rene@nlm-mcs.UUCP (06/15/84)
One thing I found interesting was that Spock's death made sense in a
'meta-story' sort of way (some else brought this up) - he became at
peace with himself (which made him essentially perfect, and thus
rather boring - a wonderful fellow, terrific guy, etc., but one
without any inner conflict to make him interesting dramatically), and
therefore had to die in the way of the heroic tradition. The manner is
which he was brought back could give him all sorts of interesting
problems: memory lapses, abberant behavior (dying could be pretty
traumatic!), etc.
David's death, on the other hand, made sense in the story (he
certainly wasn't your typical hero ... on the other hand, he did come
to grips with a realization of a flaw in himself). He was in the hands
of the klingons. Klingons can get anybody to tell them anything
(except maybe Spock). David possessed knowledge that the klingons MUST
not have. He couldn't let the klingons learn the secret of Genesis
from him, so he sacrificed himself to save Saavik. You can add guilt
of his part in the failure of Genesis to that, if you like.
I liked Robin Curtis as Saavik better than Kirstie Alley for the
following reason: I don't know why, but Kirstie Alley reminded me of
Gilda Radner. Imagine seeing Gilda Radner up there everytime Saavik
had a scene, and you can see why I like Curtis better. I really don't
know where that association came from, and it must not be Alley's
fault because no one else has had the same problem. I agree that
Curtis' Saavik was a bit cold for my liking (in the book she had a
nice touch of humor, but the same lines came across as rather nasty),
but I think given time she'll improve. Anybody remember the TV show
Emergency? I was crazy about it. Anyway, Randalph Mantooth was pretty
wooden the first couple of episodes, but then he snuggled into the
role like a hand into a custom-made glove. I just hope they don't
switch Saavik on us again.
By the way, on the subject of previous appearances, I saw George Takai
on an episode of "Kung Fu". He was a Ninja with a club foot sent to
kill Kang or Kane or whatever his name was. He was one of the few
people Our Hero actually killed, I think.
Oh, yeah, to those who have read the STIII: the book: what did you
think of the torrid love scene with David and Saarik? What was the
purpose of the angry young girl (the relative of Scotty's)? Will she
ever overcome her disdain of Captain Kirk ("every time he gets
involved, lots of people die")?
- rene
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rene@nlm-mcs