Watched it again for the first time in decades if honest, I have to say it's still great fun but I wonder if the budget was reduced. The pace of it was pretty breakneck and I found it comparable to a two-parter of the television series, which is not a criticism at all as most modern blockbusters are way too long and contain overlong action scenes and have the faith of the universe at stake every single time. The scenes at Starfleet HQ looked a bit odd especially compared to the grandeur of the HQ in The Motion Picture.
The Undiscovered Country
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IIRC, reducing of budgets was common to all the TOS movies, and in fact the one factor that kept them going. "New sets" only ever really appeared in the third one, and "renovated sets" in the fifth were made possible by TNG (although they did wonders with that shuttlebay, a set recycled from another type of movie altogether). In that sense, the sixth actually represented a step up...
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
Those special effects still look impressive to this day.
I always thought it odd as well that Bones didn't know the Klingon anatomy given he was a Starfleet doctor.
What movie would that be?? I never knew that.
It's save to say that at this point, contact with Klingons was limited to conflict or difficult conversations. It's likely that Klingons would never share their anything with the UFP, let alone medical data. Remember, not even a decade before TUC they saw Genesis as a weapon of mass destruction. No doubt they felt that sharing medical data could lead to the UFP creating bioweapons.
Now.....is there an option that Starfleet Medical or some UFP institution did autopsies on dead Klingons? S31 maybe? Sure.... But that would go against medical ethical conduct established by the UFP and that kind of info would never make it to Starfleet Medical libraries.
Some very good points!
I'll be honest, I never expected anyone to describe the pace of ST6 as "breakneck".
I know this sounds harsh...and I don't mean it to be...but I can't remember the last time I tried to rewatch TUC and didn't fall asleep.
That's fair. We all have the ones we like or don't like. I don't really like anything in TMP after the initial Klingon attack but I know it's a lot of peoples fave. I like it's look a lot though.
In VI I like a lot of the little crew moments, like Spock and Scotty working together on Enterprise investigating the plot and Bones and Kirk smartassing each other on Rura Pente, which looks bloody gorgeous when they're trekking all over the snow with big helicopter shots and lots of new aliens I wish we'd see again; the government stuff with the President, the Admiral, Colonel West and Operation Retrieve. The dinner scene and Chang is just such a prick hamming it up but I love him for it. I even get a kick out of seeing the galley for some reason. I love Trek as Space Navy and this is probably the most it's been.
"Should we report this?" No Rand we shouldn't.
And the Bridge Observation Lounge, hallways and crew quarters.
And Ten Forward (as the UFP President's office).
Yeah, but based on what you wrote it feels more like an appreciation thread, not a critique on it. As follows, the movie was an amazing feat for what it had to accomplish.
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The two-tier structure was previously part of the Royal Palace from the Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America; a quick repaint and installing of TOS style trapezoid doorways on the lower and an observation booth on the upper level did wonders to a basic blank space, but the main expenses-saving bit was that the big space doors could be modified from a door arch built for that movie.
Also, Kirk couldn't speak a word of Klingonaase, and Uhura struggled with it...
That Kirk later would have Klingon swords on his trophy wall, in ST:GEN, doesn't mean there would have been close cultural ties between the two empires even at that time. Sure, somebody at Starfleet would no doubt have seen the insides of a Klingon (even if we discount Phlox more than a century prior). But teaching random starship doctors how to heal one would not have been a pressing need or a popular move.
Timo Saloniemi
I'm sure, just like medicine today, they would call in specialists for the various races. I can't imagine every Starfleet doctor being well versed on all Federation races, nevermind ones that weren't yet part of the Federation.
Thanks. I knew I was missing one.
Heh, I never knew that. Thanks for that little bit of trivia!
You don't need to wonder-the budget was severely reduced after Star Trek V, and Star Trek VI almost didn't get made because no one was really willing to make a movie for the money Paramount was willing to spend on it. Then studio leadership changed, and the 25th anniversary came around, and Nick Meyer was able to be convinced to work and got a moderate increase to the budget.
But, yeah, reused TNG sets, a TNG actor, and lots of creative work made TUC possible.
Not flawless, but definitely one of my favorite entries.
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