Does anyone know the status of this movie? Is it back into it's original form? I ask because Ijust watched it on "Paramount Teleplex" on UPN, and the scene where Scotty says the young engineer was his nephew was in it! I always thought it was removed. What did I miss? Has it always been in, and noone noticed?

By D. Mann on Wednesday, October 28, 1998 - 02:09 pm:

The scene where Scotty identified Peter Preston as his nephew was included into the TV edit, but is not in the theatrical release. It is (to the best of my knowledge) not on the video version.

By D. Gunther on Thursday, October 29, 1998 - 12:09 am:

No, it's not on the video version (at least the one I have)

By Scott Neugroschl on Saturday, November 07, 1998 - 12:28 am:

In the Nitpicker's guide for Classic Trekkers, Phil (sorry, Chief!) argues that Kirk should be court-martialed for not following procedure and raising shields, further pointing out that Kirk was court-martialed in Court Martial for losing one crew member.

Kirk was not prosecuted for killing Finney per se, instead, he was court-martialed for the alleged perjury, in swearing that he pushed the button after Red Alert.

By Chris Thomas on Saturday, November 07, 1998 - 01:44 am:

In the Genesis project bit underground, a little paradise exists. Where does the sunlight come from - essential to make all the plants grow and create the apples Kirk eats?

By Chris Ashley on Saturday, November 07, 1998 - 04:43 am:

The real question is, Why make it underground in the first place? The answer: BILC!

By Chris Thomas on Saturday, November 07, 1998 - 10:55 pm:

I thought it was underground because it was a big, big secret project nobody was supposed to know about.

By Murray Leeder on Sunday, November 08, 1998 - 12:18 am:

Also, the Genesis Project needs a big lifeless rock in space. Regula I, sitting nicely next to their facility, is a big lifeless rock in space. Hmmm... Why not use it for the final test?

By Chris W. on Sunday, November 08, 1998 - 02:20 am:

Is it just me, or did McCoy and Scotty recover a little too quickly once Spock entered the radiation chamber? Don't Vulcan Nerve Pinches last for more than a minute? Or was there a time jump between engine room scenes?

By D. Mann on Monday, November 09, 1998 - 01:44 pm:

>>>Also, the Genesis Project needs a big lifeless rock in space. Regula I, sitting nicely next to their facility, is a big lifeless rock in space. Hmmm... Why not
use it for the final test? >>>

Maybe it's not _completely_ lifeless. Carol Marcus was pretty clear on that requirement.

Besides, if something goes wrong, do you really want to be that close to a planet that's being explosively re-shaped?

By Charles Cabe on Monday, November 09, 1998 - 02:11 pm:

Also, they had stage 2 on the asteroid. They probably didn't want to destroy the "Genisis Cave". Also, stage 3 was supposed to occur on a planet, not an aseroid. (But Kahn had other plans.)

By Chris Thomas on Tuesday, November 10, 1998 - 04:22 am:

I though you needed a sizable mass for the Genesis project. A whole dead cave becomes luscious cave and a whole dead planet becomes a new one.
So why, when Khan blows himself and the ship up, is a planet formed? Surely there's not enough surrounding cosmic dust/soup to form a planet? Or is that why the Genesis planet in so unstable in the next film - no substance?

By Chris Ashley on Tuesday, November 10, 1998 - 11:59 am:

Well, nebulae etc. ARE supposed to be where they get stars from....and stars DO have quite a bit of mass....

By Chris Thomas on Wednesday, November 11, 1998 - 03:49 am:

I did consider that, it just didn't seem there was enough available material but maybe I'm wrong.
But did you notice when the Genesis planet is created, there is suddenly a sun to shine on it.
Where did that come from? I though Genesis only converted planets, not created suns. And I can't see there was enough material for a sun and a planet.

By Chris Ashley on Wednesday, November 11, 1998 - 11:18 am:

The eternal answer to "why this special effect?" is of course BILC.

