Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan " " At the end of the universe lies the beginning of vengeance . " " Admiral James T . Kirk faces his greatest challenge yet . Suffering through doubts about his place in the galaxy , he is thrust into action once more against his most bitter foe – Khan Noonien Singh , who has escaped his exile on Ceti Alpha V and now seeks revenge on Kirk . With a powerful new device in the wrong hands and a no - win scenario in play , the cost of victory for the starship " Enterprise " may prove too high . Summary . Act One . IN THE 23RD CENTURY . . . A female Vulcan sits in the command chair on the bridge of the " Enterprise " . While the senior staff work at their consoles , the officer , Saavik , makes a log entry , then orders Commander Sulu , manning the helm , to project a course to avoid entering the Neutral Zone . Suddenly , Uhura receives a distress call from the " Kobayashi Maru " , which has struck a gravitic mine near Altair VI . . . inside the Neutral Zone . Despite warnings from both Sulu and Captain Spock , Saavik orders the ship to enter the Zone in order to beam the survivors aboard . Upon entering the Zone , the " Enterprise " is confronted with three Klingon battle cruiser s , which open fire . The " Enterprise " is heavily damaged ; many of the bridge officers are killed . Saavik has no alternative but to order the surviving crew to abandon ship . Then the filtered voice of Admiral Kirk is heard . The bridge viewscreen slides aside , revealing a lighted room beyond . The " Enterprise " is a stage and the " Kobayashi Maru " was a test – one Saavik does not believe to have been a fair test of her command abilities . Kirk explains that the no - win scenario is a situation every commander may face and that how one faces death is equally important as how one faces life . Saavik seems ruffled at the advice , but Kirk offers that now she has something new to think about . As Kirk begins to leave , Dr . McCoy asks him if it would not be easier to just put an experienced crew back aboard the " Enterprise " . " " Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young , doctor , " " Kirk replies while on his way out . Uhura wonders aloud what the admiral meant by that . Outside the simulator room , Spock awaits Kirk ' s opinion of the cadet s ' performance . Kirk notes that the trainees wreaked havoc with the simulator room and Spock alike . Spock notes that this is a common occurrence with the " Kobayashi Maru " test and then recalls Kirk ' s own experience , noting that the admiral took the test three times and that his final solution was somewhat " unique . " " " It had the virtue of never having been tried , " " Kirk says . He then thanks Spock for his birthday present , an antique copy of " A Tale of Two Cities " . Just then , Spock is called to a space shuttle to take him to the " Enterprise " to prepare for Kirk ' s inspection . Kirk tells Spock he is going home and the Vulcan watches Kirk walk off with concern on his face . Later at night , Kirk has retreated to his apartment , to be greeted by Leonard McCoy , who presents him with a bottle of finely - aged Romulan ale , vintage 2283 . For a present , the doctor hands him something in a case – reading glasses . " " Oh , Bones , this is . . . charming , " " Kirk says . McCoy notes that for most patients of Kirk ' s age , he usually prescribes Retinax V , which Kirk is allergic to . Noticing Kirk is acting stranger than usual , especially after giving him the glasses , McCoy questions whether Kirk really wants to carry on the duties of an admiral or to be " hopping galaxies " in a starship . Kirk confesses it to him , and the two share a drink sitting by the apartment ' s fireplace . McCoy admonishes Kirk to get his command back ( in stark contrast to his of Kirk ' s command fitness ) before he gets too old . Meanwhile , Commander Chekov is aboard the , which orbits Ceti Alpha VI in connection with Project Genesis , searching for a lifeless planet to satisfy the requirements of a test site for the Genesis experiment . Although Ceti Alpha VI should be incapable of supporting life , Chekov detects a minor energy flux reading on one dynoscanner . They promptly report this to Carol Marcus at Regula I , a space station orbiting a planetoid . They believe it is something they can transplant , since it may only be a particle of preanimate matter . Marcus is unsure and tells them that there " " can ' t be so much as a microbe or the show ' s off . " " Chekov and his commanding officer , Captain Terrell , then beam down to the surface to investigate in environmental suit s . " " There ' s nothing here . The tricorder must be broken , " " Chekov tells Terrell as they fight their way through clouds of dust until they discover and enter what appears to be a crashed derelict vessel , which Terrell remarks looks like cargo carrier s . Chekov soon discovers that the derelict is the shelter for the crew of the , a ship he remembers all too well . Panicking , he rushes a confused Terrell toward the exit , only to find a group of cloaked figures waiting outside nearby . Taken captive , their leader reveals himself as none other than Khan Noonien Singh , and it further turns out that the planet they are investigating is in fact Ceti Alpha V , which was devastated by the explosion of the sixth planet six months after Khan and his followers were exiled to the planet by Kirk fifteen years earlier . In order to find out not only why the two are there , but also Kirk ' s whereabouts , Khan forces juvenile Ceti eel s into their ear s , rendering them subservient to his every command . Khan and his Augment followers commandeer the " Reliant " , and Khan ' s second - in - command , Joachim , while pledging his loyalty and that of his comrades , tries to convince Khan that by escaping the planet , he has now evened the score with Kirk . Khan is not content to merely be even with Kirk , however , and reveals his intention to take revenge on the admiral . Under the command of now - Captain Spock , the " Enterprise " is being used to train Starfleet Academy cadets , and Kirk , McCoy , Uhura , and Sulu come aboard to assist in a short training cruise . But Khan lures Kirk to the research station Regula I by having Chekov inform Dr . Carol Marcus , the head of the Genesis project , that Kirk has ordered them to take possession of the Genesis Device . A furious Dr . Marcus attempts to contact Kirk ( who turns out to have been formerly her lover ) to confirm the order , but the signal is jammed at its source , with only bits and pieces of the message going through and Carol not getting Kirk ' s responses denying that he gave such orders . Kirk , after consulting with Starfleet Command , converses with Captain Spock in his quarters , who encourages Kirk to assume command . Kirk protests , insisting that it is okay for Spock to retain command during the mission ( perhaps remembering when he usurped the command of another captain of the " Enterprise " ) , but Spock assures Kirk that , by contrast , he has no ego to be bruised by Kirk taking over for him , and further asserts that it was a mistake for Kirk to accept promotion , as commanding a starship is Kirk ' s first , best destiny . Kirk agrees and assumes command , ordering " Enterprise " to set a course for Regula I . " " So much for the little training cruise . . . " " , Sulu notes as the " Enterprise " enters warp speed . While en route to the space lab , Kirk shows Spock and McCoy a briefing video on Project Genesis , the ultimate goal of which is revealed to be the creation of a torpedo - like Genesis Device , which could be fired at a lifeless planetary body and would transform it into a habitable world . McCoy is alarmed at the implications of this , since if a Genesis Device were used on an already inhabited world the terraforming process would obliterate all life on the planet in mere seconds . " " As a matter of cosmic history , it has always been easier to destroy than to create , " " Spock mentions , although McCoy points out that the Genesis Device makes it possible to do both simultaneously , leading to a potential armageddon . Their discussion is interrupted by Saavik , who informs them that another starship is on an intercept course . A Federation starship named " Reliant " . " Enterprise " finds the " Reliant " waiting for them . Despite " Reliant " failing to answer his hails , Kirk is reluctant to raise shields – as , Saavik reminds him , regulations prescribe . The two ships edge closer , and Kirk orders yellow alert after finding the situation to be " " damn peculiar " " but still doesn ' t raise shields because the " Reliant " claims they can ' t use their communications system due to their chambers coil emissions . Spock quickly discerns that this isn ' t true , as Khan orders the shields on " Reliant " raised , then locks phasers . This is detected by Spock , and Kirk finally orders shields up but it is too late as " Reliant " opens fire , knowing exactly where the ship ' s most vulnerable points are , disabling the " Enterprise " s main energizer and warp core , leaving only the battery to power the ship , and fatally injuring several cadets . Engines are down , shields inoperative , and there is only enough power for a few phaser shots , which isn ' t enough against " Reliant " s shields . " Reliant " then fires a photon torpedo from its aft launcher at the " Enterprise " which causes the crippled vessel ' s bridge to erupt in flames . While Kirk is trying to hold the heavily damaged " Enterprise " and her injured crew together , Uhura announces that " Reliant " is signaling , wishing to discuss terms of their surrender . Kirk , taken aback for a moment along with the bridge crew , orders Uhura to put " Reliant " s commander on screen . Kirk is shocked to see Khan in command of the " Reliant " . Khan arrogantly announces his plans to destroy the " Enterprise " , to which Kirk pleads with Khan to take him as prisoner and spare his crew . Khan agrees , but also demands all information and material on the Genesis device . Kirk pretends to comply , but actually