Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Paramount Pictures, 1982) is the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. Originally released to theatres as Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan It is often referred to as ST2:TWOK or TWOK. It is widely regarded by fans as the best film of the series, and even many non-fans regard it as an excellent science fiction film. This may be partly due to the tone and style of the film, which is firmly character-driven, and almost completely avoids the pseudo-science that detractors see in other Star Trek films and TV series. Indeed, the latter half of the film has been compared to a Second World War naval epic.

Cast

Actor	Role
William Shatner	Admiral James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley	Dr. Leonard McCoy
James Doohan	Commander Montgomery Scott
George Takei	Commander Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig	Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols	Commander Uhura
Bibi Besch	Dr. Carol Marcus
Merritt Butrick	Dr. David Marcus
Paul Winfield	Captain Clark Terrell
Kirstie Alley	Lieutenant Saavik
Ricardo Montalban	Khan Noonien Singh
Judson Scott (uncredited)	Joachim, Khan's assistant

Plot summary

In the Star Trek episode "Space Seed", the USS Enterprise stumbled upon Khan Noonien Singh and his followers in cryogenic suspended animation aboard a "Sleeper ship" named the SS Botany Bay. Khan was awakened and found to have been genetically engineered for physical and mental superiority. Khan was imprisoned in his "guest" quarters when he was later identified as a murderous tyrant who fled defeat in the late 20th century. He escaped and revived his followers, fellow "supermen" who had helped him rule a quarter of the Earth during the 1990s. They seized control of the ship with the assistance of Enterprise officer Lieutenant Marla McGivers, who had fallen in love with Khan. After defeating Khan, Captain James T. Kirk gave him two choices: exile on the inhospitable, but habitable planet Ceti Alpha V or imprisonment on a Federation penal colony. Khan replied by quoting from Milton's poem Paradise Lost: "Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven."

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan begins fifteen years later as Admiral James T. Kirk is spending his birthday reviewing a training exercise. As expected, Lieutenant Saavik has lost the "no-win" Kobayashi Maru Scenario, "a test of character" rigged so that every cadet (with one exception) fails. When she questions her performance, Kirk assures her that "A no-win situation is something every commander may face." Further, he counsels, "how we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life."

Outside the training room, Kirk thanks Captain Spock (now commanding the Enterprise) for his birthday gift, an antique copy of A Tale of Two Cities. Spock returns to the Enterprise to prepare for Kirk's inspection, and Kirk goes home to his San Francisco apartment. Dr. Leonard McCoy arrives, bringing illegal Romulan ale for refreshment, and antique reading glasses as his gift; the latter are also practical, since Kirk is allergic to the medication (Retinax 5) normally used to treat age-related vision problems. Kirk resumes brooding, prompting McCoy to question why they're treating his birthday like a funeral. He charges that Kirk is using his birthday as a pretense. The truth is that Kirk regrets no longer commanding a starship, and finds his duties as an admiral unsatisfying.

Meanwhile, the crew of the starship USS Reliant has found a suitable test planet for Project Genesis. Over subspace, molecular biologist Dr. Carol Marcus — head of the project team aboard Spacelab Regula One — emphasizes that the planet must be completely lifeless: "There can't be so much as a microbe, or the show's off."

Captain Clark Terrell and first officer Commander Pavel Chekov beam down to the planet to check, but lifeless it is not. They discover cargo containers with signs of human habitation, but no people. When Chekov discovers a seatbelt with "Botany Bay" as an inscription, he becomes terrified. He tells Terrell they have to leave immediately — but Khan and his followers are outside and capture them.

Khan's history is briefly retold in an exchange with Chekov, whom Khan remembers (see below, "Space Seed" actually was before Koenig joined the cast). When Khan says that Kirk marooned them "here," Chekov accuses him of lying, because they were left on Ceti Alpha V. Khan angrily bursts out, "This is Ceti Alpha V! Ceti Alpha VI exploded, six months after we were left here." The shock shifted Ceti Alpha V's orbit such that it went from inhospitable to nearly unsurvivable.

Khan now realizes the Reliant mistook the planet as Ceti Alpha VI and that Chekov and Terrell hadn't expected to find him there at all. He questions his prisoners about their mission, but they remain silent. Khan then uses the slug-like young of "Ceti Alpha V's only surviving indigenous inhabitant" — the ceti eels — to gain control of Terrell and Chekov. The creatures burrow through their victims' ear canals into their brains, leaving them in a highly suggestive state. Khan nods with satisfaction, once again addressing Terell and Chekov: "That's better. Now tell me, why are you here? And tell me where I may find...James Kirk."

