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Note to the Galley: Romulan Ale no longer to be served at diplomatic functions!
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00:00Here's a disclaimer right up front and centre before we go into this film.
00:04This is my favourite Star Trek film.
00:07That in mind, I'm Sean Ferrick for TrekCulture and here are 20 Things You Never Knew About
00:12Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country Part 1.
00:17Number 20.
00:18The youngest composer makes one of the best received soundtracks.
00:22At the tender age of 26 Cliff Eidelman was hired to score Star Trek 6.
00:25Tonally, the music is completely different from what had come before in the previous 5 films.
00:30This was at the urging of Nick Meyer, who gave Eidelman his blessing to really get into the
00:34darkness of the film.
00:35He had also had choice words about both Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner.
00:39There was no way Eidelman was going to replicate their style, so there was simply no point
00:43in trying.
00:44Eidelman secured the gig by after one conversation with Meyer, going home and writing the main
00:49title overture that appears in the final film.
00:51There were still some hurdles to jump through, including convincing Ron Roos, the editor,
00:55that he was right for the role.
00:56In an unusual move at the time, Eidelman was able to score the film's trailer.
01:00That music appears in the overture and the battle for peace.
01:02His own personal favourite cues include these pieces, along with Rorapente and Escape from
01:07Rorapente, the latter of which allowed a full flourish from the orchestra.
01:11Number 19.
01:12Kronos 1.
01:14Chancellor Gorkhan, General Chang and the rest of the Klingon delegation travelled to Earth
01:17aboard the flagship of the Klingon Empire, namely Kronos 1.
01:20The ship was the same filmy model that had been used in Star Trek The Motion Picture, with
01:24several modifications for the latest film.
01:26Visual effects supervisor Bill George was pleased that they were able to update the ship.
01:30He also said that it was one of the few models that they were allowed to make any significant
01:33changes to, owing in part to the fact that it badly needed touching up.
01:38The Enterprise, Excelsior and Bird of Prey filming models had all seen much more recent
01:42use.
01:43George took inspiration from the military costuming and adornments that could be added post-battle
01:47of contemporary soldiers.
01:49He painted the model brown and red with gold highlights, then added brass apollots to the
01:53wings, signifying victories in battles that the ship had secured.
01:56As both the shape of the ship and its colour were drastically different from Federation vessels,
02:00this contrasted nicely against the Enterprise A.
02:03Number 18.
02:04Read it in the original Klingon.
02:06In the film, Chancellor Gorkhan makes reference to Shakespeare being read in the original Klingon.
02:11On screen, that's assumed to be a joke.
02:13Despite the number of times that General Chang proceeds to quote the bard throughout the film,
02:17members of the Klingon Language Institute took this line and ran with it, proceeding to translate
02:21Hamlet into Klingon.
02:22Mark Ockrand had devised a Klingon dictionary prior to the release of Star Trek VI, so the
02:26material was there to work with.
02:27Hamlet has since been performed for charity, as has another of Shakespeare's plays, Much Ado
02:31About Nothing.
02:32Exips from both were attended by George Takei, with the Klingon Hamlet being published by pocketbooks
02:37in novel form as well.
02:39Number 17.
02:40The Fall of the Berlin Wall in Space.
02:43The idea behind Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country is quite simple.
02:46As Leonard Nimoy postulated, what if the wall came down in space?
02:49The wall, rather than a concrete division splitting cities and families apart, is instead
02:53the Klingon neutral zone, along with a series of star bases and military installations.
02:57The fall of the USSR and the advent of the Kitamura Accords and the Federation Klingon
03:01peace talks are directly paralleled.
03:03The explosion of Praxis that opens Star Trek VI mirrors the explosion at Chernobyl, which
03:07was the beginning of the end for the USSR.
03:10In both the real world and in fantasy, it takes a calamity to allow the peace talks to gain
03:14momentum.
03:15Tragedy-inspiring true change.
03:17Much like the denial that took place in the wake of the Chernobyl incident, the Klingons
03:20too attempt to downplay the seriousness of the explosion.
03:23It is quite clear, though, that their militaristic approach to foreign relations has left them
03:27shortchanged when it comes to tackling the ecological crisis that follows.
03:31As always with Star Trek, much of the events of the film could simply have been a documentary
03:34about American-USSR relations, but with head ridges.
03:38Number 16.
03:39It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
03:42The assassination of Chancellor Gorkhan is followed by the ascension of Ozetbor, his daughter,
03:46to the Chancellorship.
03:47She pushes for peace talks to continue, though she receives opposition from those closest.
03:52While Chang is obviously a part of the conspiracy to disrupt the talks, not every person in the
03:56room is party to this.
03:58Three Klingons face Ozetbor.
04:00One is Kerla, who stands beside her, though he is not above suggesting armed retribution.
04:04Of the other two, one is seen sitting on the bird of prey with Chang over Kitomer, while
04:09the third, that same Klingon who so thoroughly disgusted Uhura over dinner, speaks the line,
04:14better to die on our feet than live on our knees.
04:17This quote is attributed to several historical figures, though most often to Emiliano Zapata,
04:22the Mexican revolutionary who was assassinated by President Carranza in 1919.
04:26Zapata had started a revolution to push forward land reform in Mexico, though had been consistently
04:31let down by his would-be allies.
04:33His quote supported the idea of dying for one's beliefs, rather than sacrificing them
04:37to live under the new rule.
04:39It is unclear how many Klingons were to express this ideal, though it adds a third element to
04:43the political parties in Star Trek VI.
