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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Full Cast & Crew

• 68   Metascore
• 1 hr 53 mins
• Drama, Suspense, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction
• Watchlist Where to Watch

Another mission for the Enterprise pits them against a familiar enemy named Khan, who, while leading a crew of near-savage space prisoners, insinuates himself into the Genesis Project, which is designed to introduce living organisms on long-dead planets.

Screenwriter

Executive producer, assoc. producer, cinematographer, production company, art director, sound/sound designer, special effects, production designer.

Full Cast of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Actors/Actresses

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan cast list, listed alphabetically with photos when available. This list of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actors includes any Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actresses and all other actors from the film. You can view trivia about each Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actor on this list, such as when and where they were born. To find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you'll be taken to a page with even more details about their acting career. The cast members of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan have been in many other movies, so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with.

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

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Admiral James T. Kirk faces his greatest challenge yet. Suffering through doubts about his place in the galaxy, he is thrust into action once more against his most bitter foe – Khan Noonien Singh, who has escaped his exile on Ceti Alpha V and now seeks revenge on Kirk. With a powerful new device in the wrong hands and a no-win scenario in play, the cost of victory for the starship Enterprise may prove too high.

• 1.1 Act One
• 1.2 Act Two
• 1.3 Act Three
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.2 Kobayashi Maru
• 3.3 Vengeance
• 4.3.1 Star Trek: War of the Generations
• 4.3.2 Star Trek: The Omega System
• 4.3.3 Star Trek: The Genesis Project
• 4.3.4 The New Star Trek
• 4.3.5 Star Trek II: The Undiscovered Country
• 4.4 Casting
• 4.6.1 Starfleet uniforms
• 4.6.2 Khan and his people
• 4.6.3 Other
• 4.7 Shooting
• 4.8 Visual effects
• 4.9 Production history
• 5 Awards and honors
• 6.1 Merchandise gallery
• 7 Apocrypha
• 8.1.1 Opening credits
• 8.1.2.1 Additional Animation Visual Concept Engineering
• 8.2.1.1 LCARS references
• 8.2.2 Meta references
• 8.2.3 Script references
• 8.3 Sources
• 8.4 External links

Summary [ ]

Act one [ ].

IN THE 23RD CENTURY…

A female Vulcan sits in the command chair on the bridge of the Enterprise . While the senior staff work at their consoles, the officer, Saavik , makes a log entry , then orders Commander Sulu , manning the helm , to project a course to avoid entering the Neutral Zone.

Suddenly, Uhura receives a distress call from the Kobayashi Maru , which has struck a gravitic mine near Altair VI … inside the Neutral Zone. Despite warnings from both Sulu and Captain Spock , Saavik orders the ship to enter the Zone in order to beam the survivors aboard. Upon entering the Zone, the Enterprise is confronted with three Klingon battle cruisers , which open fire. The Enterprise is heavily damaged; many of the bridge officers are killed. Saavik has no alternative but to order the surviving crew to abandon ship.

Then the filtered voice of Admiral Kirk is heard. The bridge viewscreen slides aside, revealing a lighted room beyond. The Enterprise is a stage and the Kobayashi Maru was a test – one Saavik does not believe to have been a fair test of her command abilities. Kirk explains that the no-win scenario is a situation every commander may face and that how one faces death is equally important as how one faces life. Saavik seems ruffled at the advice, but Kirk offers that now she has something new to think about. As Kirk begins to leave, Dr. McCoy asks him if it would not be easier to just put an experienced crew back aboard the Enterprise . " Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor, " Kirk replies while on his way out. Uhura wonders aloud what the admiral meant by that.

" Happy birthday. Surely, the best of times… "

Outside the simulator room , Spock awaits Kirk's opinion of the cadets ' performance. Kirk notes that the trainees wreaked havoc with the simulator room and Spock alike. Spock notes that this is a common occurrence with the Kobayashi Maru test and then recalls Kirk's own experience, noting that the admiral took the test three times and that his final solution was somewhat "unique." " It had the virtue of never having been tried, " Kirk says. He then thanks Spock for his birthday present, an antique copy of A Tale of Two Cities , reciting the book's first line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." and asking his friend if it's meant to be a message. Spock replies " None that I'm conscious of, except of course, "Happy birthday." Surely, the best of times. " Just then, Spock is called to a space shuttle to take him to the Enterprise to prepare for Kirk's inspection. Kirk tells Spock he is going home and the Vulcan watches Kirk walk off with concern on his face.

Later at night, Kirk has retreated to his apartment , to be greeted by Leonard McCoy, who presents him with a bottle of finely-aged Romulan ale , vintage 2283 . For a present, the doctor hands him something in a case – reading glasses . " Oh, Bones , this is… charming, " Kirk says. McCoy notes that for most patients of Kirk's age, he usually prescribes Retinax V , which Kirk is allergic to. Noticing Kirk is acting stranger than usual, especially after giving him the glasses, McCoy questions whether Kirk really wants to carry on the duties of an admiral or to be "hopping galaxies" in a starship. Kirk confesses it to him, and the two share a drink sitting by the apartment's fireplace. McCoy admonishes Kirk to get his command back (in stark contrast to his previous assessment of Kirk's command fitness) before he gets too old.

Meanwhile, Commander Chekov is aboard the USS Reliant , which orbits Ceti Alpha VI in connection with Project Genesis , searching for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis experiment. Although Ceti Alpha VI should be incapable of supporting life, Chekov detects a minor energy flux reading on one dynoscanner . They promptly report this to Carol Marcus at Regula I , a space station orbiting a planetoid . They believe it is something they can transplant, since it may only be a particle of preanimate matter . Marcus is unsure and tells them that there " can't be so much as a microbe or the show's off. " Chekov and his commanding officer , Captain Clark Terrell , then beam down to the surface to investigate in environmental suits . " There's nothing here. The tricorder must be broken, " Chekov tells Terrell as they fight their way through clouds of dust until they discover what appears to be a crashed derelict vessel, which Terrell remarks looks like cargo carriers . Inside, Chekov soon discovers that the derelict is the shelter for the crew of the SS Botany Bay , a ship he remembers all too well . Panicking, he rushes a confused Terrell toward the exit, only to find a group of cloaked figures waiting outside nearby.

" A criminal… a product of late 20th century genetic engineering. "

On board Reliant , Commander Kyle attempts to raise communications with Terrell but receives no response. He and Chekov are held captive by the mysterious inhabitants, their leader revealing himself as none other than Khan Noonien Singh , and it further turns out that the planet they were investigating is in fact Ceti Alpha V , which was devastated by the explosion of the sixth planet six months after Khan and his followers were exiled to the planet by Kirk fifteen years earlier . In order to find out not only why the two are there, but also Kirk's whereabouts, Khan forces juvenile Ceti eels into their ears , rendering them subservient to his every command.

Under the command of now-Captain Spock, the Enterprise is being used to train Starfleet Academy cadets, and Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu come aboard to assist in a short training cruise.

Chekov contacts Regula I to inform Dr. Carol Marcus, the head of the Genesis project, that Kirk has ordered them to take possession of the Genesis Device . Khan and his Augment followers have commandeered the Reliant , and Chekov informs Khan that Marcus will attempt to confirm the "order," something that Khan is counting on. A furious Dr. Marcus attempts to contact Kirk (who turns out to have been formerly her lover) to confirm the order, but the signal is disrupted at its source. Carol's message is thereby confusing and Kirk's replies cannot be heard by Marcus. Marcus and the Genesis Project personnel prepare to vacate Regula I before Reliant arrives. Kirk, after consulting with Starfleet Command , converses with Captain Spock in his quarters, who encourages Kirk to assume command. Kirk protests, insisting that it is okay for Spock to retain command during the mission (perhaps remembering what happened when he usurped the command of another captain of the Enterprise ), but Spock assures Kirk that, by contrast, he has no ego to be bruised by Kirk taking over for him, and further asserts that it was a mistake for Kirk to accept promotion, as commanding a starship is Kirk's "first, best destiny." Kirk agrees and assumes command, ordering Enterprise to set a course for Regula I. " So much for the little training cruise… ", Sulu notes as the Enterprise enters warp speed.

Khan, in full command of Reliant , has the ship set on an intercept course with Enterprise . Khan's second-in-command, Joachim , while pledging his loyalty and that of his comrades, tries to convince Khan that by escaping the planet, he has now evened the score with Kirk. Khan is not content to merely be even with Kirk, however, and reveals his intention to take revenge on the admiral.

While en route to the space lab, Kirk shows Spock and McCoy a briefing video on Project Genesis, the ultimate goal of which is revealed to be the creation of a torpedo-like Genesis Device, which can be fired at a lifeless planetary body and transform it into a habitable world. McCoy is alarmed at the implications of this, since if a Genesis Device were used on an already inhabited world the terraforming process would obliterate all life on the planet in mere seconds. " As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create, " Spock mentions, although McCoy points out that the Genesis Device makes it possible to do both simultaneously, leading to a potential armageddon. Their discussion is interrupted by Saavik, who informs them that another starship is on an intercept course. A Federation starship named Reliant .

Peter Preston , mortally wounded by Khan's attack

Near Regula I, Enterprise finds the Reliant waiting for them. Despite Reliant failing to answer hails, Kirk is reluctant to raise shields – as, Saavik reminds him, regulations prescribe. The two ships edge closer, and Kirk orders yellow alert after finding the situation to be " damn peculiar " but still doesn't raise shields because the Reliant claims they can't use their communications system due to their chambers coil emissions. Spock quickly discerns that this isn't true, as Khan orders the shields on Reliant raised, then locks phasers. This is detected by Spock, and Kirk finally orders shields up but it is too late as Reliant opens fire, knowing exactly where the ship's most vulnerable points are, disabling the Enterprise 's main energizer and warp core, leaving only the battery to power the ship, and fatally injuring several cadets. Engines are down, shields inoperative, and there is only enough power for a few phaser shots, which isn't enough against Reliant 's shields. Reliant fires a photon torpedo from its aft launcher at the Enterprise which causes the crippled vessel's bridge to erupt in flames.

While Kirk is trying to hold the heavily damaged Enterprise and her injured crew together, Uhura announces that Reliant is signaling, wishing to discuss terms of their surrender . Kirk, taken aback for a moment along with the bridge crew, orders Uhura to put Reliant 's commander on screen. Kirk is shocked to see Khan in command of the Reliant . Khan arrogantly announces his plans to destroy the Enterprise , to which Kirk pleads with Khan to take him as prisoner and spare his crew. Khan agrees, but also demands all information and material on the Genesis device. Kirk pretends to comply, but actually transmits a signal using Reliant 's prefix code (1-6-3-0-9) that causes Reliant to lower her shields. Despite Khan's intelligence – he knew exactly where to hit the Enterprise for maximum damage – he is still relatively inexperienced with a starship. When he realizes what Kirk is doing he is unable to immediately find the controls to override the command lowering the shields. With the few shots auxiliary power can give him, Sulu is able to fire a few well-placed shots at the Reliant , damaging photon control and the warp drive (which also disables her phasers). An enraged Khan is reluctant to withdraw, but Joachim reminds him that Enterprise , with its disabled power systems, can't escape. Both ships limp away for repairs and the match ends in a stalemate.

Act Two [ ]

The Enterprise at Regula I

Kirk is furious at himself for being lulled into a false sense of security, spitting, " I did nothing! Except get caught with my britches down. I must be getting senile. " He then surveys the wounded in sickbay and attends Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston on his deathbed alongside a grieving Scott. With impulse power restored, the Enterprise arrives at Regula I. Kirk and McCoy form a landing party , and Saavik reminds Kirk of General Order 15 barring the admiral, as a flag officer, from beaming into a dangerous situation without armed escort. Kirk disputes the existence of such a regulation, but then relents and invites Saavik to join the landing party. Kirk leaves Spock in command of the Enterprise , but not before the latter admonishes the former to be careful. (To that, McCoy replies that they will all be careful.)

" Oh, sir… it was Khan! We found him on Ceti Alpha V. "

Aboard the station, they find the personnel murdered and discover Chekov and Terrell semi-conscious and weakened inside a storage compartment. When the two officers come to, they claim they overcame the effects of the Ceti eels and reveal that the crew of the Reliant is marooned on Ceti Alpha V. Terrell calls Khan completely mad and that the genetically engineered superman blames Kirk for the death of his wife . Continuing their investigation, the Enterprise crew finds that the station's records of the Genesis Device have been erased. Exploring the station leads them to a transporter that has recently been activated. Checking the coordinates, Kirk realizes they beamed into the Regula planetoid . Kirk asks for a damage report from Enterprise . Spock reports that " by the book, hours would seem like days " and that main power will be not be available for two days. Kirk orders Spock to leave orbit if the Enterprise hears nothing from them within one hour. Uhura protests that they will not leave them behind, but Kirk retorts that if they hear nothing, there won't be anybody there to leave behind.

" KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!! "

They follow the transporter coordinates and materialize inside a cavern. The Genesis Device is there, but before Kirk can move, he is attacked by his son, David Marcus , who accuses Kirk of trying to steal Genesis. Carol, David's mother, tries to defuse the situation, but before she can elaborate the team is threatened by Chekov and Terrell, who it turns out are still under Khan's control. David brashly tries to rush the two, but Saavik tackles him to the ground just as Terrell fires on him, misses, and vaporizes the third scientist, Jedda instead. On the bridge of the Reliant , Khan gleefully orders Terrell to kill Kirk. However, Terrell resists Khan and the eel causes him extreme pain. To escape it, he turns his phaser on himself and commits suicide. Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel slips out of his ear before being vaporized by Kirk. Khan, shocked to find Kirk alive and well, beams the Genesis Device up to the Reliant before vowing to leave the admiral and his party marooned inside Regula forever by destroying the Enterprise , whom Khan believes will be crippled for at least two days, prompting Kirk to scream at Khan in blind rage.

Later on, Kirk avoids Carol and David's questions about Khan by asking for food. Carol and David show Kirk, McCoy, and Saavik the Genesis cave , which was created by a smaller Genesis Device: deep within Regula there is a stable ecosystem that was created in just one day. Meanwhile, Khan moves the Reliant back towards the spacelab where he expects to find the Enterprise , completely helpless. However, Khan is astonished to find that the Enterprise is not there. In the cave, Saavik asks Kirk, who casually eats an apple, about his performance on the Kobayashi Maru scenario. McCoy tells her that Kirk is the only one to beat the no-win scenario, and Kirk admits he reprogrammed the simulation. David chuckles and says he cheated, and Kirk qualifies that he "changed the conditions of the test." Kirk then promptly contacts Enterprise , and Spock says they should prepare for transport. Kirk smiles at a dumbfounded Saavik and asserts that he does not like to lose. Saavik asks for clarification while beaming back aboard, and Kirk reminds her of Regulation 46A : Spock made his report using an improvised code to deceive Khan; instead of immediate repairs taking two days, they only took two hours and moved the Enterprise out of range of the Reliant 's sensors. " You lied, " Saavik tells her mentor. " I exaggerated, " Spock replies. Kirk explains, " Hours instead of days ; now we've got minutes instead of hours. "

Act Three [ ]

After assessing the situation, it is determined the Enterprise can not outrun or outgun the far less damaged Reliant . Kirk decides to take the fight to the nearby Mutara Nebula , whose ionized gases will disrupt both ships' sensors and shields, making the fight an even one. Spotting the Enterprise fleeing, Khan orders Reliant to pursue, but Joachim is reluctant, so Khan acquiesces.

" Khan, I'm laughing at the superior intellect. "

Back on the Enterprise , Spock notes with his sensors that Reliant is reducing speed and seems to be backing off its pursuit. To ensure that Khan will follow him, Kirk has Uhura contact Reliant and proceeds to taunt his nemesis, saying " We tried it once your way, Khan. Are you game for a rematch? Khan… I'm laughing at the superior intellect. " Mocked and enraged, Khan orders full impulse power above Joachim's protests and recklessly heads into full pursuit. " I'll say this for him – he's consistent, " Kirk remarks about his nemesis as the Battle of the Mutara Nebula commences. Both ships are quite hampered by the conditions, but this is a good thing for Kirk, since both ships are reduced to an equal level of non-functioning systems, whereas in open space Enterprise would have been the more disabled vessel.

" We are now entering the Mutara Nebula . "

The opening of the battle consists of a game of cat-and-mouse with both ships. Computer-targeting does not function, so both crews must rely on manual firing commands by eyeballing the opposing ships on their static-filled viewscreen. Sulu, more experienced, narrowly misses the Reliant due to turbulence, while Khan fires a torpedo aft at the Enterprise , but both fail to land a hit.

As they maneuver half-blind around the nebula, suddenly the static on the Enterprise screen clears enough to reveal that the ships are about to collide. They veer apart and narrowly miss colliding, and at such point-blank range even manual firing is enough for each vessel to inflict key hits on the other. The Reliant manages to destroy the port torpedo tube of the Enterprise , which then returns fire and damages the Reliant bridge deck, causing an explosion that kills several of the bridge crew including Khan's most trusted lieutenant, Joachim, whom Khan vows to avenge. Main power on the Enterprise goes out again and the warp drive chamber in engineering floods with radiation, forcing Scott to take the mains off-line just before he and most of his crew pass out.

