The Wrath of Khan: A Tale of TERROR

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

Looking at the script again, the lead-up to boarding Space Station Regula I is actually made a little creepier:

109 INT. BRIDGE - ENTERPRISE 109

Battle damage, some repaired, some not. The bridge is
filled with tension, all hands at station.

SULU (V.O.)

Approaching Regula and Space Lab
Regula I.​

KIRK

Try again.​

UHURA

Space Station Regular I, this is
Starship Enterprise. Come in, please...​

110 INT. SPACE STATION REGULAR I - CAROL'S LAB - ON SCREEN 110

As before, Uhura's image, imploring a response.

UHURA

I say again. Space Station Regular.
This is Starship Enterprise. Please
respond. Please respond.​

During this, CAMERA HAS PANNED CLOSE AMONG the techni-
cal clutter. Then suddenly. SOUND -- eerie, frightening.
Our ears cannot place it... and before we can, it is gone
a warning.​

 

[Dr. K.R. Kollman hon.]

Almost everything in TWOK is about terror and dying

A 'no-win' scenario where everyone dies, including Spock
It's almost a nightmare scene from Kirk's perspective
Kirk asking Spock 'aren't you dead' is great foreshadowing
Kirk depressed about growing old
A planet that is 'almost completely lifeless'
Khan a ruthless murderous dictator is found
Khan's wife was killed by Ceti eels
Terrell and Chekov screaming
The Regula team needing to hide from the Reliant
Khan's sneak attack on the Enterprise
Battle chaos - people screaming and dying - smoke and fire
Scotty's bloody nephew brought to the bridge
- because the turbolifts weren't working right
How many on that 'boatload of children' died?
Found the bloody, murdered Regula 1 Scientists
McCoy's 'chance to get away from it all'
Terrell disintegrates Jedda
Terrell kills himself
Chekov screams and passes out
Khan steals the doomsday device
Kirk screams 'Khaaaan!'
The Battle of the Mutara Nebula
The crew of the stolen Reliant die
Khan dies
Spock dies

and there was James Horner's music which was slightly reused in ALIENS if you listen close

If you read the novel, they wrote the scene where Khan kills the Regula scientists. And Lt. Saavik is friends with Cadet Peter Preston. The novel makes TWOK even more gruesome.

It's Christmas Eve and I don't feel like trying to tackle the body count.

The Wrath of Khan is definitely a horror movie.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

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[HIjol]

Every well decorated Terror-Tannenbaum should have one!


https://www.etsy.com/listing/1586461274/khaaaaan-wreath-of-khan-christmas?ref=share_v4_lx

 

[FormerLurker]

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This and the music from Ceti Alpha V evoke music from TOS. I wonder if James Horner researched the TOS music before composing this.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

This and the music from Ceti Alpha V evoke music from TOS. I wonder if James Horner researched the TOS music before composing this.

I've heard others say this before and it gets me curious. I'm not as familiar with TOS music as I probably should be, do you know any specific episodes this sounds like?

On that note, Horner's mentioned before that his score in parts was inspired by the show (recall that it was Horner specifically that wanted to bring back the Star Trek fanfare), and in fact in one point he claim to have planted a specific easter egg:

"There were certain ways that drama was treated musically on the TV show. In certain spots in the film I tried to play upon that. In the sequence where the Ceti eels are put in the helmets, Khan says 'That's better. Now tell me about Genesis …" There, you hear a very high, weird lyre. And the strings are doubled with several percussion and electronic instruments.

"That's a very weird permutation of the Star Trek love theme from the TV series," reveals Horner. "It's a strange internal joke on my part. Very few people recognize it, but it's the kind of thing I smile at when I hear it. Maybe I perverted it so much that no one can recognize it now."
http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/star-trek-starlog-cinefantastique/

The soundtrack liner notes posit that the "love theme" Horner's referring to here is Vina's theme from "The Cage." I think the below is probably it?

(Starting @ 00:57)

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[SidneyIsTheKiller]

Speaking of the show, the more I think about it the likely reason TWOK could get away with dipping its toes (and somtimes its whole foot) into horror water is because so many episodes of the show have setups similar to horror stories: so many of them are mysteries involving freaky space phenomena, dangerous alien creatures, people going mad, etc. Space is a spooky place!