transmits a signal using " Reliant " s prefix code ( 1 - 6 - 3 - 0 - 9 ) that causes " Reliant " to lower her shields . Despite Khan ' s intelligence – he knew exactly where to hit the " Enterprise " for maximum damage – he is still relatively inexperienced with a starship . When he realizes what Kirk is doing he is unable to immediately find the controls to override the command lowering the shields . With the few shots auxiliary power can give him , Sulu is able to fire at the " Reliant " , damaging photon control and the warp drive ( which also disables her phasers ) . An enraged Khan is reluctant to withdraw , but Joachim reminds him that " Enterprise " , with its disabled power systems , can ' t escape . Both ships limp away for repairs and the match ends in a stalemate . Act Two . Kirk is furious at himself for being lulled into a false sense of security , spitting , " " I did nothing ! Except get caught with my britches down . I must be getting senile . " " He then surveys the wounded in sickbay and attends Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston on his deathbed alongside a grieving Scott . With impulse power restored , the " Enterprise " arrives at Regula I . Kirk and McCoy form a landing party , and Saavik reminds Kirk of General Order 15 barring the admiral , as a flag officer , from beaming into a dangerous situation without armed escort . Kirk disputes the existence of such a regulation , but then relents and invites Saavik to join the landing party . Kirk leaves Spock in command of the " Enterprise " , but not before the latter admonishes the former to be careful . ( To that , McCoy replies that they will " all " be careful . ) Aboard the station , they find the personnel murder ed and discover Chekov and Terrell semi - conscious inside a storage compartment . When the two officers come to , they claim they overcame the effects of the Ceti eels and reveal that the crew of the " Reliant " are marooned on Ceti Alpha V . Terrell calls Khan completely mad and that the genetically engineered superman blames Kirk for the death of his wife . Continuing their investigation , the " Enterprise " crew finds that the station ' s records of the Genesis Device have been erased . Exploring the station leads them to a transporter that has recently been activated . Checking the coordinates , Kirk realizes they beamed " into " the Regula asteroid . Kirk asks for a damage report from " Enterprise " . Spock reports that " " by the book , hours would seem like days " " and that transporters will be available in two days . Kirk orders Spock to leave orbit if the " Enterprise " hears nothing from them within one hour . Uhura protests that they will not leave them behind , but Kirk retorts that if they hear nothing , there won ' t be anybody there to leave behind . They follow the transporter coordinates and materialize inside a cavern . The Genesis Device is there , but before Kirk can move , he is attacked by his son , David Marcus , who accuses Kirk of trying to steal Genesis . Carol , David ' s mother , tries to defuse the situation , but before she can elaborate , the team is threatened by Chekov and Terrell , who it turns out are still under Khan ' s control . David brashly tries to rush the two , but Saavik tackles him to the ground just as Terrell fires on him , misses , and vaporizes the third scientist , Jedda , instead . On the bridge of the " Reliant " , Khan gleefully orders Terrell to kill Kirk . However , Terrell resists Khan and the eel causes him extreme pain . To escape it , he turns his phaser on himself and fires , vaporizing him . Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel slips out of his ear before being vaporized by Kirk . Khan , shocked to find Kirk alive and well , beams the Genesis Device up to the " Reliant " before vowing to leave the admiral and his party marooned inside Regula forever , causing Kirk to scream at Khan in blind rage . Later on , Kirk avoids Carol and David ' s questions about Khan by asking for food . Carol and David show Kirk , McCoy , and Saavik the Genesis cave , which was created by a smaller Genesis Device : deep within Regula there is a stable ecosystem that was created in just one day . In the cave , Saavik asks Kirk , who casually eats an apple , about his performance on the " Kobayashi Maru " scenario . McCoy tells her that Kirk is the only one to beat the no - win scenario , and Kirk admits he reprogrammed the simulation . David chuckles and says he cheated , and Kirk qualifies that he " changed the conditions of the test . " Kirk then promptly contacts " Enterprise " , and Spock says they should prepare for transport . Kirk smiles at a dumbfounded Saavik and asserts that he does not like to lose . Saavik asks for clarification while beaming back aboard , and Kirk reminds her of Regulation 46A : Spock made his report using an improvised code to deceive Khan ; instead of immediate repairs taking two days , they only took two hours . " " You lied , " " Saavik tells her mentor . " " I exaggerated , " " Spock replies . Kirk explains , " " Hours instead of " days " ; now we ' ve got " minutes " instead of " hours . " " Act Three . After assessing the situation , it is determined the " Enterprise " could not outrun or outgun the far less damaged " Reliant " . Kirk decides to take the fight to the nearby Mutara Nebula , whose ion ized gas es would disrupt both ships ' sensor s and shields . Spotting the " Enterprise " fleeing , Khan orders " Reliant " to pursue , but Joachim is reluctant , so Khan acquiesces . Back on the " Enterprise " , Spock notes with his sensors that " Reliant " is reducing speed and seems to be backing off its pursuit . To ensure that Khan will follow him , Kirk has Uhura contact " Reliant " and proceeds to taunt his nemesis , saying " " We tried it once your way , Khan . Are you game for a rematch ? Khan . . . I ' m " laughing " at the superior intellect . " " Mocked and enraged , Khan orders full impulse power above Joachim ' s protests and recklessly heads into full pursuit . " " I ' ll say this for him – he ' s consistent , " " Kirk remarks about his nemesis . Then , the Battle of the Mutara Nebula commences . Both ships are quite hampered by the conditions , but this is a good thing for Kirk , since both ships are reduced to an equal level of non - functioning systems , whereas in open space " Enterprise " would have been the more disabled vessel . A game of cat - and - mouse follows . Computer - targeting does not function , so both crews must rely on manual firing commands by eyeballing the opposing ships on their static - filled viewscreen . Sulu , more experienced , narrowly misses " Reliant " due to turbulence , but both fail to land a hit . As they maneuver half - blind around the nebula , suddenly the static on the " Enterprise " screen clears enough to reveal that the ships are about to collide . They veer apart and narrowly miss colliding , and at such point - blank range even manual firing is enough for each vessel to inflict key hits on the other . The " Reliant " manages to destroy the port torpedo tube of the " Enterprise " , which then returns fire and damages the " Reliant " bridge deck , causing an explosion that kills several of the bridge crew including Khan ' s most trusted lieutenant , Joachim , whom Khan vows to avenge . Main power on the " Enterprise " goes out again and the warp drive chamber in engineering floods with radiation , forcing Scott to take the mains off - line just before he and most of his crew pass out . Kirk is nevertheless able to beat Khan because of his superior starship combat experience . A shaken , but physically recovered Chekov enters the bridge offering his assistance , which Kirk accepts and orders him to man the weapons control station . Kirk , still struggling with a strategy to trap Khan , listens to Spock , who suggests that Khan ' s battle plan to that point suggests " two - dimensional thinking " . Kirk , inspired by Spock ' s comment , orders the ship to drop vertically . Khan isn ' t prepared for " Enterprise " to drop " down " its Z - axis as he passes overhead and then rise " up " directly behind him . " Reliant " s torpedo pod is destroyed by a torpedo fired by Chekov , and a phaser blast and torpedo hit explode off its port nacelle . " Reliant " is crippled and drifts away , trailing plasma . Most of Khan ' s crew is killed in the process , and Khan himself is left crippled and barely alive . In a last - ditch effort to destroy Kirk , Khan activates the Genesis Device , which will reorganize all matter in the nebula – including the " Enterprise " . With the mains offline , the " Enterprise " cannot escape the large explosion that the device will trigger . Unnoticed , Spock exits the bridge while Kirk orders a withdrawal at " best possible speed " . On " Reliant " s bridge , Khan quotes " Moby Dick " using his last breaths : " " No . . . no , you can ' t get away . From hell ' s heart , I stab at thee . For hate ' s sake , I spit my last breath at thee . " " Spock arrives in the engine room , only to be blocked by Dr . McCoy from entering the lethally irradiated dilithium reactor room . After first feigning compliance , an apologetic Spock nerve pinches McCoy and mind melds with the doctor , simply saying " " Remember . . . " " He then dons Scott ' s radiation suit gloves , enters the chamber , and endures the life threatening radiation while repairing the main reactor . McCoy and Scott yell at Spock to get out immediately , but he continues to work , ignoring their pleas . The warp engines come online just in time , and " Enterprise " streaks away into warp just as the Genesis Device explodes , completely destroying the " Reliant " and killing Khan and his followers . The Mutara Nebula condenses around the explosion , creating the . Kirk contacts engineering to congratulate Scott , who he believes was the one to restore engine power , but he is surprised to hear McCoy ' s voice gravely reply that Kirk needs to come down . Kirk looks over and notices the empty chair at the science station . A look of horror washes over Kirk ' s face as he rushes down