Six more weeks until the premiere of Star Trek! Let's look back that the second film in the ST franchise - Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.

This is such a fantastic trailer for this film:

In 1982 two things happened, I was born and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan renewed interest and reinvigorated the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek: TWoK served as sort of a sequel to the original series episode "Space Seed", where we were introduced to Khan Noonien Singh, a "tyrant who controlled more than a quarter of the Earth during the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s." After the genetically engineered humans lost the war, Khan and a number of his followers escaped on a ship called the SS Botany Bay where nearly 200 years later, Captain James T. Kirk commanding the Starship Enterprise found the Botany Bay floating in space. After Kirk revived Khan and his crew, Khan tried to take over the Enterprise and kill Kirk. Thankfully, Kirk was able to stop Khan - he then had a hearing which condemned Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V, where they would live in exile but gives them a chance at life. This film, The Wrath of Khan, continues that story.

The financial and critical failure that was Star Trek: The Motion Picture was something that literally forced Paramount to deny Star Trek creator any major involvement from making a sequel film. Apparently, Roddenberry wrote his own sequel script that had Kirk and co. going back in time to stop the Klingon's from messing with Earth history, however, Paramount said "hell, no - we're going in a different direction." They went on to hire Harve Bennett who then went on to light a spark in the Star Trek franchise that continued for many more years. In a way, the same thing is happening now with the new Star Trek film coming out May 8th. Rick Berman who was executive producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise wasn't granted a new film - Paramount wanted fresh blood and you can't blame them. Berman provided a lot of content that we appreciate, however, he ran his course and that was evident in the last couple of Trek films. Now, like Roddenberry, Berman is out and JJ Abrams is in - Abrams being a total fresh visionary in film and television entertainment.

After 15 years of being left marooned on Ceti Alpha V, Khan returnes to avenge himself upon now Admiral James Kirk. In a suspenseful character driven battle, Kirk once again finds his greatest enemy threatening his ship, crew and the entire galaxy with the Genesis Device, a terraforming device able to create life and also destroy it. Returning is William Shatner as James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, Deforest Kelly as McCoy, George Takei as Sulu, James Doohan as Scotty, Walter Koenig as Chekov, Nichelle Nichols as Uhara and Ricardo Montalban as the greatest Trek villain to date, Khan Noonien Singh. The Wrath of Khan also introduces Kirstie Alley as Saavik, Bibi Besch as Carol Marcus, Merritt Butrick as David Marcus, Paul Winfield as Captain Terrell and Judson Earney Scott as Joachim.

There's no denying that Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is one of the best, if not the best, Star Trek film in the franchise, although it all depends on you. Actually, the fourth film is my personal favorite, however, TWoK is my second favorite with no competition. In trying to keep this short and to the point, although I'm probably way past that already, I won't talk about everything in this film but I'll point out several things that make this film great.

I suppose the best thing TWoK has to offer is the villain. Khan is considered to be the best villain out of all the Star Trek films to date, and with good reason besides the fact that Ricardo Montalban is an amazing actor. The writing for the character, as a Shakespearean character, is what gave Khan so much depth. I love that his obsession is basically what kept him alive for the past 15 years and now that his obsession is in reach Khan simply reacts. The obsession is of course James Kirk. The moment from the reveal that Khan has returned to the end when he uses the Genesis device to try and kill Kirk was all beautifully crafted character design. It's true, no other villain in Trek history would be more superior than Khan Noonien Singh. If you know someone who's never seen Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan is usually the way to start them off mainly because of such a memorable villain.

The theatrical release of TWoK, like any other film had it's cuts, but when I rewatched this film it was the directors cut which has several added scenes not seen before. Much of that is character moments between the cast - mainly Kirk and McCoy with a few other scenes that involved Spock, Scotty and his nephew who gets killed in the first battle with Khan. The character moments between Kirk and McCoy really shinned in this film, but none of that beats the last few moments Kirk and Spock had before Spock died. Anyone who's a Star Trek fan knows that it was that scene in particular which is one of the more powerful scenes in the TOS franchise. Thankfully, however, Spock comes back in the next film. Back to Kirk and McCoy - after Khan's first attack, I loved the scene Kirk, Scotty, and McCoy share when Scotty's nephew dies from his injury's. Most of that can be seen in the directors cut, so those of you who haven't seen it, probably wouldn't know what I'm taking about. I loved when Scotty says he knows McCoy did his best, then leaves, then Kirk asks McCoy if he's alright. You can see that he's troubled that he's lost a patient but he also understands that sometimes doctors can't save everybody.

The more evident thing that shows in TWoK is the age of Kirk. He's starting to whined down in his life - he's starting to feel aged and that's a great development for such a heroic character. At that point in time we knew Kirk as this karate chopping, leg dropping, ladies man, ass kicking Starship Captain - he's not anymore and he knows it. All the experience in the world isn't stopping him from feeling old - the eye glasses McCoy gives him because he's starting to loose normal vision kind of puts him over the top and depresses him. All of the little jokes throughout the film added to that - it all works for the character and were the character is going. Even so, this adventure that he takes, fighting against Khan, invigorates Kirk, just a little.

Once again, we see another redesign of the bridge - I have nothing more to add except that it does bother me, just a little. I liked the design in Star Trek: The Motion Picture but who cares - why beat the drum 27years after the fact.

I could go on forever about the Wrath of Khan but this should be sufficient enough to simply point out that it's a fantastic film. This is definitely one of those films that a new Trek fan could watch, even if they've never seen the TOS episode "Space Seed". Just quickly explain to them who Khan is then they'll get it.  It's even a must see when it comes to science fiction in general.

Until next week when I talk about Star Trek: The Search for Spock, go rewatch TWoK and enjoy!

-Phil

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