Trivia: The Klingon who defends Kirk and McCoy at the trial is Michael Dorn, the actor who plays Worf in The Next Generation. The Klingon makeup is also identical, even though it is supposed to be a different character. (The makeup is actually more subdued than the makeup for TNG [flatter] but it looks similar because he is actually playing one of Lieutenant Worf's ancestors.)
Trivia: Both the opening explosion of the Klingon moon Praxis and much of the footage from the U.S.S. Excelsior was later used in an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager", ("Flashback") with special guest star George Takei.
Trivia: Many of the sets in this movie are obvious redresses of the sets from Star Trek: The Next Generation. For example, the Enterprise-A's main engineering and transporter room are modified versions of those from the 1701-D. Likewise other TNG sets are used in different fashions. For example, the 1701-D's observation lounge becomes the 1701-A's dining room. The most obvious redress is that of the Federation president's office, which, if you look behind the curtains, you'll see the distinctive windows of 10-Forward.
Trivia: General Chang's line,"don't wait for the translation,answer me now" during the Trial is the same line used by American Ambassador Adlai Stevenson towards Russian Ambassador Valerian Zorin at the United Nations during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Trivia: Nicholas Meyer (Director & Co-writer) wanted an end scene where Kirk handed over the Enterprise to Picard & Crew to link the two series. Once he was told there was 75 year gap between them, the idea was instantly dropped.
Trivia: In the ending credits, Uhura's name is misspelled Uhuru.
Trivia: Spock says " An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." That is from a Sherlock Holmes story, so one of Spock's human ancestors must have been Arthur Conan Doyle.
Trivia: The story Lt. Valeris tells of the word origin for "sabotage", with sabots being thrown into machinery, is simply not true (although a persistent enough falsehood not to be considered a movie mistake). While the word does take its roots from sabots (wooden shoes), it comes from French anarchist Pouget wanting to translate the British practice of ca'cannery, deliberately working slowly, into a French word. Those who wore wooden shoes moved clumsily and slower than those with leather shoes.
Trivia: David Warner plays Rosanna DeSoto's father in this film, even though in real life he's only nine years older than DeSoto.
Trivia: The penal planet Rura Penthe is so named as a nod to Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, wherein a prison camp of that name is the inspiration for Captain Nemo's crusade against mankind's injustice and cruelty.
Trivia: Christian Slater's brief appearance in this movie was as a result of him wanting to be in a Star Trek movie with the original actors before they moved on to the Next Generation movies.
Trivia: David Warner, who plays Chancellor Gorkun, also had a small part in 5, as the human ambassador on Nimbus 3, residing in the town that was taken over by Sybock and his followers (and eventually became one of Sybock's followers himself).
Trivia: Despite his prominent billing, David Warner (Chancellor Gorkon) is only on screen for 10 minutes throughout the entire film.
Chosen answer: There are certain similarities, yes. Whether any specific aspects of the piece were deliberately incorporated into the film's opening theme is an open question, but the overall feel is undoubtedly very similar.
Tailkinker ★