True Events That Inspired Star Trek Episodes

Everyone has heard of Chernobyl, and if you haven't, it's because HBO somehow managed to miss your computer specifically when they, much like reactor No. 4, bombarded the entire internet with a devastating stream of toxic particles, err, harmless banner ads. Anyway, Star Trek couldn't possibly pass up an opportunity to comment on the Cold War in general and Chernobyl in particular, and nearly three decades before HBO's Chernobyl miniseries became a gleam in the eye of some cable TV executive, they were already creating an allegory on the incident entitled Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. 

In this film, there's a major explosion at an energy facility on Praxis, the Klingon moon. Just like the Russians, the Klingons pretend the accident was no big deal, because if they admit otherwise, they admit weakness, and not being weak is like the Klingons' whole deal. In the movie, the Klingon chancellor even has a familiar name: Gorkon. And in case you need a nudge, that kind of sounds like "Gorbachev." Anyway, Gorkon decides to open peace talks with the Federation, and there's even talk of dismantling the starbases and other military structures around the Neutral Zone. The real life storyline and the fake one start to diverge at this point, when someone assassinates Gorkon, and Kirk is charged with the crime. Because let's face it, no one would like the movie if the starbases came down, and everyone had a party.