Posted by Shawn M. on Aug 13th, 2007
Today, we’ll take a look at final movie starring the full cast of the Original Series, The Undiscovered Country.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Released December 6th, 1991
Directed by Nicholas Meyer
Before I start the review, I’d first like to apologize for taking so long to get this installment written. I wasn’t able to make the time to sit down and watch the movie until recently — blame comic-making and video games. But without further ado, the reason you clicked on this article!
The Klingon Empire is in some deep QI’yah. Praxis, their Homeworld’s moon that also serves as their main power facility, explodes, causing all sorts of unpleasantness. Facing extinction within fifty years, the Klingons turn to the Federation of United Planets for help. The Empire and the Federation hammer out a peace agreement so that the Fed can give them help. All that’s left to do is Klingon Chancellor Gorkon taking a trip to Earth to officially sign the treaty. At a Starfleet meeting, it is decided that Captains Kirk and Spock will take the Enterprise and escort the Chancellor’s ship to Earth.
Of course, Kirk isn’t too pleased, as he hates the Klingons and blames the entire race for the death of his son (way back in Star Trek III). Despite this, he follows his duty, and the Enterprise meets up with the Chancellor’s ship (after waiting over twelve hours at the designated meeting coordinates). A dinner is arranged between the two command crews, and it’s very uncomfortable and awkward for both. We meet the Chancellor’s daughter and his Military Advisor, General Chang. Tensions rise during dinner, but it eventually ends without any hostility. Exhausted, the crew of the Enterprise is ready to call it a night after dinner.
Before Kirk can turn in for his beauty sleep, two photon torpedoes rock the Chancellor’s ship, causing considerable damage. Soon afterwards, two assassins (their identities concealed by their Starfleet atmospheric suits) beam aboard and shoot the Chancellor with their phasers. On the Enterprise, everybody is going crazy, trying to figure out what just happened. Kirk and Dr. Bones beam over to the Klingon ship, trying to explain that the Enterprise did not attack them. Bones tries to save the Chancellor’s life, but due to his unfamiliarity with Klingon anatomy, fails. General Chang arrests Kirk and Bones, and the crew of the Enterprise is powerless to stop them. Kirk orders Spock to investigate further before he’s taken away.
Kirk and Bones are put on a sham trial, found guilty, and are sentenced to life at the Rura Penthe labor camp. On the Enterprise, a visual count of the torpedoes is taken, revealing that none have been fired. It’s reasoned that another ship must have fired, and since nobody saw another ship, it must have been a cloaked ship.
To speed things up, Kirk and Spock break out, escape, and are rescued by the ‘Prise. The traitor is revealed to be Lieutenant Valeris, a fellow Vulcan (Spock forcibly mind-melds with her after catching her in a trap to reveal herself). It’s discovered that there is indeed a ship that can cloak and fire at the same time, and it belongs to none other than General Chang. Holy double-cross, Batman!
We also learn that the new Chancellor, Gorkon’s daughter, will be signing the peace treaty, this time on a non-publicized planet. Of course, since Kirk and crew know all of the conspirators and their plan, they have to make haste to Khitomer to prevent the assassination attempt on the new Chancellor. They run into Chang’s cloaked ship on the way, but thanks to some savvy homebrewed torpedoes and some help from Captain Sulu and the Excelsior, Kirk kills some more Klingons and reaches Khitomer. They rush in and stop the assassination attempt, and the Starfleet and Klingon officials involved are taken away. The treaty is signed, and the Klingon Empire and The Federation become best buddies.
The Good: As usual, the core cast turn in some pretty good performances, even if some of the crew are given less screen time to make room for Kirk, Spock, and Bones (though not nearly as bad as the Next Gen films, where it became the “Picard, Data, and those other guys” series).  Chancellor Gorkon was particularly good, given the role of the leader of the Klingon Empire. Unlike the other Klingons up to this point, Gorkon is portrayed as wise, understanding, and looking forward to a better future without the needless bloodshed between the Empire and the Federation. His faith in Kirk as he died was very touching.
The Bad: Kim Cattrall. How’d she become an actress? Her portrayal of Lieutenant Valeris is awful. The character was originally intended to be Saavik from the prior films, but Gene Roddenberry killed that idea. So, instead of having a character with an established history be your traitor, thus making the impact far greater, we’re given a third-rate Vulcan played by an awful actress whose betrayal could be seen from miles away. Way to go, George. Lastly, General Chang’s incessant quoting of Shakespeare is irritating. Instead of sounding like a bad-ass Klingon, he sounds like a drama-club geek!
Final Rating. C-. I know, it’s the last voyage of the entire original crew, but I really find The Undiscovered Country hard to care about. When this movie was released, The Next Generation had hit its stride and was proving itself to be far superior to the original series. Simply put, this film wasn’t necessary. At the very least, it should have been handled better, which is surprising considering this was made by Nicholas Meyer. A villain who’s absent for a large stretch of the film and a garbage character like Valeris really brought this film down. Watch or own it if you’re a completeist, but otherwise, don’t waste your time.
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Devin de Gruyl
August 14, 2007 at 10:45 am
Trivia note: Kim Catrall was one of the finalists to play Saavik in The Wrath of Khan before the producers settled on then-unknown Kristie Alley. So in a small way, there is some poetic justice in Catrall getting the Valeris role.
Since you seem to be a TNG fan, I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mention Kirk’s defense attorney at the show trial - the apparent ancestor of a certain Klingon security chief…
What I find hilarious in a way is that this movie replaced Harve Bennett’s original plan for ST6, which would have been a “Kirk in his Academy days” story… which sounds a lot like the current movie in development, doesn’t it?
And what about the premature “callbacks” to Deep Space 9 - specifically, an Enterprise crewman named Dax (slug not included) and a shape-shifting alien? Hell, Rene Auberjonois even has a cameo! Makes you wonder…
I was a bit let down by this movie myself, but I think I liked it a bit more than you did. I will be honest: The first time I saw it Valeris’s betrayal actually did surprise me, though when I saw it again I did kick myself for not realizing it sooner. I agree, this character should have been Saavik. (Something to add to your comment about Roddenberry’s veto of turning Saavik heel: I’ve also heard stories that both Kirstie Alley and Robin Curtis were unavailable/unaffordable/both for the film, so they decided to just create a new character rather than hire the third actress in nine years to play Saavik. If this is true, then I do support that much of the decision; Saavik’s home planet, after all, is assumed to be Vulcan and not Gallifrey…)
Not a great movie, but hardly a bad one, and certainly several steps up from V on the moviemaking scale. As a farewell to the (complete) TOS crew, it could have been a lot better, and ended on a more satisfying note… but even so, I can live with this.
Next is Generations… hoo boy, do I have some things stored up to say about that one. Can’t wait…
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