Movie Notes: Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country
= 4 stars
Starring William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Kim Cattrall
Directed by Nicholas Meyer
Synopsis
An explosion on the Klingon planet Praxis opens an opportunity for peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
The Good
- A genuine attempt to rectify the travesty of Star Trek 5, giving the Enterprise crew a final, dignified send off through a final adventure. Positive aspects of previous movies (space battles, villains quoting Shakespeare, and humor) are retained.
- Tension is achieved through a satisfying murder-mystery plot.
- The potential for peace with Starfleet’s long-time Klingon enemies (meant to parallel the end of the Cold War) leads to some interesting commentary on prejudice — Kirk still blames the Klingons for the death of his son David (Star Trek 3).
- After getting short shrift through the previous five movies (!), Sulu becomes integral to the plot as captain of the Excelsior.
- Two great scenes: Spock performs a mind-meld on the Vulcan Valeris (Kim Cattrall), and a final battle between the Enterprise and a cloaked bird of prey, where the camera moves in on Kirk’s final “fire!” command.
The Bad
- Drags a bit when Kirk and McCoy are trapped on a prison planet with a shapeshifter, although the end result is a pretty amusing Kirk vs. Kirk fist fight (a nod to The Enemy Within).
- Unfortunately the whole cast looks rather prohibitively old — Federation policy seems suspect, corralling senior citizens all aboard one starship. The situation proves most silly when Kirk leaps in the air to tackle someone during a peace conference.
- Originally, Spock’s Vulcan protegee Valeris was supposed to be Saavik, which would have put a whole new spin on the connection between Star Trek 2 and 3. Shame that idea was dropped.
Conclusion
While never reaching the epic heights of Star Trek 2, The Undiscovered Country repairs a lot of the damage caused by Star Trek 5 and sends the original series crew off into the sunset on a high note.
IMDB: Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country
Wikipedia: Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country
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