THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, THE BOOK

 

Name: The Search for Spock   

Author: Vonda N. McIntyre

Publication Date: 6/1984

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #17)

Page Number: 297

Historian’s Note:  NA

Cast of Characters:  Rear Admiral James T. Kirk       Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Commander Hikaru Sulu              Commander Nyota Uhura              Commander Pavel Chekov         Commander Max Arrunja           Lieutenant Commander Kyle                Dr. Christine Chapel          Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand                Lieutenant  Saavik            Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Foster        Fleet Admiral Harrison Morrow                    Captain J.T. Esteban                    Commander Miguel Darby                            Captain Lawrence H. Styles                  Lieutenant (junior grade) Heisenberg                    Dr. David Marcus              Commander Kruge          Torg            Maltz               Ambassador Sarek                    Valkris             T’Mei        T’Lar  

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Grissom NCC-638, USS Excelsior NX-2000, Earth Spacedock, IKS B'rel

Planets: Earth, Genesis Planet, and Vulcan

My Spoiler filled summary and review: Since this is a review of the book version of the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, there is no need to provide a summary of the story as I already did that in my last review.  So, I am just going to focus on the differences between the book and the movie.

1.       The opening scene is during a wake for Spock and the rest of the dead.  This scene is not in the movie, in fact I would say 2/3 of this book is material not in the movie.  The wake is a disaster, bad alcohol is served, and everyone is messed up.  Kirk tries to revive his old relationship with Carol and gets shot down.  Carol becomes angry and revels that she had a boyfriend recently who was one of the scientists killed by Khan. Their son David is luckier in his love life as he ends up sleeping with Saavik.  We learn the reason Spock’s coffin survived is because Saavik altered its course. Instead of Spock’s body burning up in the atmosphere she placed it to be absorbed by the genesis wave.   

2.       Sulu is a captain in the book and referred to such throughout even though in the movie he is just a commander.  

3.       In the book Kirk and David’s relationship still is not reconciled with Kirk reaching out but David continuing to slap him away.  David’s personality often comes up in the book as just a spoiled brat where in the movies he is just helpful. 

4.       The Grissom shows up and its Captain Esteban, not Admiral Marrow, who tells them Genesis has become a hot topic and Starfleet has classified everything.  It turns out Kirk and Esteban go far back, and Esteban has a long list of accomplishments that proceed Starfleet trusting him with this assignment. 

5.       Carol Marcus refuses to help the Grissom investigate Genesis as she has to contact the relatives of her team who were killed by Khan.  She has lots of services to go to that are her priority.

6.       David fights to get himself invited to go with the Grissom.  This makes Kirk sad because David didn’t want to spend time with him.

7.       McCoy’s break into Spock’s quarters is not the first sign something is wrong with McCoy; it is rather the final cumulation of what was a growing problem.  McCoy muttering stuff in Spock’s voice to both Kirk and Saavik on a number of occasions.   

8.       Kruge and Valkris are not together like the movie implies.  The book versions never meet.

9.       Scotty had further objections to going to the Excelsior.  One being his nephew’s funeral.

10.   There is an interesting scene where Scotty’s niece says she wouldn’t trust Kirk because both times he went back to the Enterprise the Captain died.  

11.   Kirk informs Sarek on stronger terms about why he didn’t bring Spock’s body back to Genesis.  In the movie Kirk is unaware of this even being an issue.  Where in the book the reason he acted as he did is that the Vulcan people had often mistreated Spock and therefore, he felt no obligation to follow their wishes over Starfleet customs. 

12.   Kruge killing of subordinate is less of a random scene.  In the movie, after the destruction of the Grissom, Kruge killing his gunner is something done in sudden anger.  Where in the book the gunner is ordered to undergo a ritual suicide.  He refuses and is then vaporized via Klingon disruptor. 

13.   Explains that Uhura locked the young Lieutenant in the closet so that he wouldn’t get in trouble for their actions.  It also shows that Sarek helped Uhura get off Earth and to Vulcan.

14.   When Kruge orders the death of one of the prisoners the Klingon on the ground tries to get Saavik to take her own life she attempts to escape, and David is killed in the struggle.  

