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!

Comments

first post

[Gizzmonic]

made of Rich corinthian leather

Little Known Fact

[teamhasnoi]

The producers had to recover the chair on the bridge of the Klingon Warbird in Corinthian Leather before he would sit in it.

Really!

Re:Little Known Fact

[WCMI92]

"The producers had to recover the chair on the bridge of the Klingon Warbird in Corinthian Leather before he would sit in it."

And they had to name his ship (USS Reliant)after a model of Chrysler too ;)

Fine Corinthian Leather ;) I still remember those commercials.

Hardest Part of Being Khan

[echucker]

No little sidekick to holler out "Da Kirk, Bahss, da Kirk!"

I hope the DVD includes the original

[GCP]

I hope the Wrath of Khan DVD includes the original episode of Star Trek that it was the sequel to. That would make a great set, and the movie isn't nearly as interesting if you don't have that TV episode in memory.

Re:I hope the DVD includes the original

[kzinti]

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

Re:I hope the DVD includes the original

[thanasakis]

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

Re:I hope the DVD includes the original

[uncoveror]

Here's a question for the trekkies and trekkers. In Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan, Khan says, "Any you.. .I never forget a face... Mister Checkov!" but Checkov did not appear in Space Seed. How did Khan remember him?

Slashdot must have a submission backlog...

[stefanlasiewski]

Slashdot must have quite a backlog of article submissions.

I mean, one article about a 1961 wristwatch, now an article about a 1982 movie.

I just submitted an article about this awsome new kind of game called Castle Wolfenstein 3D, it's like the old Castle Wolfenstein game on the Apple IIe , but from the FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE. It's really damn cool, but it doesn't work with my 8-bit Adlib Soundcard.

My favorite Trek movie

[mwarps]

I'm so happy this is coming out on DVD in Director's Cut form. Way too cool.

One of the best Treks ever. More action in one movie than there was in the whole original series, at least believable action. All I can think of is Capt Kirk in one of those badly rehearsed street fights. He falls over the way he speaks. Slow and Delayed. Shatner put on his Acting cap for this movie though. Great stuff.

Question!

[Kwikymart]

Was there any real explanation for why they switched the look of the Klingons in either the Star Trek universe or the real universe (the explanation)? I remember the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribbulations" where they go back to the TOS tribble episode and that topic came up, and Worf just said something of the like "it's a complicated matter". Any ST experts have an answer?

Re:Question!

[ovapositor]

Get a life you dork!
Thank You.

Respectfully,
The rest of the planet.

Re:Question!

[AJWM]

I got the special two-video set of both the original and DS9 tribble episodes. It's great watching them back to back, and seeing how and where DS9 characters were cleverly inserted into original footage.

What Worf actually says when asked about it is "We don't talk about it", and obviously views the original series' more human-looking Klingons with some disgust.

The real reason is that they just did it because they could (higher budget) in the first movie, then were stuck with it for all the other movies, and never came up with a good backstory.

I suppose they could have come up with something like the Kdaptists of Larry Niven's Kzinti (who wear human masks -- of human skin -- when worshipping because, having had their butts kicked by humans in a couple of interstellar wars, they're convinced that God/Kdapt must favor humans -- see Ringworld), but that'd be derivative. Besides, there weren't really any Human/Klingon wars, the first one barely got started when it was ended by the Organians, and the Klingons already looked human then. (Original series episode).

Re:Question!

[Lars T.]

Tribble implant?

Re:Question!

[writermike]

I remember reading a fan-produced publication on this matter. This publication was made to look like an "official" Starfleet report.

It stated that the reason for the different looks is because there are two distinct races which are often at war with each other. For a time, the more human-looking ones were in power. This booklet showed the various land masses each race controlled. Lots of background.

But, as someone else pointed out, it doesn't easily explain why Enterprise's Klingons are ridged.

It would be interesting to see an upcoming Enterprise episode that plays with this theory. Maybe the Klingon Empire collapses for a time, shuttling some human-looking Klingons into the series.

Yeah, I do agree with others that think Worf was expressing some sort of disgust in the DS9 episode. If Enterprise were to play with some of these theories, they could _easily_ bring in the larger issue, race!

Other theories I've heard:
The Klingons attempted to make a human-klingon hybrid in order inject spies into the Federation.

The Romulans and Klingons collaborated on a human-klingon hybrid in order to inject spies into the Federation.

The human-looking Klingons are a Romulan invention that went awry.

The Klingons from the original series aren't Klingons at all, but rather humans who like dark clothes and don't take baths.

