Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

"Humor. It is a difficult concept. It is not logical."

"We learn by doing."

Admiral James Kirk (Shatner) is bored and feeling old.  He, and his former crew, Dr. Leonard McCoy (Kelley), Hikaru Sulu (Takei), Lieutenant Uhura (Nichols), and Scotty (Doohan), reluctantly board the USS Enterprise for cadet training.  Spock (Nimoy) is now the Captain of the Enterprise.

Meanwhile, Captain Terrell (Winfield) and Pavel Chekov (Koenig), from the USS Reliant, are seeking a lifeless planet to test a new device.  However, the find Khan Noonien Singh (Montalban), who is bent on destroying Kirk.  Khan is a genetically engineered tyrant with superior intellect and company of loyal followers.

The Enterprise answers a distress call and are pulled into Khan's plan.  Can Kirk and the crew of inexperienced cadets defeat Khan?


As I mentioned in my post about J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, I don't know much about the Star Trek franchise.  I respect the original series, and the legacy it left behind (and it's impact on technology and popular culture), but I don't have any desire to watch more episodes of the show (or the other films that followed).

This is the only Star Trek film I had any knowledge of... mostly because of parodies of yelling "Khan!"  Apparently the original cast made 6 films together: Star Trek the Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.  This film is considered the best of the bunch, and is the reason there were subsequent Trek films.

My boss, who is a Star Trek fan, suggested watching this film prior to see Star Trek: Into Darkness, since the films features some of the same characters / situations... which is the main (only) reason I watched this film.  As an outsider to the Trek franchise, I can say that I enjoyed the film.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) 113 minutes
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Starring: William Shatner as Admiral James Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Captain Spock
Ricardo Montalban as Khan
DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov
Paul Winfield as Captain Terrell
Kirstie Alley as Saavik
Bibi Besch as Carol Marcus
Merritt Butrick as David Marcus