By Jennifer Pope on Wednesday, November 11, 1998 - 11:58 am:

I would be surprised if there wasn't a nearby star. Since the nebula is visible, there must be a star/stars nearby to illuminate it. Also, as the 'business' of nebulas is to form stars, there should probably be more bright stars than were shown - unless the Mutara Nebula was very young.

By Rebekah Bunch on Wednesday, November 11, 1998 - 05:14 pm:

About that Stage 2 bit underground - Dr. Carol Marcus says it took the Starfleet Corps of Engineers "10 months in spacesuits to tunnel out all this." I have never understood why the Starfleet Corps of Engineers did not use transporters for tunnelling. If Scotty could beam up whales & water in STIV (I don't remember offhand how much they weighed--but it was several tons) surely a fairly large area could be excavated in a matter of minutes. If it was worth it to someone to build a station & fund the research, surely it would have been worth it to have a transporter-equipped ship swing by.

Come to think of it, why does anybody in the Federation mine anything at all? If all you need is the space, as in STII, just beam it out of the way. If you're mining for something specific, presumably something valuable, why not set the transporters to "look" for it? Like a geologic equivalent of a biofilter. In fact, this would have to be the most ecological way to go. Why dig up tons of dirt when you could just beam out what you need and leave the ground undisturbed?

By Anonymous on Thursday, November 12, 1998 - 12:55 am:

The whales and water are esaly seperated form the rest of the water but the rock moliculs are probibly conected a bit more than water.

By Nsetzer on Thursday, November 12, 1998 - 07:40 am:

I think another problem would be the structure. Sure you could beam out lots of rock from underground but will that collapse everthing on top of it?

By Chris Thomas on Thursday, November 12, 1998 - 09:25 am:

Couldn't you beam another substance back in to replace what you're beaming out - so you could beam out gold particles and replace them with lead?

By Omer on Thursday, November 12, 1998 - 11:30 am:

uaeh...but itwouldn't do for digging!

By D.K. Henderson on Saturday, November 14, 1998 - 07:47 am:

Maybe Spock has different levels of pinches and chooses what is suitable for the occasion.

By Brad W. Higgins on Monday, November 16, 1998 - 05:48 am:

Just saw the TV version for the first time yesterday. I was surprised at the small bits of dialog that were in this version and not in the theatre/video release. They added alot more to the story and character development. Too bad TPTB are more concerned with trimming a movie down to size than having a good plot, story and characters. I'm sure if they had left those snippets in , and let the movie run a few minutes longer, we would have enjoyed it more in the first place and would never have known the difference.

By Adam Howarter on Monday, November 16, 1998 - 06:18 pm:

Here's my big nit. After they survived his ambush, knowing they were damaged and their ship was crewed by a bunch of kids, why didn't they call for backup?

By Brian Henley on Tuesday, November 17, 1998 - 01:20 pm:

"Only starship in the quadrent ... yada yada ya."

By Chris Thomas on Wednesday, November 18, 1998 - 03:42 am:

It's a pretty big quadrant. Don't you think they may have at least tried?

By Edje on Wednesday, November 18, 1998 - 01:47 pm:

a pretty big quadrant? understatement of the year. This is one quarter of the flippin galaxy!!!

By Nathan K. on Thursday, November 19, 1998 - 12:57 am:

Except that quadrants didn't mean the same thing in the original series. They were used interchangeably with sectors (or if they were bigger, they weren't one quarter of the galaxy.

That's why I don't agree with the Star Trek Encyclopedia's rationalization for a little part of the Federation being in the Beta Quadrant (along with the Klingons and Romulans.) They attempt to use this one line in Star Trek 2 to back it up, when "quadrant" back then did not mean the same thing!

I hope I'm not complaining too much. It's their story, so the creators can explain it any way they want.

By Chris Thomas on Thursday, November 19, 1998 - 02:40 am:

Edje: sometimes understatement is more powerful.

