Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Making of the Classic Film E-Book

John Tenuto

• Herausgeber: Titan Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Making of the Classic Film. Description, yet to be announced.

Das E-Book wird angeboten von und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:

Leseprobe

ISBN: 9781789099751E-BOOK ISBN: 9781803360775

Published byTitan BooksA division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd144 Southwark StLondonSE1 0UP

www.titanbooks.com

First edition: September 202310 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

TM & © 2023 CBS Studios Inc. © 2023 Paramount Pictures Corp.STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.All Rights Reserved.

Page 70: Costume Sketch of William Shatner as Admiral Kirk in the Paramount Pictures Production of ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’,1982, by Robert Fletcher 2023©Photo Scala, Florence. Digital Image Museum Associates/LACMA/Art Resource NY/Scala, Florence

All material from the Papers of Nicholas Meyer – The University of Iowa Libraries used with permission.

Ever effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of all photographs used.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the priorwritten permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is publishedand without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

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THANKS

Titan Books would like to thank a few individuals, in addition to those people included in the authors’ Acknowledgments, for their helpin sourcing visual material for this book: Bailey Adolph, Chris Hawkinson (ILM), Cristina D’Alessandro (Scala Group Spa), Frank Ordaz,Mary Haegert (Houghton Library, Harvard University), Peter Balestrieri (University of Iowa Libraries), Steve Lansdale (Heritage Auctions).

CONTENTS

006

Foreword by Julie Nimoy

008

Chapter 1: Needs of the Many: Harve Bennett, Executive Producer

018

Chapter 2: We Learn by Doing: Early Scripts

030

Chapter 3: Undiscovered Country: Nicholas Meyer

044

Chapter 4: Enterprise Welcomes You: New and Returning Faces

054

Chapter 5: Sworn to Live and Die At My Command: Company and Crew of the Botany Bay

066

Chapter 6: Nautical But Nice: Robert Fletcher and Costume Design

082

Chapter 7: Why Things Work on a Starship: The Art Department

104

Chapter 8: One Big Happy Fleet: Industrial Light & Magic

122

Chapter 9: These Are Pets of Course: The Wee Beasties of Ceti Alpha

130

Chapter 10: Clear and Free to Navigate: The Camera Department

144

Chapter 11: So Much the Better: Werner Keppler and the Makeup Department

156

Chapter 12: No Win Scenario: The Stunt Performers

170

Chapter 13: Remember Spock: Spock’s Death

182

Chapter 14: First Best Destiny: The Reaction to Khan

190

Appendix: Footnotes

192

Dedication & Acknowledgments

FOREWORD

As the daughter of the late Leonard Nimoy, I had many opportunities to watch my dad perform throughout his life. Seeing him on television, film, and stage was one of my greatest joys growing up. I realized very early on in childhood that my dad was a busy man, and if I wanted to spend more time with him, I’d have to join him on his life’s journey in the entertainment world. I admired his undeniable talent and his ability to capture different characters. His performances were strong and engaging and his capacity to memorize entire musicals seemed effortless. Needless to say, I enjoyed every moment being a part of his adventure.

When John Tenuto, a college sociology professor, writer, and Star Trek aficionado, reached out asking if I’d be willing to write

the foreword for this book, I was honored and thrilled. John, along with his wife, Maria Jose Tenuto, have created a time capsule filled with memories and photos that are near and dear to my heart. I was on set during production of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and most importantly, I witnessed my dad play out one of the most unforgettable scenes in Star Trek history.

The persona of the beloved Vulcan, Mr. Spock, was adored throughout time, beginning with the original Star Trek TV series in the late sixties, through the Star Trek franchised films, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. After the first film received mixed reviews from both critics and the fans, my dad, who was involved in other projects at the time, decided he would not participate in

LEFT ANDFAR LEFT: JulieNimoy now andwith her father,Leonard, in thelate nineties.Images courtesyof Julie Nimoy andDavid Knight.

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STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN THE MAKING OF THE CLASSIC FILM

any more Star Trek movies. It wasn’t until he was persuaded by Paramount Pictures, who promised him that Spock’s character would end up having a dramatic death scene, that he agreed to appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

On the day of Spock’s death scene, I was aware that dad was deep in thought during our drive to the studio. We didn’t speak the entire way, as I knew how difficult it would be for him to finally let go of the character he loved. I was sitting with the crew and cast members while Spock played out the scene with Kirk. I felt a combination of pride

and sadness as I watched Spock perform a selfless act of humanity by saving the Enterprise and its crew. My dad put his heart and soul into the film. The cast and crew were so in awe of his powerful scene that there wasn’t a dry eye on the sound stage.

