Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land

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Movie
German title Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land
Original title Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star trek 6 de.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1991
length 113 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Nicholas Meyer
script Nicholas Meyer,
Leonard Nimoy ,
Denny Martin Flinn
production Steven-Charles Jaffe,
Ralph Winter
music Cliff Eidelman
camera Hiro Narita
cut William Hoy ,
Ronald Roose
occupation
synchronization
chronology

←  Predecessor
Star Trek V: At the Edge of the Universe

Successor  →
Star Trek: Meeting of Generations

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Original title: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ) is an American science fiction film from 1991. It is the sixth Star Trek cinema film and the last in which the complete Original crew plays and is based exclusively on the television series Starship Enterprise . The film premiered on February 13, 1992 at the Berlinale in Germany.

The title is an allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet , III. Act, scene 1; unlike in the play, however, what is meant here is not death, but the future.

action

After the explosion of the moon Praxis, which was the main energy source of the Klingon homeworld Qo'noS (pronounced: Kronos) and thus also of the empire, the Klingons are suddenly forced to negotiate peace with the Federation as part of relief efforts. Captain James T. Kirk is given the task of providing the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon with the Enterprise for the negotiations on Earth .

The first meeting with the Klingons on board the Enterprise , during which they toast "the undiscovered land" - the future - is cool despite the goodwill of the Chancellor. After the meal is over and the Klingons have returned to their ship, the Kronos 1 , suddenly two photon torpedoes apparently fired by the Enterprise shoot the battle cruiser incapable of maneuvering. In addition, two masked men with gravity boots beam onto the Kronos 1 and, after they have lifted the force of gravity, open fire on the helpless Klingons. Gorkon is seriously injured.

To avoid the destruction of the Enterprise and to protest her innocence, Kirk and ship's doctor beam McCoy onto the cruiser and surrender to the Klingons. There McCoy tries in vain to save Gorkon's life. After his death, the two are arrested and charged with murder. Since the peace negotiations are not to be jeopardized, the Federation agrees to a court hearing. Kirk and McCoy are sentenced to life imprisonment in a show trial on Qo'noS in which Gorkon's adviser General Chang is prosecuting. They are then locked in the mines on the icy penal asteroid Rura Penthe, where the prisoners are sometimes exposed to barbaric conditions.

Meanwhile, Spock has his crew on the Enterprise look for an explanation for the attack on the Klingon ship. There is only one explanation for Spock: A Klingon warship with the latest camouflage technology fired the torpedoes unnoticed. There must also be accomplices on the Enterprise .

Thanks to the help of the shapeshifter Martia, a fellow prisoner, Kirk and McCoy manage to escape from the mines. Although their escape will only result in an ambush and should serve their inconspicuous execution, both can be beamed aboard the Enterprise at the last minute .

Here, not only the two, now dead bombers are exposed, but also their clients: Lieutenant Valeri, Spock's Vulcan protégé and actually his successor on board. With the help of a thought-amalgamation between Spock and Valeris, the crew uncovered a conspiracy between humans, Klingons and Romulans , the goal of which is to boycott peace and maintain the warlike status quo in space. For this purpose, the Klingons have a special stealth cruiser commanded by Chang, which is now supposed to provide back cover for an assassination attempt during the peace conference on the Klingon outpost of Camp Khitomer.

With the help of the USS Excelsior , commanded by Captain Sulu, the crew of the Enterprise can finally defeat the camouflaged warship and thwart the assassination attempt at the last moment.

Kirk and his crew have successfully completed their task and all they have to do is return to Earth. The team should be signed off there. Kirk, however, lets the Enterprise set out on one final journey.

Production history

Script development

Frank Mancuso, President of Paramount , met with Leonard Nimoy to discuss the possibilities of another Star Trek film. The franchise disappointed commercially with the last film Star Trek V: On the Edge of the Universe , but a final cinema production with the original crew was to be realized for the upcoming 25th anniversary of the cult series.

Under the impression of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Leonard Nimoy came up with the idea of ​​dropping the "Berlin Wall in Space": The story should revolve around peace negotiations with the Klingons, who served as the classic enemy in the series . He didn't want to write the script himself, however, nor would he take the trouble of directing himself. Instead, he contacted Nicholas Meyer, who was the director and writer behind the success of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and was also instrumental in the script for Star Trek IV: Back to the Present . In a long conversation between Nimoy and the interested Meyer, the foundations of the later film were formed, such as the metaphorical integration of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster , Kirk's meeting with the Klingon Chancellor, the assassination attempt on the same, Kirk's conviction at a show trial and the hunt for the real ones Assassins.

The studio accepted the story idea, but gave the order for the elaboration to two authors who were independently already under contract with Paramount for a script and were waiting for a suitable film. Meyer, who was only intended as a director, was nevertheless contacted when the writing duo got into creative difficulties: In meetings that, according to Meyer, he passed on his and Nimoy's story ideas to the authors. Their finished script was nevertheless rejected by the studio and Meyer was officially hired as an author. The studio was now very open to Meyer's inquiries, accepted Meyer's producers Steven-Charles Jaffe and Denny Martin Flinn as co-authors. The latter was of particular concern to Meyer, as he had been battling cancer for months.

