WHERE KHAN HAS GONE BEFOREF
Four decades after it first gripped fans, Roger Crow looks back at the genesis of one of the best-loved Star Trek movies, The Wrath of Khan.
A Saturdayevening in 1982, and in a rare moment of bonding between a father and his teenage son, they’ve been to the local fleapit to see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
It’s one of those bittersweet memories that will last a lifetime. And around the world, there are similar emotions from countless stunned followers. While the first Trek movie was an emotionally cool 2001-style epic, the cut-price follow-up was all about revenge, ageing, self sacrifice and loss. Unknown to many aficionados in that pre-Internet era, getting the film made at all came down to two years of troubled script work, and then a warp-speed writing miracle. For the full story, step aboard Infinity’s star cruiser as we slingshot around the sun and go back in time to...
SOMEWHERE IN THE EARLY 1980s
Space... not the final frontier, but rather the gap between Trek movies can be hugely annoying, especially when you wait a decade for a film of your favourite TV show and then... nothing.
That was certainly the case for fans of Kirk and company after they made their big-screen debut in 1979. Robert Wise’s blockbuster had cost a whopping $45million, but thankfully Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been a hit, grossing more than $100million.
Paramount bosses knew aficionados would pay for a second helping of silver screen Kirk, Spock and of course the Enterprise. However, show creator Gene Roddenberry had been benched by studio bosses who hated the fact the first movie had financially spiralled out of control. The sequel was handed over to a TV veteran who could keep costs down and run a tight ship.
One of the driving forces behind telly classics The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, Producer Harve Bennett was now Star Trek’s driving force, but making a follow-up was easier said than done.
Five versions of a second Trek movie screenplay had been penned, and all failed to ‘engage’. That story just wasn’t happening, and the clock was ticking for the lucrative summer 1982 launch window.