15.   Klingon landing party start hearing the countdown as soon as they get onboard.  Which makes them seem stupider.  Maybe they should have called about the counting beforehand?   

16.   After they escape Saavik clears the way on Starfleet channels their captured Klingon ship to make it to Vulcan.

17.   The risks of refusion are explained in greater detail. The biggest is that no one has tried this science antiquity, and they don’t know that the result was.  Most of the time the dead Vulcan body doesn’t suddenly come alive again, so no refusion attempt is even tried.

Requesting refusion

  

Additional thoughts: When I read the novelization of The Wrath of Khan, I found myself wondering if the differences between the book and movie were based on changes to the screen play that were made by making the film.  With this book I feel a little different.  The differences that the book version of TWK had compared to the film are still present in this book.  For example, in this book Kirk still didn’t know David was his son until Carol told him in the Genesis Cave, David and Saavik continuing their relationship, and Sulu is a captain.  It is if the author wanted to book continuity to line up regardless of what when on in the film.  I will acknowledge that the books line up well and if you are just the reader should be satisfied.  However, in order to continue the books’ themes, it causes larger diversions as we go forward.  As such, we get almost halfway through this book before we get to content that we saw on screen.

One of these continuity questions is the author’s “Captain Sulu” obsession.  She describes him as a Captain despite the fact that in both films Sulu was a commander and wore said uniform.  Also, in this book the author acts like Sulu was already in command of the Excelsior prior to TWOK.  This doesn’t add up with the films because in TWOK Sulu is clearly an instructor at Starfleet Academy, as he is seen on the bridge simulator during the Kobayashi Maru test.  It doesn’t make sense for him to leave his command to go on a training cruise as a favor to Kirk.  The book goes so far to suggest that Sulu even had a hand in designing the vessel.  Sulu’s background is in space aviation and botany.  Captain Styles is not Sulu’s predecessor but rather the man who stole his ship.  It comes off as so weird.

I like the addition of Saavik being responsible for Spock’s body’s survival.  That’s the type of addition that novelization can bring.  It would have taken too long in the movie for Saavik to explain her decision-making process, especially when all Spock’s body is survived. The quick gravity-well soft landing is fine for the movie, but the book allows for greater detail.  I also like the explanation of why David is on the mission and his mother is not.  One of them goes to Genesis and the other took care of making sure their friends and colleagues received proper burials and family notifications.

David and Saavik romantic couple in the books

   There are elements of the book I don’t care for such as David’s beef with his father.  Book David often comes off as jerk in a way movie David didn’t.  It makes less sense in the book for him to be this be this way, seeing as his father had no idea he existed until recently.  Unlike the movie version who did.  The book’s tragedy is that Kirk never resolved the issues with his son, where in the movie the tragedy is losing a son so soon after reestablishing contact.

A character about to be lost

Another element I didn’t particularly care for, although others may like it, is the author devoting so much time to characters who don’t matter.  I didn’t need Valkris’s entire backstory which included the struggles with the alcoholic brother and her difficulties leading her house.  Nor did I care at all for Carol’s lover Vince Mason’s family’s reaction to him being killed by Khan, and his personal contributions the Genesis project.  Also, Carol is bit of a cougar as her lover has David’s age.   We also go some clearly non canon reference to these Galaxy-class ships that can go literally to other galaxies, as the rest of the franchise note that is still quite impossible by Starfleet abilities.

One thing I really did like is David pointing out how this was not the ideal Genesis experiment.  That the device was not supposed to be activated inside a starship that itself was inside a nebula.  Genesis is still untested; I think it deserved a legitimate test. 

I really did enjoy Kirk’s internal monologue when setting the Enterprise to destroy itself. Kirk felt like the computer was sad.  He could hear the grief in its voice.  I really enjoy the description of the view from the surface of the planet Genesis.

“The Enterprise arced brilliantly from its orbit.  For an instant it was a comet, but the gravity of the new world caught it and held it and drew it in.  It would never again curve boldly close to the incandescent surface of a sun, never again depart the gentle harbor of Earth to sail into the unknown.  The Gravity of Genesis turned the dying ship from a comet to a falling star.  It spun downward, trailing sparks and cinders and glowing debris.  It touched the atmosphere and flared more brightly.” Pg. 254-5

In closing on the other good parts about the book is it did focus a little on what Sarek and Amanda had to go through.  From finding out their son had died, that they might have lost the katra, to maybe getting that back, to Spock might be coming back to life.  They experienced a parent’s worst nightmare only to have it reversed.   

