Star Trek VI: A Handsome Send-Off

[david g]

I very much enjoyed this film, seeing it again after many years. I used to find it plodding, but now I think it is deft and assured and a fitting end to the original cast-films. Christopher Plummer is an excellent successor to Ricardo Montalban, and it's nice to see a more "Spock'-like Spock again.

For all of its strengths, the movie is much less satisfying than KHAN. What would have made this a stronger film, in your opinion, or are you happy with it just as it is?

What I personally find tedious is the comic relief that they give the regulars on the Enterprise. Though given more to do than usual, the regulars often act too buffoonishly, eg, making up responses in Klingon--and getting a pass *from* the Klingons, anyway.

 

[Anticitizen]

I don't see why they couldn't use the universal translator to translate what they were saying into Klingon, and then just parrot what it says. Or use it for the incoming half of the transmission, for that matter.

Still, fun scene, so it gets a pass.

 

[JNG]

I'm super uncomfortable with the racist overtones in some of the Klingon stuff, and I am acutely aware that the director was only interested in Klingons as far as "Klingons=Russians," which is not the kind of thinking that typically produces great science fiction. A little more attention to Trekkian spirit and a little less allegory in favor of sci-fi and Trek for its own sake (hey, it had quite a history of its own by then, too) would have made this film even better. But it's a good one.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Character assassination, gratuitous Shakespeare, choppy editing and ham-fisted "allegory" are never a good formula.

 

[Joker]

Some elements of the plot were somewhat... off... for my tastes as well.

The patch on Kirk's back, and the sudden "court reporter to sickbay" announcement were difficult to completely understand on the first viewing.

The conversation between Spock/Kirk/Uhura during the climax wasn't terribly clear, either. "Gas" -> "Equipment for cataloguing gaseous anomalies, tailpipe" -> "Surgery on a topedo".

 

[Ward Fowler]

The editing was occasionally sloppy and the ending was rushed. Other than that, I thought it was a great film.

 

[steveman]

Just watched it again this week and was disappointed by how plot-driven it was. For the TOS crew's final film, it's too bad the characters weren't more of a focal point.

Pet-peeves of mine are any bits of dialogue regarding the Klingons that had any racist overtones (it could've worked, but the dialogue was just too hamfisted) and Roddenberry's choice not to use Saavik as the traitor. Although many fans loved Saavik, it would've been much more powerful to see her betray Spock than Valeris, whom we didn't even know until this film.

All-in-all, though, it was a strong picture. The final shot of the crew on the bridge was touching.

 

[arch101]

After Trek V, I thought "these guys are done". But after Trek VI, I thought they might have one more in them. I just hate that the bloated Shatner of Generations is our last memory of Kirk. He was still pulling off the Kirk thing mostly in TUC. He was an old fat guy by Generations.

 

[Kryton]

Second worst written Trek film. A recent re-watch made me glad it was only a bootleg copy since I don't intend to watch it again. Yuck.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Some elements of the plot were somewhat... off... for my tastes as well.

The patch on Kirk's back, and the sudden "court reporter to sickbay" announcement were difficult to completely understand on the first viewing.

The conversation between Spock/Kirk/Uhura during the climax wasn't terribly clear, either. "Gas" -> "Equipment for cataloguing gaseous anomalies, tailpipe" -> "Surgery on a topedo".

A matter of opinion, I suppose, but I found all of these to be pretty straight forward.

 

[TheGodBen]

It's my personal favourite. A perfect film? Certainly not, and it's not the best Trek film either. But I like the themes that ran through it, and I always loved it when Trek delved into politics and intergalactic affairs.

 

[garak1]

Just watched it again this week and was disappointed by how plot-driven it was. For the TOS crew's final film, it's too bad the characters weren't more of a focal point.

Pet-peeves of mine are any bits of dialogue regarding the Klingons that had any racist overtones (it could've worked, but the dialogue was just too hamfisted) and Roddenberry's choice not to use Saavik as the traitor. Although many fans loved Saavik, it would've been much more powerful to see her betray Spock than Valeris, whom we didn't even know until this film.

All-in-all, though, it was a strong picture. The final shot of the crew on the bridge was touching.

I agree 100% on the Saavik issue, the story would have been so much more powerful. It was clear that Valeris was intended to be Saavik, but obviously this was changed fairly late in the piece. Regardless, Kim Catrall did a great Vulcan.

I personally really enjoyed the film, and it's actually what got me in to Star Trek. I saw part of it previously, and always wondered who actually killed Gorkon (my money was on Azetbur). I eventually watched the complete film, and from there began getting right in to Trek.