By Mf on Tuesday, November 24, 1998 - 03:19 pm:

To expand on the bit about cut dialogue, there's a beautiful (and quite serious) Spock / McCoy argument when they debate the moral ramifications of Genesis, culminating in McCoy's accusatory and unanswered "Are you by any chance IN FAVOR of these experiments?"

By Mf on Wednesday, November 25, 1998 - 01:01 pm:

By the way - did anybody notice that the whole script is based on Moby Dick - with Khan as Ahab and Kirk his whale? They even give Khan some oh Ahab's lines (that whole "he tasks me" speech). Let alone the giveaway on the Botany Bay when Chekov notices a copy of the book. Take a look at the novel, skip the chapters on whale blubber, and set it in space.
This was probably the last time Trek had an epic literary feel.

By Adam Howarter on Thursday, November 26, 1998 - 01:37 am:

I took it more as "Paradise regained" ot Space Seeds "Paradise Lost." But thats just me.

By Anonymous on Sunday, November 29, 1998 - 01:17 am:

The t.v. edit that was shown on WGN in Chicago also had the bit about Scotty saying Preston is "my sister's youngest" something like that. So is it canonical now?

By Joe Griffin on Monday, November 30, 1998 - 05:43 pm:

Actually, it seems that not only is the film based on "Moby Dick," but Khan's character in particular is based on "Moby Dick." Kirk's character is based around "Tale of Two Cities." It's one of the things that makes this film the best of the lot.

...and of course, "First Contact" continues the grand tradition of NextGen ripping off TOS stories and characters by basing Picard's character on Ahab as well.

By Cableface on Saturday, December 05, 1998 - 03:34 pm:

Why, didn't Chekov just call for a beam-out from inside the cargo container?Because it would be a really short film, that's why.
And why were Khan's people all outside?It's not as if there could have been much to do.

By Adam Chmelka on Saturday, December 05, 1998 - 07:03 pm:

Wait a minute. When TOS is based on literary works, it makes the film "the best of the lot." But when TNG does it, they're just ripping off TOS. Hmm, perhaps a bit of prejudice here?

By Joe Griffin on Monday, December 07, 1998 - 12:30 pm:

If TNG had based "First Contact" on another literary work, or if TOS hadn't done it first, I would not have had a problem with it. And yes, I may be prejudiced. But TNG has a long history of ripping off TOS--their _second episode ever_ was a note-for-note copy of a TOS episode ("The Naked Time"==>"The Naked Now"), not to mention the main characters basically being a fragmenting of TOS' core group. We split Kirk up between his Wise commander aspect(Picard) and dashing young action hero aspect(Riker). Spock gets split into several parts (Emotionless misfit--Data, Perceptive psychic--Troi, Token alien with difficulty fitting in--Worf), and so on. Then we recast John DeLancie as Trelane, Squire of Gothos and he's our main bad guy. Charmingly unoriginal, not to mention annoying. So by the time we get to the movies, out of all the great novels ever written, all the world's great novels about obsession and revenge, TNG decides to base their movie on the same book TOS used for Wrath of Khan. Ho hum. I guess originality is just too darn much work.

By Mf on Monday, December 07, 1998 - 02:02 pm:

whoa . . . I don't dispute much of that, but TNG did have potential. And Data was actually based on a character in Rodenberry's idea for a second TOS series, created because Nimoy was unavailable. It was a full-blooded Vulcan who realized that Spock was such a good officer because of his mixed heritage. The writer's guide said "we'll have humor out of making him force laughter . . ." Maybe a horrible idea, but not directly a ripoff of Spock.
Look at early TNG, when the original crew (Fontana, Steiner, etc.) were still involved, and you'll see some of the potential.
As for the "literary" issue, there's a huge difference between classic heroic romance (which is what TOS was) and throwing in a line from Shakespeare (usually used incorrectly, to boot.) ANd it's not just TNG. The Undiscovered Country was in no way literary, despite all the quotes.

