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Subspace Chatter
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In Vulcan, Alberta, Canada news
Additional Stories we just couldn’t get to:
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Star Trek: Discovery Showrunners Explain Season 2 Themes And Conflicts
Sofia Boutella on Hotel Artemis, Gaspar Noé’s Climax and Star Trek | Collider
Watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Stars Get A Look At The Station In Star Trek Online
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Are Parallel Universes Real? Breaking Down “Star Trek” Technology
Dust devil tears through Vulcan softball game | Calgary Herald
Main Mission
This episode, we continue our chronological look at all the Star Trek movies. This time, a little film knows as “Star Trek II: The Vengeance of Khan.” Oops. I mean “The Wrath of Khan.” Sorry, old notes.
A little background here:
- “Star Trek II” premiered on June 4th, 1982, two and a half years after “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” Happy 36th birthday!
- Although Paramount was not overly pleased with the financial performance of “The Motion Picture,” they decided go forward with a sequel. However, there were substantial changes behind the scenes.
- Gene Roddenberry was reduced to the role of Creative Consultant
- Harve Bennett, brought in to produce, had never seen an episode of “Star Trek.” So, he sat down to watch them all. It was the result of watching “Space Seed” that gave him the idea of bringing back Khan as a villain.
- The initial budget for “Star Trek II” was a fraction of the budget for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”
- Harve Bennett wrote an initial draft for the movie, then brought in Jack B. Sowards, and, later, Samuel Pebbles. Finally, when Nicholas Meyer was hired to direct, Meyers reworked the screenplay into the version we now know. (although Meyer gets no on-screen credit for his work on the script)
- Although Kirstie Alley was cast a Saavik, (a character originally written as a male), Kim Cattrall had been Nicholas Meyer’s first choice for the role. Cattrall would go on to play Valaris in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” also directed by Meyer. The part was originally supposed to be another appearance of the Saavik character. And, you may know that “The Undiscovered Country” was one of the earlier titles for “Star Trek II”
- Initially Leonard Nimoy was not going to return. But he was promised a death scene.
- Meyer was responsible for making the movie look and feel more military, which displeased Roddenberry.
- A few technical firsts are found in the film: Industrial Light & Magic handled the special effects this time around, using practical models, including the Enterprise created for “The Motion Picture.” However, there was one completely computer-generated sequence: The demonstration of the Genesis Effect. It is cited as the first use of 3D computer animation in a major motion picture. It is the minute that opened Hollywood’s eyes to the potential of CGI.
- The 24 frames per second monitor, which eliminated the flicker seen when monitors were filmed, was first used on “Star Trek II” and went on to become an industry standard.
- Many of Khan’s henchmen were apparently Chippendale dancers.
- Instead of re-teaming with McDonalds, there were Wendy’s “happy meals” for Star Trek II
- Nicholas Meyer supervised the “ABC Sunday Night Movie” cut of “Wrath of Khan,” which removed some scenes for violence and language and added some small additional scenes and alternate takes.
- Last scene was reshot to include a less downbeat end of the Spock character — and a hint that his character was not dead.
Warpspeed Roundtable
A Star Trek II edition of “Space pod or Airlock”
Kyle
- Caught by surprise in the transporter room by Captain John Christopher (“Tomorrow is Yesterday”) and Marla McGyvers (“Space Seed”) and was also rendered unconscious by Khan.
- Beamed aboard a crewman who immediately fell over dead (“Catspaw”)
- Too sedated to operate the transporter for Kirk and Spock (“Wolf in the Fold”)
- Was in charge of the transporter when mirror universe crew transport occurred (“Mirror Mirror”)
- He fell under the effects of love crystals in the animated series episode “Mudd’s Passion.”
- And, while serving as Communications Officer on the USS Reliant, he was unable to communicate with Tyrell and Chekov on the surface of Ceti Alpha V, allowing them to be overpowered by Khan and his crew.
ON THE PLUS SIDE
- Serving at the bridge science station, he helped Mr. Spock find a weakness in Apollo’s force field (“Who Mourns for Adonais?”)
- Beamed the damage control party over to, and back from, the U.S.S. Constellation (“Doomsday Machine”)
- Helped Scotty loosen Vaal’s hold on the Enterprise (“The Apple”)
- For some reason he was at the helm when the Enterprise maneuvered through the space amoeba in “The Immunity Syndrome”
End Of Show
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Until next time, on behalf of Chuck, Kreg and myself, I’m Clinton, thanking you for listening. And, as we always say here on “The Topic Is Trek”
Don’t put on the red shirt!