LLAP.

Julie NimoyExecutive Producer, Remembering Leonard NimoyJanuary 2023

7

FOREWORD

CHAPTER 1

NEEDS OF THE MANY

HARVE BENNETT,EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

In the summer of 1969, as producer of the television show The Mod Squad, Harve Bennett had beaten Star Trek in the ratings. By the fall of 1980, he was being asked to save it.

When Bennett was invited to a meeting at the office of Barry Diller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures Corporation, he presumed it was to discuss ideas for developing new dramatic series. It was a safe presumption. Only two weeks before, Bennett had signed a contract with Paramount Television to create

exactly that kind of programming. That the meeting was actually to determine the future direction needed for Star Trek was the first of many surprises for Bennett.

Another surprise was who was at the meeting. Diller and Bennett were being joined by no less than Charles G. Bluhdorn, Chairman of Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., the parent company of Paramount, andthe owner of the Star Trek franchise. There was no one more powerfulat Paramount, and few more powerful in Hollywood. Also participating

ABOVE: As difficult as the road was from the original series to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, theproduction of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was equally challenging. Script problems, technologylimitations, fan protests, and time and budget constraints were so constant that Bennett (front &center) described “this entire eighteen months as a series of minefields. Nothing was easy.”11

ABOVE & OPPOSITE: As a sly wink of the eye, Spock’s photon torpedo tubeis placed center stage in honor of Nimoy’s character. These cast and crewphotographs are the only known images of Shatner and Montalban togetheron set as the two actors never acted directly with each other during filming.

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STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN THE MAKING OF THE CLASSIC FILM

THIS PAGE: Despite the “minefields,” the cast and crew,led by Bennett (holding picture of Leonard Nimoy), producerRobert Sallin (seated fourth from the right, next to RicardoMontalban), and writer/director Nicholas Meyer (givingthe Vulcan salute in the back, left, wearing hat) producedcinematic magic. Star Trek II would become 1982’s eighthhighest domestic grossing movie and a favorite among fans.

STARFLEET PERSONNEL FILE

HARVE BENNETT

Born Harve Bennett Fischman in Chicago on August 17, 1930, Bennett got his start in show business as one of the five kid panelists on the popular game show Quiz Kids. With a reported IQ of 175, his love of history made him one of the most popular stars on the program. Bennett began his enthusiasm for storytelling because Quiz Kids enabled him to meet many celebrities and to find a productive use for the 16mm camera his uncle had given him for his birthday. “Everywhere I went, I took my movie camera and shot scenarios and different events and famous people. I got stuff of Franklin Roosevelt shaking hands with us as well as many other greats and near greatsof the time. That’s the way I really got my first camera experience.”10

After service in the United States Army, Bennett graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles film school and began his television production career at CBS, working with television legend Johnny Carson. He would go on to produce some of the biggest television shows of the 1960s and ’70s, including The Mod Squad, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman. It is Bennett’s voice that begins the famous opening credits of The Six Million Dollar Man, “Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive,” before actor Richard Anderson (who played Oscar Goldman) takes over the narration. In 1976, Bennett would help pioneer the television miniseries format with his production of Rich Man, Poor Man.

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STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN THE MAKING OF THE CLASSIC FILM

were Chief Operations Officer Michael Eisner and President of Production Jeffrey Katzenberg, the team that had been responsible for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Deserved or not, the general feeling at the studio was that the firstStar Trek movie had been a successful failure. In the success category were the domestic box office returns of $82 million, international grosses totaling another $57 million, lucrative licensing fees, and the pre-sale of the film to ABC for eventual network television broadcast. It had been an unprecedented, herculean accomplishment to resurrect a decade- old cancelled TV show as a major motion picture. In the failure category were the troubled production and budget overruns that eventually cost the studio nearly $45 million. Star Trek: The Motion Picture had the dubious distinction of being listed as the highest-ever budgeted film by the Guinness Book of Records (acknowledging at the time, however, that Superman: The Movie may have actually cost more1). Never mind reality, the displeasing reputation had already been established. Adding insult to injury, many journalists had been critical. Derek Malcolm, reviewer for the British newspaper The Guardian, called it “Star Trek, the motionless picture,”2 referring to a perceived overemphasis on special effects.

While ultimately profitable and a certified box office champion, Star Trek: The Motion Picture had failed to ignite the enthusiasm thought necessary for Star Trek to become an ongoing winner for the studio.