The crippled Reliant adrift in the nebula

A shaken, but physically recovered Chekov enters the bridge offering his assistance, which Kirk accepts and orders him to man the weapons control station. Kirk, still struggling with a strategy to trap Khan, listens to Spock, who suggests that Khan's battle plan to that point suggests "two-dimensional thinking." Kirk, inspired by Spock's comment, orders the ship to descend vertically. Khan isn't prepared for Enterprise to drop "down" its Z-axis as he passes overhead and then rise "up" directly behind him. Reliant 's torpedo pod is destroyed by a torpedo fired by Chekov, and a phaser blast and torpedo hit blows off its port nacelle . Reliant is crippled and drifts away, trailing plasma . Most of Khan's crew is killed in the process, and Khan himself is left maimed and barely alive.

" No, Kirk. The game's not over. "

In a last-ditch effort to destroy Kirk, Khan activates the Genesis Device, which will reorganize all matter in the nebula – including the Enterprise . With the mains offline, the warp drive is inoperable and the Enterprise cannot escape the large explosion that the device will trigger. Unnoticed, Spock exits the bridge while Kirk orders a withdrawal at "best possible speed".

" We're not gonna make it, are we? "

Spock arrives in the engine room, only to be blocked by Dr. McCoy from entering the lethally irradiated dilithium reactor room. After first feigning compliance, an apologetic Spock nerve pinches McCoy and mind melds with the doctor, simply saying " Remember… " He then dons Scott's radiation suit gloves, enters the chamber, and endures the life threatening radiation while repairing the main reactor . McCoy and Scott yell at Spock to get out immediately, but he continues to work, ignoring their pleas.

As Enterprise crawls away from Reliant , the bridge crew starts to resign themselves to the seeming inevitable. Sulu says what everyone is thinking; " We're not going to make it, are we? ", which David silently confirms to Kirk. On Reliant 's bridge, Khan quotes Moby Dick using his last breaths: " No… no, you can't get away. From hell 's heart , I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee. "

Spock finishes his work in engineering, bringing the warp engines back online just in time. Kirk, believing Scott to have worked a miracle, orders Sulu to engage immediately and Enterprise streaks away into warp just as the Genesis Device explodes, completely destroying the Reliant and killing Khan and his followers. The Mutara Nebula condenses around the explosion, creating the Genesis Planet . Kirk contacts engineering to congratulate Scott, but he is surprised to hear McCoy's voice gravely reply that Kirk needs to come down. Kirk looks over and notices the empty chair at the science station . A look of horror washes over Kirk's face as he rushes down to engineering to find Spock on the other side of the reactor room's wall. McCoy and Scott restrain him from rushing in and flooding the engine room with radiation, with Scott saying that Spock is already dead. Devastated, Kirk calls out for Spock and follows as the Vulcan, blinded by the radiation, staggers to the side of the transparent wall, finally resting against it.

" I have been… and always shall be… your friend. "

Spock attempts with difficulty to explain to Kirk his reasoning: " Don't grieve, admiral. It is logical . The needs of the many outweigh… " to which Kirk replies, " the needs of the few, " and Spock nods, " or the one… " Spock states that he himself never took the Kobayashi Maru simulation " until now, " and asks Kirk, " What do you think of my solution? "

Kirk, stricken with grief, can't reply. " I have been and always shall be your friend. Live long and prosper. " He holds out his hand, in the traditional Vulcan salute , and Kirk presses his hand up to the glass as well, watching helplessly as Spock slumps to the floor and dies. It takes all of his resolve to keep his composure as he sees his closest friend die in front of him. This time, there is no going back.

Spock's funeral is held later, on the torpedo deck . Kirk says a few words in Spock's honor, concluding with a befitting statement: " Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… Human . " The crew watches (with Scott playing " Amazing Grace " on bagpipes ) as Spock's body is launched in a torpedo casing into the atmosphere of the newborn Genesis Planet.

Afterward, Kirk is in his quarters and tries to read from the book Spock gave him on his birthday but discovers that one of the lenses of his reading glasses was broken during the final battle with Reliant . Exasperated, he tosses them on the table as David enters. Kirk tries to be dismissive, but David confronts him, telling Kirk that he (Kirk) never really faced death. When Kirk admits that he hasn't, David points out that Kirk earlier told Saavik that how people face death is as important as how they face life. Kirk says those were just words, but David thinks they are good words, from which good ideas come. He then tells Kirk he is proud to be his son. The two of them hug, awkwardly at first but then with genuine warmth.

" He's really not dead… as long as we remember him. "

Later, on the bridge, Dr. McCoy, Carol Marcus, and Kirk stare at the Genesis Planet on the main viewscreen as the Enterprise departs for Ceti Alpha V to pick up the surviving crew of the Reliant . McCoy notes that as long as they remember Spock, he will not truly be gone.

" It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known. "

Kirk softly quotes the last lines of A Tale of Two Cities ; something Spock was trying to tell him on his birthday. Upon McCoy's inquiry as to how Kirk feels, he answers: " Young. I feel young. "

Spock's torpedo coffin having landed on the surface of Genesis

On the Genesis Planet, the torpedo casing containing Spock's body has soft-landed among the jungle flora of the newborn world, teeming with new life and new possibilities. Spock's voice provides the final words:

Space… the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise . Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds… to seek out new lifeforms, and new civilizations… to boldly go where no man has gone… before.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Any suggestions, Admiral? " " Prayer , Mister Saavik. The Klingons don't take prisoners. "

" Physician, heal thyself. " " Is that all you gotta say? What about my performance? " " I'm not a drama critic. "

" How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say? " " As I indicated, Admiral, that thought did not occur to me. " " Well, now you have something new to think about. Carry on. "

" 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' Message, Spock? " " None that I am conscious of. Except, of course, happy birthday. Surely…the best of times. "

" Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, doctor. "

" Romulan ale . Why Bones, you know this is illegal. " " I only use it for medicinal purposes. "

" Now, you open this one. " " I'm almost afraid to. What is it, Klingon aphrodisiacs? " " No. More antiques for your collection. " " Why, Bones, this is… charming. "

" Jim, I'm your Doctor, and I'm your friend. Get back your command. Get it back before you turn into part of this collection. Before you really do grow old. "

" He's never what I expect, sir. " " What surprises you, lieutenant? " " He's so… Human. " " Nobody's perfect, Saavik. "

" Every time we have dealings with Starfleet, I get nervous. We are dealing with something that… could be perverted into a dreadful weapon. Remember that overgrown Boy Scout you used to hang around with? That's exactly the kind of man… " " Listen, kiddo, Jim Kirk was many things, but he was never a Boy Scout! "

(to Captain Terrell) " I don't know you. " (to Commander Chekov) " But you… I never forget a face, Mister… Chekov, isn't it? I never thought to see your face again. " " Chekov, who is this man? " " A criminal, Captain. A product of late 20th century genetic engineering. "

" You lie! On Ceti Alpha V, there was life! A fair chance– " " THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!! Ceti Alpha VI exploded six months after we were left here. The shock shifted the orbit of this planet and everything was laid waste . Admiral Kirk never bothered to check on our progress! It was only the fact of my genetically engineered intellect that allowed us to survive. On Earth… two hundred years ago…I was a prince…with power over millions. " " Captain Kirk was your host. You repaid his hospitality by trying to steal his ship and murder him! "

" This is completely improper, Commander Chekov! I have absolutely no intention of allowing Reliant or any other unauthorized personnel access to our work or materials! " " I'm sorry that you feel that way, Doctor. Admiral Kirk's orders are confirmed. Please prepare to deliver Genesis to us upon our arrival. Reliant out. "

" Starfleet has kept the peace for over a hundred years . I cannot, and will not, subscribe to your interpretations of this event! "

" Jim, you proceed from a false assumption. I am a Vulcan. I have no ego to bruise. "

" If I may be so bold… it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny. Anything else is a waste of material. "

" Were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. " " Or the one. "

" You are my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been and always shall be yours. "

" He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition's flames before I give him up! Prepare to alter course. "

" As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create ." " Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out. Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes ! "

" Logic? My God, the man's talking about logic! We're talking about universal armageddon! You green-blooded, inhuman – "

" Ah, Kirk… my 'old friend'. Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold…in space. "

" Admiral, the commander of the Reliant is signaling. He wishes to discuss terms of our surrender. "

" Sir, you did it! " " I did nothing! Except get caught with my britches down. I must be getting senile. Mr. Saavik, you go right on quoting regulations! In the meantime, let's find out how badly we've been hurt. "

" He wants to kill me, for passing sentence on him fifteen years ago. And he doesn't care who stands between him and his vengeance. "

" Go? Where are we going? " " Where they went. " " Suppose they went nowhere? " " Then this'll be your big chance to get away from it all. "

" Where's Dr. Marcus? " "I'm Dr. Marcus! "

" Mother, he killed everybody we left behind! " " Of course he didn't. David, you're just making this harder. " " I'm afraid it's even harder than you think, doctor. Please… don't move. "

" All is well, sir. You have the coordinates to beam up Genesis. " " First things first, Captain. Kill Admiral Kirk. "

" Khan, you bloodsucker! You're gonna have to do your own dirty work now! Do you hear me? DO YOU?! " " Kirk! Kirk, you're still alive, my old friend. " " Still – 'old friend'! You've managed to kill just about everyone else, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target! "

" I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on… hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me… as you left her . Marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet… buried alive. Buried alive. " "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!! KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!"

" You had your world… and I had mine. And I wanted him in mine… not chasing through the universe with his father. "

" Actually, he's a lot like you. In many ways. "

" Impulse power restored. " " Excellent. More than a match for poor Enterprise ."

" Can I cook or can't I? "

" I don't believe in a no-win scenario. "

" That young man – he's my son! " " Fascinating. "

" Admiral, what happens if Reliant fails to follow us into the nebula? " " I think we can guarantee she'll follow us, Mr. Saavik. Remind me to explain to you the concept of the Human ego. " " Best speed, Scotty. "

" Khan… I'm laughing at the "superior intellect". "

" Full impulse power. " " No, sir! You have Genesis! You can have whatever you–! " (grabs Joachim by the vest) " FULL POWER! Damn you! "

" He 's intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking. "

" Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!? No Human can tolerate the radiation that's in there! " " As you are so fond of observing, Doctor, I am not Human. " " You're not going in there! " " Perhaps you're right. What is Mr. Scott's condition? " " Well, I don't think that he — " (Spock renders McCoy unconscious with a Vulcan neck pinch) " I'm sorry, Doctor; I have no time to discuss this logically. (Mind melds with McCoy) Remember. "

" No… no, you can't get away. From hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee. "

" Bless you, Scotty – GO , Sulu! "

" Jim, I think you'd… better get down here. "

" No! You'll flood the whole compartment! " " He'll die… " " Sir! He's dead already. " " It's too late. "

" I have been… and always shall be… your friend . Live long… and prosper. " " No…! "

" We are assembled here today to pay final respects to our honored dead. And yet it should be noted that in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place in the shadow of a new life, the sunrise of a new world, a world that our beloved comrade gave his life to protect and nourish. He did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one. And we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings. Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels… his was the most… Human. " " Honors, hup! "

" You knew enough to tell Saavik that how we face death is as least as important as how we face life. " " Just words. " " But good words. That's where ideas begin. Maybe you should listen to them. I was wrong about you… and I'm sorry. " " Is that what you came here to say? " " Mainly. And also that I'm – proud… very proud… to be your son. "

" It is a far far better thing I do than I have ever done before… a far – better resting place I go to than I have ever known. " " Is that a poem? " " No. Something Spock was trying to tell me on my birthday. "

" You OK, Jim? How do you feel? " " Young. I feel young! "

Analysis [ ]

The screenplay for Star Trek II was written by director Nicholas Meyer, compiled from a number of drafts which all contained one or several dominant themes. One element was clearly going to be central to the audience's emotional response. Meyer explained: " Once you decide that you're going to have the death of Spock, then how does that affect the other people? Why is it there? I got a lot of stick from a lot of people from the very beginning about the idea of killing Spock. Somebody said, 'You can't kill him.' And I said, 'Sure you can; the only question is whether you do it well.' If his death proceeds organically from the theme and the story of the movie, then nobody's even going to notice it until it's on you, and no one will question it. "

In other words, Meyer was determined that his film would be about something and would do more than tell an adventure story. " We were giving birth to planets, and Kirk was meeting his son, and Spock was dying. You sort of looked at that and said, 'Well, what unifying ideas are running through here?' And then you thought, 'Ah! This is going to be a movie about…' "

Meyer decided to embrace the idea that the characters had aged, and he gave Kirk some very Human flaws, including less than perfect eyesight.

" This was going to be a story in which Spock died, so it was going to be a story about death, and it was only a short hop, skip, and a jump to realize that it was going to be about old age and friendship. I don't think that any of those other scripts were about old age, friendship, and death. "

The decision that the film was going to be about old age and friendship prompted Meyer to include a scene in which McCoy visits Kirk in his apartment and tells him that he should get his command back. With every alteration, the themes were woven tighter and tighter into the script.

Ultimately, the film presented an aged Kirk in mid-life crisis. Uncertain of his place, of himself, Kirk must make the greatest sacrifice to find out where he truly belongs.

Kobayashi Maru [ ]

In one of the early drafts for the film, the Kobayashi Maru test was suggested as a no-win scenario – one Nicholas Meyer decided Kirk had solved by cheating. Initially, producer Harve Bennett was resistant to the idea that Kirk could do anything 'bad', yet Meyer won him over; in fact, he believed the story needed Kirk to have flaws. " There's a distinction to be made between heroes and gods, " he explained, " which I think we sometimes get confused about. […] let me explain my theory of heroism. If a man jumps into a raging torrent to save a drowning child, he performs an heroic act. If the same man jumps into the same torrent to save the same child, but does so with a ball and chain attached to his leg, he's not less heroic; he's more heroic. "

" How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say? "

" If you look at the heroes of antiquity and myth, they all have flaws. It's something that they have to overcome; their flaws are something that they have to act in spite of. The challenge is not to defy your fate, but to endure it. That is heroic. " James T. Kirk is very much like a classical hero who must confront his own weaknesses. He played God when he marooned Khan to a desert world; he chose not to be involved in his son David's life; he allowed the Enterprise to be damaged because he would not listen when Saavik told him to raise shields. When Spock dies, Kirk must endure, and Nicholas Meyer was absolutely conscious of this when he was writing the script.

" The flaw is always the same ", he explained. " The hero always thinks he knows the answer, and ultimately he learns that he doesn't. […] There is always a point in Greek plays, known as 'peripeteia,' where the hero learns that everything he knew is wrong. And it's no accident that in at least two of my movies there comes a point where the hero says, 'I know nothing'. H.G. Wells says it in Time After Time ; Kirk says it in Star Trek II . It's when you begin to realize that you know nothing that you're ready to learn something. When you've had the shit kicked out of you, you're ready to start over, and with a little humility. As I was writing it, I was certainly getting to that 'I know nothing' point. "

Vengeance [ ]

To Meyer's mind, Khan was related to Satan, who fell from grace with God. Of course, thematically, this linked him with Genesis – another of the film's Biblical allusions.

Using the Star Trek: The Original Series first season series episode " Space Seed " as a building block, Meyer built Khan into the ultimate adversary for Kirk. As he worked on his character, he imagined how enraged a man would be after being exiled on a desert world and losing his wife. Inevitably, Khan became obsessed with Kirk, who he saw as his nemesis. " Kirk was the fiend who had imprisoned him; who had stopped him up in the bottle. I think when Khan makes his appearance in the story, Kirk is flabbergasted. He did not lie awake thinking about Khan; Khan lay awake thinking about Kirk. "

Meyer decided that while Khan had been waiting for a chance to avenge himself upon Kirk, he would have been reading. " I started thinking, 'What books does a superman take with him into exile?' At one point, Khan says, 'On Earth I was a prince', and certainly he's a fallen angel, so I picked all the books that were Lucifer-related – fallen angel – whether it was 'Moby Dick' or 'Paradise Lost' or 'King Lear', and began to build from there. I thought, 'He's probably been obsessively reading these books again and again until every word out of his mouth has been written by Shakespeare or Milton'. Actually, Melville was the one who finally took over; he just becomes completely Ahab. "

Meyer intended for Spock's death to mean something, both for Kirk and for the audience.

