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Ricardo Montalban Recalls Khan
phyy-nx writes "Scifi.com, in referring to the directors cut of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (coming out on DVD Aug 6), has quoted clips from an interview with Ricardo Montalban. Montalban portrayed the vengeful Kahn in one of the best perfomances in one of the best of the (almost ten) Star Trek films. He mentions how difficult it was to portray Khan after six years of Mr. Roarke of Fantasy Island and how he overcame that mold to masterfully portray his new character's controlled insanity." Or, as Kirk would say: Khaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!
If memory serves, Worf said "We don't talk about it.", implying some sort of catastrophe or somesuch. From what I recall, the change in appearance was either due to some kind of virus, or a failed genetic experiment - not 100% sure however.
The odd thing is, if you watch the pilot from Enterprise, the Klingons have the 'new look', with the brow ridges, even though at that time (100 years before Kirk), the event causing the ridges had yet to happen! (At least according to established Trek History.)
Disclaimer: I meant what I thought, not what I wrote! What? You can't read my Mind? Oh dear!
Great idea! That episode was called Space Seed, I think. Wrath of Khan is still my favorite of all the Star Trek movies. It has everything that made the original series great: action, drama, plot twists, and three dimensional characters. I believe the movie stands on its own very well, but if you've seen Space Seed then it certainly helps establish the context of the movie and explain Khan's obsession with Kirk. Space Seed and Wrath of Khan on the same DVD would be a cool combination.
--Jim
the episode you are refering to is titled "space seed". FYI Richardo also played Khan Nunien Singh in that episode. It is worth mentioning that in the last scene Spock literaly warns Kirk that some day Khan might escape from seti alpha 5. see http://www.thelogbook.com/log/toslog1.html#tos23
"actually, Star Trek V, the one that Shatner wrote and directed, is by far the worst."
Shatner was not to blame for STV's failure. (entirely, anyway...)
STV was filmed during an actor's guild strike of some sorts. Not only did this affect the budget of the movie, but it also affected their ability to get some talent they needed. For example, ILM wasn't around to do the visual effects this time of round.
Lots of changes had to be made to the script in order to accomodate the lack of things (like some rock creatures) showing up in the movie. It became a hobbled mess.
Is it Shatner's fault that the movie sucked? Not really, no. If the movie didn't have those problems, would it have been good? Hard to say. Probably not, from what I've read. It's probable that the first movie would be considered the worst, though. (I think it is anyway, but what do I know?)
I think it was the book 'The Art of Star Trek' that explained what happened in 5, if anybody's curious. That book's seriously cool if you're interested in all the work they did to make those movies. You'd be surprised.
Nicholas Meyer wrote and directed Trek II, (co)wrote Trek IV, and directed Trek VI. People who go on about the Moby Dick allegory in First Contact seem to forget that that was first ripped off in II, with Khan as Ahab and Captain Kirk as the great white whale -- a fitting role for Shatner if there ever was one, right? (Oh, come on, what's a Trek post without a mean jab at Shatner?) I think Meyer is half the reason that Trek movies are still getting made at all.
This is the man they should have given the reins of the badly ailing Trek franchise to. Not, for God's sake, John "The Time Machine / Gladiator / BATS!" Logan. Oh yeah, and the Nemesis director's hasn't got a great pedigree, either.
Free Nicholas Meyer!