I once again left the movie choice up to my beloved. After some fierce debating between he and my buddy B, the movie he selected was Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. What was the debate? My beloved wanted to watch Star Trek: Generations, and B did not recommend skipping ahead. After a very geeky discussion (and I say that with love), keeping continuity was agreed upon.
I snuggled under a snowflake blanket with our youngest boy, and off we went. The premise of Star Trek Vi reminds me of that old action film cliche: the cop is going to retire, but he has one last bad guy to catch. This does not usually end well for the cop. It ended better for Captain Kirk and company, thankfully, but it made me a little nervous the entire time. "The Undiscovered Country" turns out to be peace between the Klingons and the Federation. From watching Star Trek: The Next Generation series through Netflix (we are up to season 6 now), I had the feeling peace would be achieved. It was just a matter of when/where/how. Since Kim Cattrall was on board playing a Vulcan chick, I also kept expecting love to be in the air.
After the ha-ha almost funny Guess Who's Coming to Dinner-party on the Enterprise with the Klingons and quite a bit of Romulan Ale, stuff starts hitting the fan. Instead of waking up with a hangover, Kirk and Bones end up on their way to a kangaroo court, where Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation was their public defender. When I asked the inevitable question, I learned that he wasn't really Worf, he was Worf's grandpa. Ok then. Moving directly along. So Kirk and Bones are sent to an icy planet (not Hoth!) which is a prison camp called Rura Penthe. This is where dilithium comes from. Iman was there, shape shifting like a boss. Watching Iman and Captain Kirk make out was one of the odder scenes in the movie.
Of course they escape. There is an assassination plot. Kim Cattrall wants to make war not love this time around. Hasn't hurt her career any. They are chased halfway around the universe on their way to Khitomer, the only Klingon outpost anywhere. I expected a massacre there, didn't get one thankfully. Kirk needs to stop an assassination. Spock mind melds Kim Cattrall against her will. I was a little surprised by that. There weren't too many groaners in the dialogue on the Enterprise. I did however get to keep rolling my eyes at the Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general who wanted to destroy the Enterprise.
The assassination is stopped in time. Peace begins. The old crew of the Enterprise, less Sulu (who has his own starship now), gets ready to take the long way home, flying off into a sunset. This is the last movie with the entire old crew. It was much better than Star Trek V. This one represents the end of an era. While there are other movies in the Star Trek universe, other crews and other captains, it will never be quite the same again. Having seen the original series and the movies, I now feel qualified to offer an opinion: the television series was better. That's how I want to remember Kirk, Bones, Spock and Uhura- young badasses flying through the galaxy, kicking alien butt when needed, making a little love on the side, needed or not.
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