Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a 1991 American science fiction film directed by Nicholas Meyer. It is the sixth feature film based on the 1966–1969 Star Trek television series. Taking place after the events of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, it is the final film featuring the entire main cast of the original television series. An environmental disaster leads the Klingon Empire to pursue peace with their longtime adversary, the Federation; the crew of the Federation starship Enterprise must race against unseen conspirators with a militaristic agenda to prevent war.
After the critical and commercial disappointment of The Final Frontier, the next film in the franchise was conceived as a prequel, with younger actors portraying the Enterprise crew while attending Starfleet Academy. Negative reaction from the original cast and the fans led to the prequel concept being discarded. Faced with producing a new film in time for Star Treks 25th anniversary, director Nicholas Meyer and Denny Martin Flinn wrote a script based on a suggestion from Leonard Nimoy about what would happen if "the Wall came down in space", touching on the contemporary events of the Cold War.
Principal photography took place between April and September 1991. Because of a lack of sound stage space on the Paramount lot, many scenes were filmed around Hollywood. Meyer and cinematographer Hiro Narita aimed for a darker and more dramatic mood, altering sets that were being used for the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Producer Steven-Charles Jaffe led a second unit to an Alaskan glacier that stood in for a Klingon gulag. Cliff Eidelman produced the film's score, which is intentionally darker than previous Star Trek offerings.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was released in North America on December 6, 1991. It received positive reviews, with publications praising the lighthearted acting, setting and references. It posted the largest opening weekend gross of the series before going on to earn $96.8 million worldwide.
Cast
The Undiscovered Country is the final appearance of all the major cast members from the original television series as a group. For the new characters, casting director Mary Jo Slater loaded the film with as many Hollywood stars as the production could afford, including a minor appearance by Christian Slater, her son. Meyer was interested in casting actors who could project and articulate feelings, even through alien makeup. It was included when Peter David, author of the film's comic book adaptation, visited the set and convinced Nicholas Meyer to insert it.
- Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, navigator and security officer on Enterprise. Chekov finds Klingon blood by the transporter pads, leading Spock to widen his search of the ship.
- Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, the Enterprise communications officer. Uhura was supposed to give a dramatic speech in Klingon during the film, but midway through production the speech was scrapped and a scene where Uhura is speaking garbled Klingon while surrounded by books was added for extra humor. Nichols protested the scene, wondering why there were still books in the 23rd century, but accepted the change since it would be the last Star Trek film she would appear in. Being African-American, Nichols was uncomfortable with some of the dialogue's racial undertones. Nichols was originally to speak the line "Guess who's coming to dinner" as the Klingons arrive on the Enterprise; Nichols refused to say the line, which was given to Koenig's character in the final print. Cinefantastique reported that Cattrall participated in a photo shoot during filming on the empty Enterprise bridge, wearing nothing but her Vulcan ears. Nimoy ripped up the photographs when he learned about the unauthorized photo session, because he feared harm to the franchise if it ever came to light. Meyer wrote the role for Plummer, who was initially reluctant to accept it. Nimoy, Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner suggested Kirk meeting Jean-Luc Picard, but Star Trek: The Next Generations producers rejected the idea. while the assassination storyline was Meyer's idea. He thought it was plausible that the Klingon leader who turned soft towards the enemy would be killed like similar peacemakers throughout history.
Konner and Rosenthal were originally tasked with writing the script at the behest of Teddy Zee, a Paramount executive, who had signed them to work for the studio. Their hiring caused rifts between Nimoy and Meyer due to the studio not communicating with the two of them over what Konner and Rosenthal's exact role was. Both eventually sat down with the two writers and talked about story ideas they had, which Konner and Rosenthal took extensive notes on. After they produced minimal, if any, usable material and appeared unlikely to make the deadline to start filming, Konner and Rosenthal were let go. They were later able to earn story credit along with Nimoy through the Writers Guild arbitration process; Nimoy and Meyer allege that Konner and Rosenthal deceived the Guild panel by presenting notes the two had dictated to them as their own original material.
Nimoy's hiring of Meyer was not only beneficial because Meyer knew the material and could write quickly—having produced The Wrath of Khans screenplay in twelve days—but if Meyer was to direct the film it would offset any acrimony from Shatner, whose ire may have been aroused if Nimoy directed a third Star Trek feature.
Writing
Meyer and his friend Denny Martin Flinn wrote the script by the nascent means of e-mail; Meyer lived in Europe while Flinn was based in Los Angeles. The pair worked out a system where Flinn would write all day and then send the draft to Meyer, who would read and make revisions. The script constantly changed because of demands made by the core cast and the supporting players. Flinn mentioned the exotic locales would have pushed the budget to $50 million.
