous movies explain it - Sulu's promotion has come through in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Wrath of Khan]]'', but he's still on the Enterprise training cruise as a favor to Kirk. Then, because Genesis and the events surrounding its creation result in such public backlash, Excelsior is given to the guy in ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|The Search for Spock]]'' because Sulu needs to be kept 'available' for debriefings and such.
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Pretty much the main cast.
* [[Credits Pushback]]: The signatures at the end generally get [[Edited for Syndication|clipped]] thanks to this practice.
* [[Description Cut]]
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]:
** {{spoiler|Worse. I seem to recall that at the start of the film, SULU mentions they've been on a three-year mission "charting gaseous anomalies", so the Excelsior would have the equipment. Script-writer confusion abounds!}}
*** {{spoiler|Not so, more a case of a combination of executive and cast meddling (see the reference to Shatner insisting that the ''Enterprise'' save itself, above). This is also explained in the
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: the whole film is an allegory about the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. It was released less than a few weeks before the Soviet Union actually fell.
** In addition, Praxis exploding and contaminating the Klingon homeworld is a clear reference to Chernobyl.
* [[Dramatically Missing the Point]]: Spock initially doesn't get Valaris's concern over this upcoming peace.
* [[Engineered Public Confession]]: During the trial, Kirk's log entry in which he says "I have never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I've never been able to forgive them for the death of my boy." is presented as proof of his motive for assassinating Gorkon. This fact is later used to incriminate {{spoiler|Valeris as a conspirator, since it was her who was outside his quarters at the time.}}
* [[Eucatastrophe]]: The [[Big Bad]] nearly destroys the Enterprise and the conspirators nearly
* [[Evil Is One Big Happy Family]]: An ironic version. Despite their motives, {{spoiler|the members of the Human-Klingon conspiracy to destroy the peace process}} are pretty unified in their goals. Though the vitriol is not far away given the comments from
* [[Evil Twin]]: Martia!Kirk.
* [[Expy]]: Valeris, for Saavik.
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* [[From a Certain Point of View]]: Spock.
* [[General Ripper]]: Chang.
* [[Gilligan Cut]]: After Kirk and Bones are sentenced to life imprisonment.
{{quote|'''Spock:''' If I know the Captain, he is already deep into planning his escape.
''[cut to Kirk getting his ass kicked]''
* [[The Girl Who Fits This Slipper]]: Subverted. The boots of the conspirators were found in the locker of Crewman Dax ([[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|no relation]])...who has large webbed feet that don't fit.
* [[Giving Up on Logic]]: Spock shows the long term character growth version of this trope. He hasn't given up on logic at all, but he has accepted that it is not the be all and end all.
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** Let them weaken themselves more first so we can be in a stronger position and force them to accept our way of life, maybe. But it doesn't take anywhere near a saint to not wish an entire space empire dead.
* [[Identical Grandson]]: Worf's grandfather, Colonel Worf (also played by Michael Dorn of course).
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: Spock's reaction to the forced mindmeld with
* [[IKEA Weaponry]]
* [[Incoming Ham]]: "I can see you, Kirk. Can you see me?"
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* [[Large Ham]]: Christopher Plummer as Chang, rivaling even Khan.
** Lampshaded when McCoy exclaims, "I'd give real money if he'd shut up."
* [[Latex Perfection]]:
* [[Literary Allusion Title]]:
** And if not for [[Executive Meddling|those pesky, meddling executives]], this would have been the title for ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II]]''.
** Allusions to Shakespeare was a regular occurrence in episode titles in [[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]]. ''The Undiscovered Country'' was likely intended to be a nod to tradition.
* [[Make It Look Like an Accident]]: A variation: once outside the Rura Penthe shield, Marta mentions this as such but the conspirators required a more "convincing" alternative.
{{quote|'''Kirk:''' An accident wasn't good enough.
'''Marta:''' Good enough for one. Two would have looked suspicious. ''(transforms into Kirk)'' Killed while trying to escape. Now that's convincing enough for both.
* [[Mind Rape]]: Galactic peace hung in the balance. Spock knew they ''needed that information '''now'''.
** On the [[DVD Commentary]], Nicholas Meyer and screenwriter Denny Martin Flinn actually say that scene is "very erotic" and "sexy stuff". Some might consider that [[Squick]], and some might consider that [[Fetish Fuel]].
** Of course some would consider it erotic. [[Mannequin|This is]] [[Sex and the City|Kim Cattrall]] we're talking about, after all.
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*** A similar act in [[Enterprise]] is very much depicted as rape, and with rather a lot of consequences.
** It has to be added that the actual scene is not as bad as this exchange makes it sound. Nimoy's acting make it ''painfully'' apparent that it isn't something Spock takes on lightly, and he is almost as badly affected as Valeris. His voice cracks badly as he delivers the information, and he is clearly struggling to hold it together himself.
* [[The Mole]]: {{spoiler|Valeris}}.
* [[Moral Dissonance]]: Words to this effect have also been leveled at the public [[Mind Rape]] of
* [[My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels]]: Uhura, [[Plot Induced Stupidity|"expert linguist"]], attempting to communicate with the Klingon ship.
