rjnoe (06/24/82)
In the past couple of weeks much misinformation and wild speculation
has been passed off as fact on this newsgroup concerning the latest Star Trek
motion picture. Using whatever references and Paramount connections I had,
I was able to ascertain the "truth" about many of the ideas and observations
bandied about here. What I am going to do in the following article is to
go through my hardcopy record of this newsgroup chronologically and attempt
to set the record straight on some of these issues (my earliest articles
are dated as submitted June 11). Should I raise questions rather than settle
them, I welcome your mail. The thoughts expressed below are a combination
of my observations of physical evidence (e.g. movie stills and shooting
scripts), testimony of (usually) reliable sources, and my own educated
guesses; I will do my best to make it apparent what is which.
(1) Leonard Nimoy is on public record as having stated how much personal
anguish Spock's death has caused him. In no way did he request this, much
less demand it. Of course he doesn't want Spock to be his only role but
he is certainly not ready to completely abandon the role, either, as evidenced
by the mutual acknowledgement by Nimoy and Paramount that they have already
begun plans for Nimoy to appear in "Star Trek III". Whether Spock is somehow
regenerated or the movies will no longer follow in chronological order or
some other possible solution, no one can say yet. Officially that hasn't
even been decided.
(2) Don Chan is not correct in his statements about Starfleet ranks. A
midshipman is NOT an officer; ensign is the lowest officer grade. They are
by no means equivalent. The next higher rank after ensign is lieutenant
(e.g. Saavik), next is Lieutenant Commander, then Commander, and Captain.
The flag ranks (usually administrative, not assigned to starships) are
Commodore and Admiral, and their various degrees.
(3) The correct title of the film is "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".
The tentative production title was "The Vengeance of Khan" but at NO time
was it EVER called "The Revenge of Khan". The title is fitting as all Khan
ever says pertinent to this is "I shall avenge you" which is a necessarily
wrathful statement (directed at another). He never achieves the vengeance
he desires (and no one he promised to avenge wanted Khan to avenge them)
thus it would be inaccurate to call it "Revenge". However, BVI@SRI-UNIX
may be correct in speculating that "Vengeance" was dropped to avoid confusion
with "Revenge of the Jedi". Paramount won't say.
(4) This is probably a bit of a flame, but I feel it would be of interest
to most everyone reading this far in this article, so I'm going to include
it here rather than mailing it. Steve (ALICE!SJB), I don't see how you can
call the picture "inane." It was not overly sentimental. You must always
remember that the strongest aspect of Trek is the human aspect, something
that was noticeably lacking in ST-TMP. I hear a lot of so-called Sci-fi
lovers raving about "E.T." and THAT is one movie that is far too senti-
mental for my tastes.
The statement by Spock about the "two-dimensional" thinking was far from
"ludicrous." Back in high school I wrote a Star Trek computer game which,
among many other features, was played in three dimensions. I programmed the
enemy tactics to take full advantage of this (example: even when Klingons
surround the Enterprise, all in a plane, Enterprise still has basically two
escape routes, up and down; but when Klingons surround Enterprise in three
dimensions--say, four battle cruisers located at the vertices of a regular
tetrahedron centered on Enterprise--then there is no way the surrounded vessel
can move without first getting closer to at least one of the enemy). Knowing
this before attempting to play my own game, I was usually able to win against
six Klingons (more Klingons made it more difficult). Among all the other
people ever to play that game, only one EVER won against more than five
enemy ships. The basic reason for this is not that they were unable to think
in three dimensions (as I first suspected) but that they didn't understand
the strategic importance of having that third dimension to move about in.
I found the battle in the Mutara nebula to be the most suspenseful part of
the whole film.
End of flame.
(5) UIUCDCS!MCDANIEL made some points about the movie after reading the
novelization by Vonda McIntyre. I would like to address those now.
The speculation that Saavik is Spock's daughter is totally ridiculous.
Given her age, she would have to have been conceived while Spock was still
serving on the Enterprise with Captain Pike. As to the speculation that
Saavik was the offspring of Spock and the Romulan commander in "The
Enterprise Incident" TV episode, it should be obvious that those two never
even got that far (nor would they). Again, Saavik is too old for that to
be true.