Inevitably, there was concern that the script might seem too downbeat, particularly because in Meyer's version there was nothing to suggest that Spock might be reborn on the Genesis Planet. He later recognized that that might have been a mistake, yet he never felt that Spock's death was depressing. " My feeling about killing Spock was that it would be moving, but that didn't mean you would be depressed by it. Romeo and Juliet die, but nobody comes out of that play depressed. We didn't want Spock's death to be meaningless. And I don't think that it is. Aristotle had the notion of catharsis – that the audience is purged through pity and terror. You don't come out of these things saying, 'I'm going to stick my head in the oven'. Kirk chooses to go on living; sadder but wiser, understanding a little more the way the world works, and that is not, per se, depressing. It may be sad, but it's not depressing. "

Background information [ ]

• This movie was the first Star Trek release to occur in the 1980s.
• The Wrath of Khan, the second Star Trek feature film installment, is traditionally regarded by fans as the best in the series, and considered by many non-fans as an excellent science-fiction picture. In 2014, it was ranked by Empire readers as #89 in a poll to determine the 301 greatest movies of all time. [1]
• The film earned US$14,347,221 at the US box office in its opening weekend, a record at the time which was broken two years later by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This film, in turn, was out-grossed by the next film in the series The Search for Spock.
• The film earned GBP£1,499,226 at the British box office upon release, and debuted at no.2 just behind Rocky III . [2]
• This was also done for the official movie novelization but subsequent prints of the film retitled it Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .
• Writer and producer Harve Bennett had never seen anything Star Trek related but binge watched the entire Original Series to prepare for this movie.
• According to William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories , the original title of the film was The Undiscovered Country , the undiscovered country in this case being death. According to Shatner, as he told Chris Kreski in quoting Nicholas Meyer, Meyer was outraged when Paramount marketing exec Frank Mancuso renamed the film Star Trek: The Vengeance of Khan without consulting him. Meyer said that the title was ridiculous and that they would be forbidden to keep it with George Lucas making a movie called Revenge of the Jedi at the same time. Months later, Paramount changed the subtitle to The Wrath of Khan , and Meyer hated that even more but was made to live with it, although it became a moot point when Lucas changed the title of his movie to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi . Meyer's original title was eventually used for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , which Meyer also directed.
• As with The Motion Picture , the movie was pre-sold to the ABC TV network for first time airing in the USA under a similar arrangement. This entailed two airings of the film, the first to run no earlier than 1985. [3] Its ABC premiere was on 24 February 1985, and its second run was in 1988 (ABC ran the film a third and final time on 18 June 1989, in conjuncture with their third re-run of The Motion Picture that year [4] ). Like the The Motion Picture , the television version of the movie featured deleted or alternate scenes, reintegrated for the television airing, that were originally cut from the theatrical version, and with some mild censoring, akin to the below-mentioned British television version. Unlike The Motion Picture (in the form of its " Special Longer Version ") however, this ABC version has not seen any home media format releases in the home market, nor were several scenes and takes included in the later, 2002 " The Director's Edition " DVD release.
• Several cuts were made to the film for its theatrical release in the United Kingdom in order for it to receive a more favorable classification (A for advisory, rather than the more restricted AA rating which was for over-14s only). The BBFC requested that the close-up sequences of the Ceti eels infecting Terrell and Chekov, and the later close-up of Chekov's eel leaving him, be removed as they were "almost X[-rated]". Seventeen seconds in total were removed. [5] The initial VHS release in the UK was of this cut version; an uncut version – marketed as the "Original Full Length Version" – was not released until 1988. As of 2018, it remains the only Star Trek film released on VHS in the UK to carry the BBFC's 15 certificate, although for its subsequent DVD releases it carries the more moderate 12 certificate which was introduced in the 1990s. [6] The edited version is still used for television broadcasts in the UK. The movie premiered on the ITV network on Wednesday 14th May 1986.
• Many of the outer space scenes in the first half of the movie are reused from Star Trek: The Motion Picture . These include the Klingon battle cruisers in the Kobayashi Maru sequence, the shots of the travel pod, the ' Enterprise 's departure from dry dock, and its first jump to warp speed.
• In fact, as noted in the Special Edition DVD's text commentary, Walter Koenig often joked (at conventions and in interviews) that his character had made Khan wait overly long to use a bathroom on Khan's visit to the Enterprise and that was why Khan remembered his face so well.
• In his DVD commentary track, director Meyer said that he was aware of the discontinuity but ignored it. Meyer acknowledged that he could have just as easily put Uhura on the Reliant and kept the consistency, but he preferred Chekov and referenced the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle frequently contradicted himself in his books about Sherlock Holmes , saying that the continuity did not matter, as long as he had the audience engrossed in and enjoying the story.
• Kirk says, " I know what he blames me for " after being told that Khan blames him for the death of his wife. Taken at face value, this is untrue; until that moment Kirk was unaware Marla McGivers had died, as he did not check in on the planet and Khan did not include this detail in his earlier exchange with Kirk. Given Kirk's demeanor, it is more likely that he is alluding to the fact that he marooned Khan in the first place (though with the ultimately vain hope that Khan and his people could colonize the planet where they had been marooned) and therefore had deduced that Khan was bent on revenge.
• McCoy's line " He's really not dead… as long as we remember him " was improvised by Nicholas Meyer during filming, after he read an article on the set, concerning the possibility of Raoul Wallenberg being alive. Wallenburg was a Hungarian Jew who famously saved many Jews from the Holocaust (though accounts vary as to how many he actually saved). Referring to Wallenberg, Simon Wiesenthal said in the article, " He's really not dead, as long as we remember him. " (Meyer noted this in the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan DVD audio commentary.) Since Star Trek III: The Search for Spock would show not only McCoy having had Spock's complete brain patterns ( katra ) transferred to him during a mind meld in the engine room but also Spock himself having been regenerated by the Genesis Effect, that line took on both ironic and prophetic meanings.
• No visitors were allowed on the set during the filming of Spock's death to keep it a secret as much as possible. Nicholas Meyer remembered, when they shot the scene, he looked around and saw members of the crew, including cinematographer Gayne Rescher , crying and did not understand their reason for bursting into tears. It was much later, he admitted, when he understood the significance of that scene. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan DVD audio commentary)
• The events of the film were novelized by Vonda N. McIntyre and adapted into a photostory by Richard J. Anobile .
• Montalban also said in promo interviews for the movie (which can be seen on the Star Trek II DVD set) that he realized early on in his career that a good villain does not see himself as villainous. He may do villainous things, but the character feels that he is doing them for righteous reasons. Likewise with heroes, Montalban said he always tried to find a flaw in the character because no one is completely good or completely evil. He then compared Khan to this, saying that while Khan had a rather distorted view of reality and, therefore, comes the villainous acts, he still feels that his acts of vengeance against Kirk is a noble cause because of the death of his wife whom he loved dearly.
• In other various interviews at the time of the movie and afterward, some of which can be seen on the Star Trek II DVD features disc, Montalban has also spoken about how he almost turned the role down as he wanted a rather substantial part after coming from six years of Fantasy Island . Montalban changed his mind when he read the script and realized that the other characters were talking about Khan even when he was not on screen and so it made the part seem even more substantial. Montalban also recalled that, when he first started reading the script after having accepted the role and was trying to articulate Khan, that to his horror, he sounded like Mr. Roarke and was terrified that the audiences would laugh at him. Montalban contacted producer Harve Bennett and requested a tape of "Space Seed", and after several viewings of the episode, Montalban began to recall how he had played Khan and was much more comfortable afterward.
• At a high level, the characters of Khan and Kirk can be seen, respectively, as Captain Ahab and the great white whale from Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick , which was found among Khan's possessions. Khan quoted several lines from the novel almost exactly – even down to his dying curse. The ambiguous allegorical nature of the novel was not reproduced in the film, however. The original series episodes " Obsession " and " The Doomsday Machine " and the Star Trek: The Next Generation film Star Trek: First Contact were also inspired by Melville's novel.
• As with Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Paramount filed for and obtained design patents on some of the costumes, props (including the Ceti eel ), and ships from this film.

Juday with the recreation of Chekov's ear.

• The special effects scene in which the Ceti eel got into Chekov's ear was filmed with a large recreation of the ear on a plate. The model which was used was later put in storage and was shown by Penny Juday in the special feature "Inside Starfleet Archives" on the TNG Season 2 DVD .
• The pre-launch background dialogue overheard on the bridge as Kirk and McCoy arrive is almost identical to the checklist overheard in main engineering before the Enterprise launches in Star Trek: The Motion Picture .
• Since Kirk's birthdate was established in Federation computer records in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode " In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II " to be March 22nd (actor William Shatner 's actual birthday), this establishes that the beginning of this film is set on March 22nd, 2285 .
• This is the only TOS movie in which a Federation ship fires its phasers. All other films in the TOS series have the ships firing photon torpedoes. The next film in the series to have a Federation ship fire its phasers was Star Trek Generations , twelve years later.
• As noted later, this was somewhat disappointing to Montalban since Shatner and Montalban did not meet on set either but he'd wanted to.
• This was the fourth of five Star Trek projects to be adapted into View-Master reels.
• This film marks the first appearance in the Star Trek franchise of an isolation door in main engineering. It can be seen lowering during the "surprise attack" sequence following Khan's hijacking of the Reliant . That door later became the shuttlebay door on the Enterprise -D.
• There is a "No Smoking" sign on the door of the simulator room during the Kobayashi Maru test. It only appears in the earliest part of the scene. According to Mike Okuda's DVD commentary, it was removed at the request of Gene Roddenberry, who did not envision smoking as part of the Human lifestyle of Star Trek's future. Nevertheless, St. John Talbot was seen lighting up in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , and characters would later be shown smoking in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: Picard .
• During the scene at Kirk's home where he and McCoy share a drink, a Commodore PET personal computer is recognizable at the rear of the set. At the time of filming, William Shatner was the commercial spokesperson for the Commodore line of home computers, including the PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). Although it's likely the PET in the scene was intended to be a Trek -era computer, given this film establishes that Kirk collects antiques, it could also have been part of his collection.
• The encounter between the Enterprise and the Reliant is glimpsed in ST : " Ephraim and Dot " (although the Enterprise is mistakenly labelled NCC-1701-A).
• The film's title, like so many others was altered by the teen soap drama Gossip Girl which starred Wallace Shawn as New York attorney Cyrus Rose in the second season episode "The Wrath of Con" albeit Shawn was not featured in it. Airdate Monday May 4th, 2009

The film alone does not clearly identify the year it is set on other than that it is somewhere in the early to mid 2280s . Based on some of the film's dialogue, the film was set fifteen years after " Space Seed ". Khan: " …marooned here fifteen years ago by Captain James T. Kirk. " According to a line in the script, it was more accurately fourteen years after the episode. Kirk: " He wants to kill me for passing sentence on him fourteen years ago. " [7] "Space Seed" in turn aired in 1967 and is considered to be set in 2267 . This suggests The Wrath of Khan would be set in 2281 or 2282 though it cannot be fully confirmed given the six month gap could mean it's either early 2282 or very late 2281. Nick Meyer's commentary on the special edition DVD, explains that the intention was that the film depicted Kirk's 49th birthday. Kirk was born in 2233 , so this would support the year 2282.

Other accounts within and after the film suggest the events of the film took place later in the 2280s. The label on the bottle of Romulan ale that McCoy gives to Kirk as a birthday gift reads 2283 . In Star Trek Generations , in the Nexus , Kirk imagines himself eleven and nine years into the past, to the years 2282, when he met Antonia , and 2284 , to the day he told her he was returning to Starfleet. All those accounts suggest the events of this film occurred afterward, as Kirk was at the beginning of the film supervising command-track cadets at Starfleet Academy as an active Starfleet admiral. According to StarTrek.com , Star Trek Chronology , and Star Trek Encyclopedia , (3rd ed., p. 691) the events of The Wrath of Khan in fact occurred one year later in 2285 . This date was finally canonized in 2022 on a commemorative plaque for the Reliant which appeared in PIC : " The Star Gazer ". [8] (X) [9]

Despite its weaknesses, Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been a box-office success, so it came as no surprise that Paramount Pictures decided to develop a sequel. Gene Roddenberry 's first proposed storyline saw the Enterprise crew going back in time to make sure the Klingons did not stop the John F. Kennedy assassination. This idea was rejected and Roddenberry was forced to step into the background as "executive consultant" (at the request of Paramount executives who blamed him for the relative failure of the first film due to the constant re-writes he demanded) and Star Trek was handed over to newly-commissioned Paramount Television executive producer Harve Bennett . It was Bennett's job to develop a script that could be filmed on a reasonable budget (US$11.2 million, nearly $24 million less than the budget of TMP) and put a new Star Trek feature in the theaters in the summer of 1982. One of his biggest problems was finding the right approach to the material. The Motion Picture had adopted a very serious and epic style, which many felt was inappropriate. Somehow, the sequel would have to capture the essential heart of the show and give the audiences what they had been waiting for.

Star Trek: War of the Generations [ ]

Bennett watched all the original Star Trek episodes in preparation for his task. His trawl through the episodes provided him with what he had been looking for. He was determined that his movie would have something the first one lacked – a real villain. When he saw " Space Seed ", Bennett was struck by Ricardo Montalban 's performance as Khan, and decided that he would make the perfect villain for the film.

In November 1980, Bennett wrote a single-page outline called Star Trek: War of the Generations . In this story, Kirk is called to investigate a rebellion on a Federation world. En route he saves a woman he was once in love with and learns that their son – whom he never knew had been born – is one of the leaders of the rebellion. Upon arrival at the planet, Kirk is captured and sentenced to death by his own son before we learn that Khan is truly the mastermind behind the uprising. Kirk joins forces with his son to fight Khan, and the film ends with Kirk's son joining the crew of the Enterprise .

Bennett had already decided at the beginning that one of the film's major themes would be the aging of the characters. In the drafts that followed, Kirk was consistently confronted with a son he knew little about, Spock was often preoccupied with death, and, in the later versions, McCoy had to struggle with his feelings for a much younger woman, who had made it clear that she was interested in him.

Star Trek: The Omega System [ ]

Bennett still had to turn his outline into a workable script that could be shot, so he hired Jack B. Sowards , who had written several admired movies of the week and was a self-confessed Star Trek fan. Sowards instantly had a major impact. Where Bennett's original treatment made no mention of Spock, since Leonard Nimoy had made it clear that he was not keen to make a second Star Trek film, Sowards thought he had a way of persuading Nimoy to return: he suggested that Bennett tell Nimoy that in this film Spock would die a little more than a third into the story. The opportunity to play his death scene was too good for Nimoy to pass up, and he agreed to come aboard. From this point on, all the scripts featured Spock's death, although its position in the film would inevitably be pushed toward the dramatic conclusion.

Sowards had only a few months to write a full script before a writers's strike was called in April 1981. First, he expanded Bennett's outline into a nineteen-page treatment in which Kirk's former lover was named Diana, who was rescued from a refugee ship from Omega Minori IV where a revolution was underway, and who never told Kirk he had a son but Kirk discovers this later on. The treatment also introduced Mr. Wicks, the Enterprise 's male Vulcan science officer and Spock's replacement. Then, by February 20, Sowards had written a first draft that significantly expanded his treatment and added several vital elements. This script, titled Star Trek: The Omega System , introduced the idea that the Federation was preparing to test a terrible weapon known as the Omega System.

The film opened with Captain Terrell and his first officer, Pavel Chekov, beaming down to Ceti Alpha V, which had been selected as a test site, to make certain that the planet was as dead as sensor readings suggested. Starfleet knew that Kirk had left Khan and his people stranded on this planet, but was amazed to discover that he and a handful of his followers, including Marla McGivers , had survived. A vengeful Khan took control of Terrell and Chekov, and used them to take control of Project Omega. Terrell claimed that Kirk had ordered the Omega System to be loaded onto the USS Reliant , which was a Constitution -class starship like the Enterprise , and made it clear that it was going to be used to fight the Klingons in the Neutral Zone. Project leader Janet Wallace ( Sarah Marshall would have reprised her role from " The Deadly Years ") contacted Kirk, who ordered the Enterprise to set a course for Gamma Regula IV, the planet on which the project was headquartered. As Enterprise approached the planet, its engines were badly damaged, and Spock sacrificed his life to get them back online in time for Kirk to fight the Reliant off. Later, Khan and Kirk would fight a psychic battle in a variety of exotic locations, using quarterstaffs, whips, and swords. Khan, who had acquired impressive mental powers during his isolation, eventually won, but Kirk survived because he understood that the weapons were only illusory. The film ended with a pitched space battle in orbit around the planet, in which Kirk defeated his enemy with his superior tactics.

Star Trek: The Genesis Project [ ]

At this point, art director Michael Minor made an invaluable contribution. Bennett was concerned that the Omega System was simply a weapon and that there was nothing uplifting about it, so Minor suggested turning it into a device for terraformation , the reconstruction of a lifeless planet to give it the capability of supporting known life forms, especially intelligent ones like Humans. Because it would work by reordering matter on a planet's surface, it could still be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands, but the Federation's goal was to create a paradise, not to kill millions of millions. Bennett was delighted at this, and, in recognition of its Biblical power, the Omega System became the Genesis Device.

By April 10, Sowards had written a second draft of the script that incorporated the change and was now titled Star Trek: The Genesis Project . In this version, Janet Wallace had become Carol Baxter and Spock's death had been pushed a little later in the story. During the final battle, Khan fired the Genesis Device at the Enterprise but hit a planet, which was reborn as the two vessels continued their titanic struggle. This draft also included the first version of the simulator sequence in which Dr. Savik (formerly Mr. Wicks, now Captain Spock's first officer aboard the Enterprise ; taken from a separate six-page proposal) failed to rescue the Kobayashi Maru . When Dr. Savik questioned him about his failure, Kirk suggested that the test might be a "no-win scenario."

