schuetz@via.DEC (Chris Schuetz - @ 2R04, DTN 381-2647) (06/07/84)
This article responds to many others' comments about the details of
Star Trek III - The Search for Spock, and as such, contains many spoilers,
although I suspect that everyone who cares has already seen the movie by now.
I'll start by saying that the movie was very satisfying, although containing
few surprises.
Characterizations:
I agree that this movie contains the best character development so
far. I especially enjoyed McCoy. I thought that Kirk could have been more
strongly protrayed at times, though. The best performances by all the actors
of the three movies. Character humor certainly helped me enjoy the movie.
However Saavik did not sit right this time. Robin Curtis looked less
human than Kirstie Allen, but the hairdo was distracting. Also the hairstyle
didn't match any of the Vulcan women on Vulcan either. Curtis' acting felt
rather flat - too unemotional. I agree with others' perceptions that Nimoy and
Allen maintained an amused yet uncomprehending attitude towards the humans.
I *LIKED* Allen's Saavik, but I didn't care if Curtis' Saavik was killed by the
Klingons or not. Please bring back Allen if we must have Saavik in another
movie. Curtis' character should have been just another Vulcan, not Saavik.
I wish producers would maintain the same actors if they need the same characters.
Special Effects:
They were great! I don't need a whole movie of them, but I like to
marvel at the ones I do see. I thought that the destruction of Genesis was
the best earthquake, fire & brimstone effects of any movie to date. They just
didn't look like miniature models set on fire. The rocks bursting up through
the surface were just fantastic and didn't look scaled at all! The effects of
various hand-phasers were good too. I just sat there and marveled at the
Vulcan landscape. No criticisms here at all.
The destruction of the Enterprise was also well done, from a technical
point of view, but I have to agree emotionally that it just wasn't necessary.
I won't belabor the alternatives, but I agree that it was unreasonable of the
Klingon commander to send 5 men into capture a ship that supposedly holds a
compliment of 400+. I'll admit that Kirks' crew transporting into the Klingon
ship at the same time would have played better.
And given that the Enterprise was gone, I expected more remorse from
the characters. They didn't feel any, so I didn't either. A shame.
Noone has commented about the Klingon mascot! A great piece of work!
Go-motion animation combined with live actors! Unique! I just loved it.
(It did seem out of character for it to have been killed in the first volley.
The Klingons certainly would have chosen a much hardier beast.)
Uniforms:
Alright until the last scenes on Vulcan. Weren't Kirk and the others
all in Federation uniforms? or is my memory fuzzy? Kirk even left his civie
jacket on Genesis to cover David. Certainly the Klingon ship didn't have
spare Federation uniforms. Only Saavik was wearing one throughout the movie.
Continuity fault here.
Paying the piper:
Right. Kirk never seems to have to pay the consequenses. I'll be
very disappointed if the next movie just starts with Kirk in command of the
Excelcior and all past actions are forgiven by the Federation.
Christopher Lloyd:
I'll agree that as fine a actor as he is, his voice is unique, and
once you've known him as Rev. Jim, he'll remain Rev. Jim forever; just as
Nimoy has a hard time being anyone other than Spock. Casting goof here.
Everyone in the audience (about 25 people total, very disappointing night for
the theater, I should think) who had seen Taxi couldn't help laughing at his
lines on Genesis. In general though, I thought the Klingons were excellently
portrayed.
David's death:
This brings up another point. The Klingon guard didn't just reach out
and stab the person in front of him because the Klingons are convinced of their
natural superiority to humans, and like other bullies in a commanding situation,
enjoy sadisticly tormenting their captives. The whole point in walking around
the 3 was to torment them. Very *IN* character I thought.
I would have felt more sympathy for David if the camera direction had
made it clearer that he turned and saw that the Klingon guard was going to
kill Spock (or Saavik, if Allen had been playing her and she had more audience
empathy), instead of making me wonder if the guard was trying to kill him and
he was just trying to save his own skin. Makes him more heroic if he dies
trying to save someone else.
Spock jr and Saavik:
This was a nice touch. Leaves you wondering just what the situation is.
Personally, I interpreted their actions to proceed to its implied conclusion,
but in the dignified and ritual Vulcan manner off camera. Could result in some
family-based motives for actions in future movies.
The Ending:
I have to agree, that given the premise that you're going to ressurect
Spock, this was a clever way to do it. Remember that Sarek said only that the
original purpose of the "core-dump" was to return Spock's entity to Vulcan,
*NOT* to restore him to life. That was a unique circumstance in this case,
one that T'Pau said had not been attempted in milenia. Usually the Vulcan's
body is lost, only his soul or whatever they called it is restored.
Ressurection is NOT the norm on Vulcan.
I was expecting a little stronger response from Kirk when Spock finally
said "Jim?" The rest of the audience was too; the applause didn't come until
the credits started, and I think that just a little more excitement on Kirk's
part would have made the ending super, instead of just ok. Left me feeling
a little cheated. But still much better than the ending of RotJedi, which I
thought the music and singing just spoiled.
Now for the future:
Lets hear some plot outlines for the next movie. Here's mine:
Since there were mitigating circumstances, the Federation, under
additional pressure from the Vulcans, cannot throw them all in the slammer,
but neither can they restore them to their former positions. So our friends
buy a light armored scout ship and fly off on the original mission of the
Enterprise, "To seek out new worlds and new civilizations; To boldly go where
no man has gone before!" Along the way, they discover that Carol Marcus has
been kidnapped by Klingon agents who learned that she still holds the knowledge
of Genesis. Great chase sequences and rescue attempts in exotic worlds.
