Tailkinker

Question: Is it my imagination, or does the opening theme sound similar to the classical piece "The Planets - Mars" by Holst?

StevenJ

Chosen answer: There are certain similarities, yes. Whether any specific aspects of the piece were deliberately incorporated into the film's opening theme is an open question, but the overall feel is undoubtedly very similar.

Tailkinker

Answer: At one point Nicholas Meyer did indeed have the idea to incorporate "The Planets" into the score, but apparently the rights proved too expensive. I have no doubt Meyer asked composer Cliff Eidelmann to give the score a similar sound.

TonyPH

Question: I don't understand why Spock insists that the magnetic boots must be on the Enterprise and not on the cloaked bird of prey. Spock points out that someone involved in the assassination conspiracy must be on the Enterprise, because this person must have altered the data banks. I agree with him. But why does that prove that the assassins who boarded the Klingon ship must have beamed from and returned to the Enterprise? How can he assume that the assassins and the computer hacker are the same person/people? Maybe there are assassins on the cloaked bird of prey and only a hacker on the Enterprise. Or, maybe the assassins might have beamed from the Enterprise but then carried on to the bird of prey, once their work was done, instead of returning to the Enterprise. And finally, if Spock does think the assassins beamed to and from the Enterprise, why is no one looking at transporter logs/records for evidence of unauthorized beaming to Kronos 1?

Answer: It's fairly simple - somebody good enough to hack the weaponry databanks on the ship would undoubtedly be able to alter the transporter logs, so, while they were undoubtedly checked (we do see Chekov investigating the transporters - he would certainly have looked at the logs), they'd be unlikely to glean anything from them. They'd also be good enough to cover their tracks, so they're not going to get very far investigating the computer breach. As such, the only specific thing that they can look for are the gravity boots - this does make the assumption that the assassins came from the Enterprise and returned to it, but, at that point, all they have to work with are theories. However, while the only specific items that they can look for are the gravity boots, the search might also turn up other items that could indicate complicity in the events on Kronos 1 - the hacker probably used some specific computer tools which could be found.

Tailkinker

Answer: Also, as mentioned in the movie, gravity had not yet been restored to Kronos 1 when the assassins beamed back over. If they had not been wearing the boots, they would've floated off the pad. Spock even says something to the effect of that if they were from enterprise, they couldn't dispose of the evidence. If not, whoever altered the data banks is on board. So what they are looking for is there. (I don't remember the exact wording).

Answer: They found the Klingon Blood on the Enterprise transporter pad. That alone proved that the attackers were from Enterprise.

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