Lets start our review by looking at the poster to the left. Seriously bad ass. You've got the Enterprise being attacked, and General Chang (none other that Christopher Plummer!) looking all menacing in the background.
As the movie opens, the theme over the credits is my favorite of the TOS movies. Dark and moody, it sets the tone of the film. The music comes to an end timed perfectly with the explosion of the Klingon moon Praxis. This starts the set up for the remainder of the movie.
So the USS Excelsior (NCC-200), under the command of one Hikaru Sulu gets tossed around by the shock wave caused by the explosion of Praxis. If you look closely, you can see Tuvok (from Voyager) in the background. Not really, he's not added in until that scene from Voyager. Oh, and hey kids! Its Yeomen Rand, now a Commander and Comms officer on the Excelsior.
We then cut to the rest of the crew getting briefed by Spock on how only Nixon could go to China and that the Klingon Empire has only 50 Earth years of life left. So, Kirk and company are off to escort the Kligon Chancellor Gorkon to Earth for negotiations for peace.
So, what do you do when you host a Klingon diplomat? Break out the Romulan ale of course! Quote Shakespere and Hitler, and you've got a HELL of a dinner party.
Then it goes to shit. It looks as if the Enterprise fired on the Chancellor's ship, beamed two crewmen aboard and killed the Chancellor. And, Kirk and McCoy are blamed, and sent to the Klingon prison planet to die.
Never fear, they meet up with a changeling (not the same race as Odo from what I can tell), escape and make it to (and fans already know where) Kitohmer! Evil plan concocted by members of Kligon Command and Starfleet officers to prevent peace is thwarted by Kirk and company. We all live happily ever after.
Few notes.
Apparently, Worf had a ancestor who was an attorney and also named Worf
The Chancelor's party arriving on the Enterprise, really well done
Music, still bad ass and well done throughout.
While again, this may not be the best movie, it is certainly my favorite of the TOS movies. Tension, action and rel life overtones are abundant and make this an enjoyable ride; a fitting send off to the crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.
The basic maguffin of this film, the Klingon empire relying on a single moon for its energy production, and the gravity boots silliness keep this from being my second favorite movie, but the rest is top notch. And casting Kim Cattrell as a Vulcan suited her wooden action to a tee. ;-)
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