{"id":7483,"date":"2016-02-29T02:27:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T02:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/Star-Trek-VI-The-Undiscovered-Country-1991"},"modified":"2016-02-29T02:27:56","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T02:27:56","slug":"star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country-1991","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/29\/star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country-1991\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        \n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Plot:<\/strong> The command crew of the <em>Enterprise NCC-1701A<\/em> are called for a briefing. Praxis, a moon near the Klingon homeworld, has exploded, and Qo\u2019noS is facing extinction in 50 years. It is a time for difficult peacemaking, and the chosen emissary is James T. Kirk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He isn\u2019t such a believer, initially; he\u2019s had more than a few run-ins with Klingons in his career, from \u201cErrand of Mercy\u201d to \u201cA Private LIttle War\u201d to <em>Star Trek III<\/em>, when his son was murdered by Commander Kruge. Spock believes in him, though, and Kirk\u2019s outstanding crew is usually his guide to his best self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s much skullduggery in store, with assassination plots, mystery, betrayal, courtroom drama, an alien prison break, and Christopher Plummer (\u201cDoh re mi&#8230;\u201d). But you\u2019ve seen this before, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Thoughts:<\/strong> This has to be the fifth or so time I\u2019ve watched <em>Star Trek VI<\/em>, and I think it was my favorite. Maybe I\u2019m more invested? Maybe the ugly political infighting in the news right now makes the implausible ugly factional machinations of The Undiscovered Country\u2019s devious conspirators seem on the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have not been a big fan of this installment, largely because I never bought Kirk\u2019s attitude, especially, at the start of the film. &#8220;Let them die.&#8221; Surely he\u2019s better than that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then again, when I was 18 years old in 1991, it seemed like racial prejudice (the metaphor at the dinner table) was something we\u2019d solved, and could easily walk past. Seven years into the term of America\u2019s first black president, that seems quaint. Also, watching Star Trek canon in sequence brings home that Kirk has plenty of trauma associated with his Klingon encounters. From Tyree to David Marcus, there has been personal cost. \u201cErrand of Mercy,\u201d in particular, hints at planetary-scale atrocities which Kirk would have been exposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I guess I buy it a little, now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I love Spock in this movie. He\u2019s older, he seems to have moved past a dogmatic, rigorous practice of logical discipline and found wisdom waiting on the other side, with a faint twinkle in his eye. He has been the most optimistic, decent member of the crew from the beginning. No coincidence, I think, that Leonard Nimoy himself was instrumental in formulating the story behind the screenplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scene that I don\u2019t like is Spock forcibly mind melding with Valeris to pull information out of her mind, without consent. That\u2019s uncomfortably like violence, torture, and rape. I buy Spock\u2019s anger at her, but not the ease at which the scene transitions to this act. Anyway, plotwise, it is too easy (it&#8217;s always easy to resort to violence against women), and gives Spock too much power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My Blu-ray has the theatrical version, not the Director\u2019s Edition, so I didn\u2019t watch the Scooby-Doo ending, which I understand involves Rene Auberjonois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the last full voyage of the original cast, and the last canonical screen appearance of Dr. McCoy and Lt. Uhura (at least, in the prime universe <shudder>). Bon voyage and godspeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I still think the pacing sags late in the movie, and the whole prison planet sequence underdelivers in spectacle, suspense, and plausibility. But I am content tonight, thinking about how entrenched enemies can, after all, come together despite pitfalls and setbacks, and create a future with a Klingon on the bridge of the <em>Enterprise NCC-1701D<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What did you think?<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Star_Trek_VI:_The_Undiscovered_Country\" class=\"embedly-card\" data-card-recommend=\"0\" data-card-width=\"100%\">http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Star_Trek_VI:_The_Undiscovered_Country<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/cdn.embedly.com\/widgets\/platform.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n      ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>        Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-7483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek-relive-the-majesty-film-threads","tag-kevin-black"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}