Restored Spock

Should it be canon: I prefer to think of what we saw on screen as the canon version of events and the book is just a clever “what if?”.

Cover Art: The cover has Kirk flanked by McCoy and Sulu.  Kirk has a phaser drawn and all three look awesome.  Spock’s face hovers in the background.

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5

 

THE RETURN OF ONE FRIEND WHILE LOSING ANOTHER

 

Film Title: The Search for Spock   

Air Date: 6/1/1984

Written by Harve Bennett

Directed by Leonard Nimoy

Cast: William Shatner as Rear Admiral James T. Kirk    DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Commander Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as  Commander Nyota Uhura          Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov      Robin Curtis as Lieutenant Saavik     Leonard Nimoy as the Excelsior’ computer and as Captain Spock’s adult body   Carl Steven as Young zombie Spock         Vadia Potenza as early teenage zombie Spock             Stephen Manley as older teenage zombie Spock       Joe W. Davis as Young adult zombie Spock        Phil Morris as Lieutenant (junior grade) Foster         Grace Lee Whitney as Lieutenant Commander Janice Rand                 Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek              Phillip R. Allen as Captain J.T. Esteban       Robert Hooks as Fleet Admiral Harrison Morrow       James Sikking as Captain Lawrence H. Styles              Miguel Ferrer as Commander Miguel Darby       Scott McGinnis as Lieutenant (junior grade) Heisenberg          Christopher Lloyd as Commander Kruge          Stephen Liska  as Torg              John Larroquette as Maltz                David Cadiente as unnamed Klingon Sergeant            Bob K. Cummings as unnamed Klingon Gunner #1             Branscombe Richmond as unnamed Klingon Gunner #2             Cathie Shirriff as Valkris            Paul Sorensen as Captain Harry Price          Danny Rogers as Hans Markheim           Jeanne Mori as unnamed Helm officer      Mario Marcelino as unnamed Communications officer     Mario Marcelino as  unnamed Alien     Sharon Thomas Cain as unnamed Waitress       Katherine Blum as unnamed Vulcan Child     Judith Anderson as unnamed Vulcan High Priestess     Gary Faga as unnamed Prison Guard#1     Doug Shanklin as unnamed Prison Guard#2     Teresa E. Victor as Enterprise Computer       Judi M. Durand as space dock controller      Shirley Anthony as unnamed Vulcan Priest       David Armstrong as unnamed Vulcan Priest       Benjie Bancroft as unnamed Vulcan Priest             Jessica Biscardi as unnamed Vulcan Priest      

Ships and Space Stations: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Grissom NCC-638, USS Excelsior NX-2000, Earth Spacedock, IKS B'rel

Planets: Earth, Genesis Planet, and Vulcan

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The adventure begins mere weeks after the previous one ended with the Enterprise limping home from its victorious battle with the “Superior Intellect.”  With Spock dead however, Admiral Kirk doesn’t feel very victorious.  With almost all the training crew reassigned, the Enterprise only has a skeleton crew.  Suddenly there is a security breach.  Someone has broken into the late Captain Spock’s quarters.  Kirk gets down there and finds McCoy during a rather impressive Spock imitation.  McCoy in Spock’s voice wants to know why he wasn’t returned to Vulcan then he passes out.  At this point Kirk is probably thinking, “gee I thought I took Spock’s death hard.”

