Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Paramount Pictures, 1991) is the sixth feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. It is the last of the films based solely on Star Trek: The Original Series cast and it presents their final mission together.

Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Written by Leonard Nimoy, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Nicholas Meyer, and Denny Martin Flinn.

Tagline: The battle for peace has begun.

James T. Kirk

• Captain's Log, Stardate 9522.6: I've never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I can never forgive them for the death of my boy. It seems to me our mission to escort the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council to a peace summit is problematic at best. Spock says this could be an historic occasion, and I'd like to believe him. But how on Earth can history get past people like me?
• [last lines] Captain's Log, Stardate 9529.1: This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man - where no one - has gone before.

General Chang

• Tickle us, do we not laugh? Prick us, do we not bleed? Wrong us...shall we not revenge?

• [Paraphrased, The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene i.]

• [at Kirk and McCoy's trial] Indeed, the record shows that Captain Kirk once held the rank of admiral, and that Admiral Kirk was broken for taking matters into his own hands in defiance of regulations of the law! Do you deny being demoted for these charges?! Don't wait for the translation! Answer me now!

• [Similar words were originally spoken by Adlai Stevenson to Valerian Zorin in an emergency session of the United Nations during the Cuban Missile Crisis.]

Dialogue

Spock: Good morning. Two months ago, a Federation starship monitored an explosion on the Klingon moon, Praxis. We believed it was caused by overmining and insufficient safety precautions. The moon's decimation means a deadly pollution of their ozone. They will have depleted their supply of oxygen in approximately 50 Earth-years. Due to their enormous military budget, the Klingon economy does not have the resources with which to combat this catastrophe. Last month, at the behest of the Vulcan ambassador, I opened a dialogue with Gorkon, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. He proposes to commence negotiations at once.

Admiral Cartwright: Negotiations for what?

Spock: The dismantling of our space stations and starbases along the Neutral Zone, an end to almost 70 years of unremitting hostility which the Klingons can no longer afford.

---

Chancellor Gorkon: I offer a toast. The undiscovered country...the future.

Everyone: The undiscovered country.

Spock: Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.

Gorkon: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.

Chang: taH pagh taHbe' [Klingons laugh] "To be or not to be?" That is the question which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. We need breathing room.

James Kirk: Earth. Hitler, 1938.

Chang: I beg your pardon? [pause]

Gorkon: Well...I see we have a long way to go.

---

Chang: [over the Enterprise public address speakers] I am constant as the Northern Star...

Leonard McCoy: [to Spock, while modifying a photon torpedo to track down Chang's warship] I'd give real money if he'd shut up.

---

[The Enterprise and Excelsior crews have just averted the assassination of the Federation president]

Azetbur: What's happened? What's the meaning of all of this?

James T. Kirk: It's about the future, Madame Chancellor. Some people think the future means the end of history. Well...We haven't run out of history quite yet. Your father called the future...the undiscovered country. People can be very frightened of change.

Azetbur: You've restored my father's faith.

Kirk: And you've restored my son's.

---

[The Enterprise crew see Sulu and the Excelsior bridge crew]

James T. Kirk: Captain Sulu! As much to the crew of the Enterprise, I owe you my thanks.

Capt. Hikaru Sulu: Nice to see you in action for one more time, Captain Kirk. Take care. [Excelsior leaves]

Commander Leonard McCoy: By God, that's a big ship.

Montgomery Scott: Not so big as her captain, I think.

Commander Pavel Chekov: So, this is goodbye.

Kirk: I think its about time we got underway ourselves. [sits on captain's chair]

Commander Nyota Uhura: Captain, I have orders from Starfleet Command. We're to put back to Spacedock immediately...to be decommissioned. [long pause as Kirk contemplates the order]

Spock: If I were human, I believe my response would be...go to Hell. [Kirk looks at Spock] If I were human.

Chekov: Course heading, Captain?

Kirk: Second star to the right... and straight on till morning.

Cast

Cast of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Actor	Role
William Shatner	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley	Dr. Leonard McCoy
James Doohan	Captain Montgomery Scott
George Takei	Captain Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig	Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols	Commander Nyota Uhura
Grace Lee Whitney	Commander Janice Rand
Mark Lenard	Ambassador Sarek
Kim Cattrall	Lieutenant Valeris
David Warner	Chancellor Gorkon
Rosanna DeSoto	Chancellor Azetbur
Christopher Plummer	General Chang
Kurtwood Smith	Federation President
Brock Peters	Admiral Cartwright
John Schuck	Klingon Ambassador
W. Morgan Sheppard	Commandant
Iman	Martia
Michael Dorn	Colonel Worf
René Auberjonois	Colonel West (uncredited)
Christian Slater	Excelsior Communications Officer (cameo)

External links

• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country at StarTrek.com