As Kirk inspects the trainee crew on the Enterprise, setting out on a training cruise, he receives a garbled and enigmatic message from Carol Marcus. In it, she complains of Kirk's apparent order — relayed by the brainwashed Chekov at Khan's direction — that the Genesis Device be transferred to the Reliant upon its arrival at the spacelab. When communications become completely jammed, he assumes command from Spock and diverts the Enterprise to Regula to investigate.

En route to Regula One, the Enterprise encounters the Reliant, which doesn't respond to hails. Saavik starts to quote General Order Twelve, but Spock interrupts her: "Lieutenant, the admiral is well aware of the regulations." In a serious lapse of judgment, Kirk ignores the standing orders to take a defensive posture, including raising the Enterprise's shields, when the Reliant remains silent. A voice message from the Reliant claims that the starship's chambers coil is overloading its communications system — a claim that Spock's scans immediately refute. With the ships nearly on top of each other, the Reliant raises her shields and locks phasers on the Enterprise. Kirk orders the shields to be raised, but too late: the Reliant scores a direct hit on the Enterprise's engine room, causing severe damage. The crippled Enterprise is then hailed to discuss terms of surrender. On visual, a smug Khan can hardly contain his glee as he declares he is avenging himself on Kirk. Kirk offers to surrender himself and beam over, if Khan will let the Enterprise and its crew go. Khan accepts if Kirk also turns over all information the Enterprise has on Project Genesis — a good sign, notes Spock, as it means Khan didn't find any Genesis data at the Regula station. Kirk stalls, claiming difficulty in retrieving the data. This allows Kirk and Spock precious moments to retrieve the Reliant's security access prefix code from the Enterprise's computers — the transmitted code lowers the Reliant's shields, allowing the Enterprise uses its last bit of phaser power to damage the Reliant enough to force its retreat.

(In the Director's Edition, Peter Preston's death scene in Sickbay is extended to include an exchange between Kirk and McCoy, wherein Kirk laments his earlier lapse of judgment: "We're alive only because I knew something about these ships that he ^* didn't."). The Enterprise limps its way to Regula One. Kirk, McCoy and Saavik beam onto the station and find the staff brutally murdered, all memory banks erased, and Terrell and Chekov in stunned shock. Discovering that something was beamed into the center of the Regula planetoid (which the station orbits), Kirk calls the Enterprise and receives a very grave damage report. He instructs Spock that if the landing party doesn't signal within one hour, the Enterprise crew must restore what power they can and head for the nearest starbase. The five beam to those coordinates and discover three survivors, including Carol and David Marcus.

David grew up resenting his father, possibly for the mere fact that Kirk was too occupied with command. When David says, "Mother, he killed everybody we left behind!" (believing the worst in his father), he apparently recognizes Kirk, but Kirk doesn't realize the young man is his son. Kirk asks Carol, "Is that David?" with such surprise that he probably hasn't seen David in years, perhaps not since birth.

Terrell and Chekov suddenly pull out their phasers, order them all not to move, and call the Reliant. Khan orders Terrell to kill Kirk, but Terrell struggles with the order. After vaporizing the third Regula staff member, he turns his phaser on himself. Chekov collapses as the mind-controlling slug exits his body. Kirk then challenges Khan to come down to kill him, but Khan simply beams up Genesis, and the following, widely parodied exchange ensues (see YTMND):

Khan: "I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her: marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet, buried alive. Buried alive."

Kirk: "KHAAAAAN! KHAAAAAAN!" [http://www.trekmania.net/wavs/buriedalive.wav

of the biggest misconceptions is that Kirk screams 'Khan' twice. In fact, he only screams it once, which is then echoed twice in the Regula I exterior shot.

Carol suggests to her son that he show McCoy and Saavik the "Genesis cave," with food "enough for a lifetime, if necessary," to ensure an opportunity to talk privately with Kirk. Her subsequent dialogue with Kirk reveals she was his old love, and that David is their son. She held custody because she wanted him with her, "not chasing around the universe like his father."

