40 years of TWOK

[Grant]

So 40 years ago (later) today I eagerly stood in line for and then enormously enjoyed seeing ST 2. I was on a high for the rest of the night and couldn't sleep for thinking about it. I had enjoyed and liked STTMP but I can't say I thought it a great movie or even a great Trek movie, but for KHAN I felt they nailed it in every way -- FX, story, action, score and finally, most importantly the characters. And although I hoped and thought there'd be a sequel --even if there wasn't -- I felt at least Trek had shown that it could do the big screen in style as well as being probably the greatest cult show in history. Over that summer I saw it 4 more times and it later propelled me into the home video hobby as I felt I had to have it to see it whenever I felt the urge. It was also hugely exciting to see the "extended" (later Director's) cut in Feb, 1985 -- that solidified my obsession with missing/deleted/extended footage that the TV showing of TMP had started.

Any memories of June 4, 1982 and your first experience of Khan?

 

[Smellmet]

TMP was the first film I ever saw on the big screen at the age of 5, and whilst I found it to be awe inspiring it wasn't until much later I truly appreciated it. Fast forward to 82 and my grandmother took me to see the second movie at the long gone ABC cinema in Sheffield. She fell asleep half way through the film and I just left her too it, stayed sitting there and watched the very next showing. She woke up half way through the second showing none the wiser until we got out of the cinema and it was pitch black. My parents went nuts with me when I finally arrived home.

These first two trek movies both had a big impact on my childhood, especially TWOK having already watched TOS reruns before them, they are the reason I'm still a trek fan nearly half a century later.

 

[Kaelef]

One of my favorite movie theater memories was watching TWoK as an 11 year old. The theater was packed and you could feel the crowd was completely into the movie in a way that seems rare these days.

The tension was incredible as the Reliant and hobbled Enterprise seek each other out in the Mutara nebula. Shortly after Spock advises Kirk that Khan's inexperience is limiting him to two dimensional thinking, we see the Enterprise slowly rise above and behind Reliant... Kirk commands "FIRE", and we see Reliant take its first hit.

The entire theater erupted in cheers and released tension! It was a magical moment of shared excitement that still gives me goosebumps thinking back on today. There've been a number of other shared emotional moments in theaters, but nothing has ever matched that explosion of energy back in '82.

 

[The Knappos]

I didn’t see TWOK at the cinema on original release on account of only being about 6-8 weeks old when it debuted in the UK.

I’ve rectified this twice on anniversary re-releases over the years and loved it both times.

 

[Grant]

Yeah, people forget that TWOK had the biggest opening weekend in history up to that point! Theaters were packed and there was huge excitement and buzz.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I still remember opening day like it was yesterday. How shocking it was to see the Enterprise take actual physical damage… Spock’s death… all of it. But the most vivid memory I have is the very first few seconds of the movie, when the credits open with the first ten notes of Alexander Courage’s iconic TV series theme. The audience SHRIEKED in delight. Star Trek was back, baby!

It was electrifying.

Happy 40th birthday, TWOK!

 

[Jedi Marso]

Saw it in the theater at age 13 or 14. Darn near the perfect movie, for the time and place. Even then, I remember thinking that there was no way Spock would stay dead.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

40 years later it is still a nearly perfect movie.

 

[Grant]

It has my all-time favorite portrayal of Spock by Nimoy. I am not really a fan of how he was as Spock on the original series. I like that FINALLY he is comfortable in his half-human skin.

 

[Maurice]

The thing I remember most about my opening weekend experience with the movie was the audible groan in the audience when the Reliant first carved into the Enterprise.

 

[DonIago]

I wish I could remember seeing TWOK in the theater. I know I saw TSFS with one of my Dad's coworkers, but in 1982 I was 7 years old, and mostly I remember that I'm pretty sure I was scared of the Ceti Eels and some of the more violent moments in the film but I don't remember much about it otherwise. :|

That said, just reading this thread kind of made me want to listen to James Horner's score again. I know the score to TMP would probably have the edge in a poll, but for me TFF and then TNG played it to death, and I preferred the Horatio Hornblower tones that Horner brought to the franchise. I really wonder what he might have done for TUC.

 

[shapeshifter]

Me as Trek fan 1.0 was as a young teen, in the 70's so not much went on except watching and rewatching TOS reruns.

TWOK, otherwise known to me as Star Trek fan 2.0 begins.

Having missed TMP in the theater there was no way I was going to miss another one and what a strange trip (hehe) it was. My first big screen Trek and my first experience with block-buster lines (queues.) Excepting fragments like the Enterprise, and Spock dying it has mostly been all but washed away with countless reviewing of the film over the decades but that line was fun!

Me as Trek fan 2.0, starting with TWok, was breaking into all the tie in and collectables I could find and afford in those days, and ever since. Still have some of those old collectable rags, figures, models and whatever else is still lurking in the storages.

 

[Jeyl]

A toast to 40 years of The Wrath of Khan.

 

[Grant]

I wish I could have gone to the legendary Kansas City preview with an earlier cut which did not contain Spock's tube on the planet and the audience was in even greater grief. I would have been "get a grip, have you ever heard of sequels and nobody stays dead in science fiction."

 

[Professor Moriarty]

The thing I remember most about my opening weekend experience with the movie was the audible groan in the audience when the Reliant first carved into the Enterprise.

I remember whispering to myself “Raise the shields, raise the shields, raise the ******* shields!” and some lady sitting in front of me turned around and shushed me RIGHT when Khan cried “FIIIIIRE!”

I obviously wasn’t whispering it to myself too quietly.

 

[publiusr]

The thing I remember most about my opening weekend experience with the movie was the audible groan in the audience when the Reliant first carved into the Enterprise.

Star Trek II was a slasher film in that respect. Bloodier at the end. Space was dangerous now..since Empire and ALIEN.

 

[Vger23]

I was 6 when TWOK premiered, and I still have very good and specific memories of seeing it in the theater.

My dad had planned to surprise me by coming home early from work and seeing a late afternoon show during the week. Unfortunately, he had failed to tell my mom, so I was down the road at a friends house when he got home to collect me. As a result, we ended up late for the movie. I still remember walking down the isle with him just as Kirk and Spock were walking down the corridor outside the simulator room (so we missed the entire KM sequence unfortunately). I also remember other snippets and emotions. Obviously the Ceti Eels left an impression. I absolutely remember the tense moment where the Relaint and Enterprise are on collision course in the nebula (“Evasive starboard!!”). I think I was still a little too young to be really impacted emotionally by Spock’s death. I remember being bummed, but I also really didn’t understand the gravity of that moment.

Star Trek II remains a high water mark in the franchise for me. Great stuff….

 

[Qonundrum]

Star Trek II was a slasher film in that respect. Bloodier at the end. Space was dangerous now..since Empire and ALIEN.

And yet it didn't get an "R" rating... even though VI had to do big purple globs to avoid said rating.

Didn't see II in the theater, though was old enough to appreciate films when III came out and III proved one didn't need outright gore (which isn't a slag on II as it gets the tone just right for what it needed to do as well.)

II set the stage for the loose arc of II,III,IV, and VI.

V, in retrospect, was probably a good change of pace as it made VI feel so much more poignant as a result, especially for its central themes... but V has moments that still fit in with the "distrust of Klingons"... and the ending had an additional charm too.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I was 12 when TWOK came out. The Ceti eel scene scared the living piss out of me.

 

[JoseNoodles]

First Star Trek movie I saw as a child, on TV. Spock's death was heartbreaking, but I was told he came back in the next one. Really hope they do a 4k remaster for this one at some point.