SyFy was showing Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan tonight when I got home. Even after about 30 years this movie still looks great! Everything works - the music, the acting (shocking given that this movie has the most parodied line of all the Star Trek movies), and even the special effects!
One thing I had never noticed until this viewing is how they use the view screen. Usually in Star Trek the view screen seems to be either a window looking outside, or a screen to talk to the captains of nearby ships. But in this film, they actually use the screen to convey tactical information for the officers to make decisions.
The computer graphics are dated - but used very effectively - especially because the plot was centered around characters rather than special effects.
I admit I choked up when Spock died (30 years != spoiler): “You have been, and always shall be, my friend”
Props also to Kirstie Alley - I forgot how cute she was!
The password to take complete control (remotely) of a starship is a simple 5 digit number. With that kind of security I could control an entire fleet of starships using nothing more than the laptop I’m typing on right now!
Just a guess, but they did call that 5 digit number a prefix code. Just because the “which ship” prefix code is short and readily accessible does not mean that Kirk didn’t add his own Admiral-only “lower shields” code to the end of it.
I wonder - if the movie were made in the mid 70’s would Khan have been sporting thick chest hair in his uniform? That might be fun with a big disco ball on the bridge especially since all of Khan’s bridge crew were actual Chippendale dancers.
(The little-known truth is that those were earworms in a more figurative sense, too. Once inside, they just sing songs over and over. The captain’s happened to be William Shatner songs. He wasn’t trying to kill Kirk; he was trying to stop the music.)