Saavik and McCoy are amazed when David shows them how the Genesis Device transformed the interior of the Regula planetoid into a life-rich environment. But now unable to hail the Enterprise, they worry more for the ship and crew than for themselves. After relating the tale of how he was the only cadet to beat the Kobayashi Maru, Kirk surprises everyone by contacting Spock: their exchange before beaming down was a ruse to trick Khan, who they knew was intercepting any transmissions. Spock beams the party aboard, and Kirk begins thinking of how they can escape the Reliant, which is not as badly damaged and still has more firepower.

Kirk manages to outwit and outmaneuver Khan in the nearby Mutara Nebula. With the Reliant disabled and about to be boarded, Khan sets the Genesis Device to detonate. The Enterprise has lost warp power since the first battle, and on limited impulse it has no chance to escape. Spock, unnoticed in the desperation, goes down to Engineering. He is about to enter the reactor room when McCoy stops him, saying "No human can tolerate the radiation that's in there!" Spock replies that McCoy himself knows he isn't human; he then distracts McCoy and nerve-pinches him, apologizing that he has "no time to discuss this logically." Pressing his hand against McCoy's forehead to initiate a mind-meld, Spock intones "Remember". Then Spock enters the room and successfully makes repairs amidst heavy radiation streams. On the bridge, a cadet monitoring the Engineering station announces the main engines have come back on line. With seconds to spare, Kirk orders Commander Hikaru Sulu to engage the warp engines, and the Enterprise narrowly escapes just as the Genesis Device detonates.

The final victory over Khan comes at a tragic price: even Spock's half-Vulcan body cannot withstand the lethal dosage of radiation he has suffered. Kirk races to engineering, arriving only in time to exchange a few brief words with his first officer and closest friend. After Spock satisfies himself that the ship is out of danger, he declares his friendship for Kirk, and dies. At the very emotional funeral, Kirk eulogizes his old friend, and Spock's body, encapsulated in a photon torpedo, is launched onto the newly formed Genesis planet. Afterward, David comes to his father's quarters to make peace: "I'm proud, very proud, to be your son."

The final scene on the Enterprise features a captain's log voiceover entry by Kirk (indicating the Enterprise will head to Ceti Alpha V to rescue the Reliant's stranded crew), followed by a brief conversation between Kirk, McCoy, and Carol on the Enterprise bridge as they whimsically watch the new Genesis Planet on the viewscreen. Both the log entry and the conversation are steeped in symbolism, and muse provocatively about how Spock's death is not an end, but a beginning:

Kirk (voiceover): "Captain's log, stardate 8141.6. Starship Enterprise departing for Ceti Alpha V to pick up the crew of U.S.S. Reliant. All is well. And yet I can't help wondering about the friend I leave behind. 'There are always possibilities,' Spock said. And if Genesis is indeed life from death, I must return to this place again."
McCoy: "He's really not dead . . . as long as we remember him."
Kirk: "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. It’s a far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known."
Carol: "Is that a poem?"
Kirk: "No. Something Spock was trying to tell me on my birthday."
McCoy: "You okay, Jim? How do you feel?"
Kirk: "Young (voice cracking). I feel young."

Then the surface of the new Genesis planet, with Spock's torpedo tube lying in a clearing in the middle of one of the newly created forests. Then at the end the Genesis planet and its primary are shown, with a voiceover of Spock saying, "Space...the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her on-going mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!."

Themes

The Wrath of Khan is in some ways a story of Kirk's mid-life crisis. Unsure of his place in the world, unable to break out of his rut as an admiral, it takes his encounter with Khan and his assumption of responsibility for an untried crew to show him where he truly belongs. Unfortunately, the price is high.

Kirk was well-known for bending and breaking rules for expediency; in fact, in The Undiscovered Country, Klingon General Chang accused him of being a "career-minded opportunist" because of how often Kirk disobeyed orders. Kirk chose to ignore Starfleet regulations in the first battle with Khan, and he paid for it dearly, both in the deaths of novice crew members, and ultimately in Spock's supreme sacrifice that saved the ship from Khan's final gambit. Spock's death is widely regarded as one of the most powerful scenes in the history of Star Trek, and when Kirk himself died in Generations, many critics claimed that the scene failed to live up to the standard set by this film.

Ultimately the film is about life, death, and rebirths, and the relationships between two generations: Kirk with David, his son; Scotty with Peter Preston, his nephew; Spock with Saavik, his protege; and Khan with Joachim, one of his henchmen. (Some fans believe Joachim was Khan's son with the deceased Marla McGivers.)

