boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (06/02/84)
WARNING! WARNING! <Danger, danger, danger, Will Robinson!> SPOILER! SPOILER!
RED ALERT! RED ALERT! RED ALERT! AHH-OOO-GAH! AHH-OOO-GAH! AHH-OOO-GAH!
Following the <FF> is some opinions on STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. If
you have already seen it, or don't care about finding out plot elements in ad-
vance, you may proceed with a <CR>. Otherwise, I suggest you "N" your way out of
here.
You have been warned!
In one word: Naaahhhhhh!!!
Well, hey, I *did* enjoy the film, but like RETURN OF THE JEDI and INDIANA JONES
& THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, I felt I got much less than I hoped for or expected.
First of all, I wasn't all that impressed with the special effects. ILM's stand-
ards are higher than this. The Space Dock was magnificent, as were assorted oth-
er scenes, but most of the ship movements were awkward and ended up looking like
the models that they were. I will give kudos for the destruction of the *Enter-
prise*, though. Well done, I say, well done. I'm sorry to see her go, but she at
least went out in a (literal) blaze of glory!
Secondly, I thought Nimoy was only OK as director; he just doesn't have the ex-
perience is this job yet, though he certainly shows promise. Some of the awkward
moments, though, could also be put down to a weak script. I suspect that with
THE WRATH OF KHAN, it was Jack Sowards who contributed much of the dialogue, and
that Harve Bennett couldn't hold the fort by himself for this one. At least we
were spared one thing: I was really afraid that when Spock went through pon farr,
that Saavik was going to end up balling the kid to help him through it. She may
have actually done so (I'll be interested to see how this is handled in the nov-
elization), but at least it wasn't made criminally obvious that this was the
case. That would have been too much of an inverted Oedipal situation for me to
deal with. I'll have to give credit, though, for the characterizations of the
Klingons. They say that one can better understand a foreigner's way of looking
at things by studying his language. I felt that the clipped, direct, no-beating-
around-the-bush, to the point dialogue of the Klingons spoke volumes about their
way of thinking ("Speak!" "Success" "Opponent!")
Thirdly, though I *loved* the "character humor" (ie playful character interac-
tions --- such as Scotty's reply, "It'll take 8 weeks to refit her, but we don't
have 8 weeks, so I'll do it in 2."), there were some scenes with the Klingons,
and especially with Captain "Howard Hunter" Styles that were played too much for
laughs. I was *really* disgusted with the *Excelsior* going klunkety klunkety
klunk and stopping dead in space; it was just too silly.
And last, but not least, I was *outraged* by Spock's resurrection! Hey, I like
Spock as much as the next guy, And I must confess that the way they pulled it
off was consistent and believable (with the standard disbelief suspenders on, of
course), but dead is dead! If they haven't got the guts to keep him dead, they
shouldn't have killed him in the first place. I applauded their major step for-
ward in realism by killing off a major character, but now they've just taken a
step backward and made Spock's ultimate sacrifice in TWOK totally meaningless.
Seriously! Isn't the lesson of Spock's sacrifice lost when -- like the
scene in AIRPLANE II where the guard shoots the little boy's dog -- all they end
up doing is saying, "Hah, hah! Only kidding. No harm done." All that is accomp-
lished is that Spock fans have been though an emotional wringer that serves no
purpose. I confess to having been all choked up during the funeral scene in TWOK
(and just about every time I've seen it, too), and because now we know he's not
really dead, I feel like I'm the victim of a sadist who's tortured me for the
fun of it. <Note: I hated this in E.T., also>
In a similar vein, I feel that the point of the current film is lost,
too. Kirk and the others are in deep shit with Star Fleet, risking their careers
(not to mention their lives) to help their friend. But how much you want to bet
that as in "Amok Time", Sarek and T'Pau (or whoever is Lord High Mucky Muck of
Vulcan these days) vouches for them and gets all charges against them dropped.
Again, I feel that paying the piper doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot when you
end up getting a refund.
Sigh. I suppose it seems strange that I could still have enjoyed the
film after blasting it so much, but hell, it *was* well done for the most part,
if one is willing to play along with the game. I just didn't like them changing
the rules. <The *Kobayashi Maru* be damned!>
--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC Maynard, MA)
UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPAmerchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (06/04/84)
Well, someone said that they wanted to hear a few other comments,
so what the hell. I'll put in my two cents worth...
I rather enjoyed the movie. I liked how they managed to bring him
back. Very clever, indeed. I would have been thoroughly disgusted
if they landed on the planet to find Spock going "Hey, Jim, what took
you so long?"
I only have one major complaint. How in the world did the Genesis
effect get into the sealed torpedo? Possibly it's just ignorance
on my part, but I don't believe the Genesis effect was caused by
any foofy form of radiation or anything like that, and the thing was
sealed shut. For that matter, how in the world did the kid get out?
Most coffins that seal shut don't have any way to get out from the
inside. The theory is, if he's dead, he ain't going to be going
anywhere. The torpedo HAD to be sealed shut. If it wasn't, how
did it withstand re-entry?
Of course, the argument can be shot down by saying the torpedo
was damaged on re-entry or something like that. I don't think my
complaint is a major shortcoming...I just wished they'd explained
it better.
Minor complaints:
1. Some scenes smacked a bit too much of Star Wars. The bar, in
particular, and the scene where they break McCoy out, in general.
The Klingon Commander's pet reminded a bit too much of some of
the beasties that inhabitted Boba-Fett's place.
2. Doesn't it seem like Kirk got away a bit too easy? I mean, come
on! A Starship does have alot of rather interesting things in
it's memory banks. Conceivably, information on the Genesis device.
