!!FridgeBrilliance
* Look closely at the ''Excelsior'' just before she gets walloped by the PlanarShockwave: You can see the ship is trying to turn into the shockwave (which, incidentally, is what [[TheCaptain Sulu]] ordered the helmsman to do a few seconds later.) Evidently the helmsman was on the ball and did his best to minimize the initial impact since there didn't seem to be time to get out of the way.
** More than minimizing the impact, the helmsman probably also realized that maneuvering in the shockwave and avoiding being dragged along with it required more than just maneuvering thrusters but the full force of opposing thrust from ''Excelsior''[='=]s impulse engines.
** And no surprise that a damn good helmsman like Sulu would know how to pick a damn good helmsman for his own ship. They're cut from the same cloth.

* The disastrous dinner scene is one which is explainable by a number of factors ranging from alcohol to neither side having a real interest in peace except for Spock and Gorkon. However, it becomes FridgeBrilliance when you realize Valeris and Chang were both sabotaging it. The first by providing the Romulan Ale which is a ChekhovsGun that allows them to frame Bones for incompetence or malice. The second is the fact Chang is a student of Earth culture to the point he knows who Hitler is and quoting him was bound to get a reaction from Kirk. A reaction which would insult Gorkon who would ''also'' get it.

* The Klingon Blood Problem. It is a big plot point in this movie that Klingon blood is different from human blood when unmasking the assassin at the end of the story. The big assumption is that the two blood colors are different, i.e. the Klingons being shot earlier on are seen having pink blood and the assassin at the end is seen with red blood. Yet, the Klingons in all of the other Trek movies and TV shows bleed red. '''However...''' the difference isn't in color, and Klingon blood is normally red, like humans, only it turned pink due to some environmental mishap when the Klingon ship was under fire (loss of gravity? some gas tank got hit?). Notice how Colonel Worf saying "This is not Klingon blood" when feeling Colonel West's spill is doing exactly that: ''feeling,'' not simply visually identifying the blood of the assassin. Klingon blood therefore must be of a different ''consistency'' than human blood, not color.
** The pink blood does introduce a funny bit of FridgeLogic: Do Klingons [[RealMenWearPink consider pink to be a particularly badass color]] the same way humans might describe something as being "blood red"?
** That would actually explain the prevalence of pink in [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries the Animated Series]].

* How did the Klingon warden know who was Kirk and who was the shapeshifter? Martia wasn't wearing her chains.
** Kirk was a Starship Captain. When he says, "Not me you idiot, him!" he says it like he's giving orders, not like a punk ass criminal.
** Not to mention that it didn't really matter ''[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness who]]'' he shot ''first''.
** As has been noted elsewhere, Martia had slipped off her leg irons before leading Kirk and [=McCoy=] to the surface, while Kirk was still wearing his.
** Martia-Kirk also has different eyes than real Kirk.

* After Kirk dives onto the Federation President to save him from the assassin's fire, he curtly identifies himself: "Kirk. ''Enterprise''." Why do this? Because the Federation President is blind -- it's a subtle thing that's never explicitly stated in the movie, but upon re-watching it's surprisingly obvious. And naturally, the President would have no idea who just tackled him to the ground right before he heard weapons fire.
** Take special note of when, just after the Enterprise crew beams in, all hell breaks loose and everyone scrambles, ''except'' the President, who remains at the podium looking around as if he has no idea what's happening ''since he can't see what's going on''.
** Also notice that before he looks at ''anything'' in the movie, he puts on a pair of glasses. . .a proto-[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration VISOR]]?
** It makes a bit of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic thematic sense too]]. If he's blind, he can't judge Klingons and Humans by [[FantasticRacism outward appearances]], and instead has to judge them by their actions and character. And the President is the main roadblock in the way of war between the Klingon Empire and the Federation of Planets after Chancellor Gorkon's death.

* This movie finally ties up the personal character storyline for Captain Kirk that was established in ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]''. In [=WoK=], Kirk complains about feeling old, useless, and generally accepting the best times of his life are behind him, something that [=McCoy=] chastises him for, encouraging him to be like his younger self before he truly becomes an antique. Certain events bring Kirk to feel rejuvenated and youthful enough to once again take up the captaincy of a new ''Enterprise''. When this ''Enterprise''[='=]s time has come and Kirk is faced with his mortality once again in ''Undiscovered Country'', Kirk plots a course to [[Literature/PeterPan Neverland]] ("Second Star to the Right and Straight On 'Til Morning"), informing the audience and reassuring himself that he intends to never grow old. Something that Kirk apparently follows through with until his death.
** A scene cut from ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' (because its poor quality made it completely unusable) would have would have had Kirk's first scene in that movie be a skydive… from orbit!
** The character arc actually starts with ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'': Admiral Kirk, Chief of Naval Operations, is chafing at his desk job and wants to get BackInTheSaddle. Unfortunately, he hasn't been in command of a starship for several years, and the ''Enterprise'' isn't the same as it was when he commanded her, thanks to a major refit she underwent. He spends much of that film butting heads with the younger Captain Decker. So the first film has him realizing he's not the same young captain he used to be, the second film has him accepting his mortality, the third and fourth have him defying death by bringing Spock BackFromTheDead and bringing the whales back from extinction to save all life on Earth, the fifth film was kind of a swing and a miss but should have been about how a mortal Kirk deals with the greater universe as a whole, as well as foreshadowing the shifting political tides away from what he knew for much of his life, and the sixth film is about letting go of life-long prejudices and accepting change.
*** The fifth film actually does foreshadow this. The centerpiece of the first act is Nimbus III, "The Planet of Galactic Peace," where the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire made a joint effort to develop the planet together in peaceful cooperation. It's not going well, but the fact that these three governments agreed to cooperate on this project ''at all'' is a sign that the Cold War tensions the Klingons and Romulans were created to emulate are on their way to being irrelevant.

