While I certainly respect and understand that movie reviews are, by nature, a statement of one's opinion, I can't help but take exception with the recent Trek Today Retro Review of The Undiscovered Country. The reviewer was exactly right about how it was an allegory about the cold war and the break up of the Soviet Union. This is the very heart of the film. I agree with her questioning of Spock displaying a temper in the sickbay scene. This outburst would have been justified if it was Saavik instead of Valeris. It it had been Saavik, the emotional impact of that scene on the audience could have been much more effective and been an enhancement of the movie, rather than an incongruous distraction. In fact, the mind rape scene would have taken on a whole new level of significance if this would have been the character of Saavik. I don't necessarily agree with her revulsion to tis scene, but I can certainly understand where she is coming from. Where I do take exception is her conclusion to the movie: "The moral of the film seems to be that while science and technology may provide the means for intercultural communication and galactic peace, they’re not of much use without the fancy weaponry that has always been at the heart of Star Trek’s contradictory optimistic yet pragmatic view of the future." I think this actually turns the message of the movie on it's head. In spite of all the technology and weapons, it is the HATE and MISTRUST that must be surpassed. It is a bigotry that has been fanned into flame by years and years of hostility. It is not easy to trust someone that has been your enemy for 30 years. Those who cannot get past these may resort to the use of weaponry and deceit. Of course, if there weren't any space battles, the movie would have been pretty boring.
Another thing that bugs me are the complaints about the floating blood and how how cheesy this effect looks. Most of the reviews where I see this criticism are from younger reviewers who were not adults when the film came out. These special effects were on the cutting edge when this film came out. The floating blood is one of the (many) things that created a buzz about this movie. It is one of the reasons the film did as well as it did. The "morphing" effect had been seen in some commercials and videos before the movie came out, but it was still very new at the time too.
Kirk's "Let them die" line was something Shatner did not want to do. He was promised that they would show him saying that, and then immediately sort of waving it off and dismissing as appropriate. The director had it cut off after the line and broke his promase to Shatner. But let's remember that many people at the time were saying the same thing about the Soviet Union. Think about our modern day Islamic terrorists. Many people would not be upset if they were all wiped out. In World War II, many would not have had a problem will all of the people of Japan or all the people of Germany dying. I'm not saying any of this is a right attitude. I'm just saying that it would not necessarily be out of character for Kirk to have these feelings. It would not necessarily be out of character for him to verbalize these feelings when he was upset about being chosen as a sort of ambassador to a group of people he had been battling for decades. And David's death would not make that less likely, it would make it more likely.
I do have a lot of criticisms of the film:
>Spock just happened to have one of those patches in his hand while on the bridge?, Does he always have one of these with him?
>The character of Valeris that should have been Saavik. This was Spock's protege that he intended to replace him, but we've never seen her before?
>The blast that goes through the saucer section from the bottom but that goes through horizontally in the intereior.
>They have books on klingon but that information is not in the computer?
>The way Scotty knew which room to burst into to shoot the sniper.
>The way Valeris was so easily duped by the call of the court recorder to sickbay (what was she going to do, kill everyone in the room?)
> and several other nitpicky points, but I'll stop.
In spite of all its many flaws, I think this is my favorite of all the movies. The excellent dramatic music, the special effects, the humor, the drama and the thinly-veiled social message were all intriguing and engaging. This film had heart! This was a terrific send off for the original cast.
Overall, ST6 is my favorite of all the films, in spite of its many flaws.
Another thing that bugs me are the complaints about the floating blood and how how cheesy this effect looks. Most of the reviews where I see this criticism are from younger reviewers who were not adults when the film came out. These special effects were on the cutting edge when this film came out. The floating blood is one of the (many) things that created a buzz about this movie. It is one of the reasons the film did as well as it did. The "morphing" effect had been seen in some commercials and videos before the movie came out, but it was still very new at the time too.
Kirk's "Let them die" line was something Shatner did not want to do. He was promised that they would show him saying that, and then immediately sort of waving it off and dismissing as appropriate. The director had it cut off after the line and broke his promase to Shatner. But let's remember that many people at the time were saying the same thing about the Soviet Union. Think about our modern day Islamic terrorists. Many people would not be upset if they were all wiped out. In World War II, many would not have had a problem will all of the people of Japan or all the people of Germany dying. I'm not saying any of this is a right attitude. I'm just saying that it would not necessarily be out of character for Kirk to have these feelings. It would not necessarily be out of character for him to verbalize these feelings when he was upset about being chosen as a sort of ambassador to a group of people he had been battling for decades. And David's death would not make that less likely, it would make it more likely.
I do have a lot of criticisms of the film:
>Spock just happened to have one of those patches in his hand while on the bridge?, Does he always have one of these with him?
>The character of Valeris that should have been Saavik. This was Spock's protege that he intended to replace him, but we've never seen her before?
>The blast that goes through the saucer section from the bottom but that goes through horizontally in the intereior.
>They have books on klingon but that information is not in the computer?
>The way Scotty knew which room to burst into to shoot the sniper.
>The way Valeris was so easily duped by the call of the court recorder to sickbay (what was she going to do, kill everyone in the room?)
> and several other nitpicky points, but I'll stop.
In spite of all its many flaws, I think this is my favorite of all the movies. The excellent dramatic music, the special effects, the humor, the drama and the thinly-veiled social message were all intriguing and engaging. This film had heart! This was a terrific send off for the original cast.
Overall, ST6 is my favorite of all the films, in spite of its many flaws.
That wouldn't have been confusing or anything, especially if she was played by a third actor (Kim Cattral)! 