Bluhdorn’s instinct was to want a sequel despite protestations from others at Paramount, but he wanted it made under certain conditions, including the proviso that the production be more cost efficient. Whatever form it was going to eventually take, the sequel would be produced under the Paramount Television banner, rather than the motion picture unit, to control costs. Hence, the inclusion of Bennett. Bluhdorn’s instincts usually proved correct. After emigrating to the United States in 1942 from Austria, Bluhdorn went from a $60-a-week employee at an import-export company to a millionaire by the age of thirty. Under his ownership, Paramount thrived, producing such critical and commercial achievements as The Godfather (1972), Chinatown (1974), and Grease(1978). He had watched closely during the 1970s as fans generatedan unparalleled enthusiasm for Star Trek after its cancellation, with sold-out conventions numbering in the thousands, brisk sales of

1. For all footnotes, see pages 190-191.

ABOVE:Star Trek IImay have been aboutsomber issues, butfrivolity was the order ofthe day when Bennettsat (or kind-of sat) forpublicity photos taken byset photographer BruceBirmelin. The traditionalacting troupe, GeorgeTakei (Sulu), DeForestKelley (McCoy), NichelleNichols (Uhura), WilliamShatner (Kirk), WalterKoenig (Chekov), JamesDoohan (Scott), andLeonard Nimoy (Spock),are joined by KirstieAlley (Saavik) andNicholas Guest (Cadet),new additions to theU.S.S. Enterprise.

CHAPTER 1 - NEEDS OF THE MANY

13

RIGHT: Now the posters, therelies a tale. The art design of theoriginal theatrical posters forStar Trek: The Motion Pictureand Star Trek II symbolize thecontrasting approaches to thefilms. The colorful, inspiring StarTrek: The Motion Picture posterevokes feelings of wonder at themeeting of V’Ger. The Star TrekII poster focuses more heavily onaction. The poster has a peek ata longer fight between Kirk andDavid that would be re-filmedand truncated only three monthsbefore the movie premiered attheaters (see Chapter 12).

books and merchandise, and high ratings for the show in syndicated markets, sometimes beating new network programming.

The no-nonsense Bluhdorn got right to the point as the meeting started. Asking Bennett, “Did you see Star Trek: The Motion Picture?”

“Yes,” answered Bennett.

“What did you think of it?”

“I thought it was boring.”

Bluhdorn then turned to Eisner, and with his notorious candor, joked, “See? By you, bald is sexy!” referencing the character of Ilia from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Turning again to Bennett, Bluhdorn queried, “Can you make a better picture?”

“Yes.”

“Can you make it for less than $45 *bleeping* million?”

“Where I come from, I could make three or four pictures for that.”

“Then do it.”3

Star Trek would be given one more chance, but without its creator, Gene Roddenberry, in his customary role. Until the spring of 1980, Roddenberry had been generating ideas for a possible sequel, but by the time of the Bennett/Bluhdorn meeting, Roddenberry had been given an executive consultant role and removed from active production responsibilities. The marching orders to Bennett were that Roddenberry’s opinions should be considered, but that he was not beholden to them. It

would be upon Bennett’s decisions that the futureof Star Trek turned. This would become the first of manychallenges that Bennett and his crew would face during the productionof the sequel. “It’s hard to do another man’s legend,” Bennett admitted,“and there’s no question about what Gene Roddenberry has done tomake this a legend.”4

The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man had given Bennett experience producing popular science fiction on a cost-effective budget, something of a mantra for Star Trek II. Additionally, Bennett had another valuable skill: he was comfortable producing new stories from someone else’s template. “The body of my work has been literally adaptive,” Bennett said at the time. “Most of the things that I have successfullydone well have not been my own creations but adaptations of other people’s original material. Mod Squad, of course, was someone else’s idea that I fleshed out with Aaron [Spelling]. The ‘bionics’ shows were both based on Martin Caiden’s novel. Rich Man, Poor Man was an Irwin

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STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN THE MAKING OF THE CLASSIC FILM

BELOW: “And neverthe twain shallmeet…” Khan andKirk are face-to-facein “Space Seed,” butare never togetherin the same room inStar Trek II.

Shaw novel, which I adapted with the hand of Dean Reisner writing it, and so on. Adaptation is a medium in which I feel very comfortable.”5

What Bennett did not have was an intimate knowledge of Star Trek itself. His career had brushed near Star Trek, but he had no direct connection to the show. Although Mod Squad filmed next door to Star Trek at the studio, he recalled, “I had never seen Star Trek. Oh, an occasional rerun. I knew who Kirk was, who Spock was... I’d never seen the original series as it ran.”6

Now what was required was for Bennett to attend his own version of Starfleet Academy. “I had to become a Trekkie.”7 He sought out fan opinions by reading popular resources such as Bjo Trimble’s Star Trek Concordance, Teri Meyer’s Interstat fanzine, which focused on fan opinions shared via letters, and Vel Jaeger’s Trekism, a special interest group fanzine geared towards members of Mensa International, the high IQ society. Bennett corresponded with fans and spoke with actors such as DeForest Kelley (McCoy) about their perspectives. All this helped familiarize Bennett with the characters, premises, and the qualities that made Star Trek unique.