Perhaps Romulan allies come to rescue the Klingon agents. Finally when
all is looking rather grim for our heros, the Excelcior shows up to drive off
the enemies. Of course Kirk has to help the commander of the Excelcior, who
dies tragicly, leaving Kirk in command. Upon return to the Federation, they
decide to reinstate Kirk and his crew on the Excelcior, which leaves them
back on board a battle cruiser to start the next movie. Subplots with Saavik
(hopefully Kirstie Allen) and Spock and their kid. What would Spock's
reaction be to find out that his body had fathered a child while he wasn't in
it? Lets all sorts of melodrama into the script.
What's your scenario?
/Chris
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(ARPA) decwrl!rhea!via!schuetz@Berkeley
decwrl!rhea!via!schuetz@SU-Shastaab3@stat-l (Rsk the Wombat) (06/12/84)
> From: schuetz@via.DEC (Chris Schuetz - @ 2R04, DTN 381-2647) > > Uniforms: > Alright until the last scenes on Vulcan. Weren't Kirk and the others > all in Federation uniforms? or is my memory fuzzy? Kirk even left his civie > jacket on Genesis to cover David. Certainly the Klingon ship didn't have > spare Federation uniforms. Only Saavik was wearing one throughout the movie. > Continuity fault here. Perhaps not. Remember that Uhuru got to Vulcan separately; perhaps she brought the extra uniforms? By the way, I thought her escapade with the cadet in the transporter room was hilarious. -- Rsk the Wombat UUCP: { allegra, decvax, ihnp4, harpo, teklabs, ucbvax } !pur-ee!rsk { allegra, cornell, decvax, hplabs, ihnp4, ucbvax} !purdue!rsk
merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (06/14/84)
{ *click* Gotcha! }
There's another thing: How did Uhura get to Vulcan? Stick out her thumb
and say "Goin' my way, spaceman?"
Also, I would think after all that happened, Uhura would be a reasonably
big suspect in, what might be called, "The Enterprise Incident" (hee hee)
After all, Kirk got the that ship SOMEHOW. He didn't walk. I would think
that they would figure out that he beamed aboard. They are bright little
boys and girls. Also, seeing that his former communications officer was
manning a (the?) transporter chamber at that time, she'd be a number one
suspect.
Also, the appropriately titled "Mister Adventure" (see what you miss when
you walk out on the credits?) seems like the type that would run whining
to a commanding officer when questions. ("Oh God, sir, it was terrible!
She drew a phaser on me and made me get into the closet!") I would think
our dear friend Uhura would be up the creek with no one to rescue her.
Now, if she hadn't made it they could have had "Star Trek IV: The Release of
Uhura."
Nope, I hope that the rest of them get into some form of trouble for this.
I'll admit, I don't want to see them put in prison for the rest of the movie
series...they did enough in the TV Series. However, if they come back to
the Federation, they better get put on trial. REMEMBER THAT STARFLEET JUSTICE
DID GET SPOCK IN "THE MENAGERIE"! If Jim comes back and his commanders say
"Hey, Jim, no biggie." I will be seriously upset.
--
"It's...it's...it's a giant Peter Merchant
SPACE WALRUS!" -- Opusables@ut-ngp.UUCP (06/14/84)
You should read the book to fill in the gaps where things are
not really explained well. Uhura beamed herself to the Vulcan
embassy after she beamed Kirk and Co. to the Enterprise. There
she met Sarek and they went to Vulcan. She came very close to
being arrested in the book, but managed to escape.
They also spend about the first 1/3 of the book setting up the
movie, the movie doesn't start in the book 'till about page 90
or 100 (out of 294 or 297 or something). This is a lot of good
background on what people are feeling and what they are thinking
about doing next.
I think the next movie is going to be about tracking down the leak
in Starfleet. Someone mentioned this in passing but it has really
bugged me since seeing the film: How was it that Genesis became
a galactic political incident in the short time it took Enterprise
to return home?? Even the Klingons know about it! There's got
to be a leak and/or Klingon spy in Starfleet somewhere.
Someone also mentioned that Genesis wasn't lost since Carol is still
around (she's in the book a little bit, she goes back to Earth and
stays, basicly unimportant stuff). It seems to me that the first
thing they (Starfleet) would have done when the Enterprise came back
was copy all the stuff about Genesis from it's computer. After all,
the Enterprise was in the space dock for at least a day or two.
I got the impression that it may have been as much as a week, even
though Scotty said it would take him two to complete the automation
system. Surely Carol isn't the only person or machine that knows
ANYTHING about Genesis now?!
I liked Christopher Lloyd, he was REAL evil, but I just couldn't
get the Rev. Jim part of him out of my mind, his voice was so much
the same. It's too bad I watched Taxi.
I like Robin Curtis better than Kirstie Alley as far as looks (as
someone said, she can rub fingers with me anytime she wants, too),
but I do think that Alley is a more believable Romulan/Vulcan.
When she's made up, she has a little harsher facial structure and
it seems to me that a part Romulan wouldn't be quite as humanly
feminine (the Romulan Commander in the series that fell for Spock
seemed to have a little tougher appearance, maybe that's where I
get that feeling from).
A friend of mine noticed in the credits that the guy who played
Maltz was John Larquotte(not spelled right, but hopefully close)
who we remember from "Stripes" as the C.O. of the camp who is
transferred to an Arctic Circle base at the end of the movie.
He is playing one of the lawyers on "Night Court" on Thursdays
on NBC? now. I haven't seen the movie again, so I'm not sure
if it's him or not, but the name looks the same (but I confuse
French-like names, so I'm not sure).
The needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many! Bet that
confused the hell outta his pour strained Vulcan mind.
-King
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