The New Star Trek [ ]

• Nicholas Meyer

By now, pre-production had begun in earnest, and line producer Robert Sallin and Mike Minor drew up storyboards for the effects sequences. But though this draft contained many, if not most, of the elements of the final script, Bennett and Sallin were not satisfied. To their minds, the script did not have the epic sweep needed for a major film, so they called upon Samuel A. Peeples , who had written " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", which had been the second pilot episode for The Original Series . Peeples submitted a story outline entitled Worlds That Never Were, which he transformed into the August 24th The New Star Trek script draft, entirely omitting the character of Khan and replaced him with two powerful aliens called Sojin and Moray, who had been exiled from another dimension and possessed almost godlike abilities. Also, Hikaru Sulu was the captain of the Reliant on which he served with Chekov. Finally, drawing from Theodore Sturgeon 's July 18 outline, Dr. Savik was now a half-Romulan, half-Vulcan woman. ( [10] ; The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , pp. 47-51; Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 3, Issue 5 , pp. 84-85)

While Peeples was working on the script, Bennett and Sallin found a director they liked in the form of Nicholas Meyer . A week or so before the last draft was due to be delivered, they met with him and promised they would be back in touch as soon as they had the new script in their hands. Meanwhile, time pressures were becoming critical, and employees of effects company Industrial Light & Magic told the producers that without having a script within a matter of weeks, they would not be able to deliver the effects in time for the planned release date.

By the time the Peeples script arrived, Bennett and Sallin knew they could not film it. As Sallin explained: " We were off in some weird directions and I was really very concerned. It did not feel like a motion picture to me. Some of these ideas were too derivative and were too small in their scope. There wasn't anything underlying it. It was more about people shooting fire and things like that, as opposed to a real story. "

Star Trek II: The Undiscovered Country [ ]

Three weeks after their last meeting, Meyer called Bennett and asked where the script was. Although reluctant to share the script, which Bennett found almost embarrassing to share, Meyer persuaded him to send him the draft. Not impressed with what he had received, he called Bennett and told him and Sallin to come up to his house with all the different drafts of the script. The three of them made a list of all the things from all the different drafts that they wanted to end up in the final film, and then Meyer set out to compile a screenplay that incorporated all those things. Meyer concentrated on crafting a strong narrative by getting all the scenes in the right order and putting the story into his own words. " I was only interested in cobbling together and cannibalizing various parts that seemed useful ", he explained. " What I fell in love with is the story. I never looked at the scripts again, so there were no words that were appropriated. It all had to be in my own language and in a way that I could understand it. " By September 10, the end product was the Meyer screenplay titled Star Trek: The New Frontier , revised on September 29 under the name Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country , and finalized on January 18, 1982 as Star Trek II: The Undiscovered Country . [11]

Meyer had some very clear opinions about what made drama, and he was determined that, despite the futuristic setting, his film would make sense to a 20th century audience. Asked to quantify the character of his approach, Meyer produced two examples. The first was that he brought a sense of humor to the project, which is not to say that he did not treat it with proper respect. " I think that putting humor into a serious movie makes the serious stuff more serious, and the humor becomes more of an explosive release. " The other important decision he made was actually something he thought about when Bennett and Sallin had first asked him to direct the film. " I had the haziest notion of what Star Trek was, because I didn't really watch the show on television. I finally latched on to the idea (originated by no less than Gene Roddenberry himself) that Captain Kirk and friends were really an outer-space series of novels that I had loved as a kid, by C.S. Forrester, called 'Captain Horatio Hornblower'. So I said, 'OK, this is 'Hornblower' in outer space; I've got it'. When I wrote the script in 12 days it was very, very, very Navy, or, as my late wife used to say, 'Nautical but nice.' "

Casting [ ]

Because Ricardo Montalban had originated his role in " Space Seed " on the original program, director Nicholas Meyer was not involved with casting him, though he certainly had no complaints. " Khan is enough to tell you that this is a great actor ", he said. Most of Kirk's crew were in place, but Meyer was intimately involved with casting several new roles. He explained that what he was looking for was actors where he could see what the characters were feeling, even when they were not talking.

" For Carol Marcus I wanted a woman who was beautiful and looked like she could think; a woman who was attractive enough that you could see why Kirk would fall for her, and at the same time somebody who could keep up with him ", Meyer said. " […] I loved Bibi Besch ; I became very close with her, and I used her again in 'The Day After'. She's no longer alive and I bitterly regret it; she was a lovely Human being, and a lovely actor. "

Paul Winfield as Captain Terrell

" Merritt Butrick is also tragically no longer alive ", Meyer lamented. " [As David Marcus] he not only had to be Kirk's son, he had to be Carol's son, so on a physical level I think what I liked was that his hair was the same color as hers but it was curly like Bill's, so I thought, 'Well, that's plausible.' "

" Paul Winfield was an actor I had wanted to work with since I saw 'Sounder,' " Meyer noted, " and I thought, 'Wow, what a lovely actor'. There was no real reason for him to be the captain of the Reliant , other than my great desire to direct him in scenes! I knew he could do it, without any question. " In The Next Generation , Winfield acted out a different role, that of the Tamarian captain Dathon , in " Darmok ".

The biggest casting coup was giving a young Kirstie Alley the role of Saavik. " She said as a child she wanted to be Spock and that she was so in love with the role that she wore her ears to sleep. […] She didn't have to find the role; she didn't have to work her way into it ", Meyer pointed out. " She'd been living it somewhere in her head for years. There just wasn't a contest. I don't recall seeing another actor for that part who was as persuasive. " In addition to her instinctive understanding of the role, Alley brought another, slightly more definable quality to her role. Meyer explained: " The thing about her is that she's beautiful, but she also had a slightly other-worldly quality. […] She was also able to encompass that sort of flat unemotionality, but she's basically a comedian. What I didn't know was that that flatness, like Leonard's, frequently comes out of a kind of a deadpan. I realized that when I watched her doing it. Then, at the other end of it, there she was at Spock's funeral, weeping. I remember somebody came running up to me and said, 'Are you going to let her do that?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said, 'But Vulcans don't cry', and I said, 'Well, that's what makes this such an interesting Vulcan.' " In dialogue not retained in the final film, Saavik was described as being half- Romulan , which might have explained her tears.

When production designer Joseph R. Jennings reported for work on the second Star Trek film, he found the sets for the USS Enterprise still standing. After director Robert Wise had finished filming the first feature, he had simply closed the stage doors and moved on. In the intervening months, the interiors of the giant starship had been sitting patiently, waiting to go back into action.

Most of the action in the film takes place on the bridge of the Enterprise . Although the set may appear quite different from the bridge on The Motion Picture , Jennings only made cosmetic changes to the design. The layout remained the same, but in order to make the second film warmer than its predecessor, the set was repainted in darker colors.

Director Nicholas Meyer very much disliked the design of the Enterprise bridge set, because in his view there were many things that did not make sense: " […] to take a silly example, if they are in terrible circumstances and everything gets all shook up, why don't they have seatbelts? And the answer is, because if they had seatbelts, it wouldn't be very interesting. Most of the movie actually takes place on that damn bridge, which is a very tedious set to photograph, and it was also, in a reconfigured form, the bridge of the Reliant , so I spent a lot of time there. "

" The biggest problem was just keeping alive what is happening in a 360-degree world. The bridge was, very rightly, built in pie sections, so you could yank out sections and put the camera in. But, occasionally, you might want to be in the middle and sweep the camera around at what is going on. The sections are curved at the top, so when they are all in, how do you get light in there? It's a sort of a nightmare scenario. Gayne Rescher (director of photography) invented a lot of very peculiar apparatus that dropped in from the top with light coming off, like a big chandelier on a chain. "

The Wrath of Khan did not have the budget to allow for significant alterations to be made to the bridge set, but Meyer did ask Jennings to find ways of making it appear more detailed and specific. " The least I thought we could do was revamp the bridge and make it twinkle. I remember I had Joe Jennings build me a wall of blinking lights. It was on wheels, and we would shove this thing around behind people, to try anything to break up this expanse of gray panel. "

Director Nicholas Meyer insisted on a certain amount of 'business,' so the art department built gratings into the floor of the photon torpedo room that had to be lifted before firing.

Although several other sets were also still in place, the Enterprise still gave Jennings plenty of work to do. As he recalled: " A new script will call for different things; somebody walks down a corridor and goes into another room and, bang, you don't have that room, so you add it. And it grows […] until the stage sort of bulges out. "

The most obvious new addition was the torpedo room. Few people would realize it, but this set was actually a redressed version of the Klingon bridge from the first film. The torpedo room set featured a long channel where the torpedoes were loaded. Meyer wanted to have as much movement as possible in the action sequences, so he had Jennings put grates down over the channel that had to be lifted when the Enterprise went into battle.

The Enterprise bridge set was also adapted to serve as the bridge of the USS Reliant . " We had one thing going for us ", said Jennings. " There's a great deal of similarity between the bridge of a destroyer and the bridge of a cruiser in the American Navy. We gave it a change of color and orientation, and we got rid of the big screen in front. As I recall, we changed some of the seating arrangements and the elevators a little bit, and, of course, we added the ceiling piece to it, because the beam had to come down and pin Ricardo to the floor. The whole ceiling piece was something that had never been featured in the bridge of the Enterprise . That gave it a different look. "

This "Starfleet Headquarters" set used a perspective trick to appear much bigger than it really was.

One of the non-starship sets Jennings worked on was an interior section of Starfleet Headquarters, where a brief scene shows Kirk walking out of the simulator and heading for an elevator. In reality, this set was much smaller than it appeared. Jennings explained: " Mike [Minor] had a bright idea; he went out to several hardware stores and came back with a birdbath, a planter, and a bunch of junk. He went off and fiddled with it for about two days, and he came up with a miniature. We put that in the foreground as what is called a 'cutting piece', and the real set was in the background. They tied together visually and created a perspective trick that made the set look much bigger. "

Kirk's apartment in San Francisco was filled with collectibles that demonstrated his interest in the past, including many nautical objects for which Nicholas Meyer asked.

The next time we saw Kirk, he was in his apartment. Jennings had fond memories of this set and said that the challenge was to make it clear that it was in San Francisco, but also show that it was a 23rd century building. The setting was established by using a backdrop showing the Golden Gate Bridge that had been made for The Towering Inferno . The next task, Jennings explained, was to make the room appear futuristic. " You set up your frame of reference, and then within that you've got to be honest, which will lend credibility to the physical aspects of your show. Like all architecture, it has to look as though it's possible to live in it; you look for materials, for instance, that are unfamiliar, or that are being used in an unfamiliar fashion, to make your design look different from what the public is seeing today. "

Despite the need to make the apartment look futuristic, Meyer also impressed on the production crew that he doubted things would undergo a complete change in the future, so the apartment still had to look like a home. " A fireplace would be an anachronism but would still fit Kirk's image of having a cozy place to live ", said Jennings, " so we had to make a fireplace that looked a little different; hence we used the curved wall and the mosaic treatment behind it. " Meyer also wanted to suggest that Kirk had too much time on his hands in retirement and had a real attachment to the past, so Jennings and his team filled the set with antique collectibles.

However, Meyer was unhappy with the Genesis cave set, combining live footage with a matte painting. He thought that the scene looked false and too constructed, and would have used a real location instead, but neither time nor budget would allow it.

Costumes [ ]

Starfleet uniforms [ ].

When Robert Sallin came on board as producer for Star Trek II , one of the first things he did was change the wardrobe of the Starfleet officers. Sallin wanted the uniforms redesigned, yet, entirely due to budgetary reasons, he did not want to discard the old jumpsuits from the first Star Trek movie. " […] so I said, 'Let's do some dye tests.' To this day, I have the swatches of the different-colored uniforms that we tested to see if we could reuse some of the old material and rework it. " ( citation needed • edit )

The series of dye tests showed that the old uniforms would take three different colors well: a blue-gray ("lead"), a gold (which proved to photograph almost "bronze"), and a dark red, or maroon ("blood"). The plan was to use the modified uniforms for the junior cadets and enlisted crew while enough money could be found to design an entirely new wardrobe for the senior officers.

The section colors were preserved on the undershirts and on the rank insignia on the shoulder, although wardrobe designer Robert Fletcher assigned new colors to each section of Starfleet.

Director Nicholas Meyer had some very specific ideas about how the uniforms should look. " I decided that this was going to be 'Hornblower' in outer space, so I said, 'Okay, if this is going to be the Navy, let's have them look like the Navy; they shouldn't be walking around in pajamas.' Which seemed to me to be what the uniforms in the first movie and the TV show looked like. " Additionally, Meyer had one other, significant instruction for costume designer Robert Fletcher : he wanted the costumes to be reminiscent of the clothes worn in the film The Prisoner of Zenda . ( citation needed • edit )

Fletcher was careful not to reproduce any specific naval uniforms and used the dark red that had been discovered during the dye tests. Meyer was keen on this approach, since it made the costumes dramatic and created a strong contrast with the background. The first versions of the uniform had a stiff black collar like the costumes in The Prisoner of Zenda . Producer Robert Sallin suggested changing this into a turtleneck and after he made the alterations, Fletcher decided to use trapunto, which is a form of vertical quilting. By 1981-82, the machines and specialized needles used to produce trapunto had become exceedingly rare, and Fletcher was able to secure only one needle for the entire wardrobe department. Fletcher said: " That trapunto machine saved my life. The machines are very rare and are not made anymore. We had, perhaps, the only one in existence on the West Coast, a 50-year-old antique. We lived in constant fear that we were going to break its one and only needle, because, of course, you can't get THEM anymore either! " One day, Fletcher genuinely worried that the needle had been lost or stolen (and even entertained thoughts of it being held for ransom) when one of the department's workers had taken it home as a security measure. ( citation needed • edit )

Meyer had always wanted the uniforms to feel as real as possible, and thus asked for rank insignia. Fletcher explained: " There was kind of a complicated arrangement of divisions and ranks expressed by the braid on the sleeves. I made that up. I organized it and produced a little instruction booklet about it for the wardrobe department […]. " On the early version of the uniforms, the insignia was on a band around the upper arm, which was later moved to the cuff. The last major change was to redesign the flap of the double-breasted jacket so that it would actually open. This was something Meyer wanted because he felt the lighter color on the inside of the flap would frame the actors' faces better. ( citation needed • edit )

The flaps, however, did present Fletcher with a problem: when they were open, one could clearly see the snaps that held it in place, and, as he says, these looked distinctly unfuturistic. " In order to make these look less like plain old snaps, I found this sterling silver chain that looked strange. I ordered a reel of it and sewed it in with the snaps to give it a feeling that it was perhaps a magnetic closing. " ( citation needed • edit )

In toto, the design for the uniforms that resulted from all this proved to be extremely difficult for fans to duplicate accurately, and it ended up being called the "monster maroon" uniform design for that reason. ( citation needed • edit )

Khan and his people [ ]

For Khan and his followers, Fletcher wanted to create a definite contrast with the highly organized Starfleet uniforms . As he explained, his idea was that they had been forced to cobble together their costumes out of whatever they could find. " My intention with Khan was to express the fact that they had been marooned on that planet with no technical infrastructure, so they had to cannibalize from the spaceship whatever they used or wore. Therefore, I tried to make it look as if they had dressed themselves out of pieces of upholstery and electrical equipment that composed the ship. " After Khan and his followers hijacked the Reliant , many of them (including Khan himself in one scene) are seen wearing the stolen Starfleet uniforms of the Reliant crew as open jackets, with Khan himself wearing one of Terrell's, as the captain's rank insignia is prominently featured. ( citation needed • edit )

Ricardo Montalban's costume was designed to expose as much of his chest and arms as possible.

He added that when it came to Khan's costume, there was another major consideration. " We wanted to show Ricardo Mantalban's physique. He was rather proud of it, as he should have been. That was a theatrical gesture. " Of course, when Khan first appears, he is dressed from head to foot in rags. Again, Fletcher said, the design of this costume was dictated by Khan's situation. " They had to protect themselves from the planet, which was very inhospitable. That was the origin for the kind of Bedouin look. If you have nothing else, and you have access to some fabric you may have ripped out of a bedroom or whatever, then you wrap yourself up to protect yourself from the sandstorm. " (In Shane Johnson's Star Fleet Uniform Recognition Manual , Khan's primary outfit was described as being the remains of a life-support suit designed specifically for use with the DY series of sleeper ships, such as the Botany Bay itself had once been.) ( citation needed • edit )

For the remaining costumes, Fletcher's biggest concern was to create a sense of contrast with the major outfits. Carol Marcus and her team were given white smocks that suggested futuristic lab coats and, in the scene where Kirk and McCoy are dressed in civilian clothes, Fletcher tried his best to make sure the outfits looked practical and comfortable. Amusingly, Fletcher said the one costume that he got asked about most made only a fleeting appearance in the film. When Kirk visits Spock in his quarters, the Vulcan is wearing the same robes he wore in the previous movie. " People always ask me what the writing on front of Spock's black velvet, at-home costume symbolize. I have to explain the language that I invented to decorate those things, and I can't! All I can say is that it's very akin to Chinese; it's non-syllabic, and the various shapes contain an entire thought and you don't use them to make words. " Whether these robes became Spock's burial robes was never made clear in the final film, but the various younger actors who appeared as the younger Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock wore robes that looked very similar to those Nimoy himself had worn. ( citation needed • edit )

He added that most of the costumes feature what he described as "corrupt" colors. " Technically, they are colors that are a little bit tinged with their complements. Probably, the closest thing in art history is art deco colors. I once did a production of Offenbach's Voyage to the Moon , and I based that on the fact that the moon probably looked like an art deco world. Maybe that struck in my mind, because I used those colors here. " He added that because these colors are not quite true, there is something slightly odd about them, which gives the audience the feeling they are from a different world. ( citation needed • edit )

The casual wear worn by William Shatner as Kirk was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [12]

Shooting [ ]

Sallin insisted that Kirk's first appearance was as dramatic as possible. He wanted a shot when Kirk was silhouetted by the light behind him, and when the first version was not powerful enough, he had it reshot.

