Star Trek History: Making the Undiscovered Country

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was one of 1989's biggest movie disappointments. While excuses could be made for its rather anemic box office returns--it catered to a niche fan market, it lacked the serious marketing of its competition, and it was crowded among sequels and blockbusters--it also received poor reviews from fans and critics. Despite director and star William Shatner's lofty goals for the film, it ultimately fell flat, leaving some wondering if the Star Trek franchise was dead (for more information, read "Making The Final Frontier").

1991 was Star Trek's 25th anniversary since the original television series premiered in 1966, and talks for continuing the franchise abounded. The new television show Star Trek: The Next Generation had weathered two uneven seasons to become one of the best emerging science-fiction series on television, and it was expected that someday the crew of the 24th-century USS Enterprise-D would replace their earlier 23rd-century Enterprise-A counterparts. At the same time, longtime Star Trek feature film producer Harve Bennett floated an idea fellow producer Ralph Winter had suggested for the fourth film--a prequel, showing the Enterprise crew characters in their youth at Starfleet Academy.

Bennett's idea was not well-recieved by many, including (understandably) the actors who would have had their roles recast. Paramount was dissatisfied with Bennett's ideas, even after rewrites; this proved the final straw to Bennett, who had for years felt mistreated in his role. Rather than accept a large offer to direct a new feature for the aging cast and forgo his Starfleet Academy concept, he dropped out of the production altogether.

It was up to cast member Leonard Nimoy--who, aside from playing the logical Vulcan Spock, had directed Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home--to develop a new story. The clock was ticking--Paramount wanted a 25th anniversary movie, and they wanted it done on the cheap. Nimoy approached Nicholas Meyer--writer of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home, as well as the director of The Wrath of Khan--for ideas, but Meyer initially didn't have any. Then, one trip, Nimoy suggested a storyline based on current events--what if the cold war between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire collapsed, as the real-life Cold War between the USA and USSR was? Meyer jumped at the idea and quickly developed a story, and was eventually asked to direct as well.

The plot goes as follows: with their empire crippled by an interstellar ecological disaster (mirroring the Chernobyl meltdown), the warlike Klingons have no choice but to sue for peace with their longtime enemies, the Federation. The aging crew of the Enterprise, due to retire, are not at ease with the idea of demobilizing--especially James T. Kirk (Shatner), whose son was killed by Klingons. Nonetheless, Starfleet sends the Enterprise to escort the Klingon ambassador Gorkon and his entourage to Earth for peace negotiations. During the trip the Enterprise appears to fire on Gorkon's ship and masked assasins beam aboard and kill Gorkon. Kirk surrenders to avoid starting a war, and along with McCoy is arrested, put on trial for Gorkon's death and sentenced to life imprisonment on the bitter cold prison of Rura Penthe. The Enterprise crew leads an investigation into the attack and learns that the real source of the attack was a cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey; a segment of Starfleet and Klingon officers worked together to destabilize peace talks as neither wanted peace. One of the conspirators is Valeris, Spock's protege. The Enterprise spring Kirk and McCoy and manage to destroy the cloaked Bird of Prey, saving the Federation president and the peace talks. The Enterprise is due to be decommissioned, but Kirk decides to go on a final trip through the cosmos as the credits roll.

The screenplay was written rapidly by Meyer and friend Denny Martin Flinn via email, who worked to appease all the cast members and craft a suitable conclusion for the original crew of the Enterprise. In the original script, Hikaru Sulu (now captain of the USS Excelsior) would have visited all his retired comrades, who were eager for a final mission, but Paramount rejected the opening as too expensive. A constant tug-of-war between the producers and studios erupted before a final budget was approved. Even more unhappy with the script than Paramount was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who was furious that the script portrayed the Enterprise crew as xenophobic and that members of Starfleet would conspire in murder; since Roddenberry had long been forced out of creative control of the films, the script remained mostly unchanged.

Eventually, the film went into production in February 1991. Meyer had to shoot a film with less money than he expected, and in time to release the film by the holiday season at the end of the year. To save money where they could, the production reused old footage from previous movies as well as old props and sets; many of the locations were reuses and redresses of Enterprise-D sets from The Next Generation. Meyer opted for a darker visual look than previous films, and to suggest the Enterprise's age production designers added peeling paint and harsher lighting. Despite the limitations, the filmmakers found ways to work around their costs. The trial of McCoy and Kirk was supposed to be attended by thousands of Klingons, but the production filled only the bottom stands with extras and then used forced perspectives and matte paintings to suggest that more filled the audience. A second unit photography shoot in Alaska with stand-ins for the main actors lent an epic feel to the film when interspersed with studio footage for the prison Rura Penthe. Because of a shortage of soundstages during production, many scenes were shot off-site in and around Hollywood--in churches, in Bronson Canyon, and the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

Even with the number of visual effects shots halved during budget negotiations to around 50 and elements such as transporter beams and phaser blasts outsourced to separate effects companies, it took almost the entire team at effects house Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to finish the film's effects in time. Despite the cost-cutting, the film was notable for some lengthy or impressive effects sequences, including Gorkon's assasination (which appears to take place in zero-G and features computer-generated alien blood) and a massive shockwave for the destruction of the moon Praxis (this so-called Praxis Effect would later be seen in the special editions of the Star Wars movies).

Roddenberry died of heart disease a month before the film's premiere in December 1991; the final print of the film featured a dedication to Star Trek's creator. Opening in over 1,800 theaters, The Undiscovered Country was the critical and commercial success that The Final Frontier never was. It grossed $96 million worldwide, despite the movie industry as a whole experiencing a downturn in 1991. The film was lauded by critics and generally accepted by fans, and would prove Meyer's last contribution to the series before future features starred The Next Generation cast.

References
* Altman, Mark (April 1992). "Star Trek VI; the making of 'The Undiscovered Country'". [Cinefantastique v22n5].
* Dillard, J.M. (1994). Star Trek: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" - A History in Pictures (ISBN 0671511491).
* Magid, Ron (January 1992). "Star Trek VI". [American Cinematographer v73n1].
* Reeves-Stevens, Judith and Garfield (1995). The Art of Star Trek (ISBN 0671898043).
* Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Special Collectors Edition DVD [Special Features and Commentary].

Read more Star Trek history and stories by David Fuchs: "The Final Frontier" / "The Voyage Home" / "The Search for Spock" / "The Wrath of Khan" / "The Motion Picture" / "Creating the Klingons"