There can be only one explanation why Scott brought the dying Preston
up to the bridge and that is he did not intend to. Remember, he never stepped
off the turbo elevator. Also, the ship was heavily damaged--would
one expect the turbo elevators to work flawlessly under those circumstances?
Scott's only concern was to get Preston to sick bay as soon as possible.
As the book did not have to move as fast as the movie, this incident
occurred before Scott got Preston out of engineering, not on the bridge.
Peter Preston was a midshipman, an officer-in-training, not a "cabin
boy." Saavik was ORDERED by Spock to tutor Preston, presumably because
Spock believed that Saavik needed to learn to be more comfortable with
humans.
I don't think that Saavik and David Marcus are "interested" in each other
the way you imply. Of course, Vonda McIntyre did have some strange fantasies
in the novel. However, this would not be a parallel Kirk/Spock relationship,
because the logical half-Vulcan would now be the one in command and the human
son of Kirk would be the (future) science officer. This is an inverted
relationship. Kirk and Spock both derived major facets of their respective
characters by being/not being in command.
As to your remarks concerning Romulans raping Vulcans: Even if a Vulcan
did have the ability to stop his/her heart, mind or whatever, could he/she
still do it under the influence of the chemicals the Romulans used? WOULD
he/she do it while remaining logical? Further, given the context, I do not
think the Vulcans were necessarily emotional or irrational in arguing about
the fate of Saavik and the others on Hellguard.
(6) Paul Soren asked about the graphics in the film, which has gotten some
answers. Nobody has replied directly to the issue of the bridge monitors.
None that I've been told about were done by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).
Graphic designer Lee Cole got his display material from quite a variety of
sources including universities, computer houses, laser research facilities
and, of course, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He and technical advisor
Todd Grodnick transferred the display materials of "Star Trek: The Motion
Picture" from 8mm and 16mm film stock to videotape. Grodnick and video
engineers Ed Moscowitz and Jim Padget prevented strobing of the displays
by "locking the video images into the light/dark phase of a Panavision
movie camera" (so I'm told). Similar things were done in some of the sick
bay displays.
(7) As the photon torpedo/coffin was a solid prop, it could NOT have opened
at any point in the picture. What I have not yet determined is HOW it landed
if there was sufficient atmosphere on the planet to support all that plant
life. Why didn't it burn up on reentry to the Genesis planet? (Maybe it
was covered with space shuttle tiles, accounting for its blackness.) In
any event, it was so aerodynamically smooth that it should have dropped like
a rock, not glided to a soft landing. Even with power, how could it have
lift?
(8) Nothing I've uncovered and no one I've spoken to has indicated that there
is any hidden meaning to Scotty's "wee bout" which McCoy helped him through.
I prefer to take it at face value: as McCoy said, "shore leave." Forget what
the novel says about what Saavik was thinking--she was confused.
(9) The atmospheric conditions on the surface of Ceti Alpha V made communi-
cations difficult. In the novel, Captain Terrell and Commander Chekov were
cautioned to stay out in the open before beaming down to the planet. While
inside the shelters, communication with the Reliant was impossible. Chekov
and Terrell could not get clear of the shelters before being apprehended by
Khan and his people, thus they did not have time to ask to be beamed up.
(10) While Saavik was certainly referred to as "Mister" by more than one
person on several occasions, this was NOT a result of "bad editing." This
fully intended departure from contemporary practice had several reasons
behind it, including the motivation to make Star Trek less sexist than it
was in the late 1960s.
Khan's right hand was gloved throughout the movie. Note the glove left
the palm bare. It was his left hand (contrary to the novel, I believe) which
was mutilated as a result of Enterprise's final salvo.
Khan's henchman was called "Joachim" and played by Judson Scott. I must
admit that I, too, missed seeing Scott's name in the credits.
(11) Saavik's eyebrows may not be as severely angled as one might expect, but
then NONE of the aliens in either Star Trek film are exactly as they were in
the TV series. Hers are not normal eyebrows (cf. photos of Kirstie Alley,
who played Saavik) but are probably penciled higher, not shaven like
Nimoy's were.
Quite a few veiled references are made to Saavik's Vulcan-Romulan
background, but it would be silly to refer explicitly to this fact in the
dialogue when all of the characters present were aware of it.
