MovieChat Forums > Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Discussion > How did Sulu know the location of the pe...

How did Sulu know the location of the peace conference?

posted 10 years ago by axeman97
10 replies | jump to latest

Okay, sorry if this has been answered already, but this is the one question---and the most annoying plot-hole----of a movie I've always loved that I never got an answer too:

How did Sulu know the peace conference was going to be held at Camp Khitomer?

(FYI: the novelezation of Star Trek VI clarifies--and answers---the plot-holes many have found in this movie, except this one. And it's the one I remember people having the most questions about since the movie's release.)

[–] kerryedavis 10 years ago

It doesn't seem unlikely that any flag officer would know it, it would be part of their "daily briefing" etc.

[–] bjlevine 10 years ago

Imagine the look on Valeris's face to find out that every flag officer knew the location after she had just been mind-raped to get the info.

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[–] kerryedavis 10 years ago

That was more just a follow-up. The main purpose was to find out who was involved in the conspiracy to assisinate the Klingon Chancellor. Sulu wouldn't have known that. (OR WOULD HE????)

[–] bjlevine 10 years ago

The worst part of the mind-rape occurred to get the location.

👷👳
Bob the Builder and Hadji walk into a bar...

[–] kerryedavis 10 years ago

She probably should have known, given that Admiral Cartwright probably did, unless he was also kept in the dark for some reason up until arriving or shortly before. So it was "logical" to expect that she knew. Once that failed, sure, ask Sulu just in case HE knows. But he wouldn't have known the names of the other conpirators, unless he was one himself. So that had to come from Valeris, By Whatever Means Necessary.

[–] AdmiralTugBenson 9 years ago

It doesn't seem unlikely that any flag officer would know it, it would be part of their "daily briefing" etc.

That's what I figured. I never found it odd that Sulu knew. He's the captain of the Excelsior, he's probably in on a lot of top secret sh!t. I'm guessing the Enterprise probably would have been sent that same information, if it weren't for the fact that her captain was the one who supposedly caused the whole incident and they were under orders to return to base. A lot of people in Starfleet knew, and they were supposed to keep it secret from outsiders. The Enterprise were outsiders because they had sort of temporarily gone rogue and had a fugitive for a captain.

See you guys at the 10 year prison reunion - Ben Richards

[–] bjlevine 9 years ago

And likely that Spock would know that Sulu would know. Which makes the final part of the mind rape that much more disturbing.

👷👳
Bob the Builder and Hadji walk into a bar...

[–] Grafknar 10 years ago

There are many moments in many movies that rely on an intelligent inference by the audience. This is one of those moments.

Simply put, we are to assume that Sulu learned the peace conference location during his time off-camera. It's really not a stretch of an assumption, and the only reasonable explanation that makes sense.

We know they were proximate to Klingon space from the opening of the movie, and we know that Sulu sent a signal to Enterprise saying they were "ready to assist them".

Whether Sulu was briefed by Starfleet or found it out on his own isn't really important; we're smart enough to figure out what happened. It's only a "plot hole" if you believe everything must be spelled out for the audience.

Old School Star Trek audiences were smarter than that... :)

[–] gheilers 10 years ago

Sulu knows a lot of intelligence he should not have access to. He "knows things" about certain high-ranking officials - embarrassing personal things those officials would rather keep hidden. Sulu probably extorts such intelligence out of them, by threatening to *out* them.

:-)

[–] green_dog 9 years ago

Sulu knowing the location of the peace conference would have made more sense if the Excelsior was given orders by Starfleet to be on standby, in case things got hairy on Khitomer (well, they did when the BOP started firing on the Enterprise and the assassin tried to kill the Federation President). A Starfleet ship or two would be needed for countermeasures and rescue ops.

Of course, what if the Klingons did the same thing? Imagine how the whole Khitomer battle would have played out in an alternate timeline... first the Excelsior shows up to assist the Enterprise, then the Klingons send in a couple of battlecruisers, then more and more Federation and Klingon ships arrive (Romulan too, since Romulan delegates were also on Khitomer). Soon enough all sides start calling in ships from different parts of the galaxy, and what started out as a skirmish between two ships gradually turns into a full-scale battle.