Science fiction (or sci-fi ) is a film genre that uses speculative , fictional science -based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms , spacecraft , robots , cyborgs , mutants , interstellar travel , time travel , or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues , and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition .
189-461: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Nicholas Meyer and based on the television series Star Trek . It is the second film in the Star Trek film series following Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and is a sequel to the television episode " Space Seed " (1967). The plot features Admiral James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) and the crew of
378-458: A mind meld , telling him to "remember". Spock repairs the warp drive, and Enterprise jumps to warp, escaping the explosion, which forms a new planet. Before dying of radiation poisoning , Spock urges Kirk not to grieve, as his decision to sacrifice himself to save the Enterprise was a logical one. Kirk and the ship's crew host a space burial for Spock, whose photon torpedo casket lands on
567-524: A "No Smoking" sign added to the Enterprise ' s bridge, which he recalled "Everyone had a fit over [...] I said, 'Why, have they stopped smoking in the future? They've been smoking for four hundred years, you think it's going to stop in the next two?'" The sign appeared in the first shot of the film, but was removed for all others appearing in the final cut. To save money on set design, production designer Joseph Jennings used existing elements from The Motion Picture that had been left standing after filming
756-512: A British cinema and media theorist and cultural critic: Science fiction film is a film genre which emphasizes actual, extrapolative, or 2.0 speculative science and the empirical method , interacting in a social context with the lesser emphasized, but still present, transcendentalism of magic and religion , in an attempt to reconcile man with the unknown. This definition suggests a continuum between (real-world) empiricism and ( supernatural ) transcendentalism , with science fiction films on
945-524: A Friend for the End of the World ( 2012 ), Safety Not Guaranteed ( 2013 ), and Pixels (2015), romance films such as Her (2013), Monsters (2010), and Ex Machina (2015), heist films including Inception (2010) and action films including Real Steel (2011), Total Recall (2012), Edge of Tomorrow ( 2014 ), Pacific Rim (2013), Chappie (2015), Tomorrowland (2015), and Ghost in
1134-400: A Pravda article is disputed. Roddenberry also acknowledged that the character was in response to the popularity of The Monkees ' Davy Jones . Koenig always denied the "Russian origin" story and affirmed that his character was added in response to the popularity of The Monkees, and the character's hairstyle and appearance are a direct reference to this. Roddenberry had previously mentioned, in
1323-682: A Regula scientist, by vaporizing him with a phaser was filmed in two takes. Winfield and the related actors first played out the scene; this footage became the background plate. A blue screen was wheeled onto the set and actor John Vargas , the recipient of the phaser blast, acted out his response to being hit with the energy weapon. A phaser beam element was placed on top of the background plate, and Vargas' shots were optically dissolved into an airbrushed disintegration effect which matched Vargas' position in every frame. The Ceti eel shots used several models, overseen by visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston , who had just finished creature design for Return of
1512-565: A baby in Khan's group, who is killed with the others in the Genesis detonation. Meyer later said: The chief contribution I brought to Star Trek II was a healthy disrespect ... Star Trek was human allegory in a space format. That was both its strength and, ultimately, its weakness. I tried through irreverence to make them more human and a little less wooden. I didn't insist that Captain Kirk go to
1701-474: A civilization's level of technological advancement into types. Due to its exponential nature, sci-fi civilizations usually only attain Type I (harnessing all the energy attainable from a single planet), and strictly speaking often not even that. The concept of life, particularly intelligent life, having an extraterrestrial origin is a popular staple of science fiction films. Early films often used alien life forms as
1890-529: A college friend, to produce the film. Sallin's job would be to produce Star Trek II quickly and cheaply. Bennett hired Michael Minor as art director to shape the direction of the film. Bennett wrote his first film treatment in November 1980. In his version, titled The War of the Generations , Kirk investigates a rebellion on a distant world and discovers that his son is the leader of the rebels. Khan
2079-444: A composer by the time filming began. Meyer initially hoped to hire an associate named John Morgan, but Morgan lacked film experience, which would have troubled the studio. Paramount's vice-president of music Joel Sill took a liking to a 28-year-old composer named James Horner , feeling that his demo tapes stood out from generic film music. Horner was introduced to Bennett, Meyer and Sallin. Horner said that "[The producers] did not want
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#17327718527672268-548: A continued career path, but these are not considered canon in the Star Trek universe. Novels written by William Shatner detail that Chekov reaches the rank of admiral, and even serves as Commander in Chief of Starfleet. The 2009 Star Trek film creates an alternate timeline in the franchise. In this timeline, Anton Yelchin 's portrayal presents Chekov as a 17-year-old prodigy whose mathematical ability proves instrumental in
2457-403: A counter-attack. Khan is forced to retreat and effect repairs, while Enterprise limps to Regula I . Kirk, McCoy, and Saavik beam to the station and find Terrell and Chekov alive, along with the slaughtered members of Marcus' team. They soon find Carol and David hiding Genesis deep inside the nearby planetoid. Khan, having used Terrell and Chekov as spies, orders them to kill Kirk; Terrell resists
2646-419: A few events within the film. In the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness , Chekov finds himself promoted to chief engineer after Scotty resigns. When Kirk orders him to put on a red shirt, a brief sting is heard as a closeup shows Chekov's nervous face, playing on the reputation of redshirts in the franchise as much as the character's shock regarding his sudden promotion. The third film, Star Trek Beyond ,
2835-697: A lifeless planet to test the Genesis Device, a technology designed to reorganize dead matter into habitable worlds . Reliant' s Captain Clark Terrell and first officer Commander Pavel Chekov beam down to evaluate a planet they mistakenly believe to be Ceti Alpha VI. Once there, they are captured by the genetically-engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh , who explains that they are on Ceti Alpha V. Fifteen years prior, Kirk exiled Khan and his followers there after they attempted to take over Enterprise ; six months later, Ceti Alpha VI exploded, shifting
3024-401: A long tradition of movies featuring monster attacks. These differ from similar films in the horror or fantasy genres because science fiction films typically rely on a scientific (or at least pseudo-scientific) rationale for the monster's existence, rather than a supernatural or magical reason. Often, the science fiction film monster is created, awakened, or "evolves" because of the machinations of
3213-419: A lot of gore." Footage of a giant model of Koenig's ear was discarded from the theatrical release due to the visceral reaction it elicited in test audiences. Additional optical effects were provided by Visual Concept Engineering (VCE), a small effects company headed by Peter Kuran; Kuran had previously worked at ILM and left after finishing The Empire Strikes Back . VCE provided effects including phaser beams,
3402-533: A mad scientist, a nuclear accident, or a scientific experiment gone awry. Typical examples include The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Jurassic Park films, Cloverfield , Pacific Rim , the King Kong films, and the Godzilla franchise or the many films involving Frankenstein's monster . The core mental aspects of what makes us human has been a staple of science fiction films, particularly since
3591-495: A mellower section following that is the theme for the Starship Enterprise . Horner also wrote a motif for Spock, to emphasize the character's depth: "By putting a theme over Spock, it warms him and he becomes three-dimensional rather than a collection of schticks." The difference in the short, French horn -based cues for the villain and longer melodies for the heroes helped to differentiate characters and ships during
3780-453: A memo to his casting director, a desire to have someone reminiscent of one of The Beatles or Monkees on the show. Koenig's modest height, eyes, thick eyebrows, boyish face, and smile were all strikingly evocative of the lone British "Monkee" who captivated millions of pre-teen girls. Early attempts were made to style Koenig's brown hair similar to that of Jones too. Wigs were used in a couple of early episodes but not in others, which reveals
3969-462: A moderate success. The strongest contributors to the genre during the second half of the 1980s were James Cameron and Paul Verhoeven with The Terminator and RoboCop entries. Robert Zemeckis ' film Back to the Future ( 1985 ) and its sequels were critically praised and became box office successes, not to mention international phenomena. James Cameron's sequel to Alien , Aliens ( 1986 ),
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#17327718527674158-513: A month later to roughly coincide with Halloween ). Because of budgetary constraints, the character did not appear in the animated Star Trek . Pavel Andreievich Chekov was born in 2245 and is a young and naïve ensign who first appears on-screen in the original series ’ second season as the Enterprise ' s navigator. According to Roddenberry, he is "an extraordinarily capable young man—almost Spock 's equal in some areas. An honor graduate of
4347-510: A non-corporeal alien entity; in " And the Children Shall Lead ", Chekov was exposed to mind control by a group of children who had been given powers by a non-corporeal being; and in " The Tholian Web " Chekov became violently insane following exposure to interspace. Furthermore, in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Chekov was subject to mind control after being implanted with a juvenile Ceti eel. A running gag on Star Trek
