Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

After seeing Star Trek Into Darkness a few weeks ago, and sensing that there were many mirror images of the second Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan, I went back and looked at it, because I'm not sure I had ever seen it, and if I did it was almost 30 years ago.

Released in 1982, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was a big sigh of relief to everyone, because it was such an improvement over the first Star Trek picture, which many people called The Motion Sickness instead of Motion Picture. It is generally regarded as the best film featuring the TV cast, and though it has its dated elements today, it's fun romp with some of the pleasurably cheesy aspects of the series thrown in.

Kirk, now an Admiral, is wasting his time as an administrator, collecting antiques. His old friend Bones tells him he should be commanding a starship again. Meanwhile, Spock trains cadets, and when Kirk makes an inspection they take a trip just to put the cadets to the test. While doing so, they get an emergency call from Kirk's old flame, Dr. Carol Marcus, who is working on a top secret project.

It turns out that Khan, a villain from the original series, has been accidentally discovered by Chekov. Khan takes control of Chekov's ship and maneuvers to have Kirk race toward him, so he can be avenged, at the same time stealing Marcus' project, which generates life from the dead.

Much of this film is a duel between William Shatner as Kirk and Ricardo Montalban as Khan, not only with starships but with scenery-chewing. Montalban, who looks sort of ridiculous with a long blond wig and a prosthetic chest, is nonetheless a joy as the evil Khan, who was genetically improved and ruled over a quarter of the globe back in 1996 (I must have missed that) before Kirk exiled him and his people. Of course Shatner is pure Virginia ham, wearing his toupee as if it were a bonnet in the Easter parade, parading around the set as if he were god's gift to the movies, but this is what we expect. Who wants a humble Kirk?

Meanwhile the rest of the gang is there, including Leonard Nimoy as Spock, who, in the parallel to the new film, sacrifices himself for the good of the crew. He and Kirk are living out Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities (if it isn't obvious enough, Bones gives Kirk a copy of the book for his birthday, along with a pair of antique reading glasses), while Khan is acting out Moby-Dick, even quoting from Melville for his last words. (Sharp eyes should spot a copy of that book on the shelf where Khan is living in exile).

It's a lot of fun, and in seen in today's viewpoint has a lot of amusing things, such as Kirstie Alley in her first role as a Vulcan (who could conceive that she would one day be known as Fat Actress?) while the "fake future" is also worth a giggle, as our technology outpaces the fictional. Yes, they can travel at warp speed and can beam each other around, but they still use videotape.