Passes the Bechdel test
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982. Directed by Nicholas Meyer, written by Jack B. Sowards and Harve Bennett and Gene Roddenberry.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 176. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
It is the 23rd century. Admiral James T. Kirk is an instructor at Starfleet Academy and feeling old; the prospect of attending his ship, the USS Enterprise--now a training ship--on a two-week cadet cruise does not make him feel any younger. But the training cruise becomes a deadly serious mission when his nemesis Khan Noonien Singh--infamous conqueror from late 20th century Earth--appears after years of exile. Khan later revealed that the planet Ceti Alpha VI exploded, and shifted the orbit of the fifth planet as a Mars-like haven. He begins capturing Project Genesis, a top secret device holding the power of creation itself, and schemes the utter destruction of Kirk.
- Released
- 04 Jun 1982
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Kirk 285 lines, man
- Saavik 100 lines, woman
- Spock 91 lines, man
- Khan 68 lines, man
- Bones 66 lines, man
- Carol 51 lines, woman
- Chekov 42 lines, man
- David 42 lines, man
- Terrell 36 lines, man
- Uhura 33 lines, woman
Full cast, 58 people
- William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk
- Leonard Nimoy as Captain Spock
- Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonien Singh
- DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy
- James Doohan as Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott
- Walter Koenig as Cmdr. Pavel Chekov
- George Takei as Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu
- Nichelle Nichols as Cmdr. Uhura
- Bibi Besch as Dr. Carol Marcus
- Merritt Butrick as Dr. David Marcus
- Paul Winfield as Captain Clark Terrell
- Kirstie Alley as Lt. Saavik
- Judson Scott as Joachim
- Ike Eisenmann as Preston
- John Vargas as Jedda
- John Winston as Kyle
- Paul Kent as Beach
- Nicholas Guest as Cadet
- Russell Takaki as Madison
- Kevin Rodney Sullivan as March
- Joel Marston as Crew Chief
- Laura Banks as Khan's Navigator
- Steve Bond as Khan's Crewman #1
- Brett Baxter Clark as Khan's Crewman #2
- Gilbert B. Combs as Enterprise Engineer
- James Horner as Enterprise Crewman
- George Sasaki as Crewmember at Spock's Funeral (uncredited)
- Teresa E. Victor as Bridge Voice
- Dianne Harper as Radio Voice
- David Ruprecht as Radio Voice (credited as David Ruprecht)
- Marcy Vosburgh as Computer Voice
- Bill Baker as Enterprise Trainee (uncredited)
- Steve Blalock as Trainee Crewmember (uncredited)
- Fletcher Bryant as Khan's Crewman (uncredited)
- Bobby Burns as Crew Member at Spock's Funeral (uncredited)
- Diane Carter as Regula I Scientist (uncredited)
- Ann Chatterton as Khan Crew Member (uncredited)
- Tim Culbertson as Khan's Henchman (uncredited)
- Eddy Donno as Corpse of Regula I Cook (uncredited)
- John Gibson as Khan's Crewman #4 (uncredited)
- Richard Forinash as Enterprise Torpedo Officer (uncredited)
- Anthony Gordon as Regula I Steward (uncredited)
- Ree Kai as Enterprise Trainee (uncredited)
- Hubie Kerns Jr. as Enterprise Engineer Trainee (uncredited)
- Dennis Landry as Khan's Crewman #5 (uncredited)
- Cristian Letelier as Khan's Crewman #6 (uncredited)
- Jeff McBride as Khan's Crewman (uncredited)
- Jeff McBride as Human Augment (uncredited)
- Roger Menache as Khan's Crewman #7 (uncredited)
- Tom Morga as Starfleet Astronaut (uncredited)
- Jim Painter as Crewmember at Spock's Funeral (uncredited)
- Nanci Rogers as Khan's Crew Member (uncredited)
- Tony Roque as Enterprise Engineer (uncredited)
- Kimberly L. Ryusaki as Enterprise Trainee (uncredited)
- John Bear Staible as Enterprise Crewmember (uncredited)
- Deney Terrio as Khan's Crewman #11 (uncredited)
- Philip Weyland as Starfleet Crewman (uncredited)
- Daniel Wong as Enterprise Engineer Cadet (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 176
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 37 | 45 |
| 5 to 8 | 1 | 14 |
| 9 to 12 | 5 | 44 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 35 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 13 |
| 21 to 24 | 4 | 34 |
| 25 to 28 | 5 | 8 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 3 |
| 33 to 36 | 14 | 29 |
| 37 to 40 | 22 | 26 |
| 41 to 44 | 2 | 27 |
| 45 to 48 | 12 | 37 |
| 49 to 52 | 4 | 14 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 9 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 7 |
| 61 to 64 | 3 | 15 |
| 65 to 68 | 3 | 28 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 7 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 20 |
| 77 to 80 | 4 | 21 |
| 81 to 84 | 5 | 9 |
| 85 to 88 | 13 | 54 |
| 89 to 92 | 1 | 18 |
| 93 to 96 | 14 | 22 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 3 |
| 101 to 104 | 9 | 21 |
| 105 to 108 | 5 | 20 |
| 109 to 112 | 1 | 4 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 7 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 13 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 5 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 3 |
| 133 to 136 | 1 | 2 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 4 |
| 141 to 144 | 1 | 11 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 3 |
| 149 to 152 | 3 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 2 | 18 |
| 157 to 160 | 1 | 2 |
| 161 to 164 | 1 | 7 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 4 |
| 169 to 172 | 4 | 23 |
| 173 to 176 | 7 | 28 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
UHURA: It's an emergency distress call! SAAVIK: On speakers!
SAAVIK: Energize defense fields. UHURA: I'm getting a voice message... wait ... short range band. They say their Chambers coil is shorting their COMM system.
UHURA: I say again. This is Enterprise. Please acknowledge signal. Please -- SAAVIK: Commander Uhura, this is Lt. Saavik. We're all right. Please stand by. Out. UHURA: Aye, aye.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
190 lines from women, 726 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 39 men in the cast. 4 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 931.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 107 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,739), men 81% (7,331). Women have 21% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
7
Two men
108
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Nicholas Meyer (man)
- Written by
- Jack B. Sowards (man), Nicholas Meyer (man)
- Story by
- Harve Bennett (man), Jack B. Sowards (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Sallin (man)
- Shot by
- Gayne Rescher (man)
- Edited by
- William Paul Dornisch (man)
- Music by
- James Horner (man)
- Production design by
- Joseph R. Jennings (man)
- Costumes by
- Robert Fletcher (man)
- Cast by
- Mary V. Buck (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
7 women, 24 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 5 men
-
Writing
0 women, 5 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 45 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Bibi Besch 40, Nichelle Nichols 49
Men
Merritt Butrick 22, Walter Koenig 45, George Takei 45, William Shatner 51, Leonard Nimoy 51, Ricardo Montalban 61, DeForest Kelley 62, James Doohan 62
Exhibit H: the money
It made 8.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $12 million
- Box office
- $96.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 176 scenes and 931 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