(12) While the Mutara nebula was not dense, it was quite large. It is consis-
tent with present cosmological theory to presume the nebula's total mass
equalled that of an entire star system.
While the basic materials for those life forms on the newly created planet
were part of the Genesis device, I do recall Carol Marcus saying something
in her proposal about the planet being capable of supporting whatever life
forms they cared to deposit on it. I assume she meant animal life and that
Genesis created all the plant life (like in the cave of Regulus) and I would
guess some lower animal life to complete some sort of food chain.
The Genesis device transformed the nebula and all things within it which
did not include the planetoid Regulus. It was some time after Enterprise
departed Regulus when Spock announced that they had a few minutes to the
boundary of the nebula. Actually, the Mutara nebula would be the perfect
test environment for Genesis because nebulae cannot support any life we know
of. The Genesis effect had to stop with the nebula "edge" because the
device acted on mass and there would have been no continuous mass between
the nebula and the planetoid (which is why Enterprise escaped). HOWEVER,
one can maintain that Regulus was included because there is no perfect
vacuum and therefore some mass was between the nebula and the planetoid.
In any event, it definitely included the Mutara nebula, the Reliant and all
aboard, but not the Enterprise.
(13) There is indeed something in Kirk's San Francisco apartment which looks
like a minicomputer but I seriously doubt it's a Commodore. Cute idea, though.
Neither Khan nor Spock could really be said to be "in the Genesis matrix."
We will never see Khan again because his body was rearranged at the subatomic
level into something much less dangerous. His basic components have ceased to
exist. Spock's body was introduced onto the planet relatively intact though
non-functioning. At that point, all the large-scale transformations were
already completed by the Genesis device. It may be possible that the new
matrix will still perform some small-scale reorganization on Spock's body
without affecting its basic structure, perhaps even regeneration. I guess
anything is possible in science fiction.
(14) The reason why Reliant's navigator did not come up with the fact that
the Ceti Alpha system had shifted or that Khan had been marooned on the fifth
planet is that it was never recorded. Kirk probably felt that it was not wise
to record the fact that a band of people from the twentieth century were
living there, as the curious might investigate and provide Khan with a means
for escape. As long as Ceti Alpha retained its obscurity, the galaxy was
safe--almost.
(15) As far as the exchange in Vulcan between Saavik and Spock, it started
something like Saavik saying about Kirk, "He's not what I expected at all"
to which Spock responded something like, "What do you mean?" From there,
the verbatim translation is: Saavik: "He's so . . . human." Spock:
"No one's perfect, Saavik."
The regulation about approaching a Federation ship which does not respond
to communications and has no apparent damage would have to be something of
the sort that the approaching ship should go to red alert and prepare fully
for hostilities, inlcuding raising shields. Kirk does this half-way, by
going to yellow alert. Other evidence for this deduction is the fact that
Joachim on the Reliant is surprised that Enterprise had not yet raised its
shields and that Kirk told Saavik to keep quoting regulations after they had
already damaged the Reliant.
There are still a few things I haven't resolved completely. As the
Genesis device is about to detonate, Spock prepares to enter the lethally
irradiated main energizer chamber. When McCoy tries to stop him, Spock
gives McCoy a nerve pinch to knock him out. Then, Spock mind-melds with
McCoy and says "Remember." Later, on the bridge, McCoy says, "You know,
he's not really dead as long as we remember him." I know these two events
are very closely connected but I'm not certain of the nature of the
connection. There are some obvious conclusions one can draw, but since
they all involve assumptions about Spock's intentions, I am not yet ready
to presume things are as obvious as they seem.
I am also puzzled as to how Khan would know of the Klingon proverb,
"Revenge is a dish best served cold." He went into suspended animation in
1996, when Klingons were unknown, and awoke in the 23rd century when the
Enterprise happened upon the S.S. Botany Bay. Surely he didn't have time
while on board the Enterprise to dig up trivia while he was planning to
take over the Enterprise. Why would anyone in Starfleet be aware of such
a saying anyway? I suppose his wife, Marla McGivers, who was the ship's
historian on board the Enterprise 15 years before this movie is set could
have told Khan this, but why would she mention it, much less know it?
I may have gone on too long. I'll leave you with a bit of trivia
which anyone who closely watches the film can see: What is the registration
number of the U.S.S. Reliant? (example: the Enterprise's is NCC-1701.)
