Nicholas Meyer Looks Back on 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'

With "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Director Nicholas Meyer described it as being different from the previous films in that it's "political in context." At a Q&A after a screening of it at the Egyptian Theatre, Nicholas said the story came about when he met with Leonard Nimoy. It focuses on the Federation making an uneasy truce with their longtime enemies the Klingons, and it reflected the relations between the United States and Russia at the time.

Nimoy described the idea of having an "intergalactic Chernobyl" and of "the wall coming down in space" to Meyer, and the story came out from there. As it happens, the coup that took place in Russia happened around the time "Star Trek VI" was released, and Nick said that his dentist saw how it predicted it would happen. His response was to see "The Undiscovered Country" again as he didn't realize that was the case.

Watching it today made him realize that there was no way anyone could have anticipated the changes coming, be it the collapse of the Soviet Union or current events in the Middle East. Meyer said it all makes the Cold War seem good in retrospect. Indeed, with the wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, the scene where Spock forces a mind meld on Lieutenant Valeris to get information now seems like torture. Although Meyer said that Spock's intention in that moment is just to get information, he winces at it now and says it's hard to watch when Valeris moans in Vulcan agony.

For the character of Klingon General Chang, Meyer freely admitted he wrote the part with actor Christopher Plummer in mind. This was largely due to how he loved listening to Christopher's recording of "Henry V." He made it clear to the film's casting director, Mary Jo Slater, that she should not come back without him. Incidentally, Mary's son (whom you might recognize) makes a cameo in the film.

"Star Trek VI" was the last movie with the original crew of the starship Enterprise. Meyer described every day as being "normal" until the last. At that point, the whole cast was cranky, forgetting lines that some didn't like in the first place. At that point, the whole cast had been together for 30 years, and since they go back a long way, they approached the end of it all in a "bewildered" state. One thing's for sure, the signatures from the cast at the end of the movie were definitely not hokey.

It also turned out to be the last "Star Trek" movie series creator Gene Roddenberry got to see before he died. Nick said his interactions with him were "minimal" as he was not officially involved with the movies after "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Apparently, Gene was incensed that the script for "Star Trek VI" made the crew to be racist, but it did give this movie its much needed dramatic conflict. He died three days after he saw it, and the movie is dedicated to him (just as it should have been).

Looking back, "Star Trek VI" questions whether we have reached the end of history, and we certainly have not. It served as a perfect swan song for the original cast, and it was a much better movie than the one that preceded it ("Star Trek V: The Final Frontier"). It also provided us with one of the greatest pieces of dialogue ever:

"You've never experienced Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon."