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The Wrath of Khan
Premiered: Jun 4, 1982 Director: Nicholas Meyer Screenplay: Jack B. Sowards Story: Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards Music: James Horner Stardate: 8130.4
The Cast:
James T. Kirk: William Shatner
Spock: Leonard Nimoy
Leonard "Bones" McCoy: Deforest Kelley
Chekov: Walter Koenig
Sulu: George Takei
Uhura: Nichelle Nichols
Kahn: Ricardo Montalban
Lt. Saavik: Kirstie Alley
Dr. Carol Marcus: Bibi Besch
Dr. David Marcus: Merritt Butrick
William Shatner returns once more as Admiral James T Kirk of Starfleet. After his last outing in space, Kirk is back at a desk, this
time as an Academy instructor - feeling old and starting to see his dreams slip away. Accompanying his old ship Enterprise
with its current captain, the Vulcan Spock (Leonard Nimoy), on a training cruise with a group of cadets is doing little to
improve Kirk's mood. Meanwhile, on the space station Regula I, scientists are conducting secret experiments under the name Project Genesis.
'The Vulcan Captain Saavik', lieutenant in Starfleet, manages to lose to the Kobayashi Maru
simulator's preprogrammed no-win situation,
like every other cadet
ever to take the test (with a single exception). Spock, now Captain of
the Enterprise, returns to the ship to prepare for Kirk's upcoming pre
launch inspection after dismissing the students from the simulator
exercise. Kirk returns home and is visited by Dr. McCoy, who, after
presenting him with a birthday present, tells Kirk that his abilities
are wasted on a desk job and that he should resume his command of a
Starship.
USS Reliant, on assignment searching for lifeless planets as potential
test sites for the top secret Genesis project, arrives at Ceti Alpha
V. Beaming down, Captain Terrell and his first officer, Commander
Chekov, discover a series of cargo bays formerly of the SS Botany Bay,
a vessel full of genetically engineered supermen from late 20th
century Earth led by the cunning Khan. Chekov urges Terrell to return
to the Reliant, but they are captured by Khan and his followers. Khan,
after fifteen years, is still seeking revenge against Kirk for exiling
the Botany Bay's crew. Khan infests Chekov and Terrell with Ceti eels,
which affect the brain and make their victims susceptible to
suggestion, although the eels' victims will eventually go mad and die
painfully. Khan hijacks the Reliant and has Chekov contact space
station Regula 1, where the Genesis project is being developed by Dr.
Carol Marcus, an old flame of Kirk's, along with a team of scientists
including her son David. Chekov says that Kirk has ordered the Genesis
device to be transferred to the Reliant upon arrival for immediate
testing. David Marcus fears the worst, always suspicious of
Starfleet's motives concerning the Genesis project. Carol contacts
Kirk while the Enterprise is on a cadet cruise. Kirk takes command of
the ship and sets it on a course to the station.
En route, Kirk, Spock and McCoy review a presentation prepared
by Carol which reveals that the Genesis "torpedo" is a device which
will, when fired on a lifeless planet, restructure it into a verdant,
life-supporting world ready for colonization. The Enterprise arrives
at Regula 1 and is fired upon by the Reliant, which, since the shields
were not raised in the presence of a presumably friendly ship, causes
critical damage to the Enterprise and kills many of the unprepared
cadets. Khan reveals himself and demands that Kirk surrender himself,
but Kirk bluffs Khan into giving him time to consider. Kirk overrides
Reliant's shields by remote control and returns fire, forcing Khan to
retreat. Kirk, Saavik and McCoy beam down to the space station,
finding most of the scientists slaughtered and the Genesis device
missing. They do find Chekov and Terrell, apparently left for dead by
Khan although the Reliant officers are actually keeping an eye on Kirk
for their master. Deducing that the Genesis team must have had an
underground test site on the dead planetoid Regula that the station
orbits, Kirk gambles on beaming down into the surface under the
station. There, they find the Genesis device, but are ambushed by
David and one of the other scientists. Terrell kills the other
scientist, and then contacts Khan, who orders Terrell and Chekov to
kill Kirk. Terrell goes mad and kills himself, while Chekov collapses
and the Ceti eel vacates his body. Khan beams the Genesis device up to
Reliant. McCoy begins tending to Chekov as Kirk and Carol discuss why
David - their son - remained with Carol and became a scientist
himself. They all go deeper into the test area and find a lush cave
with vegetation and a waterfall, created by a fraction of the Genesis
device's power. Kirk then reveals to Saavik that he became the only
cadet in history to beat the Kobayashi Maru test by reprogramming the
simulator, which elicits a comment from David that Kirk has never had
to deal with death on a personal basis. Reliant returns to the station
after makeshift repairs, but the Enterprise is nowhere to be seen.
The Enterprise, apparently contradicting the repair estimates of an
earlier communication between Kirk and Spock which Kirk realized that
Khan would be eavesdropping on, arrives and retrieves Kirk and the
others while hiding behind the other side of Regula. Kirk orders the
ship into the nearby Mutara Nebula, where sensors of both ships will
not function. Khan is unable to resist the chance to pursue, and
plunges into the nebula behind the Enterprise. In the ensuing battle,
the Enterprise's warp drive is damaged. Sulu manages a few lucky shots
of his own, crippling the Reliant and killing most of Khan's crew, but
the dying Khan is unwilling to admit defeat and prepares to detonate
the Genesis device at point blank range, which will destroy both
ships. Scotty is unable to repair the engines, and Spock rushes to
engineering without a word to anyone (except for what seems to be a
very quick mind-meld with Dr. McCoy), forgoing safety precautions and
entering the radiation-saturated engine chamber to repair the warp
engines. When Spock finishes his task, Kirk orders the ship out of the
nebula at top speed. The Reliant explodes, initiating the full Genesis
effect on Regula, as Kirk, receiving a message from McCoy, hurries to
engineering only to see Spock die from massive radiation poisoning.
Spock's body is loaded into a torpedo casing, which is fired at the
Genesis planet. David admits that he may have misjudged Kirk and says
he is proud to be his son, while the crew reflects on Spock's
sacrifice and the marvel of Regula's transformation into a world of
its own.