to engineering to find Spock on the other side of the reactor room ' s wall . McCoy and Scott restrain him from rushing in and flooding the engine room with radiation , with Scott saying that Spock is already dead . Devastated , Kirk calls out for Spock and follows as the Vulcan , blinded by the radiation , staggers to the side of the transparent wall , finally resting against it . Spock attempts with difficulty to explain to Kirk his reasoning : " " Don ' t grieve , admiral . It is logic al . The needs of the many outweigh . . . " " to which Kirk replies , " " the needs of the few , " " and Spock nods . " " Or the one . . . " " Spock states that he himself never took the " Kobayashi Maru " simulation " " until now , " " and asked Kirk , " " What do you think of my solution ? " " Kirk , stricken with grief , can ' t reply . " " I have been and always shall be your friend . Live long and prosper . " " He holds out his hand , in the traditional Vulcan salute , and Kirk presses his hand up to the glass as well , watching helplessly as Spock slumps to the floor , and expires . It takes all of his resolve to keep his composure as he sees his closest friend die in front of him . This time , there is no going back . Spock ' s funeral is held later , on the torpedo deck . Kirk says a few words in Spock ' s honor , concluding with a befitting statement : " " Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels , his was the most . . . Human . " " As Scott plays " Amazing Grace " on bagpipes , Spock ' s body is launched in a torpedo casing into the atmosphere of the newborn Genesis Planet . Afterward , Kirk is in his quarters and tries to read from the book Spock gave him on his birthday but discovers that one of the lenses of his reading glasses was broken during the final battle with " Reliant " . Exasperated , he tosses them on the table as David enters . Kirk tries to be dismissive , but David confronts him , telling Kirk that he ( Kirk ) never really faced death . When Kirk admits that he hasn ' t , David points out that Kirk earlier told Saavik that how people face death is as important as how they face life . Kirk says those were just words , but David thinks they were good words , from which good ideas come . He then tells Kirk he is proud to be Kirk ' s son . The two of them hug , awkwardly at first but then with genuine warmth . Later , on the bridge , Dr . McCoy , Carol Marcus , and Kirk stare at the Genesis Planet on the main viewscreen as the " Enterprise " departs for Ceti Alpha V to pick up the surviving crew of the " Reliant " . McCoy notes that as long as they remember Spock , he will not truly be gone . Kirk softly quotes the last lines of " A Tale of Two Cities " ; something Spock was trying to tell him on his birthday . Upon McCoy ' s inquiry as to how Kirk feels , he answers : " " Young . I feel young . " " A view of jungle flora is seen on the Genesis Planet , with a brief pause to show the torpedo casing containing Spock ' s body which has landed on the planet , as Spock ' s voice provides the final words : " Space . . . the final frontier . These are the continuing voyages of the starship " Enterprise " . Her ongoing mission : to explore strange new worlds . . . to seek out new lifeforms , and new civilizations . . . to boldly go where no man has gone . . . before . " Memorable quotes . " " Any suggestions , admiral ? " " " " Prayer , Mister Saavik . The Klingons don ' t take prisoners . " " " " Physician , heal thyself . " " " " Is that all ya gotta say ? What about my performance ? " " " " I ' m not a drama critic . " " " " How we deal with death is at " least " as important as how we deal with life , wouldn ' t you say ? " " " " It was the best of times , it was the worst of times . ' Message , Spock ? " " " " None that I am conscious of . Except , of course , happy birthday . Surely . . . the best of times . " " " " Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young , doctor . " " " " Romulan ale . Why Bones , you know this is illegal . " " " " I only use it for medicinal purposes . " " " " Now , " you " open this one . " " " " I ' m almost afraid to . What is it , Klingon aphrodisiacs ? " " " " No , more antiques for your collection . " " " " Why , Bones , this is . . . charming . " " " " Jim , I ' m your doctor , and I ' m your friend . Get back your command . Get it back before you turn into part of this collection . Before you really " do " grow old . " " " " He ' s never what I expect , sir . " " " " What surprises you , lieutenant ? " " " " He ' s so . . . Human . " " " " Nobody ' s perfect , Saavik . " " " " Every time we have dealings with Starfleet , I get nervous . We are dealing with something that . . . could be perverted into a dreadful weapon . Remember that overgrown Boy Scout you used to hang around with ? That ' s exactly the kind of man . . . " " " " Listen , kiddo , Jim Kirk was many things , but he was " never " a Boy Scout ! " " ( to Captain Terrell ) " " I don ' t know you . " " ( to Commander Chekov ) " " But you . . . I never forget a face , Mister . . . Chekov , isn ' t it ? I never thought to see your face again . " " " " Chekov , who is this man ? " " " " A criminal , Captain . A product of late 20th century genetic engineering . " " " " You lie ! On Ceti Alpha V , there was " life ! " A fair chance – " " " THIS " IS " CETI ALPHA V ! ! ! " Ceti Alpha VI exploded six months after we were left here . The shock shifted the orbit of this planet and everything was laid " waste " . " Admiral " Kirk never bothered to check on our progress ! It was only the fact of my genetically engineered intellect that allowed us to survive . On Earth . . . two hundred years ago . . . I was a prince . . . with power over millions . " " " " Captain Kirk was your host . You repaid his hospitality by trying to steal his ship and murder him ! " " " " This is completely improper , Commander Chekov ! I have absolutely no intention of allowing " Reliant " or any other unauthorized personnel access to our work or materials ! " " " " I ' m sorry that you feel that way , Doctor . Admiral Kirk ' s orders are confirmed . Please prepare to deliver Genesis to us upon our arrival . " Reliant " out . " " " " Starfleet has kept the peace for over a hundred years . I cannot , and " will " not , subscribe to your interpretations of this event ! " " " " Jim , you proceed from a false assumption . I am a Vulcan . I have no ego to bruise . " " " " If I may be so bold . . . it was a mistake for you to accept promotion . Commanding a starship is your first , best destiny . Anything else is a waste of material . " " " " Were I to invoke logic , logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few . " " " " Or the one . " " " " You are my superior officer . You are also my friend . I have been and always shall be yours . " " " " He tasks me . He tasks me and I shall have him . I ' ll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition ' s flames before I give him up ! Prepare to alter course . " " " " As a matter of cosmic history , it has always been easier to " destroy " than to " create " . " " " " Not any more ; now we can do both at the same time ! According to myth , the Earth was created in six days . Now , watch out . Here comes Genesis ! We ' ll do it for you in " six " minutes ! " " " " Logic ? My God , the man ' s talking about logic ! We ' re talking about universal armageddon ! You green - blooded , inhuman – " " " " Ah , Kirk . . . my ' old friend ' . Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold ? It is very cold . . . in space . " " " " Admiral , the commander of the " Reliant " is signaling . He wishes to discuss terms of our surrender . " " " " Sir , you " did " it ! " " " " I did nothing ! Except get caught with my britches down . I must be getting senile . Mr . Saavik , you go right on quoting regulations ! In the meantime , let ' s find out how badly we ' ve been hurt . " " " " He wants to kill me , for passing sentence on him fifteen years ago . And he doesn ' t care who stands between him and his vengeance . " " " " Go ? Where are we going ? " " " " Where " they " went . " " " " Suppose they went nowhere ? " " " " Then this ' ll be your big chance to get away from it all . " " " " Where ' s Dr . Marcus ? " " " I ' m " Dr . Marcus ! " " " " Mother , he killed everybody we left behind ! " " " " Of course he didn ' t . David , you ' re just making this harder . " " " " I ' m afraid it ' s even harder than you think , doctor . Please . . . don ' t move . " " " " All is well , sir . You have the coordinates to beam up Genesis . " " " " First things first , captain . Kill Admiral Kirk . " " " " Khan , you bloodsucker ! You ' re gonna have to do your own dirty work now ! Do you hear me ? DO YOU ? ! " " " " Kirk ! Kirk , you ' re still alive , my old friend . " " " " Still – ' old friend ' ! You ' ve managed to kill just about everyone else , but like a poor marksman , you keep missing the target ! " " " " I ' ve done far worse than kill you . I ' ve hurt you . And I wish to go on . . . hurting you . I shall leave you as you left me . . . as you left her . Marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet . . . buried alive . Buried alive . " " " KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN ! ! ! KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN ! ! ! " " " You had your world . . . and I had mine . And I wanted him in mine . . . not chasing through the universe with his father . " " " " Actually , he ' s a lot like you . In many ways . " " " " Impulse power restored . " " " " Excellent . More than a match for poor " Enterprise " . " " " " Can I cook or can ' t I ? " " " " I don ' t believe in a no - win scenario . " " " " That young man – he ' s my son ! " " " " Fascinating . " " " " Admiral , what happens if " Reliant " fails to follow us into the nebula ? " " " " I think we can guarantee she ' ll follow us , Mr . Saavik . Remind me to explain to you the concept of the Human ego . " " " " Best speed , Scotty . " " " " Khan . . . I ' m " laughing " at the " superior intellect " . " " " " Full impulse power . " " " " No , sir ! You have