Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

(Continuing our Summer of Star Trek series)

By Sam Christopher

Rating: 5 out of Stars (Highest Rating)

A third film to the Trek franchise was a foregone conclusion by the end of the second picture. Originally, Leonard Nimoy hadn’t wanted to be in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan but had been talked into it based on two premises. First, he believed that this would be the last ST film, and second, he was given a dramatic death scene for the character that would undoubtedly be the most memorable thing about the film. But while filming the TWoK Nimoy apparently enjoyed himself and the character he had hated for so long (his first biography was titled I Am Not Spock!) that he came up with an idea to resurrect the character in the third film that was looking more and more likely, I would think, as the dailies were rolling in and the good buzz was ramping up and up. So when Harve Bennett approached Nimoy about making ST III legend has it the actor’s answer was, “Hell, yes! And I want to direct!” Nimoy, I’m sure, being the astute businessman he is, realized he had the three most important ingredients in getting your way in Hollywood: leverage, enthusiasm, and leverage. Unless they thought he would be an absolute disaster as a director there was just no way Paramount could realistically say no to him on it. Imagine the fan reaction if he got miffed and walked. But, of course, that never came close to happening; Nimoy was hired to direct, Bennett wrote the script, the cast was assembled—with Robin Curtis taking over a Saavik from Kirstie Alley—and the filming began.

This installment takes over directly from the end of ST II, with a battle-damaged Enterprise en route back to Earth, where they’re told that the ship is to be decommissioned and the personnel reassigned. On the voyage back, Dr. McCoy had acted strangely, breaking into Spock’s sealed quarters and even speaking in Spock’s voice. On Earth, McCoy is arrested in a bar trying to hire a ship to take him to the Genesis Planet, which has been quarantined while the Federation studies the full effects of the Genesis Device which Kirk’s son, David, created and Khan had detonated in a last ditch attempt to kill Kirk and crew. Spock’s father Sarek shows up at Kirk’s quarters and tells him of Spock’s katra, which is basically the Vulcan soul, and they figure out that McCoy has it and that Spock may have been reborn in some way on Genesis. So Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and McCoy steal the Enterprise—with Uhura as a co-conspirator who doesn’t accompany the rest on the ship– and head for Genesis.

Two other subplots are also going on during all this. First, David Marcus and Saavik are on the USS Grissom, a science vessel, studying Genesis, and a Klingon ship commanded by Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) has somehow appropriated the file on the Genesis Device and decides that this is too powerful a weapon for the Federation to be allowed to keep. The Klingons and the Enterprise meet at Genesis and a battle ensues with David Marcus and Saavik on the planet, having found “a Vulcan scientist of your acquaintance” who is “not himself”, as Saavik describes him.

I love this film and I love talking about it, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. I know you already know the Big Thing that happens but it’s all the wonderful little moments along the way that make it worth seeing. This picture is the best of the lot of ST films because this one is an action-adventure story with heart, a tale in which the humanity of the characters means more than any of the technical aspects of the futuristic backdrop. This is all about friendship and love and trust and loyalty, it’s about not letting a friend down no matter what it costs you in the long run, it’s about honor and respect and everything that represents the best in all of us.

Final notes: The novelization, by Vonda N. McIntyre, expanded on David Marcus’s and Saavik’s relationship; they had become lovers while investigating the Genesis phenomenon together. I wish they could have added some of that to the film version as it would have explained some of the comments and the looks they exchanged. I’ve never watched any of the deleted scenes so perhaps there is something there about it. There was also—and this is a vague recollection—something about Scotty returning home to Scotland for a memorial service for his nephew. There may have also been something about Sulu being passed over for a command or turning one down—or that may have been in the novelization for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

Buy Star Trek III: The Search for Spock on DVD at Amazon.com

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