Titan Books—publishers of the recent behind-the-scenes exploration of Conan the Barbarian—have another essential release for fans of classic genre film on the way. From authors John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – The Making of the Classic Film reveals rare and previously unpublished production art, interspersed with new, exclusive interviews:
“Just over 40 years ago, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan saw Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise crew face one of the greatest foes in Star Trek history, Khan Noonien Singh, as well as the death of Spock. Celebrate this landmark anniversary by taking a deep dive into the stories behind this iconic science fiction classic. This beautiful coffee-table book is full to the brim with rare and previously unpublished archival material, behind-the-scenes photography, production art, cut scenes, script extracts, and much more, alongside new and exclusive interviews with the creatives, including director Nicholas Meyer.”
Authors John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto are both sociology professors, but more importantly, please enjoy this snippet proving their Trek bona fides from their joint author biography: “John first saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at the Esquire Theatre in Chicago on opening night with his late father Vincent. When John and Maria Jose were married, their wedding song was the theme to Star Trek: Voyager … They have been featured in the Netflix TV show The Toys That Made Us and the History Channel’s The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek docuseries, and have been invited to speak at the Official Star Trek Convention, the St. Louis Science Center, and by the future birthplace of James T. Kirk, Riverside, Iowa, and the town of Vulcan, Alberta, Canada.”
The book arrives September 5 (you can pre-order a copy here or here), but we have some exciting images to share today. Scroll through to see storyboards, pre-production images, and on-set photographs featuring director Nicholas Meyer and stars Ricardo Montalbán, Kirstie Alley, Leonard Nimoy, and more.
Behind the Scenes of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Robert Fletcher’s costume design for McCoy’s “civilian dress” outfit.
“During a break from filming on the bridge, Leonard Nimoy peaks inside the VistaVision camera on the set of Star Trek II. A unique feature of the ILM VistaVision was the orientation of the 35mm film negative horizontally, which benefited filmmakers during the pioneering steps into widescreen formats during the 1950s.” Nimoy later directed Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
From left: “Pre-production storyboards of Sulu and Chekov meeting Khan and Marla’s replacements, Sojin and Morey.” Far right: “Ru-byk, the robot who would help save the day, and David.”
“Director Nicholas Meyer and Ricardo Montalbán would become good friends during and after the filming of Star Trek II. Meyer was in awe of meeting one of Hollywood’s iconic performers, and give him a copy of Moby Dick when they met, telling Montalbán everything he needed to know about Khan was in Herman Melville’s writing.”
“Production designers and art directors bring to reality the vision of their directors. Here, [director Nicholas] Meyer, [production designer Joseph] Jennings, and [art director Michael] Minor on the practical set they collaborated to create.”
Meyer on set with Kirstie Alley as Saavik.
Make-up artist Werner Keppler “forwent traditional makeup adhesive for a kitchen pot and spatula to use his innovative food-grade gelatin technique on [Peter Preston actor Ike] Eisenmann.”
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – The Making of the Classic Film will be released September 5; you can pre-order a copy here or here.
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