Furious Cinema would like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WILLIAM SHATNER!
“Ahh Kirk my old friend, do you know the klingon proverb that tells us that Revenge is a dish best served cold? It is very cold in space…” – Khan Noonien Singh
Revenge. There’s really nothing like a good balls to the wall revenge movie. And we just wouldn’t be Furious Cinema if we didn’t pay homage to the greatest science fiction-revenge film ever made. A film with such raw, seething festering hatred fueled revenge that it almost becomes beautiful to witness. We’re talking pure Shakespeare in outer space! Thats right, it’s Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (1982). Probably the most cool aspect about this second film based on the TV series was the fact the writers brought back a specific storyline that had been on the original show. For hardcore Trek fans this was just one of the reasons it became a favorite in in the film series.
The Wrath of Khan is actually a sequel to the 1967 TV episode “Space Seed” in which the U.S.S. Enterprise encounter a crew of earth people from the late 20th century floating in space on the S.S. Botany Bay. The leader of this cryogenically frozen passenger filled ship is Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), one of the first genetically engineered super humans who later on became warlords and ruled over a third of Earth. After the crews introduction to Khan, Kirk and his fellow officers do their best to try to be hospitable out of respect but soon find him to be an uncontrollable renegade. Not to be subserviant to anyone, Khan orders his crewmen to take over the Enterprise, but is thwarted by Captain James T. Kirk and as punishment, is exiled on a remote Earth like planet called Ceti Alpha V.
15 years later, while on a mission to find desolate planets to be used for the Genesis project (an atmospheric revitalization torpedo) Commander Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Captain Clark Terrell (Paul Winfield) beam down to Ceti Alpha IV, a desert like planet to do some recon. Chekov and Terrell come upon what looks to be a shelter. Chekov then sees it is remnants of the Botany Bay space shuttle and he realizes that this is actually where Khan was sent by Kirk years earlier. Before Chekov and Terrell can get out of there, Khan and his family confront them and Khan explains in vivid detail that Ceti Alpha V’s orbit was shifted after Ceti Alpha IV exploded in which he and his crew barely survived. Not only that, his beloved wife died in the midst of the disaster and Khan has blamed Kirk for it all. Finding Chekov in this vulnerable predicament is something Khan has been hoping for since being left there to die. It’s his big chance to get back at Captain (now Admiral) Kirk and boy does he! Using some creepy brain parasites as mind control on Chekov and Terrell, Khan manipulates his way back into an epic battle with Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise crew.
What could have been an average sequel to a random TV episode turned out to be one of the great science fiction genre films of its time. With Ricardo Montalban’s operatic, emotionally powerful portrayal of Khan, you actually felt like he had been developing this character since his time on the show in the 60s. It’s also very interesting (and unique) that they actually used the same actor for the film, when usually they’d cast a new actor in the role.
The poster for this 2nd installment is filled with star blazing color and reflects the high drama and exciting special FX the film contains. It was painted by artist Bob Peak.
