TMC
06-14-2022, 12:21 AM
The original Star Trek crew's final adventure redeemed the franchise but still suffers from dumb.
BY MAURICE MOLYNEAUX
JUNE 13TH, 2022
The critical and box office failure of 1989's Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was almost the final installment for the original series crew movies, but with Trek's 25th anniversary in 1991, Paramount was eager to cash in with a better swan song.
The resulting The Undiscovered Country aims high with its end of the Cold War allegory, moments for all the regular cast, an innovative zero gravity assassination sequence, characters facing their various prejudices, a scenery-chewing performance by Christopher Plummer as Klingon General Chang, and a tense climactic space battle intercut with a second assassination plot.
What's not to like?
Well, for all those plusses there are minuses. In addition to some heavy-handed and arguably out-of-character bigotry and literary quotes laid on with the subtlety of a photon torpedo, there are some things that are just plain...dumb. In the rush to get the film launched before the conclusion of Star Trek's 25th anniversary year meant — as with the similarly rushed Wrath of Khan script — that not everything in The Undiscovered Country's story got a second look, or even a second glance, that it might've needed, and the resulting film ends up being both smart and stupid in varying degrees.
Let's discover the 14 dumbest things in the Undiscovered Country.
14. Two-Dimensional Thinking (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?rf=homepage)
13. Are You Kidding? (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=2)
12. Preposterous Pew Pews (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=3)
11. Target Practice (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=4)
10. Mighty Morphin Moronic Martia (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=5)
9. Officer Thinking; Start Your Drinking (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=6)
8. Hole-y Ozone (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=7)
7. The Viridium Patch (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=8)
6. Gravity Boobs (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=9)
5. Cloaking Plot Devices (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=10)
4. Intercom Idiocy (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=11)
3. Lost In Universal Translation (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=12)
2. Space Battle? What Space Battle? (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=13)
1. Starfleet Group Think (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=14)
BY MAURICE MOLYNEAUX
JUNE 13TH, 2022
The critical and box office failure of 1989's Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was almost the final installment for the original series crew movies, but with Trek's 25th anniversary in 1991, Paramount was eager to cash in with a better swan song.
The resulting The Undiscovered Country aims high with its end of the Cold War allegory, moments for all the regular cast, an innovative zero gravity assassination sequence, characters facing their various prejudices, a scenery-chewing performance by Christopher Plummer as Klingon General Chang, and a tense climactic space battle intercut with a second assassination plot.
What's not to like?
Well, for all those plusses there are minuses. In addition to some heavy-handed and arguably out-of-character bigotry and literary quotes laid on with the subtlety of a photon torpedo, there are some things that are just plain...dumb. In the rush to get the film launched before the conclusion of Star Trek's 25th anniversary year meant — as with the similarly rushed Wrath of Khan script — that not everything in The Undiscovered Country's story got a second look, or even a second glance, that it might've needed, and the resulting film ends up being both smart and stupid in varying degrees.
Let's discover the 14 dumbest things in the Undiscovered Country.
14. Two-Dimensional Thinking (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?rf=homepage)
13. Are You Kidding? (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=2)
12. Preposterous Pew Pews (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=3)
11. Target Practice (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=4)
10. Mighty Morphin Moronic Martia (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=5)
9. Officer Thinking; Start Your Drinking (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=6)
8. Hole-y Ozone (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=7)
7. The Viridium Patch (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=8)
6. Gravity Boobs (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=9)
5. Cloaking Plot Devices (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=10)
4. Intercom Idiocy (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=11)
3. Lost In Universal Translation (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=12)
2. Space Battle? What Space Battle? (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=13)
1. Starfleet Group Think (https://whatculture.com/film/the-14-dumbest-things-in-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country?page=14)