Sightlines · reception

How Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was received

1982 · Nicholas Meyer · Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Sightlines

The arc

After the slow, chilly Motion Picture underwhelmed, this leaner, cheaper sequel was greeted in 1982 as the movie that saved Star Trek — and four decades on it's only calcified as the franchise's undisputed high-water mark, the one even Trek skeptics get told to watch.

What’s debated

It's the founding evidence for the fan theory that only the even-numbered Star Trek films are good — and the perennial debate over whether anything (First Contact included) has ever topped it.

Its footprint

Shatner's echoing 'KHAAAAN!' scream is one of cinema's most parodied and memed line-readings, and 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few' escaped the fandom entirely; Ricardo Montalbán's magnificent (and yes, real) chest has its own pop-culture footnote.

Where it stands

The consensus 'best Star Trek movie' and the standard-issue answer to 'which one should a non-Trekkie actually watch' — a fixture of best-sequel and best-sci-fi lists.

Did you know? Nicholas Meyer wrote the shooting script in about twelve days, stitching together the best pieces of several failed earlier drafts — and took no screenwriting credit for it.

Named by the director

• The Enemy Below (1957) — Meyer cited this submarine duel as the model for staging the starship combat as blind, cat-and-mouse naval warfare.
• Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) — Another submarine picture Meyer named as inspiration for the film's tense, depth-charge rhythm of ship-to-ship battle.