Star Treks creator, Gene Roddenberry, who wielded significant influence despite his ill health, hated the script. the Enterprises hairline cracks were puttied and sanded down, and the internal circuitry was redone. The new model's running lights were matched to similar intensities, saving the effects artists time because the lights would look correct in a single camera pass, instead of the three passes required previously. One unfortunate byproduct of the fixes was the loss of the model's distinctive pearlescent finish. The elaborate sheen was never visible on screen (lighting schemes prevented reflections while filming so the ship could be properly inserted into effects shots) and so when the model was repainted with conventional techniques the effect was lost. Since it was important for the actors' expressions to be visible through the makeup, the appliances were made as thin as possible using the latest glues and paints. Transforming an actor into a Klingon took three and a half hours. Hairstylist Jan Alexander designed braids and jewelry that suggested a tribal people with a long and treasured heritage.
Meyer came upon the idea of having assassins kill a weightless Gorkon after searching for a novel way to "blow away" the character in space that had not been seen before. Meyer described most of the demos as generic "movie music", but was intrigued by one tape by a young composer named Cliff Eidelman. Eidelman, then 26, had made a career composing for ballets, television, and film, but despite work on fourteen features, no film had been the hit needed to propel Eidelman to greater fame. Intrada Records released a two-disc set in 2012. The first disc is made up of the complete score and four extra cues. The second disc contains the material from the original MCA release.
Literary and historical themes
The Undiscovered Countrys Cold War allegory and references to literary history were recognized among researchers and cultural historians. Scholars have noted that it is the Klingons, not the humans, who quote William Shakespeare; Gorkon claims at one point in the film that "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." In reality, the reverse—translating Shakespeare into Klingon—proved problematic because Marc Okrand had not created a verb for "to be" when he developed the language. Meyer said the idea for having the Klingons claim Shakespeare as their own was based on Nazi Germany's attempt to claim the Bard as German before World War II. Meyer had originally intended The Wrath of Khan to be called The Undiscovered Country. is spoken by Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in a short story by Doyle. As the Enterprise crew works to identify Gorkon's assassins, acting Captain Spock invokes "an ancestor of mine" who maintained that when the impossible is eliminated, what remains must be true, no matter how unlikely it is. This statement was made by Holmes in several works by Doyle; Meyer, too, has written Holmes novels, and has acknowledged the link.
The association of General Chang with the politics of the Munich Agreement that involved attempted appeasement of Nazi Germany are brought up twice in the film. The first is with Chang with other Klingon officials at a dinner with Kirk and Federation officers, where Chang declares that the Klingon Empire needs "breathing room", to which Kirk responds by imitating Spock's earlier quoting of Hamlet, saying that Chang's reference is "Earth, Hitler, 1938". Later when Kirk confronts Chang's warship, Chang mocks the historic British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who attempted to appease Hitler; with Chang saying that there will be "no peace in our time".
A major theme of the film is change, and people's response to that change. Meyer considered Valeris and Chang "frightened people, who are frightened of change", who cling to old ways despite the changing world. He hoped that the fictionalization of a current events story allowed for an objective look at the issues, rather than being blinded by prejudice. At the beginning of the film, Kirk operates under a similar prejudice, calling the Klingons "animals" and putting him at odds with Spock. The Vulcan sees the Gorkon peace initiative as logical, responding to the sudden change in the status quo in a collected manner; he even opens the peace dialog at the behest of his father. Kirk, meanwhile, is willing to "let them (the Klingons) die", unwilling to listen to Spock's words because of his prejudice. Kirk undergoes a transformation through the film by way of his incarceration; realizing that his hatred is outmoded he allows for a cleansing that restores his son to him in some way. Shatner regretted that Kirk's angst at being outmoded was minimized in the final print. A scene where Spock asks Kirk if they have grown so old and inflexible they have outlived their usefulness had two meanings: it was as much Nimoy asking Shatner as it was their characters. The day before the film's release, the core cast was inducted into Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and signed their names on Hollywood Boulevard.
Roddenberry did not live to see the film's release, dying of heart failure on October 24, 1991. Before the film's release he viewed a near-final version of The Undiscovered Country, and according to the film's producer and Kelley's biographer, approved a final version of the film. Paramount considered spending close to $240,000 to send Roddenberry's ashes into space—a move that had the backing of fans—but decided against it; his remains would make it into space along with 22 others in 1997. The film's opening included a note to Roddenberry's memory; at early showings, the crowds of Star Trek fans applauded loudly. The seventh Star Trek feature, Star Trek Generations (1994), would blend the old and new casts.
