SPOILERS
Thus it came to pass, twenty five years after the original series began, and twelve years after the first movie, the original crew of the USS Enterprise decided to retire. Before going however, they created history and they battled the all too human fear of change, all in a film which is not only brilliant to watch, but is a superb send off to this wonderful crew.
Since "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979), the klingons, the most famous enemy of all, were always shown to be rather a pathetic lot. With their only appearance in the first film being five minutes, they didn't get off to the best of starts. In the third encounter, "The Search for Spock" (1984), they were given slightly more menace but were still relatively inept. Finally in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989) the main Klingons were an old alcoholic mess who needed to be shouted at by Spock to do anything, and a pathetic ship Captain who seemed almost childlike and eventually had to apologise to Kirk. Therefore, for a long time, the Klingon Empire always seemed to be hard done by and put upon. In the first ten minutes of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", this process appears to be repeating itself again. With the Klingon moon of Cronos being half destroyed, Captain Sulu's USS Excelsior encounters the shock-wave when they discover this awful accident. Skipping forward and on Earth the Federation's leaders are informed that the Klingon Empire is now facing doom. As a result, Captain Kirk's Enterprise is sent to meet with Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner in yet another different role) and to begin discussions of Peace. It isn't long however before things go wrong and Captain Kirk is forced to battle the wonderfully evil General Chang (Christopher Plummer).
The beauty of this sixth film is that it puts considerable thought into all the real aspects required to make a decent "Star Trek" movie. With the crew beginning to feel their age, they perform brilliantly in their final adventure. At the same time, the supporting cast (including Plummer, Warner, Kim Cattrell and Brock Peters) is well thought out and constructed. Out of this supporting cast comes the absolutely superb General Chang, played by Christopher Plummer. When considering all of this series of films, arguably the three finest attempts are "The Wrath Of Khan", "The Undiscovered Country" and "First Contact". With the three charismatic, appealing bad guys in the form of Khan, Chang and the Borg Queen, these films appeal because they have an evenly matched battle. Whether it's Captain Kirk or Captain Picard, both Shatner and Stewart perform better in their roles when they are given an enemy to sink their teeth into. None is more true of General Chang in this film. Chang represents an almost Klingon alternative of Kirk. Both are Warriors with strong knowledge of Earth's past (Chang quoting Shakespeare perhaps once too often), and for the majority of the time, they both are terrified of change. The key to Kirk's success in this film is not the eventual destruction of Chang, but that Kirk is willing to set aside his prejudices and accept the Klingon offer of peace. The bartering between the two is superb and the film is considerably better for it.
"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" is probably more what people would classify as a typical adventure. Whilst the forth film was funny, it never felt like it belonged in the series, and it was then followed by the awful fifth film which was just in general bad. Therefore it feels like this final voyage of the original crew has saved face really. This film feels like it has learnt to respect the genre. Constructing a brilliant plot, Nimoy, Konner and Rosenthal, have given the characters wide enough space for them to develop, whilst simultaneously sticking to what makes "Star Trek" so great. There are battles, there's drama, there's emotion and there is mystery. With these however, the crew are able to banter between themselves, with Dr McCoy (the late, great DeForest Kelley) getting some of the best lines once again.
Ultimately, there is only one flaw with "Star Trek VI" and that is that it reminds us that this is the end. Whilst Patrick Stewart and the crew of the Enterprise NCC 1701-D would pick up the reigns from this moment on, the series would never be as good as it was with Captain Kirk in command. "Star Trek VI" tells us that never again will we see this crew together on board the Enterprise. This film is a brilliant film and a suitable way of saying farewell to this group of people, but this is in itself, rather upsetting.
Thus it came to pass, twenty five years after the original series began, and twelve years after the first movie, the original crew of the USS Enterprise decided to retire. Before going however, they created history and they battled the all too human fear of change, all in a film which is not only brilliant to watch, but is a superb send off to this wonderful crew.
Since "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979), the klingons, the most famous enemy of all, were always shown to be rather a pathetic lot. With their only appearance in the first film being five minutes, they didn't get off to the best of starts. In the third encounter, "The Search for Spock" (1984), they were given slightly more menace but were still relatively inept. Finally in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989) the main Klingons were an old alcoholic mess who needed to be shouted at by Spock to do anything, and a pathetic ship Captain who seemed almost childlike and eventually had to apologise to Kirk. Therefore, for a long time, the Klingon Empire always seemed to be hard done by and put upon. In the first ten minutes of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", this process appears to be repeating itself again. With the Klingon moon of Cronos being half destroyed, Captain Sulu's USS Excelsior encounters the shock-wave when they discover this awful accident. Skipping forward and on Earth the Federation's leaders are informed that the Klingon Empire is now facing doom. As a result, Captain Kirk's Enterprise is sent to meet with Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner in yet another different role) and to begin discussions of Peace. It isn't long however before things go wrong and Captain Kirk is forced to battle the wonderfully evil General Chang (Christopher Plummer).
The beauty of this sixth film is that it puts considerable thought into all the real aspects required to make a decent "Star Trek" movie. With the crew beginning to feel their age, they perform brilliantly in their final adventure. At the same time, the supporting cast (including Plummer, Warner, Kim Cattrell and Brock Peters) is well thought out and constructed. Out of this supporting cast comes the absolutely superb General Chang, played by Christopher Plummer. When considering all of this series of films, arguably the three finest attempts are "The Wrath Of Khan", "The Undiscovered Country" and "First Contact". With the three charismatic, appealing bad guys in the form of Khan, Chang and the Borg Queen, these films appeal because they have an evenly matched battle. Whether it's Captain Kirk or Captain Picard, both Shatner and Stewart perform better in their roles when they are given an enemy to sink their teeth into. None is more true of General Chang in this film. Chang represents an almost Klingon alternative of Kirk. Both are Warriors with strong knowledge of Earth's past (Chang quoting Shakespeare perhaps once too often), and for the majority of the time, they both are terrified of change. The key to Kirk's success in this film is not the eventual destruction of Chang, but that Kirk is willing to set aside his prejudices and accept the Klingon offer of peace. The bartering between the two is superb and the film is considerably better for it.
"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" is probably more what people would classify as a typical adventure. Whilst the forth film was funny, it never felt like it belonged in the series, and it was then followed by the awful fifth film which was just in general bad. Therefore it feels like this final voyage of the original crew has saved face really. This film feels like it has learnt to respect the genre. Constructing a brilliant plot, Nimoy, Konner and Rosenthal, have given the characters wide enough space for them to develop, whilst simultaneously sticking to what makes "Star Trek" so great. There are battles, there's drama, there's emotion and there is mystery. With these however, the crew are able to banter between themselves, with Dr McCoy (the late, great DeForest Kelley) getting some of the best lines once again.
Ultimately, there is only one flaw with "Star Trek VI" and that is that it reminds us that this is the end. Whilst Patrick Stewart and the crew of the Enterprise NCC 1701-D would pick up the reigns from this moment on, the series would never be as good as it was with Captain Kirk in command. "Star Trek VI" tells us that never again will we see this crew together on board the Enterprise. This film is a brilliant film and a suitable way of saying farewell to this group of people, but this is in itself, rather upsetting.