STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY Well this was certainly NOT what I expected. Though it did have some very good parts in it, it falls far short of what I had hoped it would be. It's an enjoyable movie, and worth seeing at least once, and probably a couple of times, but Star Trek II it ain't. (Star Trek III it ain't either.) Why is this? Well, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is basically a lightweight adventure piece. We have combat, gore, mystery, tragedy, betrayal, and so forth, but all handled in a very straightforward manner. The pace was breakneck, the plot elements familiar, and characterization was minimal. And then there were the themes. I cannot recall the last Star Trek story I saw which so repeatedly pummeled us with the same ideas. Over and over we're hit with this simple theme of "the future", with little development of the theme. Some people are afraid of the future, some overcome their fear. That's about all the film has to say. The film tosses many Shakespeare quotes at us, and really overdoes it I think. It's nice imagery (it should be, considering who wrote it), but what's the point? Unlike Star Trek II, the film never really uses the quotes to form or emphasize the focus, or to enhance the mood or themes. They're just there... to be there. I think that the main thing that Star Trek III has over this film is that, while the former is also essentially a lightweight adventure piece, the pacing works perfectly for just about the entire film. Star Trek III also focused its energy better than Star Trek VI does, and seemed to take itself more seriously, not trying to hard for the cheap laugh. In fact, that's a big problem with Star Trek VI (and V and IV, for that matter): It wants to say, "This isn't serious. This isn't drama. This is just silly sci-fi adventure stuff. It's pictures to eat popcorn to. We don't really take it seriously, so why should you?" Who should we, indeed? The first three films took themselves seriously, and set out to seriously deal with serious themes. The second three do not. They're fun-and-games. Okay, let me say some nice things about the film now. Nicholas Meyer KNOWS how to direct a good battle sequence. The climactic battle between the Enterprise and Excelsior and the super-cloaked Klingon ship was very well done (despite a few plot holes). Tension ran high as the good guys were pummeled, and blasting the Klingons out of space was very satisfying. I don't usually cheer at movies, but I did here. This was far and away my favorite scene in the film; no contest. The music was very interesting. It lacked the pomp and grandeur of Jerry Goldsmith's pieces, or the elegance and majesty of James Horner's work, but it definitely set a strong tone for the film. By and large it was lonely and claustrophobic, almost always seeming to herald an impending tragedy, which often was what was actually coming. Why can't The Next Generation get guys like this to compose for them? The humor in the film was very spotty. Star Trek V obviously influenced the film a LOT. The scene with the crew poring over books to find English- to-Klingon translations was outright stupid (ever hear of the Universal Translator, guys? Or just a computer? You mean NO ONE among the crew speaks Klingon?). Both Spock and the Klingons seemed to be reprising Chekov's role from TOS, claiming other people's deeds as their own (the Klingons claiming that Shakespeare was a Klingon; Spock's "Only Nixon could go to China" line, and his implicit claim that his ancestor was Sherlock Holmes). This was just silly, not funny. On the other side, there WERE some amusing lines. McCoy had many of them, as usual. Kirk's "Let me know if there's anything else we can do to screw up this night" was worth a chuckle, and there were several others. The writers didn't quite seem to know what to do here. Characterization, as I said, was a problem. Spock seemed out-of-character in much of this story, seeming to be more a vehicle for inane wit than a truly interesting character. Kirk was somewhat more believable, as he's clearly become rather set in his ways as time has passed, and the feelings he had regarding his son's death helped make this more plausible. But he, too, seemed to be playing many scenes more for humor than for dramatic effect, notably his confrontation with Spock after the initial briefing. This early scene was actually quite good. "Jim, they're dying." "Then let them die." Chilling words to be coming from Our Hero. It takes a while, but he comes around. The talks between Kirk and Spock involving their age were a waste. There was little here to be said that hadn't been said far more eloquently in Star Trek II. As with most of the characterizations, they seemed to just be going through the motions. The fact that the quality of the acting was higher than it has been in the last two films helped a lot, but things still seemed rather sterile. Valeris was a very poorly written character, who seemed about as un-Vulcan-like as any human we've encountered on the show. I found it next to impossible to believe in Spock's anger at her. I didn't see any of this in the last couple of films. Explanations, please! He's a Vulcan, people! The emotions - often lack thereof - in this film were very difficult to understand. There was little of the power present in Star Trek II as when the crew returned to the Enterprise, or visited the Genesis cave, or wrung their hands trying to escape the Nebula before the device destroyed them. It was all just... flat. The pacing was interesting. As I said, the film tended to move along at breakneck speed, especially early on where we jumped from scene to scene with amazing rapidity. Things rightly slowed down as time went on, and picked up again at the closing battle. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. The plot was rife with holes, I'm sorry to say. We can start with the simple technical implausibilities, such as: An energy burst several light-minutes long with enough power to decimate a moon and nearly destroy the Excelsior across a vast gap of space didn't decimate the Klingon homeworld right there and then? I don't buy that. Then we can move to McCoy ("I'm a Doctor, not an Engineer!") helping Spock rig a photon torpedo to destroy the bad guys. Then there's the Enterprise sitting for DAYS in the middle of nowhere, ignoring orders from higher up, and Starfleet sends no one except Excelsior (commanded by a former officer under Kirk!) to find it? Huh? The on-board sensors wail at an unlicensed phaser being used at one setting but not another? Why is that? The mystery of who the killers were was fairly well handled, though it seemed to plod at times. It would have been vastly improved if Spock's droll nature had been excised from the film and he'd been the dispassionate, calculating Vulcan that we all know and love. But it kept things moving. The movie had the opportunity to end on a high note, following the battle sequence, but instead they chose to end it with that absolutely HORRIBLE sequence involving the crew taking the ship out for "one last spin", and Kirk modifying his famous catch-phrase to fall in line with that used in The Next Generation. Gaah! The dialogue was cliched, the plot device of the Enterprise being decommissioned was cliched, and the final line, as I said, rank to high heaven. A very poor ending, and quite a switch from the engaging BEGINNING of the film. No doubt Trekkies will argue for years to come about exactly when this film takes place. Obviously it takes place at least three years after Star Trek V, as Sulu says his ship has been on a three-year mission. Personally, I will probably regard it as taking place about eleven years after Star Trek V, though others may disagree. Well, at least the film gave Sulu a first name, officially... In summary, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a diverting adventure film. It's packed with nearly everything you could want in such a film - maybe too much stuff. It never quite seems able to narrow down what it's doing to properly develop many of its ideas, so it ended up with some quite good material, and some very bad material. Nonetheless, it has action and intrigue, and moves right along with barely a dull moment. It's basically an extended TV episode with few of the artistic augmentations that made Star Trek II a classic of the series, but it's still fun. The final battle scene alone is worth the price of admission. Just don't expect anything deep from it. Grade: C+ A disappointment? Well, yes, somewhat. But I've seen worse (such as the Next Generation episode "Unification"), and this one kept me engaged for two hours. That's enough for now.