Star Trek III - The Search for Spock

Rating:
Summary: GOOD MOVIE! GOOD FOLLOW-UP!
Review: This film has alot of great action and alot of powerful STAR TREK meaning in that the thought put forward in the second film carries on here and flows in a nice way. One or two small flaws don't take away from the fact that this is an "ODD NUMBER FILM" that works.That meaningful way that the TV episodes put out messages goes on here as well ("THE NEEDS OF THE MANY...."). Leonard Nimoy helps the film in a way that others could not since he was directing the same people he acted with since the 1960's,so they had common thoughts in the way things should go.Worth the time. END

Rating:
Summary: Nimoy delivers satisfying "Khan" sequal.
Review: This really is a great "Star Trek" movie. It suffers a bit in the act of following up the superior "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", but it is satisfying and exciting to watch.

This is a film that was really made for the fans. People who are not familliar with the "Star Trek" universe may have a tough time really enjoying this film, mostly because it is the sequal of a movie that was the sequal of a TV episode.

However, this film offers some priceless moments. It is a rousing adventure that explores life and death and the sacrifices that are made in friendship. The strength of the film is in how the characters are shown REALLY working as a team to save the soul of their friend and comrade. Kirk et all risk their careers and very lives by defying orders, stealing the Enterprise (in a fantastic scene!), and confronting an evil Klingon warrior (played by Christopher Lloyd) to recover Spock from the life-giving Genisis Planet.

Some of the plot is a bit hokey, and, no matter how many times I view this film, I find myself repeatedly "willing" Kirk to find another way to defeat the Klingons besides destroying the famous starship. It does seem a bit like a publicity ploy. However great ILM special effects and performances by William Shatner and Christopher Lloyd raise the film above its minor problems. Not as heart-pumping as "Khan", but still an intellegent and intertaining film.

Rating:
Summary: 20 Years of "The Search For Spock"
Review: "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Thats not very damn funny."
- Kirk gives the Vulcan Salute to Dr. McCoy as they both escape a trip from The Federation Funny Farm, and look for a lost pointed ear friend in "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock"

Its been 20 years to the day since the search began in this third and underated entry in the "Star Trek" saga. "The Search For Spock" is an adventurous (if corny) film that teaches a lesson in the loyalties, & importance of friendship, no matter the consequence.

Picking up where "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" left off, with the death & funeral of Captain Spock & the birth of the Genesis Planet, "The Search For Spock" begins with the crew of The Enterprise limping home after the battle wrath with Khan, only to find out that the Federation has decided to decommission the legendary starship & reassign most of its crew. Whats worse is the fact that Dr. "Bones" McCoy is having a sort of nervous breakdown, breaking in to Captain Spock's sealed quarters and giving Admiral Kirk an errie message from the grave.
When Spock's father, Ambassador Saarik, arrives informing Kirk that Spock isn't dead, but, is in a state where mind & body are in seperate forms, its up to both, Kirk & Saarik to find who has Spock's marbles (McCoy has them) & where Spock's body rests (on The Genisis Planet). Once both are retrieved, and thru an ancient Vulcan ritual, only then can Spock become his old self again. With the arrival of the Kilngons, looking for the secret to Genesis, its a race against time as the planet becomes unstable and starts to deteriate at an alarmingly fast rate. The search isn't without sacrfice & Kirk loses the two things he holds dearest to him in order get his friend back.

"Star Trek III" is one of those films thats pretty much written for fans of the series (if this film was your introduction to "Star Trek", I'm pretty positive your reaction was more of a "Huh!?" with a shrug of the shoulders). I hold this as the fifth best in the series tieing it with "Star Trek: Generations" ("II" & "First Contact" are the two best in the series).

The Klingons finally get some much needed screen time in this film. Since they were the main nemesis in the television series, it was only a matter of time before they would show up (the Klingons make a cameo in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"). A year before he went "Back To The Future", Christopher Lloyd gives a great performance as Commander Kruge, the greedy, power hungry Klingon commander. Kruge is much better than the two Klingons in "Star Trek V". Those two reminded me of the Wonder Twins from the "Super Friends", for some reason. The Klingons in "Star Trek VI" came across as more regal and honorable than threatening and coldblooded, like Kruge is. As for Shatner and the rest of the cast, all are also great & age gracefully in their respective roles.
James Horner's score to "III", like "II", is one of the better scores in the series (acutally, I think, its a lot of reused score material from the previous film, but, I just get so tired of hearing Jerry Goldsmith's opening theme from "The Motion Picture". Its been used in at least half of the the ten films, as well, as the opening theme to "The Next Generation" series). Leonard Nimoy directs his first of two "Trek" films ("III" is his directorial debut) and gets a lot out of his actors and does a good job overall.

