The Enterprise lighting up and leaving space dock in Wrath of Khan is one of the finest scenes in cinema history.
I will die on that nebula
As I've said before, Wrath and Undiscovered are the best Trek films because they show Kirk for what he is: a brilliant, arrogant, bloody warrior.
And then they have him realise that it is everyone else pays the price for that, not him. And, for a moment, he hates himself for it.
Nicholas Meyer was one of the few to realise that Kirk is an anti-hero, not a hero. He's a borderline, narcissistic, brilliant weapon of war.
But he's surrounded by friends who he lets become his conscience. That's his salvation. His one noble strength.
That's the only difference between Kirk and Khan, or Kirk and General Chang. He trusts his friends when they tell him he's fucked up.
The other films never got that. They saw all the stuff about Kirk the intergalactic boyscout and play it as a compliment, not a sarcastic insult
This is also the main reason why the director's cut of Wrath is WORSE than the regular cut, btw.
In it, the dead young engineering officer isn't just another victim of Kirk's stupidity over shields. He's also Scotty's nephew.
NO WAY Scotty forgives Kirk that death. Ever.
Ultimately, both Wrath and Undiscovered are films about loss. About how our flaws and prejudices only define us if we let them. That the real enemy isn't external, it's internal.
They just hide that inside pew pew space opera. They're the Roddenberry ethos of Star Trek distilled and refined to perfection.