The film is also good for a lot of witty jokes that are twists on historical and literary expectations.
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The best science fiction offers ideas that reflect upon on our own contemporary experiences, and the best science fiction remains relevant because their lessons can be applied for all time. It´s hard to say if "Star Trek" is "relevant" beyond the entertainment realm because it is an ongoing cultural phenomenon, but the best of "Star Trek" works like the best science fiction. "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" extended the franchise´s optimism into the realm of recent history when it compared the beginnings of the Federation-Klingon Alliance to the fall of the Iron Curtain in Europe.
During the late-1980s, the Soviet Union experienced a major nuclear reactor catastrophe at Chernobyl, and the collapsing Soviet economy forced Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to enact reforms in the spirit of glasnost ("openness"). "Star Trek VI" begins with an explosion at an energy facility on a moon orbiting Kronos, the Klingon homeworld. The disaster leads to the Klingons asking the Federation for help.
Of course, peace is more difficult to realize than war, so plenty of problems plague our heroes--Captain James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner), First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Chief Medical Officer "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Communications Officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chief Engineer "Scotty" (James Doohan), and Tactical Officer Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) of the starship Enterprise. Former helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) provides assistance as the captain of the starship Excelsior. Various factions in the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and even the Romulan Empire conspire to prevent the signing of a peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingons. There´s a plot to discredit Kirk, and there´s the appearance of a Klingon bird-of-prey that can fire when cloaked (a super-weapon that can be analogized to the weapons race that developed between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.).
There are two memorable new characters--the Vulcan Valeris (Kim Cattrall) and the Klingon General Chang (Christopher Plummer). Valeris follows in Saavik´s footsteps as a protégée (and potential love interest) for Spock. Since Plummer and Shatner (and many of the actors who appear in "Star Trek") have theatre roots, there are many references to literature, including the constant use of Shakespeare as well as an allusion to Peter Pan.
The film is also good for a lot of witty jokes that are twists on historical and literary expectations. For example, Spock says, "There´s a Vulcan proverb--only Nixon could go to China", and Chekov says, "Perhaps you know Russian epic of Cinderella...if shoe fits, wear it." The best of these lines about cultural misappropriations is Chancellor Gorkon´s (David Warner) "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon."
Although many people have compared Klingons to the Russians or even to blacks/Africans due to their dark visages, I actually think that the Klingons were modeled after the Chinese/the Japanese. After all, the Klingons are always talking about family, loyalty, and honor (concepts highly-touted by traditional Chinese/Japanese philosophy), and the Klingons favor using metallic blades in hand-to-hand combat rather than projectiles (i.e. bow-and-arrows, cannons, guns, etc.). Therefore, I found it rather fitting and poetic that the main villain in "Star Trek VI" is named Chang (a Chinese surname).
Kirk´s speech about "the end of history" alludes to a theory that advances the idea that nothing new will ever happen any more on our planet in terms of geopolitical maneuvering (see Francis Fukuyama´s "The End of History"). While I think that the theory yields interesting ideas and food for thought, I also think that it prematurely announces geopolitical endgames. There are many ways to approach the world´s various issues, and we can´t possibly fathom how future technological changes will alter our landscape. For example, while it may seem that Western liberal democracy and capitalism are on the triumphant road, the Internet has fostered a downloading culture that leads people to believe that information and intellectual property should be free to all people. In essence, people that Western governments call "pirates" are actually communists (I refer to communism objectively and without pejorative inclinations) since one of their principles is the belief that one should not pay for the fruits of mental labor (physical labor is supreme according to communist ideology). "Star Trek" itself envisions a communistic ideal with the eradication of material needs (i.e. everyone can get the food and clothes that they need via replicators for free).
Video:
The anamorphic widescreen image generally looks quite beautiful, and the movie compares favorably with movies made during the past five years. However, the print is not completely free of scratch marks and light debris. Still, much praise should be heaped on the video transfer since the bountiful reds never bleed, and there´s basically no video noise.
From information that can be found on the Internet, it looks as if "Star Trek VI" was shot with the Super 35 process, and the resulting spherical frame was cropped (both horizontally and vertically) to a 2.35:1 image for theatrical release. However, the DVD´s video aspect ratio measures between 1.85:1 and 2.00:1. Since the on-screen action doesn´t look cramped, the assumption lies in guessing that the frame was opened up vertically. As the burned-onto-the-print English subtitles for the Klingons´ dialogue appears in the middle of the screen, I think that the vertically widened composition comes courtesy of additional viewing area being exposed at the bottom of the print--which makes sense since boom mikes (for recording actors´ voices) are usually right above actors´ heads and would need to be masked in the image matting process. If you use your arm to block off a bit of the bottom of the image, you can see that what needs to be seen can still be seen had the video been presented in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
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[release]11369[/release]