4536-530: A number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials , notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers , both starring Buster Crabbe . These serials, and the comic strips they were based on, were very popular with the general public. Other notable science fiction films of the 1930s include Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Doctor X (1932), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), F.P.1 (1932), Island of Lost Souls (1932), Deluge (1933), The Invisible Man (1933), Master of
4725-463: A particular area or time period. This is not true of the science fiction film. However, there are several common visual elements that are evocative of the genre. These include the spacecraft or space station, alien worlds or creatures, robots, and futuristic gadgets. Examples include movies like Lost in Space , Serenity , Avatar , Prometheus , Tomorrowland , Passengers , and Valerian and
4914-500: A particular concern of the writer by serving as a vehicle of warning against a type of activity, including technological research. In the case of alien invasion films, the creatures can provide as a stand-in for a feared foreign power. Films that fit into the Disaster film typically also fall into the following general categories: While monster films do not usually depict danger on a global or epic scale, science fiction film also has
5103-565: A popular staple of science fiction film and science fiction television series. Time travel usually involves the use of some type of advanced technology, such as H. G. Wells' classic The Time Machine , the commercially successful 1980s-era Back to the Future trilogy, the Bill & Ted trilogy, the Terminator series, Déjà Vu (2006), Source Code (2011), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Predestination (2014). Other movies, such as
5292-406: A redesigned phaser and communicator, were vetoed by Paramount executives in favor of existing materials from The Motion Picture . Additional communicator props were built by John Zabrucky of Modern Props. The Enterprise was refurbished for its space shots, with its shiny exterior dulled down and extra detail added to the frame. Compared to the newly built Reliant , the Enterprise was hated by
5481-563: A restroom Khan wants to use. Chekov is an accomplice in Kirk's theft of the Enterprise to rescue Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , but is exonerated in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . He serves as navigator aboard the Enterprise -A during the events of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . The character's final film appearance
5670-430: A security measure, leading Fletcher to think it had been stolen. For Khan and his followers, Fletcher created a strong contrast with the highly organized Starfleet uniforms; his idea was that the exiles' costumes were made out of whatever they could find. Fletcher said, "My intention with Khan was to express the fact that they had been marooned on that planet with no technical infrastructure, so they had to cannibalize from
5859-435: A sequel, he would reprise Chekov and then retire from the role. He also returned as Chekov in the online miniseries Star Trek: Of Gods and Men . In scientific illustrator Jenny Parks ' 2017 book Star Trek Cats , Chekov is depicted as a Russian Blue . In 2018, The Wrap placed Chekov as 21st out 39 in a ranking of main cast characters of the Star Trek franchise prior to Star Trek: Discovery . In 2016, Chekov
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Misplaced Pages Continue
6048-427: A serious challenge in developing the new Star Trek film, partly due to his never having seen the television series. Watching episodes of the show convinced Bennett that what the first picture lacked was a real villain; after seeing the episode " Space Seed ", he decided that the character of Khan Noonien Singh was the perfect enemy for the new film. Bennett selected Robert Sallin, a director of television commercials and
6237-657: A special metal called unobtainium. That same year, Terminator Salvation was released and garnered only moderate success. The 2010s saw new entries in several classic science fiction franchises, including Predators ( 2010 ), Tron: Legacy (2010), a resurgence of the Star Wars series, and entries into the Planet of the Apes and Godzilla franchises. Several more cross-genre films have also been produced, including comedies such as Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Seeking
6426-413: A split-second before their demise, and then use their bodies for spare parts. Pavel Chekov Pavel Andreievich Chekov ( Russian : Павел Андреевич Чеков ) is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe . Walter Koenig portrayed Chekov in the second and third seasons of the original Star Trek series and the first seven Star Trek films. Anton Yelchin portrayed the character in
6615-441: A stage of experimentation to attentive viewers. Eventually, a final look for Koenig's hair length and fullness was reached and used consistently thereafter. After Paramount Television signed Koenig to a contract because of the number of fan letters he received as Chekov, Roddenberry wrote in another memo " Kirk and Spock and the others actually seem rather 'middle aged' to the large youthful segment of our audience. We badly need
6804-533: A threat or peril to the human race, where the invaders were frequently fictional representations of actual military or political threats on Earth as observed in films such as Mars Attacks! , Starship Troopers , the Alien series, the Predator series, and The Chronicles of Riddick series. Some aliens were represented as benign and even beneficial in nature in such films as Escape to Witch Mountain , E.T.
6993-487: A young man aboard the Enterprise —we need youthful attitudes and perspectives. Chekov can be used potently here". In actuality, Koenig is only five years younger than co-stars Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner . The episode " Amok Time ", which was the first episode broadcast during the second season, was Chekov's first television appearance (" Catspaw ", the first episode shot with the Chekov character, would be broadcast
7182-492: A younger Kirk. Bennett convinced Shatner that he could age gracefully like Spencer Tracy ; the producer did not know that Shatner had worked with Tracy on Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and was fond of the actor. Meyer made sure to emphasize Kirk's parallel to Sherlock Holmes in that both characters waste away in the absence of their stimuli; new cases, in Holmes' case, and starship adventures in Kirk's. Khan's pursuit of Kirk
7371-540: Is a popular scientific element in films as depicted in Jurassic Park (cloning of extinct species), The Island (cloning of humans), and ( genetic modification ) in some superhero movies and in the Alien series. Cybernetics and holographic projections as depicted in RoboCop and I, Robot are also popularized. Interstellar travel and teleportation is a popular theme in the Star Trek series that
7560-644: Is a popular theme in Independence Day while invisibility is also popular in Star Trek . Arc reactor technology, featured in Iron Man , is similar to a cold fusion device. Miniaturization technology where people are shrunk to microscopic sizes is featured in films like Fantastic Voyage (1966), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), and Marvel's Ant-Man (2015). The late Arthur C. Clarke 's third law states that "any sufficiently advanced technology
7749-564: Is achieved through warp drives and transporters while intergalactic travel is popular in films such as Stargate and Star Wars that is achieved through hyperspace or wormholes . Nanotechnology is also featured in the Star Trek series in the form of replicators (utopia), in The Day the Earth Stood Still in the form of grey goo (dystopia), and in Iron Man 3 in the form of extremis (nanotubes) . Force fields
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Misplaced Pages Continue
7938-435: Is also a favorite of director J. J. Abrams , producer Damon Lindelof , and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , the creative team behind the franchise relaunch film Star Trek . Abrams' second entry in the relaunched film series, Star Trek Into Darkness , drew significantly from Wrath of Khan . Paramount released The Wrath of Khan on RCA CED Videodisc in 1982 and on VHS and Betamax in 1983. The studio sold
8127-813: Is an exception. The first depiction of a sophisticated robot in a United States film was Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still . Robots in films are often sentient and sometimes sentimental, and they have filled a range of roles in science fiction films. Robots have been supporting characters, such as Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet , Huey, Dewey and Louie in Silent Running , Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation , sidekicks (e.g., C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars , JARVIS from Iron Man ), and extras, visible in
8316-576: Is as a guest aboard the Enterprise -B on its maiden voyage in Star Trek Generations . Chekov is mentioned in the series finale of Star Trek: Picard as being deceased in a broadcast by his son, Anton, who is serving as the president of the Federation. Koenig insisted that the character be called Anton as a tribute to the late Anton Yelchin , who inherited his role as Chekov for the J. J. Abrams reboot films. Spinoff novels show
8505-400: Is attacked by Klingon cruisers and critically damaged. The simulation is a no-win scenario designed to test the character of Starfleet officers. Later, Dr. Leonard McCoy visits Kirk on his birthday; seeing Kirk in low spirits due to his age, the doctor advises Kirk to get a new command instead of growing old behind a desk. Meanwhile, the starship Reliant is on a mission to search for
8694-514: Is being developed by Kirk's former lover, Dr. Carol Marcus , and their son, David . Kirk assumes command of Enterprise after the ship, deployed on a training cruise, receives a distress call from Regula I . En route, Enterprise is ambushed and crippled by Reliant . Khan offers to spare Kirk's crew if they relinquish all material related to Genesis; Kirk instead stalls for time and, taking advantage of Khan's unfamiliarity with starship controls, remotely lowers Reliant ' s shields , enabling
8883-486: Is central to the film's theme of vengeance, and The Wrath of Khan deliberately borrows heavily from Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick . To make the parallels clear to viewers, Meyer added a visible copy of Moby-Dick to Khan's dwelling. Khan liberally paraphrases Ahab, with "I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition's flames before I give him up!" Khan quotes Ahab's tirade at
