Old Friends

Three old friends dropped in for a visit last night--Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, in the "Wrath of Khan" director's edition (= new box, no new editing). I'm sure it has been out for awhile, I just happened to pick it off the shelf at the local library in a moment of weakness. You know the plot: Khan, the superior intellect, wreaks havoc hunting the white starship but gets outsmarted in the end by Kirk, who gets some timely aid from that other superior intellect, Spock. And don't miss Kirstie Alley in her finest role as Mr. Saavik.

This time I picked up on the paternal theme, as a gently aging Kirk discovers--out of the blue--that he has a son. Then, over the course of the movie, he grows into the role of a father and by the end feels young again. It could have been titled "Star Trek II: The Renewal of Kirk," but no one wants to see a movie about renewal, so they kind of slip that theme in between action scenes.

Comments

[danithew]

The most memorable part of The Wrath of Khan for me has always been that part where Khan puts the creepy-crawly vicious bugs into the ears of his prisoners, so that he can exert some kind of mind control over them. That was one of my first "eeeow, that's disgusting -- can we rewind that and watch it again?!?!" moments.

These types of plots that focus so much on the topic of revenge are always interesting. Try watching/reading Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus sometime. It's the first Shakespeare play I ever saw and it made me realize I needed to figure out this Shakespeare fellow a bit more.

[lyle]

I like the movie version of Titus...or maybe I just like anthony hopkins. hm...

re: kirk. yeah...its nice that fathers who ignore their own children/the people they sleep with get a chance to, somewhat, redeem themselves. we all believe in repentance...yet...absent fathers def. have a steep hill to face (let alone any absent moms)

[Dave]

Well, to defend Captain Kirk, in the movie he was entirely unaware that he even had a son, so he wasn't an "absent father" by any choice. His reaction, in fact, suggests he would have been involved but for the selfish decision of Carol to keep the kid all to herself. Nor is there any detail given about the particulars of the Kirk/Carol relationship, nor about the marriage customs or law extant in 2285 or whatever the date is.

Funny, family never comes up at all in those early Star Treks. It's like they are all married to Star Fleet--no spouse, no kids, no life. And they all seem to have separate quarters (how proper).

[Aaron Brown]

I don't recall Saavik being a "Mr."

Aaron B

[spencer]

I never got really into Star Trek, but its good to watch those movies just to be able to get the parodies that TV shows do of them now.

[Dave]

Aaron, maybe all Vulcans, male or female, are called "mister." As between Shakespearian gender-crossing (men playing womens roles) and Star Trekkian gender-crossing (women portrayed in men's roles, think 7 of 9 as well), I'll stick with Star Trek. How shallow of me, choosing Will Shatner over Will Shakespeare!

[Arwyn]

Though this will require confessing that I've paid Star Trek maybe more than its real due...

I think it's not so much a Vulcan thing as a Star Fleet thing -- calling everyone "Mr. Soandso" fit with the military uniformity and kept the questions of "Ms. or Mrs.?" and "What do you call an organism that doesn't really have a gender?" from having to be addressed.

[Kim Siever]

Wasn't Janeway referred to as "Sir"?

[Dave]

Well, that's interesting, makes sense. Certainly in the original Star Trek (1966-69) there were no female "misters" around, just Lt. Uhura and a couple of dozen female ensigns (the equivalent of White House interns). But by the time TNG and the movies came out, things had changed.

Dumb question, but how are female officers in the present-day, real-world military referred to? "Yes, ma'am," "yes, sir," or "yes, captain"?

[lyle]

either by rank/title or "ma'am". I don't know if there is any preference...I don't see enough female officers to really know.

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