Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

[kenzi]

Some of the Klingons wear costumes from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

[jessie]

Although he receives "Also Starring" billing, Mark Lenard (Ambassador Sarek) has only one line.

[ken]

The main plot of the movie includes the ending of the conflict between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, which thereafter allows the two superpowers to co-exist peacefully in the Milky Way. This, in turn, helps create the setting for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), which is set years afterwards, primarily on a new starship Enterprise, commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), and which now has a Klingon serving as a member of the main crew, Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn). Coincidentally, Worf's family is portrayed as having played a part in the events of the peace between the Federation and Klingons, since his grandfather, Colonel Worf, was appointed as the Defense Attorney for Kirk and McCoy following the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon. Colonel Worf was likewise played by Michael Dorn.

[cameron]

Coincidentally, two characters who are ultimately exposed as traitors are played by actors who later ended up on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: René Auberjenois (as Constable Odo) and Brock Peters (as Joseph Sisko).

[marc]

In a featurette on the special features from the 2-disc DVD, William Shatner talks about how he was upset with Nicholas Meyer for breaking a promise regarding one of his lines. The line in question was when Kirk says "Let them die" during the scene when he and Spock are talking after the classified briefing. Shatner wanted to say the line, then gesture as if he didn't mean to say it, and he made Meyer promise to show it on camera. However, in the final cut, after Kirk says "Let them die", it cuts to Spock looking surprised, and only goes back to Kirk, cutting over when Kirk gestures with regret.

[tammy]

In earlier screenplay drafts, the character of Maltz from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) appeared at the trial as one of Chang's witnesses, answering questions about Kirk's killing of the Klingon crew from that film. The scene was dropped, as it was deemed extraneous, and John Larroquette was unavailable to reprise the part anyway.

[caroline]

General Chang's eyepatch has three bolts that go into the skull. They all have the Klingon insignia engraved on them.

[miriam]

Kim Cattrall initially turned down the part of Valeris, thinking she was to play Saavik. Upon finding out she was to play a new character, she agreed. Cattrall also designed her own hairstyle for the part of Valeris, and also came up with the idea to completely shave off her sideburns in order to more prominently show her Vulcan ears.

[jesse]

Being the last movie focusing solely on the original Star Trek cast and characters, there was early consideration to feature Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) in the story. At the time however The Next Generation was still in the midst of its run on television, and Paramount had no plans to transition it to a movie series, or give any impression of such. In addition, Gene Roddenberry was long opposed to such crossovers between the Original Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) and The Next Generation, even though Bones had already appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint (1987) at Roddenberry's insistence, and Spock's father Sarek appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Sarek (1990) (when Roddenberry's personal involvement with TNG was decreasing). Both Sarek and Spock himself appeared in TNG's "Unification" serial, filmed around the same time as this movie.

[victoria]

Nicholas Meyer wanted to keep some Enterprise prop blankets for his personal use, but he was told the stencil wouldn't stand up to normal use.

[russell]

According to George Takei in his autobiography, in earlier drafts of the script, it was Captain Sulu and the Excelsior crew who discover the Klingon Bird-of-Prey's weakness and use their gaseous anomaly equipment to find it. But William Shatner objected, because he felt that Captain Kirk would not need another Captain's help, and the scene was re-written.

[stephanie]

This is the first Star Trek movie to validate that Kirk's middle name is Tiberius. The "T" in James T. Kirk was officially given as "Tiberius" by writer David Gerrold, uttered by Kirk himself in Star Trek: The Animated Series: Bem (1974). (David Gerrold is the screenwriter of [Star Trek: The Original Series](/category/988/star-trek): The Trouble with Tribbles (1967), [Star Trek: The Original Series](/category/988/star-trek) (1966)'s most famous and consistently most-liked episode.) Sulu's first name is given as Hikaru for the first time on screen (it appears in Star Trek books going back to at least 1981). Uhura first name is not mentioned - Gene Roddenberry had originally offered Penda (which appears in early ST guide books) but later decided on Nyota (also spelled Niota), which was finally spoken on screen in Star Trek (2009).

[ella]

The Enterprise bridge set from Star Trek V (1989) had been stored outdoors, and was irreparably damaged by severe weather, so a new bridge set had to be constructed for this film. To save money the same set was utilized to depict the bridge of the Excelsior. The Excelsior scenes were shot first, and then the set was heavily re-dressed for the scenes aboard the Enterprise.

[melinda]

Was the first film to be coded in DolbyDigital (AC-3) for test prints only; not for theatrical release. The first film with a theatrical release of Dolby Digital was Batman Returns (1992).

[eli]

The film is largely an allegory about the fall of Soviet Communism. When General Chang demands that Kirk answer a question without waiting for the translation, it is an allusion to the real-life exchange at the United Nations between U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson and Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Also, the explosion on Praxis due to "insufficient safety measures" is akin to the meltdown at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in present-day Ukraine, which is believed to have contributed to the decline of the Soviet Union. Spock says that there was seventy years of "unremitting hostility" between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, which is not how long the Cold War lasted, but is the approximate length of time that the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) existed in the twentieth century, with a communist form of government.

[cameron]

Christopher Plummer's classical roles include Iago from Othello and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. Both roles have also been played by José Ferrer, whose son, Miguel Ferrer, appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).

[jesse]

Nicholas Meyer and Leonard Nimoy dispute who came up with the concept of using the film as an allegory for the fall of Soviet Communism, with both men claiming credit for the idea. Nimoy and Meyer also had a bitter dispute during post-production, with Nimoy preferring his own edit of the film to that of Meyer, who refused to incorporate Nimoy's changes into the final cut.

[maureen]

Nichelle Nichols, who plays Uhura, famously refused to use the phrase "[Guess Who's Coming to Dinner](/category/6769/guess-who-s-coming-to-dinner)?" in this movie, which was meant to be a reference to [Guess Who's Coming to Dinner](/category/6769/guess-who-s-coming-to-dinner) (1967) (a movie about racial bigotry). That movie was remade as Guess Who (2005), starring Zoe Saldana, who would later take over the role of Uhura in Star Trek (2009) and its sequels.

[leo]

The Romulan ale visible in the dinner scene is much lighter blue than in any other Trek-universe movie or television episode. The ale's color has ranged from pale to dark blue in various productions, and can indicate the ale's "vintage."