** The novelization, at least, provides a ''slightly'' more rational explanation for why they were scrambling to look up Klingon phrases in old paper books, instead of using the Universal Translator — namely, that the same saboteur(s) who had altered the ship's logs to make it look like the Enterprise had fired on the Chancellor's ship, had also wiped the Klingon language data from the memory banks specifically to keep the Enterprise from crossing Klingon space without giving themselves away as soon as someone tried to establish communications with them
* [[Mythology Gag]]: [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Worf's]] identical grandfather.
** Bones' exasperated, "What ''is'' it with you?!'' [[Boldly Coming|after he kisses Martia.]]
{{quote|'''Kirk:''' Still think we're finished?
'''Bones:''' ''More than ever''.
** This exchange:
{{quote|'''Kirk:''' I can't believe I kissed ''you''!
'''Martia!Kirk:''' [[Large Ham|Must have been your life-long ambition!]]
* [[No Gravity for You]]: One Klingon tactic involves doing this to an entire boarded ship.
* [[Oh Crap]]:
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* [[Revenge Before Reason]]: Kirk certainly walks the line at first.
{{quote|'''Spock:''' Jim, they are dying.
'''Kirk:''' Let them die!
* [[Riding Into the Sunset]]
* [[Scenery Porn]]: The aerial shots of Kirk, McCoy and Martia trudging across the wastes of Rura Penthe are ''stunning
* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]: Praxis must be really close to the neutral zone in order for the ''Excelsior'' to have been caught in the [[Planar Shockwave]].
* [[Shapeshifting Squick]]
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* [[Slow Clap]]
* [[Space Is an Ocean]]: Nothing new to Trek but this movie subtly does a lot to give the feeling that the Enterprise is a naval vessel in space, right down to the computerized ship's bell dinging in a few scenes.
** Even
** The explosion of Praxis sends out the space equivalent of a tsunami, which happens to be at the exact height in space to hit Excelsior.
* [[Spot the Imposter]]: The same reason Martia was able to escape is the same reason the Warden was able to figure out she wasn't Kirk and killed her: She took off her leg cuffs.
* [[Stock Footage]]: The scene where Enterprise glides towards the spacedock doors is a reuse of the "zoom in on Enterprise" shot from ''Star Trek IV'' and ''Star Trek V'', just with the Excelsior removed and the background tint changed to blue.
** The second trailer has a scene from ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Star Trek III]]'' but it's minor (Enterprise getting shot by a torpedo).
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]. Valeris in place of Saavik.
* [[Take That]]: It's quite nicely worked in, but Kirk's remark in the end speech that "some people think change means the end of history" is likely a jab at neo-conservative Francis Fukuyama's proclamation (and epynonymous book) that the collapse of Soviet communism meant that liberal bourgeois democracy was the only option for developing countries and was, thus, "the end of history".
* [[Title Drop|(Sub)Title Drop]]: In the ill-fated [[Fantastic Racism|dinner scene]], Gorkon proposes a toast to "the undiscovered country," earning bemused stares from the audience as well as the main cast before he explains he meant "the future
** The cause of the confusion is that within the context of [[Hamlet]]'s speech, "the undiscovered country" is ''death''.
*** Which Spock himself [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] in the novelization. Gorkon's counter-argument has a good point.
** Which, considering what happens to Gorkon in his next scene, actually makes quite a bit of [[Foreshadowing|sense]].
* [[Trailers Always Lie]]: Trailers for the movie showcased a scene of
* [[Translation Convention]]: During the trial, the Klingons begin in their own language, then the camera cuts to a box where translators are giving a running translation in English, which is being piped through radio-like devices that Kirk and McCoy are listening to. When the camera cuts back to General Chang, all spoken dialogue for the rest of the scene is in English, but it's still clear the Klingons are speaking their own language, particularly when Chang yells at Kirk not to wait for the translation before answering a question.
** This trope is mostly avoided for all other scenes involving the Klingons on their own, however. Subtitles are used in all-Klingon scenes in almost all movies.
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* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Spock's disturbed reaction to Kirk's desire to see the Klingons die off.
** In commentaries, Shatner expressed dismay that they cut out a subsequent self-dismissive gesture from Kirk suggesting it was impulsively said.
** This was prompted by Spock "volunteering" the
* [[Why We're Bummed Communism Fell]]: The whole film is a metaphor for the fall of communism, and even seemed to predict the failed coup that preceded the final collapse of the USSR.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: General Chang might be willing to plunge the quadrant into war, but damn if he can't quote Shakespeare with the best of them!
* [[Wild Hair]]: The Federation President's
* [[You Look Familiar]]: Chancellor Gorkon is played by David Warner, who played St. John ("sinjin") Talbot in the [[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier|previous film]].
** [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|How many lights are there]], Chancellor?
*** Again, Worf. Who, [[The Worf Effect|of course]], does what he does best—get owned. Except this time, in court.
** Rene Auberjonois, who would go on to play Odo on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', plays Colonel West.
*** If Admiral Cartwright looks a lot like Joseph Sisko, that would be because they were both played by Brock Peters.
** In another life, the Federation President is [[Star Trek: Voyager|screwing around with the timeline to get back his home colony and, by extension, his wife]].
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