Entering spacedock

They get to space dock which is far more impressive than the space dock in the last two movies.  As the Enterprise moves in, everyone at the station is horrified to see battle scars.  The bridge crew then sees Starfleet newest idea: the starship Excelsior.  She is big and beautiful, and Sulu is already in love.  (I wonder if that will lead to anything.)  Fleet Admiral Marrow comes down to tell them they have all down an amazing job.  However, Genesis is a very controversial topic now, so they are not going to be allowed to talk about it.  In better news, Scotty gets a new assignment aboard the Excelsior (doing the same thing that he has been doing for the Enterprise) and a promotion to the rank of Captain.  Here we have the Star Trek franchise’s very first on-screen promotion.  Scotty is honored but would rather stay aboard the Enterprise.  That’s when the Fleet Admiral gives some more bad news, the Enterprise is being retired as she is too damn old.  Kirk goes to protest, but the Fleet Admiral insists with some reason explaining that the Enterprise is now 20 years old.  At this point Kirk wants to yell, “those who can’t do simple math should be allowed to make any sort of decision, the Enterprise is 40 years old you moron.”  However, Kirk doesn’t for two reasons. The first is that it would be insulting insubordination and the second is if he hopes to change their mind, he is best not remind the brass that the ship is twice as old as they already think it is.

The future of Starfleet

  Around the Genesis planet, the USS Grissom is in orbit.  Aboard this science vessel is Dr. David Marcus and Lt. Saavik (who has matured quite a bit, it’s almost as if she was a completely different person) they are guiding this crew on this special journey.  Captain J.T. Esteban, who is commanding, is a very stickler for rules and slow to make decisions but Marcus and Saavik find a way to work around him.  As strange lifeforms readings appear the two of them talk the Captain into allowing two-person landing party to investigate. 

The two person landing party 

 Elsewhere a small merchant ship is waiting for something and onboard is a two-person crew and a female Klingon.  Suddenly a Klingon Bird-of-Prey decloaks above the merchant ship in all of its awesomeness.  The Klingon on board, named Valkris, sends the data her people have been waiting for.  Commander Kruge is happy to get it but disappointed that Valkris reveals that she has seen it.  For he is under orders to leave no one who has seen it alive.  He has ship destroy the merchant ship killing everyone board even that lady Klingon who we learn was his lover.   Later he goes over the Genesis data with those who are authorized.  We see the same tape played from The Wrath of Khan but instead it is Kirk not Carol Marcus giving the introduction.  (Which okay I get the studio doesn’t want to pay Bibi Besch any more residuals than are necessary and Dr. Carol Marcus isn’t supposed to be in this movie, but shouldn’t it be David whose explaining what Genesis is?  Granted considering David’s fate in this story that may have been why they had Shatner do it, but it still feels cheap.)  Kruge declares this to a doomsday weapon to which they have a natural right to defend themselves against.  For them the mission is now on.   

Admiral Kirk is having a get-together at his place when Ambassador Sarek arrives and demands a solo meeting the Admiral.  Kirk agrees and Sarek begins criticizing Kirk in ways that Kirk really doesn’t understand.  Sarek and Kirk mind meld so Sarek learns exactly what Kirk experienced at Spock’s death.  It turns out Vulcans have been able to transfer their essence—their soul as it were—to others upon death.  This is something that Vulcans gain by being touch telepaths.  They call this their katra, the transfer of all the know into another body who will host it long enough to return to Vulcan where it is to be interred in the Hall of Ancient Thought at Mount Seleya.  Sarek had thought Kirk had Spock’s katra and for reasons he didn’t understand was neglecting his duty.  He turns away disappointed that Spock’s katra, everything that he knew and was, would be lost forever.  At this point Kirk should have jumped and said “he is not fully gone for we still have Big Spock.  Big Spock!”  Rather than confuse the older Vulcan he just claimed that Spock “would have found away.”

Sarek looking for his son's soul

Going over security footage Kirk notices the physical contact between Spock and McCoy, and suddenly McCoy’s weird behavior makes a lot of sense.  They are instructed by Sarek to get both Spock’s body and McCoy to genesis to complete the procedure.  This is going to be hard because McCoy was already trying to get back to Genesis, he gets picked up by Federation security and in his confused state tries to give the man a Vulcan nerve pinch.

Kirk generally tries to explain everything to the Fleet Admiral and get permission to do what they need to do.  However, his commanding officer orders him not to go and expressly stay away from Genesis and not talk about it.  Of course, Kirk is going anyway he just wanted to give Starfleet the opportunity to do the right thing.    

