History Trivia / StartrekVItheundiscoveredcountry

* DeletedRole: Creator/ReneAuberjonois filmed a small role as a Starfleet member initially presented as being an ally to Kirk and Spock, [[spoiler: only to be revealed as an aid to the conspirators]]. His scenes were cut for the theatrical release, reinstated for the VHS and DVD, only to be cut again on the Blu-Ray.

* RoleReprise: Creator/BrockPeters and Creator/JohnSchuck reprise their roles as Admiral Cartwright and the Klingon Ambassador five years after ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.

** Kirk's quarters set was recycled for Data's in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and then recycled back for this film. The added replicator set piece had its panel changed and used as an shelf. Data's quarters were, themselves, a redress of Kirk's ''Motion Picture'' and ''Wrath of Khan'' quarters--this is the TNG "junior officer's quarters" set and is used variously for the quarters of Data, La Forge, Chief O'Brien and Worf, before he had Alexander.

** Hold it, Creator/KurtwoodSmith as somebody that's ''not'' a {{Jerkass}} or evil?

* {{Blooper}}: An amusing subversion. During the climactic fight, [=McCoy=] makes a comment to Spock, "bet you wished you ''stood'' in bed," as though he meant to say "wished you ''stayed'' in bed." The novelization expands on the line, and says it was a {{malaprop|er}} because of the stress of the moment[[note]]It was meant to show [=McCoy=] falling into the lingo of his Georgia upbringing when under the stress of the situation[[/note]] and Spock, being Spock, corrects him.

** A ChekhovsGun example is subverted slightly via ExecutiveMeddling. At the film's start, we learn that the ''Excelsior'' has been cataloging gaseous anomalies... but in its BigDamnHeroes moment, it's the ''Enterprise'' that [[spoiler: interestingly just had the same technology installed recently to create a gas-seeking torpedo to find Chang's ship]]. Shatner insisted on the ''Enterprise'' being the one to [[spoiler: fire the torpedo]] instead of the ''Excelsior''.

* RealLifeRelative:
** Creator/ChristianSlater, who has a minor appearance as an ''Excelsior'' communications officer, is the son of casting director Mary Jo Slater.
** Creator/WalterKoenig's wife Judy Levitt appears as a Starfleet officer.

** Creator/BrockPeters playing a racist, especially considering his advocacy for civil rights. The film was an OldShame for him because of that characterization of Cartwright. Moreover, he played one of cinema's most iconic victims of racism in the 1962 film version of ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''.

** An in-family example from Creator/MichaelDorn. After so long playing as a [[Characters/StarTrekTheNextGeneration humorless warrior type]] who angsts over not being able to truly belong to the culture he idolizes, here he plays that character's grandfather, a high-ranking lawyer, firmly ensconced in Klingon society and to whom physical combat seems the furthest thing from his mind.

* PromotedFanboy: Creator/ChristianSlater is a huge ''Star Trek'' fan in real-life[[note]]Fun fact: His eyebrows are the way they are because he shaved them to try and look like a Vulcan, only for them to not grow back properly[[/note]] and got his cameo thanks to his mother Mary Jo.

** Filming went reasonably smoothly, though some of the cast objected to dialogue showing their characters to be bigots, resulting in Meyer having to switch around some lines, and delete others entirely.

* EnforcedMethodActing: According to Creator/WilliamShatner's ''Star Trek Movie Memories'', Kirk's cold-blooded "Let them die!" wasn't how he had intended the line to come off. The unedited shot includes Kirk physically recoiling, to provide the impression Kirk had regretted saying something so bloodthirsty. Creator/NicholasMeyer promised Shatner he'd use the full shot. [[ILied He lied.]]

* PromotedFanboy: Creator/ChristianSlater is a huge ''Star Trek'' fan in real-life[[note]]Fun fact: His eyebrows are the way they are because he shaved them to try and look like a Vulcan, only for them to not grow back properly[[/note]] and got his cameo [[{{Nepotism}} thanks to his mother Mary Jo]].

--->'''Starfleet Admiral:''' Bill, are we talking about mothballing the Starfleet.

* NamesTheSame: Crewman Dax has no relation to [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine any of the hosts of the Dax symbiont]].

* PromotedFanboy: Creator/ChristianSlater is a huge ''Star Trek'' fan in real-life[[note]]Fun fact: His eyebrows are the way they are because he shaved them to try and look like a Vulcan, only for them to not grow back properly[[/note]] and got his cameo [[SoMyKidsCanWatch thanks to his mother Mary Jo]].

* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Mary Jo Slater cast her son, Creator/ChristianSlater, in a minor role as a favor for him due to his familiarity with the ''Star Trek'' franchise.

** Creator/BrockPeters playing a racist, especially considering his advocacy for civil rights. The film was an OldShame for him because of that characterization of Cartwright.

** The commandant of the Rura Penthe mine is played by Creator/WMorganSheppard, who had previously appeared in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' as Dr. Ira Graves. He would go on to play Qatai, an alien driven by revenge for his family's deaths in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', and then play the senior official who questions Spock at the Vulcan Science Academy in the first reboot film.

** The commandant of the Rura Penthe mine is played by Creator/WMorganSheppard, who had previously appeared in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' as Dr. Ira Graves. He would go on to play Qatai, an alien driven by revenge for his family's deaths, in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Finally seeing some payoff for the death of David Marcus in ''[[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock The Search for Spock]]''.

** If not for those pesky meddling executives, ''The Undiscovered Country'' would have been the title for ''{{Film/Star Trek II|TheWrathOfKhan}}''.

* EnforcedMethodActing: There's this remarkably cold-blooded exchange, regarding peace with the Klingon empire.
-->'''Spock:''' Jim, there is a historic opportunity here.
-->'''Kirk:''' Don't believe them. Don't trust them.
-->'''Spock:''' They're dying.
-->'''Kirk:''' ''Let them die!''
** According to Creator/WilliamShatner's ''Star Trek Movie Memories'', this wasn't how he had intended the line to come off. The unedited shot includes Kirk physically recoiling, to provide the impression Kirk had regretted saying something so bloodthirsty. Creator/NicholasMeyer promised Shatner he'd use the full shot. [[ILied He lied.]]

** The Klingon translator at the trial of Captain Kirk and Doctor [=McCoy=] was portrayed by Todd Bryant, who had previously appeared in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' as an engineering cadet and more notably as the Klingon Captain Klaa in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. While it was not explictly stated on screen that the translator was Todd, [[WordOfGod the officially licensed and endorsed reference book]] ''Star Trek Encyclopedia'' states that the translator was Klaa, and that he had been demoted to courtroom translator over his deeds in the previous film.