Note: this post should be in the movies forum. Sorry I put it in the wrong place, please move it.
So I've decided to watch my three favourite Star Trek movies ("The Wrath of Khan", "The Voyage Home", and "First Contact") over the next few weeks in preparation for the new one, and last night I watched "Space Seed" followed by The Wrath of Khan and it left me with some thoughts I wanted to share with the forum. I'm sure there have been countless threads about this movie, so I hope what I say doesn't sound redundant, repeating things that were already said in other ones (I can't go back and check every post ever made). The last time I watched this movie in 2007, I was trying to decide which one I thought was better between it and First Contact. At that time, I concluded that despite its superior special effects, First Contact wasn't quite as strong dramatically, and therefore, was just a little less successful overall. This time I'm not sure, because I feel that the primitiveness of the special effects makes The Wrath of Khan look a little weaker as a whole.
I love the way this movie begins. I had forgotten how leisurely-paced it was, but I appreciate that about it. It seems like a lot of Star Trek movies since (including First Contact and possibly the new one) have seemed to prescribe to the philosophy that they must plunge the audience into the action almost immediately in order to hook the audience's attention. I'm grateful that The Wrath of Khan takes the time to slowly establish where Kirk is psychologically (with his issues about aging), the status of the Enterprise under Spock's command, the nature of the Genesis project, and who Khan is and what his situation is instead of rushing towards the confrontation with Khan. All of this is basically exposition, but unlike in so many other movies, it doesn't just feel like boring scenes simply setting up what's going to happen later and explaining too much stuff to the audience. It becomes more than that because it's filled with engaging acting and delightful dialogue. I was surprised to discover that Kirk is not even made aware of Khan until almost an hour into the movie! The Reliant attacking the Enterprise without any warning after ignoring hails created a great "WTF?" moment for Kirk.
But an even greater surprise to me (in a bad way) was how much less I liked the action scenes than the scenes of exposition. It's usually the other way around - we impatiently wait for something to happen while the characters set the stage for action, but this time, I think the 'rising action' was more enthralling than the 'climax'. Again, I believe this is where the primitive special effects are detrimental to the movie. I thought the 'space battle' in the Nebula dragged a bit and was a little unconvincing (this may be the first time in the history of my Star Trek watching that I thought it looked pretty obvious that I was seeing model ships). Also, we're supposed to be in suspense about what's going to happen next, but I thought a lot of those sequences didn't keep the tension going very well. Between the moments when the ships are attacking each other and Khan is doing his final monologue, things seemed to be slowed down too much. I watched "Balance of Terror" on the same day and thought that even with its limited budget, it created a much more effective climactic battle scene.
The unfortunate shortcomings of the space battle sequence are easily forgotten, however, because of what a brilliant piece of work its aftermath is. I was quickly able to forget what had bothered me about the battle because of how riveting Khan's last words were and how even more powerful Spock's death scene with Kirk was. I think that because I loved those scenes so much, I was always able to disregard the weakness of what happened right before them. So now that I'm older, I guess I can see a lot more wrong with The Wrath of Khan than I did before, but the fact remains that despite its flaws, the parts of it that do work are still the most powerful and moving in all of the movies. For that reason, I think it still may be worthy of being called the best film in the series overall, even if its special effects leave a lot to be desired. Still, I'm going to watch the other two before I make up my mind about which I think is best.
The last thing I want to mention that was a revelation to me upon this viewing of the movie was the strength of Merritt Butrick's performance. I remember not liking this character on previous viewings for both superficial (I hated his stupid cardigan! What kind of 24th century fashion is that?) and more substantial reasons (I also thought he was just whiny and irritating), but this time, I found myself much more appreciative of the character and the way it was played. I used to think he was just a plot device used to set up Kirk's hated of the Klingons in Star Trek III and VI (like Rachel basically has no purpose in the new Batman movies except to set up Two-Face), but he actually does go through a very deep and significant emotional journey in the movie from resenting Kirk based on assumptions about him, to respecting him upon realizing his true bravery and compassion for others. In a way, I think his perspective represents how a lot of people see Kirk (including fans of the show) - on the surface, he seems arrogant, brash, and self-centered, but when you really get to know them, you see that he is actually very noble and cares deeply about others. The relationship between Kirk and David also ties nicely into the movie's theme of reconciling with one's own mortality and accepting aging, and I was pleasantly surprised that David's declaration of how he was proud to be Kirk's son was almost as touching to me as the funeral and eulogy that had preceded it. This also made me wish we'd been able to see their relationship develop further in future films.
Some stray observations/questions...
1) How hilarious was McCoy in this movie? I forgot just how much comic relief he provided. Maybe it's because on previous viewings I didn't see the director's cut, but I didn't expect his line about who's stalling the "damn elevator", so it got a huge laugh out of me.
2) Why does Uhura ask Regula 1 to come in about 60 times after Kirk, Saavik, and McCoy are already down there investigating? I wanted to yell at the screen for someone to tell her to shut up before Saavik FINALLY told her to stand by.
3) Did anybody notice that neat bit of continuity of Khan's second-in-command having the same name as a crewmember in "Space Seed"? At first I thought it was the same character (even though the actors look nothing alike), but Memory Alpha says it's the crewmember's son, and this is established in a Star Trek novel.
4) Speaking of continuity, that continuity goof with Chekov and Khan annoys me. I wish they could have stuck someone like Scotty down there, just so it would make more sense.
For those of you who've read all of this, I thank you for your patience. I know it might have been a bit of a slog to get through. If the rest of you wouldn't mind, I'd like to make similar posts about The Voyage Home and First Contact, but if you think it would be better if I just contribute to existing threads about them rather than start new ones, please let me know and refer me to those threads. I don't want to annoy anyone by taking up forum space for posts people aren't getting much out of. Any feedback would be appreciated!
