When I was at film school, our AD instructor revealed to us perhaps the best advice I ever received regarding how to study a film, and by proxy, all filmmaking in general. He told us to pick a film – NOT one of your favourites – and study that film relentlessly. Now, by study, he meant STUDY. Not watch the film closely as you normally would. Glare at it. Squint at it. Treat it as an enigma to be deciphered. Watch for dispassion, not for pleasure. Cold. Impartial. Turn the sound off and reject all instances of getting swept up in the story. over and over and over and over and over. And over. Until your brain goes numb. Take a weekend and watch that damn film continuously, back-to-back, 24 times until you loathe it. Until you trick your brain into seeing it not as a movie but as a series of individual frames. Until it’s impossible to be interested in anything but how it was made.

It’s amazing what secrets movies reveal without sound, without your mind being hypnotized by the narrative experience. All manner of continuity errors. All manner of special effect seams. Lighting choices and editing tricks. Desperate for anything to stimulate interest, your brain truly does begin to see the film completely differently. The total unreality of everything is revealed.

Not long after watching Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan for the 79th time, I had a similar experience – and a startling revelation. I think it’s the kind of revelation you can only have after you have experienced something that many times, crushing all novelty and thrill. Now, I hadn’t watched it 79 times back-to-back, and I certainly don’t loathe it. But I have to admit that the thrill is much diminished. Which makes me sad. So sad.

But back to the revelation, and it stunned me once revealed:

KIRK IS NOT THE DRIVING HEROIC FORCE OF THE FILM

Captain James T. Kirk is the hero of Star Trek II. William Shatner is the star of Star Trek II. But both the character and the star got bamboozled BIG TIME. And I think it was by Leonard Nimoy (!).

“NIIIIIMOOOYYYY!!!”

 

If you watch the film and really pay attention to Kirk’s actions, you begin to realize that how you remember the movie does not match up to the reality of what really happens. When you think of Star Trek II, you recall an epic battle of wits and wills with Kirk emerging triumphant due to his uncanny ingenuity. You recall Kirk outwitting Khan and turning the tables on the former tyrant over and over, using the ‘ol Kirk trick-a-wink-strategy we came to know so well in TOS.

Only in this movie, it’s all illusion. It is actually Spock who does every damn single heroic genius thing. Kirk is at the forefront of all the action, sure, and he most definitely talks a lot and sounds like he’s coming up with these great tricks – but he’s almost irrelevant – like a puppet figurehead for the real hero to hide behind. I propose to you now that the real, secret hero is Captain Spock.

EXHIBIT A:

Khan is tricked into thinking repairs to the Enterprise will take days, not hours. When the idea is first put forth, via incredibly easy-to-figure-out code-speak, it is Spock who initiates the subterfuge. Kirk picks up what Spock is laying down immediately and rolls with it, of course, but his “Understood” makes it clear he did not come up with the idea. His smug “I don’t like to lose” to Saavik shows us that he will take credit for the idea, however.

EXHIBIT B:

In the battle within the Mutara Nebula, Kirk is racking his brain to try and get an angle (literally) on where Reliant will try to strike from next. At this point his extensive experience as the best starship captain in the fleet should be kicking in bigly. And this is of course what we all expect, which is what tricks us into not noticing what really happens here. It is Spock who very subtly prods Kirk with a clue:

“He’s intelligent…but not experienced. His pattern indicates…two-dimensional thinking.”

“Aaaah, right. Thanks Spock,” says Kirk, whispering behind his hand. Again, Kirk gets it instantly and jumps on the premise with a smile, but it ain’t his idea. Spock’s idea. Spock’s victory. Shatner is a great actor and he delivers “Fire!” with aplomb. But it’s really not cool that Kirk isn’t allowed to be the ingenious strategist that he should be – the one who saved the day every week on TOS. I mean, what the hell?

But wait, I can hear some, or maybe one, of you say – “didn’t Kirk come up with the prefix code?! He totally saved the ship and shit!” Yeah, but knowing about the prefix codes is no more heroic than knowing your office alarm code at work. It’s no Corbomite Maneuver. It involves neither guile nor guts. And once again, Spock is shown to be just as cool as Kirk with his immediate response “The pre-fix codes?” Yeah, I’m just as smart as you, Bill, and I’m also a captain now too.

I guess they had to throw Shatner a bone. He had just almost got the Enterprise blowed up good by not raising his shields after all (which is almost believable, given the “rusty-mid-life-crisis” angle – but jeez man! His ship was taken over and highjacked every week on TOS. Every week! He should assume every ship they meet is hijacked!)

But see? This is the genius of it all – Kirk appears heroic on the surface of things, displays all the correct heroic mannerisms to keep up the illusion – but in the end it’s really Spock who’s saving the ship, over and over. Until he’s just too cool to live.

Kirk’s character is totally subverted and neutered and no one’s the wiser. Certainly not William Shatner. Meanwhile Spock gets all the cool lines and cool tricks, not to mention all the press ‘cuz all anyone was talking about back then was Spock’s death. And an amazing death scene it was! The sci-fi Glimmer Twins did not disappoint.

So: Star Trek II is a total 100% Spock showcase. Shatner is there, but Kirk is a jerk. How could this have happened? Who let it happen? And why?

My personal theory – which I believe 67% – is that it was Nimoy, assisted by director Meyer (who also wrote the script). I don’t think Meyer would have had a motive to f**k Shatner over. Nimoy, on the other hand…

It has been well documented that Nimoy was extremely active behind the scenes and had secured for himself tremendous leverage in exchange for agreeing to be in the sequel. Shrewd. I think as a last hurrah for his character, he worked hard to make sure that Spock came out on top. I choose to believe he strong-armed Meyer into amplifying Spock’s cool factor at the expense of Kirk’s. And hey, if it’s written in such a way that Shatner never notices, there’s no fuss, no muss.

Who knows? Maybe Nimoy even managed to pull the wool over Meyer’s eyes. Could Nimoy have been that Machiavellian? Well the guy killed his character off then came back to both star in and direct the sequel. You tell me.

That’s an answer I guess we will always be…In Search Of. But whatever the true story, I guarantee you’ll never watch Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan the same way again.

Great movie. Not so great Kirk.