9072-457: Is considered by many to be the best film in the Star Trek series, and is often credited with renewing substantial interest in the franchise. In 2285, Admiral James T. Kirk oversees a simulator session of Captain Spock 's trainees. In the simulation, Lieutenant Saavik commands the starship USS Enterprise on a rescue mission to save the crew of the damaged ship Kobayashi Maru , but
9261-699: Is featured in Minority Report as well as in The Matrix saga (in which precognition is achieved by knowing the artificial world). Robots have been a part of science fiction since the Czech playwright Karel Čapek coined the word in 1921. In early films, robots were usually played by a human actor in a boxy metal suit, as in The Phantom Empire , although the female robot in Metropolis
9450-506: Is indistinguishable from magic". Past science fiction films have depicted "fictional" ("magical") technologies that became present reality. For example, the Personal Access Display Device from Star Trek was a precursor of smartphones and tablet computers . Gesture recognition in the movie Minority Report is part of current game consoles . Human-level artificial intelligence is also fast approaching with
9639-439: Is regarded as one of the best movies of the period, Planet of the Apes (1968) and Fahrenheit 451 ( 1966 ), which provided social commentary, and the campy Barbarella (1968), which explored the comical side of earlier science fiction. Jean-Luc Godard 's French "new wave" film Alphaville (1965) posited a futuristic Paris commanded by an artificial intelligence which has outlawed all emotion. The era of crewed trips to
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#17327718527679828-539: Is remote telepresence via androids as depicted in Surrogates and Iron Man 3 . As artificial intelligence becomes smarter due to increasing computer power , some sci-fi dreams have already been realized. For example, the computer Deep Blue beat the world chess champion in 1997 and a documentary film, Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine , was released in 2003. Another famous computer called Watson defeated
10017-471: Is that whenever Chekov gets into personal combat with opponents stronger than him, he loses the fight: " The Trouble with Tribbles " with Klingons or " The Gamesters of Triskelion " with the gladiator-like slaves/thralls. In " Spectre of the Gun " he is shot and killed in the fantasy but survives only because he was thinking of a beautiful fantasy woman. He also likes the beautiful female androids in " I, Mudd ". By
10206-410: Is the mastermind behind the plot, and Kirk and son join forces to defeat the tyrant. Bennett then hired Jack B. Sowards , an avid Star Trek fan, to turn his outline into a filmable script. Sowards wrote an initial script before a writer's strike in 1981. Sowards' draft, The Omega Syndrome , involved the theft of the Federation's ultimate weapon, the "Omega system". Sowards was concerned that his weapon
10395-525: Is whether robots will someday replace humans, a question raised in the film adaptation of Isaac Asimov 's I, Robot (in jobs) and in the film Real Steel (in sports), or whether intelligent robots could develop a conscience and a motivation to protect, take over, or destroy the human race (as depicted in The Terminator , Transformers , and in Avengers: Age of Ultron ). Another theme
10584-442: The Planet of the Apes series, Timeline (2003) and The Last Mimzy (2007), explained their depictions of time travel by drawing on physics concepts such as the special relativity phenomenon of time dilation (which could occur if a spaceship was travelling near the speed of light) and wormholes . Some films show time travel not being attained from advanced technology, but rather from an inner source or personal power, such as
10773-565: The Power Rangers (2017) reboot was greatly improved as compared to the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). While "size does matter", a famous tagline of the movie Godzilla , incredibly small robots, called nanobots , do matter as well (e.g. Borg nanoprobes in Star Trek and nanites in I, Robot ). The concept of time travel —travelling backwards and forwards through time—has always been
10962-457: The Star Wars prequel trilogy , or the huge robot probes seen in Monsters vs. Aliens ). In some cases, robots have even been the leading characters in science fiction films; in the film Blade Runner (1982), many of the characters are bioengineered android " replicants ". This is also present in the animated films WALL-E (2008), Astro Boy (2009), Big Hero 6 (2014), Ghost in
11151-522: The Enterprise reactor, additional sand on Ceti Alpha V, and an updated transporter effect. Meyer and the production staff were adamant about not using freeze frames for the transporter, as had been done in the original television series. Scenes were shot so that conversations would continue while characters were in mid-transport, although much of the matte work VCE created was discarded when the production decided not to have as much action during transports. Computer graphics company Evans & Sutherland used
11340-466: The Star Wars prequel trilogy began with the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace , which eventually grossed over one billion dollars. As the decade progressed, computers played an increasingly important role in both the addition of special effects (thanks to Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park ) and the production of films. As software developed in sophistication it
11529-616: The Washington Monument . Cultural theorist Scott Bukatman has proposed that science fiction film allows contemporary culture to witness an expression of the sublime , be it through exaggerated scale, apocalypse or transcendence. Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era, typically as short films shot in black and white, sometimes with colour tinting. They usually had a technological theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1902 , Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune , generally considered
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#173277185276711718-425: The assassination of John F. Kennedy . This was rejected by Paramount executives, who blamed the tepid reception and costs of the first film on its plodding pace and the constant rewrites Roddenberry demanded. As a consequence, Roddenberry was removed from the production and, according to Shatner, "kicked upstairs" to the ceremonial position of executive consultant. Harve Bennett , a new Paramount television producer,
11907-469: The cyberpunk genre spawned several movies on the theme of the computer-human interface, such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day ( 1991 ), Total Recall ( 1990 ), The Lawnmower Man ( 1992 ), and The Matrix ( 1999 ). Other themes included disaster films (e.g., Armageddon and Deep Impact , both 1998 ), alien invasion (e.g., Independence Day ( 1996 )) and genetic experimentation (e.g., Jurassic Park ( 1993 ) and Gattaca ( 1997 )). Also,
12096-402: The swashbuckling atmosphere of the original series, referring to the film as " Horatio Hornblower in space", a theme reinforced by James Horner 's musical score. Leonard Nimoy had not intended to have a role in the sequel, but was enticed back on the promise that his character would be given a dramatic death scene. Negative test audience reaction to Spock's death led to significant revisions of
12285-452: The virtual reality world became a real-world prison for humanity, managed by intelligent machines. In movies such as eXistenZ , The Thirteenth Floor , and Inception , the nature of reality and virtual reality become intermixed with no clear distinguishing boundary. Telekinesis and telepathy are featured in movies like Star Wars , The Last Mimzy , Race to Witch Mountain , Chronicle , and Lucy while precognition
12474-827: The young adult dystopian fiction subgenre, popular in the early part of the decade. These include the Hunger Games film series , based on the trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins , The Divergent Series based on Veronica Roth 's Divergent trilogy , and the Maze Runner series , based on James Dashner 's The Maze Runner novels . Several adult adaptations have also been produced, including The Martian (2015), based on Andy Weir 's 2011 novel , Cloud Atlas (2012), based on David Mitchell 's 2004 novel , World War Z , based on Max Brooks ' 2006 novel , and Ready Player One (2018), based on Ernest Cline 's 2011 novel . Independent productions also increased in
12663-412: The " mad scientist " transferring the human mind to another body is as old as Frankenstein while the idea of corporations behind mind transfer technologies is observed in later films such as Gamer , Avatar , and Surrogates . Films such as Total Recall have popularized a thread of films that explore the concept of reprogramming the human mind. The theme of brainwashing in several films of
12852-481: The "Omega system" to the " Genesis Device". By April 1981, Sowards had produced a draft that moved Spock's death to later in the story, because of fan dissatisfaction of the event after the script was leaked. Spock had originally died in the first act, in a shocking demise that Bennett compared to Janet Leigh 's early death in Psycho . This draft had a twelve-page face-to-face confrontation between Kirk and Khan inside
13041-623: The 1950s, Ray Harryhausen , protege of master King Kong animator Willis O'Brien, used stop-motion animation to create special effects for the following notable science fiction films: It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). The most successful monster movies were Japanese film studio Toho 's kaiju films directed by Ishirō Honda and featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya . The 1954 film Godzilla , with
13230-476: The 1960s, but some of the films transformed science fiction cinema. Stanley Kubrick 's 2001: A Space Odyssey ( 1968 ) brought new realism to the genre, with its groundbreaking visual effects and realistic portrayal of space travel and influenced the genre with its epic story and transcendent philosophical scope. Other 1960s films included Planet of the Vampires (1965) by Italian filmmaker Mario Bava , that
13419-482: The 1970s included Woody Allen 's Sleeper ( 1973 ), and John Carpenter 's Dark Star ( 1974 ). The sports science fiction genre can be seen in films such as Rollerball (1975). Star Wars ( 1977 ) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind ( 1977 ) were box-office hits that brought about a huge increase in science fiction films. In 1979 , Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the television series to
