STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN – 40th Year Retrospective

Introduction

Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan was released on June 4th, 1982. Despite the lukewarm reception to 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Paramount Pictures wanted to continue with more films. With Gene Roddenberry no longer having control as he did with the previous film, Harve Bennett was brought aboard as Executive Producer, tasked to produce a script that could be filmed with a much smaller budget and hit the screens for the summer of 1982.

Bennett viewed all of the original series episodes to get an idea of what to create. He wanted the next movie to be more in line with the television show, not so esoteric and cold as Star Trek: The Motion Picture was. He also wanted a real villain, something also missing in the first film. When Bennett saw Ricardo Montalbán’s performance in the episode Space Seed, he knew he had his villain: Khan Noonian Singh.

Origins

The USS Enterprise encounters a derelict 20th-century spaceship, SS Botany Bay. Once boarding the ship, they discover humans in suspended animation. The crew turns out to be genetically modified super-humans that had fled from Earth during the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s.

The ‘supermen’ led by the charismatic Khan Noonian Singh, were the Earth’s last tyrants. Kahn plotted with the Enterprise’s historian Lieutenant Marla McGivers to take control of Kirk’s ship and return to their ways of conquest. In the end, Khan and his followers are defeated and are sent to a planet to live out their lives. McGivers decides to join them as she loved Khan.

Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold

The first draft was Star Trek II: The War Of The Generations. James Kirk is ordered to investigate a rebellion on a Federation planet. This introduces us to the character that would become Kirk’s lost love, Carol Marcus. One of the rebellion’s leaders was their son, whom he did not know existed.

Kirk is captured by the rebellion and sentenced to death by his son, who as it turns out was working with Khan. Kirk and his son eventually team up to fight Kahn and his son joins the crew of the Enterprise.

Bennett then hired television screenwriter Jack B. Sowards to continue working on the script. His addition to the storyline was to add the death of Mr. Spock. At the time Leonard Nimoy was not interested in returning to another Star Trek movie. He was enticed to come back one more time when he was told that his character would be killed in the movie.

Omega System

Another addition to the story Sowards added was the creation of the Omega System. The device was to be a powerful weapon to be used against the Klingons. The device had to be tested first. The Federation sent Captain Terrell and the USS Reliant was going to test. The test was to take place on the planet Ceti Alpha V. The planet where Kirk had left Khan and his crew at the end of “Space Seed”.

Khan and his followers were eventually able to capture the Federation crew that was on the planet checking for lifeforms. Khan was then able to take over the USS Reliant, which, of course, had the Omega device onboard.

On route to Gamma Regula IV, the Enterprise was damaged with Spock sacrificing himself to save the ship. The Enterprise was able to square off with the Reliant where Kirk and Khan fight each other in a psychic battle. The final battle would be between the two ships with Kirk defeating Khan with his superior battleship tactics.

More Writers, More Problems

Based on a suggestion from Art Director Michael Minor, the Omega System would be changed from a WMD to a terraforming device. Bennett liked the idea and changed the name to the Genesis Device due to its Biblical power.

Still feeling that the script was missing something, Samuel A. Peeples, writer of the original series episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, was hired to take a crack. He promptly removed Khan from the story and added Sojin and Moray, two god-like aliens from another dimension.

During this time a director was hired for the film, Nicholas Meyer, Time After Time (1979). He wanted to see the script to prepare for the shoot. At this point, the producers did not think that the script was filmable. The current draft was sent to him and he did not like it. Meyer then asked for all of the different drafts made. He, with producers Bennett and Bob Sallin, made a list of all the things they liked from the multiple drafts made. Meyer was able to cobble together a script from those parts.

Design

One of the first things to change was the costumes. Most of the cast did not like the uniforms used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and their designer Robert Fletcher agreed as noted in Star Trek: The Magazine:

“I didn’t like them much myself!”

Fletcher was hired for the production and asked to redesign the uniforms once again but with a smaller budget. They were able to salvage some of the uniforms from the first movie and with some alterations, they were used on some crew members. Since they were able to save some money with the old costumes, they could afford to design new uniforms for the main cast.

