Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

by William S. Kowinski

I’ve been slow to complete this essay on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” because it means saying goodbye to the original crew, the original cast. Of course, movies are forever, more or less, and owning the DVD means I can revisit them at any time. But I still have to write the goodbye part, and move on.

Even though I feel great kinship with the Next Gen crew, it’s not primarily through their movies. The television episodes of the original series are indispensable--the characters were established on TV-- but for me, the original crew really blossomed in their six features plus. They acknowledged change and the aging process, and they did change. They ripened, deepened, and became legends. The way they were in the series is unforgettable, but as they are in the movies is how I remember them.