Genesis ! You can have whatever you – ! " " ( grabs Joachim by the vest ) " " FULL POWER ! Damn you ! " " " " He ' s intelligent , but not experienced . His pattern indicates two - dimensional thinking . " " " " Are you out of your Vulcan mind ? ! ? No Human can tolerate the radiation that ' s in there ! " " " " As you are so fond of observing , doctor , I am not Human . " " " " You ' re " not " going in there ! " " " " Perhaps you ' re right . What is Mr . Scott ' s condition ? " " " " Well , I don ' t think that he — " " " ( Spock renders McCoy unconscious with a Vulcan neck pinch ) " " " I ' m sorry , doctor ; I have no time to discuss this logically . " ( Mind melds with McCoy ) " " Remember . " " " " " We ' re not gonna make it , are we ? " " " " No . . . no , you can ' t get away . From hell ' s heart , I stab at thee . For hate ' s sake , I spit my last breath at thee . " " " " Bless you , Scotty – " GO " , Sulu ! " " " " Jim , I think you ' d . . . better get down here . " " " " No ! You ' ll flood the whole compartment ! " " " " He ' ll die . . . " " " " Sir ! He ' s dead already . " " " " It ' s too late . " " " " I have been . . . and always shall be . . . " your friend " . Live long . . . and prosper . " " " " No . . . ! " " " " We are assembled here today to pay final respects to our honored dead . And yet it should be noted that in the midst of our sorrow , this death takes place in the shadow of a new life , the sunrise of a new world , a world that our beloved comrade gave his life to protect and nourish . He did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one . And we will not debate his profound wisdom at these proceedings . Of my friend , I can only say this : of all the souls I have encountered in my travels . . . his was the most . . . Human . " " " " Honors , hup ! " " " " You knew enough to tell Saavik that how we face death is as least as important as how we face life . " " " " Just words . " " " " But good words . That ' s where ideas begin . Maybe " you " should listen to them . I was wrong about you . . . and I ' m sorry . " " " " Is that what you came here to say ? " " " " Mainly . And also that I ' m – proud . . . very proud . . . to be your son . " " " " He ' s really not dead . . . as long as we remember him . " " " " It is a far far better thing I do than I have ever done before . . . a far – better resting place I go to than I have ever known . " " " " You OK , Jim ? How do you feel ? " " " " Young . I feel young ! " " Analysis . The screenplay for " Star Trek II " was written by director Nicholas Meyer , compiled from a number of drafts which all contained one or several dominant themes . One element was clearly going to be central to the audience ' s emotional response . Meyer explained : " " Once you decide that you ' re going to have the death of Spock , then how does that affect the other people ? Why is it there ? I got a lot of stick from a lot of people from the very beginning about the idea of killing Spock . Somebody said , ' You can ' t kill him . ' And I said , ' Sure you can ; the only question is whether you do it well . ' If his death proceeds organically from the theme and the story of the movie , then nobody ' s even going to notice it until it ' s on you , and no one will question it . " " In other words , Meyer was determined that his film would be " about " something and would do more than tell an adventure story . " " We were giving birth to planets , and Kirk was meeting his son , and Spock was dying . You sort of looked at that and said , ' Well , what unifying ideas are running through here ? ' And then you thought , ' Ah ! This is going to be a movie " about . . . " " " Age . " " 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 . I don ' t think that any of those other scripts were about old age , friendship , and death . " " The decision that the film was going to be about old age and friendship prompted Meyer to include a scene in which McCoy visits Kirk in his apartment and tells him that he should get his command back . With every alteration , the themes were woven tighter and tighter into the script . Ultimately , the film presented an aged Kirk in mid - life crisis . Uncertain of his place , of himself , Kirk must make the greatest sacrifice to find out where he truly belongs . " Kobayashi Maru " . In one of the early drafts for the film , the " Kobayashi Maru " test was suggested as a no - win scenario – one Nicholas Meyer decided Kirk had solved by cheating . Initially , producer Harve Bennett was resistant to the idea that Kirk could do anything ' bad ' , yet Meyer won him over ; in fact , he believed the story needed Kirk to have flaws . " " There ' s a distinction to be made between heroes and gods , " " he explained , " " which I think we sometimes get confused about . [ . . . ] let me explain my theory of heroism . If a man jumps into a raging torrent to save a drowning child , he performs an heroic act . If the same man jumps into the same torrent to save the same child , but does so with a ball and chain attached to his leg , he ' s not less heroic ; he ' s more heroic . " " " " If you look at the heroes of antiquity and myth , they all have flaws . It ' s something that they have to overcome ; their flaws are something that they have to act in spite of . The challenge is not to defy your fate , but to endure it . That is heroic . " " James T . Kirk is very much like a classical hero who must confront his own weaknesses . He played God when he marooned Khan to a desert world ; he chose not to be involved in his son David ' s life ; he allowed the " Enterprise " to be damaged because he would not listen when Saavik told him to raise shields . When Spock dies , Kirk must endure , and Nicholas Meyer was absolutely conscious of this when he was writing the script . " " The flaw is always the same " " , he explained . " " The hero always thinks he knows the answer , and ultimately he learns that he doesn ' t . [ . . . ] There is always a point in Greek plays , known as ' peripeteia , ' where the hero learns that everything he knew is wrong . And it ' s no accident that in at least two of my movies there comes a point where the hero says , ' I know nothing ' . H . G . Wells says it in " Time After Time " ; Kirk says it in " Star Trek II " . It ' s when you begin to realize that you know nothing that you ' re ready to learn something . When you ' ve had the shit kicked out of you , you ' re ready to start over , and with a little humility . As I was writing it , I was certainly getting to that ' I know nothing ' point . " " Vengeance . Using the original series episode as a building block , Meyer built Khan into the ultimate adversary for Kirk . As he worked on his character , he imagined how enraged a man would be after being exiled on a desert world and losing his wife . Inevitably , Khan became obsessed with Kirk , who he saw as his nemesis . " " Kirk was the fiend who had imprisoned him ; who had stopped him up in the bottle . I think when Khan makes his appearance in the story , Kirk is flabbergasted . He did not lie awake thinking about Khan ; Khan lay awake thinking about Kirk . " " Meyer decided that while Khan had been waiting for a chance to avenge himself upon Kirk , he would have been reading . " " I started thinking , ' What books does a superman take with him into exile ? ' At one point , Khan says , ' On Earth I was a prince ' , and certainly he ' s a fallen angel , so I picked all the books that were Lucifer - related – fallen angel – whether it was ' Moby Dick ' or ' Paradise Lost ' or ' King Lear ' , and began to build from there . I thought , ' He ' s probably been obsessively reading these books again and again until every word out of his mouth has been written by Shakespeare or Milton ' . Actually , Melville was the one who finally took over ; he just becomes completely Ahab . " " Death . Inevitably , there was concern that the script might seem too downbeat , particularly because in Meyer ' s version there was nothing to suggest that Spock might be reborn on the Genesis Planet . He later recognized that that might have been a mistake , yet he never felt that Spock ' s death was depressing . " " My feeling about killing Spock was that it would be moving , but that didn ' t mean you would be depressed by it . Romeo and Juliet die , but nobody comes out of that play depressed . We didn ' t want Spock ' s death to be meaningless . And I don ' t think that it is . Aristotle had the notion of catharsis – that the audience is purged through pity and terror . You don ' t come out of these things saying , ' I ' m going to stick my head in the oven ' . Kirk chooses to go on living ; sadder but wiser , understanding a little more the way the world works , and that is not , per se , depressing . It may be sad , but it ' s not depressing . " " Background information . Script . Despite its weaknesses , had been a box - office success , so it came as no surprise that Paramount Pictures decided to develop a sequel . Gene Roddenberry ' s first proposed storyline saw the " Enterprise " crew going back in time to make sure the Klingons did not stop the John F . Kennedy assassination . This idea was rejected and Roddenberry was forced to step into the background as " executive consultant " ( at the request of Paramount executives who blamed him for the relative failure of the first film due to the constant re - writes he demanded ) and " Star Trek " was handed over to newly - commissioned Paramount Television executive producer Harve Bennett . It was Bennett ' s job to develop a script that could be filmed on a reasonable budget ( US $ 11 . 