Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

At the end of Wrath of Khan, we had seen Spock sacrifice himself for the needs of the many. We were also teased that as Genesis brought life, that maybe there was a chance. Cunningly it was an open-door idea left in the film in case Nimoy changed his mind about wanting to leave the franchise. Suffice to say, when the true title of the third film was revealed it became one huge fan-anticipated flick.

Picking up from the end of Khan, the script (written solely by Harve Bennett) saw Enterprise return to Earth after the battle against Khan, and is swiftly assigned to be decommissioned. McCoy, meanwhile, has begun acting strange, wanting to find a way to get back to the Genesis planet – which is classified top secret – and ends up detained. At the Genesis planet, David Marcus and Lt Saavik (now played by Robin Curtis) are investigating the effects of Genesis, and discover life-forms. Finding the Spock’s casket on the planet, they find a young Vulcan child, a resurrected Spock. Out in space a Klingon commander Kruge, has found out about the Genesis device, and want this weapon for the Klingon Empire. Kirk and the gang, after finding out that Spock’s mind was transferred to McCoy, spring the doctor from his cell, steal the Enterprise, and set off to Genesis to retrieve his body.

Whilst the plot is simple and functional, purely working just to craft a way to bring Spock back to the film, and it is true that after the thrill and spectacle of Khan this third film feels like a step-back in quality, there are moments that genuinely work. The camaraderie of the crew, banding together to defy Starfleet and steal Enterprise is well played out, and the consequential fate of the ship is a beautifully realised moment of destruction. Again, Shatner critics can be directed to the moment when Kirk is told, bluntly by Saavik, that his son is dead to see what the actor is capable of. The film, whilst not working as a whole, does have a lot of lovingly crafted fan-pleasing moments, possibly due to the direction of Nimoy himself who not only returned as Spock, but requested to be allowed to step behind the camera for this one.

Sadly, however, as mentioned the script is a cobbled together excuse to bring Spock back into the franchise, and so feels just that – a filler piece, half assembled. The casting of Christopher Lloyd as Kruge was a bit of a misstep. Lloyd can be a great actor when portraying eccentricity, or zaniness but as a fierce warrior he falls flat. His attempts at menace just don’t pack any punch, weakening what could have been an interesting villain.

Search for Spock was a drop down in quality for the series, but it did its job of resetting the group together for further films.