So I've decided to watch my three favourite Star Trek movies ("The Wrath of Khan", "The Voyage Home", and "First Contact") over the next few weeks in preparation for the new one, and last night I watched "Space Seed" followed by The Wrath of Khan and it left me with some thoughts I wanted to share with the forum. I'm sure there have been countless threads about this movie, so I hope what I say doesn't sound redundant, repeating things that were already said in other ones (I can't go back and check every post ever made). The last time I watched this movie in 2007, I was trying to decide which one I thought was better between it and First Contact. At that time, I concluded that despite its superior special effects, First Contact wasn't quite as strong dramatically, and therefore, was just a little less successful overall. This time I'm not sure, because I feel that the primitiveness of the special effects makes The Wrath of Khan look a little weaker as a whole.
I love the way this movie begins. I had forgotten how leisurely-paced it was, but I appreciate that about it. It seems like a lot of Star Trek movies since (including First Contact and possibly the new one) have seemed to prescribe to the philosophy that they must plunge the audience into the action almost immediately in order to hook the audience's attention. I'm grateful that The Wrath of Khan takes the time to slowly establish where Kirk is psychologically (with his issues about aging), the status of the Enterprise under Spock's command, the nature of the Genesis project, and who Khan is and what his situation is instead of rushing towards the confrontation with Khan. All of this is basically exposition, but unlike in so many other movies, it doesn't just feel like boring scenes simply setting up what's going to happen later and explaining too much stuff to the audience. It becomes more than that because it's filled with engaging acting and delightful dialogue. I was surprised to discover that Kirk is not even made aware of Khan until almost an hour into the movie! The Reliant attacking the Enterprise without any warning after ignoring hails created a great "WTF?" moment for Kirk.
But an even greater surprise to me (in a bad way) was how much less I liked the action scenes than the scenes of exposition. It's usually the other way around - we impatiently wait for something to happen while the characters set the stage for action, but this time, I think the 'rising action' was more enthralling than the 'climax'. Again, I believe this is where the primitive special effects are detrimental to the movie. I thought the 'space battle' in the Nebula dragged a bit and was a little unconvincing (this may be the first time in the history of my Star Trek watching that I thought it looked pretty obvious that I was seeing model ships). Also, we're supposed to be in suspense about what's going to happen next, but I thought a lot of those sequences didn't keep the tension going very well. Between the moments when the ships are attacking each other and Khan is doing his final monologue, things seemed to be slowed down too much. I watched "Balance of Terror" on the same day and thought that even with its limited budget, it created a much more effective climactic battle scene.
The unfortunate shortcomings of the space battle sequence are easily forgotten, however, because of what a brilliant piece of work its aftermath is. I was quickly able to forget what had bothered me about the battle because of how riveting Khan's last words were and how even more powerful Spock's death scene with Kirk was. I think that because I loved those scenes so much, I was always able to disregard the weakness of what happened right before them. So now that I'm older, I guess I can see a lot more wrong with The Wrath of Khan than I did before, but the fact remains that despite its flaws, the parts of it that do work are still the most powerful and moving in all of the movies. For that reason, I think it still may be worthy of being called the best film in the series overall, even if its special effects leave a lot to be desired. Still, I'm going to watch the other two before I make up my mind about which I think is best.
The last thing I want to mention that was a revelation to me upon this viewing of the movie was the strength of Merritt Butrick's performance. I remember not liking this character on previous viewings for both superficial (I hated his stupid cardigan! What kind of 24th century fashion is that?) and more substantial reasons (I also thought he was just whiny and irritating), but this time, I found myself much more appreciative of the character and the way it was played. I used to think he was just a plot device used to set up Kirk's hated of the Klingons in Star Trek III and VI (like Rachel basically has no purpose in the new Batman movies except to set up Two-Face), but he actually does go through a very deep and significant emotional journey in the movie from resenting Kirk based on assumptions about him, to respecting him upon realizing his true bravery and compassion for others. In a way, I think his perspective represents how a lot of people see Kirk (including fans of the show) - on the surface, he seems arrogant, brash, and self-centered, but when you really get to know them, you see that he is actually very noble and cares deeply about others. The relationship between Kirk and David also ties nicely into the movie's theme of reconciling with one's own mortality and accepting aging, and I was pleasantly surprised that David's declaration of how he was proud to be Kirk's son was almost as touching to me as the funeral and eulogy that had preceded it. This also made me wish we'd been able to see their relationship develop further in future films.
Some stray observations/questions...
1) How hilarious was McCoy in this movie? I forgot just how much comic relief he provided. Maybe it's because on previous viewings I didn't see the director's cut, but I didn't expect his line about who's stalling the "damn elevator", so it got a huge laugh out of me.
2) Why does Uhura ask Regula 1 to come in about 60 times after Kirk, Saavik, and McCoy are already down there investigating? I wanted to yell at the screen for someone to tell her to shut up before Saavik FINALLY told her to stand by.
3) Did anybody notice that neat bit of continuity of Khan's second-in-command having the same name as a crewmember in "Space Seed"? At first I thought it was the same character (even though the actors look nothing alike), but Memory Alpha says it's the crewmember's son, and this is established in a Star Trek novel.
4) Speaking of continuity, that continuity goof with Chekov and Khan annoys me. I wish they could have stuck someone like Scotty down there, just so it would make more sense.
For those of you who've read all of this, I thank you for your patience. I know it might have been a bit of a slog to get through. If the rest of you wouldn't mind, I'd like to make similar posts about The Voyage Home and First Contact, but if you think it would be better if I just contribute to existing threads about them rather than start new ones, please let me know and refer me to those threads. I don't want to annoy anyone by taking up forum space for posts people aren't getting much out of. Any feedback would be appreciated!