At the opening of the film, Robert Sallin wanted to make the entry of Kirk as dramatic as possible. He explained: " […] we're introducing Captain Kirk. I think we need a little drama here, so here's what I want to do. When those doors open, the room is filled with smoke, and I want him to emerge in silhouette. I want the strongest backlight you can give him, directly behind him, so that when he walks through there are fingers of light that surround him in the smoke. I want it to look like the Second Coming. " The original version shot was not powerful enough for Sallin, so he made sure that it was reshot.

Sallin found a way of giving Meyer this shot of a torpedo without having to rebuild the set.

During Spock's funeral scene, director Nicholas Meyer wanted the camera to be directly in front of the torpedo that acted as a coffin and to move with it as it slid into the launcher. " I [Robert Sallin] got a call from the head of production at Paramount: 'Nick [Meyer] wants this, and we're going to have to rip out the floor, and we're going to have to rebuild the set so it's high enough off the ground to get the camera in. We've got to talk to Nick.' We all went down there, and everyone was gathered around looking at this through. I just turned to the key grip and said, 'Do you have a Western dolly?' That's basically a trolley that you use to pull the camera. He said, 'Yes', and I said, 'Have you that tubular track for it? And can you put on the little wheels?' He nodded, and I said, 'Can't we mount the camera on the dolly, put the track down inside the trough, then move the camera with an offset arm [which allows one to control it from above] and do the shot that way?' He said, 'Yeah, we can do that', and I said, 'What's that going to cost?' and he said, 'About $30', and I said, 'Well, I think that's what we're doing, then!' "

Visual effects [ ]

The visual effects for The Wrath of Khan were filmed quickly and efficiently – and, most importantly, they came in on budget. Unlike the first Star Trek feature, the effects were produced by Industrial Light & Magic, a company which would come to dominate the industry in the coming decades. Producer Robert Sallin recalled ILM's approach to the project: " They were incredible. The most professional, the most delightful, the most responsive; I couldn't say enough good things about the whole crew. It was an amazing experience. "

The Regula I space station

As a sequel, Star Trek II was able to reuse most of the models that had already been built for The Motion Picture. Besides the Enterprise model, Sallin wanted to make use of the orbital office complex that Kirk beamed up to in the first film; it became the Regula I space station. Steve Gawley , head of the model shop at the time, recalled: " We took it [the orbital office model] apart and put it upside down and then reattached some of the outer pods in a different way. " This also made sense from a storytelling-continuity standpoint, as it suggested that by the latter half of the 23rd century, space station designs might have become fairly standardized.

The remaining model shots required entirely new models. The ILM team built the Regula planetoid and several other simple pieces, but the main task was the construction of the Reliant , which was the first Starfleet vessel other than the Constitution -class ever seen. Paramount's art department provided the model builders with detailed drawings to work from, and, as modelmaker Bill George remembered, a general instruction that the Enterprise and Reliant should look as different from one another as possible. " The one thing that was a little bit different on the drawings was that they had come up with a totally new color scheme for the graphics, thinking that would make it look different. […] When I got them in, I said, 'This can't happen.' So I showed them to Kenneth Ralston [ILM supervisor to the film]. His take on it was, 'Let's put on the Federation graphics we've seen before, and see what they say.' Thankfully, the producers were happy with it. "

The biggest challenge the ILM team faced was showing the heavy damage that the Enterprise and Reliant inflicted on each other in the script. The model shop used several different approaches to make sure that they did not actually have to damage the models. On the Enterprise , the damage was essentially cosmetic; pieces of aluminum were added on which were tainted so that, where need be, the damage could literally be peeled off. The damage to the Reliant was much more serious, so larger versions of different parts of the ship were built that could be destroyed.

The initial confrontation ended with the destruction of a dome (the impulse deflection crystal) toward the rear of the Reliant 's saucer. After that came the biggest single effects sequence of the film – the Battle of the Mutara Nebula . To create the nebula, the team used a cloud tank, which is basically a large container with colored liquid in it. The team spent weeks shooting the tank, searching for shots that could be used as background for the epic battle. When everything was finished, the team sat down to look through all their footage for shots they could use with the models.

The Reliant inflicts severe damage to the Enterprise.

Once the nebula had been filmed, the team focused on the starships that would be moving around inside it. Because the ships were often in the distance, the team was able to use small versions of the models which were much easier to handle than the full-size models and could perform bigger maneuvers. In one of the most impressive scenes of the battle, the Reliant fires its phasers at the Enterprise 's "neck" (interconnecting dorsal) section, cutting an enormous gash in the process – and rendering one of the Enterprise 's photon torpedo tubes useless. This shot was created using traditional stop animation techniques. Kenneth Ralston explained: " I had that section done as a wax piece and then painted it to look like the ship. Obviously, we worked out exactly how the camera was going to move. Then I just went into the wax version, and I would take little sculpting tools and rip stuff up and bend it around. We'd film that, then the camera would move whatever distance it would cover in one frame, and I'd sculpt some more damage. Then, on top of that, we did some animation of a laser hit sort of cutting into it, but it left a real cut – a big scar […]. "

The Reliant's nacelle is blown off.

The damage brought onto the Reliant was even more severe and involved making several separate sections. " One of the engine pods blows up ", remembered Ralston. " We couldn't blow up the whole pod for some reason, so I built a shape similar to it and it was more like glass blowing out of the warp nacelle. We shot that as a separate element and then printed that on top of the actual model for the Reliant , with other pieces blowing off of it. Then, when the whole nacelle blows off, that was just a bunch of explosions and a separate arm that we shot using motion control. "

Perhaps the most important visual effect in the film in terms of historical significance is the Genesis Effect. This is the first use of particle effects in a motion picture. Particle effects are now widely used.

Production history [ ]

• 1980 – Paramount plans a TV-movie sequel; Gene Roddenberry submits a script but it is rejected and he is taken off the project, relegated to Executive Consultant; sequel upgraded to theatrical feature
• 13 November 1980 – Harve Bennett submits 1-page outline titled Star Trek: War of the Generations
• 18 December 1980 – Jack B. Sowards submits 19-page story treatment based on Bennett's outline
• 20 February 1981 – Sowards submits 1st draft of script titled Star Trek: The Omega System
• 10 April 1981 – Sowards submits revised 2nd draft of script, now titled Star Trek: The Genesis Project [13] (X)
• 1st storyboards for special effects by line producer Robert Sullin and production designer Mike Minor
• 18 July 1981 – Outline, perhaps by Theodore Sturgeon , fleshes out Dr. Savik as a female officer who becomes romantically involved with David Marcus
• 24 August 1981 – Samuel A. Peeples submits alternative 155-page script titled The New Star Trek [14] (X)
• 10 September 1981 – Nicholas Meyer submits 1st draft of final script titled Star Trek: The New Frontier [15] (X)
• 16 September 1981 – Meyer submits 2nd draft of script titled Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country [16] (X)
• 29 September 1981 – Meyer delivers 3rd draft of script [17] (X)
• 9 November 1981 – 12-week principal photography begins
• 18 January 1982 – Meyer delivers 4th draft of script, now titled Star Trek II: The Undiscovered Country [18] (X)
• 29 January 1982 – Principal photography ends
• March 1982 – After marketing tests, Paramount Pictures officially changes the title to Star Trek II: The Vengeance of Khan
• early April 1982 – Paramount Pictures, once again, officially changes the title to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to avoid confusing audiences (and as a gesture of good faith to George Lucas) with the then titled Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi
• 12-15 April 1982 – 1st session of recording James Horner's score at the Warner Bros. lot, Burbank Studios
• 30 April 1982 – Pickup session to record the Mutara Battle score
• 3 May 1982 – 3rd session to record revised epilogue
• 4 June 1982 – Theatrical release
• 16 July 1982 – British Theatrical release. The film is cut by 10 seconds at the behest of the BBFC.
• 24 February 1985 – US Network Television Premiere on ABC Television Network.
• 10 & 13 September 2017 – For the occasion of the film's 35th anniversary , NCM Fathom Events organizes a to 600 screens limited theatrical release of the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  (Director's Cut) . A newly produced, in-depth interview with William Shatner, conducted by Access Hollywood critic Scott Mantz , plays before the start of the film. [19] [20]

Awards and honors [ ]

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan received the following awards and honors:

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• US Betamax release: 1982

Merchandise gallery [ ]

Apocrypha [ ]

• In order to explain Khan's recognition of Chekov, Greg Cox 's novel To Reign In Hell established that Chekov was a security officer at the time of this episode and he led the security team that escorted Khan and his people down to Ceti Alpha V. He also led an assault against Khan and his followers to retake engineering, but were forced back.

Appendices [ ]

Credits [ ], opening credits [ ].

• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• James Doohan
• Walter Koenig
• George Takei
• Nichelle Nichols
• Merritt Butrick as David
• Paul Winfield as Terrell
• Kirstie Alley as Saavik
• Ricardo Montalban as Khan
• Gene Roddenberry
• James Horner
• William P. Dornisch
• Joseph R. Jennings
• Gayne Rescher , ASC
• Harve Bennett
• Jack B. Sowards
• Robert Sallin

Closing credits [ ]

• Kirk : William Shatner
• Spock : Leonard Nimoy
• McCoy : DeForest Kelley
• Scotty : James Doohan
• Chekov : Walter Koenig
• Sulu : George Takei
• Uhura : Nichelle Nichols
• Carol : Bibi Besch
• David : Merritt Butrick
• Terrell : Paul Winfield
• Saavik : Kirstie Alley
• Khan : Ricardo Montalban
• Preston : Ike Eisenmann
• Jedda : John Vargas
• Kyle : John Winston
• Beach : Paul Kent
• Cadet : Nicholas Guest
• Madison : Russell Takaki
• March : Kevin Sullivan
• Crew Chief : Joel Marstan
• Bridge Voice: Teresa E. Victor
• Radio Voice: Dianne Harper
• Radio Voice : David Ruprecht
• Computer Voice : Marcy Vosburgh
• Steve Blalock ( Enterprise crewmember )
• Janet Brady
• Diane Carter ( Regula I scientist )
• Tony Cecere
• Ann Chatterton ( Augment )
• Gilbert Combs ( Enterprise engineer )
• Jim Conners
• Bill Couch, Sr.
• Bill Couch, Jr.
• Eddy Donno ( Regula I chef )
• John Eskobar
• Chuck Hicks
• Tommy J. Huff
• Hubie Kerns, Jr. ( Enterprise trainee )
• Paula Moody
• Tom Morga ( Enterprise crewman / Dry dock worker )
• Mary Peters
• Ernest Robinson
• John Robotham
• Kim Washington
• Mike Washlake ( Enterprise trainee )
• George Wilbur
• William F. Phillips
• Robert Fletcher
• Austen Jewell
• Douglas E. Wise
• Richard Espinoza
• Thomas W. Lay Jr.
• Charles M. Graffeo
• Craig Denault
• Catherine Coulson
• Tom Connole
• Jim Alexander
• Patrick Clark
• Mark S. Server
• Agnes G. Henry
• Kimon Beazlie
• Joseph Markham
• Robin Michel Bush
• Werner Keppler
• James L. McCoy
• Dione Taylor
• Mary Jane Ferguson
• Edward A. Ayer
• Martin Becker
• Gary F. Bentley
• Fred Brauer
• Peter G. Evangelatos
• William Purcell
• Harry Stewart
• Sam Nicholson
• Romolo Acquistapace
• Charles Langham
• Murphy Wiltz
• Gene Griffith
• Don Whipple
• Gary L. Jensen
• Charles C. Eguia
• Michael Friedman
• Michael C. Gian
• John Graffeo
• Al DeGaetano
• Daniel Gluck
• Daniel E. Maltese
• Mike McDuffee
• Rick Valencia
• Howard Davidson
• Terry Ahern
• Jeff Melichar
• Edward Egan
• Bruce Birmelin
• John A. Haggar
• Christopher L. Koefoed
• Cecelia Hall
• George Watters II
• Teresa Eckton
• Michael Hilkene
• Jim Siracusa
• Curt Schulkey
• Alan Howarth
• Eugene Finley
• Cliff Bell, Jr.
• Robert Badami
• Dan Wallin , Record Plant Scoring
• Ray West , CAS
• David J. Hudson
• Mel Metcalf
• Mary V. Buck
• Dr. Richard Green
• Rodger Johnson
• Marc Okrand
• Deborah Arakelian

Industrial Light & Magic , a Division of Lucasfilm, Ltd.

• Jim Veilleux
• Ken Ralston
• Scott Farrar
• Stewart Barbee
• Selwyn Eddy III
• David Hardberger
• Robert Hill
• Michael Santy
• Bruce Nicholson
• David Berry
• Keneth Smith
• Donald Clark
• Thomas Rosseter
• Ralph Gordon
• Tim Geideman
• Duncan Myers
• Bob Chrisoulis
• Patricia Rose Duignan
• Warren Franklin
• Chris Evans
• Frank Ordaz
• Neil Krepela
• Craig Barron
• Steve Gawley
• William George
• Steve Sanders
• Bob Diepenbrock
• Mike Fulmer
• Marty Brenneis
• Samuel Comstock
• Kim Knowlton
• Scott Caple
• Kathryn Lenihan
• Judy Elkins

Additional Animation Visual Concept Engineering [ ]

• Arthur Repola
• Peter Amundson
• Malcom Blanchard
• Loren Carpenter
• Robert D. Poor
• Thomas Porter
• William Reeves
• Alvy Ray Smith
• Brent Watson
• Steve McAllister
• Neil Harrington
• Dr. Robert Langridge
• Terry Chostner
• Roberto McGrath
• Kerry Nordquist
• T.E. Moehnke
• Dave Childers
• Harold Cole
• Bobby Finley III
• Patrick Fitzsimmons
• Edward Hirsh
• John McCleod
• Peter Stolz
• Thaine Morris
• Wade Childress
• Bruce Hill Productions
• Kyle Turner
• Kathy Shine
• The National Aeronautics & Space Administration
• The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• The Burbank Studios
• Hal Landaker
• Alan Landaker
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Modern Film Effects
• Music by Alexander Courage
• Panavision ®
• Bill Baker as Trainee lieutenant j.g.
• Laura Banks as Khan's navigator
• Harve Bennett as Bridge simulator computer voice
• Pam Bennett as Khan's woman
• Steve Bond as Khan's henchman
• Fletcher Bryant as Khan's henchman
• Todd Bryant as Engineering cadet
• Brett Baxter Clark as Khan's henchman
• Tim Culbertson as Khan's henchman
• Brian Davis as trainee Enterprise crewmember
• Richard Forinash as Enterprise lieutenant
• John Gibson as Khan's henchman
• Anthony Gordon as Regula I steward
• James Horner as Enterprise training officer
• Ree Kai as trainee Enterprise crewmember
• Dennis Landry as Khan's henchman
• Cristian Letelier as engineering cadet
• MacKing as Stran
• Jeff McBride as Khan's henchman
• Roger Menache as Khan's henchman
• Chuck Powers as Enterprise crewman
• Nanci Rogers as Khan's henchwoman
• Tony Roque as Enterprise engineer
• Kimberly Ryusaki as Trainee Enterprise crewmember
• George Sasaki as engineering crewman
• Judson Scott as Joachim
• John Staible as Enterprise crewman
• Deney Terrio as Khan's henchman
• Sergio Valentino as trainee Enterprise crewmember
• Philip Weyland as Enterprise crewman
• Daniel Wong as engineering cadet
• Man cleaning floor
• Enterprise trainee blowing boatswain's whistle
• Enterprise trainee bridge officer (male)
• Enterprise engineering crewman
• Enterprise nurses
• Enterprise medical staff member 1
• Enterprise medical staff member 2
• Reliant bridge officer 1
• Reliant bridge officer 2
• Reliant navigator
• Nicholas Meyer – Writer (screenplay)
• Samuel A. Peeples – Writer (story, additional writing material)
• Lightning Bear – Stunts
• Emil Richards – Percussionist
• Marvin Hoar – Video Operator
• Peter Lauritson – Pre-production
• Joel Marston – Dialogue Coach for William Shatner
• Ed Moskowitz – Video Operator
• Kathleen Nicholson Graham – Bagpipes performer " Amazing Grace "
• Jim Padgett – Video Operator
• Kevin Pike – Special Effects Artist
• Lee Dragu – Personal Assistant: Nicholas Meyer
• David Sosalla – Model sculptor: ILM
• Kirk Thatcher – Model sculptor: ILM
• The Producers Acknowledge the Invaluable Assistance of Bjo Trimble and Samuel A. Peeples in All Matters Relating to Star Trek