* Careful viewers will ask themselves "How did the assassins beams to ''Qo'noS One'' and beam back when Valeris was on the bridge?" Aside from settings the transporter to a timer, you'll notice there's a female enlisted officer in the transporter room when Gorkon and his party beam to the ''Enterprise''. It's possible she had a peripheral role in the plot, not knowing why she had to beam two people over, or even thinking she was beaming over help.
** Look at the energy surrounding the two when they beam. It's red. That means they were transported to and from ''Qo'noS One'' by the hidden Bird of Prey.
*** Or that ''Enterprise'' initiated the transport, and then handed it off to the Klingon system to complete. That's actually what's implied by assassins materializing ''on'' the Klingon transporter pad. That would make it the first overt clue that there are conspirators aboard Gorkon's ship. Why would they bother to do it this way, though? Because both ''Enterprise'' and ''Qo'noS One'' would have full computer records of the two systems cooperating with each other during transport; and thus, indisputable proof that the assassins came aboard from ''Enterprise.''
*** Also note that despite both being called yeomen, Crewmen Burke and Samno are wearing engineering-gold shoulder straps on their uniforms, and seem to work in the transporter room. Who would be better suited to set up such a transport and cover their tracks afterword than two transporter technicians?
* The painting Spock has in his quarters[[note]]"Adam et Eve chassés du Paradis", Marc Chagall, oil on canvas, 1961[[/note]] represents "the expulsion from Eden", what he calls an "old Earth myth." It also represents his silent tribute to [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier his brother, Sybok, who searched for Sha Ka Ree.]]
** Not to mention a subtle embrace of his human heritage, tying in with his discussion with Valeris regarding Logic being the embodiment of wisdom or merely being the start of it.
** Given that his [[Series/StarTrekDiscovery human foster sister]] is later revealed to have suffered a fall from grace herself (going from a First Officer on the verge of getting her own command to being imprisoned for mutiny), the painting carries quite a bit of potential meaning for Spock. To say nothing of her being forced to take a one-way trip 900 years into the future in order to protect the needs of the many.

* Minor and paired with Fridge Humor, but after Kirk's fight with the giant alien on Rura Penthe, where he defeats him by kicking his knees, Martia tells Kirk that "not everyone keeps their genitals in the same place." Kirk asks if there's anything on the subject Martia wants to say, and she just grins. Of course, we find out later she's a shapeshifter... she can keep her genitals anywhere she wants!

* In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', General Chang has an interesting foil in the form of Kol. Both are ambitious Klingon leaders who hope to take advantage of new stealth technology to gain an advantage over the Federation in combat. But while Chang is a CulturedBadass with a healthy appreciation of his foes and their culture, Kol is brutish thug (with a dangerous cunning for Klingon politics). Chang and Kol are further contrasted by their deaths, at the hands of Starfleet officers who found a way to defeat their cloaking devices: While Chang has an ObiWanMoment, quoting an [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare old human playwright]], Kol instead spends his last moments screaming in impotent rage.

* There's a StealthPun at play in [=McCoy=] helping Spock modify the torpedo: He's the only man that Spock would trust to help him perform [[ThisAintRocketSurgery Rocket Surgery.]]

* Meta example: In this film, which was made after TNG had begun its run, Kirk and Spock take on the same roles as Riker and Picard, respectively: Kirk, like Riker, is the impulsive, manly cowboy officer who leaves the ship, gets in trouble and needs to be rescued, while Spock, like Picard, remains on the ship and begins the process of rescuing him in a strategic way. Spock is calm, contemplative and quotes classic literature frequently in this film, like Picard, and he's actually the one who gives Kirk his mission, by volunteering him to be Gorkon's honor guard for the voyage to Earth.

* For ''years'', I never realized that the President in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' was blind. Suddenly, the opaque pair of glasses he wears when looking at the Operation Retrieve plans make sense: they're an early form of the VISOR. Also, when Kirk dives over the podium and knocks him out of the way of assassin fire, he'd have no idea who did it — which is why Kirk says to him: "Kirk. ''Enterprise''."
** That one was actually more or less confirmed by [[WordOfGod Michael & Denise Okuda]] in the DVD text commentary for that movie — he was at least intended to be blind originally.

