Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Nicholas Meyer

Writers (WGA):

Gene Roddenberry (based on "Star Trek" created by)
Leonard Nimoy (story) ...

Release Date:

6 December 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The battle for peace has begun

Plot:

The crews of the Enterprise and the Excelsior must stop a plot to prevent a peace treaty between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Captain | Prison | Prisoner | Assassination

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
James Doohan	...	Captain Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
Walter Koenig	...	Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols	...	Cmdr. Uhura
George Takei	...	Captain Hikaru Sulu
Kim Cattrall	...	Lieutenant Valeris
Mark Lenard	...	Ambassador Sarek
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Commander Janice Rand
Brock Peters	...	Admiral Cartwright
Leon Russom	...	Starfleet Commander in Chief
Kurtwood Smith	...	Federation President
Christopher Plummer	...	General Chang
Rosanna DeSoto	...	Azetbur (as Rosana DeSoto)

Runtime:

113 min | 110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Klingon

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (some test prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Italy:T | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | France:U | Germany:12 | Iceland:LH | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Alaska, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In earlier screenplay drafts, the character of Maltz from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) appeared at the trial as one of Chang's witnesses, answering questions about Kirk's killing of the Klingon crew from that film. The scene was dropped as it was deemed extraneous, and John Larroquette was unavailable to reprise the part anyway.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the galley, just as Scotty exits, Spock orders: "Valeris, please inform Starfleet Command that our warp drive is inoperative." Yet Spock's lip movements seem to indicate that the name "Valeris" was dubbed over "Commander Uhura," which would make sense given that the latter is the ship's communications officer and she is standing right there, but was likely changed to match the subsequent dialogue and action: Valeris asks, "A lie?"; Spock replies, "An error"; then Valeris walks away as Spock continues to speak with Uhura.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Captain Hikaru Sulu: Stardate 9521.6. Captain's Log, USS Excelsior. Hikaru Sulu commanding. After three years, I have concluded my first assignment as master of this vessel, cataloguing gaseous planetary anomalies in Beta Quadrant. We're heading home under full impulse power. I'm pleased to report that ship and crew have functioned well.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Biography: Leonard Nimoy: Spock and Beyond" (1996)

Soundtrack:

THEME FROM 'STAR TREK' TV SERIES

The best of the bunch with the original cast. A great send-off!

You don't have to be Einstein to figure out the Klingon Empire represented the Soviet Union in the original series and films so it's fitting Kirk's old foes should re-appear and give the crew it's final adventure at a time when similar questions raised in the film faced the old Soviet Empire.

This is the best of the film series for several reasons. The timeliness of the film's release with real-world events. (Funny how Col. West had a contingency plan for terrorism along the Federation's border. Made me wish we had one prior to 9-11) The issue of how people can be frightened of drastic change (what a very Clinton-esque message) mirroring Kirk and crew's emotional baggage helps propel the plot forward and makes it believable.

A great tense score and tight editing (sorry, no overlong speeches and theorizing) combined with terrific performances from Christopher Plummer and the best yet from the original ensemble kept me glued to my seat the whole time. Additional characters are actually relevant, unlike Saavik, the Marcuses, et al., and although I should have seen it coming I was surprised how far-reaching the conspiracy to kill Gorkon actually was, even including a Vulcan! Fun cameos from Michael Dorn, Christian Slater and Iman lighten the mood. Her presence finally makes McCoy quip to Kirk "What is it with you, anyway?" which is something that should have been said years ago. Must be the girdle. The Klingon attack scene at the end is great unrelenting action and was better than Khan's attack on the Enterprise in Part II (see my comments on that film to get an idea).

"The Undiscovered Country" is essentially a mystery in space with political overtones and it's great fun watching Spock and Valeris unravel the mystery piece by piece. Valeris (Kim Cattrall)is given more to do than Saavik ever was. The only nit-picking comments I have is just why couldn't the assassins just throw the boots out the window? If an explosion in space wasn't monitored until the shockwave hit the Excelsior, how would the Enterprise find the boots? Would the NCC-1701 just shift gears into reverse?

A lot has been made about the clock errors. To me, it's not terribly important since it's just background and your attention should not be there anyway. It was a bad idea to include such a prop though.

The only wasted role belongs to Scotty but he had his moment of greatness in "The Voyage Home" during the transparent aluminum scenes. He also delivers the corniest line of the film during dinner with the Klingons: "Maybe we are looking at something of that future here!" Well, duh!

Everything that made Star Trek great is in this film: action, great one-liners from McCoy and Chekhov, the peace message, the Klingons, Spock's logic skills, literary quotes and celebrity cameos makes "The Undiscovered Country" a worthy send-off to perhaps the most celebrated ensemble cast in entertainment history. Even if you're not a Trek-fan, you would enjoy this picture and is well worth the rental/purchase.