Star Wars is in a strange place right now. Research shows the sequel trilogy and Disney+ shows have largely failed to grab the lasting interest of younger generations, limiting the fanbase largely to people who grew up on the original trilogy or even the prequels. Now there’s a panic that the window of opportunity to infuse Star Wars with new fans is shrinking. It’s a position Star Trek was in, perhaps reaching its lowest point with a failed first feature film. A follow-up became a risky financial decision, but if they were going to keep Trek going, they needed to reset people’s expectations with more focus on action and a reminder of what people liked about these characters.
The budget was set at $12 million. Luckily, they still had Sets, Costumes and Models from the $44 million first film. The villain would be someone from the TV Show, but if you didn’t know that it didn’t matter. There’s a feeling of a shared history between Khan and Kirk, and Montalban and Shatner overact it out of the park. (Their line readings became memes before there were such things.) The film contains one of the earliest computer special effects, from a division of Lucasfilm that would later split off and become Pixar.
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