The script was created under time pressure and via e-mail between Meyer and Flinn. The finished script met with general approval from both the studio and Nimoy, who acted as executive producer. Nimoy continued to press for improvements and suggested a scene in which Spock's protégé Valeris, who turns out to be a traitor, is faced with the decision to shoot Spock. Although Meyer and Nimoy later often praised each other for each other's contributions, differences of opinion between the two overshadowed the entire production.

Significantly greater opposition to Meyer's ideas and interpretation of the Star Trek universe came from Gene Roddenberry. The creator of the series, whose health was in bad health , had no decision-making power since the first Star Trek film , in which he worked as a producer. In his advisory role, however, he tried to gain influence, for example combating the display of open racism among some Federation officers. In particular, he wanted to prevent the Vulcan Saavik, introduced as a positive figure in Star Trek II, from being a traitor. Just because Kirstie Alley was not available to resume her role, Saavik was dropped and the Vulcan Valeris was established instead.

Budget disputes

At the end of 1990 there were disputes between Meyer and those responsible at Paramount about the film budget: instead of the 30 million dollars previously mentioned by Mancuso, 25 million should now be available. Meyer's protest against a budget under 30 million (and thus below the cost of the previous film Star Trek V ) led to Mancuso's decision to cancel the project. Regardless of this, Mancuso had to vacate his post shortly thereafter. His successors Stanley Jaffe (not related to Meyer's producer Steven-Charles Jaffe) and Sherry Lansing guaranteed Meyer the desired minimum budget without further ado.

synchronization

The German synchronization took over the cine adaptation under the dialogue direction of KE Ludwig , who also wrote the dialogue book together with Claudia Walter. Harald Wolff was responsible for the synchronization of the new scenes .

role actor Voice actor
Admiral James T. Kirk William Shatner Gert Günther Hoffmann
Mr. Spock Leonard Nimoy Herbert Weicker ,
Norbert Gescher (new scenes)
Dr. Leonard "pill" McCoy DeForest Kelley Randolf Kronberg
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott James Doohan KE Ludwig ,
Kaspar Eichel (new scenes)
Lt. Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu George Takei Fred Klaus
Lt. Pavel Chekov Walter Koenig Elmar Wepper
Lt. Cmdr. Uhura Nichelle Nichols Ilona Grandke
Sarek Mark Lenard Leo Bardischewski
Lt. Cmdr. Janice Rand Grace Lee Whitney Barbara Witow
Admiral Cartwright Brock Peters Thomas Rau ,
Michael Telloke (new scenes)
William "Bill" Smillie Leon Russom Peter Musäus ,
Erich Räuker (new scenes)
President of the Federation Kurtwood Smith Niels Clausnitzer ,
Bodo Wolf (new scenes)
General Chang Christopher Plummer Klaus Guth
Acetbur Rosanna DeSoto Kerstin de Ahna
Chancellor Gorkon David Warner Paul Bürks
Lt. Valeris Kim Cattrall Katharina Lopinski ,
Maud Ackermann (new scenes)
Martia Iman Abdulmajid Sabina Trooger
Colonel Worf Michael Dorn Ulf Jürgen Söhmisch,
Michael Telloke (new scenes)
Communications officer Christian Slater Philipp Moog

Historical background

Star Trek VI was created a good two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and a year after German reunification and the global political upheaval of state socialism in the Eastern Bloc . The film strives to translate the end of the Cold War into the fictional world of Star Treks.

The trigger for the peace negotiations in the film is the explosion of the Klingon moon Praxis . In reality, the nuclear catastrophe that occurred in the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Chernobyl in 1986 comes very close to this, although this event hardly caused such political waves as the detonation of the moon in the film.

