Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

DVD, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984) film

People say the trend of the even-numbered films being more action-packed and always better than odd-numbered ones was broken with the tenth film, 'Star Trek Nemesis', but I would argue that it only works for the first two films. This third film was as good as the second, which is nostalgically overrated, I believe. This third instalment had a difficult mandate to achieve. In some ways it was a relaunch as much as the first film, which created a new, more detailed look for Trek, and the second, which took place over a decade later, and also went for a new style. Trek III may have been set immediately after II, meaning it could use the same uniforms, ship and design style, but it had to resolve the huge problem of bringing Mr. Spock back from the dead in a believable way, that didn't seem too weird and way-out.

Also, they got to expand the universe a little bit, where Trek II had used some effects shots from the first film, and was a much more contained situation. With this film we get to see the Genesis planet in all its wonder and flaws, where before we only had a glimpse. The biggest compliment I can say about Leonard Nimoy's directorial work (it was part of his contract in the deal to get him back on board), is that it isn't noticeable. That is a good thing, and, I think, a difficult one for new directors. They want to stamp their identity on a film, let their creativity with shots go wild, but what a film like this needs, especially the third in a series, is for the story and characters to be the focus, not the directing style. Shots don't make you think 'how clever', but they don't take you away from what's important on screen either, so he did a good job.

There are some really impressive scenes, such as McCoy in Spock's quarters, speaking in the Vulcan's voice. The idea that Spock's conciousness can live on in the Doctor works so well, giving us these scenes of pity for them both, or going the other way into humour, such as when the Doc is grabbed by a security officer and he tries to use the Vulcan Neck Pinch and is surprised when it doesn't work! Very funny indeed. (We see some Tribbles in that scene, which helps underline this as a humourous scene). The taking of the Enterprise is like some 'Mission: Impossible' task, with some great fun and excitement, and before that, the sad news that it will be decommissioned after twenty years of service (though I'm not sure how accurate that is, because Pike was supposed to have served on it, and another Captain; Robert April before him. Maybe they meant the refitted Enterprise, although that's only been in service for about fourteen years in its current state!).

For a short time it seems like they might be about to steal the Excelsior (making a lacklustre debut thanks to Mr. Scott's sabotage!), but they had to take the Enterprise, didn't they. One thing that isn't explained is the new ship's 'transwarp' drive. This makes it sound like it can go faster than warp speed, but the warp speed scale goes up to infinite velocity, where you would be everywhere in the universe at once (as Tom Paris found in 'Voyager'), so I would suggest this means they can do something else, such as going at very high warp for undetermined lengths of time, or the equivalent of opening a wormhole and popping out the other side. As we never see the technology again (except for the Borg's transwarp conduits, which are more like rabbit warrens instead of wormholes), it could be assumed that Scotty's damage permanently destroyed the prototype, or that it never worked very well in practice and was all theory.

The bringing back of David and Saavik, from Trek II was a good move, as it helps to make this a direct sequel with such continuity. I'm not sure Robin Curtis is as good as Kirstie Alley, she seems much more stilted. It could be that I've just become used to T'Pol of 'Enterprise' whose delivery is smoother than most Vulcans we've seen. And Curtis still made her mark. It was handy she was there when the young Spock went through Pon Farr or things could have gone badly.

One thing I did notice was that the Starfleet people, other than the main crew, all seem like complete idiots. The Admiral who refuses Kirk a return to Genesis has no better reason than it's 'his orders', Captain Styles (reminded me of Captain Square from 'Dad's Army'!) is a posh halfwit, and the Grissom's Captain Esteban is also an idiot, saying things like 'well I could let you go down to the planet, if I feel like it' in an annoying way as if he thinks he's so funny! Not to mention other minor characters such as 'Adventure' man who ends up getting in the 'closet' when Uhura pulls a phaser on him, or the huge security guard who hates everyone. One thing the eleventh film got right was in the 'Cupcake' man, who is very reminiscent of these characters. Not exactly true to Roddenberry's 'perfect' humanity though, is it?

The Klingons were another part of the film that stood out. They didn't have the extreme and much more vicious look that was pioneered in the first film but seemed more like an amalgamation of them and the original series versions (even had ordinary teeth!). Maybe these were halfbreeds. Kruge goes out of his way to show how tough Klingons are, killing his mate who had looked at the Genesis data, though I'm not sure why he had to do that, killing an officer who doesn't do what he wants, getting half strangled by the microbes-turned-nasty-great-snake-worms and then contacting the bridge to say nothing was happening, and even beaming down alone to Genesis to take on Kirk and crew. Much of later Klingon behaviour originated here.

The ending is so good, as Spock is returned to them, and walks away, only to half-remember something, and turn, and go back to his friends. And slowly memories return, and they all gather round him happily. It's just such a happy ending! The fal-tor-pan, and other aspects of the film make it very heavily sci-fi, more so than many of the other films in the series, and if you think about it too much it doesn't necessarily make sense, but it works because of atmosphere and it fits the internal logic. Plus it gives us the chance to see Vulcan again, more beautiful than ever, and we get a new Klingon ship, and Spock and the crew are back together, and Kirk has a fist fight, just like the series. There aren't any plot threads to tie up, it all ends happily. Except... hang on, they've still got to return to Earth and face the penalties for what they did... A fourth film was guaranteed.

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