13608-408: The 1980s. Ridley Scott 's Blade Runner (1982), an adaptation of Philip K. Dick 's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , examined what made an organic-creation a human, while the RoboCop series saw an android mechanism fitted with the brain and reprogrammed mind of a human to create a cyborg . The idea of brain transfer was not entirely new to science fiction film, as the concept of
13797-519: The 1990s, and in 2007 Art Asylum crafted a full series of action figures to mark the film's 25th anniversary. In 2009, IDW Publishing released a comic adaptation of the film, and Film Score Monthly released an expanded score. The Wrath of Khan opened on June 4, 1982, in 1,621 theaters in the United States. It made $ 14,347,221 in its opening weekend, at the time the largest opening weekend gross in history. It went on to earn $ 78,912,963 in
13986-443: The 2000s-era films Donnie Darko , Mr. Nobody , The Butterfly Effect , and X-Men: Days of Future Past . More conventional time travel movies use technology to bring the past to life in the present, or in a present that lies in our future. The film Iceman (1984) told the story of the reanimation of a frozen Neanderthal . The film Freejack (1992) shows time travel used to pull victims of horrible deaths forward in time
14175-517: The 2009 Star Trek reboot film and two sequels, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond . Both Koenig and Yelchin were born to Russian parents, but grew up in the United States , and both affected Russian accents for their roles. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wanted to include a younger cast member to appeal to teenage audiences. With a second season of Star Trek to be produced, Roddenberry interviewed Walter Koenig on
14364-579: The 2010s, with the rise of digital filmmaking making it easier for filmmakers to produce movies on a smaller budget. These films include Attack the Block (2011), Source Code (2011), Looper (2012), Upstream Color (2013), Ex Machina (2015), and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017). In 2016, Ex Machina won the Academy Award for Visual Effects in a surprising upset over
14553-515: The City of a Thousand Planets . More subtle visual clues can appear with changes of the human form through modifications in appearance, size, or behavior, or by means a known environment turned eerily alien, such as an empty city The Omega Man (1971). While science is a major element of this genre, many movie studios take significant liberties with scientific knowledge. Such liberties can be most readily observed in films that show spacecraft maneuvering in outer space . The vacuum should preclude
14742-568: The Earth Stood Still , and The Watch , the aliens were nearly human in physical appearance, and communicated in a common earth language. However, the aliens in Stargate and Prometheus were human in physical appearance but communicated in an alien language. A few films have tried to represent intelligent aliens as something utterly different from the usual humanoid shape (e.g. An intelligent life form surrounding an entire planet in Solaris ,
14931-772: The Extra-Terrestrial , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , The Fifth Element , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Avatar , Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets , and the Men in Black series. In order to provide subject matter to which audiences can relate, the large majority of intelligent alien races presented in films have an anthropomorphic nature, possessing human emotions and motivations. In films like Cocoon , My Stepmother Is an Alien , Species , Contact , The Box , Knowing , The Day
15120-534: The Genesis Device, Meyer wanted to call the film The Undiscovered Country , in reference to Prince Hamlet 's description of death in William Shakespeare 's Hamlet , but the title was changed during editing without his knowledge. Meyer disliked Wrath of Khan , but it was chosen because the preferred Vengeance of Khan conflicted with Lucasfilm 's forthcoming Revenge of the Jedi (renamed Return of
15309-473: The Genesis Project video. While most of the film was "locked in" by the time Horner had begun composing music, he had to change musical cue orchestration after the integration of special effects caused changes in scene durations. The Wrath of Khan features several recurring themes, including death, resurrection, and growing old. Upon writing his script, Meyer hit upon a link between Spock's death and
15498-409: The Genesis cave. Sowards' draft introduced a male character named Saavik. As pre-production began, Samuel A. Peeples , writer of the Star Trek episode " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", was invited to offer his own script. Peeples' draft replaced Khan with two new villains named Sojin and Moray; the alien beings are so powerful they almost destroy Earth by mistake. This script was considered inadequate;
15687-454: The Jedi . He tied a string to the eels to inch the models across the actors' faces before they entered the ear canal. The scene of a more mature eel leaving Chekov's ear was simulated by threading a microfilament through the floor of the set up to Koenig's ear. The scene was filmed with three variations, which Ralston described as "a dry shot, one with some blood, and the Fangoria shot, with
15876-439: The Jedi late in production). Meyer added elements to reinforce the aging of the characters. Kirk's unhappiness about his birthday is compounded by McCoy's gift of reading glasses. The script stated that Kirk was 49, but Shatner was unsure about being specific about Kirk's age. Bennett remembers that Shatner was hesitant about portraying a middle-aged version of himself, and believed that with proper makeup he could continue playing
16065-790: The Moon in 1969 and the 1970s saw a resurgence of interest in the science fiction film. Andrei Tarkovsky 's Solaris ( 1972 ) and Stalker ( 1979 ) are two widely acclaimed examples of the renewed interest of film auteurs in science fiction. Science fiction films from the early 1970s explored the theme of paranoia, in which humanity is depicted as under threat from sociological, ecological or technological adversaries of its own creation, such as George Lucas 's directional debut THX 1138 ( 1971 ), The Andromeda Strain ( 1971 ), Silent Running ( 1972 ), Soylent Green ( 1973 ), Westworld ( 1973 ) and its sequel Futureworld ( 1976 ), and Logan's Run ( 1976 ). The science fiction comedies of
16254-584: The Pole (1912), Himmelskibet (1918; which with its runtime of 97 minutes generally is considered the first feature-length science fiction film in history), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Mechanical Man (1921), Paris Qui Dort (1923), Aelita (1924), Luch Smerti (1925), and The Lost World (1925). In the 1930s, there were several big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine (1930), King Kong (1933), Things to Come (1936), and Lost Horizon (1937). Starting in 1936,
16443-502: The Sea ( 1916 ) is a film based on Jules Verne ’s famous novel of a wondrous submarine and its vengeful captain. In the 1920s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis ( 1927 ) and Frau im Mond ( 1929 ). Other notable science fiction films of the silent era include The Impossible Voyage (1904), The Motorist (1906), The Conquest of
16632-530: The Shell (2017) and in Next Gen (2018). Films like Bicentennial Man , A.I. Artificial Intelligence , Chappie , and Ex Machina depicted the emotional fallouts of robots that are self-aware. Other films like The Animatrix (The Second Renaissance) present the consequences of mass-producing self-aware androids as humanity succumbs to their robot overlords. One popular theme in science fiction film
16821-1076: The Shell (2017). The superhero film boom has also continued, into films such as Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013), several entries into the X-Men film series , and The Avengers (2012), which became the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time. New franchises such as Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy also began in this decade. Further into the decade, more realistic science fiction epic films also become prevalent, including Battleship (2012), Gravity (2013), Elysium (2013), Interstellar ( 2014 ), Mad Max: Fury Road ( 2015 ), The Martian ( 2015 ), Arrival ( 2016 ), Passengers (2016), and Blade Runner 2049 ( 2017 ). Many of these films have gained widespread accolades, including several Academy Award wins and nominations. These films have addressed recent matters of scientific interest, including space travel, climate change, and artificial intelligence. Alongside these original films, many adaptations were produced, especially within
17010-601: The Space Academy." Chekov also substitutes for Mr. Spock at the science officer station when necessary. His promotion to lieutenant for Star Trek: The Motion Picture brings with it his transfer as the ship's tactical officer and chief of security. During his tour of Duty on the Enterprise, Chekov lost his mind on three occasions: in " Day of the Dove " Chekov was implanted with false memories and driven to violence by
17199-474: The US, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1982. It made $ 97,000,000 worldwide. Although the total gross of The Wrath of Khan was less than that of The Motion Picture , it was more profitable due to its much lower production cost. Critical response was positive. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 86% of 73 critics have given the film a positive review, recording an average score of 8.1/10. After
17388-451: The VHS for $ 39.95, $ 40 below contemporary movie cassette prices and it sold a record 120,000 copies. The successful experiment was credited with instigating more competitive VHS pricing, an increase in the adoption of increasingly cheaper VHS players, and an industry-wide move away from rentals to sales as the bulk of videotape revenue. Science fiction film The genre has existed since
17577-697: The World (1934), Mad Love (1935), Trans-Atlantic Tunnel (1935), The Devil-Doll (1936), The Invisible Ray (1936), The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936), The Walking Dead (1936), Non-Stop New York (1937), and The Return of Doctor X (1939). The 1940s brought us Before I Hang (1940), Black Friday (1940), Dr. Cyclops (1940), The Devil Commands (1941), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Man Made Monster (1941), It Happened Tomorrow (1944), It Happens Every Spring (1949), and The Perfect Woman (1949). The release of Destination Moon (1950) and Rocketship X-M (1950) brought us to what many people consider "the golden age of
