Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

With Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan the infamous Star Trek sequel pattern begins. We all know what it is -- repeat after me -- even numbered films are good, odd numbered films are bad. While this may seem arbitrary, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan lives up to this pattern as one of the rare sequels that is actually better than it's predecessor.

In Star Trek II, James T. Kirk (William Shatner), is now an aging admiral who basically has been assigned to desk duty, no longer the swashbuckling captain of the Starship Enterprise that he once was. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is now the captain of the Enterprise and Chekov (Walter Koenig) is now an officer on another starship, the USS Reliant.

Chekov and the USS Reliant are on a mission to find an uninhabited planet that can be used to test the Genesis Project, a top secret project that has something to do with creating life. This brings them to the planet Ceti Alpha VI which is supposed to be empty and a suitable testing location for the Genesis device. But sensors indicate that there may still be life on the planet, so Chekov and Reliant captain Clark Terrell (Paul Winfield) beam down to the planet's surface to investigate.

Before they realize what is happening, Chekov and Terrell are taken captive by Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), a genetically engineered superman who has a score to settle with Admiral Kirk. Khan forces Chekov and Terrell to get him and his group aboard the Reliant by using ceti eels to put them in a "highly suggestible state". Khan then takes control of the Reliant and begins his quest for revenge against James Kirk.

Kirk and the rest of the original crew are all aboard the Enterprise for a training mission when they get a frantic message from Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), an old acquaintance of Kirk's and one of the members of the Genesis project, that the Reliant is coming to take the Genesis device from her. Kirk assumes command of the enterprise and speeds to the aid of Marcus, only to become engaged in a life threatening battle with Khan, who will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

All of the original series cast members are back for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and their performances in this movie are much better than in the first film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It's as if they have relaxed and been able to return to the characters they created for the original TV series. Gone are the stiff, uncomfortable portrayals and emotionless character interactions. William Shatner seems to be even better in this film than he was in the series. Rumor has it that director Nicholas Meyer forced Shatner to do endless retakes of scenes in an attempt to wear him down so that he wouldn't do his usual overacting and would fall into a more natural, laid back rhythm. I don't know if this is true, but Shatner definitely gives his best performance as Captain Kirk to date.

The pacing and action of Star Trek II have also returned to the roots of the TV series. Where Star Trek: The Motion Picture was extremely intellectual and unbelievably slow, Star Trek II is action packed and truly exciting. The first movie was overly ambitious in it's subject matter and was really trying to be something it was not. On the other hand, this movie stands out in it's ability to capture the feel of the TV series and everything good about it. From the infamous McCoy one liners (Are you out of your vulcan mind?) to the match up of Khan and Kirk, this movie makes you yearn for the original series.

While the Star Trek sequel pattern of even numbered movies being good and odd numbered movies being bad is really not the case -- basically just the first movie was bad, the rest have all been good -- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is definitely the best movie in the entire Star Trek series. And how could it not be with the famous Kirk scream: KHAAAN!!

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