Unable to see past his hatred, unable to conceive what life he might still have ahead of him, Khan took his crew on a mission of death and, ultimately, suicide. Kirk, by contrast, refused to give in to hate, and through his love for his friends he found a new life for himself. He was also able to bridge the gulf between himself and his son, and his rapprochement with David in many ways best represents the emotional core of the film.

We also see the friendship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy portrayed in greater depth than ever before. In the movie, Kirk is the ego of the three - he is the captain, the head of the ship, and his orders are the final word. McCoy serves to represent the more passionate and romantic id aspect of the three, encouraging Kirk to follow his more animalistic side. Spock is the superego; he tempers McCoy's influences, and provides a more rational, logical view of things. Their friendship is like a tripod; if one leg were to be removed, the entire thing would collapse.

The Kobayashi Maru test is representative of the no-win scenario. As a cadet, Kirk essentially cheated by secretly reprogramming the simulator so that he could win. In doing so, he missed the whole point. Kirk has made a career of being able to gamble and win, of outwitting his opponents and always having a clever, ingenious trick up his sleeve, even when his opponent is smarter and stronger than he. Because of this, he feels that he has never truly faced death, but cheated it all his life. And that it took Spock's ultimate sacrifice to drive home for him the entire point of the Kobayashi Maru test: "How we face death is at least as important as how we face life."

During the film, Khan quotes extensively from Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, while Kirk quotes from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Each character in some ways follows the path of the protagonist of their respective books.

Notes

In its departures in tone and subject matter from the previous film, TWOK seems to have been influenced by the 1979 movie Alien, from the unexpected discovery of an ancient space wreck on a desolate planet, to macroscopic alien body parasites, characters with hidden conflicts of loyalty, secret weapons research, and even various details around the destruction of the Reliant versus that of the Nostromo. It's been said that in TWOK, unlike most of the other Trek films, the universe is a dark and scary place full of dangerous people. It's worth noting that TWOK is the only Star Trek film where the antagonists are all human.

The film is notable for being the first major role for Kirstie Alley, who played Lieutenant Saavik. The character of Saavik, and in particular Alley's portrayal of her, resonated with fans. Alley, not wanting to be typecast as a sci-fi actress, declined to continue her participation in Star Trek and in the next two films Saavik was portrayed by Robin Curtis (Shatner's movie memoir suggests that Kirstie Alley's salary requests were also at the root of her decision not to reprise her role). Valeris in Star Trek VI was originally supposed to be Saavik, but Gene Roddenberry changed the character, in part, because it was noted that most fans would never have accepted that Saavik consciously betrayed the Federation. (Director Nicholas Meyer took exception to this, pointing out that he created the character of Saavik and knew her better than Roddenberry.)

This is also the first Star Trek episode or movie where damage to the outer hull of the Enterprise is seen.

The film was much more action-oriented than its predecessor, The Motion Picture, but Star Trek II was much less costly to make, with a modest special effects budget and TV production schedule. Indeed, the project was supervised not by Paramount's theatrical division, but by its television unit, and produced by Harve Bennett, a respected TV veteran (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, and the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man). Bennett produced the next three films in the series as well, and appeared in a cameo as Admiral Robert Bennett in his series valedictory The Final Frontier.

Star Trek II re-used many models from the first film, including the three Klingon battle cruisers in each movie's opening scene. (One criticism of Generations is that it reused footage of an exploding Klingon bird-of-prey, but such recycling is nothing new.) Nevertheless, Star Trek II owes its considerable success to being primarily a character vehicle. By any reasonable account, Star Trek II rescued the Star Trek franchise.

After the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, executive producer Gene Roddenberry wrote his own sequel, involving a plot he had touted before in which the crew of the Enterprise travel back through time to assassinate John F. Kennedy and set a corrupted time line right. This sequel was turned down by Paramount executives, who blamed the relative failure of the first movie on the constant rewrites demanded by Roddenberry. He was ultimately removed from the production and reduced to an advisory position.

The film was directed by Nicholas Meyer, who later directed The Undiscovered Country. According to Meyer, "The Undiscovered Country", a quotation of William Shakespeare, was also a working title for "The Wrath of Khan." It was changed, without Meyer's consent, by studio executives. Meyer has said that the studio's intitial new title was "The Vengeance of Khan," and that he had to remind studio heads that George Lucas was at that time working on his 3rd Star Wars film with the working title of "Revenge of the Jedi." (Ironically, the third Star Wars film in the prequel trilogy was titled Revenge of the Sith.)

