Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Synopsis
- Final Star Trek feature film featuring the cast of the original science fiction series. In this episode the aging crew must stop a plot to prevent a peace treaty between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets.
An explicit reference to Hamlet (III.i.79) in the title, the film itself is full of Shakespeareana. Shakespearean actor Christopher Plummer as villainous Klingon General Chang quotes Shakespeare throughout (see notes) and the shapeshifting chameloid Martia (played by Iman) paraphrases Hamlet when she says, "I thought I would assume a pleasing shape" (cf. II.ii.602). - Series
- Star Trek
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Film
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Year of release
- 1991
- Duration
- 113 mins
Credits
- Director
- Nicholas Meyer
- Producer
- Gene Roddenberry; Leonard Nimoy; Ralph Winter; Steven-Charles Jaffe
- Cinematographer
- Hiro Narita
- Writer
- Lawrence Konner; Leonard Nimoy; Mark Rosenthal
- Screenplay
- Denny Martin Flinn; Nicholas Meyer
- Music
- Cliff Eidelman
- Costume
- Dodie Shephard
- Art Direction
- Nilo Rodis-Jameiro
- Cast
Additional Details
- Production type
- Fiction Films
- Historical period
- Future
- Subjects
- Drama
- Keywords
- science fiction films; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Klingon
Notes
- Notes
- Quotes from Shakespeare’s plays include:
Hamlet (I.iii; II.ii; III.i; V.i; V.ii)
Romeo and Juliet (II.ii)
2 Henry IV (III.ii)
Richard II (III.ii)
Henry V (III.ii)
Julius Caesar (III.i; III.ii)
The Tempest (III.i)
The Merchant of Venice (III.i) - General
- In one of the film’s scenes Chancellor Gorkon, a Klingon, claims that one has never "experienced Shakespeare" (specifically, Hamlet) until his works are read in "the original Klingon" language, to which General Chang replies: "taH pagh, taH be?". In 1996, linguists from the Klingon Language Institute (Philadelphia) actually did publish The Klingon Hamlet (ISBN 0671035789). A paperback version followed in 2000, published by Pocket Books (ISBN 0671035789).
The variety of Shakespeare/Star Trek connections has been the subject of numerous essays. This database lists only those episodes or feature films in which the Shakespeare reference goes beyond a single quotation (various episode titles are borrowed from Shakespeare plays). - Figures
- Budget: $ 30.000.000 estimate (imdb)
Gross: $ 94.000.000 worlwide (imdb) - Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars in 1992:
Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
George Watters II, F. Hudson Miller
Best Makeup
Michael Mills, Ed French, Richard Snell
Online Availability
- Online URL
- www.startrek.com
Production Company
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
Retail outlets
Online Retailer
- Name
amazon.com
- Web
- http://www.amazon.com External site opens in new window
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av37639 (Accessed 03 Oct 2024)