DO NOT MAIL ME YOUR ANSWERS AND DO NOT SEND THEM IN TO THIS NEWSGROUP!!!
I'll publish the answer next week sometime. Thanks for your patience.
Roger Noerjnoe (06/25/82)
So many good questions came in overnight I decided to answer them
today rather than waiting until more built up.
(1) George Otto was absolutely correct in answering that Khan found the
coordinates of the Genesis device from being in contact with Terrell (he
was wearing a wrist communicator). Khan did need Kirk to identify the
device for him. What bothers me about this scene is when Terrell shoots
himself with his phaser. It's one thing for the phaser to disappear (he
was holding it at the time) but his wrist communicator, which he removed
before shooting himself, also seemed to disappear. I thought he just
dropped it, but I didn't see it on the floor. What happened to it?
(2) Khan was far from senile in his hatred for Kirk, he was possessed with
the idea of hurting Kirk. (Remember seeing "Moby Dick" on Khan's bookshelf?)
His obsession was so overpowering, he made several blunders in spite of the
warnings of Joachim.
(3) Khan did not beam Kirk up and phaser him on the Reliant because Khan
believed that leaving Kirk entombed beneath the surface of a dead planetoid
for all eternity was "better" than a quick death of any sort. (By the way,
I think that some of the best acting in the entire movie is done by William
Shatner in this scene.)
When David Marcus rushed Captain Terrell, Lt. Saavik tackled David to
keep him from getting killed. Terrell fired anyway, hitting, I believe,
Jedda, one of the scientists from Regula I (the only one beside Carol and
David to escape from Khan). I think it was Jedda who said "Phasers down!"
when David attacked Kirk.
(4) We do not know in fact that the Ceti eels kill their "hosts" by growing
in and around the cerebral cortex, all we have is Khan's word for it. I
believe that they might just go in for a while and then depart the same way
they came in. This explains the pain both Chekov and Terrell felt when they
were about to kill Kirk. Once they got Chekov up to sick bay on board the
Enterprise, he was given a thorough examination which revealed only a
punctured eardrum and some of the symptoms of a concussion. It is not
significant that Chekov did not hold a phaser again in the movie, because
once all the people were off Regula and back on the Enterprise, NO ONE held
a phaser again in the movie! The person who observed this failed to note
that Kirk asked Chekov to take control of the Enterprise's phasers (and all
other weaponry), the biggest phasers in the whole picture.
(5) No mention is made in the film of the computer games the Regula I
scientists had, something which is in the novelization. Note also that the
book had two Deltan scientists on Regula I (remember Ilia from ST-TMP?) which
were changed to humans of Indian extraction in the film. Yet another
difference is that in the movie, Ceti Alpha V did not have a poisonous
atmosphere which explains why Khan and his people could survive outside the
shelters without life support apparatus and why the shelters had no airlocks,
only doors.
(6) In response to UTCSRGV!KRAMER, of *course* Starfleet uses charts, or at
least the computerized equivalent. However, there are (as Carl Sagan would
say) billions and billions of stars in the section of the galaxy patrolled
by Starfleet. It would take a LONG time for humans to have gone everywhere
and thus have no more places to which no one has gone before. In my previous
article I explained how Khan was happened upon. It should be obvious why the
Star Trek stories we know of involve so many of Kirk's acquaintances--the
stories are more interesting that way and this is, after all, merely fiction.
I wouldn't be so certain that no planet in our own star system other than
earth is completely devoid of ALL life forms. Certainly three centuries
from now we will be better able to distinguish forms of life and its pre-
cursors than we are able to do now. Besides, Carol Marcus had requirements
for the target of Genesis in addition to total lifelessness. This explains
why they couldn't just look on a star chart to find a completely lifeless
planet. Why would anyone before ever have examined for TOTAL absence of
life and pre-biotic forms?
Here's one more trivia question for you (perhaps these belong on one
of the trivia newsgroups, but I think they are fitting here): From the
entries to the captains' logs, what stardates span (approximately) the
duration of the movie? Again, DO NOT SEND YOUR ANSWERS IN TO THIS NEWSGROUP
AND DO NOT SEND THEM TO ME IN THE MAIL!! I will respond in a week or so
with the answers. As always, if you have questions about the content of
my answers above, I will see them in net.movies or you may send them by
mail to ihnss!ihuxl!rjnoe.
