Star Trek II's Original Ending

[Kamdan]

Has anyone ever looked into how the original ending for Star Trek II was constructed? As far as I know, there was no "remember" insert shot and no shots on the Genesis planet. Was Spock supposed to just be fired into space without landing on the planet? I also know that after Kirk's "I feel young" line it was to end similarly to Star Trek VI with plotting a course "second star to the right and straight on 'til morning," then would it end with the final space shot with Spock's narration? I guess it was another wasted opportunity for a cool feature on the Blu-ray that didn't happen.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Was Spock supposed to just be fired into space without landing on the planet?

Yep.

I guess it was another wasted opportunity for a cool feature on the Blu-ray that didn't happen.

Well, Nick Meyer came to realise that the ending on the planet was kinda necessary to give the audience a sense of hope. And the version without the "Remember" insert would have been the early workprint.

Workprints aren't usually put on DVDs. They are unfinished, uncorrected for colour and timing, etc.

I saw the workprint for ST IV. It had several "scene missing" slides and a Klingon ship going around the sun with metal shooting armature visible, and a group of people underneath, pumping smoke out of handheld bellows, destined to be chroma-keyed out of the scene.

 

[Indysolo]

"Remember" was always there.

James Horner scored the original epilogue, which didn't have the sequence on Genesis and the reveal of Spock's photon tube. That music was released on the Film Score Monthly album. http://filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/431/Star-Trek-II--The-Wrath-of-Khan/

Neil

 

[Harvey]

Was it always there, or had it just been included by the time the film went to James Horner to be scored? It's not, for example, in this version of the script (which is pretty close to the workprint of TWOK that I've seen -- unfortunately a workprint missing the final reel or two in discussion here).

 

[Kamdan]

Thanks for posting the script!

 

[Merky]

I thought "Remember" was a last minute shoe-in rewrite. Spock wasn't supposed to come back but Harve Bennett wanted some hope to lighten the already darkened mood of the movie and to maybe leave room for a sequel... right?

 

[MANT!]

Per Wikipedia..

Negative test audience reaction to Spock's death led to significant revisions of the ending over Meyer's objections.

This, I've also read about it in StarLog not too long after the film was released..

Unlike Kirk's death in Generations, Spock's death always seemed to mean something..no matter what draft I read of TWOK...

What do we have that supports the "Remember" line always being there?

 

[Indysolo]

I meant it wasn't an addition to the film the way the Genesis epilogue was.

I've never heard the negative test reaction story and I don't always trust wikipedia.

Neil

 

[Harvey]

Meyer has re-told variations on the negative reaction at a test screening towards the ending being too cold, but I always thought that it lead to the addition of the Genesis epilogue as described. I'm not sure if it had to do with the "remember" bit or not.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Meyer has re-told variations on the negative reaction at a test screening towards the ending being too cold, but I always thought that it lead to the addition of the Genesis epilogue as described. I'm not sure if it had to do with the "remember" bit or not.

That's how I've always understood it. "Remember" was in the script, but no one thought it meant anything.

The torpedo-on-Genesis was a late shot that Meyer wasn't even involved with.

 

[Winterwind]

My understanding, though it's been a few years since I've read Shatner's and Nimoy's books was that "Remember" wasn't in it from the beginning, that it was added only after the negative reactions at test screenings. In fact, I'm quite certain, if memory can be trusted, that they asked Nimoy what he thought he could do to "leave a door open" and he was the one that came up with "Remember".

 

[Merky]

if memory can be trusted, that they asked Nimoy what he thought he could do to "leave a door open" and he was the one that came up with "Remember".

That's what i remember from Nimoy's book too. They had, during production, threw in the mind meld scene to give a sense of continuation or whatever.

The only thing that got added at the end was final scene at the Genesis planet in post production. Spock was supposed to die, I think the change of hearts during filming opened up the door for his resurrection.