• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Undiscovered Country Dinner Scene

OCR = Optical Character Recogniztion, as in extracting a text file from an image.
I remember in the 90s when it was such a big deal that this was now possible at home with scanners and fancy new software. But it always seemed to misread about a quarter of all the characters on a page. :ack:

Kor
 

I still don't see how that's authentic. Why would Kirk not recognize Saavik when he steps on the bridge, or not know about her history?

I suppose one could imagine Kirk was pulling her leg by pretending not to know who she was, just to see how she'd respond (she didn't get it). And presumably she could have graduated from SF Academy after the events of STII-IV, which explains the "You must be proud" comment. But that's way too much explanation for an exchanged that shouldn't have happened.
 
It's authentic. I've seen scans of the revised 5th draft with multiple page updates from script number 12 (the scripts were numbered so if a copy got out they'd know whose it was).
 
I still don't see how that's authentic. Why would Kirk not recognize Saavik when he steps on the bridge, or not know about her history?

I suppose one could imagine Kirk was pulling her leg by pretending not to know who she was, just to see how she'd respond (she didn't get it). And presumably she could have graduated from SF Academy after the events of STII-IV, which explains the "You must be proud" comment. But that's way too much explanation for an exchanged that shouldn't have happened.

I've got a partial fourth-draft for TUC, so I'll have to check how different the lines were for Saavik before the recasting occurred. But, like Maurice said, it is an authentic reproduction - likely the revised fifth draft from mid-March 1991.
 
Wasn't this a quote from something else with a racist connotation, and was originally given to someone else (Nichelle?) but who refused to say it??

It's a reference to the 1967 Stanley Kramer-Sidney Poitier-Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy film of the same name.

The line was indicated as being spoken by Chekov, as far back as the unrevised fifth draft (12/28/1990). I think the line you're thinking of was in a deleted scene, immediately following Gorkon and co. beaming in, where Kirk was showing them around the Enterprise's science labs. We see the following exchange in the 12/28/1990 draft:

41 INT. E-DECK CORRIDOR 41

leaving the Enterprise Science Labs...

GORKON
Your research laboratory is
enormous...

KIRK
Starfleet's been conducting an
elaborate experiment for the
past 2 years: all vessels are
equipped with heat sensors -
we've been studying
temperature variations in
planetary space. Would you
enjoy a brief visit topside?

CHANG
Very much.

CHEKOV
(pulling Kirk aside)
Captain, you're not going to
show them the bridge?

KIRK
Full diplomatic courtesy, Mr.
Chekov...
The party passes Uhura and a YOUNGER CREWMAN.

UHURA
Would you want your daughter
to marry one?

By the Pink revisions to the script on 2/27/1991, the line was transferred to the younger crewman, as Nichelle Nichols absolutely refused to say the line.
 
Are any these alternate edits available on YouTube?

I've never seen anything, but I've also never looked. My recollection is from several "Entertainment Tonight" specials prior to the film's release, as well as the 25th Anniversary Special that was hosted by Shatner and Nimoy that had a behind the scenes feature.
 
Wasn't Valeris wearing a Lt-Commander's uniform because she was going to be Saavik?
 
The whole scene felt acquired...but wasn't that the point. Imagine if U.S troop sat down with Nazi during dinner trying to have the first piece talk after war was over. Would be kinda weird.
 
^^^ "Acquired"?

Yeah, some of the dialog with in the 25th anniversary thingus. someone might;ve tried to use that to redit the scene into something like it was scripted.
 
Last edited:
General Chang could have served in the Klingon Military Intelligence which might explain why he knows so much about Earth. He studied the enemy's history and culture. That is basic 101 for any intelligence officer who spies on any enemies.
 
If you can believe it, in the script Chang spouts at least twice as much Bard as he does in the finished film.
 
You mean the one where he’s clearly discussing the planned evacuation of Qo’noS?
The planned evacuation that either didn't happen or later reversed after the environmental damage was repaired--that is a Lost Era story I would've loved to have read, focusing on a small SCE/science team entangled in some nefarious plot around the future of the Klingon Homeworld.

Wasn't Valeris wearing a Lt-Commander's uniform because she was going to be Saavik?
She was a Lieutenant with the insignia of a Lieutenant Commander who wore a Comm-Nav-Sci jacket and a Trainee undershirt, there were many many problems with her wardrobe :lol:
 
I always took it as a plan to get the populace off then fix the planet.

My general view of General Chang was to view the dinner from the perspective that he's sitting down with people he's intending to murder and people he's intending to frame. What's going on at the dinner is multi-faceted and depending on the cut and script, a bit too much.

* Checov is trying to be polite but he's failing miserably because he's not a trained diplomat and kind of racist.
* Kirk doesn't believe the Klingons and is here involuntarily.
* Uhura is put off by their table manners.
* Chang is even if he's sincere, disgusted by the whole thing.
* Gorkon's daughter doens't like the Federation herself.

And they're all drinking some hard liquor.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top