 

[Ssosmcin]

When Star Trek II was in production, Paramount was hip deep in the Friday the 13th series. Horror (slasher films specifically) were extremely popular. And after the mostly soft by comparison previous film, I would imagine Meyer wanted to give Star Trek a harder edge. Nimoy had gone on record saying Meyer was laying the green blood on too thick for his taste in the death scene.

The transporter accident in TMP was chilling and terrible but not the same realistic or graphic level "horror" that people could actually experience in some way. It was a PG sequence where TWOK's moments would get an R today.

 

[fireproof78]

Speaking of the show, the more I think about it the likely reason TWOK could get away with dipping its toes (and somtimes its whole foot) into horror water is because so many episodes of the show have setups similar to horror stories: so many of them are mysteries involving freaky space phenomena, dangerous alien creatures, people going mad, etc. Space is a spooky place!

It does, and I certainly have changed my attitude over the years as far as "Star Trek should not do horror" and far more of "I do not care for much horror in my Star Trek." That's my own attitude, and one reason that TWOK goes lower on my preferred list, while TUC goes higher despite its issues.

 

[FormerLurker]

I've heard others say this before and it gets me curious. I'm not as familiar with TOS music as I probably should be, do you know any specific episodes this sounds like?

I haven't thought about particular episodes, but the beginning of "Khan's Pets" is reminiscent of the kind of Act ending peril music that we all remember so well. A slow slide from a high note, only to bottom out in a musical threat.

 

[FormerLurker]

I thought it needed a new post:

I just saw on Youtube David Page's review of the music for Catspaw, composed by Gerald Fried. This, and Fried's score for Friday's Child, has the type of theme I was thinking of in my previous post.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

When Star Trek II was in production, Paramount was hip deep in the Friday the 13th series. Horror (slasher films specifically) were extremely popular. And after the mostly soft by comparison previous film, I would imagine Meyer wanted to give Star Trek a harder edge. Nimoy had gone on record saying Meyer was laying the green blood on too thick for his taste in the death scene.

I definitely suspect there's a lot of Meyer's personal aesthetic bleeding into the film here (no pun intended). I recall reading someone from the production (I forget which film) claim that Meyer enjoys using copious amounts of blood in his movies, which checks out as his two Star Trek entries are by far the most graphic of the films.

His Time After Time also has some surprisingly violent moments for what is otherwise a Star Trek IV-style time travel comedy.

The transporter accident in TMP was chilling and terrible but not the same realistic or graphic level "horror" that people could actually experience in some way.

TMP's transporter accident is definitely something that could have been played for horror if they'd wanted to even without showing the aftermath (putting in tension beforehand, adding frightening music, etc.) but I agree the way it's actually portrayed in the film plays up more the tragedy of the scene than the horror (I think the kicker is that the key line "What we got back didn't live long... fortunately" is followed by music that's somber rather than disturbing).

The sci-fi novelty nature of the deaths gives it an element of "body horror" but the movie treats it the way a modern-set movie treats a car accident and the like. The scene isn't really trying to scare you, specifically.

(Edit)
Star Trek VI's klingon massacre is another scene that could've easily gone the horror route if they so choosed (the killers are even masked!), but because they don't play up the intensity of the moment it doesn't come off that way (at least not to me). That sequence I'd say leans more crime/mystery/intrigue. TWOK really does seem to have the only straight-forward horror scenes in the Star Trek movies.

(Edit Again)

It was a PG sequence where TWOK's moments would get an R today.

I think TWOK could squeak by with a PG-13 these days, fairly brief shots of grisly burn makeup seem to be the kind of gore that rating accommodates. I think the only thing you'd have to take out or reduce is all the blood from the dead Regula I scientists, and not because of the amount (which isn't all that much) but because being part of such an obvious slasher movie style might make the censors consider its appearance more intense or vulgar.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

It does, and I certainly have changed my attitude over the years as far as "Star Trek should not do horror" and far more of "I do not care for much horror in my Star Trek." That's my own attitude, and one reason that TWOK goes lower on my preferred list, while TUC goes higher despite its issues.

