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Star Trek 6 - Undiscovered Country Se [1991]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

With the return of director Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country restored the movie series to its classic blend of space opera, intelligent plotting and engaging interaction of stalwart heroes and menacing villains. Borrowing its subtitle (and several lines of dialogue) from Shakespeare, the movie finds Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) and his fellow Enterprise crew members on a diplomatic mission to negotiate peace with the revered Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner). When the high-ranking Klingon and several officers are ruthlessly murdered, blame is placed on Kirk and crew. The subsequent investigation, which sees Spock taking on the mantle of Sherlock Holmes (and even quoting some of the great detective's lines), uncovers an assassination plot masterminded by the nefarious Klingon General Chang (Christopher Plummer) in an effort to disrupt a historic peace summit.

As this political plot unfolds Star Trek VI takes on a sharp-edged tone with Kirk and Spock confronting their opposing views of diplomacy and testing their bonds of loyalty when a Vulcan officer (Kim Cattrall) is revealed to be a traitor. With a dramatic depth befitting what was to be the final movie mission of the original Enterprise crew, this film took the veteran cast out in respectably high style, with the torch being passed to the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the following movie, Star Trek: Generations. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a two-disc set with the main feature presented in anamorphic widescreen at the fascinating (as Mr Spock would say) ratio of 2.00:1. Sound is strong Dolby Digital 5.1. Director Nicholas Meyer and screenwriter Denny Martin Flinn provide an audio commentary and Trek-trivia gurus Michael and Denise Okuda give another of their fact-packed text commentaries. The second disc has several lengthy and interesting documentaries: The Perils of Peacemaking delves into the many deliberate parallels with the Cold War; Stories from Star Trek VI consists of eight separate chapters about the making of the film (where it's revealed that "Gene Roddenberry hated the script", and that "The studio was not ready to relinquish the original actors possibly because they were still ambulatory"!); The Star Trek Universe has various nuggets of information, including the creation and evolution of the Klingons. Finally, in Farewell there are interviews with the principal cast from the set, plus a tribute to DeForest Kelley. Nicholas Meyer, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner all provide up-to-date contributions throughout. --Mark Walker


Have other reviewers actually seen this film?
Review date: 2008-05-02 Rating: 4 out of 10

I am a Trek fan. I have seen every TV episode of every series, mostly several times, I have gone to see every movie in the cinema (again sometimes more than once) etc. I had high hopes for this one as it was directed by the same man who had directed Star Trek II. However I found this one so bad it was cringe worthy. The whole theme was just stupid. A Klingon moon explodes with so much force that Excelsior is badly shaken in some distant part of the galaxy. This explosion is so severe it threatens the environment of the Klingon Empire. Note the whole empire not just a planet! Then we have some really stilted dialogue between Spock and Kirk concerning this and off the Enterprise warps to the Klingon Empire. She manges to warp so quickly from Earth to the Federation/Klingon border that Kirk etc. has no time to spend even a single night in his cabin! Then we have a cloaked Klingon ship sitting beneath the Enterprise firing a Klingon Torpedo at the Klingon Leaders Battle Cruiser! What is wrong with this you ask? The fact that despite having 23rd C technology's the crew of Enterprise can't tell that they didn't fire the torpedo (despite it being of alien manufacture and fired from a point outside of their own ship. Even today a war plane pilot or warship captain would know if a torpedo/missile had originated from his plane/ship without having to go and count his weapons). Even that is not the worst of it. Spock plants a tracking device on Kirk's shoulder. It is rather large and very obvious, but none of the Klingon's see this (let alone detect its transmissions). Added to this we have Enterprise being able to violate Klingon security by having Uhuru read klingon out of a dictionary when the ship is called by Klingon Border security.

I can only but think that other reviewers missed all these terrible faults because of their emotional reaction to the end of Kirk's crew on film. Star Trek V is usually sited as the worst Trek film, but believe me this one is by some distance.

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Reviews


"ianpenaluna" ... it is the correct ratio!
Review date: 2007-09-17 Rating: 8 out of 10

Just thought I'd add my two cents here... the film is actually presented in its correct theatrical ratio of 2:1, which is exactly how it appeared on the VHS edition of the film. This is how it was shot, and how it is preserved... Star Trek 2 is still best, but this is a close second.

Fitting Farewell
Review date: 2007-09-03 Rating: 10 out of 10

The Star Trek films are a very mixed bag I always feel. Most people tend to put either Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at the top of the list or this one. This film gets my vote. The Undiscovered Country has an engaging story between the Federation and the Klingon Empire which, in a stroke of genius, reflected the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union at the time of production. Star Trek at it's very best either uses the Star Trek pretense to reflect real life experiences and events. The cast are on top form too, in fact this is arguably the finest performance of the entire original series cast who are joined by some superb guess stars. Kim Catterall provides an excellent Valeris; her scenes are some of the best in the film. However it is essential that Christopher Plummer gets a mention too; he gives an entertaining performance as General Chang and a great foe for Kirk. His lines are well written, brimming with Shakespeare and historical references. Nicholas Meyer makes a welcome return as director, on the big screen this man does great things with Star Trek. I do hope that one day they convince him to return to the directors chair if the film franchise is re-energised. Mention should also be made for the music, Cliff Eidelmen provides a moving and very moody score which is definately needed. Of course it's also the final outing for the entire original crew of the Starship Enterprise and the film provides a very fitting finale to their adventures together. If you are new to Star Trek I would definately recommend this film to you.

A Fitting Final Goodbye
Review date: 2007-02-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

It's a toss up between this and the Wrath of Khan for the best Star Trek film, but the Wrath of Khan just shades it for the acting, story and music all combined.

However, the story for The Undiscovered Country is a welcome return to something really watchable after the disastrous Final Frontier. Kirk and his crew are framed for firing on the Klingon Chancellor's ship and killing him, and it is then up to Spock and the crew to piece together the mystery of what happened while Kirk and Bones initiate their escape. There's a few bits of deadpan humour in the film as Spock takes quotes from various parts of Earth's history, such as from Sherlock Holmes and "Only Nixon could go to China" and passes them off as his ancestors or Vulcan proverbs.

Nicholas Meyer again shows that he understands what really works, not just with Star Trek but just in general. There's a good final battle scene as the Enterprise faces down the Klingon ship, and Sulu, now captain of the Excelsior, covers for his friends and rushes to their aid.

The only thing terribly negative about this film is that the music, compared to the rousing scores of James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith, is pretty forgettable.

If only The Next Generation crew could have had a send off like this.

Trek at it's best
Review date: 2004-05-25 Rating: 10 out of 10

A superb presentation of the final Star Trek film to feature the entire original cast. Packed with extra features, it's a must for you DVD collection.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
David Warner
Iman
William Shatner
Christopher Plummer
Michael Dorn

Creators:
William Shatner (Primary Contributor)
David Warner (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437841537
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Special Edition,
Release date: 2004-03-01
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 108 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1991
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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