17766-776: The Worlds (1953), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), This Island Earth (1955), Forbidden Planet (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and On the Beach (1959). There is often a close connection between films in the science fiction genre and the so-called " monster movie ". Examples of this are Them! (1954), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and The Blob (1958). During
17955-534: The advent of smartphone A.I. while a working cloaking device / material is the main goal of stealth technology . Autonomous cars (e.g. KITT from the Knight Rider series) and quantum computers , like in the movie Stealth and Transcendence , also will be available eventually. Furthermore, although Clarke's laws do not classify "sufficiently advanced" technologies , the Kardashev scale measures
18144-430: The age of the characters. "This was going to be a story in which Spock died, so it was going to be a story about death, and it was only a short hop, skip, and a jump to realize that it was going to be about old age and friendship," Meyer said. "I don't think that any of [the other preliminary] scripts were about old age, friendship, and death." In keeping with the theme of death and rebirth symbolized by Spock's sacrifice and
18333-423: The aliens resembled too closely the villains on a typical TOS ( Star Trek: The Original Series ) episode . Deadlines loomed for special effects production to begin (which required detailed storyboards based on a finished script), which did not exist. Karen Moore, a Paramount executive, suggested that Nicholas Meyer , writer of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and director of Time After Time , could help resolve
18522-576: The background to create a futuristic setting (e.g., Back to the Future Part II (1989), Total Recall (2012), RoboCop (2014)). As well, robots have been formidable movie villains or monsters (e.g., the robot Box in the film Logan's Run (1976), HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey , ARIIA in Eagle Eye , robot Sentinels in X-Men: Days of Future Past , the battle droids in
18711-691: The ball shaped creature in Dark Star , microbial-like creatures in The Invasion , shape-shifting creatures in Evolution ). Recent trends in films involve building-size alien creatures like in the movie Pacific Rim where the CGI has tremendously improved over the previous decades as compared in previous films such as Godzilla . A frequent theme among science fiction films is that of impending or actual disaster on an epic scale. These often address
18900-410: The bathroom, but did Star Trek have to be so sanctified? Meyer described his script as " 'Hornblower' in outer space", using nautical references and a swashbuckling atmosphere. (Hornblower was an inspiration to Roddenberry and Shatner when making the show, although Meyer was unaware of this.) Sallin was impressed with Meyer's vision for the film: "His ideas brought dimension that broadened the scope of
19089-562: The battle sequences. The soundtrack was Horner's first major film score, and was written in four and a half weeks. The resulting 72 minutes of music was then performed by a 91-piece orchestra. Recording sessions for the score began on April 12, 1982, at the Warner Bros. lot, The Burbank Studios and continued until April 15. A pickup session was held on April 30 to record music for the Mutara nebula battle, while another session held on May 3
19278-496: The best aspects of the previous ones. To offset fan expectation that Spock would die, Meyer had the character "killed" in the Kobayashi Maru simulator in the opening scene. The effects company required a completed script in just 12 days. Meyer wrote the screenplay uncredited and for no pay before the deadline, surprising the actors and producers, and rapidly produced subsequent rewrites as necessary. One draft, for example, had
19467-657: The big screen for the first time. It was also in this period that the Walt Disney Company released many science fiction films for family audiences such as The Black Hole , Flight of the Navigator , and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids . The sequels to Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back ( 1980 ) and Return of the Jedi ( 1983 ), also saw worldwide box office success. Ridley Scott 's films, such as Alien ( 1979 ) and Blade Runner ( 1982 ), along with James Cameron 's The Terminator ( 1984 ), presented
19656-408: The bombastic and elegiac elements of John Williams' Star Wars and Goldsmith's original Star Trek (The Motion Picture) scores," Horner was expressly told to not use any of Goldsmith's score. Instead Horner adapted the opening fanfare of Alexander Courage 's Star Trek television theme. "The fanfare draws you in immediately — you know you're going to get a good movie," Horner said. In comparison to
19845-515: The character of Chekov will be written out in future films. Walter Koenig reprised his role as Chekov 12 years after Star Trek Generations in the fan-created series New Voyages episode " To Serve All My Days ". Andy Bray portrayed a younger Chekov in that episode. Koenig reprised the character again in Star Trek: Renegades as 143-year-old Admiral Chekov, the newly appointed head of Section 31. He has stated that should there be
20034-426: The computer graphics-based Digistar planetarium system to generate the fields of stars, based on a database of real stars . The models of the ships were composited atop the star fields. The Evans & Sutherland team also produced the vector graphics tactical displays seen on the Enterprise and the simulator bridge. The Wrath of Khan was one of the first films to extensively use computer graphics to improve
20223-558: The construction of large and expensive sets. For a scene taking place at Starfleet Academy , a forced perspective was created by placing scenery close to the camera to give the sense the set was larger than it really was. To present the illusion that the Enterprise ' s elevators moved between decks, corridor pieces were wheeled out of sight to change the hall configuration while the turbolift doors were closed. Background equipment such as computer terminals were rented when possible instead of purchased outright. Some designed props, such as
20412-546: The damage without physically harming the models. Rather than move the models on a bluescreen during shooting, the VistaVision camera was panned and tracked to give the illusion of movement. Damage to the Enterprise was cosmetic, and simulated with pieces of aluminum that were colored or peeled off. Phaser damage was created using stop motion . The script called for large-scale damage to the Reliant , so larger versions of
20601-408: The dark red due to the strong contrast it provided with the background. The resulting naval-inspired designs would be used in Star Trek films until First Contact (1996). The first versions of the uniforms had stiff black collars, but Sallin suggested changing it to a turtleneck, using a form of vertical quilting called trapunto . The method creates a bas-relief effect to the material by stuffing
20790-399: The designers was that Reliant should be easily distinguishable from Enterprise . The ship's design was flipped after Bennett accidentally opened and approved the preliminary Reliant designs upside-down. Designer Robert Fletcher was brought in to redesign existing costumes and create new ones. Fletcher decided on a scheme of "corrupt colors", using materials with colors slightly off from
20979-400: The duration of the sequences, was listed. By the end of six weeks, the producers determined the basic look and construction of nearly all the effects; the resulting shots were combined with film footage five months later. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) produced many of the effects, and created the new models; the Reliant was the first non- Constitution -class Federation starship seen in
21168-406: The early years of silent cinema , when Georges Méliès ' A Trip to the Moon (1902) employed trick photography effects. The next major example (first in feature-length in the genre) was the film Metropolis (1927). From the 1930s to the 1950s, the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies . After Stanley Kubrick 's landmark 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the science fiction film genre
21357-745: The eel's influence and kills himself, while Chekov collapses as the eel leaves his body. Khan transports Genesis aboard the Reliant , intending to maroon Kirk on the lifeless planetoid, but is tricked by Kirk and Spock's coded arrangements for a rendezvous. Kirk directs Enterprise into the nearby Mutara Nebula, successfully taunting Khan into following him; conditions inside the nebula render shields useless and compromise targeting systems, making Enterprise and Reliant evenly matched. Spock notes that Khan's tactics indicate inexperience in three-dimensional combat, which Kirk exploits to disable Reliant . Mortally wounded, Khan activates Genesis, quoting Captain Ahab from
21546-434: The effects artists and cameramen; it took eight people to mount the model, and a forklift truck to move it. The Reliant , meanwhile, was lighter and had less complex internal wiring. The spaceship miniatures were photographed against a blue screen, which in post production allowed them to be composited with background scenery which had itself been photographed independently of the foreground miniatures. Any reflection of blue on
21735-513: The end of the novel verbatim with his final lines: "To the last I grapple with thee; from Hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." The film's novelization, written by Vonda N. McIntyre , stayed on the New York Times paperback bestsellers list for more than three weeks. Unlike the previous film, Wrath of Khan was not promoted with a toy line, although Playmates Toys created Khan and Saavik figures in
21924-514: The ending over Meyer's objections. The production team used various cost-cutting techniques to keep within budget, including using miniature models from past projects and reusing sets, effects footage, and costumes from the first film. The film was the first feature film to contain a sequence created entirely with computer graphics . Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released in North America on June 4, 1982, by Paramount Pictures . It
22113-491: The events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Chekov is executive officer aboard the USS Reliant . In that film, Khan Noonien Singh uses a creature that wraps itself around Chekov's cerebral cortex to control him and his captain. Chekov overcomes the creature's mind control and serves as Enterprise tactical officer in the film's climactic battle. A common myth about Star Trek is that Khan recognizing Chekov in
