10 Deleted Scenes That Explain Confusing Star Trek Moments
5. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - Operation Retrieve
The Mystery:
Who was the Klingon Scotty shot in the climax of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country?
The Deleted Scene:
Immediately following the capture of Kirk and McCoy, a deleted scene would've featured Starfleet's Colonel West (played by DS9's René Auberjonois) briefing the Federation President on a rescue mission called "Operation Retrieve". While the president rebuffs Starfleet's plan, Colonel West makes one more appearance in the film: he's the Klingon Scotty shoots and kills during the film's climax. Following the Klingon's death, a deleted moment showed Colonel Worf ripping off the Klingon's mask to reveal Colonel West in a very Scooby Doo-ish moment.
These scenes were actually previously included in the VHS and DVD releases of Star Trek VI before being omitted from the blu-ray and digital versions that are now widely available. But they expanded the conspiracy to include rank and file Starfleet officers and not just Lieutenant Valeris, Admiral Cartwright, and several mustache-twirling Klingons.
There are plenty of other deleted moments like this in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country that were included in Nick Meyer's 2004 DVD director's cut, the biggest mystery is why Paramount hasn't made these available in high def formats...