References [ ]

19th century ; 20th century ; 2185 ; 2267 ; 2283 ; 2284 ; 3rd class neutronic fuel carrier ; abandon ; able seaman ; aft thruster ; age ; airlock ; allergy ; " all hands "; Altair VI ; Amber ; " Amazing Grace "; amusement ; analysis ; Antares maelstrom ; antique ; apartment ( James T. Kirk's San Francisco apartment ); area ; Armageddon ; arrival ; assumption ; atmosphere ; attack ; attack course ; attention ; authority ; auxiliary power ; bagpipes ; battery ; battle ; battle stations ; bearing ; biblical references ; birthday ; birthday present ; bionetics ; blood ; " bloodsucker "; blue shift ; boatswain's whistle ; body ; " Bones "; bookshelf ; Botany Bay , SS ; Boy Scouts ; bridge ; bridge (game) ; bridge simulator ; briefing room ; " by the book "; cadet ; cargo bay ; cargo carrier casualty ; " caught with my britches down " ( britches ); cerebral cortex ; Ceti Alpha ; Ceti Alpha V ; Ceti Alpha VI ; Ceti eel ; chambers coil ; channel ; chance ; cheating ; checkers ; children ; Christmas tree ; Ciardi, John ; civilization ; class D ; coil emission ; collection ; command ability ; command console ; commander ; commendation ; comm-pic ; comm system ; combination code ; compartment ; computer ; computer console ; comrade ; concept ; conclusion ; console ; coordinates ; cosmos (aka universe ); course heading ; craylon gas ; creature ; crew ; criminal ; damage ; damage report ; danger ; Dante ; Dante's Inferno ; data ; data bank ; data chart ; day ; death ; defense field ; departure ; destiny ; detonation ; dinner ; " dirty work "; distance ; distress channel ; domestication ; doppler compensator ; drama critic ; duty officer ; dynoscanner ; ear ; Earth ; effect ; efficiency rating ; ego ; Einstein, Albert ; elevator ; emergency channel ; emergency light ; emergency situation ; enemy ; energizer ; energy flux ; engineer's mate ; Enterprise , USS ; Enterprise -class ; escape pod ; estimating ; eternity ; eulogy ; evasive action ; event ; Excellency ; exile ; experiment ; face ; fact ; Federation Science Bureau ; fermentation ; fire extinguisher ; fireplace ; firing switch ; flag officer ; floor cleaner ; fondness ; food ; food supply ; frequency ; friend ; French language ; funeral ; galaxy ; Gamma Hydra ; Gamma Hydra sector ; garden ; gas cloud ; General Order 12 ; General Order 15 ; Genesis cave ; Genesis Device ; Genesis effect ; Genesis Experiment ; Genesis Planet ; Genesis Planet sun ; Genesis wave ; genetic engineering ; geoplastics ; gift ; " give the word "; God ; goose ; gravitic mine ; gravitronics ; green ; Green, R.N. ; hair ; hairstyle ; hate ; heart ; Hell ; hello ; hijacking ; Holy Bible ; hospitality ; host ; hour ; hull ; Human ; humor ; hyperchannel ; idea ; impression ; impulse power ; information ; ingenuity ; " in over our heads "; inspection ; intention ; intercept course ; intruder alert ; " it never rains but it pours "; jamming range ; JBK sensors synthostasis ; joke ; judgment ; K't'inga -class ; katra ; Khan's wife ; King Lear ; kilometer ; Klingons ; Klingon aphrodisiacs ; Klingon battle cruisers ; Klingon Neutral Zone ; Klingon proverb ; Kobayashi Maru ; Kobayashi Maru personnel ; Kobayashi Maru scenario ; laboratory ; lie ; life ; lifeform ; life sign ; life support system ; listening ; light ; log buoy ; logic ; loitering ; luxury ; madness ; main energizer ; main power ; main stage flux chamber ; mains ; maintenance crew ; Mark IV bridge simulator ; marksman ; marooning ; mass ; matter ; meaning ; medical tricorder ; memory ; memory bank ; message ; meter ; microbe ; midshipman first class ; military ; million ; " mince words "; mind ; minute ; mission ; mistake ; Moby Dick ; model ; molecular structure ; month ; moon ; moons of Nibia ; mooring ; moral implication ; motor ; murder ; Mutara Nebula ; Mutara Nebula, Battle of the ; myth ; nebula perimeter ; " neck of the woods "; Newton, Isaac ; Niagara , USS ; Nibia ; ninny ; No smoking sign ; " no-win situation "; odds ; offspring ; " on leave "; orbit ; order ; ore ; override ; parabolic course ; Paradise Lost ; Paradise Regained ; " par for the course "; particle ; passenger ; passion ; " pat on the back "; patient ; pawn ; peace ; perdition ; performance ; period ; permission ; pet ; phaser ; phaser emitter ; phaser lock ; phaser power ; photon torpedo ; physician ; photon control ; photon torpedo ; place ; plan ; planet ( world ); planetoid ; poem ; poetry ; population ; port ; power ; power (politics); pray ; preanimate matter ; prefix code ; prefix number ; prestage flux chamber ; prince ; prisoner ; product ; problem ; progress ; Project Genesis ; Project Genesis Summary ; promotion ; proposal ; proverb ; quadrant ; quarters ; question ; quoting ; radiation ; radiation poisoning ; red shift ; Regula ; Regula I ; Reliant , USS ; rescue ; rescue mission ; respect ; resting place ; result ; retinal scan ; Retinax V ; " Revenge is a dish best served cold "; rigor mortis ; risk ; rock ; Romulans ; Romulan ale ; running light ; sacrifice ; sailing ship ; sand ; San Francisco ; " sauce for the goose " ( goose ; sauce ): scientific research laboratory ; scientist ; Scots language ; Scott's sister ; screen ; search ; section ; Section 10 ; Section 14 ; Section 15 ; security scan ; security procedure ; self-expression ; senile ; senior officer ; sensor ; shield ; ship's bell ; ship's company ; shore leave ; signal ; Signet ; simulator room ; slit ; solution ; " son of a bitch "; sorrow ; soul ; space ; space body ; spacedock ; space shuttle ; spacesuit ; speaker ; speed ; standard orbit ; " stand by "; starbase ; starboard ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet Corps of Engineers ; General Orders and Regulations ; Starfleet Headquarters ; Starfleet Operations ; starship ; static ; static discharge ; steal ; strength ; student ; subatomic level ; suggestion ; sunrise ; Surak ; surprise ; surface scan ; surrender ; survival ; survivor ; tactical display ; tactical situation monitor ; tale ; Tale of Two Cities, A ; tape ; target ; Tau Ceti IV ; teacher ; test of character ; test site ; thermonics ; thermowave multiplexer ; thing ; thinking ; thought ; throat ; Tiberian bat ; tiger ; toast ; torpedo bay ; torture ; trainee ; trainee crew ; training mission ; training voyage ( training cruise ); tranquilizer ; transmission ; transporter ; transporter room ; travel pod ( unnamed ); travel pod 05 ; treaty ; tricorder ; type 2 phaser ; United Federation of Planets ; velocity ; victim ; voice message ; Vulcan ; Vulcan language ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; Vulcan salute ; Wallis, D.E. ; warp drive ; warp engine ; warp speed ; Wave Matrix ETM Storage ; weapon ; weapons console ; weapons pod ; " wee "; week ; wind ; wisdom ; word ; wound ; yellow alert ;

Other references [ ]

• Starfleet Training Command (STC), 2nd Level: Administrative Offices ; Arakelian, D. ; Astrogation ; battalion commander ; Beam Technology ; Becker, M. ; Cole, L. ; Commandante Cadets ; Communications ; Director of Educational Services ; Engineering ; Fletcher, R. ; Gabrielle, D. ; Gluck, D. ; Gort ; Graffeo, C. ; Grodnick, T. ; Henry, A. ; Inter-stellar Ethnology ; Jennings, J.R. ; Longo, J. ; Maltese, D. ; Mark III bridge simulator ; Mark X bridge simulator ; Minor, M.C. ; Mitchell, J. ; Office of General Services ; Receivingship ; Rescher, G. ; Sofak ; Supervisor of Curriculum ; Wise, D. ; Wong, J. ; Xon
• Cargo containers : Altair IV ; Beirut Research ; Bellus 4 ; Copenhagen Base ; Kosygin Base ; New Chicago ; Talos III ; Tycho Laboratories ; Vulcan ; Zyra

LCARS references [ ]

Class 3 neutronic fuel carrier ; gravity generator ; Hermes -class ; Jupiter ; K'ushui ; NCC-500 ; NCC-585 ; NCC-3801 ; NCC-4000 ; Oomaru ; Ptolemy -class ; Saladin -class ; Shaandra ; Sol ; Thelonii ; Xanthii ; Yaan

Meta references [ ]

Script references [ ].

Excelsior , USS ; officers' mess ; Prometheus ; Starfleet General Staff ; Starfleet Operations ; technical manual ; White Sands

Sources [ ]

• Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 3, Issue 5 , September 2002
• The Art of Star Trek , Judith , Garfield Reeves-Stevens , Pocket Books, 1995
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan The Director's Edition
• Anderson, Kay. "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, How the TV Series Became A Hit Movie, At Last," Cinefantastique Magazine, volume 12, issues 5-6 (double issue) spring 1982
• Source of placard names at StarTrek.com

External links [ ]

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at StarTrek.com
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at Wikipedia
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 3 USS Antares (32nd century)

The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

More than 40 years ago, in 1982, director Nicholas Meyer's "The Wrath of Khan" revitalized "Star Trek," overcoming its low budget to be the shot in the arm that "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" failed to be.

This was the second time that the "Star Trek: The Original Series" cast reunited on the silver screen. With how long it has been, it's sadly unsurprising that most of the original "Star Trek" main cast is no longer with us. Spock's sacrifice and emotional last exchange with Kirk in "The Wrath of Khan" are even sadder and more poignant now with Leonard Nimoy's real-life passing in 2015.

Even most of the film's own supporting cast have passed on. Ricardo Montalbán, who delivered the performance of a lifetime as Khan Noonien Singh himself, died in 2009 at age 88. However, a select few of the movie's cast are still with us.

William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk)

The main character arc in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is Captain Kirk (William Shatner) feeling his age. The movie begins on his 50th birthday and he's hit a midlife crisis. He's stuck in a desk job as a Starfleet admiral and when he has to step back into the front lines, he's plagued with uncertainty about whether he can be the risk-taking adventurer he was in "Star Trek: The Original Series."

There's some (sweet) irony that despite all this worry about growing old, Shatner himself is still alive in 2024, having outlived most of his costars. After "The Wrath of Khan," Shatner returned for the next five "Star Trek" films. Kirk's journey finally ended with him dying in "Star Trek: Generations" after teaming up with Enterprise-D Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart).

Outside of "Star Trek," Shatner found success with the comedy series "Boston Legal" in the early aughts — leaning into his public persona as a ham, he played loud, half-senile lawyer Denny Crane. Off-screen, he became the first "Star Trek" lead actor to actually travel to space in 2021, but the experience wasn't what he expected. "It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered," Shatner later wrote . "The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness."

George Takei (Hikaru Sulu)

Sulu is the navigator aboard the Enterprise. He's an essential part of the crew, but unfortunately, he doesn't get all that much to do in "The Wrath of Khan" — though a deleted scene would've revealed he'd been promoted to captain of the USS Excelsior. That's not to say the films forgot about Sulu or Takei; he returned alongside all his fellow "TOS" alums up to "The Undiscovered Country," where Sulu finally got that captaincy he'd been promised back in "The Wrath of Khan."

Since then, Takei has made one of the more prolific careers for himself outside of "Star Trek." As he's aged, he's become primarily a voice actor; he made guest appearances on children's TV shows such as "Transformers," "Avatar: The Last Airbender," and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." He was also part of the main cast in Netflix's 2023 animated series, "Blue Eye Samurai."

Takei is also a political activist; he came out as gay in 2005 and is vocal about LGBTQ+ rights. His childhood in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War 2 inspired the Broadway show "Allegiance," and in 2019, Takei co-authored the graphic novel "They Called Us Enemy" about his experience.

Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov)

Chekov isn't part of the Enterprise crew when "The Wrath of Khan" begins — he's the executive officer of the USS Reliant under Captain Terrell (the late Paul Winfield). However, of the returning supporting cast, he probably has the most important role in the film.

It's Chekov and Terrell who free Khan by venturing to what they think is the planet Ceti Alpha VI, but is actually Ceti Alpha V , where Khan and his crew are marooned. Khan implants some indigenous creatures, the Ceti eels, in Chekov and Terrell's ear canals to make them vulnerable to suggestion, effectively brainwashing them. Khan seizes the Reliant, and it's through the ship's power that he stands toe-to-toe with the Enterprise.

Koenig returned again in all the "Original Series" era "Star Trek" films, and also had a cameo in "Generations." In 2023, he even played Federation President Anton Chekov (implicitly a descendant of Pavel) in "Star Trek: Picard." And his science-fiction legacy doesn't end with "Star Trek." In the 1990s, Koenig played the villainous psychic Alfred Bester on "Babylon 5," whose sinister presence is the total opposite of Chekov's pluckiness and comic energy.

Judson Scott (Joachim)

Khan has a remaining crew of about two dozen, but the only one with a name or significant lines is his right hand, Joachim. Judson Scott is uncredited for the part, but it's not because his character lacks presence in the film. No, as Scott remembers , it's because his agent made some bad calls when negotiating. A shame, since Scott definitely deserved the credit; he's Montalbán's main screen partner (Khan and Kirk never physically meet in the movie) and holds his own.

"Wrath of Khan" is filled with allusions to "Moby Dick" (Khan dies quoting Captain Ahab). With that in mind, Joachim is Starbuck, the first officer trying to talk his captain out of a disastrous revenge quest to no avail.

Scott returned to "Star Trek" twice, appearing in "The Next Generation" episode "Symbiosis" and "Voyager" episode "Message in a Bottle" as a Romulan villain. Scott has seemingly retired from acting these days (his last credit is for "Charmed" in 2002), but he's still with us.

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1982, Sci-fi/Adventure, 1h 53m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Considered by many fans to be the best of the Star Trek movies, Khan features a strong plot, increased tension, and a sharp supporting performance from Ricardo Montalban. Read critic reviews

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As Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) monitor trainees at Starfleet Academy, another vessel from the United Federation of Planets is about to try out the planet-creating Genesis Device in a seemingly deserted portion of space. In the process, two of Kirk's officers are captured by Khan (Ricardo Montalban), an enemy Kirk thought he'd never see again. Once more, Kirk takes the Enterprise's helm, where he meets Khan's ship in an intergalactic showdown.

Genre: Sci-fi, Adventure, Action

Original Language: English

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Producer: Robert Sallin

Writer: Harve Bennett , Jack Sowards , Jack Sowards

Release Date (Theaters): Jun 4, 1982  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Jun 26, 2013

Runtime: 1h 53m

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Production Co: Paramount Pictures

Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Stereo, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Stereo

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

View the collection: Star Trek

Cast & Crew

William Shatner

Admiral James T. Kirk

Leonard Nimoy

Captain Spock

Ricardo Montalban

Khan Noonien Singh

DeForest Kelley

Commander Leonard H. McCoy, M.D.

James Doohan

Commander Montgomery Scott

Walter Koenig

Commander Pavel Andreievich Chekov

George Takei

Commander Hikaru Sulu

Nichelle Nichols

Commander Nyota Uhura

Kirstie Alley

Lieutenant Saavik

Dr. Carol Marcus

Merritt Butrick

Dr. David Marcus

Paul Winfield

Captain Clark Terrell

Nicholas Meyer

Harve Bennett

Jack Sowards

Robert Sallin

Executive Producer

William F. Phillips

Associate Producer

Gayne Rescher

Cinematographer

William Paul Dornisch

Film Editing

James Horner

Original Music

Joseph R. Jennings

Production Design

Michael Minor

Art Director

Charles Graffeo

Set Decoration

Robert Fletcher

Costume Design

Mary V. Buck

Werner Keppler

Makeup Artist

James Lee McCoy

Dione Taylor

Hair Stylist

Austen Jewell

Unit Production Manager

Douglas E. Wise

First Assistant Director

News & Interviews for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

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Critic Reviews for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Audience reviews for star trek ii: the wrath of khan.

