Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Written by Leonard Nimoy, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Nicholas Meyer, and Denny Martin Flinn.

James T. Kirk

• Captain's Log, Stardate 9522.6. I've never trusted Klingons, and I never will. I can never forgive them for the death of my boy. It seems to me our mission to escort the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council to a peace summit is problematic at best. Spock says this could be an historic occasion and I'd like to believe him, but how on Earth can history get past people like me?
• [last lines] Captain's Log, Stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries boldly going where no man- where no one-has gone before.

General Chang

• Tickle us, do we not laugh? Prick us, do we not bleed? Wrong us...shall we not revenge?
• [Paraphrased, The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene i.]
• [at Kirk and McCoy's trial] Indeed, the record shows that Captain Kirk once held the rank of admiral, and that Admiral Kirk was broken for taking matters into his own hands in defiance of regulations of the law! Do you deny being demoted for these charges?! Don't wait for the translation! Answer me now!
• [Similar words were originally spoken by Adlai Stevenson to Valerian Zorin in an emergency session of the United Nations during the Cuban Missile Crisis.]

Dialogue

Spock: Good morning. Two months ago, a Federation starship monitored an explosion on the Klingon moon, Praxis. We believed it was caused by overmining and insufficient safety precautions. The moon's decimation means a deadly pollution of their ozone. They will have depleted their supply of oxygen in approximately 50 Earth years. Due to their enormous military budget, the Klingon economy does not have the resources with which to combat this catastrophe. Last month, at the behest of the Vulcan ambassador, I opened a dialogue with Gorkon, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. He proposes to commence negotiations at once.

Admiral Cartwright: Negotiations for what?

Spock: The dismantling of our space stations and starbases of along the Neutral Zone, an end to almost 70 years of unremitting hostility which the Klingons can no longer afford.

Chancellor Gorkon: I offer a toast. The undiscovered country...the future.

Everyone: The undiscovered country.

Spock: Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.

Gorkon: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.

Chang: taH pagh taHbe' [Klingons laugh] "To be or not to be?" That is the question which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. We need breathing room.

James Kirk: Earth. Hitler, 1938.

Chang: I beg your pardon?

Gorkon: Well...I see we have a long way to go.

Chang: [over the Enterprise public address speakers] I am constant as the Northern Star...

Leonard McCoy: [to Spock, while fixing a photon torpedo to track down Chang's warship] I'd give real money if he'd [Chang] shut up.

[The Enterprise and Excelsior crews have just averted the assassination of the Federation president]

Azetbur: What's happened? What's the meaning of all of this?

James T. Kirk: It's about the future, Madame Chancellor. Some people think the future means the end of history. Well...We haven't run out of history quite yet. Your father called the future...the undiscovered country. People can be very frightened of change.

Azetbur: You've restored my father's faith.

James T. Kirk: And you've restored my son's.

[Starfleet Command has ordered the Enterprise to head to Spacedock for decommissioning]

Spock: If I were human, I believe my response would be...go to Hell. [Kirk looks at Spock] If I were human.

Pavel Chekov: Course heading, Captain?

James T. Kirk: Second star to the right... and straight on till morning.

Cast