By Mike Konczewski on Monday, December 07, 1998 - 04:52 pm:

You shouldn't judge the literary reference by who did it first, but by how well they did it. Making movies isn't a foot race.

The Moby Dick reference in Kahn is more of an aside; the main plot is more concerned with Kirk's unwillingness to admit defeat, even to being defeated by old age. I think you could make a stronger arguement that Kahn's character was a reference to Milton's "Paradise Lost" (after all, he quotes from it in both the TV episode and the movie).

I liked the twist in ST:FC of the character introducing the Moby Dick reference, then admitting she never read the book. Probably like the majority of the movie audience (I'm not trying to insult anyone with that comment, just making an observation).

By Joe Griffin on Monday, December 07, 1998 - 06:05 pm:

Actually, I saw Khan's character in "Space Seed" as the Milton case--Lucifer making the decision to go to Hell. Then in "Wrath of Khan" he's Ahab--chasing down the white whale (Kirk) who wronged him (took his leg in the book, marooned him and his people in the Trek version). It's more than an aside, as most of his dialog is quotes and paraphrases from Moby Dick. "He tasks me and I shall have him." "I'll chase him around the moons of Nebir and around Antares' flames before I give him up." (It's originally "Perdition's flames"--a reference to Hell.) "From Hell's heart I stab at thee; for Hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."

And you're right: The Undiscovered Country, as we've said before over on that board, is all wrong: the "Undiscovered Country" in Hamlet is Death, not The Future.
But on the other hand, I saw Christopher Plummer's Klingon character as a wonderful parody of Khan: spinning around, eyes ablaze, madly quoting, out of context, any earth book he'd ever read. And it's hilarious how much he just hasn't got a clue.

As far as who did it when vs. who did it better, I'll give it to you, but I'm disappointed that the same company made both movies and didn't bother to take steps to not repeat themselves.

And I still think Wrath of Khan did it better anyway.

By Jonathan Raines (Jraines) on Tuesday, December 08, 1998 - 03:07 am:

In my opinion WOK was based on Moby Dick while First Contact just made a referance to it. As for as the simalarities between TOS and TNG. TNG is a spin off there are sopposed to pull in the old fans and bring in new ones. it started out very simmilary and started to pull out on its own mutch like other spin offs. as far as Q go's hes not Trelaen. Q is funnier, more powerfull and a lot better charitor, and if you watched the sieries Q was less a villan than a annoying friend to picard. He always reversed any harm he did.

By Mf on Tuesday, December 08, 1998 - 02:37 pm:

Reversed? didn't he introduce us to the Borg? At the cost of several lives.

Joe - - did you really see Chang as a parody of a Khan type? I honestly don't think the writers were in on it. Or even Nick Meyers. I'm sure Plummer was, but this was his first exposure to Trek. Sometime between STII and STVI Trek had become cartoonish - or soap (space?) opera; I don't know which is worse. Trek hasn't shown us a group of dignified, individual, multi-faceted mature adults in a very long time.

By D.K. Henderson on Tuesday, December 08, 1998 - 05:20 pm:

As Picard said, they would have met the Borg sooner or later. Q gave them a warning.

By Joe Griffin on Tuesday, December 08, 1998 - 06:05 pm:

I'm fairly sure it was an unintentional parody, but I'd like to think it was deliberate. I'd like to be able to think that the creators of STVI weren't taking themselves too seriously. At the very least, if Chang wasn't a parody of Khan, then hopefully he's not a 100% serious villain. He's just too silly.

Of course, I'probably wrong.

By ScottN on Tuesday, December 08, 1998 - 08:27 pm:

I think in his own mind Chang's serious, but he's half mad (insane).

