text stringlengths 0 238k |
|---|
the simulator bridge. [37] : 1034 The Wrath of Khan was one of the first films |
to extensively use computer graphics to improve the visual quality and |
production speed of special effects shots. Among the film's technical |
achievements was cinema's first entirely computer-generated sequence, ILM's |
animation for the demonstration of the effects of the Genesis Device on a |
barren planet. [41] [42] The first concept for the shot took the form of a |
laboratory demonstration, where a rock would be placed in a chamber and turned |
into a flower. [10] Veilleux suggested the sequence's scope be expanded to |
show the Genesis effect taking over a planet. While Paramount appreciated the |
more dramatic presentation, they wanted the simulation to be more impressive |
than traditional animation. [37] : 1034 Having seen research done by |
Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics group, Veilleux offered them the task. |
Introducing the novel technique of particle systems [43] for the sixty-second |
sequence, the graphics team paid attention to detail such as ensuring that the |
stars visible in the background matched those visible from a real star light- |
years from Earth. The animators hoped it would serve as a "commercial" for the |
studio's talents. The studio would later branch off from Lucasfilm to form |
Pixar , now a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios , a division of Disney |
Entertainment , which is owned by The Walt Disney Company , one of Paramount |
Pictures and Paramount Global 's rivals. [42] The sequence would be reused in |
two sequels, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage |
Home , as well as in the unrelated LaserDisc -based stand-up video arcade game |
Astron Belt . [44] Music [ edit ] Jerry Goldsmith had composed the music for |
The Motion Picture , but was not an option for The Wrath of Khan given the |
reduced budget; Meyer's composer for Time After Time , Miklós Rózsa , was |
likewise prohibitively expensive. [45] : 105 Bennett and Meyer wanted the |
music for the film to go in a different direction, but had not decided on a |
composer by the time filming began. Meyer initially hoped to hire an associate |
named John Morgan, but Morgan lacked film experience, which would have |
troubled the studio. [46] : 5 Paramount's vice-president of music Joel Sill |
took a liking to a 28-year-old composer named James Horner , feeling that his |
demo tapes stood out from generic film music. [46] : 6 Horner was introduced |
to Bennett, Meyer and Sallin. [22] Horner said that "[The producers] did not |
want the kind of score they had gotten before. They did not want a John |
Williams score, per se . They wanted something different, more modern." [47] |
When asked about how he landed the assignment, the composer replied that "the |
producers loved my work for Wolfen , and had heard my music for several other |
projects, and I think, so far as I've been told, they liked my versatility |
very much. I wanted the assignment, and I met with them, we all got along |
well, they were impressed with my music, and that's how it happened." [48] |
Horner agreed with the producers' expectations and agreed to begin work in |
mid-January 1982. [22] In keeping with the nautical tone, Meyer wanted music |
evocative of seafaring and swashbuckling, and the director and composer worked |
together closely, becoming friends in the process. [46] : 6 As a classical |
music fan, Meyer was able to describe the effects and sounds he wanted in the |
music. [47] While Horner's style was described as "echoing both the bombastic |
and elegiac elements of John Williams' Star Wars and Goldsmith's original Star |
Trek (The Motion Picture) scores," [49] Horner was expressly told to not use |
any of Goldsmith's score. Instead Horner adapted the opening fanfare of |
Alexander Courage 's Star Trek television theme. "The fanfare draws you in |
immediately — you know you're going to get a good movie," Horner said. [46] : |
9 In comparison to the flowing main theme, Khan's leitmotif was designed as a |
percussive texture that could be overlaid with other music and emphasized the |
character's insanity. [22] The seven-note brass theme was echoplexed to |
emphasize the character's ruminations about the past while on Ceti Alpha V, |
but does not play fully until Reliant ' s attack on the Enterprise . Many |
elements drew from Horner's previous work (a rhythm that accompanies Khan's |
theme during the surprise attack borrows from an attack theme from Wolfen , in |
turn influenced by Goldsmith's score for Alien ). Musical moments from the |
original television series are also heard during investigation of the Regula |
space station and elsewhere. [45] : 106–107 To Horner, the "stuff underneath" |
the main story was what needed to be addressed by the score; in The Wrath of |
Khan , this was the relationship between Kirk and Spock. The main theme serves |
as Kirk's theme, with a mellower section following that is the theme for the |
Starship Enterprise . [46] : 8 Horner also wrote a motif for Spock, to |
emphasize the character's depth: "By putting a theme over Spock, it warms him |
and he becomes three-dimensional rather than a collection of schticks." [22] |
The difference in the short, French horn -based cues for the villain and |
longer melodies for the heroes helped to differentiate characters and ships |
during the battle sequences. [46] : 9 The soundtrack was Horner's first major |
film score, [49] and was written in four and a half weeks. The resulting 72 |
minutes of music was then performed by a 91-piece orchestra. [47] Recording |
sessions for the score began on April 12, 1982, at the Warner Bros. lot, The |
Burbank Studios and continued until April 15. [46] : 9 A pickup session was |
held on April 30 to record music for the Mutara nebula battle, while another |
session held on May 3 was used to cover the recently changed epilogue. [46] : |
10 Horner used synthesizers for ancillary effects; at the time, science |
fiction films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Thing were eschewing |
the synthesizer in favor of more traditional orchestras. [50] Craig Huxley |
performed his invented instrument—the Blaster Beam —during recording, as well |
as composing and performing electronic music for the Genesis Project video. |
[46] : 17 While most of the film was "locked in" by the time Horner had begun |
composing music, he had to change musical cue orchestration after the |
integration of special effects caused changes in scene durations. [47] Themes |
[ edit ] The Wrath of Khan features several recurring themes, including death, |
resurrection, and growing old. [51] Upon writing his script, Meyer hit upon a |
link between Spock's death and the age of the characters. "This was going to |
be a story in which Spock died, so it was going to be a story about death, and |
it was only a short hop, skip, and a jump to realize that it was going to be |
about old age and friendship," Meyer said. "I don't think that any of [the |
other preliminary] scripts were about old age, friendship, and death." [9] In |
keeping with the theme of death and rebirth symbolized by Spock's sacrifice |
and the Genesis Device, Meyer wanted to call the film The Undiscovered Country |
, in reference to Prince Hamlet 's description of death in William Shakespeare |
's Hamlet , [52] but the title was changed during editing without his |
knowledge. [9] Meyer disliked Wrath of Khan , but it was chosen because the |
preferred Vengeance of Khan conflicted with Lucasfilm 's forthcoming Revenge |
of the Jedi (renamed Return of the Jedi late in production). [26] Meyer added |
elements to reinforce the aging of the characters. Kirk's unhappiness about |
his birthday is compounded by McCoy's gift of reading glasses. The script |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.