Runtime:
116 minutes (the Director's Cut, anyhow)
Directed
by: Nicholas Meyer
Starring:
William Shatner, Ricardo Montalban, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley,
James Doohan
From:
Paramount
Yes,
the most famous and what many say is the best Star Trek film...
including me. I saw it on the big screen (via a DVD projection) at
Universal Studios and their AMC Theatres. This was shortly before the
'09 Star Trek came out. That was great times. I know I have seen it
on VHS tape as a kid, on ABC TV, on DVD, and on the big screen. Good
times.
I
did do something different before seeing this late last night: I went
on YouTube and I watched the Space Seed episode from the original
series that introduced the Khan character. I know I saw it as a kid,
but that was at least 20 years ago. You don't need to watch it to
enjoy the movie as the movie explains pretty well what happened in
the episode, but it does add to the experience and back then the
performance and character were real charismatic and just cool. What a
great head of hair Ricardo had back then. It was as great as what he
had in the film.
I did laugh at the sexism on display; it was a
random woman character who happened to be a late 20th
century historian and that was appropriate as Khan was a genetically
created superhuman who ruled in the 1990's before going off to space
with his pals and being in cryogenic sleep for 200 years. He tries to
take over the ship with his followers but he gets thwarted. As it is
established that Kirk and most of the main crew admire Khan even
though he did bad things on Earth (something that Spock thought was
illogical), it is not surprising that they didn't go to Space Jail or
what have you and instead they were sent to Ceti Alpha 5 to see if
they could start a new world. Well, as explained in the movie, a
planet nearby it exploded so it went out of whack and the planet
became a desert world and Kirk never visited the planet in 15 years
to check up on it (as promised in the episode) so you can understand
why Khan would be pissed off about it.
Before
I move on with the nerditry, the YouTube copy has the original 60's
commercials; I don't know how they found the copy but they did and
talk about a product of their times. Advertisements for cigarettes
and RCA Victor, for example.
As
for the movie's plot, it's still great, where Khan is looking for
revenge and he and Kirk engage in a battle of wills and wits, and
Kirk is concerned about his old age and how much longer he'll get to
be a captain of a star ship, and then there's the Genesis Device and
whether or not it's ethical or not, and then there's Spock's
sacrifice... it's grand entertainment and it's still exciting and fun
to watch even more than 30 years later. And yes, from years of the
Internet I know that many people are still terrified of the scene
with those eels going into the ears of Chekhov and Terrell, and it's
understandable as it's a horrific thing to have something go into
your body, have an effect on your mind, and then make you go crazy.
So
yes I am glad that this is the sort of movie which still holds up in
modern times. Hopefully Star Trek Into Darkness can be just as good
as this one. I have no idea what to expect as J.J. Abrams isn't one
of my favorites and there's all the mystery about Benedict
Cumberbatch's character and whether or not he will be playing Khan or
not. I am starting to think he is but I know that will end up causing
a lot of controversy and angry Trekker fans due to how beloved the
original character is. Montalban-a Mexican-as the Indian (as in from
India) Khan Noonien Singh isn't so preposterous. The decidedly
British Cumberbatch as an Indian, though... they really must be
changing the character if he is Khan, and Lord knows how the reaction
will be to that. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.
I'll
be back tomorrow night.
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