By Meg Gillespie on Friday, December 11, 1998 - 08:11 pm:

Is all of the botany bay that one portion of the ship. I though the thing was at least larger than a couple of rooms. Wear does everyone stay?

By Mf on Saturday, December 12, 1998 - 02:48 pm:

Musta gotten wiped out when the planet shifted orbit.

My question is, when the Reliant first reached the Ceti Alpha system, how come no one noticed that ONE OF THE PLANETS was missing? Especially since they thought they were on the SIXTH planet - but there were only FOUR closer to the sun.

By Johnny Veitch on Sunday, December 13, 1998 - 07:58 am:

This is the only instance where "only ship in range" is an excuse for the characters, not just the creators. There may have been another ship in the region but Khan wanted to take revenge on KIRK, and anyway, how would he know if the Enterprise were the only ship in range?

By NSetzer on Sunday, December 13, 1998 - 09:22 am:

I don't think that was his plan...

Khan intentionally had Checkov tell Dr. Marcus that Admiral Kirk was the one that gave the order. Then he let her contact Kirk, but not let her get any real conversation. Khan just wanted him interested enough to come to him.

By MikeC on Saturday, January 16, 1999 - 06:01 pm:

GUEST STAR PATROL (The Wrath of Nitpicking)

Kirstie Alley (Saavik) we all know from "Cheers", and her own TV show "Veronica's Closet".

Bibi Besch (Carol) died recently, and is known for her fine character acting.

By Rodnberry on Tuesday, January 19, 1999 - 07:04 am:

MikeC, I guess you also know that Merritt Butrick (Dr. David Marcus, son of Kirk) was in an early NextGen ep, and died soon after that of AIDS.

By Anonymous on Tuesday, January 19, 1999 - 04:35 pm:

Rodnberry -- Thanks for letting me know that. I knew that Merritt Butrick had died, but I didn't know how. Now I don't have that question nagging in my mind. How did he contract it? Did he have a blood transfusion or anything? Just curious.

By Cableface on Wednesday, January 20, 1999 - 05:11 pm:

I didn't know that.An interview with Robin Curtis
(Saavik mark2) said she was sad to lose him or something like that.I assumed he had died but it never confirmed that.Actually, the episode of TNG he was in, "symbiosis" also starred the guy who played Joachim, Khan's main man in this film.

By Mf on Wednesday, January 20, 1999 - 06:01 pm:

Joachim was actually in Space Seed as well, played by a different actor.

By Mei on Sunday, February 14, 1999 - 01:51 am:

I have an idea what happened to Ceti Alpha whatever, and I think it was caused by TPTB. Sometime they really should pay attention.
It's actually fairly simple. They keep saying Ceti Alpha Four. How is that written? Ceti Alpha IV. I think someone flipped the letters, and no one ever noticed. Think about it. It would make so much more sense as Ceti Alpha VI. If V exploded, IV would still be IV, but VI would now become V. And saying, THIS is Ceti Alpha VI, would now make sense.
Now let's see TPTB come up with a decent explanation.

By Ian Bland on Sunday, February 14, 1999 - 04:40 am:

I reckon the biggest nit is the Reliant's difficulty in finding a completely lifeless world. Are we really supposed to believe that virtually every planet in the galaxy has life? What about our own solar system as an example; all those lifeless moons and asteroids- surely other systems are the same.

I also think it would have been nice of Kirk to have informed Starfleet about where he dumped Khan and his pals (the info obviously isn't in the Reliant's computer). Or did Kirk fear a telling off for not following regulations?

By Brian Lombard on Tuesday, March 16, 1999 - 10:47 am:

I'm surprised nobody has ever nitpicker McCoy's infamous line "Who's been holding up the •••• elevator?". Elevator? What's an elevator? Is it anything like a turbolift? (Please note: These are McCoy's words, not mine)

By Todd Pence on Tuesday, March 16, 1999 - 06:15 pm:

The guy that played Joachim in the movie was named Judson Scott - mainly a soaps actor. I met him once many, many years ago at a convention. Nice guy.

