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Wrath of Khan Original Ending?

EnriqueH

EnriqueH

Commodore
Commodore
So where did the movie end exactly before everyone decided that the ending was too much of a downer and Harve Bennett went out to Golden Gate Park to shoot the casket scenes?

I've read Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories, Nick Meyer's autobiography, Leonard Nimoy's "I Am Spock", and Allen Asherman's The Making of Star Trek II, and I'm *STILL* not clear.

Given all the materials I've gleaned, I'm under the impression it ended right around Spock's casket being shot out into space because the aforementioned sources SEEM to indicate that the "He's really not dead, as long as we remember him." scene on the bridge was shot afterwards.

Does anybody know? Maybe it's in a Starlog issue somewhere?
 
No, that scene on the bridge was always there. The only additions were the shots of Spock's casket on Genesis, and maybe the insert of the quick "remember" mind meld shot.

The Limited Edition soundtrack includes the original version of the music running over the "He's not really dead" bridge scene, which segues directly into the music that underscores Nimoy's reading of the "Space, the final frontier" lines.

The revised version, as heard in the film, includes 1 minute and 12 seconds of interpolated music, to cover the shots of the tube. Otherwise it's the same.
 
I read somewhere that some of the "bridge scene" dialogue was added after the fact, which it doesn't seem like it because it looks and feels too polished for being an afterthought, quickie insert.

EDIT: Actually, I think I "heard" it on Shatner's Movie Memories audiobook version.

I'd be curious to see a comparison between the original ending that Meyer had and the ending that Harve edited.
 
Apart from a few lines setting up the nascent David/Saavik relationship that were cut, all the dialogue in that ending bridge scene is what was in the shooting script.
 
If I remember right, Shatner was saying the following were late additions to the scene:

- The Captain's Log voiceover: "All is well, and yet I can't help wondering about the friend I leave behind. 'There are always possibilities,' Spock said. And if Genesis is indeed 'life from death,' I must return to this place again."
- McCoy got an added line: "He's not really dead - as long as we remember him."
The rest was as scripted.
 
Has anybody done a fan edit to attempt to create the original version, or is that even possible to do?
 
Nightowl1701 said:
If I remember right, Shatner was saying the following were late additions to the scene:

- The Captain's Log voiceover: "All is well, and yet I can't help wondering about the friend I leave behind. 'There are always possibilities,' Spock said. And if Genesis is indeed 'life from death,' I must return to this place again."
- McCoy got an added line: "He's not really dead - as long as we remember him."
The rest was as scripted.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's exactly what I remember.

So basically, if Shatner didn't make a mistake, the scene's first bit of dialogue would be the "It's far better resting place" stuff.

Interesting. I can imagine how much more definite Spock's death feels not seeing the casket on the planet's surface.
 
the ending change really reverses the tone of the death scene and funeral. Between the added dialogue, shot of the casket, and Nimoy voiceover, it's like the tone is "oh yeah, he's coming back."
 
The captain's log voice-over was added and the McCoy line--"He's not really dead as long as we remember him." was a late script addition by Meyer. It originally went from "I feel young." to the Spock "These are the voyages..." voice-over.

They simply added the Spock casket in-between those two segments.
 
sonak said:
the ending change really reverses the tone of the death scene and funeral. Between the added dialogue, shot of the casket, and Nimoy voiceover, it's like the tone is "oh yeah, he's coming back."
Click to expand...

The Spock voice-over was in all the cuts of the movie BEFORE Bennett decided to add the casket scene.
 
EnriqueH said:
Interesting. I can imagine how much more definite Spock's death feels not seeing the casket on the planet's surface.
Click to expand...

Was the novelization Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan written from a version of the script in which Spock was definitively dead? I haven't looked at the book in many years, but I think Spock's coffin is seen to burn up in the atmosphere.
 
Huh! When I get home later, I'm going to doublecheck.

I read the novelization back in 8th grade, back in 1989-1990, so I don't remember.
 
EnriqueH said:
Given all the materials I've gleaned, I'm under the impression it ended right around Spock's casket being shot out into space because the aforementioned sources SEEM to indicate that the "He's really not dead, as long as we remember him." scene on the bridge was shot afterwards.
Click to expand...
They said they really planned for him to be gone, but it's hard for me to see they weren't planning a resurrection story when they made tWoK.
 
The, "He's really not dead as long as we remember him." line was shot at the same time as the rest of the footage from the final scene on the bridge--but was not in the shooting script

It just happened to be a last minute addition written by Meyer as a response to all the hand-wringing about the death of a fictional character.

He mentions it in one interview or commentary.

So that was not a change AFTER shooting had wrapped as was the casket scene and Kirk's final, "I must return to this place..." final captain's log---both of which were added specifically to give fans hope.
 
Along with the after mentioned differences, Kirk was to give the heading "Second star to the right and straight on till morning," which was used in Undiscovered Country instead. It made more sense to use it in this film after Kirk says, "I feel young."

How did the Superman screening go?
 
cgervasi said:
it's hard for me to see they weren't planning a resurrection story when they made tWoK.
Click to expand...

The "resurrection" they were originally planning was a Saavik that would step into the shoes left behind by Spock. (Ditto David Marcus as a future replacement for Kirk, if Shatner decided to move on with other things if his non-Trek movie career took off).

The ambiguous ending to ST II gave numerous possible ways to continue the Spock mythos. Early fan rumour was that Saavik would somehow channel Spock in furure movies/telemovies/episodes. This was also backed up a little by the "Return to Genesis" script proposal, in which Spock returns as a wraithlike creature reflected in mirrors. And even the shooting script of ST III had Spock played by a series of actors. Had Nimoy suddenly changed his mind about returning as Spock, the Vulcan could have been beamed up a little earlier, allowing Spock to be played by a younger actor from then on.
 
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