On the surface, nothing can survive.
- After the Klingon moon Praxis explodes in a massive Planar Shockwave, the USS Excelsior is close enough to not only have to ride out the shockwave, but when they scan the moon, they learn that most of it is now simply not there anymore. They then receive one of the more disturbuing Distress Calls in the history of the franchise: a Klingon, surrounded by flames, screaming in panicked Klingon before the signal abruptly cuts off, followed by a Klingon officer tersely messaging them to tell them that there has been an accident, and that Starfleet's assistance is not required.Valtane: I have confirmed the location of Praxis, sir, but...Sulu: What is it?Valtane: I cannot confirm the existence of Praxis.
- The attack on Gorkon's ship Qo'nos One, from the Klingons' point of view. The Enterprise, sent to escort them into Federation space for peace talks, unexpectedly opens fire on them, crippling them and knocking out the Artificial Gravity. Two space-suited assassins beam aboard and begin slowly and methodically marching through the ship, shooting helpless crewmembers as they float in freefall, unable to fight back or seek safety. Once they find their target, they shoot him in the heart, before calmly marching back the way they came and beaming back to their ship. Did we mention that, due to the lack of gravity, the Klingons' blood is left to float in blobs drifting through the air, trailing behind the wounded or dead crewmembers, in a rare exception to the Bloodless Carnage usually seen on Star Trek? No wonder this scene nearly ended up netting the film a PG-13 rating.
- Also, the same attack, from the Enterprise crew's point of view. The ship they are escorting is being attacked, and by all indications, it was the Enterprise that did it, with the bridge crew and Mr. Scott urgently shouting at each other - they're unable to agree on what their own conflicting computers are telling them, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on before the Klingon ship finally regains control and prepares to open fire on them in evident self defense.
- When Kronos One recovers and comes nose-to-nose with the unshielded Enterprise, the ship locks photon torpedos and prepares to fire. Kirk just stares, slack-jawed at the view screen for a full ten seconds. This is the first time in the history of Star Trek that we've seen Kirk falter in the command chair. He doesn't order shields up, he doesn't order evasive maneuvers, and he doesn't charge weapons, or anything else we expect him to do. He just sits there, staring. . .and then he surrenders. It's terrifying. What sells that part is the rest of his crew's reaction, especially Valeris's, you know, an emotionless Vulcan.Chekov: Shields up, Captain?
Valeris: (with barely contained terror) Captain, OUR SHIELDS!
Chekov: Shields UP, Captain?
(Klingon Cruiser is now at point-blank range filling the viewscreen, torpedoes armed)
Kirk: Signal our surrender.
Uhura: Captain?
Kirk: We surrender! - The attack on Kronos One is also a subtle indication of General Chang's fanaticism, because Chang was aboard Kronos One at the time of the attack. Considering that Kronos One had just sustained heavy damage, and that they were facing a fully-armed and operational Starfleet cruiser commanded by James T. Kirk—a man who eats Klingon battlecruisers as a between-meal snack—the Klingon ship had virtually no chance of winning a firefight with Enterprise, and no reason to expect that Kirk wouldn't defend his ship. This means that General Chang wasn't just willing to die for his cause, he expected to die for it. Keep in mind that this was a plan that he was involved in making. There's something very unsettling about that level of commitment to a warmongering and racist cause.
- Rura Penthe in its entirety. A penal colony on a frozen asteroid, with the only slim chance of escape being to walk the several miles needed to get beyond the magnetic field that prevents transporter operation, and just hope to hell that someone's looking in the right place to beam you up before you freeze to death. The prison itself is filled with an untold number of hostile aliens, and considering that prisoners aren't allowed universal translators, there's a good chance you'll unwittingly offend someone into injuring or killing you while the guards watch on, laughing. And if you try rebelling, fail to pull your weight in the mines, or if the commandant just needs someone to make an example of, then you can look forward to being stripped naked and thrown out into the icy wastes in front of the latest set of arrivals, probably leading to you freezing to death before they even descend into the prison.