By Kyle Powderly on Monday, March 29, 1999 - 02:38 pm:

A few nits that have bothered me since the original release:

If Khan and his followers have been stranded on a pretty much lifeless planet for years, what have they been eating? Their rations could not have lasted that long.

Khan says the Ceti eel wraps itself around the cerebral cortex. Isn't that the large grey hemispheres that we generally think of when we say "brain"? That would be too large a mass for a tiny thing like those eels to wrap themselves around. Maybe he meant cerebellum?

The whole velocity thing is whacked. Getting ready to leave spacedock, Saavick calls for "1/4 impulse power", and the ship slooooooowwwwwwly pulls out of spacedock, taking about thirty seconds to clear the dock. If the ship is 900 feet long, then it is moving at a little over 18 miles per hour. I that's 1/4 impulse, then my little Geo Prizm is capable of warp speed!

On top of that, in the battles between Enterprise and Reliant, they are both maneuvering very close to each other - passing each other within a few hundred feet at times. In the past (series and ST:TMP) we have seen that starships do not have to be close to fire at each other - the firing range can be measured in hundreds or thousands of miles. And if they do get that close, phasers capable of "destroying a planet" would slice right through the dorsal of an unshielded ship like the proverbial hot knife through butter. So why get them so close? BILC. Besides this being "Moby Dick"-like, I think it is supposed to be "Horatio Hornblower"-like, with dramatic sea battles and massive broadsides of cannons. I'm surprised we didn't have boarding parties trying to battle it out for the ship. Oh. That was STIII.

By Hans Thielman on Monday, March 29, 1999 - 03:33 pm:

Lt. Saavik must get special treatment. In her Kobayashi Maru simulation, she has Spock, Uhura, and Sulu (all senior officers)on her bridge crew. How many cadets or command school officers can make that claim?

Also, why wouldn't Spock have ever taken the Kobayashi Maru as a cadet?

By Nathan K. on Monday, March 29, 1999 - 05:59 pm:

The novel "The Kobayashi Maru" says that the test is only taken by students in "command school," which I guess is a separate section of Starfleet Academy. Kirk, Chekov, and Sulu all took it, but they were surprised to hear that Scott had-- he took command school before transferring to engineering.

I guess maybe science officers don't take the command test either, but Spock commands the ship often and is its captain at the start of this movie.

Of course, maybe Spock would have taken the test as the science officer.

None of this is canon, of course, but I think that Spock's specialization as a science officer has something to do with it.

By Ryan Smith on Thursday, April 01, 1999 - 10:11 pm:

How come the Genesis Device is beamed out from Regula in its case and apparently arrives aboard the Reliant without it? WE never see anyone remove the case, but if they did, why leave it on the transporter pad? Is Khan planning to beam it out and detonate it? This is not made that clear.

After the Enterprise blows one of Reliant's nacelles off with a torpedo, the scene cuts to an explosion on Reliant's bridge. Watch the woman sprawled over the helm. Her left hand flinches, even though she's supposed to be dead. Must be that genetically-engineered physique Phil talks about.

Wouldn't that airlock-like door Spock goes through flood the compartment with radiation anyway? It doesn't look that substantial, although it's hard to tell with clear glass.

Speaking of, that would be a good time for one of those life support belts from the animated series...

By Jason on Sunday, April 11, 1999 - 02:12 pm:

The debated sunlight in the cave may have been a weird fungus that can glow in the dark. It is only a suggestions.

By Chris Thomas on Monday, April 12, 1999 - 02:46 am:

I doubt very much whether it would be a phosphorescent fungus, given Dr Carol Marcus demands that not even any pre-biotic life exists before she does any Genesis experiments.

By Jason on Monday, April 12, 1999 - 12:10 pm:

Yes, but the fungus could have been created by the genesis device and then grew to form the light

By Chris Thomas on Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - 04:43 am:

Point taken but could the fungus have evolved itself without any life source? Probably, given the nature of fungi and the rest, I guess.