I think that's fair. I wouldn't want a full-on Star Trek horror movie, either. I like that TWOK keeps it to bits and pieces (like I said, it's never registered to me as a "dark movie" overall) and I think First Contact had the right idea to present its horror-style scenes with a bit of a wink to the audience.

I also think there's a hard limit to how much gore is appropriate for Star Trek, and I think TWOK is pretty much right there on the threshold for me. I never cared for the infamous ending of TNG's "Conspiracy" episode, for instance, and I recall seeing that as a kid and feeling a little betrayed by the show: I was a kid who liked horror movies (and Alien, at that!) but I guess I felt it was unfair of the show to spring something upsetting like that on me when my guard was down. (Also, dismemberment, beheadings, disembowlments, etc. tend to bother me much more than blood does, maybe that's just me).

 

[Qonundrum]

A lighter form of terror…why do I want one!!!

The Wreath of Khan!

You know, that tasks me...

 

[Greg Cox]

Speaking of the show, the more I think about it the likely reason TWOK could get away with dipping its toes (and somtimes its whole foot) into horror water is because so many episodes of the show have setups similar to horror stories: so many of them are mysteries involving freaky space phenomena, dangerous alien creatures, people going mad, etc. Space is a spooky place!

Exactly. I've long argued that TOS owes more to its immediate predecessors, THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE OUTER LIMITS, than modern fans may realize, particularly when it came to embracing the scarier side of SF. Horror has been part of STAR TREK since the Talosians psychically tortured Pike and the Salt Vampire preyed on Kirk's crew.

By coincidence, I recently wrote an essay, "Scare Trek," on this topic for a non-fiction book on TOS, so the subject is still fresh in my mind. Certainly the 1960s "Monster Kid" in me responded to this aspect of TOS when I was watching the show back in the day. Those of us who grew on shows like THE OUTER LIMITS, not to mention vintage SF movies like WAR OF THE WORLD or THE TIME MACHINE, expected sci-fi to be scary at times -- and TOS did not disappoint.

Small wonder, I guess, that KHAN is far and away my favorite Trek movie.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I saw that scene at the top of the page when I was very young and I still have a phobia of insects crawling inside my ear hole.

Some roaches have been known to do that. But before you go back to sleep, rest assured they also travel, then die, inside radios as well. I saw one behind the glass. But it's teleporting blobs I worry about. And what they might choose to teleport on.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

By coincidence, I recently wrote an essay, "Scare Trek," on this topic for a non-fiction book on TOS, so the subject is still fresh in my mind. Certainly the 1960s "Monster Kid" in me responded to this aspect of TOS when I was watching the show back in the day. Those of us who grew on shows like THE OUTER LIMITS, not to mention vintage SF movies like WAR OF THE WORLD or THE TIME MACHINE, expected sci-fi to be scary at times -- and TOS did not disappoint.

Small wonder, I guess, that KHAN is far and away my favorite Trek movie.

What book is this, by the way?

It's always stuck out to me that video stores used to put "Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror" together in the same section. There are some war and crime films that are arguably as gruesome and disquieting as horror, but it does seem like being a "horror movie" requires an element of nightmarish fantasy to it, no matter how tentative.

 

[SidneyIsTheKiller]

The "Never Noticed That Before" thread comes through with some more spine-tingling details of the terrifying TWOK!

Giant human skulls on the right side of the matt painting for the Genesis cave:

 

[Greg Cox]

What book is this, by the way?

It's always stuck out to me that video stores used to put "Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror" together in the same section. There are some war and crime films that are arguably as gruesome and disquieting as horror, but it does seem like being a "horror movie" requires an element of nightmarish fantasy to it, no matter how tentative.

Galloping Around the Cosmos, edited by Jim Beard, which is a collection of nostalgic essays about watching TOS as a kid, back in the day. Thanks for asking.

https://www.amazon.com/Galloping-Ar...ss the Cosmos sets,even friends along the way.

As for SFF and horror being lumped together . . . in general, they all offer up the weird and unearthly, albeit in different contexts. And while some examples may be clearly one or the other, there's a lot of blurriness in the middle. Take time-travel for instance. Depending on the story, does it really matter if somebody travels through time via science, magic, or evil occult forces . . . as long as they end up in the Twilight Zone somehow?

SFF and horror have been joined at the hip since the days of Mary Shelley and H. G. Wells at least.