Kirk and Spock were lovers. (Oh, wait, that has nothing to do with the Klingons, huh?)

m

Re:Question!

[the gnat]

The real reason is that they just did it because they could (higher budget) in the first movie, then were stuck with it for all the other movies, and never came up with a good backstory.

And Worf's comment is probably as much a tongue-in-cheek response from the producers as anything else. I'll bet it was actually directed at all the geeks who keep asking about this. It's amazing how much this gets discussed, because it's really a non-issue.

I once saw some Trek documentary where one of the makeup people said he preferred Klingon episodes to Romulan/Vulcan episodes because of "all those damn ears". However, by the time of the movies they could afford to make the races actually look a little different. So they sacrificed continuity for production values. Simple, no?

I always thought part of the genius of Star Wars is how in the cantina scene, so many of the aliens are totally non-humanoid. But it doesn't matter- they're sitting there playing poker, and Luke doesn't seem to notice that some of these things don't have arms. Alien races actually have a true diversity of forms, even if the humans are running things. It's a far cry from ST, where nearly everything is either humanoid or something amorphous.

While I'm at it, Vernor Vinge's books are some of the best depictions I've ever seen of non-humanoid races in human terms.

Re:Question!

[NanoGator]

It was just a joke, dudes. Star Trek writers are capable of explaining anything, even if it means inventing words. It's meant to irritate all the Star Trek fans out there who nitpick the shit out of the show.

I think it's their way of saying "Just repeat to yourself it's just a show, you should really just replax."

Khaaaaaannnn!

[Anonymous Coward]

Khaaaaaannnnnn!

A little program for you, oh person who reads /.

[PFactor]

Sub Pot()

For i = Hypocrite.Lbound to Hypocrite.Ubound
Call Kettle("Black")
Next i

End Sub

I'll save this stupid thread!

[NanoGator]

"But I cannot force myself to watch the dredge that is referred to as Star Trek. Personally, I liked episodes 4,5, and 6; the new episodes: 1 and 2, are especially disheartening. Hopefully, Star Trek will improve in episode 3."


Partick Stewart had a much better variation of this joke. Here's his quote from Saturday Night Live:

I have no illusions why I'm here tonight.
It's because of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
(applause)
Well, thank you very much, but I have a confession to make. When I was first given the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, I pretended to take it all in my stride; I was so cool in interviews;
I claimed never to have seen the original classic Trek. But, it was all an act, because inside, I was so ecstatic... I was delirious... You see, not only am i probably the biggest Star Trek fan of all time, but well, as my friends can tell you, I am virtually an encyclopedia of Star Trek facts and trivia.

Well now, for example, listen: Here's a fact I bet you don't know. On the original show, the name of the space ship was not the "Star Trek"! No, no, it was in fact, the "Enterprise". Now that's true.

Now, all right, here's another one: Everyone knows that the part of Captain James M. Kirk was played by William Shiner. Then of course later he was to become very famous as the Six Million Dollar Man. But how many of you here know which actor played the chief medical officer, Dr. McCray, who was of course otherwise known as Boney? You give up, don't you? Well that was Forest D. Kelley.

Well perhaps you knew that one, but can you name to me the ship's other medical officer... you see, because of course, there were two. You see, you're stumped. You are forgetting Dr. Spock. Now you remember, right? He was the pointy eared creature, you know? Half human, half volcano, and he was forever tormenting old Boney with his cold volcano logic, and uh...

All right.. here's another bit of trivia. Did you know that another Star Trek character, Captain Sulu, was the first black woman ever on television? Anyway, being the Star Trek trivia maniac that I am, well you can imagine my feelings when I first learned that I won the role of Captain Picard. I felt a kinship, you know, with all those unforgettable legendary chartacters... Kirk, Boney, and especially Spock, and I even know... well I wrote a note to Leonard Fortnoy, but I guess he never received it. Anyway, Leonard, if you're watching, this is for you.

Outer space: the last frontier. These are the trips of the Star Trek Enterprise. Its five year plan calls for us to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly fly where no man has gone in space.

Live long (boy scout sign), and be happy.

Re:What!?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"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.

Great PIC!

[ImaLamer]

This has to be the greatest!

I know it's a bad one but it's true:

About two weeks ago in the grocery store my girlfriend and I were in the store, she was looking to get some hotdogs to grill and she was shouting down the isle which to get... so I shouted back to her:

KAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNSSSSS!

Needless to say it made my day... everyone thought I was a moron.

Give Nicholas Meyer his job back

[dswensen]

It's my personal opinion that Nicholas Meyer is almost single-handedly responsible for the "even numbered Trek movies = good" trend.

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!