By D Mann on Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - 11:07 am:

Pardon me, but I think that's kind of the point of the Genesis Device in the first place, isn't it? The scientists can include any kind of life form (although we only saw plant life) they like in the Genesis matrix. If they know they'll need a certain type of plant, they program it in. Likely the device includes sufficient programming to create a balanced ecosystem right off the bat, so a new planet doesn't have to take millions of years to balance out and evolve.

Do you perhaps mean "light source" rather than "life source?" Keep in mind there are already-evolved self-illuminating organisms in the deep dark parts of Earth's oceans. Why not just program one of these guys into the Genesis matrix and not worry about evolution?

By Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - 05:05 pm:

Or, it could be a really bright light bulb.

By Chris Thomas on Wednesday, April 14, 1999 - 05:21 am:

Yes, I meant light source, it was very late at night when I posted the message. Calm down D Mann, I already conceded Jason's point and yours as well.

By Mark Bowman on Friday, June 04, 1999 - 04:08 am:

They show phaser fire hitting the side of the
Reliant's bridge and explosions going into the interior.
Shouldn't the air, crew members and debris be sucked
out? Since sheilds were not operating in the nebula,
I doubt they could throw up a force feild (this
makes me wonder about other times the bridge is hit
on various ships, and simaler things happen. Do the walls
seal them selves back up?)


Did anyone else notice that there is was an
isolation door going through a gap in a
thick conduit connecting the engine to
the nacells after the Enterprise was first
hit?! Do they use somekind of
high energy arc to connect the sections
that go through the metal of the door?
If so, wouldn't that be very dangerous

By mf on Tuesday, June 08, 1999 - 10:26 am:

A chain reaction of explosions doesn't necessarily mean there was a hull breach. And at alert the various compatments are probably sealed.

By Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson) on Saturday, June 12, 1999 - 02:35 am:

This movie just aired on some channel or another. It still looks really great, for a film that was produced some 18 years ago.

By Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson) on Saturday, June 12, 1999 - 02:36 am:

Despite Shatner's bad acting, that is.

By Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, June 15, 1999 - 09:56 am:

In the opening, we see lots of stars clustered in the center of the screen, but lots of black space farther out. Shouldn't there also be stars, or even star clusters, in those areas?

Why was McCoy on the 'Bridge' in this simulation? In case one of those explosions, hurt somebody?

Why is the flagship of the Federation being used to train cadets?

Why would Romulan Ale be illegal? Just because it's made by the Romulans? Isn't one of the ways to establish peaceful relations with an enemy through trade of products? We buy your ale, you buy our Spican flame gems, etc., etc.

Why is it simply called Romulan Ale? Is there just one recipe? Does only one brewery exist in the Romulan Empire? (That's why the Romulan's hate the Federation. Smugglers keep stealing Romulan booze and selling it to the Federation.)

McCoy has a ship that brings a case across the Neutral Zone. Isn't a ship crossing the Neutral Zone an Act Of War? And what about the ships and outposts that are supposed to keep an eye on this boundary? Clearly McCoy must have been making a joke and probably bought the ale from a third party that has trade relations with both the Federation and Romulans.

They call it Ceti Alpha, but the correct name is Alpha Ceti.

So why wasn't Ceti Alpha restricted? Even if Kirk didn't want to give the real reason, I'm sure he and Spock could have come up with another reason.

Commander Kyle. Wasn't there a Kyle on the original series? (Although I think he had a different English accent.)

Khan has an interesting choice of books: Moby Dick; Paradise Lost/Paradise Regained; King Lear; the Holy Bible; and another copy of Paradise Lost.

Early in the film, Khan takes off one glove and leaves the other one on and it stays on for the rest of the movie. Was this some kind of tribute to Khan's favorite musician, Michael Jackson? (Can't you just imagine Khan singing, "Beat him, beat him, beat him, beat him, get myself a ship and beat him..."?)

