“I’m going to sleep this off. Please let me know if there’s some other way we can screw up tonight.”
James T Kirk.
Christmas Day 1992 and my family is settling down to watch a Star Trek film on VHS, I don’t recall having seen a Star Trek film before this. But thanks to Wednesday evening repeats of the original series on BBC 2 I am hooked on the show, and when I saw the poster for the latest film in the local video shop (remember those?) I knew I wanted to watch it. The tape was booked up until Christmas so I was forced to wait to get a glimpse of what Star Trek might look like in the modern-day. As such, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (to give it it’s full title) will always be a Christmas movie to me. It’s not set at Christmas, it doesn’t even mention Christmas, but there is something about it that’s inherently “Christmassy.” For a start it has snow, and that’s what Christmas is about right?
At its heart Star Trek VI is about peace. Jim Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise pushed into having a role in peace talks with his mortal enemies, The Klingons. You can understand his reluctance, they killed his son, for gods sake, and he says himself in the film that he could never trust them because of this. In truth that was a little bit of racism on his part, and by the end of the film it’s clear, like Scrooge being taught not to be a tight arsed old git, he’s learnt the errors of his ways. The film progresses and we learn that there are factions of Klingons and Humans who would rather have a bloody great big war and go out in a blaze of glory. By the end of the film Kirk is desperate for the peace treaty to succeed and the plot is exposed. And so peace is finally achieved. Surely that is something we associate with this time of year? Peace on Earth, (or Qo’noS), good will to all men, (and Klingons.)
There is also a strong element of family running through the film. Another thing that is seemingly intrinsic to Christmas. Since the inception of Star Trek in the 60’s Gene Roddenberry tried to portray the lead star ship captain as someone married to his job, someone lonely in his role, isolated from the rest of the crew by the burden of command. This was clearly demonstrated by a scene in the pilot with Pike and his Doctor. As the series and the films progressed a different kind of family developed for the characters, their comradeship became friendship, and effectively family. They had deaths and (re)births, they had people getting promoted and leaving the family group, but essentially the core is always there. In Star Trek VI, you have that family group coming back together to solve a crisis, and to help each other win through and succeed. Sulu is off commanding his own ship, but makes the choice to help his old crew mates by giving them the secret location of the peace conference, and then aiding them in a battle with the renegade Klingons. Even Janice Rand gets in on it. There’s also an awkward (Christmas) dinner with the in-laws at one point, as the Klingons come aboard the Enterprise and share a toast, while quoting Hamlet and Hitler. The brilliant David Warner lifting his glass and christening the film “To the Undiscovered Country.”
It’s odd how you can start to associate something with a certain event, or time of year. I can’t say for certain that I would still think of this film as a “quasi Christmas film” if I hadn’t first seen in on Christmas Day as a child, but there are at least a few things within it that are quintessentially Christmassy. Peace, family, hangovers, a shit load of snow (though I think in all 30 years of my life I’ve only had around two or three white Christmases.) Either way, films like this always stay in your heart. Star Trek VI has everything you want from a Star Trek film, it has emotional punch, some cracking effects and action sequences, a story that stands up to at the very least some gentle prodding, and like any good Christmas, it has all the family.
The Brain Leak 