Corrected entry: After Kahn reveals himself to Kirk and company, he gives sixty seconds to gather the information that he wants on Genesis. From that declaration to the actual "Time's Up." is just over two minutes even though it would appear that he was using some device to do the actual timing (he appears to be shutting off a stopwatch or something when he says that their time is up). On the Director's Edition, the time index is about a minute and 40 seconds later than the original release. (00:52:25 - 00:53:30)
Garlonuss
22nd Jan 2004
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
29th Apr 2004
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Corrected entry: After sending David and the others into the other room, Kirk has a nice and private talk with Carol. They should have been even more discreet. Chekov is still right there and is quite awake because he is holding a bandage of some sort to his ear the whole time. Just a short time earlier, in fact, you can hear McCoy saying "He's coming around," and then he hands Chekov the bandage. And even if Kirk had forgotten that Chekhov was there, he would have said something. They are friends and Chekhov would not want to embarrass his friend by listening in on a private conversation.
Correction: Yes, but they still had the conversation. They might have assumed Chekhov is loopy on painkillers. Chekhov is several feet behind them and has damage to one of his ears as well, he might not have heard a thing. It might be a socially awkward situation, but couldn't really be called a mistake.
28th Jan 2004
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Corrected entry: Kahn explains that Ceti Alpha VI exploded and altered the orbit of the Ceti Alpha V, laying everything waste on the planet. Okay, fine. How then did they mistake Ceti Alpha V for Ceti Alpha VI? Star Trek has established that their method for numbering planets is based on orbit position numbering outward from the star at the center of the system (Earth would be Sol III if it didn't already have other names). For Ceti Alpha V to be mistaken for Ceti Alpha VI, there would have to be another planet inserted between Ceti Alpha V and the star (Ceti Alpha). There is no way for an explosion at Ceti Alpha VI to send a new planet in past Ceti Alpha V and the only way for the explosion to push Ceti Alpha V away from the star would be if the planet had exploded while on the other side of its orbit from Ceti Alpha V. If that had happened, the shockwave would not have been nearly enough to sent Ceti Alpha V up two orbits (because Ceti Alpha VI is gone so Ceti Alpha V would have to go up past Ceti Alpha VII).
Correction: The explanation here is pretty simple. Ceti Alpha V must have been where Ceti Alpha VI was supposed to be. With that said, the captain and crew could have easily assumed that Ceti Alpha V was Ceti Alpha VI and that Ceti Alpha V must be on the other side of the system, hiding behind the star. Obviously, the system isn't visited often. Otherwise, Kirk wouldn't have picked the Ceti system for Khan 15 years earlier. So, it's easy for the captain and crew of the Reliant not to be aware of the explosion of Ceti Alpha VI and the shifting of the orbit of Ceti Alpha V. With minimal information about the system (other than the fact that Khan was on Ceti Alpha V), they could have easily mistook one planet for another, especially if they have similar characteristics. The fact that Chekov thinks they're on Ceti Alpha VI when they beam down confirms this. Also, the fact that Khan says that Kirk (and no one else) bothered to check on their progress in 15 years confirms that the system is not visited often. So, what seems like a plot hole can be easily explained.
29th Apr 2004
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Corrected entry: Doesn't it strain credulity that the Enterprise is (once again) "the only ship in the quadrant"? In Star Trek terminology (all series), a quadrant covers one fourth of the galaxy (smaller regions are "sectors" and the boundary runs just about right down the middle of the Federation, right by Earth to be exact. Are we to believe that there is no other starship in that entire half of the Federation?
Correction: Before ST:TNG, "quadrant" was a term used somewhat loosely. In the Wrath of Khan, quadrant does not refer to one quarter of the galaxy.
Look up the term "quadrant." In every single applicable variation it is some form of "one quarter of a circle."
According to memory alpha, the star trek wiki, a quadrant is a major region of space encompassing a portion of a galaxy. There are apparently major and minor quadrants. The major quadrants are the 4 quadrants dividing up the milky way. Minor quadrants of course encompass a smaller part of said major quadrants. How large is seemingly quite inconsistent though. I think it has been settled upon that a minor quadrant is a couple of sectors (4) large.
Sulu also mentions that Reliant (which is in visual range, approaching at half impulse power) is in the same quadrant, which going by the post-1987 definition would be like saying the car approaching down the street is on the same continent. It's pretty clear that when they mention a "quadrant" in this movie, they are not referring to a quarter of the entire galaxy.
29th Apr 2004
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Corrected entry: When they discover that the Genesis device has been activated, Kirk volunteers to beam over to stop it. Even though he is told it can't be stopped, that would indicate the transporters are still working. Why does nobody suggest beaming the device itself off of the Reliant and out into space with the widest possible dispersion, like they did in "Wolf in the Fold" to Redjac?
Correction: The Genesis wave forming was interfering with transporter lock, making this solution impossible.
Correction: If they can't even get a lousy phaser lock or a clear picture on the view screen inside the nebula I have an extremely hard time buying that the transporter would've worked out for them in any capacity. Seems likely to me that in his haste and desperation Kirk simply blurted out the first thing that came to mind. For all we know David's "You can't" was actually him reminding Kirk that they can't just beam aboard the Reliant in their situation.
Correction: The source would be "Star Trek." Anytime the crew needs something to get out of danger, it's inexplicably unavailable. ST: TNG Season 5 Episode 18, Cause and Effect, the Enterprise tries to back from the anomaly, the maneuvering thrusters are suddenly non responsive, with no explanation.
29th Apr 2004
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Corrected entry: After beaming down to Ceti Alpha V (thinking it is C.A VI) and entering the cargo hold, Chekov notices the words "Bottany Bay" on one of the straps. This means that they are actually in part of the ship that Kahn and his followers were found in. How? That ship was ditched in the episode Space Seed well before they decided to drop Kahn and his followers off at the planet.
Correction: Khan and his followers would need resources to build their new life on Ceti Alpha V - what remained of the Botany Bay would be an obvious candidate, with the added advantage of not providing Khan with any up-to-date technology. Kirk could have taken the Enterprise back to retrieve the ship for this reason.
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Correction: They don't show Khan setting any kind of timer; he's just looking at a clock to time the minute. Then his second in command starts a conversation with him, followed by Kirk talking to him. It's likely that with the distractions he forgot which minute he started his countdown on, or just decided to let Kirk have the extra minute after pleading for the extra time. Character choice/mistake.
BocaDavie ★