The Undiscovered Country opened in 1,804 theaters in North America and grossed $18,162,837 in its opening weekend; the showing was a record for the film series and was the top-grossing film of the weekend. The film grossed $74,888,996 in North America, for a total of $96,888,996 worldwide. The film was nominated in the Sound effects editing and Makeup categories at the 64th Academy Awards. The film won a Saturn Award for best science fiction film, making it the only Star Trek film to win the award. The film's novelization by J.M. Dillard was a commercial success, reaching the Publishers Weekly mass market paperback bestsellers list.
Critical response
The Undiscovered Country received a much kinder reception from reviewers and audiences than The Final Frontier. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 84% based on 61 reviews.
The Herald Sun reported that "those who found The Final Frontier weighed down by emotional gravity and over-the-top spiritualism [welcomed] the follow-up with its suspense, action and subtle good humor." The dialogue and banter were considered positive and defining aspects of the film. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said that "Star Trek VI is definitely colorful, but even more of its color comes from conversation, which can take some amusingly florid turns." Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today said that with Meyer directing, "this last mission gets almost everything right—from the nod to late creator Gene Roddenberry to in-jokes about Kirk's rep as an alien babe magnet."
Views on the acting of the main cast were varied. Lloyd Miller of the St. Petersburg Times said the characters "return to their original roles with a vigor and wit unseen in earlier episodes of the film series". Rob Salem of The Toronto Star quipped that though the actors looked silly on occasion, this was a benefit; "as their capacity for action has diminished, their comedic talents have blossomed [...] they have all become masters of self-deprecating self-parody." The Boston Globes Matthew Gilbert called the actors' performances "photocopies" of previous films: "Shatner and Nimoy are respectable, but lack energy. There's nowhere else to go with their roles, and they know it. DeForest Kelley is oddly out of it." Plummer and Warner's portrayals of their Klingon characters were well-received; Maslin commented that "whenever a skilled actor [...] manages to emerge from behind all this [makeup] with his personality intact, it's a notable accomplishment." The other supporting characters received similar praise; H. J. Kirchhoff, writing for The Globe and Mail, said that the guest stars joined the "family fun" of the film as "zesty, exotic and colorful good guys and bad guys". A Cinefantastique retrospective review considered the film to have the finest guest stars ever assembled for a Star Trek film.
The Cold War allegory and the whodunit aspects of the film were less positively received. Mary Boson of the Sydney Morning Herald considered the comparisons to real-world situations timely, and praised the plot for exploring the reactions of those who have invested themselves in a life of belligerence. David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor felt that the film veered away from the intriguing Cold War allegory premise to unsatisfying results. Instead of maintaining suspense, The Washington Timess Gary Arnold noted the Rura Penthe sideplot offered "scenic distraction without contributing significantly to the whodunit crisis [...] The crime itself has a promising 'closed-room' aspect that never gets elaborated adequately [...] You look forward to a cleverly fabricated solution." Arnold felt that instead of developing this mystery, the filmmakers defused the potential for suspense by shifting away from the search of the Enterprise. Brian Lowry of Variety felt Rura Penthe dragged down the film's pace, and that Meyer paid so much attention to one-liners that there was a lack of tension in the film, a complaint echoed by John Hartl of The Seattle Times.
The special effects were alternately lauded and criticized; USA Today called them "just serviceable", though Wloszczyna's review for the paper said the Klingon assassination sequence was "dazzling", with "fuchsia blood spilling out in Dalí-esque blobs". the release added a few minutes of new footage to the film. The Laserdisc version of the film was the tenth highest-selling video during 1992. The home video cut was later released for the film's 1999 DVD debut.
As with the other nine Star Trek films, The Undiscovered Country was re-released on DVD as a Special Edition in 2004. Meyer, who stated he dislikes director's cuts, nevertheless found "a couple of moments that I thought were not clear", and re-edited them as "I suddenly saw how to make them clear." along with the other five films featuring the original crew in Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection. The Undiscovered Country was remastered in 1080p high-definition from the 1999 DVD transfer. The film, like the others in the set, features 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. The disc contains a new commentary track by Star Trek screenwriting veterans Larry Nemecek and Ira Steven Behr. A 4K release with both versions of the film was released in 2022.
See also
- Nixon goes to China
- Flashback, the 1996 Star Trek: Voyager episode that includes scenes that take place during the opening events of the film.