2 million , nearly $ 24 million less than the budget of TMP ) and put a new " Star Trek " feature in the theaters in the summer of 1982 . One of his biggest problems was finding the right approach to the material . " The Motion Picture " had adopted a very serious and epic style , which many felt was inappropriate . Somehow , the sequel would have to capture the essential heart of the show and give the audiences what they had been waiting for . " Star Trek : War of the Generations " . Bennett watched all the original " Star Trek " episodes in preparation for his task . His trawl through the episodes provided him with what he had been looking for . He was determined that his movie would have something the first one lacked – a real villain . When he saw , Bennett was struck by Ricardo Montalban ' s performance as Khan , and decided that he would make the perfect villain for the film . In November 1980 , Bennett wrote a single - page outline called " Star Trek : War of the Generations " . In this story , Kirk is called to investigate a rebellion on a Federation world . En route he saves a woman he was once in love with and learns that their son – whom he never knew had been born – is one of the leaders of the rebellion . Upon arrival at the planet , Kirk is captured and sentenced to death by his own son before we learn that Khan is truly the mastermind behind the uprising . Kirk joins forces with his son to fight Khan , and the film ends with Kirk ' s son joining the crew of the " Enterprise " . Bennett had already decided at the beginning that one of the film ' s major themes would be the aging of the characters . In the drafts that followed , Kirk was consistently confronted with a son he knew little about , Spock was often preoccupied with death , and , in the later versions , McCoy had to struggle with his feelings for a much younger woman , who had made it clear that she was interested in him . " Star Trek : The Omega System " . Bennett still had to turn his outline into a workable script that could be shot , so he hired Jack B . Sowards , who had written several admired movies of the week and was a self - confessed " Star Trek " fan . Sowards instantly had a major impact . Where Bennett ' s original treatment made no mention of Spock , since Leonard Nimoy had made it clear that he was not keen to make a second " Star Trek " film , Sowards thought he had a way of persuading Nimoy to return : he suggested that Bennett tell Nimoy that in this film Spock would die a little more than a third into the story . The opportunity to play his death scene was too good for Nimoy to pass up , and he agreed to come aboard . From this point on , all the scripts featured Spock ' s death , although its position in the film would inevitably be pushed toward the dramatic conclusion . Sowards had only a few months to write a full script before a writers ' s strike was called in April 1981 . First , he expanded Bennett ' s outline into a nineteen - page treatment in which Kirk ' s former lover was named Diana , who was rescued from a refugee ship from Omega Minori IV where a revolution was underway , and who never told Kirk he had a son but Kirk discovers this later on . The treatment also introduced Mr . Wicks , the " Enterprise " s male Vulcan science officer and Spock ' s replacement . Then , by February 20 , Sowards had written a first draft that significantly expanded his treatment and added several vital elements . This script , titled " Star Trek : The Omega System " , introduced the idea that the Federation was preparing to test a terrible weapon known as the Omega System . The film opened with Captain Clark Terrell and his first officer , Pavel Chekov , beaming down to Ceti Alpha V , which had been selected as a test site , to make certain that the planet was as dead as sensor readings suggested . Starfleet knew that Kirk had left Khan and his people stranded on this planet , but was amazed to discover that he and a handful of his followers , including Marla McGivers , had survived . A vengeful Khan took control of Terrell and Chekov , and used them to take control of Project Omega . Terrell claimed that Kirk had ordered the Omega System to be loaded onto the USS " Reliant " , which was a " Constitution " - class starship like the " Enterprise " , and made it clear that it was going to be used to fight the Klingons in the Neutral Zone . Project leader Janet Wallace ( Sarah Marshall would have reprised her role from ) contacted Kirk , who ordered the " Enterprise " to set a course for Gamma Regula IV , the planet on which the project was headquartered . As " Enterprise " approached the planet , its engines were badly damaged , and Spock sacrificed his life to get them back online in time for Kirk to fight the " Reliant " off . Later , Khan and Kirk would fight a psychic battle in a variety of exotic locations , using quarterstaffs , whips , and swords . Khan , who had acquired impressive mental powers during his isolation , eventually won , but Kirk survived because he understood that the weapons were only illusory . The film ended with a pitched space battle in orbit around the planet , in which Kirk defeated his enemy with his superior tactics . " Star Trek : The Genesis Project " . At this point , art director Michael Minor made an invaluable contribution . Bennett was concerned that the Omega System was simply a weapon and that there was nothing uplifting about it , so Minor suggested turning it into a device for terraformation , the reconstruction of a lifeless planet to give it the capability of supporting known life forms , especially intelligent ones like Humans . Because it would work by reordering matter on a planet ' s surface , it could still be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands , but the Federation ' s goal was to create a paradise , not to kill millions of millions . Bennett was delighted at this , and , in recognition of its Biblical power , the Omega System became the Genesis Device . By April 10 , Sowards had written a second draft of the script that incorporated the change and was now titled " Star Trek : The Genesis Project " . In this version , Janet Wallace had become Carol Baxter and Spock ' s death had been pushed a little later in the story . During the final battle , Khan fired the Genesis Device at the " Enterprise " but hit a planet , which was reborn as the two vessels continued their titanic struggle . This draft also included the first version of the simulator sequence in which Dr . Savik ( formerly Mr . Wicks , now Captain Spock ' s first officer aboard the " Enterprise " ; taken from a separate six - page proposal ) failed to rescue the " Kobayashi Maru " . When Dr . Savik questioned him about his failure , Kirk suggested that the test might be a " no - win scenario . " McGivers was written out of this draft after Bennett discovered that actress Madlyn Rhue had contracted multiple sclerosis , of whose complications she eventually died , and it now confined her to a wheelchair . He decided that it would be unfair to recast the role , and McGivers was now written as having succumbed to an infection that Khan was unable to cure , not having the required medical supplies . This later changed to having her become a victim of the Ceti eels . " The New Star Trek " . By now , pre - production had begun in earnest , and line producer Robert Sallin and Mike Minor drew up storyboards for the effects sequences . But though this draft contained many , if not most , of the elements of the final script , Bennett and Sallin were not satisfied . To their minds , the script did not have the epic sweep needed for a major film , so they called upon Samuel A . Peeples , who had written , which had been the second pilot episode for " The Original Series " . Peeples submitted a story outline entitled " Worlds That Never Were , " which he transformed into the August 24th " The New Star Trek " script draft , entirely omitting the character of Khan and replaced him with two powerful aliens called Sojin and Moray , who had been exiled from another dimension and possessed almost godlike abilities . Also , Hikaru Sulu was the captain of the " Reliant " on which he served with Chekov . Finally , drawing from Theodore Sturgeon ' s July 18 outline , Dr . Savik was now a half - Romulan , half - Vulcan woman . ( ; " " , pp . 47 - 51 ; ) While Peeples was working on the script , Bennett and Sallin found a director they liked in the form of Nicholas Meyer . A week or so before the last draft was due to be delivered , they met with him and promised they would be back in touch as soon as they had the new script in their hands . Meanwhile , time pressures were becoming critical , and employees of effects company Industrial Light & Magic told the producers that without having a script within a matter of weeks , they would not be able to deliver the effects in time for the planned release date . By the time the Peeples script arrived , Bennett and Sallin knew they could not film it . As Sallin explained : " " We were off in some weird directions and I was really very concerned . It did not feel like a motion picture to me . Some of these ideas were too derivative and were too small in their scope . There wasn ' t anything underlying it . It was more about people shooting fire and things like that , as opposed to a real story . " " " Star Trek II : The Undiscovered Country " . Three weeks after their last meeting , Meyer called Bennett and asked where the script was . Although reluctant to share the script , which Bennett found almost embarrassing to share , Meyer persuaded him to send him the draft . Not impressed with what he had received , he called Bennett and told him and Sallin to come up to his house with all the different drafts of the script . The three of them made a list of all the things from all the different drafts that they wanted to end up in the final film , and then Meyer set out to compile a screenplay that incorporated all those things . Meyer concentrated on crafting a strong narrative by getting all the scenes in the right order and putting the story into his own words . " " I was only interested in cobbling together and cannibalizing various parts that seemed useful " " , he explained . " " What I fell in love with is the story . I never looked at the scripts again , so there were no words that were appropriated . It all had to be in my own language and in a way that I could understand it . " " By September 10 , the end product was the Meyer screenplay titled " Star Trek : The New Frontier " , revised on September 29 under the name " Star Trek : The Undiscovered