There were a few problems, some of the Shakespeare quotes were a bit off, but other than that I thought it was a really good film. The special effects still look ok but today's standards, there was some excellent music, and some of the scenic shots as they were escaping Rura Penthe were magnificant. I thought the film was a fine send off to the cast of The Original Series.

 

[USS Triumphant]

This was and is my favorite of the movies, and it came a time in my life when a lot of other things were coming to an end. It just felt right.

A side note - one of my friends who went to see this with me three of the times I went to see it (out of six ) thought the Chancellor said, "This is my daughter, as it were." Which became a source of great amusement for a while after. We still give him a little crap about it every once in a while.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

That is pretty funny. ^^

 

[Steve67]

This was and is my favorite of the movies, and it came a time in my life when a lot of other things were coming to an end. It just felt right.

Same here. It was the only time I saw a Trek movie opening night, so there were many fans in attendance and it was a great crowd. I saw it with my two best friends from childhood, we were all twenty years old when STVI came out and it would prove to be the last time the three of us ever got together. We all agreed that STVI was a "handsome send-off" and it remains a warm memory for me.

 

[Semah]

I just watched it last night and was overall still pleased. I dislike parts of it. It would have worked far better to have Valeris be Saavik, even if Kim Catrell would have played her. Meyer likes exploring the flaws in his heroes and in this one, McCoy suffers most, from his medical ineptitude, his courtroom performance, and his "Leave me, I'm finished."

Scotty also continues his descent into "only there for comedic effect" status, and Uhura and Chekov have almost nothing to do.

Sulu gets a neat bit of play in his Captaincy and his "Target that explosion and fire," still makes me grin.

Spock is done close to his best in the movies, with the exception of that forced Mind Meld, which really rubs me the wrong way.

Kirk is a fine followup to his Wrath of Khan self. He is much older, and at the end of his career. He is past his prime and he knows it, but still manages to win the day.

The ending was very rushed and ended abruptly. I'm going to listen to the Director's commentary and see what Meyer has to say.

 

[Tulin]

Some elements of the plot were somewhat... off... for my tastes as well.

The patch on Kirk's back, and the sudden "court reporter to sickbay" announcement were difficult to completely understand on the first viewing.

The conversation between Spock/Kirk/Uhura during the climax wasn't terribly clear, either. "Gas" -> "Equipment for cataloguing gaseous anomalies, tailpipe" -> "Surgery on a topedo".

A matter of opinion, I suppose, but I found all of these to be pretty straight forward.

Yeah, except that they made the mistake of making it VERY CLEAR at the beginning that it was Excelsior doing the charting of gaseous anomalies.

You see, that is what you do in writing. You make a TINY comment near the beginning or you let some small, seemingly insignificant fact be known somewhere upfront that you hope your audience will forget. Then that tiny piece of info resurfaces at the end to basically be the thing that saves the day.

I remember seeing TUC and thinking,

"Wrong ship dummies!!!"


VERY disappointing in what was otherwise a pretty good movie.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I remember seeing TUC and thinking,

"Wrong ship dummies!!!"

I thought that, too. But then I thought that cataloging an entire quadrant for anomalies would be a pretty darned big job - much more than one ship could handle. Maybe there was virtually a fleet attached to that assignment. And maybe Enterprise would have been attached to it - and already had equipment loaded aboard for it - had it not been redirected to the emergency diplomatic function necessitated by the unexpected explosion of Praxis.

That's a lot of maybes, admittedly, but none of them are ridiculous, and a trip into the partially uncharted Beta quadrant would be consistent with the Enterprise mission to explore strange new worlds, so.....

 

[Semah]

Some elements of the plot were somewhat... off... for my tastes as well.

The patch on Kirk's back, and the sudden "court reporter to sickbay" announcement were difficult to completely understand on the first viewing.

The conversation between Spock/Kirk/Uhura during the climax wasn't terribly clear, either. "Gas" -> "Equipment for cataloguing gaseous anomalies, tailpipe" -> "Surgery on a topedo".

A matter of opinion, I suppose, but I found all of these to be pretty straight forward.

Yeah, except that they made the mistake of making it VERY CLEAR at the beginning that it was Excelsior doing the charting of gaseous anomalies.

You see, that is what you do in writing. You make a TINY comment near the beginning or you let some small, seemingly insignificant fact be known somewhere upfront that you hope your audience will forget. Then that tiny piece of info resurfaces at the end to basically be the thing that saves the day.

I remember seeing TUC and thinking,

"Wrong ship dummies!!!"


VERY disappointing in what was otherwise a pretty good movie.

That could be explained as both crews being assigned to calalogue the things. The vibe at the beginning was that the crew was past their prime. Maybe Starfleet gave them a milk run to end their careers.

(Reaching, I know )

 

[22 Stars]

Yeah reaching. I agree that the set up with the gaseous anomalies was just blown.