Nonexistent Sexual Tension
Posted By Iain Coleman on October 13, 2009
I was reading the script for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - not just the best Star Trek film, but a fine movie in its own right - and something leapt out at me. The sexual tension between Kirk and Saavik.
If you’re saying “the what now?”, then I quite sympathise. I’ve seen that film I don’t know how many times, and never detected anything between these two characters beyond Kirk’s occasional mentoring of Saavik, and her negotiating the balance between proper procedure and Kirk’s freewheeling improvisation.
But on the page, it’s a different story. Literally.
Take this scene:
INT. ENTERPRISE CORRIDOR 52
Kirk waits for the Turbo Lift, which opens at last. As
he gets in –
SAAVIK’S VOICE
Hold please — !
Kirk holds and Saavik dashes in. She is surprised to
see him.
SAAVIK
(continuing)
Thank you, sir.
Kirk nods, the doors close. There is an uneasy forced
intimacy between them.
KIRK
Lieutenant, are you wearing your
hair differently?
SAAVIK
It is still regulation, Admiral.
She reaches out and touches a button. The lift stops.
SAAVIK
(continuing)
May I speak, sir?
KIRK
Lieutenant, self-expression does not
seem to be one of your problems.
SAAVIK
I wish to thank you for the high
efficiency rating.
KIRK
You earned it.
SAAVIK
I did not think so.
KIRK
You’re bothered by your performance
on the Kobayashi Maru.
SAAVIK
I failed to resolve the situation.
KIRK
There is no correct resolution.
It is a test of character.
SAAVIK
May I ask how you dealt with the
test?
KIRK
(amused)
You may ask, Lieutenant.
She stares.
KIRK
(continuing)
That was a little joke.
SAAVIK
Humor… that is a difficult concept
… it is not logical…
KIRK
We learn by doing, Lieutenant.
She’s a laugh a minute. Kirk pushes the button; the
elevator starts.
KIRK
(continuing)
You want my advice?
She studies him, considering. No doubt about it, the
attraction is mutual and she has no idea how to handle
it.
SAAVIK
Yes.
KIRK
Take the test again.
The lift stops and the doors open.
BONES
Who’s been holding up the damn
elevator?
He reacts to them. Saavik exits demurely.
SAAVIK
Thank you, sir.
Bones enters and the doors close. Kirk studies the
ceiling.
BONES
Has she changed her hairstyle?
Kirk says nothing.
BONES
(finally)
Wonderful stuff, that Romulan
ale –
UHURA’S VOICE
Admiral Kirk –
KIRK
Kirk here.
UHURA’S VOICE
I have an urgent CommPic from Space
Lab Regula I for the Admiral. Dr.
Carol Marcus.
KIRK
In my quarters, Uhura.
UHURA’S VOICE
Yes, sir.
Awkward silence.
BONES
It never rains but when it pours –
KIRK
As a physician you of all people
should appreciate the danger of
re-opening old wounds.
The elevator stops. Kirk leaves. The doors close.
BONES
(annoyed with
himself)
Sorry.
The story of this scene is that Saavik shows Kirk the first signs that she is a sexual being as well as a dedicated officer, by turning up with a new hairdo (the traditional signifier of such things in Hollywood drama). Kirk, ever the ladies’ man, sees the opening and indulges in a little flirtation. Saavik responds, and it looks like something may happen - then in bursts the gooseberry, Bones. And as if that wasn’t enough cold water poured on the proceedings, who should call but Kirk’s ex! Jim Kirk won’t be getting his end away today, that’s for damn sure.
None of that appears on screen - at least, not that I’ve ever seen. Instead, the Kirk-Saavik relationship is much more that of a mentor and a somewhat reluctant student. Kirk encourages Saavik to break with hidebound convention, but Saavik’s attention to proper procedures is nonetheless vindicated on occasion. In that reading, this lift scene has Saavik’s new hairdo showing that she may indeed be willing to break with convention, albeit to a limited extent, and Kirk offers her encouragement and reassurance in doing so.
Playing it ths way, the scene is less coherent, with the interventions by Bones and Dr Marcus appearing simply as incidents rather than having any wider importance to Kirk’s relationship to Saavik. So why do it this way?
It could simply be down to a complete lack of screen chemistry between William Shatner and Kirstie Alley, but I think there’s a deeper reason. This movie is all about aging. Kirk is too old to command a starship, wasting away as a decrepit desk-jockey until events give him back his command. The story is all about Kirk coming to terms with age, vulnerability and death. In that context, successfully flirting with a beautiful young officer just doesn’t fit. The mentor-student relationship fits better with the theme.
An alternative, that could have worked, would have been for Kirk to try to get it on with Saavik and receive a polite but humiliating rebuffal. We would see Kirkforced to come to terms with the fact that he’s too old and podgy to play the dashing ladykiller any longer. That could have been a nice scene. Dangerous, though, in a heroic drama, to undercut the protagonist to quite that extent. Perhaps that’s why the film ultimately didn’t go down that path.
So, two lessons from this scene. The first: stay true to the theme of the story. Second: drama is about performance and direction as well as writing, and what ends up on screen can be quite different from what is on the page, even if all the words are exactly the same.
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