Roger Noesjb (06/26/82)
I am sorry for posting this to the net, but I wanted everyone to see it. I regret the fact that my name was used mistakenly in that real big article of facts and corrections to misconceptions about ST II. For one thing, my name is NOT Steve! Also, I NEVER said that ST II was inane. I happened to have loved the movie. With that tidbit over with, maybe now I can get back to reading the news... Adam
WRIGHT.WBST@sri-unix (06/29/82)
Long message forwarded from movie.pa. Apologies to those who have already
seen this. - n.w
---------------------------
Mail-from: Arpanet host SRI-UNIX rcvd at 29-JUN-82 0532-PDT
Date: 24 Jun 82 16:21:14-PDT (Thu)
To: movie^.pa at parc
From: mhtsa!ihnss!ihuxl!rjnoe at Berkeley
Subject: Star Trek II **SPOILER**
Article-I.D.: ihuxl.193
Via: news.usenet; 29 Jun 82 5:18-PDT
In the past couple of weeks much misinformation and wild speculation
has been passed off as fact on this newsgroup concerning the latest Star Trek
motion picture. Using whatever references and Paramount connections I had,
I was able to ascertain the "truth" about many of the ideas and observations
bandied about here. What I am going to do in the following article is to
go through my hardcopy record of this newsgroup chronologically and attempt
to set the record straight on some of these issues (my earliest articles
are dated as submitted June 11). Should I raise questions rather than settle
them, I welcome your mail. The thoughts expressed below are a combination
of my observations of physical evidence (e.g. movie stills and shooting
scripts), testimony of (usually) reliable sources, and my own educated
guesses; I will do my best to make it apparent what is which.
(1) Leonard Nimoy is on public record as having stated how much personal
anguish Spock's death has caused him. In no way did he request this, much
less demand it. Of course he doesn't want Spock to be his only role but
he is certainly not ready to completely abandon the role, either, as evidenced
by the mutual acknowledgement by Nimoy and Paramount that they have
already
begun plans for Nimoy to appear in "Star Trek III". Whether Spock is somehow
regenerated or the movies will no longer follow in chronological order or
some other possible solution, no one can say yet. Officially that hasn't
even been decided.
(2) Don Chan is not correct in his statements about Starfleet ranks. A
midshipman is NOT an officer; ensign is the lowest officer grade. They are
by no means equivalent. The next higher rank after ensign is lieutenant
(e.g. Saavik), next is Lieutenant Commander, then Commander, and Captain.
The flag ranks (usually administrative, not assigned to starships) are
Commodore and Admiral, and their various degrees.
(3) The correct title of the film is "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan".
The tentative production title was "The Vengeance of Khan" but at NO time
was it EVER called "The Revenge of Khan". The title is fitting as all Khan
ever says pertinent to this is "I shall avenge you" which is a necessarily
wrathful statement (directed at another). He never achieves the vengeance
he desires (and no one he promised to avenge wanted Khan to avenge them)
thus it would be inaccurate to call it "Revenge". However, BVI@SRI-UNIX
may be correct in speculating that "Vengeance" was dropped to avoid confusion
with "Revenge of the Jedi". Paramount won't say.
(4) This is probably a bit of a flame, but I feel it would be of interest
to most everyone reading this far in this article, so I'm going to include
it here rather than mailing it. Steve (ALICE!SJB), I don't see how you can
call the picture "inane." It was not overly sentimental. You must always
remember that the strongest aspect of Trek is the human aspect, something
that was noticeably lacking in ST-TMP. I hear a lot of so-called Sci-fi
lovers raving about "E.T." and THAT is one movie that is far too senti-
mental for my tastes.
The statement by Spock about the "two-dimensional" thinking was far from
"ludicrous." Back in high school I wrote a Star Trek computer game which,
among many other features, was played in three dimensions. I programmed the
enemy tactics to take full advantage of this (example: even when Klingons
surround the Enterprise, all in a plane, Enterprise still has basically two
escape routes, up and down; but when Klingons surround Enterprise in three
dimensions--say, four battle cruisers located at the vertices of a regular
tetrahedron centered on Enterprise--then there is no way the surrounded vessel
can move without first getting closer to at least one of the enemy). Knowing
this before attempting to play my own game, I was usually able to win against
six Klingons (more Klingons made it more difficult). Among all the other
people ever to play that game, only one EVER won against more than five
enemy ships. The basic reason for this is not that they were unable to think
in three dimensions (as I first suspected) but that they didn't understand
the strategic importance of having that third dimension to move about in.