22302-438: The film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). After the lackluster critical response to the first film, series creator Gene Roddenberry was forced out of the sequel's production. Executive producer Harve Bennett wrote the film's original outline, which Jack B. Sowards developed into a full script. Director Nicholas Meyer completed its final script in twelve days, without accepting a writing credit. Meyer's approach evoked
22491-545: The film "wonderful dumb fun." Gene Siskel gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling it "a flat-out winner, full of appealing characters in engaging relationships in a futuristic film that has a delightfully old-fashioned sense of majesty about its characters and the predicaments they get into." The film's pacing was praised by reviewers in The New York Times and The Washington Post as being much swifter than its predecessor and closer to that of
22680-463: The film carries a profound message - that the evolution of a species toward technological perfection (in this case exemplified by the disappeared alien civilization called the "Krell") does not ensure the loss of primitive and dangerous urges. In the film, this part of the primitive mind manifests itself as monstrous destructive force emanating from the Freudian subconscious, or "Id". Some films blur
22869-427: The film is a continuity error because " Space Seed ", with the villain, was broadcast before Koenig's casting. Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text calls this "the apparent gaffe notorious throughout Star Trek fandom". Although Chekov does not appear in "Space Seed", " Catspaw "—with the character—has an earlier stardate . Koenig joked that Khan remembers Chekov from the episode after he takes too long in
23058-465: The film number four on its list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals . Popular Mechanics would later rate Spock's death the tenth greatest scene in science fiction. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Derek Adams of Time Out complained about what were seen as tepid battle sequences and perceived melodrama. While Ebert and TV Guide felt that Spock's death
23247-427: The film should be an action adventure with elements of pathos and philosophy gently added – The Wrath of Khan succeeded brilliantly. For those who loved the series, it was a dream come true (to such an extent that many refuse to acknowledge the existence of the first film as part of the Star Trek epos)." The Wrath of Khan won two Saturn Awards in 1982, for best actor (Shatner) and best direction (Meyer). The film
23436-564: The films were often well-photographed in colour ... and their dismal dialogue was delivered in well-designed and well-lit sets." With the Space Race between the USSR and the US going on, documentaries and illustrations of actual events, pioneers and technology were plenty. Any movie featuring realistic space travel was at risk of being obsolete at its time of release, rather fossil than fiction. There were relatively few science fiction films in
23625-491: The first film, including footage of Enterprise in spacedock. The original ship miniatures were used where possible, or modified to stand in as new constructions. The orbital office complex from The Motion Picture was inverted and retouched to become the Regula I space station. Elements of the cancelled Star Trek: Phase II television show, such as bulkheads, railings, and sets, were cannibalized and reused. A major concern for
23814-440: The first science fiction film, and a film that used early trick photography to depict a spacecraft's journey to the Moon. Several early films merged the science fiction and horror genres. Examples of this are Frankenstein ( 1910 ), a film adaptation of Mary Shelley 's novel, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), based on the psychological tale by Robert Louis Stevenson . Taking a more adventurous tack, 20,000 Leagues Under
24003-453: The flowing main theme, Khan's leitmotif was designed as a percussive texture that could be overlaid with other music and emphasized the character's insanity. The seven-note brass theme was echoplexed to emphasize the character's ruminations about the past while on Ceti Alpha V, but does not play fully until Reliant ' s attack on the Enterprise . Many elements drew from Horner's previous work (a rhythm that accompanies Khan's theme during
24192-885: The future as dark, dirty and chaotic, and depicted aliens and androids as hostile and dangerous. In contrast, Steven Spielberg 's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ( 1982 ), one of the most successful films of the 1980s, presented aliens as benign and friendly, a theme already present in Spielberg's own Close Encounters of the Third Kind . James Bond also entered the science fiction genre in 1979 with Moonraker . The big budget adaptations of Frank Herbert 's Dune and Alex Raymond 's Flash Gordon , as well as Peter Hyams 's sequel to 2001 , 2010: The Year We Make Contact (based on 2001 author Arthur C. Clarke 's sequel novel 2010: Odyssey Two ), were box office failures that dissuaded producers from investing in science fiction literary properties. Disney's Tron ( 1982 ) turned out to be
24381-421: The genre. In the monster films of the 1950s, the scientist often played a heroic role as the only person who could provide a technological fix for some impending doom. Reflecting the distrust of government that began in the 1960s in the United States, the brilliant but rebellious scientist became a common theme, often serving a Cassandra -like role during an impending disaster. Biotechnology (e.g., cloning )
24570-635: The graphics team paid attention to detail such as ensuring that the stars visible in the background matched those visible from a real star light-years from Earth. The animators hoped it would serve as a "commercial" for the studio's talents. The studio would later branch off from Lucasfilm to form Pixar , now a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios , a division of Disney Entertainment , which is owned by The Walt Disney Company , one of Paramount Pictures and Paramount Global 's rivals. The sequence would be reused in two sequels, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , as well as in
24759-415: The ground and covered in wooden mats, over which tons of colored sand and powder were dumped. A cyclorama was painted and wrapped around the set, while massive industrial fans created a sandstorm. The filming was uncomfortable for actors and crew alike. The spandex environmental suits Koenig and Winfield wore were unventilated, and the actors had to signal by microphone when they needed air. Filming equipment
24948-464: The idea of reprogrammable reality and memory. The idea that a human could be entirely represented as a program in a computer was a core element of the film Tron . This would be further explored in the film version of The Lawnmower Man , Transcendence , and Ready Player One and the idea reversed in Virtuosity as computer programs sought to become real persons. In The Matrix series,
25137-538: The kind of score they had gotten before. They did not want a John Williams score, per se . They wanted something different, more modern." When asked about how he landed the assignment, the composer replied that "the producers loved my work for Wolfen , and had heard my music for several other projects, and I think, so far as I've been told, they liked my versatility very much. I wanted the assignment, and I met with them, we all got along well, they were impressed with my music, and that's how it happened." Horner agreed with
25326-399: The line between the genres, such as films where the protagonist gains the extraordinary powers of the superhero . These films usually employ quasi-plausible reason for the hero gaining these powers. Not all science fiction themes are equally suitable for movies. Science fiction horror is most common. Often enough, these films could just as well pass as Westerns or World War II films if
25515-425: The lukewarm reaction to the first film, fan response to The Wrath of Khan was highly positive. The film's success was credited with renewing interest in the franchise. Mark Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly went further, calling The Wrath of Khan "the film that, by most accounts, saved Star Trek as we know it"; it is now considered one of the best films in the series. Pauline Kael of The New Yorker called
25704-435: The material as we were working on it." Gene Roddenberry disagreed with the script's naval texture and Khan's Captain Ahab undertones, but was mostly ignored by the creative team. Meyer attempted to change the look of Star Trek to match the nautical atmosphere he envisioned while staying within budget. The Enterprise , for example, was given a ship's bell , boatswain's call , and more blinking lights and signage. Meyer had
25893-400: The media reassured fans that "Spock will live" again. Due to time constraints, the casket scene was filmed in an overgrown corner of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park , using smoke machines to add a primal atmosphere. The shoot lasted from midday to evening, as the team was well aware there would be no time for reshoots. Special consideration was given during filming to allow for integration of
26082-458: The much higher-budget Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Science fiction films are often speculative in nature, and often include key supporting elements of science and technology. However, as often as not the "science" in a Hollywood science fiction movie can be considered pseudo-science, relying primarily on atmosphere and quasi-scientific artistic fancy than facts and conventional scientific theory. The definition can also vary depending on
26271-499: The nebula were simulated by lighting the tank using colored gels . Additional light effects such as auroras were created by the ILM animation department. The ships were combined with the nebula background plates via bluescreen mattes to complete the shot. The destruction of the Reliant 's engine nacelle was created by superimposing shots of the engine blowing apart and explosions over the model. The scene in which Terrell kills Jedda,
26460-480: The new Genesis planet. The Wrath of Khan ' s cast includes all the major characters from the original television series, as well as new actors and characters. After the release of The Motion Picture , executive producer Gene Roddenberry wrote his own sequel. In his plot, the crew of the Enterprise travel back in time to set right a corrupted time line after Klingons use the Guardian of Forever to prevent
26649-400: The novel Moby Dick as he dies. Though Kirk's crew detects the activation and attempts to move out of range, they will not be able to escape the nebula in time without the ship's inoperable warp drive . To restore warp power, Spock goes to the engine room, which is flooded with radiation. When McCoy tries to prevent Spock's entry, Spock incapacitates him with a Vulcan nerve pinch and performs