useful information

  • Since the series Spaceship Enterprise: The Next Century was still in production at the time of shooting, parts of the props for the movie were also used. During the attack of the stealth cruiser, crew members can be seen running through corridors and parts of the engine room known from the TNG series. The interior of Bar Ten Forward from the Enterprise-D was used as the backdrop for the Parisian office of the President of the Federation . The dining room at the beginning of the reception of the Klingons and the room in which Scotty finds the boots in the ventilation shaft is the observation lounge of the Enterprise D. Parts of the engine room of the Enterprise D are also used.
  • In 1997, the film was released again in a revised version, with the image and sound being completely digitally revised and republished in a widescreen version. In addition, scenes were added that had been removed from the original version. You can see, among other things:
    • How the Federation President, after the departure of the Klingon ambassador, is offered a plan of a rescue operation by Federation officers and other ambassadors to free Kirk and McCoy .
    • how Spock , Scotty and Valeris personally check the computer- technical shortage of photon torpedoes on site at the arsenal and ponder the situation. Different voice actors were used for this scene in the German version than in the rest of the film.
    • how after the failed attack a human Federation officer is exposed as an assassin masked as a Klingon.
  • The scene in which the prison director informs the prisoners about the rules and laws of the prison is based on a similar scene in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai .
  • The name of the Klingon penal colony "Rura Penthe" alludes to a penal colony of the same name in the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea from 1954.
  • The actor Christian Slater has a guest role in the film. He plays a communications officer on the USS Excelsior , who informs Captain Sulu late at night that the Enterprise has not confirmed her return to Earth. Slater owed the appearance to his mother Mary Jo Slater , who was responsible for the cast of the film.
  • Kirk and McCoy are defended by the Klingon Colonel Worf during the show trial . This was embodied by Michael Dorn , who already had a permanent role as the Klingon security chief Lieutenant Worf in the series Starship Enterprise: The Next Century . In an interview, Dorn stated that Colonel Worf is said to be Lieutenant Worf's grandfather .
  • During the trial, the prosecutor calls on Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy brusquely in one scene not to wait for the Klingon translation to answer the question . This scene is strongly reminiscent of the diplomatic exchange of blows during the session of the UN Security Council on October 25, 1962, when the US Ambassador to the UN, Adlai Stevenson, confronted the representative of the USSR, Walerian Sorin, with reconnaissance photos of the Soviet missile positions in Cuba .
  • Actor René Auberjonois plays the role of Federation officer Colonel West , who explains the rescue plan to the President and who is ultimately unmasked as an assassin . He later had a permanent role as head of security and shape shifter Odo in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series, which is also located in the Enterprise universe .
  • The Bird of Prey explosion at the end of the film was used again in Star Trek VII .
  • The actor Brock Peters , who plays the conspirator Admiral Cartwright, appears in the Star Trek series Deep Space Nine as Captain Sisko's father.
  • For test purposes, some copies of the film in the USA had the Dolby Digital sound format, which was new at the time , in addition to the Dolby Stereo optical sound track .
  • On September 11, 1996, the first broadcast of the episode Tuvoks Flashback (Flashback) of the offshoot series Star Trek: Spaceship Voyager . This episode processes memories of the USS Voyager's chief security officer, who served as an ensign on the USS Excelsior during his first term with Starfleet. The plot partly takes place at the time of the rescue mission for Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy by their old comrade Captain Sulu.
  • Kirk's course instruction at the end of the film comes from Peter Pan : “Second star to the right and straight on to the morning!” (German: “The second star from the right and then straight to the morning.”) This path leads directly in the children 's story to “Neverland”, where Peter Pan spent his eternal childhood.
  • In order to convince the ones sounding critical of Kirk of the necessity of their mission, Spock leads the old volcanic saying " Nixon goes to China " ( " Only Nixon could go to China ") to.
  • Spock's statement: “An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth” (German: “One of my ancestors always said: If you exclude the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth . ”) Alludes to the fictional character Sherlock Holmes by the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , who expressed the opinion:“ When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. ”(German:“ If you have the impossible excluded, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth. ")
  • The occasional running gag in Star Trek that Shakespeare's works are actually only translations from the "Klingon original" appears several times: in addition to quotes from Hamlet , a Klingon captain also quotes from Shylock's monologue in The Merchant of Venice at the end .

Reviews

“Science fiction adventure with approaches to self-irony and a nostalgic touch; modernized with a lot of trick technology. "

"An acceptable Star Trek adventure, which with Worf's appearance already indicates the transition to the 'Next Generation' and shows clear parallels to real events (the collapse of the Eastern Bloc)."

“The mixture of action, exotic space and irony is at least successful, the story is simple, but exciting, straightforward and yet not too superficial, even if some fantastically trivial hooks are hooked for the sake of the beautiful story and the humor. Allusions to the present are presented with a twinkle in the eye so as not to appear obtrusive, and five Star Trek films form an ample source of ironic quotes. "

- Sascha Mamczak : Science Fiction Media

“Now that even for American southpaws the realm of evil has disappeared from the map, war in space no longer makes sense either. Even the stubborn Capt. Kirk purifies himself under the pressure of the relations with the Apostle of Peace. Star Trek VI once again confirms the old truism that the science fiction genre is nothing more than a reflex to the present. "

- Karl-Eugen Hagemann : film service

Awards

The film was nominated for an Oscar in 1992 in the categories Best Makeup and Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing . In 1993 the film received a Saturn Award for best science fiction film . The film received nominations for the Saturn Award in the categories of Best Costumes , Best Make-Up , Best Supporting Actress (Kim Cattrall) and Best Writing .

literature

  • Meyer, Nicholas: The View From The Bridge . Viking Penguin, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-670-02130-7 , pp. 198-231.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nicolas Meyer: The View From The Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood . Plume, 2009, p. 200.
  2. ^ Meyer: The View From The Bridge , pp. 200-202.
  3. ^ Meyer: The View From The Bridge , pp. 202f.
  4. ^ Meyer: The View From The Bridge, p. 212f.
  5. ^ Meyer: The View From The Bridge , pp. 206ff.
  6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on February 18, 2019 .
  7. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  8. ^ Criticism at Prisma Online