20 Things You Never Knew About Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
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 Trek Culture, and here are 20 Things You Never
00:11Knew About Star Trek VI 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 VI.
00:25Tonally, the music is completely different from what had come before in the previous
00:29five films.
00:30This was at the urging of Nick Meyer, who gave Eidelman his blessing to really get into
00:34the darkness 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 Roose, 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 Roropente and Escape from
01:07Roropente, the latter of which allowed a full flourish from the orchestra.
01:11Number 19.
01:12Kronos I Chancellor Gorkin, General Chang and the rest
01:16of the Klingon delegation travelled to Earth aboard the flagship of the Klingon Empire,
01:19namely Kronos I.
01:20The ship was the same filmy model that had been used in Star Trek The Motion Picture,
01:24with several modifications for the latest film.
01:26Visual effects supervisor Bill George was pleased that they were able to update the
01:30ship.
01:31He 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
01:46post-battle of 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
02:00vessels, this contrasted nicely against the Enterprise A.
02:03Number 18.
02:04Read it in the original Klingon In the film, Chancellor Gorkin makes reference
02:08to Shakespeare being read in the original Klingon.
02:11On screen, that's assumed to be a joke, despite the number of times that General Chang
02:15proceeds to quote the bard throughout the film.
02:17Members of the Klingon Language Institute took this line and ran with it.
02:20In order to translate Hamlet into Klingon, Mark Ockrund had devised a Klingon dictionary
02:24prior to the release of Star Trek VI, so the material was there to work with.
02:27Hamlet has since been performed for charity, as has another of Shakespeare's plays, Much
02:31Ado About Nothing.
02:32Excerpts from both were attended by George Takei, with the Klingon Hamlet being published
02:36by Pocketbooks in novel form as well.
02:39Number 17.
02:40The Fall of the Berlin Wall in Space The idea behind Star Trek VI The Undiscovered
02:45Country 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 starbases and military installations.
02:57The fall of the USSR and the advent of the Khitomer Accords and the Federation Klingon
03:01Peace Talks are directly paralleled.
03:03The explosion of Praxis that opened 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
03:14to gain momentum, tragedy inspiring true change.
03:17Much like the denial that took place in the wake of the Chernobyl incident, the Klingons
03:20too attempted to downplay the seriousness of the explosion.
03:23It is quite clear, though, that their militaristic approach to foreign relations has left them
03:27short-changed 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 Gorkin is followed by the ascension of Osset Bor, his
03:46daughter, to 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
03:56the room is party to this.
03:58Three Klingons face Osset Bor.
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 Khitomer, 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
04:43to the political parties in Star Trek VI.
04:46Number 15.
04:47Designing the Klingon High Chancellor Gorkhan leads the peace movement in Star
04:52Trek 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.
05:09While Gorkhan, as a name, was chosen by writer Denny Martin Flynn, it was an amalgamation
05:14of 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
05:20on the 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
05:29centre in 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
05:46had killed years previously.
05:47His height, girth and demeanour signified his stately presence, commanding the room
05:51on 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
06:03Joker's revolver.
06:04His career began much earlier, with his stage debut taking place in 1947 and his screen
06:09debut in 1950.
06:11His long and successful career was both what made him desirable for the role and ultimately
06:14unsuitable.
06:15Though his physical stature wasn't in question – he was 6ft 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
06:23costly for 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. Gintalbat, 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
06:44Command, making 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
07:06by Christopher Plummer's 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 actress 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 the 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
07:26through on his promise.
07:27It is here in this scene that Gorkin 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,
07:44culminating with Gorkin's utterance of, if there is to be a brave new world, our generation
07:48is going to have the hardest time living in it.
07:50Number 12.
07:51Guess who's coming to dinner.
07:53In Star Trek VI, Walter Koenig's Chekov utters the line, guess who's coming to dinner,
07:57in the run-up to the Klingons' 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, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn comedy of the
08:08same name, wherein a white woman brings an African-American fiancé home to meet her
08:12parents.
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, thus 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,
08:31nor a character to which it best belonged.
08:34Number 11.
08:35Is she a bird or is she a cat?
08:36Iman plays Martia, the shape-shifting comeloid who seemingly helps Kirk and McCoy escape
08:41from Roropente 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
08:48the yellow eyes.
08:49Martia appears in several forms in the film, including a seven-foot-tall brute, in Iman's
08:54words, 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.
09:03They were achieved by using soft lenses and were very uncomfortable to wear.
09:07Iman stated that after every scene, the make-up team would have to touch her up again and
09:11again as 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.
09:20When the costuming department took over, they seemed unable to decide what she should look like.
09:24She is adorned in furs like a cat, to which the yellow eyes added, however, she is also
09:28topped with feathers, giving her a bird-like appearance.
09:31Iman joked that she was a hybrid of the two, which was just fine with her.
09:34That's everything for this part of our list.
09:36We will be back with parts 10 to 1 in the next video.
09:40Don't forget to like, share and subscribe.
09:42In the meantime, you can catch us over on Twitter at TrekCulture, you can catch myself
09:46at SeanFerric on Twitter as well.
09:48You look after yourself.
09:49And we really hope you enjoyed this video, because give a girl a chance, it takes a lot
09:52of effort.
09:53Live long and prosper.
09:54Bye for now.