The 2 disc DVD edition to "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock" is worth owning and is better than "Star Trek V" on any given Sunday. Join the Search.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good and Enjoyable
Review: Star Trek III is the exception to the general rule that the "odd-numbered" Star Trek films are the weak entries in the series. It is ably directed by Leonard Nimoy, in his first directoral effort, and features some excellent performances from a strong cast.

"The Search for Spock" is part of a loose trilogy that begins with Star Trek II. Like the earlier film, it builds on the character relationships established in the television series. At the end of Star Trek II, Spock apparently sacrificed his life to save the Enterprise, and his body was sent down to the surface of the newly created Genesis planet. But it develops that Vulcans like Spock have a "katra," a sort of spiritual and intellectual essence, and Spock managed to infuse his into Dr. McCoy before he died. So Kirk and McCoy have to hijack the Enterprise to return to the Genesis planet (with the aid of Scotty, Sulu and Chekov). Meanwhile, back at that very planet, Kirk's son David and Lt. Saavik (Robin Curtis, the one weak link in the cast) have found a living Vulcan child. And lurking somewhere out in subspace is an ambitious Klingon (Christopher Lloyd), who is surely up to no good (trust me, this all works better on film than it sounds in print).

Nimoy directs ably from a script by Harve Bennett. William Shatner turns in his usual solid job as Kirk, while Lloyd is well cast as his antagonist. With Spock not a presence on screen, other cast members get more of a chance to shine--Nichelle Nichols as Uhura ("You want adventure?") and George Takei as Sulu ("Don't call me Tiny") have marvelous moments. Most important, given Dr. McCoy's central role in the plot, DeForest Kelley gives his finest performance in any of the Star Trek films, if not his entire career.

Rating:
Summary: Kirk and Co. have the balls that no one else in ST ever had
Review: Another classic trek movie, this one taking place directly after the famous Spock death scene in Wrath of Khan. But Spock was just so hip and cool in his stiff, emotionless, Spock-ish(??) way that they had to bring him back. And Kirk and the boys do it in style.

The story is basically this: Ambassador Sarek (Spock's father) comes up to Kirk and makes it known to him that his essence may be living within a crew member of the Enterprise. They discover it is McCoy (which is hilarious, considering Spock and McCoy's quirky friendship), which explains why many in StarFleet thought he had been driven insane, and locked him up for it. Kirk and the boys spring McCoy out of the cell, steal the Enterprise, and head into space on "personal matters."

Even if this movie lacked in action, which is does not at all, it would have plenty in hilarious dialogue. There are many examples, such as when McCoy tries to hire a mercenary at a bar (very reminiscent of the Star Wars cantina, clientele et al). McCoy tells him, "Place I name, money I go." And the perterbed alien (eerily reminiscent of George C. Scott and Dr. Evil) fires back, "Place you name, money I name or else bargainnnnnnno." It hilarious the way he says it. Another funny part comes when Sulu jokingly prods a bored Federation security guard, "Keeping you busy?", the guard slowly, menacingly stands up from his chair, towering over the short Sulu and says, "Don't get smart, tiny." It isn't so much what they say that's funny, it's the body language and the intonations, brought out in full by first-rate directing by Leonard Nimoy.

There are tons of great action scenes, and even a stabbing death which is implied, but not shown, making it action-packed but still accessible for the whole family. A memorable performance by Christopher LLloyd as a Klingon renegade is also within this fine film. It's not as good as The Undiscovered Country, but it stands firm not only as a great Trek movie, but just as a great movie overall.

Rating:
Summary: one for all, and all for one
Review: Leonard Nimoy spent most of his time behind the camera directing this film, and though I miss his presence as Spock, it's one of my favorite of the Star Trek series; it's more subdued and introspective than the others, and the overall theme is friendship, and risking one's life for a friend.
The year is 8210, and the plot centers around "The Genesis Effect", an experimental device that can be placed on a "lifeless space body", like a dead moon, and make it flourish with life, but because one of the scientists used risky methods, "life" is happening at a fast clip.
The evil Klingons of course, in their constant lust for power, want the "Genesis" secret, and Admiral Kirk must stop them.

William Shatner is fabulous as Kirk; I've always found him to be a unique, immensely watchable actor, and all the original ensemble cast is wonderful: DeForest Kelley ~ McCoy, James Doohan ~ Scotty, George Takei ~ Sulu, Walter Koenig ~ Chekov, Nichele Nichols ~ Uhura. Added are Mark Lenard as Spock's father Sarek, Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik, Merritt Butnick as Kirk's son David, and Christopher Lloyd as the Klingon Kruge. Dame Judith Anderson plays the Vulcan priestess TLar, in a scene that is high camp, and quite marvelous.
There are some nifty special effects on the Planet Genesis, and some nice cinematography by Charles Correll, as well as an exceptionally lovely score by James Horner. Leonard Nimoy gave this film a moody, thoughtful atmosphere, and it works for me, and I find the ending quite touching, no matter how many times I see it.
Total running time is 105 minutes.