Arguably the high point for the original cast's film franchise. Shatner shows true vulnerability as Kirk in this film and Ricardo Montalban cements his place as one of the best portrayed villains in film as Khan. The result of the film is not seen coming and you wonder how the crew will bounce back in the inevitable next film.

Sequels are supposed to take what was great about the first outing and expand on it while also improving upon the mishaps as well. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is better than the first film in almost every aspect. I took issue with the pacing, overuse of special effects, length, and the lack of a present villain in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This film wipes away silly and unnecessary special effects and gives us an intriguing story with characters who we understand and care about. It's also a solid 30 minutes shorter without cutting out anything that would hurt the story. I was thoroughly impressed by this sequel even 30 years after its release. We open the film as the enterprise seemingly has a new captain in Kirstie Alley's Saavik, only to find out its a training exercise put together by Spock and Admiral Kirk. I was worried they may rehash the same story line as the first film as Kirk seemed to hint that he may be done with the Enterprise, only to run into an old foe in Khan. Even though I have seen bits and pieces of the original series and had been somewhat familiar with Khan as a villain, I didn't know to the extent to which him and Kirk were linked. I was glad to see viewing of his appearance in the TV series wasn't entirely necessary as they explained enough in the 103 minute run-time. Khan has become somewhat of a pop culture icon over the years, so I had my fair share of expectations going in. Ricardo Montalban's performance and the writing didn't let me down. So much so that you understand where Khan is coming from when he wants Project Genesis from the crew and wants revenge for what Kirk did. In many ways, he was Kirk's arch nemesis and proved to come through with a lot of what he swore to do to Kirk. My only gripe with him as a villain was that I feel like we were missing an in person interaction with Kirk himself. Speaking through a video screen inside the Enterprise isn't enough, you need that human interaction. With that said, The Wrath of Khan has the emotional layers and character depths that the first film was lacking. All of the original dynamics of the ship are there, plus some new and enjoyable ones as well. Plus, it doesn't take 45 minutes for things to get going, the pacing is much improved. James Horner's haunting score also sets the tone immediately from the opening scene, all the way through the bittersweet ending. Overall, everything feels bigger and better with The Wrath of Khan. Having seen the new Trek films, I think this can rank up there with them as some of the best outings the Enterprise crew has ever had. +Fantastic score +Emotionally layered +Special effects & pacing much improved +Very good villain -Although Khan was missing the human interaction with Kirk 8.6/10

And this is coming from an adamant "definitely not a fan" of the original series.

This is the second movie in all of the "Star Trek" movies, and it's considered the best(I've only seen this and the first one). This is miles better than the first movie, and really showcases a great story, with great characters. A guy I work with recommended I watch an old episode called "Space Seed" first. It's not mandatory, but it's a great thing to do, because it gives a great set up, and you get to see why Khan and Kirk hate each other. The effects are very dated, and the acting is just awesome. Awesome, because it's all overacted, which for a movie like this works well. When Kirk yells Khan, it's just awesome. I like the Abrams movies better, but this makes me want to continue with the old movies to see where it all goes. Good movie that's still good 30 years later.

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Synopsis by Daniel Gelb

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan review – Spock and Kirk shine in charming Enterprise revisit

The 1982 sequel to the original Star Trek film, featuring a film debut for Kirstie Alley, returns to cinemas with its crowdpleasing zap and raw emotion intact

T he 1982 sequel to the original Star Trek feature film is now re-released: a brisker, brasher work directed by Nicholas Meyer which moved away from the more lugubrious, Kubrickian ambitions of the first film and back to the crowdpleasing zap of the TV show, importantly starting with the irresistible theme tune. However, 60s TV Star Trek would surely never have given us anything like the rather extraordinary moment included in this movie: chief engineer Mr Scott is discreetly treated for a certain ailment by Dr McCoy, because of his recent “shore leave”. Too much information there about Mr Scott’s private life.

Wrath of Khan is the film that sensationally gave us the heroic and tragic sacrifice of Mr Spock, a wonderful performance of sonorous gravitas from Leonard Nimoy. That calamity traumatised its audiences and taught future generations of franchise-creators from Star Wars to Harry Potter that nothing grabs the fanbase like a big death. The Spock demise was further elevated in pop culture a decade later on the Seinfeld TV show when it was revealed that Jerry’s friend George Constanza was, in adult life, more moved by the memory of Spock’s fate than by the death of his own fiancee.

The situation aboard the USS Enterprise is that Spock is now captain, mentoring a commander-in-training, Saavik, played by Kirstie Alley in her debut film role. There has been another uniform redesign: tunics are now a deep cherry red, thus confounding the “red jersey” stigma, traditionally the colour of other ranks’ uniforms, those most likely to die when beamed down to other planets with more important cast-members.

Admiral James T Kirk (William Shatner) is yearning to get away from desk responsibility and see action once again. He is grimly aware of the passing years, made more piquant by a birthday present from his plain-speaking pal, Dr McCoy (DeForest Kelley): a pair of reading glasses. But Admiral Kirk’s inspection of the Enterprise coincides with a threat from his old nemesis Khan (an enjoyably hammy Ricardo Montalbán) who tries to steal a terrifyingly powerful new invention: the Genesis, which has the power to create biological lifeforms on desolate planets, but also to destroy lifeforms that are already there.

The unspeakable Khan gains an insidious access to the Enterprise by capturing Chekov (Walter Koenig) and getting a little reptile’s offspring to slither into his ear, thus putting him under a hypnotic influence: a truly creepy moment. And so the duel between Kirk and his old adversary begins, with the Admiral periodically shouting “Khaaaaan!” in pedantic moments of defiance. It’s still entertaining and charming in its innocent idealism.

• Science fiction and fantasy films
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• US television

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The peculiar thing about Spock is that, being half human and half Vulcan and therefore possessing about half the usual quota of human emotions, he consistently, if dispassionately, behaves as if he possessed very heroic human emotions indeed. He makes a choice in “Star Trek II” that would be made only by a hero, a fool, or a Vulcan. And when he makes his decision, the movie rises to one of its best scenes, because the " Star Trek " stories have always been best when they centered around their characters. Although I liked the special effects in the first movie, they were probably not the point; fans of the TV series wanted to see their favorite characters again, and “Trek II” understood that desire and acted on it. 

Time has passed since the last episode. Kirk has retired to an administrative post. Spock is commanding the Enterprise, with a lot of new faces in the crew. The ship is on a mission concerning the Genesis device, a new invention which, if I understand it correctly, is capable of seeding a barren planet with luxuriant life. A sister ship, the USS Reliant, is scouting for lifeless planets and finds one that seems to be dead, but its instruments pick up a small speck of life. Crew members investigate, and find the planet inhabited by an outlaw named Khan, who was exiled there years ago by Kirk, and has brooded of vengeance ever since. 

Khan is played as a cauldron of resentment by Ricardo Montalban , and his performance is so strong that he helps illustrate a general principle involving not only Star Trek but “ Star Wars ” (1977) and all the epic serials, especially the “James Bond” movies: Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph. In a curious way, Khan captures our sympathy, even though he is an evil man who introduces loathsome creatures into the ear canals of two Enterprise crew members. Montalban doesn't overact. He plays the character as a man of deeply wounded pride, whose bond of hatred with Admiral Kirk is stronger even than his traditional villain's desire to rule the universe. 

There is a battle in outer space in this movie, a particularly inept one that owes more to "Captain Video" than to state-of-the-art special effects. I always love it when they give us spaceships capable of leaping across the universe, and then arm them with weapons so puny that a direct hit merely blows up a few control boards and knocks people off their feet. Somehow, though, I don't much care if the battles aren't that amazing, because the story doesn't depend on them. It's about a sacrifice made by Spock, and it draws on the sentiment and audience identification developed over the years by the TV series. 

Perhaps because of that bond, and the sense that an episode may be over but the Enterprise will carry on, the movie doesn't feel that it needs an ending in a conventional sense. The film closes with the usual "Star Trek" end narration, all about the ship's mission and its quest, and we are obviously being set up for a sequel. You could almost argue that the last few minutes of “Trek II” are a trailer for “Trek III”, but, no, that wouldn't be in the spirit of the Enterprise, would it?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 2 sows the seeds of seasonal plot threads (Under the Twin Moons recap)

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 2

So, as you will have gathered from watching Star Trek: Discovery's episode 1 of season 5 ,  it would appear that the primary plot is based on a past episode of "The Next Generation" (TNG). Yes indeed, no new "Star Trek" show is safe from nostalgia — and very specifically — TNG-era nostalgia. Any storyline, from any previous incarnation of " Star Trek " could've been used, but it cannot denied that it feels like we're being given what Terry Matalas and the other executive producers who are still obsessed with living in the past want, which is to relive their teens. 

The thing is, there's nothing wrong with TNG and if you watch the episode that all of this seems to be stemming from, "The Chase" (S06, E20) it's actually a pretty good installment. And in fact, it has a " Babylon 5 " quality and uses dialogue and straightforward set pieces to tell an interesting, nuanced story. (Aside from at least from one significant plot hole that is not explained.) But that was then — April 1993, to be precise — and this is now. And while it might have been fun to revisit this in a TNG-era movie for example, this ship really has passed. If you're need a refresher on how to watch Star Trek: Discovery, you can check out our Star Trek streaming guide for Paramount Plus .

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The episode "The Chase" is a fun explainer as to why all the humanoid aliens look the same. Obviously, it's all to do with budget in the real world, but in the Star Trek universe it's because a super-advanced race of aliens — unofficially referred to as Progenitors — opted to scatter different parts of our DNA across the galaxy, which when fully evolved over millions of years time, came to form humans, Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans and the rest. When DNA strands from all of these races are combined, it unlocked a ancient holographic message. 

Related: 5 things Star Trek: Discovery season 5 needs to fix

"Life evolved on my planet before all others in this part of the galaxy. We left our world, explored the stars, and found none like ourselves. Our civilization thrived for ages, but what is the life of one race, compared to the vast stretches of cosmic time?" the unnamed humanoid alien said. "We knew that one day we would be gone, that nothing of us would survive. So, we left you. Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy ... The seed codes also contained this message, which we scattered in fragments on many different worlds. It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message."

The potential of this was pretty big, but it was never followed up. It was rumored there might even be a connection to the Changling race and it was talked about in chat groups ... 15 years ago . And while this was a certainly an opportunity left open-ended, ready to be revisited after having been found by writers scrambling for ideas, it's also interesting to note that "The Chase" was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who as we know, is still very much involved with Nu-Trek.

Back to "Discovery" season 5, episode 2 and possibly the biggest single, burning question is, will Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) met a death as utterly pointless as Captain Shaw, Huw and Cristóbal Rios? And now with Captain Saru (Doug Jones) leaving the USS Discovery and Raynor taking his place as first officer, Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) now at least has an antagonist close by for this adventure.

This second episode feels a little less lost than the season premiere, although it relies rather heavily on the classic bureaucracy trope, something, you'd have to believe we'd really been able to get past in the 32nd century. Guess not. Staying with Rayner though, if his appointment to become the new First Officer of the USS Discovery just turns out to be another underused, Tarka-style antagonist, it will be a spectacular missed opportunity. But, "Discovery" does keep us guessing, that much is certain. Who'd have thought an socially awkward alien would cause all the dilithium in the galaxy to explode ? 

There are some interesting set pieces in this episode, but let's hope we don't dwell on the whole breadcrumb-trail to alien artifacts theme too long. Also, where the blazes does the energy and the matter come from to instantly form replacement phasers? Just wonderin' like. But, on the plus side, Grudge is back and so is Zora.  

In other "Star Trek" news, production on the new "Star Trek: Section 31" television movie starring Michelle Yeoh has started principal photography. Paramount Plus posted a pic on Instagram and Variety released a still. In addition to Yeoh, the cast includes Omari Hardwick ("Powers"), Kacey Rohl ("Hannibal"), Emmy Award winner Sam Richardson ("Ted Lasso"), Sven Ruygrok ("One Piece"), Robert Kazinsky ("Pacific Rim"), Humberly Gonzalez ("Ginny & Georgia") and James Hiroyuki Liao ("Barry").

However, the most interesting news is that the story appears to be set in the "lost era" of "Star Trek" — between the events of the Kirk-era movie, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and the TV series TNG. Arguably the most underused and interesting field of opportunity within the "Star Trek" franchise...and Kacey Rohl ("Arrow") has also joined the project as a young Rachel Garrett, the future captain of the USS Enterprise-C, from the epic TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" (S03, E15) where the character was previously portrayed by Tricia O’Neil.

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" and every episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US while "Prodigy" has found a new home o n Netflix.  

Internationally, the shows are available on Paramount Plus in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on Paramount Plus in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery season 5 returning cast & new character guide.

As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

• Discovery season 5 follows Burnham on a treasure hunt with new allies and enemies in the 32nd century.
• Captain Saru may get his own command, impacting his role on Discovery.
• Stamets plays a key role with the Spore Drive and the quest for the mysterious treasure.

After a long delay, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery are back, and they'll be joined by some new and returning characters over the course of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's intergalactic treasure hunt. Discovery season 5 picks up some time after the DMA disaster was averted, and it's likely that the impact of that on the show's regulars will be explored as the weeks go by. Tasked by the ever-engimatic Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) to retrieve a mysterious item from an 800-year-old Romulan ship, Burnham and the crew of the Discovery are thrown into a quest for a great prize that must not fall into the wrong hands .

With the " greatest treasure in the known universe " on the line, Burnham and the crew will need some allies from the 32nd century Star Trek timeline . As well as her loyal crew, Burnham will again be assisted by Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), the Federation President, Laila Rilak (Chelah Horsdal) and Starfleet Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) . As the extensive Star Trek: Discovery cast prepare to say goodbye, it looks like they'll get a suitably cinematic and emotional send-off.

When Does Every Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode Premiere (& How Many Are There)?

17 sonequa martin-green as captain michael burnham, the uss discovery's legendary captain is at the heart of the action in season 5..

Sonequa Martin-Green returns as Captain Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. After a breakthrough role as Sasha Williams in The Walking Dead , Sonequa Martin-Green has led Discovery since 2017, and will be bowing out when the show ends this year. Between seasons 4 and 5, Martin-Green appeared in Space Jam: A New Legacy and guest starred as the Green Ghost in Invincible .

Since arriving in the future, Burnham has quickly become the most important captain in Star Trek 's 32nd century , which is presumably why she's been trusted to lead season 5's intergalactic treasure hunt. From the clips and trailers, Burnham will be right in the thick of the action, engaged in gunfights in corridors and surfing on starships. It also looks like Burnham will be forced to reconcile her strained relationship with Cleveland "Book" Booker (David Ajala), after his betrayal in Star Trek: Discovery season 4.

16 Doug Jones as Captain Saru

Will burnham's number one get his own command.

Doug Jones' history-making Saru is also back for Star Trek: Discovery season 5. It's been teased that Saru will be offered the " position of a lifetime " in the season 5 premiere , meaning that he may no longer be Burnham's second-in-command. Burnham and Saru are seen in an exciting adventure on a forest planet in the final Discovery trailer, a mission that is referred to as the pair's " last dance ". The specifics of Saru's new role and how it plays into season 5's larger story remains to be seen. Between Star Trek: Discovery seasons 4 and 5, Doug Jones was seen as Baron Afanas in FX's vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows .

15 Anthony Rapp as Commander Paul Stamets

Has stamets finally rolled out his revolutionary spore drive.

Anthony Rapp's Paul Stamets looks to play a key role in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, as he's glimpsed holding a " key " to what is presumably tied to the treasure. Stamets will also presumably be dealing with the fallout from Ruon Tarka's theft of the spore drive technology in season 4. Tarka's protoype spore drive was destroyed, drastically setting back the rollout across the whole Starfleet armada. It will be interesting, therefore, to see if Stamets' passion project has finally been adopted by 32nd century Starfleet. Anthony Rapp recently voiced Orpheus in the videogame Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical .

Discovery's Spore Drive Is Better Than Star Trek's Traditional Warp

14 wilson cruz as doctor hugh culber, discovery's answer to counselor deanna troi..

13 Reasons Why star Wilson Cruz will reprise the role of Star Trek: Discovery 's medic and counselor, Dr. Hugh Culber. Wilson Cruz teased that Discovery season 5 is a high note , and the trailers reveal that Culber joins Burnham and Book on an away mission, stretching his legs beyond the Discovery. Culber also expanded his skills in Discovery season 4, taking care of the crew's mental health as well as their physical wellbeing. Gene Roddenberry was inspired to create Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) for that very reason, making Culber a successor to the beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation character in season 5.

13 Mary Wiseman as Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly

Tilly is back full-time for discovery's final mission..

Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) had a reduced role in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, but is restored to series regular for Disco 's finale. Tilly left the Discovery to become an instructor at Starfleet Academy, presumably setting up Discovery 's upcoming spinoff series. The trailer for Discovery season 5 reveals that Tilly will be part of the ongoing treasure hunt, as she's seen disguised as an alien inside some large alien structure. As one of Discovery 's best-loved characters, it's fitting that Mary Wiseman's Tilly returns for the final outing . It remains to be seen if Tilly's arc in Discovery season 5 will set up the upcoming Starfleet Academy show .

