Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

After an ecological disaster the future of the Klingons is in doubt; there only chance of survival is forging a peace with the Federation. A reluctant Captain Kirk is ordered to take the Enterprise to a rendezvous point and escort the Klingon chancellor to the peace conference. They meet and have a dinner together then, shortly after the Klingons return to their ship, it appears as though the Enterprise is firing on them even though nobody on the bridge is giving any such orders. In the immediate aftermath two men in Star Fleet uniforms beam aboard the Klingon vessel and shoot many people including the Chancellor before leaving again. Wishing to prove their innocence Kirk and Dr McCoy beam over to help but are arrested and ultimately jailed on a frozen penal colony. If they are to survive they must escape from their prison and their colleagues aboard the enterprise must find out who is the true villain behind the attempted sabotage of the peace conference.

Too my mind this is one of the best 'Star Trek' films. The story is top notch; providing good reasons for the events we see. This leads to plenty of action scenes; a sense of peril, especially for Kirk and McCoy; and, something we don't usually get in 'Star Trek' films... a mystery. This mystery means that much of the fil can be looked on as a sci-fi police procedural/spy thriller as the crew sift the evidence, hunt down clues and close in on the real culprits. While the identity of the most important of these culprits wasn't too surprising their motivation wasn't quite as villainous as one might expect. As well as action and mystery there were moments of humour; notably a Klingon warrior who constantly quotes 'the Klingon playwright' Shakespeare! The cast does a fine job; as one would expect all the regulars impress in their established roles; also notable are Kim Cattrall, as Lt. Valeris; David Warner, as Chancellor Gorkon; Christopher Plummer as Chang and Iman as the shapeshifting prisoner Martia. While only in a small part it was fun seeing Michael Dorn, who will later play Worf, as the Klingon lawyer representing Kirk and McCoy at their trial. Overall I'd say this is a must see for all Star Trek fans.

The final Star Trek film to feature the original cast is an enormous improvement after the awful fifth film, and might just be the best in the series. Much of it is probably thanks to the return of director Nicholas Meyer, who is responsible also for the classic Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (while film III through V were directed by cast members). Meyer's very professional directing shows in every scene on ST-VI, and the old cast - William Shatner (Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), DeForest Kelly (McCoy), James Doohan (Scotty) and the rest - give here what is without doubt their finest performance. Mind - Shatner and Nimoy are by now 60 years old, while Kelly and Doohan are well into their 70s. But there isn't a trace of the pathetic silliness that characterized the fifth movie; Meyer knows what to do with these aging actors that wouldn't make them look like idiots. What we see in Star Trek VI is a much more mature approach, and the crew members have to face, more than an outside enemy, their own aging, and their fear of change. That fear is a key element here, and it's an issue that is well handled and is always relevant.

While the old cast members are doing splendidly here, the movie introduces some fantastic new characters. First and foremost, the experienced Shakespearean actor Christopher Plummer makes a fascinating villain in the conservative and suspicious Klingon General Chang, endlessly throwing out Shakespeare quotes on every turn. ('You haven't truly enjoyed Shakespeare until you've read it in the original Klingon') Also, Kim Cattrall, who achieved much success lately in the acclaimed 'Sex And The City'), plays the Vulcan Lt. Valeris and gives a great performance. Finally, David Warner gives a brief but memorable performance as the visionary Chancellor Gorkon. The real stars here, though, are Shatner and Kelly, whose attempt to save the Chancellor's life, as well as their trial for assassination before a Klingon court (CAMEO: Michael Dorn, who plays Worf in the Next Generation, plays Kirk and McCoy's attorney here - Colonel Worf. An ancestor, probably) make for some of the best scenes ever seen on Star Trek. The directing and camera work are splendid, and the script has just the right amount of self humor, which was dreadfully lacking from the fifth movie (e.g.: Spock: 'If I were human I believe my response would be "go to hell." ...If I were human.' All in all, a remarkable sign off for the original crew of the Enterprise and one of the best sci-fi movies of all time.

Boldly going where no man (or woman) has gone before, climb aboard the Enterprise and let it fly and soar, as old friends gather, reunite, off to battle and to fight, strange new worlds, civilisations to explore.

They've got themselves into a pickle, a metaphorical hammer and sickle, Klingon labour camp, shackled and clamped, sentenced by a biased judicial.

Sabre rattling Klingon renegades attempt to destabilise the peace after a devastating moon fall.

The Klingon home world Kronos is in trouble after its moon Praxis explodes. It's estimated that Kronos has 50 years of life left. The Klingon Chancellor Gorkon and Ambassador Sarek want a permanent peace. Spock volunteers Kirk and the Enterprise to escort the Chancellor to Earth for peace talks. Kirk is not happy. He hates them for the murder of his son David, and he doesn't trust them. The thing is he's not the only one. A conspiracy is afoot to derail the peace process for good.

This is obviously alluding to the end of the Cold War in our time. The parallels to the old Soviet Union is unmistakable. Christopher Plummer is wonderful strutting around spouting Shakespeare. This is a fitting end to the original 6 and arguably the best of them. The special effects and production value is superior to ST5. And it has seismic implication for the Star Trek universe. It is a great movie with a thrilling political mystery to boot.

The journey that began on the small screen in 1967 comes to its end on the big screen in 1991, after three TV seasons, six films, and the creation of a cultural phenomenon unrivaled in the history of television. The crew of the original series had met with mixed results on the big screen, producing the excellent The Wrath of Khan, but also the inexcusably bad The Final Frontier; the other four ranged from passable to good. After the financial failure of Star Trek V, Paramount brought back Star Trek II director Nicholas Meyer, and commissioned from him the final voyage of the original cast. As Star Trek so often does, the events depicted mirror the glasnost of the late 1980s, as the collapse of the Soviet Union eased global tensions and heralded the beginning of a new era. In the Trek universe, the possibility of rapproachment between the Federation and the Klingon Empire raises the hackles of hardliners on both sides, and Kirk and co. must prevent the weak peace from being destroyed. The original cast is in fine form, all of them giving their all to make the (potentially) final appearances of their characters memorable. Despite William Shatner's reputation as a ham actor, he delivers a great performance here; his final log entry is one of Trek's finest moments. As the villain of the piece, we get General Chang (Christopher Plummer), a Klingon out to insure "no peace in our time". Plummer is superb, chewing scenery and spewing Shakespeare with a wonderfully loathsome presence. I would rank Chang below Khan and the Borg Queen, but far above all the other Trek villains. There are some tacky anachronisms typical of Meyer's style, and the usual amount of discontinuities and canon issues; but that's inevitable, and I can accept it if it leads to a good story. Trek VI is a good story. 9/10.