Khan holds the momma slug with forceps in his left hand, and extracts the young using forceps held by his right hand. Which looks odd when watching the extraction process.

How do the ear slug young know the difference between the ear and the nose? Once they land on the faces the slugs know exactly where to go.

Why does the Enterprise hull have sections in different tones of white? (And don't say BILC, because I thought it looked sloppy, not cool.)

The Regula I uniforms looked a little like the Moonbase Alpha uniforms in Space: 1999.

The Starfleet uniforms and sets have a naval feel to them, while Khan's crew dress like pirates.

Why is one guy in Sick Bay wrapped in aluminum foil instead of a blanket, like the rest?

Why is McCoy at the Genesis briefing? I don't remember hearing any reason given.

Carol Marcus proposes Stage III on a Planetary scale, but her proposal demo shows a Moon being remade.

The Reliant phasers seem to pulse. New design, or do they need to be tuned up?

Kirk is speaking to Khan, then in a slightly lower voice says some stuff to his crew that Khan supposedly can't hear. How does the communication system know when it should broadcast what is being said and when not to?

I love it when McCoy says, "We will." after Spock tells Kirk to be careful. (Especially since that line was not in the script and was added by DeForest Kelly.)

Why couldn't Khan and his supermen figure out Spock's code about days & hours?

Is that ear slug screeching we hear audible to everyone or just Terrel, Chekov and the audience?

Good thing the Reliant's transporter didn't set off the unstable protomatter.

McCoy's reaction to the Genesis cave is opposite to his indignation to Genesis earlier.

Khan is turning a cylinder, then a ring sinks down, etc., until the center column, but there didn't seem to be any markings, or other ways to tell, when the rings were in the right place.

After fixing the engine Spock walks into the glass. So what happened to those inner eyelids that are supposed to protect his eyes?

So how come Spock's last words didn't include anything about his Katra?

About Spock, Kirk says, "Of all the souls I have encountered, his was the most... human." Interesting statement since earlier Saavik had said about Kirk, "He's so... human." and Spock says, "Nobody's perfect."

Both David & Saavik say that Kirk has never faced death. That's not true. Kirk has faced death numerous times before. It's just actually laying down and dying that Kirk hasn't done. (At least until Generations.)

If the Kobayashi Maru is supposed to be a test of character, then why would Kirk's cheating have been acceptable?

By mf on Tuesday, June 15, 1999 - 11:02 am:

>Why would Romulan Ale be illegal?

Had many Cuban cigars lately?

>Isn't a ship crossing the Neutral Zone an Act Of War?

Maybe it's not a Fed or Rom ship. Or maybe the treaty allows for medical ships.

>Commander Kyle

Same fellow. Same accent. Same actor.

>Why is McCoy at the Genesis briefing

Because Kirk relies on him.

By Mr. Luxury Yacht on Tuesday, June 15, 1999 - 12:35 pm:

Why is the flagship of the Federation being used to train cadets?

The Enterprise isn't the Flagship of the Federation at this time.

>Isn't a ship crossing the Neutral Zone an Act Of War?

Maybe it's not a Fed or Rom ship. Or maybe the treaty allows for medical ships.

As I understand the Treaty, it only bars Military ships from entering the zone.

Why does the Enterprise hull have sections in different tones of white? (And don't
say BILC, because I thought it looked sloppy, not cool.)

That is to show that the Enterprise is composed of many segments of metal fused together, and IMHO it does look cool.

By Keith Alan Morgan on Wednesday, June 16, 1999 - 04:37 am:

mf: I doubt that there would have been a Cuban trade embargo if Cuba had not allied itself with the Soviet Union. However, I believe that it has always been legal to have Russian cavier, and Russian vodka (except during Prohibition), and other products of the Soviet Union.