So the last time we discussed Star Trek in the Marathon, which was Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I believe I said something along the lines of not being sure whether or not I was really a Trek fan. After all, I was a fan of The Next Generation and mostly of TOS (still am), but I never really felt much of a desire to explore much beyond that. I wasn’t very interested in the games or the expanded universe, I didn’t really feel a need to watch the films beyond the first,and I had read enough bad press about Enterprise and Voyager that I was probably better off marathoning the last two season of Sliders instead (don’t try that at home folks). I dunno, is it just a symptom of our modern times that to be a fan of something, you must absorb all the media connected to that thing? Is sitting through Voyager some kind of test to prove my opinion is worthwhile, even if I would ultimately regret the experience? Is my enjoyment of Trek invalid, am I a lesser person because I work within a certain amount of material and content to leave things at that? The answer would generally be no, but you never can tell in these modern times. You either love it or you hate it, and no one is allowed to hear the end of it until everyone is sick of it.
Still, since I’m close to finishing up Deep Space 9 and thus closing the book on Star Trek for the time being, I decided to try out what is probably the most well-regarded film in the series: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, directed by Nicholas Meyer, who also directed Time After Time earlier on this list. Normally I try to avoid things like that, having multiple films by the same director on the same list, but it is the unexpected bits of whimsy that make the days bearable, am I right?
In the entire Federation of Planets, there are few names that are respected as highly as that of James Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise. It’s been years since those halcyon days however, and the aging Admiral can’t help but wonder if the advancement of his career was worth giving up command of a starship, of the Enterprise for the safety of a desk. This realization happens to coincide with the discovery of a blast from Kirk’s past: Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically-engineered megalomaniac from Earth’s past (1996, to be precise) who had been thawed out by the Enterprise crew, defeated, and left on a deserted planet to make do with what he could find. Which might have worked, if only the planet next door hadn’t exploded and turned Khan’s planet into a wasteland, which ultimately lead to his wife’s death. Khan is not a forgive and forget kind of guy, and it doesn't take long before he procures a ship and starts on his path of vengeance. A path that involves a mysterious device known as Project Genesis, a fantastical that would be able to bring life to dead worlds and death to living ones. It’s up to Kirk, Spock, Bones and the rest of the Enterprise to stop Khan, get back Project Genesis and save the known galaxy one more time. It’s not like they aren’t used to it by now.
Although they are both Trek films, in many ways Wrath of Khan is a sharp contrast to its predecessor, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Whereas TMP could be considered a more traditionally minded science fiction film, heavily influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey and Golden Age sci-fi, WoK is very much an action movie, packed full of all the explosions and starship combat (which is remarkably like fighting in a submarine) that you might have missed. Similarly, the story in Khan is also far more streamlined and far more direct than it was in the original, which was much more slower-paced and interested in building atmosphere. Simplifying the ploy and focusing on action makes Khan a relatively easier film to get into than TMP, and I can see why pop culture would gravitate towards it as the ‘first good Trek film’, even if I don’t quite agree with it. Personally, I see Wrath of Khan as more of a companion piece: Star Trek: The Motion Picture represents the wonder of discovery, the drive for knowledge and understanding that has pushed humanity to progress further and become better (hopefully) as the years go by. Wrath of Khan looks back at our past, a history of war and hatred and self-destruction that needs to be overcome for us before life can begin to move forward (or so I theorize). The metaphysical(some might say spiritual) and the corporeal, both channeled through Gene Roddenberry’s idealistic vision in the potential of mankind, and the importance of working for the future. And maybe I’m at optimist at heart, because that’s how I like to view it, instead of believing they dumbed things down in order to sell more tickets.
Wrath of Khan has its flaws, of course. The titular Khan has a tendency to come off as a bit of a dunce despite being a genetically enhanced super-genius (that’s called situational irony folks) and it doesn’t really feel like they make full use of the TOS cast aside from Kirk. Even Spock, despite being one of the most important characters in the film, feels far more ephemeral than you might expect given what happens. Maybe they didn’t really feel the need to do anything like that, because just getting to see the original cast was enough? I dunno, it’s not really a damning criticism, but it was obvious enough that I noticed it.
If you’re looking for a film that captures that unique beauty of the late 70s/early 80s sci-fi aesthetic without getting bogged down too many messages and themes, then it’s hard to go wrong with Wrath of Khan. You don’t even have to watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture if you don’t want to, since there’s nothing that carries over plot wise as far as I can recall, so there’s no excuse not to see it. Unless you have an extreme phobia of insects crawling into your ear canal, but that only happens a couple times, and they only linger on it squirming into a person’s brain for a couple seconds at most. It’s fine.
Totally fine.
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