26838-406: The orbit of Ceti Alpha V and turning it into a desert wasteland. This killed several of Khan's people; many others, including his wife, were killed by the native parasitic Ceti eels. Khan implants Chekov and Terrell with eel larvae, rendering them susceptible to mind control; he uses the pair to capture Reliant . Learning of the Genesis Device, Khan attacks space station Regula I , where the device
27027-399: The outlined areas with soft thread shot via air pressure through a hollow needle. By the time of The Wrath of Khan ' s production, the machines and needles needed to produce trapunto were rare, and Fletcher was only able to find one needle for the wardrobe department. The crew was so worried about losing or breaking the needle that one of the department's workers took it home with him as
27216-437: The planned special effects. Television monitors standing in for computer displays were specially calibrated so that their refresh rate did not result in banding on film. Due to a loss of resolution and quality resulting from rephotographing an element in an optical printer, live action sequences for effects were shot in 65mm or VistaVision formats to compensate. When the larger prints were reduced through an anamorphic lens on
27405-402: The plot, and Nimoy even received death threats. Test audiences reacted badly to Spock's death and the film's ending's dark tone, so it was made more uplifting by Bennett. The scene of Spock's casket on the planet and Nimoy's closing monologue were added; Meyer objected, but did not stand in the way of the modifications. Nimoy did not know about the scene until he saw the film, but before it opened,
27594-504: The printer, the result was a Panavision composite. With a short timeframe to complete The Wrath of Khan 's special effects sequences, effects supervisor Jim Veilleux, Meyer, Jennings, Sallin, and Minor worked to transform the written ideas for the script into concrete storyboards and visuals. The detailed sequences were essential to keep the film's effects from spiraling out of control and driving up costs, as had occurred with The Motion Picture . Each special and optical effect, and
27783-411: The producers' expectations and agreed to begin work in mid-January 1982. In keeping with the nautical tone, Meyer wanted music evocative of seafaring and swashbuckling, and the director and composer worked together closely, becoming friends in the process. As a classical music fan, Meyer was able to describe the effects and sounds he wanted in the music. While Horner's style was described as "echoing both
27972-474: The pure color. "They're not colors you see today, so in a subtle way [they] indicate another time." Meyer did not like the Starfleet uniforms from either the television series or The Motion Picture and wanted them changed, but could not be discarded entirely because of the budget. Dye tests of the fabric showed that the old uniforms took three colors well: blue-gray, gold, and dark red. Fletcher decided to use
28161-399: The recommendation of director Joseph Pevney . After casting Koenig, Roddenberry wrote a letter to Mikhail Zimyanin , editor of Pravda , informing him of the introduction of a Russian character, and an NBC press release announcing the character at the time stated that it was in response to a Pravda article, condemning the show for having no Russian characters. The existence of such
28350-473: The release of Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), both of which resulted in worldwide box office success. In 2009, James Cameron 's Avatar garnered worldwide box office success, and would later become the highest-grossing movie of all time. This movie was also an example of political commentary. It depicted humans destroying the environment on another planet by mining for
28539-586: The repetitions of the Korova Milkbar make the alien decor seem more familiar. As well, familiar images become alien, as in the films Repo Man and Liquid Sky . For example, in Dr. Strangelove , the distortion of the humans make the familiar images seem more alien. Finally, alien images are juxtaposed with the familiar, as in The Deadly Mantis , when a giant praying mantis is shown climbing
28728-403: The science fiction film". In the 1950s, public interest in space travel and new technologies was great. While many 1950s science fiction films were low-budget B movies , there were several successful films with larger budgets and impressive special effects. These include The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951), When Worlds Collide (1951), The War of
28917-429: The science fiction props were removed. Common motifs also include voyages and expeditions to other planets, and dystopias , while utopias are rare. Film theorist Vivian Sobchack argues that science fiction films differ from fantasy films in that while science fiction film seeks to achieve our belief in the images we are viewing, fantasy film instead attempts to suspend our disbelief. The science fiction film displays
29106-463: The scientist has varied considerably in the science fiction film genre, depending on the public perception of science and advanced technology. Starting with Dr. Frankenstein , the mad scientist became a stock character who posed a dire threat to society and perhaps even civilization. Certain portrayals of the "mad scientist", such as Peter Sellers 's performance in Dr. Strangelove , have become iconic to
29295-410: The screenplay issues. Meyer had also never seen an episode of Star Trek . He had the idea of making a list consisting of everything that the creative team had liked from the preceding drafts—"it could be a character, it could be a scene, it could be a plot, it could be a subplot, [...] it could be a line of dialogue"—so that he could use that list as the basis of a new screenplay made from all
29484-401: The sequence's scope be expanded to show the Genesis effect taking over a planet. While Paramount appreciated the more dramatic presentation, they wanted the simulation to be more impressive than traditional animation. Having seen research done by Lucasfilm's computer graphics group, Veilleux offered them the task. Introducing the novel technique of particle systems for the sixty-second sequence,
29673-467: The series. Originally, the Reliant was conceived as a Constitution -class starship identical to the Enterprise , but it was felt audiences would have difficulty distinguishing between two alike ships, especially during the battle scene in the Mutara Nebula. As the script called for the Reliant and Enterprise to inflict significant damage on each other, ILM developed techniques to illustrate
29862-406: The ship's hull would appear as a hole on the film; the gaps had to be patched frame by frame for the final film. The Dykstraflex motion control system was used for filming the miniature photography shots of the Enterprise and other ship exteriors. The barren desert surface of Ceti Alpha V was simulated on stage 8, the largest sound stage at Paramount's studio. The set was elevated 25 feet off
30051-412: The ship's model were created to be blown up. The battle in the nebula was a difficult sequence to accomplish without the aid of computer-generated models. The swirling nebula was created by injecting a latex rubber and ammonia mixture into a cloud tank filled with fresh and salt water. All the footage was shot at two frames per second to give the illusion of faster movement. The vibrant abstract colors of
30240-437: The side of empiricism, and happy films and sad films on the side of transcendentalism. However, there are numerous well-known examples of science fiction horror films, epitomized by such pictures as Frankenstein and Alien . The visual style of science fiction film is characterized by a clash between alien and familiar images. This clash is implemented when alien images become familiar, as in A Clockwork Orange , when
30429-500: The sixties and seventies including A Clockwork Orange and The Manchurian Candidate coincided with secret real-life government experimentation during Project MKULTRA . Voluntary erasure of memory is further explored as themes of the films Paycheck and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . Some films like Limitless explore the concept of mind enhancement. The anime series Serial Experiments Lain also explores
30618-529: The spaceship whatever they used or wore. Therefore, I tried to make it look as if they had dressed themselves out of pieces of upholstery and electrical equipment that composed the ship." Khan's costume was designed with an open chest to show Ricardo Montalbán's physique. Fletcher also designed smocks for the Regula I scientists, and civilian clothes for Kirk and McCoy that were designed to look practical and comfortable. Principal photography began on November 9, 1981, and ended on January 29, 1982. The Wrath of Khan
30807-448: The starship USS Enterprise facing off against the genetically engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh ( Ricardo Montalbán ). When Khan escapes from a 15-year exile to exact revenge on Kirk, the crew of the Enterprise must stop him from acquiring a powerful terraforming device named Genesis. The film is the beginning of a three-film story arc that continues with the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and concludes with
30996-521: The surprise attack borrows from an attack theme from Wolfen , in turn influenced by Goldsmith's score for Alien ). Musical moments from the original television series are also heard during investigation of the Regula space station and elsewhere. To Horner, the "stuff underneath" the main story was what needed to be addressed by the score; in The Wrath of Khan , this was the relationship between Kirk and Spock. The main theme serves as Kirk's theme, with
31185-450: The television series. Janet Maslin of The New York Times credited the film with a stronger story than The Motion Picture and stated the sequel was everything the first film should have been. Variety agreed that The Wrath of Khan was closer to the original spirit of Star Trek than its predecessor. Strong character interaction was cited as a strong feature of the film, as was Montalbán's portrayal of Khan. In 2016, Playboy ranked
31374-640: The title monster attacking Tokyo, gained immense popularity, spawned multiple sequels, led to other kaiju films like Rodan , and created one of the most recognizable monsters in cinema history. Japanese science fiction films, particularly the tokusatsu and kaiju genres, were known for their extensive use of special effects , and gained worldwide popularity in the 1950s. Kaiju and tokusatsu films, notably Warning from Space (1956), sparked Stanley Kubrick 's interest in science fiction films and influenced 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). According to his biographer John Baxter , despite their "clumsy model sequences,
