History Film / StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan

** In Space Seed, Kirk smashed the glass to free Khan. Here, he smashes a control panel to free Chekov and Terrell.

* ForgottenPhlebotinum: This film introduces the Genesis device. [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock As we'll see]], the planet it creates disintegrates within a couple weeks, thus rendering it useless for its original purpose ({{terraform}}ing). But surely [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Captain Picard]] and [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Captain Janeway]] might have found it useful as a handy-dandy instant [[SuperweaponSurprise Borg Cube Killer]]. [[note]]This is [[AllThereInTheManual addressed in the novelizations]] of this movie and ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock.'' Vance Madison and Del March were actually the leading scientists on the project and they can briefly be seen in the scene where they argue about what they should do; Vance is the quiet black man, and Del is the restless one with slightly shorter sleeves. When they realize that their research is about to be taken from them they erase it all from the station's computer banks. Khan kills both of them after he discovers the device is gone and the plans erased. By the end of ''Star Trek III'' the only person with any working knowledge is Carol, and she's vowed to keep it to herself, though she admits no one could replicate the project without Madison and March.[[/note]]

'''Kirk:''' I did nothing! ...except get caught with my britches down. I must be getting senile.

* LikeASonToMe: Joachim, while not being related to Khan by blood (expanded universe materials revealed he was the son of Khan's right hand man in Space Seed named Joaquin), is the closest thing Khan has to a son. Joachim gets Khan to listen to him at several crucial moments when his thirst for revenge is overriding his common sense and Khan is devastated when Joachim [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in his arms]] towards the end of the film.

* NotSoStoic:
** Spock is clearly distraught when an anguished Scotty carries his badly burned, dying nephew to the bridge.

* NothingIsScarier: As mentioned above, the Battle in the Nebula at the end is not what you'd expect from two space-based warships duking it out. It's really more like a submarine battle - slow, quiet, tense and ''very'' effective.

--->"''Botany Bay''... '''''Botany Bay'''''?! Oh, ''no''! We've got to get out of here, ''now''!"

* PrecisionFStrike: Bones uses the curse "goddamn". This was the first time a word of this strength had been uttered in any Trek production, and the last until the sixth film.

* PuppeteerParasite: A particularly notorious and [[{{Squick}} gross]] example is seen both entering and leaving its victim.

** The second season episode "Catspaw" features Chekov not at his usual navigator station but filling in at Spock's science station while Spock is off the ship. The stardates given in the episode (3018.2) place it before "Space Seed," (3141.9) providing on-screen evidence that Chekov was on the ship before Khan, but not yet assigned to the navigator post that would make him a regular fixture on the bridge. It should be noted, however, that it wasn't until Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration that stardate use was made consistently chronological (for example, there are a couple of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episodes with stardates ''higher'' than that of the first movie, yet clearly set before.

* SpaceClouds: The Mutara Nebula.

* TheSpock: Naturally. Quite notable here, however, in what Spock's [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]] said about how this archetype should be written. That "cold Vulcan logic" that [=McCoy=] is always harping on Spock about applies to his [[spoiler:''own'' life]] as much as anyone else's... and he doesn't hesitate even for a moment when applying it.

* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: This is often overlooked: in [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture the previous film]], ''Enterprise'' had just completed a massive refit using updated technology. The ship was entirely rebuilt, [[FlawedPrototype effectively making it a totally new ship.]] ''Reliant'' is [[SuperiorSuccessor effectively an upgrade, using all of the same technology without the bugs of the old design.]] Even more, it has [[MoreDakka more guns, including a twin rear mounted photon torpedo launcher, and a pair of oversized phaser cannons.]] It fits all of this in a space [[PintsizedPowerhouse less than half the size]] of ''Enterprise''.

* WeaponOfMassDestruction: The Genesis Device, as a side effect of its primary purpose of {{Terraform}}ing. It instantly fills a world with new life--whether or not there's any life already on the world.
** Even more true after [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock the next movie]] reveals problems with the "terraforming" part of the process, leaving only the "destroy what was there before" part.

---> '''[=McCoy=]:''' Are you out of your Vulcan mind? No human can tolerate the radiation that's in there!
---> '''Spock:''' As you are so fond of observing, Doctor, I am not human.
---> '''[=McCoy=]:''' ''(stands between Spock and the core)'' You're '''''NOT''''' going in there. (Spock then takes matters into his own hands, gently incapacitating [=McCoy=])

*** The shooting script [[AllThereInTheManual goes into a bit more detail]] about this. Command signals are transmitted around the ship by subspace, because it's faster than closed circuits (which are limited to relativistic speeds). That's why the prefix code is necessary. By using ''Reliant''[='s=] code, ''Enterprise'' is able to transmit a signal that looks to ''Reliant''[='s=] shield generator like it's coming from ''Reliant''[='s=] bridge.

