Directed by: Nicholas Meyer
Starring: Christopher Plummer, William Shatner, Kim Cattrall, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, Michael Dorn, Walter Koenig, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Kurtwood Smith, Brock Peters
Revealing mistake: When the Enterprise begins to leave the spacedock, the background inside spacedock (behind Enterprise) seems to move in two different directions, the top moves towards the right, the bottom towards the left.
Revealing mistake: When Chang's Bird-of-prey explodes, a piece of debris can be seen bouncing back into frame because it ricocheted off the sound stage floor.
Continuity mistake: After the bird of prey first fires on Enterprise, Kirk is thrown right out of his chair to his left and lands on the floor. The camera pans around the bridge briefly, seeing the rest of the crew staggering and holding onto things. In the very next shot Kirk is back in his chair shouting "back off, back off" and the crew back in their positions as if nothing has happened.
Captain Spock: What you want is irrelevant, what you have chosen is at hand.
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.
Question: Is it my imagination, or does the opening theme sound similar to the classical piece "The Planets - Mars" by Holst?
Answer: At one point Nicholas Meyer did indeed have the idea to incorporate "The Planets" into the score, but apparently the rights proved too expensive. I have no doubt Meyer asked composer Cliff Eidelmann to give the score a similar sound.
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 ★