The 25th anniversary of one of the best Star Trek films of all time!

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Well, as George Mcfly uttered in ‘Back to the Future II’, “you sure can hydrate a pizza”, I think it’s safe to say that director Nicholas Meyer sure knew how to make a proper Star Trek movie. Die hard fans will probably only recognize Meyer’s name, but on top of directing ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ in 1982, he was brought back by Paramount Pictures for the then 25th anniversary proceedings in order to release the final film with the original series cast– ‘Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country‘ was released 25 years ago today on 12/6/91, and I can remember that day like it was literally yesterday.

Without getting too personal this film provided a much needed distraction from an ugly divorce my parents were going through. I remember getting increasingly excited as the release date approached because not only would I get to see a brand new Star Trek film, it was also very close to my birthday. Back then one needed to read up on the upcoming flicks via movie magazines, and so periodically I’d head over to the corner store near where I was living in Fort Erie, Ontario at the time, and sneak a peek at any updates I could find. It was a completely different era as compared to the now “instant gratification” world we live in where one can simply do a Google search to find the latest news for yet to be released films.

All I can say is, boy this film delivered the goods one would want from a Star Trek feature film… It had a great villain, played by the brilliant Christopher Plummer (playing a Klingon no less!), it had a dark and memorable soundtrack by lesser known composer Cliff Edelmen, it had Kim Cattrall (yes, from Sex in the City) playing a Vulcan, it allowed Sulu to be a Captain of his own ship!, it had an epic final battle sequence that still holds up to this day, and it even had Christian Slater making a cameo appearance as a Starfleet officer. Most of all it was without question the perfect send off film for the original series cast.

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Why was it so satisfying? The story was very relevant to the time period with the Soviet Union tearing down their wall, and ultimately birthing a new era in US/Soviet Union relations. That was the main “germ” of an idea that the film’s executive producer, the late Leonard Nimoy, had at the time to formulate a similar story but with humans and the Klingons. What if the wall came down in space? Would some insiders on both sides be against it? Would there be a conspiracy to prevent unification of the two races? How would James T. Kirk feel about all of this? And that my friends made for an epic, tense, dark and very original Star Trek feature film.

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It delivered the goods, and yet I still wonder why it under-performed a little at the box office back then. Perhaps it was franchise fatigue sinking in, or merely because it followed the disaster that was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier it made fans and average moviegoers a tad averse about seeing another one. Regardless, it has long been held as one of the best of all the Star Trek films, including the new ones as well.  So for those that haven’t taken a spin with this entry, please do. (please clap, just kidding) This is a film that managed to make me forget about some tough times as a young lad, and ultimately escape into a fictional world of fantastic wonders and fantasy. For that, I’ll always hold Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in high regard. Nuff said!

 

 

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