* Azetbur derides the Federation as a "homo sapiens-only club", leading to Chang to acknowledge Spock with a "present company excepted, of course." Recall that Spock is [[FantasticRacism rather sensitive about his human heritage]], and you realize that Azetbur just insulted him in front of the whole party (although probably not on purpose). As Gorkon later remarks, [[NotSoDifferentRemark they all have a long way to go.]]

* At the dinner party, Gorkon finds an excuse to drop a Shakespeare reference, before making a joke about enjoying Shakespeare InTheOriginalKlingon. This prompts Chang to begin [[LargeHam belting out a bit]] of ''[[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} Hamlet]]''. Gorkon knows that Chang is a huge Shakespeare fan, and possibly dropped the quote in hopes of breaking the ice by getting Chang going on about the popular human playwright.

* At first it seems like odd tactics to blast the Klingon ships with a couple of torpedoes, and then follow up with assassins. Why not just keep on barraging it with torpedoes until it's so much space junk? The reason is because Chang is on that ship, and can't have it simply destroyed without killing himself.
** It is also necessary that there be witnesses who point out without any doubt members of the Federation as the murderers.

* Pay close attention to Valeris when they find the anti-gravity boots in Crewman Dax's locker. At first, she's visibly proud at apparently solving the mystery of the missing boots, but that pride turns to disappointment when it's shown that it's impossible for the boots to belong to Dax. Now watch the scene again knowing that Valeris is TheMole; it's quite possible that she herself hid the boots in Dax's locker to frame him, and appears proud of herself that the ruse apparently worked. And when it's revealed that the boots can't be Dax's, her disappointed look could be interpreted as her being upset that she picked the wrong crew member to frame.

* Valeris' line about thrusters ''only'' in Spacedock may seem like an homage to Saavik with a Vulcan officer citing regulations at Kirk, but when you remember that the story was originally written to have Saavik return, the line comes across more like an inside joke between the two, symbolizing her becoming more confident and thus more willing to take the steps she would have in this movie.

!!FridgeHorror

* The events of this movie occurred in both the main timeline and the "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's]] ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Enterprise]]''" timeline. In the main timeline, it ushered in an era of peace with the Klingons. In the "Yesterday's ''Enterprise''" timeline, the actions of the ''Enterprise'' crew and Sulu [[NiceJobBreakingItHero allowed the Klingons to recover and later start a war the Federation was losing]].
* Azetbur is named Chancellor in her father's stead. However, chronologically-later episodes of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' indicate that women aren't allowed to serve in the Klingon government. Continuity mistake? Or did something happen during Azetbur's regime that made the Klingons change it? Was Azetbur a particularly bad or incompetent Chancellor?
** The Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra novel "Serpents in the Ruins" offers an answer to this — Azetbur wasn't bad or incompetent, just that she continued her father's peace efforts and was killed by more a militaristic faction who believed the Empire had been at peace for too long and were no longer interested in accepting Federation aid. One of her successor's first acts was to simply ban women from serving on the Council, seemingly blaming her gender for her politics.
*** Note that this would also explain the above alteration to the timeline in "Yesterday's ''Enterprise''" — a militaristic faction coming to power in the Klingon Empire, interested in ending peaceful relations with the Federation, would be impressed by a Federation starship — indeed, not just any Federation starship but the Federation starship ''Enterprise'' — sacrificing itself to save a Klingon colony and view them as worthy allies. Without that act, we end up with the war that brought the Federation to the brink of defeat.
** Women are firmly second class citizens in the Empire. It's not just in government, pretty much any prominent position is held by a man. Starship captains, starship first officers, lawyers, judges, scientists, even the cook on board ''Deep Space Nine.'' The women on the other hand seem to be almost exclusively wives, sex objects, low ranking crewmembers or a combination of the three. It really isn't difficult to see how Azetbur got pushed out. She may even have been erased from the official history and had her acheivements if any attributed to a male - such things were sadly very common in real life. This would easily explain any later continuity issues.
* After the first season of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' depicted an all-out war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in the mid-2250s, it's startling to realize that the generation of Starfleet officers who were cadets and ensigns in that era are, by the time of this movie, most likely the captains, admirals and "top brass" of Starfleet. That means that they were among those who, nearly forty years later, participated in the effort to keep the Federation and the Klingon Empire at each others' throats, and the bigotry needed to approve such a mindset was probably born in a time of hatred and warfare.
** It's not just Starfleet. Klingons like Gorkon and Chang were probably young soldiers during the war. Now they lead the Empire's forces and government. Which wraps this around to Brilliance - of COURSE both sides are so set in their ways of war. This is not just the state of affairs for the better part of their lives, this was how BOTH sides came of age. Gorkon was, if anything, underplaying things when he says to "if there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it."
* Azetbur states that the UFP is a "homosapiens-only" club, implying that the Federation assimilates cultures to the point that culture becomes a pale version of humans. The franchise would later confirm this is the case. In this regard, is the UFP any better than the BORG?
** This negative view on the UFP is held by several individuals in-universe, both human and otherwise. ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' recurring character Michael Eddington explicitly calls out the Federation as being "worse than the Borg" when he defects to the Maquis.