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--->'''Saavik''': I don't understand...\\

* StandardStarshipScuffle: The battle between ''Enterprise'' and ''Reliant'' provides the trope's page image. This only comes into play because both ships' warp drives are damaged in the first exchange, and the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Mutara nebula]] negatively affects sensors--typically, the ships would be [[https://youtu.be/PILS3LtgJRc?t=214 firing missiles at each other from thousands of miles apart.]]

* StoryArc: This is the beginning of a storyline that continues into ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' and ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', and beyond, as ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' is indirectly shaped by those three films, and ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' explicitly states that Khan is ''the'' reason the Federation bans bio-augmentation and genetic engineering (though that has as much to do with the historical Eugenics Wars as the events of this film).
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The movie takes Kirk's penchant for ignoring things (villain of the week after it's done, his age, the {{forgotten fallen friend}}s) and runs with it. It's not that he's never had a no win scenario or not dealt with death (Tarsus IV for instance), it's that he doesn't ''want'' to deal with it, and is now forced to.

With a powerful old enemy driven by blind vengeance, a weapon fallen into the wrong hands, and a no-win scenario in play, the cost of victory for Kirk and the ''Enterprise'' may prove too high.

* {{Retool}}: Director Nicholas Meyer made some changes, most notably making Starfleet like an actual navy and giving the crew uniforms which [[SpaceClothes looked less like a product of the 60's/70's]], sporting uniforms with a more classical and thus timeless look. So timeless, in fact, that they used those same uniforms for the rest of the ''TOS'' films and, in continuity, were used by Starfleet in some form up until 2350's, about 70 years after this film and 10 years before ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''[[note]]Picard can be seen wearing one as an ensign in 2327 in the episode "Tapestry", and "Cause and Effect" establishes that the uniforms were created as early as 2278, 7 years before the events of this movie.[[/note]].

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: Khan's library has ''Literature/MobyDick'', ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', ''Paradise Revisited'', ''Literature/TheBible'', ''Theatre/KingLear'', ''Literature/DantesInferno''... and ''Statute Regulating''.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than ''The Motion Picture'' and much more than the series. With all the graphic injuries on display, it would be very likely that it would get a PG-13 rating today. And indeed, it's the only ''Star Trek'' film with a 15 certificate in the UK. Even ''First Contact'' is only a 12.[[note]]To be fair, the 12 certificate was not established until mid-1989. All video releases since 2002 have been rated 12.[[/note]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than ''The Motion Picture'' and much more than the series. With all the graphic injuries on display, it would be very likely that it would get a PG-13 rating (or maybe even an R rating) today. And indeed, it's the only ''Star Trek'' film with a 15 certificate in the UK. Even ''First Contact'' is only a 12.[[note]]To be fair, the 12 certificate was not established until mid-1989. All video releases since 2002 have been rated 12.[[/note]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than ''The Motion Picture'' and much more than the series. With all the graphic injuries on display, it very likely would have gotten a PG-13 rating a few years later. And indeed, it's the only ''Star Trek'' film with a 15 certificate in the UK. Even ''First Contact'' is only a 12.[[note]]To be fair, the 12 certificate was not established until mid-1989. All video releases since 2002 have been rated 12.[[/note]]

** "...But like a poor marksman, you keep ''missing the target!''" Subverted in this case when Khan refuses to rise to the bait and decides to [[FateWorseThanDeath leave Kirk on the planetoid to rot]]. Khan might have taken the bait had Creator/RicardoMontalban's schedule allowed him to share production time with the rest of the cast. This is why Khan and his crew never interact with Kirk and his.

* TheCameo: Mr. Kyle, the Transporter Chief from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', is the Communications Officer on ''Reliant''--making him, Scotty and Uhura the only RedShirts known to have survived the five-year mission. (In fact, he even survived having been tossed aside by Khan in the transporter room in the [[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed original episode]].)

* TheCameo: Mr. Kyle, the Transporter Chief from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', is the Communications Officer on ''Reliant''--making him and Scotty as the only RedShirts known to have survived the five-year mission. (In fact, he even survived having been tossed aside by Khan in the transporter room in the [[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed original episode]].)

* AdaptationExpansion: The novelization goes into considerably more depth on certain characters, especially Saavik and Peter Preston. We get a full backstory of Saavik's origins as a half-Vulcan half-Romulan ChildByRape and how Spock was responsible for saving her from the Romulan prison planet of Hellguard, a story arc for Peter clashing with his uncle Scotty over a number of issues as well as a heartwrenching scene of his HeroicSacrifice staying too long in the middle of a coolant leak in order to get ''Enterprise''[='s=] power back online after the initial clash with ''Reliant,'' and a minor relationship between the two of them (Saavik was tutoring Peter and he seemed to have a crush on her) which crushes Saavik when Peter dies.