Greatest Motion Picture of All Time Opened 31 Years Ago Today

The greatest motion picture of all time, featuring the greatest villain of all time, made its triumphant debut 31 years ago today. It's a huge boast, but not for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the motion picture that Entertainment Weekly calls, "The film that, by most accounts, saved Star Trek as we know it."

Wow, you can really date a movie by its trailer, can't you. Two years earlier, history was made when movie goers viewed the first movie ever made based on a television series, namely Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Movie goers labelled the film "Star Trek: The MOTIONLESS Picture," and "Spockalypse Now." It was a little brainy, kind of slow, and very much in the mode of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Paramount decided to start over again, reusing what they could from the previous film, namely stock footage, miniatures and sets, and give it another shot. The original cast was signed, and a few new faces were added. Designers jettisoned the "pajama" looking uniforms from the Motion Picture, and replaced them with marching band uniforms. They brought in Harve Bennet, booted Gene Roddenberry to a somewhat fictional "Executive Consultant" role, and made an epic. The irony: many of the makers of the film, namely Harve Bennet and director Nicholas Meyer, had never seen an episode of Star Trek before in their lives.

On June 4, 1982, crowds, including myself, lined up around the block to see our beloved crew in action one more time. The result, the world record for the highest opening gross in box office history.

Reviews for the film were overwhelmingly favorable, with critic Bill Harris stating, "they did it, and this this time, they did it right!" Reviewers enjoyed the pacing and the action sequences, as well as watching the familiar characters struggling with change and aging. Critics and audiences agreed that Star Trek II was very close in character to the original series.

Unfortunately, tragedy strikes. With all the glory and magnificence of the Star Trek II comes the ultimate sacrifice. Audiences had heard rumor for some time that Spock would die in the film. Nicholas Meyer, the director, attempted successfully to throw people off with Spock's fake death scene during the Kobeyashi Maru sequence at the opening of the film. It worked like a charm, but didn't alter Spock's ultimate fate. Audiences cried out loud during Spock's death scene. Oddly, William Shatner, as cheesy as he is, pulled off a very touching performance as he watched his best friend die.

Three decades and a long line of Star Trek films and reboots later, it is still hard, if not impossible, to imagine a more perfect Star Trek movie. It was so good that 31 years later, the makers of the new Star Trek films chose to do a hat tip and make Khan the villain in the newest movie. Sorry, spoiler alert. The next time the opportunity arises, spend an evening watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan again. It is every bit as good as it was 31 years ago, and that is high praise.