Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''[[In the Original Klingon|There is an old Vulcan proverb: only Nixon could go to China.]]''|'''Spock'''}}

 

 

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.

 

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=== Tropes seen in ''The Undiscovered Country'' include: ===

** 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.

* [[Artificial Gravity]]: A rare example where the artificial gravity actually fails.

* [[Bad Vibrations]]: Captain Sulu's tea cup at the beginning of the film.

'''Kirk''': ''...it's cold.'' }}

* [[Continuity Nod]] - Sulu mentions at the end of IV that he hopes the ship they're being sent to is the Excelsior. In this film he turns up as a starship captain... commanding the Excelsior.

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Spock:''' If I know the Captain, he is already deep into planning his escape.<br />

''[cut to Kirk getting his ass kicked]'' }}

* [[Groin Attack]]: Kirk gets in a fight with a big blue alien and ends it by kicking the alien in the knee. Or so he thinks.

{{quote| Martia: That was not his knee. Not everybody keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain.}}

* [[Latex Perfection]]: {{spoiler|The Klingon assassin is Starfleet's Colonel West [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|with some rubber on his forehead]].}}

* [[Literary Allusion Title]]

* [[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.<br />

* [[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]].

** This scene is more difficult to [[wikipedia:Ticking time bomb scenario|regard lightly in the War On Terror era]], though it may be more difficult to apply since a mind meld doesn't work in the way that torture does.

** In the novelization, it's very different: Valeris is terrified by the knowledge that Spock could force his way into her mind with his superior mental training, but Spock ''doesn't'' do this. He gently inquires telepathically and she is so relieved that she yields without resistance. As to whether the threat of mind rape is morally superior to actual mind rape, YMMV.

* [[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. (The books were part of Uhura's personal collection, not part of the ship's library, so the saboteur presumably didn't know about them, or didn't have any opportunity to get to them and destroy them.)

** Bones' exasperated, "What ''is'' it with you?!'' [[Boldly Coming|after he kisses Martia.]]

{{quote| '''Kirk:''' Still think we're finished?<br />

'''Martia!Kirk:''' [[Large Ham|Must have been your life-long ambition!]] }}

* [[Near Villain Victory]]: The [[Big Bad]] nearly destroys the Enterprise and the conspirators nearly {{spoiler|succeed in assassinating the Federation President, but Excelsior helps buy the Enterprise time to complete it's Plasma Seeking Torpedo to find and kill Chang and get to the planet in time to save the day}}.

* [[No Gravity for You]]: One Klingon tactic involves doing this to an entire boarded ship.

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous Klingon Chanting]]

** There is also a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Sherlock Holmes]], when Spock says, "One of my ancestors once said, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'" Gene Roddenberry had established as part of Spock's [[Backstory]] that Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of [[Sherlock Holmes]], was one of Spock's ancestors on his mother's side.

** Chang's demand that Kirk not wait for the translation of a question, but answer it immediately, is straight from an earlier (pre-TOS, in fact) US-Soviet confrontation, the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]. In that case, it was Adlai Stevenson insisting that the Soviet delegate to the UN answer simply yes or no as to whether they were putting missiles in Cuba.

{{quote| '''McCoy:''' I'd pay real money if he'd shut up.}}

* [[Slow Clap]]

* [[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.

* [[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".

** 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.

** For some reason, it almost always switches to English whenever Chang starts talking, sometimes right after some untranslated Klingon. Maybe Christopher Plummer has trouble chewing scenery in Klingon.

* [[Wasn't That Fun?]]: After General Chang's Bird-of-Prey blasting away at the helpless Enterprise with yet another [[Screen Shake]]:

{{quote| '''McCoy:''' Well, this is fun.}}

* [[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.

* [[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 moustache almost earned its own acting credit.

*** Again, Worf. Who, [[The Worf Effect|of course]], does what he does best—get owned. Except this time, in court.

*** If Admiral Cartwright looks a lot like Joseph Sisko, that would be because they were both played by Brock Peters.

*** "This President is not above the law, [[That 70s Show|Dumbass!]]"