Ask any literary professor, or any successful
writer and they will tell you the same thing: The greatness
of a hero is directly related to the greatness of the villain.
Where would Holmes be without Moriarty? Would
Robin Hood's exploits have been as daring without the menace
of the sheriff? Would anyone have read stories about a guy named
Von Helsing had they not also contained a vampire named Dracula?
Could the Empire have been as intimidating without Darth Vader?
Face it, the villains are what make a story
great. The very nature of the hero makes them the less interesting
character -- we already know their basic motivations and what
they will or will not do. Heroes are pretty much cast from the
same mold.
Take, for instance, Captain James T. Kirk.
He's a hero's hero, saving mankind from the evil Klingons and
kissing every green-skinned alien female along the way. The
character hasn't really changed much. Watch any Star Trek adventure
featuring Kirk and we pretty much know how he will react to
any given situation. And this makes him the perfect example
of how a villain can make or break a hero.
Looking at Star Trek: The Motion Picture,
Kirk and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise aren't given
much to do, but stand around and stare at the viewscreen. There's
no real menace, and as a result, there's no thrill and very
little interest. When it comes right down to it, these characters
are pretty boring when they're not saving the universe.
Perhaps realizing this, the second film in
the series borrowed a character from the original television
series and created one of the greatest screen villains of all
time. Right from the title, The Wrath of Khan, you know that
there's danger to be had here.
The film opens with Kirk (William Shatner)
as an admiral at Starfleet headquarters. Instead of commanding
the Enterprise, he's now in charge of preparing a new crop of
cadets to take over his beloved ship. Of course this isn't at
all what he wants to be doing. He's a starship captain and doesn't
belong at the helm of a desk. As his friend and doctor, "Bones"
McCoy (DeForest Kelly) urges him to find a way to take back
his command before he really does become old. Instead, Kirk
resigns himself to observing a training voyage aboard the Enterprise.
Meanwhile, the Starship Reliant, commanded
by Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) is on a mission to find a
dead planet suitable for testing the Genesis Project. If successful,
Genesis will allow humans to terraform lifeless planets into
fully habitable ecosystems in a matter of hours. The Reliant
is in orbit around a planet that seems lifeless, but the Captain
and commander Chekov (Walter Koenig) beam down to the surface
to make sure. On the surface, the two make a horrific discovery
-- not only is this not the planet they believed it to be, but
it is populated by the crew of the Botany Bay, a ship marooned
by Kirk after an unsuccessful attempt to hijack the Enterprise.
The remaining survivors of the Botany Bay
are lead by Khan Noonian Sing (Ricardo Montalban), a product
of 21st century genetic manipulation. Khan and his people originally
fled Earth when their bid to take over the planet failed. During
his more recent exile, at the hands of Kirk, Khan has been thinking
of little else but revenge. Not only is he angry at Kirk for
being stuck on an inhospitable planet, but he also seeks to
avenge his wife's death, caused by the exile.
Khan takes control of the Reliant and sets
out to find Kirk. As Khan says, he plans to pursue Kirk throughout
the galaxy and to the end of time if need be in order to exact
his revenge.
There's no doubt about it that Khan is what
elevates this picture to greatness. He is the perfect villain
and outclasses Kirk in both physical and mental strength. Kirk's
only edge in dealing with Khan is his experience and wit.
Quite simply, this is by far the best Star
Trek film and quite possibly the best Trek story, period. I'll
even go one further: this film ranks up in the lofty heights
of 2001 and Star Wars. The Wrath of Khan embodies everything
that Star Trek aspires to be with its epic space battles and
human drama and emotion. The threat of Khan brings out the best
in the remaining characters, particularly the Kirk-Bones-Spock
relationship, who are better than ever in their interaction.
The film is perfectly paced and the direction
by Nicholas Meyer is sure and strong. All of the main characters
are given a chance to shine, especially in this expanded edition.
Perhaps the only problem with the original release of the film
is that some edits created some awkward moments. For instance,
there is a scene where Scotty (James Doohan) is seen weeping
after the death of one of the engineering cadets. The scene
almost seems out of place because an earlier scene, explaining
that the cadet was his nephew, had been removed. This and a
few other scenes of character development have been added back
in to this director's edition and they do enhance the film.
Star Trek II came out in 1982, so some of
the effects do appear a little dated, but many hold up surprisingly
well. And then there's the first-rate soundtrack by then unknown
composer James Horner. At this time, we hadn't heard him reuse
his own melodies ad nauseum (notice how the music for Trek II,
Krull, Aliens, etc. all sounds like it came from the same film?),
so it sounded fresh.
It all adds up to a great film that is now
made even better by this expanded and restored edition.