Rating:
Summary: over looked & under rated
Review: This film continues the storyline that began with "The Wrath of Khan" (which itself is a follow-up of the original series episode "Space Seed"). Whereas the previous film presents the notion of "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one" this film showcases the premise of "the good of the one outweighs the good of the many".

Some pointed observations need to be made pertaining to this generally satisfactory film. The most glaring note for this film is the inexplicable omission of Doctor Carol Marcus. Where is she supposed to be / what role is she supposed to play while her son David is first assigned to the science vessel Grissom and then later murdered by the renegade(?) Klingon contingent led by Kruge? It is as if she in fact passed on before David reached adulthood and hence became a non-entity by the time all these events are taking place. The flipside of this point is the equally inexplicable inclusion of Lieutenant Savvik. Firstly, the switch from Kirsty Alley to Robin Curtis seemingly makes no more sense than, say, changing the actor playing Spock from Leonard Nimoy to someone else (though this was done in the case of Captain Christopher Pike in "The Cage" by Jeff Hunter and in "The Menagerie" by someone aside from Hunter). Moreover, the Savvik character just did not seem all that integral to the plotline of either this or next film (of course if Alley re-prised the role in both "Search" and "Voyage" then at least the continuity would have been preserved). As for Robin Curtis, she is a fine actor in her own right/terms, as amply demonstrated by her portrayal of a Vulcan separatist in ST:TNG "Gambit I and II" episodes. Nevertheless, since the Savvik character has already been established by Alley, not Curtis, in "Wrath of Khan", it seemed inapropriate for anyone other than Alley to be portraying her, if at all.

On balance, this reviewer finds the film better than several Star Trek films, such as "The Wrath of Khan" with its egregious continuity discrepancy - Khan having met - and thus remembering - Chekov when in fact he never saw Chekov prior to the meeting at Ceti Alpha V in the film (Khan did not meet Sulu, either), or his reference to having been awakened in the year 1996! The main problem for this film seems to be a lack of clear and distinct identity. In short, this film in practical terms serves as a filler, a conduit between II and IIII, as perhaps intentionally symbolised by not having a main musical theme of its own (the film merely commandeers the one in "Wrath of Khan", something that is not true of "The Voyage Home").

Was this review helpful to you?

Rating:
Summary: The Worst Star Trek Movie!
Review: Now this is what I mean about character development, not just mindless action like "The Matrix Trilogy"(I mean "Reloaded" and "Revolutions"). This is the darkest "Star Trek" film, EVER. And if anyone is a huge geek, a nerd, and a fan of Spock, THAN YOU'LL LOVE THIS FILM. Watching these old classics gives me hope that oneday there will be a great "Star Trek" film again, someday. But for now I'll just watch the classics.

Rating:
Summary: Closer to Home (3.5 Stars).
Review: THE STORY: Kirk & Co. disobey Federation orders by stealing the Enterprise from space dock (!!) and heading for the forbidden Genesis planet (created in the previous film) to retrieve Spock's body and clash with Commander Kruge, a Klingon bent on claiming the secrets of the Genesis project for himself.

I've heard a few critics argue that the plot of this film is weak because it focuses on the resurrection of Spock rather than telling an interesting story. My response: Spock is absolutely integral to the original series; SINCE the creators needlessly and melodramatically killed Spock off at the end of the previous film, can anyone think of a more important plot for this sequel than the resurrection of Spock? No? I thought not.

BEST MORAL: The moral of this story is the REVERSE of the previous film in the series: "The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many." Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov don't hesitate to sacrifice everything for their dead friend and comrade Spock. This is fitting since Spock sacrificed everything for them in the previous film.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The Search for Spock is actually a pretty decent Star Trek outing highlighted by the welcome return of Trek's quirky brand of humor. The only problem with this pic lies within its title -- THERE'S NO SPOCK! At least not until the VERY end (oops, I gave it away). And we all know that Star Trek without Spock is blasphemy of the most sacrilegious order. Fortunately, all is forgiven by the powerful ending wherein Spock's mates gather around the newly-resurrected Vulcan. This scene is well worth the wait; all Spock has to do is raise an eyebrow to fill the viewer with incredible warmth and joy (not to mention the shedding of a few tears). Lastly, I gotta hand it to the creators for coming up with an inspired and (seemingly) credible way of resurrecting Spock.

Rating:
Summary: The Needs of the One Out Weigh the Needs of the Many!
Review: Spock is missing, and the rest of our crew must find him.

Leonard Nimoy picks off where The Wrath of Khan left off. This also includes the new and improved Klingons, which we got a glimpse of during the Motion Picture. We get the second chance to see a Klingon female. And this film brings back classic material from TOS.

Unintentionally, this film, with Wrath of Khan, became part of a trilogy of trek films with the next chapter; The Voyage Home . . .