Almost every Trekkie knows that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is fun to watch. But what you might not realize is that the stories behind the scenes are equally interesting. The 2016 release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Director’s Cut demonstrates this through writer and director Nicholas Meyer‘s director commentary.
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, we’re sharing eight fun facts from Meyer’s commentary. These facts help illuminate the production of Khan. But as you’ll soon see, some also continue to inform the ongoing story of Star Trek.
Meyer the Storyteller
Early in the commentary, Meyer states that he thinks of himself as a storyteller first and foremost. He explains that his calling is to tell stories, regardless of medium. This is true of whether the narrative is expressed through a movie, television or TV movie script, or a novel or other storytelling method.
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Meyer further explained that an essential step on his path to working on The Wrath of Khan was writing the novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. He states that this was written during the 1972 writer’s strike. However, it wasn’t published until 1974 due to concerns from the Arthur Conan Doyle estate.
In the 23rd Century…
You may recall that The Wrath of Khan opens with a screen featuring blue text on a black screen reading, “In the 23rd Century…” According to Meyer, he included this screen for the benefit of his father. He explains that without the establishing line, his father would have been confused regarding the temporal setting of the movie.
This screen has been used to determine the chronology of the Star Trek movies (and even Star Trek: The Original Series). Furthermore, the opening episode of Star Trek: Picard season 3 pays homage to this establishing card. “The Next Generation” opens with a card reading, “In the 25th Century…”
In Space, No One Can Hear You Kvetch
Meyer explains that he added more noise to starship interiors than Gene Roddenberry favored in TOS. He elaborates that Roddenberry’s utopian vision for the future meant less ambient noise. However, Meyer’s more “grounded” approach also meant the USS Enterprise and other ships were, like the ships of Earth, a bit louder as they traveled through space.
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However, Meyer does express one sonic regret for The Wrath of Khan. He states that he wishes he had pushed harder to have exterior ship shots be silent. Since sound waves do not travel in space, this might have been technically more accurate. However, Meyer believes he would have had to push extra hard for this alteration. “They were always holding back my more extreme ideas,” concluded Meyer.
King Khan
When Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) first appears on screen, Meyer shares an anecdote about the actor’s first day on set. When Montalbán first delivered Khan’s dialogue, Meyer felt his performance was too over the top. However, considering how experienced an actor Montalbán was and how comparatively inexperienced Meyer was as a director, Meyer was concerned about how his direction would be received. However, Montalbán was delighted when Meyer had suggestions for his performance and stated that he looked forward to being “directed.”
Meyer states that this laid the foundation for the most intimate creative partnership of the movie. And in case you are wondering, Meyer corroborates what Leonard Nimoy confirmed in I Am Spock. Montalbán was not wearing a prosthetic chest. Those are his actual muscles.
By Any Other Name…
Everyone knows the title The Wrath of Khan. But what you might not realize is that this was not Meyer’s original title for the movie. Meyer had originally titled the film Star Trek II: The Undiscovered Country. This title alludes to a line from a monologue from Hamlet by William Shakespeare. And the line itself refers to death, which Meyer emphasizes is a key theme of The Wrath of Khan.
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Meyer states that the title was changed (without his knowledge) during post-production. But as Trekkies may already realize, Meyer’s title nevertheless had its day. In The Wrath of Khan commentary, Meyer observes that his clout in the Franchise had grown when he returned to direct Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, allowing him to repurpose the title for the TOS crew’s final big screen shakedown cruise.
“Captain! Did you know we have pockets?”
Starfleet’s uniforms get a big update between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan. Meyer takes credit for this evolution. Taking inspiration from the Horatio Hornblower stories, Meyer made the uniforms more militaristic.
However, Meyer further explains that budgetary limitations meant one element of his visions for the costumes could not be realized. This was the presence of pockets in the Starfleet pants. Fortunately, Star Trek: Lower Decks rectified this with a scene in the penultimate episode of season 4, “The Inner Fight,” in which Lt. J-G Samathan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) discovers the California class pants do indeed have pockets.
Chekoving Out of Canon
In The Wrath of Khan, Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) is the first Enterprise alum to encounter Khan after TOS season 1’s “Space Seed.” Khan immediately recognizes Chekov and states he never forgets a face. Things just get worse for Chekov from there. However, the most devoted Trekkies may notice what appears to be a continuity error. Khan remembers seeing Chekov on the Enterprise. However, the character of Chekov did not join the cast of TOS until season 2.
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In the commentary, Meyer defends this apparent continuity error by citing Doyle’s observations on the Sherlock Holmes stories. Doyle famously refused to revisit his earlier work, resulting in a plethora of continuity errors throughout the Holmes canon. However, as quoted by Meyer, Doyle stated that these nitpicks were irrelevant so long as he kept his audience. As an added bonus, Trekkies and Sherlockians will be able to point these continuity errors out for all eternity. Qapla’!
I Left My Spock in San Francisco
Meyer is famously opposed to the scene at the conclusion of The Wrath of Khan, which shows Spock’s coffin on the surface of the Genesis Planet. In the commentary, he explains that he felt it undercut the gravity of Spock’s sacrifice at the climax of the movie. Furthermore, Meyer states that he cannot relate to the scene, having personal experience with death but not with resurrection. As a result, the scene had to be shot by other members of the production team, as Meyer would not be involved.
However, in the commentary, Meyer does reveal the real-world location where this scene was shot: in San Francisco’s Botanical Garden, as suitable a stand-in for the Garden of Eden as anywhere on Spock’s co-home planet.
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is currently available for streaming on Paramount+.
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