Country " , and finalized on January 18 , 1982 as " Star Trek II : The Undiscovered Country " . Meyer had some very clear opinions about what made drama , and he was determined that , despite the futuristic setting , his film would make sense to a 20th century audience . Asked to quantify the character of his approach , Meyer produced two examples . The first was that he brought a sense of humor to the project , which is not to say that he did not treat it with proper respect . " " I think that putting humor into a serious movie makes the serious stuff more serious , and the humor becomes more of an explosive release . " " The other important decision he made was actually something he thought about when Bennett and Sallin had first asked him to direct the film . " " I had the haziest notion of what " Star Trek " was , because I didn ' t really watch the show on television . I finally latched on to the idea " ( originated by no less than Gene Roddenberry himself ) " that Captain Kirk and friends were really an outer - space series of novels that I had loved as a kid , by C . S . Forrester , called ' Captain Horatio Hornblower ' . So I said , ' OK , this is ' Hornblower ' in outer space ; I ' ve got it ' . When I wrote the script in 12 days it was very , very , very Navy , or , as my late wife used to say , ' Nautical but nice . " " Casting . Because Ricardo Montalban had originated his role in on the original program , director Nicholas Meyer was not involved with casting him , though he certainly had no complaints . " " Khan is enough to tell you that this is a great actor " " , he said . Most of Kirk ' s crew were in place , but Meyer was intimately involved with casting several new roles . He explained that what he was looking for was actors where he could see what the characters were feeling , even when they were not talking . " " For Carol Marcus I wanted a woman who was beautiful and looked like she could think ; a woman who was attractive enough that you could see why Kirk would fall for her , and at the same time somebody who could keep up with him " " , Meyer said . " " [ . . . ] I loved Bibi Besch ; I became very close with her , and I used her again in ' The Day After ' . She ' s no longer alive and I bitterly regret it ; she was a lovely Human being , and a lovely actor . " " " " Merritt Butrick is also tragically no longer alive " " , Meyer lamented . " " [ As David Marcus ] he not only had to be Kirk ' s son , he had to be Carol ' s son , so on a physical level I think what I liked was that his hair was the same color as hers but it was curly like Bill ' s , so I thought , ' Well , that ' s plausible . " " " " Paul Winfield was an actor I had wanted to work with since I saw ' Sounder , " " Meyer noted , " " and I thought , ' Wow , what a lovely actor ' . There was no real reason for him to be the captain of the " Reliant " , other than my great desire to direct him in scenes ! I knew he could do it , without any question . " " In " The Next Generation " , Winfield acted out a different role , that of the Tamarian captain Dathon , in . The biggest casting " coup " was giving a young Kirstie Alley the role of Saavik . " " She said as a child she wanted to be Spock and that she was so in love with the role that she wore her ears to sleep . [ . . . ] She didn ' t have to find the role ; she didn ' t have to work her way into it " " , Meyer pointed out . " " She ' d been living it somewhere in her head for years . There just wasn ' t a contest . I don ' t recall seeing another actor for that part who was as persuasive . " " In addition to her instinctive understanding of the role , Alley brought another , slightly more definable quality to her role . Meyer explained : " " The thing about her is that she ' s beautiful , but she also had a slightly other - worldly quality . [ . . . ] She was also able to encompass that sort of flat unemotionality , but she ' s basically a comedian . What I didn ' t know was that that flatness , like Leonard ' s , frequently comes out of a kind of a deadpan . I realized that when I watched her doing it . Then , at the other end of it , there she was at Spock ' s funeral , weeping . I remember somebody came running up to me and said , ' Are you going to let her do that ? ' And I said , ' Yeah . ' And they said , ' But Vulcans don ' t cry ' , and I said , ' Well , that ' s what makes this such an interesting Vulcan . " " In dialogue not retained in the final film , Saavik was described as being half - Romulan , which might have explained her tears . Sets . When production designer Joseph R . Jennings reported for work on the second " Star Trek " film , he found the sets for the USS " Enterprise " still standing . After director Robert Wise had finished filming the first feature , he had simply closed the stage doors and moved on . In the intervening months , the interiors of the giant starship had been sitting patiently , waiting to go back into action . Most of the action in the film takes place on the bridge of the " Enterprise " . Although the set may appear quite different from the bridge on " The Motion Picture " , Jennings only made cosmetic changes to the design . The layout remained the same , but in order to make the second film warmer than its predecessor , the set was repainted in darker colors . Director Nicholas Meyer very much disliked the design of the " Enterprise " bridge set , because in his view there were many things that did not make sense : " " [ . . . ] to take a silly example , if they are in terrible circumstances and everything gets all shook up , why don ' t they have seatbelts ? And the answer is , because if they had seatbelts , it wouldn ' t be very interesting . Most of the movie actually takes place on that damn bridge , which is a very tedious set to photograph , and it was also , in a reconfigured form , the bridge of the " Reliant " , so I spent a lot of time there . " " " " The biggest problem was just keeping alive what is happening in a 360 - degree world . The bridge was , very rightly , built in pie sections , so you could yank out sections and put the camera in . But , occasionally , you might want to be in the middle and sweep the camera around at what is going on . The sections are curved at the top , so when they are all in , how do you get light in there ? It ' s a sort of a nightmare scenario . Gayne Rescher ( director of photography ) invented a lot of very peculiar apparatus that dropped in from the top with light coming off , like a big chandelier on a chain . " " " The Wrath of Khan " did not have the budget to allow for significant alterations to be made to the bridge set , but Meyer did ask Jennings to find ways of making it appear more detailed and specific . " " The least I thought we could do was revamp the bridge and make it twinkle . I remember I had Joe Jennings build me a wall of blinking lights . It was on wheels , and we would shove this thing around behind people , to try anything to break up this expanse of gray panel . " " Although several other sets were also still in place , the " Enterprise " still gave Jennings plenty of work to do . As he recalled : " " A new script will call for different things ; somebody walks down a corridor and goes into another room and , bang , you don ' t have that room , so you add it . And it grows [ . . . ] until the stage sort of bulges out . " " The most obvious new addition was the torpedo room . Few people would realize it , but this set was actually a redressed version of the Klingon bridge from the first film . The torpedo room set featured a long channel where the torpedoes were loaded . Meyer wanted to have as much movement as possible in the action sequences , so he had Jennings put grates down over the channel that had to be lifted when the " Enterprise " went into battle . The " Enterprise " bridge set was also adapted to serve as the bridge of the USS " Reliant " . " " We had one thing going for us " " , said Jennings . " " There ' s a great deal of similarity between the bridge of a destroyer and the bridge of a cruiser in the American Navy . We gave it a change of color and orientation , and we got rid of the big screen in front . As I recall , we changed some of the seating arrangements and the elevators a little bit , and , of course , we added the ceiling piece to it , because the beam had to come down and pin Ricardo to the floor . The whole ceiling piece was something that had never been featured in the bridge of the " Enterprise " . That gave it a different look . " " One of the non - starship sets Jennings worked on was an interior section of Starfleet Headquarters , where a brief scene shows Kirk walking out of the simulator and heading for an elevator . In reality , this set was much smaller than it appeared . Jennings explained : " " Mike [ Minor ] had a bright idea ; he went out to several hardware stores and came back with a birdbath , a planter , and a bunch of junk . He went off and fiddled with it for about two days , and he came up with a miniature . We put that in the foreground as what is called a ' cutting piece ' , and the real set was in the background . They tied together visually and created a perspective trick that made the set look much bigger . " " The next time we saw Kirk , he was in his apartment . Jennings had fond memories of this set and said that the challenge was to make it clear that it was in San Francisco , but also show that it was a 23rd century building . The setting was established by using a backdrop showing the Golden Gate Bridge that had been made for " The Towering Inferno " . The next task , Jennings explained , was to make the room appear futuristic . " " You set up your frame of reference , and then within that you ' ve got to be honest , which will lend credibility to the physical aspects of your show . Like all architecture , it has to look as though it ' s possible to live in it ; you look for materials , for instance , that are unfamiliar , or that are being used in an unfamiliar fashion , to make your design look different from what the public is seeing today . " " Despite the need to make the apartment look