Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

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

[bernice]

Although the total gross of The Wrath of Khan was less than that of The Motion Picture, this was more profitable due to its lower production cost.

[gerald]

Leonard Nimoy was persuaded to return as Spock when he was promised a death scene, an early draft of the script called for the death scene to take place at the film's beginning. However, this information got out to the fans (possibly from Gene Roddenberry) who became highly upset. So the Kobayashi Maru scenario was invented to allow Spock to die in the opening as rumored and throw off the audience for the drama of Spock's actual death at the film's ending.

[violet]

William Shatner was reportedly hesitant about portraying a middle-aged version of himself, and believed that with proper make-up, he could continue playing a younger Kirk. Bennett convinced Shatner that he could age gracefully like Spencer Tracy.

[violet]

The film opened on Friday June 4, 1982 in 1,621 theaters in the United States and earned $14,347,221 its opening weekend, at the time the largest opening weekend gross in history. Its initial release earned $79 million in the United States and $97 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1982. 1982 was a prolific year for blockbusters. Poltergeist (1982) was released on the same day; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) the following weekend (June 11); The Thing (1982) and Blade Runner (1982) two weeks later (June 25); and TRON (1982) in July.

[elmer]

Computer graphics programmer Loren Carpenter wanted the stars appearing behind the planet during the Project Genesis demo to be accurate relative to its location in space, yet contain constellations visible from Earth. He and Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Research Director Alvy Ray Smith (who later co-founded Pixar) chose the star Epsilon Indi. While a dozen light years from earth, the "Big Dipper" (comprised of the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major) is visible there, and appears much like it does from Earth, except Earth's sun appears in the constellation as an "extra" star.

[scarlett]

During filming of some of Khan's scenes, the prop guys decided to have a little fun at Ricardo Montalban's expense. They created a small robot and attached to its head a cardboard cutout of the head of Hervé Villechaize - Montalban's pint-sized co-star from the television series Fantasy Island (1977). Montalban was quite amused when he saw the prop on the set.

[charlie]

According to naval (and presumably also Starfleet) regulations, quoting regulations to a senior officer is considered an act of insubordination, so until she was later ordered to do so by Admiral Kirk, Captain Spock was well within his rights to admonish Lt. Saavik for trying to quote a General Order to Kirk.

[victoria]

According to Nicholas Meyer, one of his chief contributions to the film was to handle the storyline and characters with a "healthy disrespect". He felt that the characters had to become "more human and a little less wooden".

[wesley]

When Saavik (Kirstie Alley) cries during Spock's funeral, William Shatner asked Nicholas Meyer if he was going to "let her do that", since Vulcans are supposed to be unemotional. But Meyer supported Alley's choice to allow Saavik to show some emotion, since this was decided that Saavik is not fully Vulcan but a Vulcan-Romulan half-blood, explaining why she would not have perfect control. However, this information never made it to the screen.

[wesley]

The moving starfield during the title sequence was filmed by putting the camera in the center of the floor of a local planetarium, aimed up.

[sandra]

Nicholas Meyer added a "no smoking" to the bridge of the Enterprise, as he felt smoking and other twentieth century habits were still likely to survive centuries in the future. The rest of the creative team disliked the idea. The sign appeared in the first shot of the film, but was removed for all others appearing in the final cut of the film.

[ella]

Joachim's death scene was originally intended for an alien called Moray, and the scene where Khan appears on-screen, was intended for her husband Sojin. In one draft of the script, Sojin and Moray were monsters who were exiled from another dimension and who were found on Ceti Alpha V.

[ella]

Khan's muscular chest seen throughout the film is actually Ricardo Montalban's real chest, and not a prosthetic as is often reported.

[ella]

On the back wall of the Reliant's bridge (and presumably the Enterprise's as well, since this was a slightly redecorated version of the same set), on either side of the turbolift doors, are some rectangular shapes with smaller rectangular impressions in them. These are shells for storing audio cassette tapes, painted white and attached to the wall. They are very visible during several scenes when Khan is talking and plotting.

[kyle]

After Admiral Kirk talks to Dr. Marcus on subspace, it cuts to a scene of Regula I. While Dr. Marcus is talking, the camera begins to pan around the room. In the pan, you will see pillars with numbers and letters on all sides. On the third pillar, after Dr. Marcus talks about peace, on the back side, instead of have a letter and numbers, this says Kmrt. As in Kmart. Then this cuts to a scene of Admiral Kirk.

[ruby]

For the role of Carol Marcus, Nicholas Meyer wanted "A woman who was beautiful and looked like she could think. A woman who was attractive enough, that you could see why Kirk would fall for her, and at the same time somebody who could keep up with him". He feel that Bibi Besch would be proper for the role.

[gabriel]

Harve Bennett wrote a first draft for the screenplay before hiring a screenwriter. His version was titled "The War of the Generations". According to a summary of it: "Kirk investigates a rebellion on a distant world and discovers that his son is the leader of the rebels. Khan is the mastermind behind the plot, and Kirk and son join forces to defeat the tyrant."

[ray]

In Star Trek: The Original Series: Space Seed (1967), approximately eighty genetically-engineered supermen were left behind on Ceti Alpha V by the Enterprise. By the time of this film, only fifteen (including Khan) are left. Twenty were killed by Ceti eels, the rest through other means (presumably as a result of the explosion of Ceti Alpha VI).