The film's story is a rewrite of three separate scripts: "The Omega Device" by Jack Sowards, involving the theft of the Federation's ultimate weapon; a script featuring Saavik by Samuel Peeples; and a script featuring Khan by Harve Bennett. Director Meyer wrote a new script in a matter of weeks using the best pieces of plot and the best characters from all three.

During filming, rumors abounded among fans that Spock would die (it is speculated in Shatner's memoir that the primary lifegiver to these rumors was Gene Roddenberry). Meyer didn't want this expectation to overshadow the rest of the film, so he scripted Spock's "death" in the first scene - the character pretends to be dead in a training exercise, slumping against a wall - so as to mislead viewers into being surprised at the film's ending. After the first scene, as Kirk and Spock left the training facility, Kirk quipped, "Aren't you dead?" Originally, Spock's death was supposed to be permanent, as Nimoy no longer wished to appear in future sequels. But as Nimoy has said, he changed his mind after his good experiences during filming, hence the mind-meld with McCoy before he goes to certain death in the engine room, and Kirk's musing that he must return to Genesis. It should be noted that Nicholas Meyer did not contribute to the scenes in which Spock's tube is visible on Genesis as it was his intention that Spock's death be irrevocable.

The evocative "sailing ship" music, considered by some fans as the best of the series, was scored by James Horner.

Trivia

The film introduces Star Trek fans to the "red jacket" uniform, widely regarded as one of the most popular and attractive Star Trek costumes in comparison to the colored shirts and tunics of the original series and The Next Generation. In addition, the fictional history of Star Trek indicates that the uniform seen in Star Trek II, adopted sometime between the events of The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, was one of the longest issued uniforms of Starfleet, lasting well into the 24th century. (Later versions of this uniform, as glimpsed at in several TNG episodes, would see the turtlenecks worn underneath the jacket and the belt eliminated.)
The commentary on the special edition DVD for the film claims that the visual of the Genesis Device's impact on a barren planet is the first CGI effect ever used in a movie. The Wrath of Khan was released in the United States 35 days before the release of Walt Disney Pictures' CGI-intensive Tron , itself released on July 9th, 1982. Industrial Light and Magic contributed to both films.
Some of the footage from the Genesis Device demo video shows up in the laserdisk arcade game Astron Belt.
This movie is mentioned in the Barenaked Ladies song Grade 9 on the album Gordon.
Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) were never actually face-to-face at any point during the film. All of their interactions are over the viewscreen or through communicators. Shatner describes in his book Star Trek Movie Memories (ISBN 0060176172) how their scenes were filmed four months apart.
The Wrath of Khan had the lowest budget of any Star Trek film. Most of the film was shot on the same set, as the bridge of the Reliant was a redress of the Enterprise’s bridge and the "bridge simulator" (from the opening scene) was a simple reuse of that set.
Though Arthur C. Clarke did not include The Wrath of Khan in his list of best science fiction films ever made, he "brooded over" the omission.
In the novelization by Vonda N. McIntyre, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Saavik's heritage is revealed to be half-Romulan. In addition, Sulu is given the rank of Captain, and is soon to command the U.S.S. Excelsior. (A prior version of the script includes mention that Admiral Kirk had signed orders granting Sulu the captaincy of the Excelsior, however this was omitted from the final script, and the appearances of the vessel do not reflect this original plot point.) "Regula One" is given the name Regulus. Carol Marcus is the lover of Vance Madison, one of the scientists on the space laboratory.
Inside joke: Among the "antiques" visible in Kirk's San Francisco apartment is an ancient home computer that is recognizably (based on the trapezoidal shape of its monitor) a Commodore PET. At the time Star Trek II was filmed, William Shatner was the celebrity pitchman for Commodore computers. (In the DVD commentary for the Director's Edition, the computer is pointed out but referred to as a Commodore 64.)
The film earned $14,347,221 in its opening weekend at the US box office, at the time the largest opening weekend gross in history.
At a budget of US$11,000,000 in 1982 dollars, as of 2006 Star Trek II was the cheapest Star Trek motion picture to have been made to date, which was due to requirements placed on the production given the cost overruns of its predecessor Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The film also featured a cameo of Transporter Chief Kyle (John Winston) from The Original Series. Kyle is now a Lieutenant Commander and serving as Communications Officer aboard the USS Reliant.
Kirk receives a bottle of Romulan ale with a vintage of 2283 as a gift from McCoy. This is the first time a traditional calendar date (as opposed to Stardate) has been used on screen to provide a rough date for the events of this part of the Star Trek universe. The exact year in which Wrath of Khan takes place is still a matter of conjecture, however, but it is known to take place some time after 2283 (McCoy says of the ale, "it takes this stuff awhile to ferment" suggesting some period of time has elapsed since that year). The licensed (although officially non-canon) reference book The Star Trek Chronology conjectures that Wrath of Khan takes place in the year 2285, 14 years after the events of The Motion Picture; however this appears to contradict the statements in the film that the events of "Space Seed" occurred 15 years earlier.
This film starts a story arc trilogy spanning to The Voyage Home.
In the computer game, Starfleet Academy, a variant of the initial encounter with the Reliant is used as a training exercise for the player's character. As Captain Kirk sheepishly notes as he introduces the exercise, it is intended to teach the importance of obeying the standing orders of raising defenses when a sister ship of the fleet is enountered but refuses to communicate.
Mark Lenard, who portrayed the Klingon captain in the first film, and Sarek in three of the four following films, wanted to appear in this one too. But Sarek wasn't in this film, and there were no good alien roles either.