futuristic , Meyer also impressed on the production crew that he doubted things would undergo a complete change in the future , so the apartment still had to look like a home . " " A fireplace would be an anachronism but would still fit Kirk ' s image of having a cozy place to live " " , said Jennings , " " so we had to make a fireplace that looked a little different ; hence we used the curved wall and the mosaic treatment behind it . " " Meyer also wanted to suggest that Kirk had too much time on his hands in retirement and had a real attachment to the past , so Jennings and his team filled the set with antique collectibles . However , Meyer was unhappy with the Genesis cave set , combining live footage with a matte painting . He thought that the scene looked false and too constructed , and would have used a real location instead , but neither time nor budget would allow it . Costumes . Starfleet uniforms . When Robert Sallin came on board as producer for " Star Trek II " , one of the first things he did was change the wardrobe of the Starfleet officers . Sallin wanted the uniforms redesigned , yet , entirely due to budgetary reasons , he did not want to discard the old jumpsuits from the first " Star Trek " movie . " " [ . . . ] so I said , ' Let ' s do some dye tests . ' To this day , I have the swatches of the different - colored uniforms that we tested to see if we could reuse some of the old material and rework it . " " The series of dye tests showed that the old uniforms would take three different colors well : a blue - gray ( " lead " ) , a gold ( which proved to photograph almost " bronze " ) , and a dark red , or maroon ( " blood " ) . The plan was to use the modified uniforms for the junior cadets and enlisted crew while enough money could be found to design an entirely new wardrobe for the senior officers . Director Nicholas Meyer had some very specific ideas about how the uniforms should look . " " I decided that this was going to be ' Hornblower ' in outer space , so I said , ' Okay , if this is going to be the Navy , let ' s have them look like the Navy ; they shouldn ' t be walking around in pajamas . ' Which seemed to me to be what the uniforms in the first movie and the TV show looked like . " " Additionally , Meyer had one other , significant instruction for costume designer Robert Fletcher : he wanted the costumes to be reminiscent of the clothes worn in the film " The Prisoner of Zenda " . Fletcher was careful not to reproduce any specific naval uniforms and used the dark red that had been discovered during the dye tests . Meyer was keen on this approach , since it made the costumes dramatic and created a strong contrast with the background . The first versions of the uniform had a stiff black collar like the costumes in " The Prisoner of Zenda " . Producer Robert Sallin suggested changing this into a turtleneck and after he made the alterations , Fletcher decided to use trapunto , which is a form of vertical quilting . By 1981 - 82 , the machines and specialized needles used to produce trapunto had become exceedingly rare , and Fletcher was able to secure only one needle for the entire wardrobe department . Fletcher said : " " That trapunto machine saved my life . The machines are very rare and are not made anymore . We had , perhaps , the only one in existence on the West Coast , a 50 - year - old antique . We lived in constant fear that we were going to break its one and only needle , because , of course , you can ' t get " THEM " anymore either ! " " One day , Fletcher genuinely worried that the needle had been lost or stolen ( and even entertained thoughts of it being held for ransom ) when one of the department ' s workers had taken it home as a security measure . Meyer had always wanted the uniforms to feel as real as possible , and thus asked for rank insignia . Fletcher explained : " " There was kind of a complicated arrangement of divisions and ranks expressed by the braid on the sleeves . I made that up . I organized it and produced a little instruction booklet about it for the wardrobe department [ . . . ] . " " On the early version of the uniforms , the insignia was on a band around the upper arm , which was later moved to the cuff . The last major change was to redesign the flap of the double - breasted jacket so that it would actually open . This was something Meyer wanted because he felt the lighter color on the inside of the flap would frame the actors ' s faces better . The flaps , however , did present Fletcher with a problem : when they were open , one could clearly see the snaps that held it in place , and , as he says , these looked distinctly unfuturistic . " " In order to make these look less like plain old snaps , I found this sterling silver chain that looked strange . I ordered a reel of it and sewed it in with the snaps to give it a feeling that it was perhaps a magnetic closing . " " In toto , the design for the uniforms that resulted from all this proved to be extremely difficult for fans to duplicate accurately , and it ended up being called the " monster maroon " uniform design for that reason . Khan and his people . For Khan and his followers , Fletcher wanted to create a definite contrast with the highly organized Starfleet uniform s . As he explained , his idea was that they had been forced to cobble together their costumes out of whatever they could find . " " 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 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 . " " After Khan and his followers hijacked the " Reliant " , many of them ( including Khan himself in one scene ) are seen wearing the stolen Starfleet uniforms of the " Reliant " crew as open jackets , with Khan himself wearing one of Terrell ' s , as the captain ' s rank insignia is prominently featured . He added that when it came to Khan ' s costume , there was another major consideration . " " We wanted to show Ricardo Mantalban ' s physique . He was rather proud of it , as he should have been . That was a theatrical gesture . " " Of course , when Khan first appears , he is dressed from head to foot in rags . Again , Fletcher said , the design of this costume was dictated by Khan ' s situation . " " They had to protect themselves from the planet , which was very inhospitable . That was the origin for the kind of Bedouin look . If you have nothing else , and you have access to some fabric you may have ripped out of a bedroom or whatever , then you wrap yourself up to protect yourself from the sandstorm . " " ( In Shane Johnson ' s " Star Fleet Uniform Recognition Manual " , Khan ' s primary outfit was described as being the remains of a life - support suit designed specifically for use with the DY series of sleeper ships , such as the " Botany Bay " itself had once been . ) Other . For the remaining costumes , Fletcher ' s biggest concern was to create a sense of contrast with the major outfits . Carol Marcus and her team were given white smocks that suggested futuristic lab coats and , in the scene where Kirk and McCoy are dressed in civilian clothes , Fletcher tried his best to make sure the outfits looked practical and comfortable . Amusingly , Fletcher said the one costume that he got asked about most made only a fleeting appearance in the film . When Kirk visits Spock in his quarters , the Vulcan is wearing the same robes he wore in the previous movie . " " People always ask me what the writing on front of Spock ' s black velvet , at - home costume symbolize . I have to explain the language that I invented to decorate those things , and I can ' t ! All I can say is that it ' s very akin to Chinese ; it ' s non - syllabic , and the various shapes contain an entire thought and you don ' t use them to make words . " " Whether these robes became Spock ' s burial robes was never made clear in the final film , but the various younger actors who appeared as the younger Spock in wore robes that looked very similar to those Nimoy himself had worn . He added that most of the costumes feature what he described as " corrupt " colors . " " Technically , they are colors that are a little bit tinged with their complements . Probably , the closest thing in art history is art deco colors . I once did a production of Offenbach ' s " Voyage to the Moon " , and I based that on the fact that the moon probably looked like an art deco world . Maybe that struck in my mind , because I used those colors here . " " He added that because these colors are not quite true , there is something slightly odd about them , which gives the audience the feeling they are from a different world . The casual wear worn by William Shatner as Kirk was sold off on the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction on eBay . Shooting . At the opening of the film , Robert Sallin wanted to make the entry of Kirk as dramatic as possible . He explained : " " [ . . . ] we ' re introducing Captain Kirk . I think we need a little drama here , so here ' s what I want to do . When those doors open , the room is filled with smoke , and I want him to emerge in silhouette . I want the strongest backlight you can give him , directly behind him , so that when he walks through there are fingers of light that surround him in the smoke . I want it to look like the Second Coming . " " The original version shot was not powerful enough for Sallin , so he made sure that it was reshot . During Spock ' s funeral scene , director Nicholas Meyer wanted the camera to be directly in front of the torpedo that acted as a coffin and to move with it as it slid into the launcher . " " I [ Robert Sallin ] got a call from the head of production at Paramount : ' Nick [ Meyer ] wants this , and we ' re going to have to rip out the floor , and we ' re going to have to rebuild the set so it ' s high enough off the ground to get the camera in . We ' ve got to talk to Nick . ' We all went down there , and everyone was gathered around looking at this through . I just turned to the key grip and said , ' Do you have a Western dolly ? ' That ' s basically a trolley that you use to pull the camera . He said , ' Yes ' , and I said , ' Have you that tubular track