MovieChat Forums > Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Discussion > Plot holes, and just questions that have...

Plot holes, and just questions that have logical answers.

posted 10 years ago by grhqofb5
2 replies | jump to latest

So, I saw this movie when I was 11 years old in the theater. Sort of liked it, but only reason I went was because my older brother was a huge Trek fan. Haven't seen it in full since, but have caught some parts. Saw the whole thing last night.

Here are my issues:

(1) When did the changeling/prisoner/Iman character take Kirk and Bones so far from the prison beyond the magnetic shield. If she was being paid to set them up, why did she just take them a couple hundred yards away?

(2) In the same vein as (1), why did Klingons have to bribe a prisoner and the prison staff to set them up to be killed? Couldn't the Warden just take them during the night, kill them, then chuck their bodies out into the snow a couple hundred yards away?

(3) Also, why not just pay a prisoner to murder them during a fight? Looks like they were pretty much allowed to fight whenever they wanted to. Or better yet, just let the two 70+ guys work for a few weeks before they drop dead?

(4) On the conspiracy, the bodies of the two assassins are found by the ship's crew, obviously killed by a co-conspirator. So the trap is laid by making an announcement over the intercom that the two assassins are to be questioned in the presence of a court reporter. This causes the female vulcan to go to their quarters to try to kill them before they can squeal. But wouldn't she have known that they were already dead because she killed them? Or at the very least, wasn't there a 4th person involved who did the killing, and (Savik?) didn't hear about it yet so she went to take care of business on her own? Or wouldn't she have known ahead of time that the two assassins were set to be killed?

(5) What happens to the female (savaik??) vulcan afterwards? Is she tried and imprisoned? Wouldn't a Vulcan be logical enough to cooperate after being busted, thereby avoiding the need for Spock to gouge out her eyes?

(6) Why the hell does Sulu get his own ship? Isn't he about ready for retirement too?

[–] scockery 10 years ago

1. They were aware of the magnetic field's existence, and it made it more convincing they were killed try to escape.
2. and 3. As I recall, Martia explained that, 1 accident/incident sure, but 2 would raise too much suspicion.
Working them to death would take too long, the conspirators wanted them dead ASAP.
4. I wonder about that one, too. The only explanation is that they killed by a phaser on stun at close range, which would lack certainty...BUT VALERIS (not Saavik, it was going to be her, but Roddenberry objected to that) IS A VULCAN, you'd think she'd have been more thorough.
5. Dunno, we can assume she was convicted. He didn't gouge out her eyes.
6. George Takei (Sulu) refused to reappear as Sulu unless they did that and they wanted the whole original cast for the last film.

[–] jakeconhale 10 years ago

Vulcans act logically, but that doesn't mean they all use the same starting information or perspectives. For example, Valeris not cooperating when exposed was a delaying tactic to allow the assassination to proceed.

6) Sulu was meant to get his own ship as early as STII - the original script notes that he's essentially helmsman on the Enterprise's training cruise until the Excelsior was ready for him to assume command. He's there more out of a favor to Kirk or out of camaraderie than it being his permanent assignment.

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!
"Old Man" of the BSG (RDM) boards.