I found the battle in the Mutara nebula to be the most suspenseful part of
the whole film.
End of flame.
(5) UIUCDCS!MCDANIEL made some points about the movie after reading the
novelization by Vonda McIntyre. I would like to address those now.
The speculation that Saavik is Spock's daughter is totally ridiculous.
Given her age, she would have to have been conceived while Spock was still
serving on the Enterprise with Captain Pike. As to the speculation that
Saavik was the offspring of Spock and the Romulan commander in "The
Enterprise Incident" TV episode, it should be obvious that those two never
even got that far (nor would they). Again, Saavik is too old for that to
be true.
There can be only one explanation why Scott brought the dying Preston
up to the bridge and that is he did not intend to. Remember, he never stepped
off the turbo elevator. Also, the ship was heavily damaged--would
one expect the turbo elevators to work flawlessly under those circumstances?
Scott's only concern was to get Preston to sick bay as soon as possible.
As the book did not have to move as fast as the movie, this incident
occurred before Scott got Preston out of engineering, not on the bridge.
Peter Preston was a midshipman, an officer-in-training, not a "cabin
boy." Saavik was ORDERED by Spock to tutor Preston, presumably because
Spock believed that Saavik needed to learn to be more comfortable with
humans.
I don't think that Saavik and David Marcus are "interested" in each other
the way you imply. Of course, Vonda McIntyre did have some strange fantasies
in the novel. However, this would not be a parallel Kirk/Spock relationship,
because the logical half-Vulcan would now be the one in command and the
human
son of Kirk would be the (future) science officer. This is an inverted
relationship. Kirk and Spock both derived major facets of their respective
characters by being/not being in command.
As to your remarks concerning Romulans raping Vulcans: Even if a Vulcan
did have the ability to stop his/her heart, mind or whatever, could he/she
still do it under the influence of the chemicals the Romulans used? WOULD
he/she do it while remaining logical? Further, given the context, I do not
think the Vulcans were necessarily emotional or irrational in arguing about
the fate of Saavik and the others on Hellguard.
(6) Paul Soren asked about the graphics in the film, which has gotten some
answers. Nobody has replied directly to the issue of the bridge monitors.
None that I've been told about were done by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).
Graphic designer Lee Cole got his display material from quite a variety of
sources including universities, computer houses, laser research facilities
and, of course, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He and technical advisor
Todd Grodnick transferred the display materials of "Star Trek: The Motion
Picture" from 8mm and 16mm film stock to videotape. Grodnick and video
engineers Ed Moscowitz and Jim Padget prevented strobing of the displays
by "locking the video images into the light/dark phase of a Panavision
movie camera" (so I'm told). Similar things were done in some of the sick
bay displays.
(7) As the photon torpedo/coffin was a solid prop, it could NOT have opened
at any point in the picture. What I have not yet determined is HOW it landed
if there was sufficient atmosphere on the planet to support all that plant
life. Why didn't it burn up on reentry to the Genesis planet? (Maybe it
was covered with space shuttle tiles, accounting for its blackness.) In
any event, it was so aerodynamically smooth that it should have dropped like
a rock, not glided to a soft landing. Even with power, how could it have
lift?
(8) Nothing I've uncovered and no one I've spoken to has indicated that there
is any hidden meaning to Scotty's "wee bout" which McCoy helped him through.
I prefer to take it at face value: as McCoy said, "shore leave." Forget what
the novel says about what Saavik was thinking--she was confused.
(9) The atmospheric conditions on the surface of Ceti Alpha V made communi-
cations difficult. In the novel, Captain Terrell and Commander Chekov were
cautioned to stay out in the open before beaming down to the planet. While
inside the shelters, communication with the Reliant was impossible. Chekov
and Terrell could not get clear of the shelters before being apprehended by
Khan and his people, thus they did not have time to ask to be beamed up.
