Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (Nicholas Meyer), 1982
Nicholas Meyer directed this second Trek film on a tight budget as an attempt to salvage the budding franchise from the shambles of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He was an outsider to Trek (as was the producer, Harve Bennett, who would largely take over Gene Roddenberry's role for the next few films), but an outside perspective was needed after the self-indulgence of the first film. Whether the fans recognise Meyer as one of their own is irrelevant: the fact is, it is this picture, and not Roddenberry's version, that set the tone for episodes II to VI. He is often described as "the man who saved Star Trek," and it's true enough.
Somewhat ironically, given the film's distancing from the Trek establishment, the plot is closely linked to the TV series. It involves the rediscovery of the evil Kahn (Ricardo Montalban), who had been marooned in space with his followers at the end of the TV episode "Space Seed." Kahn, a genetically engineered warrior who had ruled much of the Earth in the late twentieth century (a point glossed over in the movie) is out to seek his revenge on Captain Kirk after their disagreement on the TV series. He also quickly sets his sight on the Genesis Device, a planet-forming rocket that, while designed for good in true Starfleet fashion, has immense destructive capabilities.
The plot unfolds in a pretty straightforward manner, with the standard space battles and some routine double-crosses, but the presentation is slick, and that's what was new. Montalban generates enough strength of feeling to make the battle between him and Shatner's placid, puffy Kirk fun; and the Genesis Device is a clever plot device. Meyer and his crew overhauled the costume and production design, so the film looks completely different from (and a great deal better than) the first installment. The film was done on a tight budget, with models and sets reused from the first film (one space station was turned upside down to help disguise it), but the special effects look good and the use of computer animation for one key expository sequence was groundbreaking at the time.
James Horner provides a nifty score, improbably
managing to fill the very large shoes of Jerry Goldsmith.
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© 2005 by Stephen Rowley