for it ? And can you put on the little wheels ? ' He nodded , and I said , ' Can ' t we mount the camera on the dolly , put the track down inside the trough , then move the camera with an offset arm [ which allows one to control it from above ] and do the shot that way ? ' He said , ' Yeah , we can do that ' , and I said , ' What ' s that going to cost ? ' and he said , ' About $ 30 ' , and I said , ' Well , I think that ' s what we ' re doing , then ! " " Visual effects . The visual effects for " The Wrath of Khan " were filmed quickly and efficiently – and , most importantly , they came in on budget . Unlike the first " Star Trek " feature , the effects were produced by Industrial Light & Magic , a company which would come to dominate the industry in the coming decades . Producer Robert Sallin recalled ILM ' s approach to the project : " " They were incredible . The most professional , the most delightful , the most responsive ; I couldn ' t say enough good things about the whole crew . It was an amazing experience . " " As a sequel , " Star Trek II " was able to reuse most of the models that had already been built for " The Motion Picture . " Besides the " Enterprise " model , Sallin wanted to make use of the orbital office complex that Kirk beamed up to in the first film ; it became the Regula I space station . Steve Gawley , head of the model shop at the time , recalled : " " We took it [ the orbital office model ] apart and put it upside down and then reattached some of the outer pods in a different way . " " This also made sense from a storytelling - continuity standpoint , as it suggested that by the latter half of the 23rd century , space station designs might have become fairly standardized . The remaining model shots required entirely new models . The ILM team built the Regula planetoid and several other simple pieces , but the main task was the construction of the " Reliant " , which was the first Starfleet vessel other than the " Constitution " - class ever seen . Paramount ' s art department provided the model builders with detailed drawings to work from , and , as modelmaker Bill George remembered , a general instruction that the " Enterprise " and " Reliant " should look as different from one another as possible . " " The one thing that was a little bit different on the drawings was that they had come up with a totally new color scheme for the graphics , thinking that would make it look different . [ . . . ] When I got them in , I said , ' This can ' t happen . ' So I showed them to Kenneth Ralston [ ILM supervisor to the film ] . His take on it was , ' Let ' s put on the Federation graphics we ' ve seen before , and see what they say . ' Thankfully , the producers were happy with it . " " The biggest challenge the ILM team faced was showing the heavy damage that the " Enterprise " and " Reliant " inflicted on each other in the script . The model shop used several different approaches to make sure that they did not actually have to damage the models . On the " Enterprise " , the damage was essentially cosmetic ; pieces of aluminum were added on which were tainted so that , where need be , the damage could literally be peeled off . The damage to the " Reliant " was much more serious , so larger versions of different parts of the ship were built that could be destroyed . The initial confrontation ended with the destruction of a dome ( the impulse deflection crystal ) toward the rear of the " Reliant " s saucer . After that came the biggest single effects sequence of the film – the Battle of the Mutara Nebula . To create the nebula , the team used a cloud tank , which is basically a large container with colored liquid in it . The team spent weeks shooting the tank , searching for shots that could be used as background for the epic battle . When everything was finished , the team sat down to look through all their footage for shots they could use with the models . Once the nebula had been filmed , the team focused on the starships that would be moving around inside it . Because the ships were often in the distance , the team was able to use small versions of the models which were much easier to handle than the full - size models and could perform bigger maneuvers . In one of the most impressive scenes of the battle , the " Reliant " fires its phasers at the " Enterprise " s " neck " ( interconnecting dorsal ) section , cutting an enormous gash in the process – and rendering one of the " Enterprise " s photon torpedo tubes useless . This shot was created using traditional stop animation techniques . Kenneth Ralston explained : " " I had that section done as a wax piece and then painted it to look like the ship . Obviously , we worked out exactly how the camera was going to move . Then I just went into the wax version , and I would take little sculpting tools and rip stuff up and bend it around . We ' d film that , then the camera would move whatever distance it would cover in one frame , and I ' d sculpt some more damage . Then , on top of that , we did some animation of a laser hit sort of cutting into it , but it left a real cut – a big scar [ . . . ] . " " The damage brought onto the " Reliant " was even more severe and involved making several separate sections . " " One of the engine pods blows up " " , remembered Ralston . " " We couldn ' t blow up the whole pod for some reason , so I built a shape similar to it and it was more like glass blowing out of the warp nacelle . We shot that as a separate element and then printed that on top of the actual model for the " Reliant " , with other pieces blowing off of it . Then , when the whole nacelle blows off , that was just a bunch of explosions and a separate arm that we shot using motion control . " " Perhaps the most important visual effect in the film in terms of historical significance is the Genesis Effect . This is the first use of particle effects in a motion picture . Particle effects are now widely used . Dating . The film alone does not clearly identify the year it is set on , other than that it is somewhere in the early to mid 2280s . Based on some of the film ' s dialogue , the film was set fifteen years after . Khan : " " . . . marooned here fifteen years ago by Captain James T . Kirk . " " According to a line in the script , it was more accurately fourteen years after the episode . Kirk : " " He wants to kill me for passing sentence on him fourteen years ago . " " " Space Seed " in turn aired in and is considered to be set in 2267 . This suggests " The Wrath of Khan " would be set in 2281 or 2282 . Nick Meyer ' s commentary on the special edition DVD , explains that the intention was that the film depicted Kirk ' s 49th birthday . Kirk was born in 2233 , so this would support the year 2282 . Other accounts within and after the film suggest the events of the film took place later in the 2280s . The label on the bottle of Romulan ale that McCoy gives to Kirk as a birthday gift reads 2283 . In , in the Nexus , Kirk imagines himself eleven and nine years into the past , to the years 2282 , when he met Antonia , and 2284 , to the day he told her he was returning to Starfleet . All those accounts suggest the events of this film occurred afterward , as Kirk was at the beginning of the film supervising command - track cadets at Starfleet Academy as an active Starfleet admiral . According to StarTrek . com , " Star Trek Chronology , " and " Star Trek Encyclopedia , " ( 3rd ed . , p . 691 ) the events of " The Wrath of Khan " in fact occurred one year later in 2285 . Memory Alpha uses this year as well . Awards and honors . " Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan " received the following awards and honors : < tabview > Appendices . Credits . Credits for Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan | Show Template : Tabview message | Hide | true | true < / tabview > References . 19th century ; 2267 ; 2283 ; 2284 ; able seaman ; allergy ; Altair VI ; Amber ; Armageddon ; " Amazing Grace " ; Antares maelstrom ; bagpipes ; battery ; bearing ; bionetics ; blue shift ; birthday ; birthday present ; boatswain ' s whistle ; bookshelf ; Boy Scouts ; bridge ; bridge ( game ) ; bridge simulator ; cerebral cortex ; Ceti Alpha ; Ceti Alpha V ; Ceti Alpha VI ; Ceti eel ; chambers coil ; checkers ; Christmas tree ; ; class D ; comm - pic ; craylon gas ; Dante ; " Dante ' s Inferno " ; domestication ; doppler compensator ; drama critic ; dynoscanner ; Earth ; efficiency rating ; ; ; ; eulogy ; Excellency ; Federation Science Bureau ; fermentation ; fire extinguisher ; fireplace ; firing switch ; funeral ; Gamma Hydra ; Gamma Hydra sector ; Genesis Device ; ; geoplastic s ; goose ; gravitic mine ; gravitronics ; ; hairstyle ; ; Hijacking ; Holy Bible ; intercept course ; James T . Kirk ' s San Francisco apartment ; JBK sensors synthostasis ; ; " katra " ; " King Lear " ; Klingon s ; Klingon Neutral Zone ; " Kobayashi Maru " ; " Kobayashi Maru " scenario ; log buoy ; main stage flux chamber ; marksman ; marooning ; medical tricorder ; midshipman ; Mark IV bridge simulator ; ; model ; neutronic fuel carrier ; " Moby Dick " ; mooring ; Mutara Nebula ; ; NCC - 500 ; NCC - 585 ; NCC - 3801 ; NCC - 4000 ; ; ; Nibia ; ninny ; " Paradise Lost " ; " Paradise Regained " ; par for the course ; phaser emitter ; type 2 phaser ; photon torpedo ; plastic s ; poem ; prayer ; preanimate matter ; prefix code ; prestage flux chamber ; Project Genesis ; ; radiation poisoning ; red shift ; Regula ; Regula I ; ; retinal scan ; Retinax V ; " Revenge is a dish best served cold " ; rigor mortis ; Romulan s ; Romulan ale ; sailing ship ; ; San Francisco ; Scott ' s sister ; senility ; ship ' s bell ; Signet ; slit ; speaker ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet Corps of Engineers ; Starfleet General Orders ; Surak ; tactical situation monitor ; " " ; Tau Ceti IV ; thermonics ; thermowave multiplexer ; throat ; Tiberian bat ; tiger ; toast ; travel pod 05 ; tranquilizer ; tricorder ; United Federation of Planets ; ; Vulcan ; Vulcan language ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; ; Wave Matrix ETM Storage ; weapons console