(10) While Saavik was certainly referred to as "Mister" by more than one
person on several occasions, this was NOT a result of "bad editing." This
fully intended departure from contemporary practice had several reasons
behind it, including the motivation to make Star Trek less sexist than it
was in the late 1960s.
Khan's right hand was gloved throughout the movie. Note the glove left
the palm bare. It was his left hand (contrary to the novel, I believe) which
was mutilated as a result of Enterprise's final salvo.
Khan's henchman was called "Joachim" and played by Judson Scott. I must
admit that I, too, missed seeing Scott's name in the credits.
(11) Saavik's eyebrows may not be as severely angled as one might expect, but
then NONE of the aliens in either Star Trek film are exactly as they were in
the TV series. Hers are not normal eyebrows (cf. photos of Kirstie Alley,
who played Saavik) but are probably penciled higher, not shaven like
Nimoy's were.
Quite a few veiled references are made to Saavik's Vulcan-Romulan
background, but it would be silly to refer explicitly to this fact in the
dialogue when all of the characters present were aware of it.
(12) While the Mutara nebula was not dense, it was quite large. It is consis-
tent with present cosmological theory to presume the nebula's total mass
equalled that of an entire star system.
While the basic materials for those life forms on the newly created planet
were part of the Genesis device, I do recall Carol Marcus saying something
in her proposal about the planet being capable of supporting whatever life
forms they cared to deposit on it. I assume she meant animal life and that
Genesis created all the plant life (like in the cave of Regulus) and I would
guess some lower animal life to complete some sort of food chain.
The Genesis device transformed the nebula and all things within it which
did not include the planetoid Regulus. It was some time after Enterprise
departed Regulus when Spock announced that they had a few minutes to the
boundary of the nebula. Actually, the Mutara nebula would be the perfect
test environment for Genesis because nebulae cannot support any life we know
of. The Genesis effect had to stop with the nebula "edge" because the
device acted on mass and there would have been no continuous mass between
the nebula and the planetoid (which is why Enterprise escaped). HOWEVER,
one can maintain that Regulus was included because there is no perfect
vacuum and therefore some mass was between the nebula and the planetoid.
In any event, it definitely included the Mutara nebula, the Reliant and all
aboard, but not the Enterprise.
(13) There is indeed something in Kirk's San Francisco apartment which looks
like a minicomputer but I seriously doubt it's a Commodore. Cute idea, though.
Neither Khan nor Spock could really be said to be "in the Genesis matrix."
We will never see Khan again because his body was rearranged at the subatomic
level into something much less dangerous. His basic components have ceased to
exist. Spock's body was introduced onto the planet relatively intact though
non-functioning. At that point, all the large-scale transformations were
already completed by the Genesis device. It may be possible that the new
matrix will still perform some small-scale reorganization on Spock's body
without affecting its basic structure, perhaps even regeneration. I guess
anything is possible in science fiction.
(14) The reason why Reliant's navigator did not come up with the fact that
the Ceti Alpha system had shifted or that Khan had been marooned on the fifth
planet is that it was never recorded. Kirk probably felt that it was not wise
to record the fact that a band of people from the twentieth century were
living there, as the curious might investigate and provide Khan with a means
for escape. As long as Ceti Alpha retained its obscurity, the galaxy was
safe--almost.
(15) As far as the exchange in Vulcan between Saavik and Spock, it started
something like Saavik saying about Kirk, "He's not what I expected at all"
to which Spock responded something like, "What do you mean?" From there,
the verbatim translation is: Saavik: "He's so . . . human." Spock:
"No one's perfect, Saavik."
The regulation about approaching a Federation ship which does not respond
to communications and has no apparent damage would have to be something of
the sort that the approaching ship should go to red alert and prepare fully
for hostilities, inlcuding raising shields. Kirk does this half-way, by
going to yellow alert. Other evidence for this deduction is the fact that
Joachim on the Reliant is surprised that Enterprise had not yet raised its
shields and that Kirk told Saavik to keep quoting regulations after they had
already damaged the Reliant.
There are still a few things I haven't resolved completely. As the
Genesis device is about to detonate, Spock prepares to enter the lethally
irradiated main energizer chamber. When McCoy tries to stop him, Spock
gives McCoy a nerve pinch to knock him out. Then, Spock mind-melds with
McCoy and says "Remember." Later, on the bridge, McCoy says, "You know,
he's not really dead as long as we remember him." I know these two events
are very closely connected but I'm not certain of the nature of the
connection. There are some obvious conclusions one can draw, but since
they all involve assumptions about Spock's intentions, I am not yet ready
to presume things are as obvious as they seem.
