‘Star Trek II,’ ‘The Social Network’ added to National Film Registry

Most Trekkies will tell you that “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” is the north star of the franchise - the 1982 sci-fi adventure that wasn’t just an audience smash, but as close as Gene Roddenberry’s utopian space epic got to Shakespeare. What William Shatner likes to point out is that when Paramount green-lit the film, it had modest expectations and a hedged bet.

After the saga’s first film, 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” was a box-office disappointment, Paramount eventually gave the go-ahead for the second movie - but at one-third of the budget. So Nicholas Meyer directed a streamlined, character-focused installment akin to an extended episode of the original Star Trek television series that ran for 1966 to 1969.

The result: Glowing reviews, a record first-day box office gross and revitalized fervor for a franchise that has by now generated 13 movies and nearly as many spin-off series. The legacy of “The Wrath of Khan” was further cemented Tuesday morning, when it became the first Star Trek movie selected for the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.

“I think it harked back to the principles of what made Star Trek popular, way back when it came out,” said Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk in the original series and seven films, during a phone interview Thursday. “For the most part, [the TV series] told personal stories that connected with the audience, so that the science fiction aspect was placed in the background and it was stories about human beings. That’s the key, I believe, to the success of this movie.”

“The Wrath of Khan” joined “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Dirty Dancing,” “Spy Kids” and “No Country for Old Men” among the 25 movies newly selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced Tuesday. This year’s class, which ranged from the 1895 silent short “Annabelle Serpentine Dance” to the 2010 tech drama “The Social Network,” brings the registry to 900 films.

Hayden chose the movies, which must be at least 10 years old and boast what the library considers to be “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance,” in consultation with the National Film Preservation Board.

“Beverly Hills Cop,” a 1984 buddy-cop romp that has spawned three sequels, was the first live-action Eddie Murphy film selected for the registry. Other notable selections included “Up in Smoke,” a 1978 stoner comedy that became the registry’s first Cheech & Chong movie; “The Chelsea Girls,” an avant-garde 1966 film codirected by Andy Warhol; and “The Pride of the Yankees,” the Lou Gehrig-focused 1942 sports drama.

“No Country for Old Men,” the 2008 Oscar winner for best picture, became the third Coen Brothers film in the registry, following “The Big Lebowski” and “Fargo.” “The Social Network” marked the first film from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin or director David Fincher to earn the honor from the registry, which was founded in 1988.

Both movies were among selections that the Library of Congress described in a news release as receiving “strong public support,” alongside 1974’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” 1987’s “Dirty Dancing” and “The Wrath of Khan.” The public submitted 6,744 titles for consideration this year through the library website.

Meyer, a novelist turned screenwriter who had only directed one film before overseeing “The Wrath of Khan,” acknowledged in a phone interview that he was largely unfamiliar with Star Trek and science fiction when he boarded the project. But after finding parallels between Roddenberry’s Star Trek universe and C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower novels, Meyer unlocked his vision by imagining the film as “the navy in space.”

“I’m so thrilled that something I did is remembered by anybody,” said Meyer, 78. “You know, artists are people who put messages in bottles, and when you’re finished you throw the bottle out into the wide world and hope that somebody’s going to pop the cork and make sense of what you stuck in there. But that someone - or so many people - actually found this bottle and are enthusiastic about what was inside it? That’s a great gift.”

Shatner, 93, added, “Star Trek has been around for all those years, and it has many iterations now, and people are still entertained. To be part of this phenomenon - which is the only word I can think of - is a real privilege.”

Movies selected for the National Film Registry

“Annabelle Serpentine Dance” (1895)

“KoKo’s Earth Control” (1928)

“Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938)

“The Pride of the Yankees” (1942)

“Invaders From Mars” (1953)

“The Miracle Worker” (1962)

“The Chelsea Girls” (1966)

“Ganja & Hess” (1973)

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)

“Uptown Saturday Night” (1974)

Zora Lathan student films (1975-76)

“Up in Smoke” (1978)

“Will” (1981)

“Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” (1982)

“Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)

“Dirty Dancing” (1987)

“Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt” (1989)

“Powwow Highway” (1989)

“My Own Private Idaho” (1991)

“American Me” (1992)

“Mi Familia” (1995)

“Compensation” (1999)

“Spy Kids” (2001)

“No Country for Old Men” (2007)

“The Social Network” (2010)