04:46Number 15.
04:47Designing the Klingon High Chancellor Gorkhan leads the peace movement
04:51in Star Trek VI.
04:53He is the first Chancellor, chronologically, met by the Federation until Chancellor Laurel
04:57would take that honour in Will You Take My Hand.
05:00Nicholas Meyer was the one who specifically wanted the man to resemble Abraham Lincoln.
05:05While the beard may have been clue enough, there was a tease in the name as well.
05:09Gorkhan, as a name, was chosen by writer Denny Martin Flynn.
05:13It was an amalgamation of the names Lincoln and Gorbachev.
05:16In fact, it was so close to the names that Meyer was worried it would be a little too on
05:20the nose.
05:21As the film was so heavily based on the events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and
05:25the dissolution of the USSR, then Mikhail Gorbachev may already have been front and centre
05:30in the minds of the audience.
05:31The worries proved baseless, as test screenings didn't pick up on it originally.
05:35The outfit he wore, with vertical padding rather than the horizontal padding that Chang
05:39wore, signified his height in the political hierarchy.
05:42His staff was comprised of a tusk that was said to have been taken from an animal he had
05:46killed years previously.
05:47His height, girth and demeanour signified his stately presence, commanding the room on entry.
05:53Number 14.
05:54Casting the leader of the Klingon Empire
05:56The original choice for Gorkhan was Jack Palance.
05:59He had most recently starred in Tim Burton's Batman, winding up on the wrong end of the Joker's
06:03revolver.
06:04His career began much earlier, with his stage debut taking place in 1947 and his screen debut
06:09in 1950.
06:11His long and successful career was both what made him desirable for the role and ultimately unsuitable.
06:15Though his physical stature wasn't in question, he was 6 foot 4 and would go on at the age
06:19of 73 to perform one-armed push-ups on stage at the Academy Awards, he was simply too costly
06:24for the production to afford.
06:25He was also hesitant about appearing in a Star Trek film.
06:28Rather than open the casting sheet to other actors, Nicholas Meyer asked his friend David
06:32Warner if he would like to play the part.
06:34Warner had just appeared in Star Trek V as St. John Talbot, the Terran ambassador to Nimbus
06:38III.
06:39He would also appear as the iconic Gul Madred in the next generation two-parter Chain of Command,
06:45making him one of the few actors to face both Captains Kirk and Picard.
06:50Number 13.
06:51I can see we have a long way to go.
06:54The framing of the dinner scene is deliberate.
06:57On one side of the table, the Starfleet crew sits with relative ease around the clearly
07:01human place settings.
07:02On the other, the Klingons are out of place, including one tiny but brilliant movement by
07:06Christopher Plumbers Chang.
07:08This man who knows Shakespeare so well can't quite understand the function of a napkin.
07:13The food in front of the actors was dyed blue to give it a more alien look.
07:16Nicholas Meyer bet each of them that he would pay $20 for every bite that people took, as
07:21they clearly didn't want to touch any of it.
07:23William Shatner allegedly ate his fill, then tracked Meyer down to ensure the man came through
07:26on his promise.
07:27It's here in this scene that Gorkhan utters the toast to the undiscovered country, a line
07:32quickly identified by Spock as hailing from Shakespeare.
07:35It had been the original title of Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan before that was changed,
07:39though short, this scene serves to highlight the oceans of space between both parties, culminating
07:44with Gorkhan's utterance of, if there is to be a brave new world, our generation is
07:48going to have the hardest time living in it.
07:51Number 12 Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
07:53In Star Trek VI, Walter Koenig's Chekhov utters the line Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
07:57in the run-up to the Klingon's arrival.
07:59The line was originally to be spoken by Uhura.
08:01Nichelle Nichols flat out refused to say it.
08:03It was a reference to the Spencer Tracy, Sydney Poitier and Catherine Hepburn comedy of the
08:08same name, wherein a white woman brings an African-American fiancé home to meet her parents.
08:13While the film ends with the message that there was never any reason to oppose the relationship
08:16in any case, Nichols felt that having Uhura utter the line was distasteful.
08:20Thus the change.
08:22Another line was due to be spoken.
08:23This line, yes, but would you want your daughter to marry one, was subsequently omitted from
08:27the script altogether as production could not find a satisfactory way to include it, nor
08:32a character to which it best belonged.
08:34Number 11 Is she a bird or is she a cat?
08:36Iman plays Martia, the shape-shifting Kamaloid who seemingly helps Kirk and McCoy escape from
08:41Rorapenthe, only for her true intentions to be revealed while outside.
08:45The make-up process came in stages for the supermodel, who had a particular issue with the yellow
08:49eyes. Martia appears in several forms in the film, including a seven-foot-tall brute, in
08:53Iman's words, and a nine-year-old girl.
08:55The one common trait between them all is the yellow eyes, which incidentally differentiate
09:00her from the changelings that would follow in Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
09:02They were achieved by using soft lenses and were very uncomfortable to wear.
09:06Iman stated that after every scene, the make-up team would have to touch her up again and again,
09:12as inserting the lenses would inevitably smudge her make-up.
09:16She did joke, however, that the cast and crew were so enamoured with her look, that it made
09:19it all worth it. When the costuming department took over, they seemed unable to decide what
09:23she should look like. She is adorned in furs like a cat, to which the yellow eyes added.
09:28However, she is also topped with feathers, giving her a bird-like appearance. Iman joked that
09:32she was a hybrid of the two, which was just fine with her.
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