7 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

Even a sci-fi masterpiece isn’t immune to a few glitches in the space-time continuum!

Among devoted Star Trek enthusiasts, the 1982 film “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” is highly appreciated as one of the strongest installments in the Star Trek series. It gained popularity following a less enthusiastic reception to “The Motion Picture.” This film offered a gripping, emotional, and profoundly human narrative that rejuvenated the franchise, demonstrating that Star Trek remained as significant as ever, almost 20 years after Gene Roddenbury’s “Original Series” debuted in 1966. The film marked the beginning of “The Next Generation” and many more spin-offs to come. Key aspects include Ricardo Montalbán reprising his role as the iconic villain Khan, as well as Spock’s moving sacrifice to save the crew, which delivers on both action and emotional impact.

Even the most impressive sci-fi movies occasionally encounter some filming mishaps and inconsistencies in continuity. From oddly behaving props, persistently misplaced uniforms, or dialogue alterations post-filming, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan isn’t free from errors. It’s puzzling how these oversights made it to the final edit, but once you spot them, they become quite noticeable!

1) Creepy Corpse

As a devoted Star Trek fan, one of the reasons I find “The Wrath of Khan” so captivating is the reappearance of the legendary antagonist, the genetically engineered superhuman Khan Noonien Singh, portrayed by the talented Ricardo Montalbán. In this film, he poignantly cradles his dying first officer, who dramatically exits the scene with his eyes fixed wide open. Later, Khan lays his body down, gazes up at the viewscreen to swear vengeance on Kirk. The scene is chilling indeed, but keen-eyed viewers might have spotted an unusual detail about the body Khan is holding – if you pay close attention, the “corpse” appears to blink.

The actor’s quick mistake, which appears to be just a natural human reaction, unfortunately breaks the realistic effect we were trying to achieve in the death scene meant to intensify Khan’s anger. The blinking dead body beneath him is hard not to notice and it takes away from the emotional impact of the scene.

2) Where’s the Funeral?

During the process of fixing the warp core on the starship Enterprise, Spock tragically receives a fatal overdose of radiation. In his selfless act, he sacrifices himself to protect the crew. The demise of the seemingly invincible and composed first officer left fans utterly stunned. Spock’s funeral is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the film, and indeed Star Trek history; however, its setting creates some confusion. The script and exterior shots suggest that the funeral takes place in Torpedo Bay 1, yet the interior footage clearly depicts the ceremony occurring in Torpedo Bay 2, where a “2” label and airlock from earlier in the movie are visible. Even during Spock’s coffin-like torpedo launch, a “2” is evident, indicating the confusing discrepancy between the two bay numbers.

As a die-hard cinema enthusiast, let me share my thoughts on this peculiar turn of events. It’s like the Enterprise crew pulled an eleventh-hour switcheroo, but here’s where it gets tricky – Torpedo Bay 2 was decimated during the skirmish with the Reliant earlier in the film. You see, it’s not exactly around anymore to host any services! Seems like Starfleet’s rules on continuity don’t apply when it comes to funerals…quite an intriguing loophole!

3) Magic Mirror

One appealing aspect of “The Original Series” that has endured across movies and consistently captivated fans is the profound friendship between Kirk and Spock, often referred to as a bromance. This friendship, which transcends time, showcases moments of deep camaraderie that have become iconic in “Star Trek.” In these scenes, we get a respite from the action and witness heartfelt conversations between friends, making for some of the most memorable moments.

However, in the Director’s Cut of “Wrath of Khan,” there is an unusual twist during one such intimate moment with Spock that somewhat undermines the otherwise delightful nature of these scenes.

As a cinephile, I couldn’t help but notice an intriguing detail during my recent Star Trek binge. In one scene, while watching Spock intently, a mirror was subtly visible on the wall behind him, reflecting his calm demeanor. However, when the camera shifted slightly to another angle, the mirror magically vanished! The new perspective should have kept the mirror in frame, but alas, it wasn’t there. This mysterious disappearance could only be explained by a quick set mishap during the transition between shots – a blunder that once spotted is impossible to unsee!

4) Tighten the Tunic!

In Spock’s poignant death scene, some spectators might struggle to focus on his heartfelt last words due to an unexpectedly captivating element within the frame – it seems that Captain Kirk’s red shirt is mysteriously animating on its own.

In this rephrased version, when Captain Kirk urgently rushes to Engineering due to Spock’s tragic death in the radiation chamber, his tunic is left open. In an attempt to keep him from entering and sharing a similar fate with his friend, Scotty and McCoy grab him tightly. Later, as Kirk speaks to Spock through the glass of the radiation chamber, his tunic miraculously becomes partially closed, with only the top button fastened. A short while later, it’s completely buttoned up. The inconsistent changes in his outfit might indicate that the scene was shot multiple times without much concern for keeping the buttons consistent. Given the intense emotional impact of the conversation between Kirk and Spock, many fans may have overlooked this continuity error-until now!

5) The McCoy Head Shuffle

At the start of the film during a Kobayashi Maru training exercise, Dr. McCoy becomes unconscious and falls onto the ship’s deck. In one shot, his head is found on the floor, while in another, he’s raised high on Sulu’s waist. The following shot shows him lying much lower, near Sulu’s leg.

As a dedicated movie buff, let me clarify that moving an unconscious patient’s head isn’t some obscure Starfleet medical trick up my sleeve – it’s more like a continuity oversight, as if they forgot to keep Dr. McCoy firmly in place during the editing process. However, one could argue from within the Star Trek universe that maybe all that fidgeting was just an effort by McCoy to get comfy amidst the scene’s hustle and bustle. Later on, when questioned about Dr. McCoy’s theatrical skills, Captain Kirk, ever the pragmatist, simply remarked, ‘I’m no drama critic.’

6) Glasses, I Can’t Find My Glasses!

After Dr. Carol Marcus, along with her son David and Captain Kirk (who was once in a relationship with Carol), find themselves stranded on a planetoid due to Khan’s actions, Carol guides them towards a cave where they believe the Genesis Device – an innovative technology capable of transforming uninhabitable planets into livable worlds – is concealed. As the group moves forward, Kirk reaches for his watch, revealing that he had been wearing glasses, but in the subsequent shot, these glasses mysteriously disappear from his person, without him explicitly removing them.

In my perspective, the sequence feels abrupt because there’s no scene transition or alternate shot to clarify the disappearance of the glasses. It seems like they were magically whisked away from my face during the scene change, almost as if teleportation was involved! Maybe, as subtly suggested earlier in the film, Captain Kirk found these glasses a constant reminder of his advancing age and decided he wanted to get rid of them promptly.

7) Slip of the Tongue

In the early stages of the movie, when Captain Kirk commands “Stop energizers,” it’s interesting to note that William Shatner appears to be saying something slightly different – he seems to be saying “Stop engines” instead. According to Mike Okuda, a graphic designer who has worked on numerous Star Trek projects, this error in dialogue was apparently corrected during post-production, as someone noticed that immediately stopping the energizers (which are essentially the starship’s engines) wouldn’t be feasible or make sense in the given scene context.

The repair is plausible within the storyline, yet after observing the inconsistency between Shatner’s spoken lines and his lip movements in subsequent viewings, it becomes noticeable.

Notice any more continuity quirks in The Wrath of Khan? Drop them in the comments!

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is streaming now on Paramount+

2025-08-17 18:31