It is now official: I have watched all six classic Trek movies. And after doing so, I have reached the conclusion that I will never do six movie reviews in one month ever again.
I also fear I have not achieved the goal of my quest. As you may recall, the purpose behind this recent movie marathon was--and I quote--"to geek myself up". Alas, I have apparently failed in that endeavor. Only today I took this quiz which purports to answer the question "Are you a geek?" I scored a mere 16 which, although it means I am "almost a geek", shows that I have not achieved true geek status. :'(
But, geek or no, the fact remains I have watched Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. This film features the writing talent of both Nicholas Meyer and Leonard Nimoy and does not feature the writing talent of William Shatner, which means that it ends up being a far more intelligent movie than Star Trek V but also less funny.
The lack of unintentional hilarity aside, this film is very entertaining. An industrial accident on the moon Praxis has left the Klingons only fifty years before the ozone on their home world is completely depleted. Their only hope for survival is to end years of war, join the Federation, and receive the Federation's immediate aid in dealing with the crisis.
Not everyone wants to see peace between the Klingons and the Federation, however, and, after Captain Kirk is ordered to escort the Klingon Chancellor to a peace summit on earth, these shadowy people manage to assassinate said Chancellor and get Kirk and McCoy arrested for the crime.
Will Kirk and McCoy escape from the brutal penal colony of Rura Penthe? Who really murdered the Klingon Chancellor? Will the crew of the Enterprise be able to unmask the plotters and prevent any further assassinations?
Watch the movie. Find out.
I am struggling. Specifically, I am struggling to decide whether I like Star Trek VI or Star Trek II more. Both were well written, well directed, character driven films. I think I would characterize Star Trek VI as a "larger" film than Star Trek II simply because The Wrath of Khan focused on the personal battle between Kirk and Khan whereas The Undiscovered Country dealt with the very big issue of two sprawling superpowers trying to put an end to generations of hostilities and confront a problem that could very possibly spell the death of billions of individuals.
Well written or not, I did have a couple problems with Star Trek VI.
I can accept the idea that Shakespeare was translated into the Klingon language, and I can accept the idea that an individual Klingon might possibly really get into Shakespeare's work. However, my credibility was stretched when several of the Klingons in this movie displayed a great admiration for Shakespeare's writing.
Shakespeare is quintessentially human. As such, I find it unlikely that a majority of his work would appeal to Klingons. Hamlet specifically was quoted throughout the film, but it seems to me that Prince Hamlet would be viewed as a very weak and possibly even buffoonish character to the warlike, honor-obsessed Klingons. When faced with the murder of his father and the usurpation of his kingdom, what good Klingon would respond with the sort of emotional and spiritual struggles Hamlet responded with? It seems to me that, in that sort of situation, a Klingon's path would be fairly clear, and if he did endure psychological problems those problems would be in response to specifically Klingon societal issues and very different from anything Hamlet experienced.
It also seemed odd to me that all of the Shakespearian lines the Klingons quoted were lines that were often quoted by humans. Given their very different societies and moral codes, is it not likely that a Klingon would take away different things from Shakespeare than a human would? With enough mental gymnastics I can bring myself to accept the idea that Klingons might like Hamlet, but under no circumstances can I conceive of a way in which they (a) would admire Romeo and Juliet and (b) would specifically remember the line "Parting is such sweet sorrow", because I simply find it unbelievable that either that play or that line from that play would capture the imagination of a Klingon.
And don't even get me started on the whole translation issue and the fact that the Klingons quoted word for word what is found in the original English text.
I was troubled by it for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, whether or not the information Kirk and Spock desired was vitally important, the mind-meld came across as a definite violation. Spock was very angry and the individual he was melding with did not want to meld with him. The word "rape" did cross my mind as I watched that scene, and I don't like seeing Spock as a sort of rapist.
Secondly, call me a liberal pansy, but...whatever happened to the rule of law? I realize Kirk wants to be God, but the fact remains he and Spock are part of Starfleet which is a governmental/military organization. There are rules they have to abide by.
The whole scene brought up the issue of the use of telepathy during interrogation. In the Star Trek universe is it considered morally acceptable to use telepathy to gain information an individual would not otherwise volunteer? And even if, in general, it is considered acceptable, how is Vulcan telepathy specifically viewed? The Vulcan mind-meld seems like a particularly invasive and intimate form of telepathy; how would one go about morally justifying its use in interrogation?
The information Spock gained from the mind-meld in question was not even immediately essential, which makes it all that much worse. The most important information--the new location of the peace summit--was easily obtainable via a quick call to Sulu, and I suspect that the other information--i.e. the names of the conspirators--could have eventually been discovered in a more moral and legal manner.
Now I know you're all asking, "What's the problem there?"
I myself did not find anything wrong with it until a few days after I watched the film, at which point it suddenly occurred to me that, at the time the movie was filmed, DeForest Kelley was around 70 years old. It somehow just seems wrong to be 25 and to genuinely think a 70 year old is cute.
In the end, mostly because the Shakespeare thing really got to me, I think I have to go with Star Trek II as my most favorite Star Trek film, but it was really close.
And, test results aside, at least part of me feels that I really did achieve the goal I set out to achieve when I first started watching these films. After all, if discussing the Klingon attitude regarding Shakespeare or the moral implications surrounding the use of telepathy within an interrogation setting are not truly geeky then what is?
Copyright 2007 Jessica Menn