Month: March 2014

UGH you guys, I know I’m supposed to be in TNG mode, but tonight I was home alone and browsing Star Trek tumblrs and suddenly before I knew what I was doing, I was queuing up The Wrath of Khan on Netflix while putting on sweatpants and microwaving leftover Zante’s pizza. And what followed was 2 hours of mental live-blogging and me realizing over and over again how much I love this movie.

Never forget: James T. Kirk’s glasses. Stardate 8130.3 – 8141.6

But the thing about WoK is that even though most of it plays out like an extended TOS episode (Bones and Spock arguing, Kirk’s silly expressions, epic battle scenes, a lot of snarky comments, etc.), you know what’s coming at the end. And you know that in those last 15 minutes, your heart will be broken into a thousand tiny pieces and it’s really all just a suspenseful buildup to those moments.

So I thought it’d be “fun” to explore the emotional roller coaster that is the ending of The Wrath of Khan, by putting together a collection of the most heartbreaking screencaps (thanks to this site), all of which occur in the last 15 or so minutes of the movie. 

Backstory: Kirk’s arch nemesis Khan has set the Genesis to detonate and the only way to save the crew of the Enterprise is to get warp speed working so they can hightail it out of the Mutara Nebula before everything explodes. Spock decides to go to the engine room to fix the warp drive himself, although it exposes him to deadly amounts of radiation. At the very last minute (of course), the ship kicks into warp drive and they escape before the Genesis destroys them all.

Here we get the first inkling that something’s wrong: when Bones tells Kirk he needs to come to Engineering, and Kirk notices that Spock’s chair is empty…

Cut to Kirk running across the Enterprise and pushing people out of the way to get to Spock, who is dying of radiation in an enclosed bubble after just saving the entire crew:

But since Kirk can’t reach Spock due to the radiation, he has to stay outside this glass wall:

Where Spock tells him he has been, and always shall be, his friend:

Before DYING.

AND THEN, as if the idea of Spock’s funeral isn’t sad enough,

THERE GOES SCOTTY PLAYING AMAZING GRACE ON BAGPIPES

And Kirk gives his speech about Spock’s soul being the most *sob* human he’s ever known…

And then they watch the coffin/pod verrrry slowwwwly make its way to a special door, where it’s then SHOT OUT INTO SPACE!.

BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE. Here’s Kirk reading a book that Spock gave to him for his birthday, except he’s having a hard time because his glasses are cracked (more heartbreak):

Then David (HIS SON), who he just met for the first time like 5 hours ago, comes in and they talk about death and then David says he’s sorry for never wanting to meet him and that he’s proud to be his son.

And they hug.

Then they all look out the observation deck at the Genesis planet, where Spock’s body is, and Bones and Dr. Marcus make some lighthearted comments, and Kirk’s face is full of so many feels, AND THEN THE MOVIE ENDS.

And for two whole years, from 1982-1984, everyone had to assume that Spock was dead. How messed up is that??

Anyway, that’s enough emotions for one night. I hope if you haven’t seen WoK, you still want to even though I just revealed the entire ending. Let me know…I’m definitely open to watching this again in the near future.