Problems and Inconsistencies

In previous episodes, such as "The Doomsday Machine" Star Fleet ships are shown as able to scan the make-up of entire star systems before entering them. This makes the Reliant's mistaken identification of Ceti Alpha V higly unlikely. The presence of a new asteroid belt in Ceti Alpha VI's place would have been extremely noticeable. The explosion of an outer planet would conceivably push an inner planet further in, making Ceti Alpha V more easily confused with Ceti Alpha IV.
Khan's recognition of Chekov is a retcon, since "Space Seed" was produced before the character of Chekov was added to the television series. A humorous anecdote Walter Koenig likes to tell at conventions about Khan's recognition of Chekov: while Khan still had free reign of the Enterprise, he entered one of the ship's bathrooms. After waiting for Chekov to leave the only stall, and leaving Khan with no toilet paper, Khan exclaims "I never forget a face, Mr. Chekov!" In Greg Cox's 2005 novel, " To Reign in Hell" Cox comes up with a valid explanation of how Khan recognizes Chekov: in "Space Seed" Chekov had led a charge with security officers to retake Engineering which failed miserably. Also, when Khan, Marla McGivers and his people are left on Ceti Alpha Five, Chekov beams down to give Khan supplies. He also gives McGivers the Starfleet metal necklace that Khan is seen wearing in this film.
After Kahn's first attack on the Enterprise, Scotty brings the badly injured body of his nephew, Peter Preston, to the bridge rather than directly to sickbay. Preston seems to survive for a long period while conscious and able to speak, making it odd that McCoy wasn't able to heal his injuries using 23rd Century medical technology.
Kirk's immortal and often parodied scream of "Khhhhaaaaaaaan!" is extremely bizarre since the taunting that provoked it concerned Khan trapping Kirk and company for "all eternity" inside the Regula asteroid. At this point Kirk knew full well they would be rescued by the adequately functional Enterprise. All parties should have also realized a supply ship would be visiting an important research station sooner or later.
Even though they were equipped with full hazard gear and facing an absolute death sentence, no one in engineering, including Scotty, was willing to reactivate the ship's warp engines due to intense radiation. Strangely enough Deanna Troi faced a similar situation during her Bridge Officer Test in The Next Generation episode "Thine Own Self". The solution was to order Chief Engineer Laforge to his death in order to save the rest of the crew. This could be seen as a serious lapse in judgement by both Kirk and Scotty.
A major break in the movie's own continuity occurs when the Genesis torpedo, originally portrayed as merely a surface terraforming device, is able to not only create a planet from surrounding nebulous material but also a yellow star at exactly the correct distance to foster an M-Class world.
A burial at sea is usually only performed when it is impractical to return the body to shore. It is never explained why Kirk jettisons Spock without his family's permission and much to the horror and outrage of Spock's father, Sarek, as seen in the in the following film.

External links

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at StarTrek.com
Five-Minute Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — Parody version
DVD Journal review
Flash animation of the infamous screaming scene

1982 films | Action films | Adventure films | Star Trek films | Sequel films