Whatever Star Trek II was going to be, it was not going to be a direct sequel to The Motion Picture. There could be no V’Ger, no evolved Ilia and Willard Decker. What it could be was a sequel to one of the episodes. That is, of course, if one was worthy enough for a big screen adventure. Bennett spent three months screening every episode of the original series on what he described as “faded 16 millimeter prints in the back projection rooms of Paramount.”8

The episodes he liked best were the ones that focused on the family of characters whose charisma was more compelling than any special effect. “I found that one third of the episodes were brilliant, one third were okay, and one third were uh-uh. That’s a pretty good average for someone who has done series television, believe me, and I also found out that there was a name on the third I loved most... Gene L. Coon. I had known Gene very briefly at Universal. Gene epitomized what we now call the showrunner.... Every time his name appeared on the screen, the story was essential and the characters came to life.”9

Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon contributed much to the show’s legacy. His teleplay for “Arena” demonstrated the compassion of humanity as Kirk struggles with the Gorn Captain. He wrote “The Devil in the Dark” after seeing a Janos Prohaska-produced costume for the Horta, crafting a timeless story about the dangers of prejudice and presumption and the healing powers of empathy. With “Errand of Mercy,” Coon defined the Klingons for generations of writers to follow. But it was one script in particular, written by Coon and Carey Wilber, that caught Bennett’s interest because of a comment by Spock at episode’s end: “It would be interesting, Captain, to return to that world in one hundred years and learn what crop had sprung from the seed you planted today.” Upon seeing this moment, Bennett stood up in the projection room at Paramount and elatedly instructed, “Stop the projector. I got it!” Nearly thirteen years after the episodes had originally premiered, Bennett had found the foundation upon which to build Star Trek II.

That episode: “Space Seed.” The antagonist: Khan Noonien Singh.

THE WRATH OF RAGNAR

The character Khan Noonien Singh was born from a question asked in an August 29, 1966 eighteen-page outline submitted by writer Carey Wilber a week before Star Trek ever premiered: “What would happen if a man of our age could be transported five hundred years into the future?”

In that outline, the character was named Harald Ericsson, acriminal with a “magnificent” body. During the early weeks ofSeptember 1966, producer Gene Coon sent memos toWilber with suggestions on improving the story. “I want torather do more with him than you have indicated in thestory outline,” Coon writes, wanting Erickson to be “in factvery similar to James Kirk, our captain, except that ourcaptain has made an adjustment to this world andthis culture.” Then, Coon offers a challenge: “In otherwords, Carey, build us a giant of a man.”

Wilber’s October 26, 1966 script transformsErickson into a former criminal whosefollowers call him The King—his criminalempire long ago controlling a largeportion of the Earth. Coon rewroteWilber’s script and his December7, 1966 teleplay has many of thefamiliar elements the “Space Seed”audiences know, except now theman from the past is renamed JohnEriccson, eventually revealed to bean alias used by the infamous RagnarThorwald, former leader of the FirstWorld Tyranny and himself a geneticallyengineered human of Nordic heritage.

Imagine an alternative universe where Admiral Kirk yells “Ragnaaarrr!” instead of “Khaaan!” in a film titled Star Trek II: The Wrath of Ragnar.

It is amongst handwritten notes as the script neared productionthat Ragnar becomes Khan. The change was necessitated by castingdirector Joseph D’Agosta’s suggestion that Ricardo Montalbanbe offered the role. Montalban had everything thatthe character was meant to display: strength,intelligence, charisma, and leadership. Khan wouldstill undergo a few more name changes. He wasinitially Sibahl Khan Noonien—the version of thename that appears in the episode’s 1968 bookadaptation by James Blish. Star Trek’s primaryscript researcher and fact-checker, Kellam deForest, suggested yet another change, to GovinBahadur Singh, the reason being to closerapproximate Sikhism traditions. Roddenberryand Coon ultimately changed the nameto its final form, keeping Noonienbecause Roddenberry hoped thename would be recognized bya World War II friend whohe wished to reconnectwith. After three months ofrewrites, Khan Noonien Singhhad arrived.

LEFT: Montalban poses for thecamera between takes.

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STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN THE MAKING OF THE CLASSIC FILM