31563-649: The transmission of sound or maneuvers employing wings, yet the soundtrack is filled with inappropriate flying noises and changes in flight path resembling an aircraft banking. The filmmakers, unfamiliar with the specifics of space travel , focus instead on providing acoustical atmosphere and the more familiar maneuvers of the aircraft. Similar instances of ignoring science in favor of art can be seen when movies present environmental effects as portrayed in Star Wars and Star Trek . Entire planets are destroyed in titanic explosions requiring mere seconds, whereas an actual event of this nature takes many hours. The role of
31752-460: The two best human Jeopardy (game show) players in 2011 and a NOVA documentary film, Smartest Machine on Earth , was released in the same year. Building-size robots are also becoming a popular theme in movies as featured in Pacific Rim . Future live action films may include an adaptation of popular television series like Voltron and Robotech . The CGI robots of Pacific Rim and
31941-535: The unfamiliar and alien in the context of the familiar. Despite the alien nature of the scenes and science fictional elements of the setting, the imagery of the film is related back to humankind and how we relate to our surroundings. While the science fiction film strives to push the boundaries of the human experience, they remain bound to the conditions and understanding of the audience and thereby contain prosaic aspects, rather than being completely alien or abstract. Genre films such as westerns or war movies are bound to
32130-415: The unrelated LaserDisc -based stand-up video arcade game Astron Belt . Jerry Goldsmith had composed the music for The Motion Picture , but was not an option for The Wrath of Khan given the reduced budget; Meyer's composer for Time After Time , Miklós Rózsa , was likewise prohibitively expensive. Bennett and Meyer wanted the music for the film to go in a different direction, but had not decided on
32319-444: The viewpoint of the observer. Many science fiction films include elements of mysticism, occult , magic, or the supernatural , considered by some to be more properly elements of fantasy or the occult (or religious) film. This transforms the movie genre into a science fantasy with a religious or quasi-religious philosophy serving as the driving motivation. The movie Forbidden Planet employs many common science fiction elements, but
32508-420: The visual quality and production speed of special effects shots. Among the film's technical achievements was cinema's first entirely computer-generated sequence, ILM's animation for the demonstration of the effects of the Genesis Device on a barren planet. The first concept for the shot took the form of a laboratory demonstration, where a rock would be placed in a chamber and turned into a flower. Veilleux suggested
32697-418: Was Yelchin's final appearance as Chekov, the film seeing Chekov accompanying Kirk after the entire crew is marooned on an uncharted planet following the destruction of the Enterprise , forcing them to destroy the last of the Enterprise to escape a trap and later work with the rest of the senior staff to restart a long-lost Starfleet ship to escape the planet and defeat a plan to attack the Federation. Yelchin
32886-419: Was a box office success, earning US$ 97 million worldwide and setting a world record for its first-day box office gross. Critical reaction to the film was positive; reviewers highlighted Khan's character, Meyer's direction, improved performances, the film's pacing, and the character interactions as strong elements. Negative reactions focused on weak special effects and some of the acting. The Wrath of Khan
33075-460: Was also nominated in the "best dramatic presentation" category for the 1983 Hugo Awards , but lost to Blade Runner . The Wrath of Khan has influenced later movies: Meyer's rejected title for the film, The Undiscovered Country , was finally put to use when Meyer directed the sixth film , which retained the nautical influences. Director Bryan Singer cited the film as an influence on X2 and his abandoned sequel to Superman Returns . The film
33264-471: Was completed (although it was later continued, but at the time it was not intended to be) with the darkly themed Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith . Science-fiction also returned as a tool for political commentary in films such as A.I. Artificial Intelligence , Minority Report , Sunshine , District 9 , Children of Men , Serenity , Sleep Dealer , and Pandorum . The 2000s also saw
33453-427: Was completed. Sixty-five percent of the film was shot on the same set; the bridge of the Reliant and the "bridge simulator" from the opening scene were redresses of the Enterprise ' s bridge. The Klingon bridge from The Motion Picture was redressed as the Regula I transporter room and the Enterprise' s torpedo bay. The filmmakers stretched The Wrath of Khan ' s budget by reusing models and footage from
33642-453: Was crushed to death by his 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee on June 19, 2016, a little more than a month before the scheduled release of Star Trek Beyond on July 22, 2016. All filming had been completed and post-production had started. A dedication to Yelchin's memory was inserted into the credits. J. J. Abrams , producer of the reboot trilogy and director of its first two films, has stated that the role will not be recast for future sequels, implying
33831-641: Was dramatic and well-handled, The Washington Post ' s Gary Arnold stated Spock's death "feels like an unnecessary twist, and the filmmakers are obviously well-prepared to fudge in case the public demands another sequel". Negative reviews of the film focused on some of the acting, and Empire singled out the "dodgy coiffures" and " Santa Claus tunics" as elements of the film that had not aged well. Christopher John reviewed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in Ares Magazine No. 13 and commented that "By not taking itself so seriously – that is, realizing
34020-412: Was initially filmed without Kelley's prior knowledge of what was going on. Shatner disagreed with having a clear glass separation between Spock and Kirk during the death scene; he instead wanted a translucent divider allowing viewers to see only Spock's silhouette, but his objection was overruled. During Spock's funeral sequence Meyer wanted the camera to track the torpedo that served as Spock's coffin as it
34209-521: Was made producer for the next Star Trek film. According to Bennett, he was called in front of a group including Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner and asked if he thought he could make a better film than The Motion Picture , which Bennett confessed he found "really boring". When Bennett replied in the affirmative, Charles Bluhdorn asked, "Can you make it for less than forty-five-fucking-million-dollars?" Bennett replied that "Where I come from, I can make five movies for that." Bennett realized he faced
34398-441: Was more action-oriented than its predecessor, but less costly to make. The project was supervised by Paramount's television unit rather than its theatrical division. Bennett, a respected television veteran, made The Wrath of Khan on a budget of $ 12 million. The budget was initially lower at $ 8.5 million, but it rose when the producers were impressed by the first two weeks of footage. Meyer used camera and set tricks to spare
34587-504: Was placed in a long trough and slid into the launcher. The camera crew thought the entire set would have to be rebuilt to accommodate the shot, but Sallin suggested putting a dolly into the trough and controlling it from above with an offset arm. Scott's rendition of " Amazing Grace " on the bagpipes was James Doohan 's idea. Spock's death in the film was widely reported during production. " Trekkies " wrote letters to protest, one paid for trade press advertisements urging Paramount to change
34776-663: Was taken more seriously. In the late 1970s, big-budget science fiction films filled with special effects became popular with audiences after the success of Star Wars (1977) and paved the way for the blockbuster hits of subsequent decades. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies science fiction films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters’ taxonomy , stating that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action , crime , fantasy , horror , romance , slice of life , sports , thriller , war , and western . According to Vivian Sobchack ,
34965-469: Was too negative, and Bennett wanted something more uplifting "and as fundamental in the 23rd century as recombinant DNA is in our time", Minor recalled. Minor suggested to Bennett that the device be turned into a terraforming tool instead. At the story conference the next day, Bennett hugged Minor and declared that he had saved Star Trek . In recognition of the Biblical power of the weapon, Sowards renamed
35154-463: Was used to cover the recently changed epilogue. Horner used synthesizers for ancillary effects; at the time, science fiction films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Thing were eschewing the synthesizer in favor of more traditional orchestras. Craig Huxley performed his invented instrument—the Blaster Beam —during recording, as well as composing and performing electronic music for
35343-455: Was used to produce more complicated effects. It also enabled filmmakers to enhance the visual quality of animation, resulting in films such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) from Japan, and The Iron Giant (1999) from the United States. During the first decade of the 2000s, superhero films abounded, as did earthbound science fiction such as the Matrix trilogy. In 2005 , the Star Wars saga
35532-534: Was very different from the original film, falling more into the action/science fiction genre, it was both a critical and commercial success and Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards . The Japanese cyberpunk anime film Akira ( 1988 ) also had a big influence outside Japan when released. In the 1990s, the emergence of the World Wide Web and
35721-415: Was wrapped in plastic to prevent mechanical troubles and everyone on set wore boots, masks, and coveralls as protection from flying sand. Spock's death was shot over three days, during which no visitors were allowed on set. Spock's death was to be irrevocable, but Nimoy had such a positive experience during filming that he asked if he could add a way for Spock to return in a later film. The mind meld sequence
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