A return to form for the Enterprise crew (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (DVD))

Member Name: vernonpresley

Product:	Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (DVD)
Date:	29/12/07 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It is much better than the fifth film

Disadvantages: It is the last in the series to feature the complete original Enterprise crew

The sixth film in the Star Trek saga featured the usual crew of the Enterprise, with guest appearances by a variety of stars and celebrities including Christopher Plummer, Kim Cattrall (long before her 'Sex and the City' days), Christian Slater (in a brief cameo) and Iman.

Relatively recent in relation to the making of the film, the collapse of the Soviet Union had an impact on the storyline of the film. Because of the imminent annihilation of their own planet due to their mismanagement of their environment, the Klingon empire decides to attempt to make peace with the Federation. With Spock instigating the decision, Captain Kirk is sent on a diplomatic mission to escort the Klingon chancellor to a peace conference, much to Kirk's disgust - he has a very real hatred of the Klingons because a member of that race killed is son in a previous movie. The story then unfolds in the manner of a Sherlock Holmes mystery (and indeed Spock quotes Holmes at one point) as a scheme to disrupt the peace process is uncovered by Spock, and the rest of the crew.

The special effects are magnificent, and this is a joy following the poor effects evidenced in the previous film, STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. It appears that Paramount threw more money at this film, fittingly as it is a send-off to the original crew (although Kirk, Scotty and Chekov make an appearance in the next film, which introduces the NEXT GENERATION crew to the big screen).

The acting is also superb, and this is surprising again considering the wooden-ness of the acting in the previous film. The only sour note is Kim Cattrall in her role as a Vulcan, she just seemed to annoy me throughout the film. It is telling that her character, Valeris, was originally written as Saavik, the Vulcan/Romulan hybrid from the earlier movies, until the powers-that-be decided that the character development the character goes through in this film would be inappropriate for Saavik. The new character of Valeris was then created instead.

One of the most amusing scenes in the film is the dinner between the Klingons and the Enterprise crew. There are a number of puns and other examples of verbal wit, my favourite being "You haven't read Shakespeare until you've read it in the original Klingon language."

I very much enjoy this film, having seen it a number of times. On the basis of this one, it is a shame that the complete crew of the original Enterprise were not able to continue to make further instalments in the saga. Ah well, I'll have to go back to my Star Trek novels to get more adventures of the original and best set of characters in the Star Trek franchise.

Summary: A return to form for the Enterprise crew