Film & Water #121 – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Audio Commentary

THE FILM & WATER PODCAST

Episode 121: STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY COMMENTARY

taH pagh taHbe'! To mark its 26th anniversary, Rob welcomes back David "Ace" Gutierrez and Siskoid to do a full-length commentary track for STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, the final voyage of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise.

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11 responses to “Film & Water #121 – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Audio Commentary

  1. One of my favorite things I’ve ever done. Thanks, Rob, for having me on! And thanks, Siskoid, for bringing the Trek lore.

  2. Love this movie and really enjoyed the discussion! So many moments in this film get me choked up. And the signatures are absolutely merited! They earned that good bye!

    And regarding Brock Peters, also well known for voicing Darth Vader on the radio dramas. He was a great Vader!

    1. Thanks!
      I meant to mention that about Peters, but time got away from us. He certainly had an unforgettable baritone.

    1. The notion of the Federation President being a Deltan comes from the film’s novelization by J.M. Dillard (who also wrote the Star Trek V novelization).

  3. Chancellor Gorkon: I offer a toast. The undiscovered country-the future.
    Everyone: The undiscovered country.
    Spock: Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.
    Gorkon: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.
    Chang: taH pagh taHbe’ [Klingons laugh] “To be or not to be?” That is the question which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. We need breathing room.
    James Kirk: Earth. Hitler, 1938.
    Chang: I beg your pardon? [pause]
    Gorkon: Well, I see we have a long way to go.

    “TO BE, OR NOT TO BE? That is the question—
    Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
    And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—
    No more—and by a sleep to say we end
    The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
    That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
    Devoutly to be wished! To die, to sleep.
    To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub,
    For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
    When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
    Must give us pause. There’s the respect
    That makes calamity of so long life.
    For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
    Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
    The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
    The insolence of office, and the spurns
    That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,
    When he himself might his quietus make
    With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
    To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
    But that the dread of something after death,
    THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY from whose bourn
    No traveler returns, puzzles the will
    And makes us rather bear those ills we have
    Than fly to others that we know not of?
    Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
    And thus the native hue of resolution
    Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
    And enterprises of great pith and moment
    With this regard their currents turn awry,
    And lose the name of action”
    -Hamlet:Act 3 Scene1

    To be or not to be is the beginning of questioning about committing suicide. (somewhere I have heard it’s painless and brings on many changes 😉
    The Undiscovered country is death

    So his toast is to the Death of the future.

  4. Great show guys. One of my favorites that vies for position with Star Trek II for what I consider the best, and ST III for personal favorite, for it being my first.

    I saw this for my 17th birthday. It was my first date in the “big city” for Cindy and I. I had missed Star Trek V in theaters thanks to Bat-mania the summer of 89, but the previews for this had me really excited. There was a brief segment at the end of the Star Trek 25th Anniversary TV Special covering the making of this movie and the trailer. I had a really good feeling about it, and I was VERY pleased with it. The audience was really into it as well. Lots of cheering and clapping, laughing, and yes tears.

    A perfect ending for classic Trek. Socially relevant, great character moments, and plenty of action, which classic Star Trek rarely forgot.

    Yeah, the rushed production and the budget shows just a bit here and there, but overall it’s a great film on it’s own, and a great Star Trek film.

    I think Bones got plenty of play with Kirk in the scenes where they were captured, so that’s why we get more Kirk and Spock at the end of the film. The trilogy is still very important to the films, and was VERY crucial to Star Trek V. I know you guys dismissed it, but those elements of the film are the best parts for me.

    But of course Kirk and Spock still can operate alone without Bones in the general consciousness of pretty much everyone as what MAKES Star Trek. Just like the DC Trinity can also just be Superman and Batman without Wonder Woman sometimes.

    The signatures are a must, in my opinion. And don’t feel bad about getting verklempt. I got a little misty eyed with the audio clip at the end.

    The older I get, the more I discount Generations in my head cannon. Wrong-headed and poorly written and executed in many departments. Kirk is grossly out of character in most of it, in my opinion.

    This is the end of TOS for me. And what a great end. Best movie series ending ever. How many movie series actually get to end well?

    Chris

    1. Firstly, thank you for your comments, CFranks.

      It is a TRINITY. Ego, Superego, Id! Father, Son, Holy Spirit! Fastball! Kirk, BONES, and Spock. You can’t have all head without the heart! Thank you for backing that up. I prefer my pairings to always have Bones and Wonder Woman in them, but that’s just me (and science). I didn’t go into it at the time, but I’m not one of those guys who romanced the Superman/Batman team-ups. It never made sense for these guys to be anything more than professional friends to me. I never saw anything they shared in common. Unlike Bones, Spock, McCoy – brothers, and unending friends. Like me and Rob.

      Generations, well, I know Rob has a lot to say about that. As do I. I didn’t mind it as much as others, but it is a fairly disposable film in the greater context of Trek. It’s only eventful for the Death of Kirk, less so for the Enterprise-D’s destruction.

      1. The destruction of the Enterprise-D was pretty spectacular in the theater as I recall. Nicely done. But that’s about it for me and Generations. I really need to

        I’m a big fan of the old World’s Finest Comics, and before Batman was slowly changed into a permanently damaged man-child, he and Supes had plenty in common. The common good being their chief objective. Nowadays, yeah, it’s more of a stretch, but mutual admiration can bridge that gap. And “MARTHA!!!” of course.

        Chris

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