Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country. Guess Who’s Coming to DINNER

20-8-2011

You know, I’ve GOT to admit, I couldn’t RESIST that title … !

Well, you can’t, can you … ?

Not when you consider that that Lieutenant Commander Chekov’s most notorious line in Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country actually has a bit of a story too it.

From the little I’ve picked up over the years … ?

Originally the line had been scripted for Nichelle Nichol’s Uhura.

And was reassigned, after Nichols gently raised objections.

Can’t say I blame her, in a way: the line matches the title of the 1967 film, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,  generally revered amongst Afro-Americans for its positive take on mixed raced marriage …

And for being released in the year that laws against mixed-race marriages were finally made illegal in the US.

I don’t think I can blame her somehow.

Especially as, from what I can recall from reading her biography, many years ago … ?

She was thinking of leaving the cast of the show, at the end of the second series of the show: the only person who stopped her … ?

Was Reverend Martin Luther King, who told her she was the only black woman in an otherwise all-white cast: and what’s more, playing an character who could easily be replaced by a white one.

Well, I was impressed, if no-one else was …

»»·««

21-8-2011

Now, of course, the REASON I’m burbling on like this, complete with some seriously heavy dub* on in the background … ?

Is that Friday night saw me heading over to Kevin D’s place to catch Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country.

Yeah, I know, I know, part of a film franchise — and № 6 of a series — isn’t usually something I’d be telling you about … ?

But in rare cases … ?

Well, in rare cases, I’ll start burbling …

Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country is the 6th member of the Star Trek movie franchise, and the last to feature the classic cast, and takes place some three months before the original crew is due to be retired, and the Enterprise — the second of the name, the NCC-1701-A, if you’re feeling rather picky about these things — due to be decommissioned.

And takes places not long after the Klingon Empire is forced to sue for peace, after it’s chief energy production centre, the moon, Praxis, explodes.

Of course, there’s problems, there …

The Klingons did kill Kirk’s son, in a previous film.

And on top of all that … ?

Well, there’s ALSO the conspiratorial shenanigans you can expect in a political thriller …

»»·««

Which actually kind of was Kevin’s rather interesting point.

Now, I don’t know about you, but we’re both like a quite a few Trek fans we’ve met over the years, in holding the even numbered films — up until № 11 — to be some what better than the odd numbered films.

Kevin, bless him, even came up with what he believes is a reason for that.

The odd-numbered ones, whether they’re good Star Trek films or not, are basic bits of science fiction.

But the even numbered ones … ?

Are a bit more multifaceted: Star Trek 6 is the big and chunky political thriller, for example: The Wrath of Khan’sº a good old-fashioned revenge drama, with 4 — The Voyage Home — being a really entertaining comedy. (Oh, and Star Trek: First Contact, number 8 in the series, being the franchise take on a horror flick. Patrick Steward’s overacting in particular.)

Which actually got us nattering about Terry Pratchett’s contention that, sometimes, science fiction really is fantasy with rivets: my point here, and one that Kevin disagreed with, is the “Two wizards having a sword-fight, whilst talking about good and evil” is a fairly good way of describing this …

But, at any rate … ?

Well, what can I do, except leave you seeing stars … ?

Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country

Paul: ★★★☆

Kevin: ★★★★

Average: ★★★½☆

* Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Dread Beat an’ Blood if you must know. Extremely heavy … And a fascinating listen, for a white kid from Essex.

º My personal favourite, actually: I think you’ll still find it hard to beat Ricardo Montalban’s performance as Khan.