Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

DVD, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) film

Starting in reverse chronology: the best theme music ever! Spock's death was as affecting as always. Having recorded the end music many years ago I had relived that portion on several occasions and it is the strongest point in the film, with Scotty's bagpipes and such sadness of death and sacrifice. Beautiful. I was not disappointed watching this film, but I did feel less excited, which is, sadly, as Kirk found in the film, to do with growing older. The young mind of ten or fifteen years back is no longer so easily engaged. This is what happens with time, but even apart from the nostalgia it's still a strong experience. Though I have to be honest and say I don't think it's still the great film it once seemed. Common opinion is that this is the best of the Trek films, and I would agree that it is a better film than the first one, but there are several factors that undermine its qualities in some ways.

For one thing, to save money they reused a fair few scenes from the first film. The Kobayashi Maru test features the footage of the Klingons; there are shots of the Enterprise leaving spacedock; Kirk's shuttle docking, little bits and pieces like that which are noticeable. The other thing is, I feel they should have done a proper Director's Edition like 'The Motion Picture', which would have given them a chance to tie up the seams that were beginning to show at times, and improve the sound quality of the dialogue, which occasionally was not the best.

Being older I unfortunately notice periods that are slow or have visual suspects. Such as the end scene which I always remembered as being Spock in a completely closed chamber, but this time I could see through a gap in the revolving doors and my attention wandered to that. It's supposed to be sealed shut to prevent radiation leaking out! I wouldn't go as far as to say the design or sets were shoddy, far from it, they build on what was established in the first film, but like that door, there are occasional oversights, that lessen the impact and show the seams. Likewise in the opening sequence it seemed less dramatic than I recalled. At least the story logic holds up to scrutiny, compared with the liberties taken in the most recent film! 

There is still great drama and character to it, and it was obviously brilliant to have the original Khan back. Some characters get more of the limelight than others, with Chekov and Scotty having more to do than Sulu and Uhura, but they all get moments in some films. Another brilliant touch was to see now-Commander Kyle on the Reliant, and having Vulcan speech, little things that show that this could only be Trek. I always thought of this as my favourite Star Trek film and though I expected to be less impressed, having seen so many films now, it did seem less of the all-out attention-grabber of previous viewings. Khan still breathes quality and is one of the best screen villains I've seen, and the characters are noticeably more themselves than 'TMP' and the effects generally hold up pretty well, with the beautiful and atmospheric nebula battle.

I think all that's happened is that it's lost some of it's gloss for me, as everything does with time. Perhaps the 'scary' bits no longer seem a bit daring as I'm sure they did back when I saw it as a child. I'm glad they made more films, but perhaps if this had been the last it would have meant much more as it did to me in the past. Perhaps more modern films have superceded it in terms of balance ('Generations' and 'First Contact' specifically), but for the deep and considered moving of events, it's still very special.

I wondered if Joachim, Khan's lieutenant, could have been his son. Yes, it had only been fifteen years or so (according to Khan, but this was set in 2285, whereas 'Space Seed' was 2266, so surely it should be eighteen or nineteen years?), but maybe genetically enhanced children would grow up quicker? That would also give a satisfying balance to the film as Kirk's son is involved. One of the strongest parts of the ending is David's acceptance of his Father. If the film had ended on Spock's torpedo firing out, it wouldn't have been as positive, but the scenes after leave you feeling there is hope, after all.

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