Meyer instructed Fletcher to design the costumes based on the uniforms from the movie The Prisoner Of Zenda (1937). He was not a fan of the ‘pajama’ look of the first film, he rationed that this is the navy, let’s have that look. The new uniforms would remain in use for the balance of the original cast films.

Visual effects were produced by Industrial Light and Magic. This would be the fifth film for the company created by George Lucas. Many models from the first film were reused, notably, the orbital office repurposed as the Regula I space station.

New designs included the USS Reliant and the Regula planetoid. One of the draft scripts, the Reliant was to be the same Constitution class as the Enterprise. It was decided that since the two ships would battle each other, the audience had to recognize which ship they were looking at instantly.

Fortunately, the Enterprise set from the first film was intact and only minor changes were made on the bridge. Meyer had the set repainted with darker colors and has the set designer Joe Jennings make the bridge ‘twinkle’. The bridge set would do double duty as it was also the bridge for the Reliant.

Cast

The original series cast returned for the sequel, but as with the abandoned Star Trek: Phase Two, another Vulcan character was created. Since Nimoy had not intended to return after the first film, Bennet had created a new science officer named Saavik.

It was initially going to be a male role but was changed when they cast newcomer Kirstie Alley to play the character. They altered the naming convention however as female Vulcans have all started with the letter T, (T’Pau, T’Pring). Ricardo Montalban was hired before Meyer was brought on to the project but had no issue with his casting stating:

“There’s an actor!’

Meyer had a hand in casting the additional roles including Bibi Besch as Dr. Carol Marcus and Merritt Butrick as Dr. David Marcus. Madlyn Rhue was to reprise her role as Marla McGivers but was suffering from the effects of multiple sclerosis. Instead of recasting, it was decided to have the character killed off adding to the list of Khan’s grievances with Kirk.

Themes

From the first script to the final product, a theme Bennett would retain is the aging of the characters. The timeline for the first film takes place five years after the television series mission had ended, but, it was produced ten years after the series went off the air. The idea was to make this story jump ahead in time to match the actual age of the actors.

The film starts with Kirk’s friends celebrating his 52nd birthday. On Earth, we see Kirk’s apartment, filled with antiques. Dr. McCoy presents him with reading glasses for his birthday, which are also antiques. Eventually, McCoy berates a morose Kirk:

“Damn it, Jim, what the hell is the matter with you? Other people have birthdays, why are we treating yours like a funeral?…Jim, I’m your doctor and I’m also your friend. Get back your command! Get it back before you turn into part of this collection before you really do grow old.”

Kirk has to come to terms with his life, a foe from fifteen years ago trying to kill him, and a son who knew nothing about his father. After the loss of Spock and the defeat of Khan due to the Genesis Device explosion, comes full circle declaring how he feels:

“Young, I feel young.”

In the wreckage of Botany Bay, several books are seen in the living container. “Paradise Lost”, “Moby Dick”, and “King Lear” with the latter two in particular will be quoted by Khan throughout the film. His final words are direct quotes from Captain Ahab. These books deal with vengeance and having to deal with bad decisions.

Conclusion

With an estimated budget of $11.2 million, the film grossed $79 million at the box office. While it had a smaller gross than The Motion Picture ($83 million), it was considerably cheaper than its predecessor’s estimated $40 million costs. Both film critics and movie fans’ reception to the film is rated much higher than the previous film. Generally, considered to be the best Star Trek film produced. It set the tone for the franchise and even saw a remake in the derisive Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).

A plotline that has endured since 1982 is the ‘no-win scenario’ Kobayashi Maru training test. Created to ‘kill’ Spock at the beginning of the movie and throw you off of his actual death later in the film, it has become a staple in the franchise. This training test has been referenced in Star Trek: The Next Generation, books, and games and shown again in the 2009 Star Trek reboot.

Nicholas Meyer’s work ensured that the human adventure would last for decades to come.

More from Cinema Scholars:

The Making Of Star Trek (Click Here)

Babylon 5: A Retrospective (Click Here)

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