History Film / StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry

'''Kirk:'''(popping up out of another biobed) I'd just as soon you didn't.\\

* IdenticalGrandson: Creator/MichaelDorn portrays Colonel Worf, the grandfather and namesake of his ''TNG''-era character. There was going to be a scene showing Colonel Worf talking with his young son, Mogh, but it was unfortunately cut. Downplayed in that the make-up for Dorn was significantly different than the TNG Worf [[note]]TNG Klingon make-up generally enlarged the [[MyBrainIsBig size of their head]] with large crests, whereas Klingons in this film was more subdued[[/note]] which in turn makes it more of an obviously family resemblance than actually being identical.

** Spock's briefing indicates that saving Qo'noS is *economically* impossible for the Klingon Empire, which spends far too much on the military, not that it's technologically impossible, echoing a common understanding of reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the peace treaty and eventual integration into the Federation, saving Qo'noS presumably became a more realistic prospect.

* HangoverSensitivity: Poor Chekov is visibly struggling to make it through his bridge watch after the Romulan Ale-soked diplomatic dinner; prompting Kirk to grumble about his own hangover.

** Out of universe, this movie marks the end of the TOS era. Going forward, the TOS characters are largely relagated to cameos and guest roles on future ''Star Trek'' productions, at least until the reboot.

* BeamSpam: Zigzagged. There are plenty of hand phaser shots, but when it comes to spaceborne combat, only torpedoes are used in the film.

** The film really runs with this, which even caused some behind the scenes problems for most of the cast. In the film, it provides CharacterDevelopment for some, especially Kirk. He goes from "''Let'' them die" and "I never could forgive them for the death of my boy," to "I was used to hating Klingons" and "Gorkon had to die before I realized how prejudiced I was." By the end Kirk realizes that while he didn't kill Gorkon, he had an indirect involvement in his murder due to his reputation. Gorkon's sincere wish for peace with his last breath moves Kirk to re-evaluate the Klingons as a whole, as well as himself.

* {{Cameo}}: Creator/ChristianSlater as the ''Excelsior'' communications officer who wakes Sulu, which made him a PromotedFanboy. Probably not coincidentally, his mother, Mary Jo Slater, was the casting director.[[note]]IMDB once did a poll of Worst Cameo in a Film -- Slater ran away with it in voting.[[/note]]

* AlienBlood: The Klingons have Pepto-Bismol pink blood in this film (and only this film), in order to keep a PG rating. [[spoiler:Becomes a minor ChekhovsGun in the final act when an assassin is identified as ''not'' being Klingon because he has ''red'' blood, but only in the extended cut.]] The ''Star Trek'' staff (particularly Mike Okuda) HandWaved this by claiming the pigment change to be a side-effect of microgravity.

* PublicDomainCanonWelding: Hinted at when Spock states that, "An ancestor of mine maintained that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This is, of course, a Literature/SherlockHolmes quote. Since Holmes is established as fictional in other ''Franchise/StarTrek'' media, fans usually interpret this as Spock declaring himself to be a descendant of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle.

It is a grand finale for the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries classic]] ''Trek'' crew (''[[Film/StarTrek2009 as played by the original actors, at least]]'') which resolves the previously ongoing conflict between the Federation and the Klingons with a Creator/TomClancy [[RecycledINSPACE ''IN SPACE!'']] storyline. In part because of its more political themes and real-world connections, ''The Undiscovered Country'' is DarkerAndEdgier than its predecessors.

* DramaticShattering: Sulu's tea cup rattles off the captain's coffee table and falls to the ground when the ''Excelsior'' gets buffeted by the shockwave. Not a moment after it's in pieces on the deck, alarms and klaxons start blaring. Notably, it is ''[[ObviousStuntDouble not]]'' the same teacup which Sulu drinks from -- the decoration was seen by the prop team as too nice to ruin.

** Likewise -- or at least during the original release in late 1991 -- it was a foregone conclusion that Bones and Spock will at both survive the events of the film given their crossover appearances ''decades'' later in TNG's Pilot episode and "Unification".

** Likewise -- or at least durign the original release in late 1991 -- it was a foregone conclusion that Bones and Spock will at both survive the events of the film given their crossover appearances ''decades'' later in TNG's Pilot episode and "Unification".

* ElderlyAilmentRamvling: Invoked by [=McCoy=] when he and Kirk are on trial for murdering Chancellor Gorkon, and he's asked about his medical standing. He replies, "Aside from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good." His effort at levity actually does get ''one'' Klingon to laugh.

* TakeThat: It's quite nicely worked in, but Kirk's remark in the end speech that "some people think change means the end of history" is likely a jab at neo-conservative Francis Fukuyama's proclamation (and epynonymous book) that the collapse of Soviet communism meant that liberal bourgeois democracy was the only option for developing countries and was, thus, "the end of history".

* LensmanArmsRace: The Fire-While-Cloaking device is a game-changer, allowing klingon ships to not even need to decloak to engage a target. A klingon warship so equipped could simply fire just one torpedo and move to another position to become untouchable, as the ''Enterprise'' and ''Excelsior'' experienced. Unfortunately, it was doomed before the end of its first real engagement: Not only did peace breaking out make it unneeded, but Starfleet ingenuity developed a hard counter ''on the fly'' with off-the-shelf parts in the first engagement by adapting gaseous anomaly cataloguing sensors to a [[HomingProjectile photon torpedo guidance system]], homing in on the exhaust trail that not even cloaked ships can avoid emitting.

* EngineeredPublicConfession: During the trial, Kirk's log entry in which he says, "I have never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I've never been able to forgive them for the death of my boy," is presented as proof of his motive for assassinating Gorkon. This fact is later used to incriminate [[spoiler:Valeris as a conspirator, since it was she who was outside his quarters at the time.]]

* DefensiveFeintTrap: Kirk attempts on of these when Chang's Bird of Prey attacks the ''Enterprise'' upon arriving at Khitomer. He orders the ''Enterprise'' into a reverse, confusing Chang momentarily, but only enough to give the ''Enterprise'' some breathing room and a few extra seconds for the ''Excelsior'' to arrive.

* PlanarShockwave: Thanks to this movie, it's commonly known as the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_effect Praxis Effect]]." It also has plot significance, when most uses are just to look nice. Here, it smacks into the ''Excelsior'', revealing the situation to the Federation, when the Klingons might have covered it up (similar to how, in RealLife, the radiation cloud from Chernobyl made a cover up impossible).

(seeker torpedo flies straight towards the viewescreen's point of view, Chang averts his gaze, the whole bridge explodes on the torpedo's impact)

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: After the modified photon torpedo hits and disables the cloaked Bird of Prey, it is dead in the water but still intact. Sulu's response with the Excelsior, and then Kirk's with the Enterprise-A, is to then pound it with torpedo after torpedo until it is completely obliterated.

** Likewise, Bones and Spock will at both survive the events of the film given their crossover apperances ''decades'' later in TNG's Pilot and "Unification".

It is a grand finale for the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries classic]] ''Trek'' crew ([[Film/StarTrek2009 ''as played by the original actors, at least'']]) which resolves the previously ongoing conflict between the Federation and the Klingons with a Creator/TomClancy [[RecycledINSPACE ''IN SPACE!'']] storyline. In part because of its more political themes and real-world connections, ''The Undiscovered Country'' is DarkerAndEdgier than its predecessors.