12 David Ajala as Cleveland Booker

Burnham's lover will be seeking her forgiveness when he returns to discovery..

At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Booker set off to make amends for his potentially catastrophic actions against Species 10-C. Book was ordered to assist the efforts to resettle refugees from the destruction caused by the DMA as recompense for his theft of the experimental spore drive. Booker returns to the USS Discovery in season 5 to help Burnham and the crew track villainous couriers L'ak and Moll. Burnham and Books' relationship faced its biggest challenge in Discovery season 4 , so it will be interesting to see how that impacts one of the most enduring love stories in modern Star Trek .

11 Blu del Barrio as Ensign Adira Tal

Stamets' protégé will join discovery's treasure hunt..

Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio), Star Trek: Discovery 's young science whizz, will also be returning in season 5. Still working under the tutelage of their mentor and adoptive father figure, Paul Stamets, Adira will aid the Discovery's quest for season 5's treasure. Adira is the first recurring Star Trek character to identify as non-binary, using they/them pronouns . Adira is a strong example of the hugely positive work that Discovery has done to improve LGBTQ+ representation in the Star Trek franchise. Most recently, Blu del Barrio was one of a number of Star Trek actors to lend their voice to the 2023 videogame Starfield .

Other Star Trek actors who appear in Starfield include Tim Russ, Nana Visitor, and Armin Shimerman.

Star Trek's First LGBTQ+ Romance Almost Happened In TNG Season 2

10 tig notaro as commander jett reno, discovery's comedy engineer returns for season 5..

Stand-up comedian Tig Notaro will return as Commander Jett Reno in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . Reno is a recurring character who made her debut in Discovery season 2, and joined the crew as they traveled into the far future. Reno is the USS Discovery's acerbic engineer, and will have a role to play in the ongoing search for season 5's mysterious treasure. In the trailer, Tig Notaro is seen holding all manner of sci-fi props, suggesting that Reno will have to do some dazzling engineering work on the fly at some point in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

9 Callum Keith Rennie as Captain Rayner

How does the kellerun captain fit into burnham's treasure hunt.

Battlestar Galactica 's Callum Keith Rennie plays Captain Rayner, one of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's new characters . It's been confirmed that Captain Rayner is a Kellerun , and that he is a wartime leader struggling to readjust to the Federation's time of peace post-Burn. It's also been teased that Rayner has a personal vendetta against the villainous Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis). How Rayner's past with Discovery season 5's primary antagonists will interfere with Burnham's quest for the treasure remains to be seen. From The X-Files to The Umbrella Academy, Rennie is a stalwart of genre TV , so his involvement in Star Trek feels long overdue.

8 Eve Harlow as Moll

One half of discovery season 5's villainous double act..

The Night Agent 's Eve Harlow joins Star Trek: Discovery season 5 as Moll, one half of the villainous criminal duo . Harlow is no stranger to sci-fi, having started out in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD , before appearing in The 100 and Next . Moll has been described as a former courier, who is now an intelligent and strategic outlaw. Moll's partnership with L'ak is romantic as well as professional, suggesting that the couple are a dark reflection of Burnham and Book's former partnership in Discovery season 3. Moll is also described as single-minded, and not intimidated by Captain Burnham or the judgment of Starfleet and the Federation.

7 Elias Toufexis as L'ak

The clyde to moll's bonnie..

L'ak isn't the first Star Trek role for The Expanse 's Elias Toufexis . The actor voiced the characters of Galvan and Hadri in Star Trek: Resurgence , and also previously played "Cold" in Star Trek: Discovery season 1. As one of season 5's primary villains, L'ak is a more substantial role for Elias Toufexis than his previous Star Trek characters. L'ak is Moll's fierce protector, who will stop at nothing to ensure that the love of his life is safe. This could make him an unpredictable and incredibly dangerous foe for Captain Burnham and the crew in Discovery season 5.

Star Trek: Discovery's New Season 5 Villains & Starfleet Officer Explained By Showrunner

6 tara rosling as president t'rina of ni'var, will saru and t'rina get their happy ending in discovery season 5.

President T'Rina (Tara Rosling) and Saru's relationship will develop further in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . Now the president of the unified Vulcan and Romulan home world of Ni'Var, it's unclear how big a part the wider Federation government will play in season 5's treasure hunt and its wider ramifications. Speculation around Saru's new role in Discovery suggest that he may be taking on a diplomatic role, which will bring him closer to T'Rina on a professional level. Working so closely professionally could have a negative impact on Saru and T'Rina's romance in Discovery season 5, suggesting some interesting material for Tara Rosling to perform.

5 Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance

The starfleet admiral will oversee burnham's final mission..

The Mummy star Oded Fehr returns as Admiral Charles Vance in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, providing Starfleet oversight on Burnham's latest mission. At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Vance vowed to spend more time with his family following the existential threat posed by Species 10-C . However, these plans may be derailed by the magnitude of Discovery's mission in season 5, forcing Vance to spend more time at Federation Headquarters.

4 David Cronenberg as Dr. Kovich

Starfleet's mysterious scientist gives the orders in discovery season 5..

Cult movie director David Cronenberg reprises the role of Doctor Kovich, who tasks Burnham with Star Trek: Discovery season 5's treasure hunt. An enigmatic figure, it's always hard to read the motives of Kovich, making him one of Discovery 's most fascinating characters. Hopefully, Kovich's intentions for the " greatest treasure in the known universe " are pure, but it's never easy to tell for sure. Previews of season 5 have revealed that Kovich will be taking a more hands-on approach this season, appearing alongside Captain Saru on the bridge of the USS Discovery .

3 Chelah Horsdal as Federation President Laira Rillak

Managing the political implications of burnham's mission..

Best known for her role as Helen in The Man in the High Castle , Chelah Horsdal returns to Star Trek: Discovery as President Laira Rillak. It's not clear what the wider political implications of season 5's treasure are, but it's certain that President Rillak will have to step in to mediate its impact on Federation relations. Having welcomed Earth back into the United Federation of Planets at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 4, it's likely that Rillak will have her eyes on expanding UFP membership in season 5 .

2 Ian Alexander as Gray Tal

The trainee guardian returns in discovery season 5..

Rounding out Star Trek: Discovery season 5's returning characters is Ian Alexander as trainee Trill Guardian, Gray Tal . Gray and Adira have been in a long-distance relationship since they parted ways in Discovery season 4. In Discovery season 4, episode 10, "The Galactic Barrier," Adira told Burnham that they and Grey were where they both needed to be, so it would be interesting to see if that's still the case in season 5. Ian Alexander recently voiced the character of Lev in The Last of Us: Part II , but it's unknown if they will reprise that role for HBO's TV adaptation.

1 Star Trek: Discovery's New & Returning Bridge Crew

As ever, Captains Burnham and Saru will be joined by their loyal bridge crew in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. Everyone from tactical to helm to communications will be on hand to see the USS Discovery through its final mission. Making their final appearances as the bridge crew of the legendary USS Discovery in season 5 are:

• Emily Coutts as Lt. Commander Keyla Detmer (Helm)
• Patrick Kwok-Choon as Lt. Commander Gen Rhys (Tactical)
• Olyn Oladejo as Lt. Commander Joann Owasekun (Ops)
• Orville Cummings as Lt. Christopher (Communications)
• David Benjamin Tomlinson as Lt. Junior Grade Linus (Science)
• Annabelle Wallis as Zora

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Premieres With 2 Episodes On April 4th On Paramount+

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Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

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Published Apr 2, 2024

What to Expect from The Final Season of Star Trek: Discovery

The cast details everything you need to know to get ready for the Season 5 premiere this week!

Getty Images / StarTrek.com

The highly anticipated fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery arrives this week!

This season finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the  U.S.S. Discovery  uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well… dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Ahead of the premiere, StarTrek.com had the opportunity to speak with series cast Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland "Book" Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira), along with this season's recurring guest star Eve Harlow (Moll) and executive producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise . With their help, here's what you can expect from their characters this season!

In case you need a quick refresher before we dive forward, we've got a handy Where We Left Off guide !

Now let's fly!

Sonequa Martin-Green on Season 5 Stakes and Captain Michael Burnham's Relationship Status

"Red Directive"

StarTrek.com

"This season, we can expect a wild ride," teases Sonequa Martin-Green. "One of the things that they wanted to do was that they wanted to have a tonal shift. They wanted it to be adventurous, they wanted it to be fun, they wanted it to be kind of like the Indiana Jones season. And so we really did that. We really did that. The artistry is on another level."

"In every department, you will see some really incredible things coming to life," continues Martin-Green. "In Season 5, we did some stuff we should not have been able to do; we did some stuff that we've never done before. I'm really proud of every department, of every cast member, of every crew member, every writer, every producer, every post-production coordinator, and supervisor, and worker. We took it to the next level without even knowing that it was our last season. When everyone sees it, I think that they'll see what I'm talking about. It's culminating because of that; it is just on another level. It's a huge, huge season. People have a lot to look forward to."

Addressing where Michael Burnham and Book find themselves at the start of this season, Martin-Green explains, "Book and Burnham, they are the classic, old Facebook status of 'It's complicated.' They've got a lot to work through. That's where we pick up with them, having not been speaking as regularly as they normally do. Of course, we see that he was sent off at the end of Season 4. Now they are back in each other's midst, and they have got a lot to talk about and a lot to wade through. It's very complicated between them. There's obviously still that love, that deep love, that bond, that respect, but they've got a lot to work through."

Doug Jones on Saru's Next Step

"Under the Twin Moons"

Reflecting on Saru's journey across the entire series, Doug Jones reveals, "Saru had been captain of the ship for Season 3. And Season 4, he then kind of took a step to First Officer again, because of his loyalty to Michael Burnham, and the special task we were on throughout the season."

"Well, now he’s [re-evaluating] his purpose there," adds Jones. "Has it run its course? His relationship with President T’Rina, played by the lovely Tara Rosling. She does come into the equation with how he makes his decision."

Anthony Rapp on Paul Stamets' Legacy and Season 5 Baddies

Episode 506

"This season, you can expect a new level of inquiry for Paul about what's next for him in terms of the work that he wants to do," hints Anthony Rapp. "He's an incredibly driven and brilliant human being with this mind, that's some level of genius. You get to see him like stretch himself in new ways."

What does the Discovery crew make of arrival of this season's antagonists — Moll (played by Eve Harlow) and L'ak (played by Elias Toufexis)?

"I really love the description of this kind of Bonnie and Clyde," shares Rapp. "It was fun for us, or for me, I could speak for myself, to have these kind of iconic touchstone archetypes brought into our show. Their energy as people; [Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis] brought a beautiful energy to the company to being a part of our show and being a part of our story. And then their work was exceptional. To have this, this idea of this kind of like maverick couple that's on the run is a cool one. And there's a reason it's iconic. And I think that the way that our writers threaded it through our story was really well done."

Mary Wiseman on Sylvia Tilly's Career Focus

"Tilly's in a great place," notes Mary Wiseman. "She's found a certain kind of assurance from going off to teach at Starfleet Academy, and coming back feels like coming home. You're a little cooler and a little more adult. And people call you 'Miss.'"

However, that's not without some challenges. "But she kind of also feels stuck with the problem about how to get through to these kids that have grown up in this era where there isn't the sort of interconnectedness, galaxy-wide communication, and transportation possibilities that there were when she was growing up," highlights Wiseman. "And she's kind of noticing it in the kids' behavior, and inability to interact or team build. And so that's something that she kind of wants to work on and figure out how to help them out with that."

Wilson Cruz on Dr. Hugh Culber's New Experiences

Episode 505

"Where we first find Culber in Season 5, he's in a really good place," notes Wilson Cruz. "He's really embodied this new version of himself, and is ready and willing to take on whatever he's confronted with."

Cruz continues, "This season, he is confronted with an experience that forces him to ask even more existential questions that kind of blows his mind. It starts him on knowing about all of the mysteries of the universe. This whole mission really makes him question a lot of things. We see him process a lot of that throughout the season."

David Ajala on Cleveland "Book" Booker's Love for Burnham and Season 5 Action Sequences

Episode 503

Following the events of Season 4, Book must walk away from Burnham. Reflecting on his actions and headspace at the start of this season, David Ajala states, "It's interesting, because, if we're talking about the gift of grace, Book has definitely received grace from Michael Burnham. Even though Book made the decision that he thought was right, it was not even honorable, but he felt duty bound to do what he did. He was still afforded grace by Michael Burnham, to be welcomed back with open arms. The journey of someone like Cleveland Booker, who was very driven by keeping his autonomy, and also serving his purpose on the planet, which was to help endangered species, to be a part of Starfleet, it was never something that was within his remit. But then to come full circle in Season 5, and to see him, organically incorporate himself within that team is a wonderful story."

"Where we left off in Season 4, revisiting and coming back for Season 5, it's a different territory for both of them," explains Ajala. "And yet, they both have to acknowledge that they're in different spaces, but then still show a level of care for one another. This grey area is new territory."

As for the Indiana Jones -level of excitement the series explores this season, Ajala details, "I love action, I love being able to be physical, to express myself. Having said that, I love the way action is used in the right way. And because this is the final season, we could have taken like one to potentially three episodes to kind of warm into it. But with the first episode, we were straight in with high octane, big action sequences, and just a real spectacle to observe."

Blu del Barrio on Adira's Growing Confidence

"Adira starts out in a pretty solid looking place," reveals Blu del Barrio.

"On the outside, they look and seem really good," adds del Barrio. "They have a lot more responsibilities on the ship. And they're taking their work very seriously, and just very happy to be like more integrated. But underneath the surface, they're struggling a little bit more with some emotional stuff and some major personal stuff."

Eve Harlow on the Arrival of Star-Crossed Lovers and Joining the Cast of Discovery

During NYCC 2022 , audiences got to learn about this season's baddies. Moll and L'ak are former couriers turned outlaws. Moll is highly intelligent and dangerous, with an impressive strategic mind and a sharp wit. She goes into every situation with a clear plan and stays focused and clear-headed on her goal, even when things go awry. She’s not easy to intimidate, and will face down anyone who stands in her way in order to get what she wants. Whereas L'ak is tough, impulsive, and fiercely protective of his beloved partner, Moll. So long as he knows she’s safe, he doesn’t care about collateral damage or its consequences — a perspective that makes him very dangerous at times and will put him on the opposite side of Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery when they come into conflict.

Speaking directly to StarTrek.com on Star Trek: The Cruise VII, Eve Harlow divulges, "Moll is badass, and she and L’ak are an interspecies couple. It’s kind of breaking all the rules, which is why they’re on the run. It’s very much like Romeo and Juliet or Bonnie and Clyde because they’re star-crossed lovers."

On her experience of joining this series for its fifth season, Harlow offers tons of praises, "These are some of the kindest, just most welcoming people I've ever met. I feel like I just talk about how much I love Sonequa a lot, but I will keep talking about how much I love her. She is the best leader I've ever experienced on set."

"[When I reflected on] who on-set is most like their character in real life. Without skipping a beat, Elias and I, at the same time, were Sonequa. She is that captain, and she treats everyone like an equal. I've just never been on a set where everyone, the crew is so appreciated. She knows everybody's names. She knows what they do. She knows their family life, what's going on with them. She genuinely cares, and being around that, that spirit is infectious. Every single time I was on set. I was so high energy; I was just so happy to be here. And it's because of the people who were working on that show."

Michelle Paradise on Season 5's New Faces

"Elias [Toufexis] and Eve [Harlow] play L’ak and Moll who are our two new bad guys this season," states Michelle Paradise. "We talked about them as kind of a Bonnie and Clyde unit. We hadn't had a couple before as our antagonist. In turn, they're obviously formidable foes for our heroes. But we also really wanted to make sure that they felt well-rounded, and that they weren't just one note, bad guys. We understood the why of what they were doing the depth of their love for one another. People will be surprised that they may start rooting for these bad guys, actually. But they'll never want them to win more than our heroes, of course. It’s a lot of fun to have them."

L'ak and Moll aren't the only new faces this season. Rayner, also previously announced at NYCC 2022, is a gruff, smart Starfleet captain who holds a clear line between commander and crew — he leads, they follow. Rayner’s all about the mission, whatever it may be, and he doesn’t do niceties along the way; his feeling is, you get the job done and apologize later. He has a storied track record of wartime success, but in times of peace, he struggles. Collaboration is not his strong suit. That said, if it serves the greater good he’s willing to learn... but it won’t be easy.

"And then Callum Keith Rennie plays Captain Rayner," elaborates Paradise. "What's interesting about him is that he is going to be a bit of an antagonist, but not in a bad guy way. He's going to push Burnham, and we'll get to see new sides of Burnham and new growth in Burnham because of her interactions with him. It's a really interesting dynamic there. That's one of the things that we always look at, if we're going to bring in any new guest characters, is how can they impact our regulars? And how can they help our regulars grow over the course of the season or change or help us see new sides of them, and these three do that beautifully."

Get ready for Discovery 's final adventure when Season 5 premieres with the first two episodes later this week!

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Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 through 4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe. In Canada, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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