I am also puzzled as to how Khan would know of the Klingon proverb,
"Revenge is a dish best served cold." He went into suspended animation in
1996, when Klingons were unknown, and awoke in the 23rd century when the
Enterprise happened upon the S.S. Botany Bay. Surely he didn't have time
while on board the Enterprise to dig up trivia while he was planning to
take over the Enterprise. Why would anyone in Starfleet be aware of such
a saying anyway? I suppose his wife, Marla McGivers, who was the ship's
historian on board the Enterprise 15 years before this movie is set could
have told Khan this, but why would she mention it, much less know it?
I may have gone on too long. I'll leave you with a bit of trivia
which anyone who closely watches the film can see: What is the registration
number of the U.S.S. Reliant? (example: the Enterprise's is NCC-1701.)
DO NOT MAIL ME YOUR ANSWERS AND DO NOT SEND THEM IN TO THIS
NEWSGROUP!!!
I'll publish the answer next week sometime. Thanks for your patience.
Roger Noe
------------------------------------------------------------Zawadzki.WBST@sri-unix (06/29/82)
Interesting point to ponder: In the original TV episode, when Khan and his crew are aboard the Enterprise, Khan is in sick bay for a period after being released from the Botany Bay. While there, he has time to read all technical literature on the Enterprise. Could this mean that super-intelligent Khan forgot to defeat the control console access code on the Reliant even though he may have known that it could be overridden? (Blind rage?) Also, if he had time to read the technical stuff, he may have done a little 'light' reading on Vulcan proverbs, just for laughs. (See long message from mhtsa!ihnss!ihuxl!rjnoe at Berkeley). Dave
Johnston.DLOS@sri-unix (06/29/82)
per the included message: Maybe it was a new innovation to Starfleet and when Khan was on the Enterprise he couldn't have found out about it because it wasn't there. Just supposition, but a possibility. --------------------------- Date: 29 June 1982 11:02 am EDT (Tuesday) From: Zawadzki.WBST Subject: Re: Star Trek II **SPOILER** In-reply-to: Your message of 29 June 1982 9:02 am EDT (Tuesday) To: trek^.wbst, startrek^.pa cc: Zawadzki Reply-To: trek^.wbst, startrek^.pa Interesting point to ponder: In the original TV episode, when Khan and his crew are aboard the Enterprise, Khan is in sick bay for a period after being released from the Botany Bay. While there, he has time to read all technical literature on the Enterprise. Could this mean that super-intelligent Khan forgot to defeat the control console access code on the Reliant even though he may have known that it could be overridden? (Blind rage?) Also, if he had time to read the technical stuff, he may have done a little 'light' reading on Vulcan proverbs, just for laughs. (See long message from mhtsa!ihnss!ihuxl!rjnoe at Berkeley). Dave ------------------------------------------------------------
kenig (06/29/82)
Roger Noe suggests that there are good reasons that Ceti-Alpha V and the Khan Klan on it are not mentioned. Why not just make up a new general order ala the sort made for the planet in 'The Managerie', ordering all starships to stay away or face court marshall and death. If yo recall, in The Menagerie, Sulu remembered the order and it's consequences right off the top of his head. There are no excuses for bad plot devices.
bstempleton (06/30/82)
On the question of the access code - I would suspect that the knowledge of such codes is TOP TOP TOP secret, ie. not even in the computer's concious memory banks. Probably even an Admiral like Kirk could not ask for the code. Even if it were in the computer, Kahn would never have been shown it. Anyway, I was under the impression that Spock actually had to get the code out of a paper book hidden somewhere on the bridge and it had to be manually typed in. Not the kind of thing you have to do when it is in the computer. A very clever idea those codes, designed exactly for the purpose Kirk used them for, which is when a federation ship has been captured by the enemy. Surprised you can't disable the engines on the ship that way.
guest (07/09/82)
Bye the way ,the number was 1-3-6-0-9 ( I think,Those are the numbers,but they might not be in the right order.) -Ben Walls