The fact that Star Fleet let them, basically, walk away with the
Enterprise is a bit questionable.
3. The comment I hear over and over again: How did Kirk notice the
weirdness of space and the computer didn't. This one I give a
half-point. Basically, nobody asked the computer "Hey, computer,
analyze what looks like a weirdness in space for me." Maybe,
Maybe...
4. Someone has to tell ILM (Industrial Light & Magic...the people who
do most of the effects work) to mellow out. The Transporter is
far too foofy for my taste. There is a little twinkle after they
materialize which reminds me of the pixie dust from Peter Pan.
(McCoy's latest: "I'm a doctor, not tinkerbell!")
5. Why did the Klingon Ship have both a transporter and a way to land?
I don't remember seeing the Klingon Transporter Room, so maybe there
was a logical reason (like the transporter room was too small) but
it seems like a waste to me.
6. Similar to the Enterprise concept: Why didn't the Federation notice
this Klingon Battle Cruiser flying around. Also, if the Federation
has bases and things like that on Vulcan (Vulcan is supposed to be a
pretty mainstay part of the Federation), when Kirk zoomed up to
Vulcan and went to land, I would think that the Federation would have
kicked Jim's ass, and I don't care how much clout Sarek might have.
Look at it from their point of view. Jim steals the Enterprise. One
of the Federation's starships is missing. Jim returns in a Klingon
Battle Cruiser. It doesn't take Einstein to figure out that Jim sold
out to the Klingons. He's going to take a few potshots at the Federation
before he goes home to his new buddies. I'd say Jim should be space
dust by now.
Of course, it's easy to find fault. Let's look at some good things:
1. Christopher Lloyd, who played the Klingon Commander, was wonderful.
He played it mean and nasty, but not viciously so. He was doing
what he had been trained to do. He didn't have a fiendish laugh
or anything. He was quietly nasty. Bravo!
2. The fight between Kirk and the Klingon Commander was great. Jim
got nailed a couple of times. I don't expect a 50 year old man
to fight like a twenty year old man.
3. Spock, as I said above, was handled very well. I think they might
have rushed it a bit at the end. Spock seemed a little unsure at
first, but caught on fast after he remembered Jim's name. The eyebrow
at the end was great, though I haven't quite figured out what might
have caused it. Fascinating.
4. The execution of the stealing of the Enterprise was great fun.
The integrating of each of our favourite members was fun. Scotty's
quote will become the concept for computer hackers everywhere.
I just wish I could remember it.
5. Jim reacted well to the death of his son. A few moments of anger
and then back to business. Just a caustic remark every now and
then.
All in all, a good movie. I think my complaints are kind of nitpicky.
I will definitely go see it again.
--
"Scotty! Save my ass!" Peter Merchantalb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (06/04/84)
As far as the fight between Kirk and Kluge, notice that Kirk's shirt got ripped. In not one fight has his shirt survived intact.
rcc@imsvax.UUCP (06/05/84)
One problem with your article. If you want to rant and rave about how meaningless Spock's death was, if they were going to bring him back why did they kill him in the first place, etc., direct all screams >Leonard Nimoy. The plot for ST II was designed for one purpose only, to write Spock out of Star Trek. His death was originally planned to occur a third of the way through the movie, but after word got out, they decided that Spock's death would have to be the climax of the film if things were going to work. Then, of course, somewhere through the production of ST II, Nimoy was having so much fun that he decided he wanted in on ST III, also. (I'd give a lot to see Harve Bennet's face when he got *that* piece of news) So, they went back and shot a few extra scenes that would make a "ressurection" possible (the remember scene and the Genesis planet surface scenes) and Bennet started tearing his hair out trying to figure out how he was going to write Spock back *in*. Given the rather conclusive way he wrote Spock out, I think he did a pretty good job. Sure, the film has a few problems, but all in all, I'd say that it was solid, vintage Star Trek. Now, I'm waiting for Star Trek IV. That should be good. Capt. Styles gets thoroughly embarrased, Kirk ends up with Excelsior, and then viola, Star Trek V: The Wrath of Styles... :-) -- The preceding message was brought to you by -- Ray Chen umcp-cs!eneevax!imsvax!rcc (NEW ADDRESS)
giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles) (06/06/84)
I found the largest hole of all in the plot: Star Fleet Command has declared the Genesis System "off limits" to everyone, is up to its drives with legal/political/moral/... difficulties pertaining to the Genesis device, its creation, its use, and purpose, etc, and they do not have *one* starship protecting the system. The single ship there was for the scientists (according to the first few minutes of the film), although its captain was sure power-crazy. In fact, this may very well be how they plan to give Kirk et nausea a new ship: "Well Jim, it seems you and your officiers single-handedly, and at great personal peril, prevented the Klingons from ...." Barf city! bruce giles decvax!ucf-cs!giles P.S. I liked the other saavik better. This one looks too much like a typical American actress with funny eyebrows and ears.
grw@fortune.UUCP (Glenn Wichman) (06/06/84)
bip.
1. The Klingons at Genesis were rebelling against the Klingon empire
itself (notice that they are a different race of Klingon from
the ST-I Klingons).
2. Vulcan is not a mainstay of the Federation -- they have always
been a fringe group; remember T'pau refused a seat in the senate.
3. After Kirk et. al. left for the Enterprise, Uhura scrambled all
federation communications, so that the other Federation star
ships were getting soap operas on their sub-space radios. Then
she high-tailed it to the Vulcan embassy where Sarek granted her
diplomatic immunity and took her to Vulcan.
Thought you'd like to know.
-Glenn