On the Genesis planet, David and Saavik find Spock’s photon-torpedo coffin.  It’s surrounded by creatures that used to be microbes.  On the inside are Spock’s burial robes so his body has been separated from its coffin and is naked. They hear a cry, and they find a Vulcan child.  Spock’s body has regenerated and was reduced to infancy and is now a toddler.  They report this to Captain Slow Decision, who while slowly deciding what to do, has no idea what is coming next.  The Klingon Bird of Prey decloaks and the slow Captain can’t think to say “shields up” so the Klingon torpedo destroys the Grissom.  Understanding what has happened Saavik and David take the young Spock and go into hiding.

To Kirk the best ride to Genesis would be his favorite ride, and the crew pulls a Mission Impossible type of assignment where each actor has his own part to play in the breakout.  (Except McCoy who just needs to be rescued.  Kirk gets McCoy out of his cell; Sulu beat the guard who called him ‘tiny’ and blew up the security consul; Uhura running the transporter room sticks “Mr. Action” in the closet (in one of best Uhura scenes of all time) and gets them back onto their ship.  Now that they are on the Enterprise it is Scotty’s turn to contribute.  Not only does he have the ship running but he has hacked into the Starbase’s system to open the space doors, but it’s that last one that almost takes a little too long.   Captain Styles powers up his Excelsior to give chase.  However, that is where Scotty comes through once again.  As the Enterprise takes off the Excelsior stalls in its pursuit.  “Good morning, Captain” is Scotty’s message to his now former CO.

On the planet Spock is aging rapidly.  David confesses to Saavik that he had added proto mater to the Genesis matrix.  This substance is illegal and highly unstable, but David said it solved certain problems.  This is when Saavik explains the Pon’ Farr to David. Vulcans normally have their mating cycle once every seven years but due to his rapid again, Spock’s about to experience it every hour.  Fortunately, he has a nice lady Vulcan on the planet, and she is ready and willing to do the deed.  After all it is only logical.  And while Spock and Saavik are getting it on David is trying to protect them from Klingons.  He doesn’t do a good job as shortly after they are all captured. 

A very brave but not always smart bunch

The Enterprise arrives in orbit around Genesis planet, and as she does the Klingon ship goes into cloak mode.  They summon their commander back to the ship.  Kruge had been arguing with his prisoners about the merits of Genesis, while they see it as a failure Kruge still sees the potential of this Doomsday weapon.  The two commanders try to figure out what the other is all about.  Kirk guesses correctly about a cloaked ship, that it is both out there but needs to decloak in order to fire.  As Klingon ship goes into attack the Enterprise fires first with torpedoes sending their enemy flying.  If the Enterprise was in peak condition that would have been all she wrote for the Klingons.  But in her damaged state the Klingon ship was able to recover and return fire.  The legendary ship couldn’t even get her shields up as the Klingons landed a crippling blow.  Kirk tries to bluff his way out, but he is dealing with Kruge, the coolest Klingon to date, not Balok of the First Federation.  Kruge correctly guesses the Enterprise’s best days are behind her and demands Kirk’s surrender.  He points out he has hostages and will even let the Admiral talk to them. 

Saavik explains Spock’s condition as best she can.  David explains that he messed up and Genesis is a failure.  If this movie wasn’t called The Search for Spock, it could be called David Marcus, The Never-ending Screw Up.   David tells his father that Genesis is a failure, that he messed up, and then brilliantly adds “I don’t believe they are going to kill us for it.”  Kruge, of course, takes that as a challenge and orders one of their deaths.  It looks like the Klingon is going to kill resurrected Spock, but David won’t let him die again especially since it was his fault.  He goes to fight the Klingon, something his father has done several times.  However, he may be Admiral Kirk’s son, but his name isn’t Kirk, it’s Marcus and that is fitting because he is so much more a Marcus than a Kirk.  Unlike his father David is not one of the great fighters in the galaxy.  He has neither speed nor grace, his blows lack power.  The Klingon warrior quickly overpowers him and guts him like a fish.  Saavik has the horrid duty of announcing his death.  Kirk collapses raging against the Klingon for killing his son.  Kruge is unmoved and reminds him of the hostages that he still holds.  Kirk agrees to surrender but the Enterprise still has one last trick up her sleeve. 

Kirk asks for time to prepare the crew he doesn’t actually have and Kruge allows.  He sends nearly his entire crew as a boarding party; Klingon Bird of Preys are very small and only have a crew-complement of slightly over a dozen.  Kirk, with Scotty and Chekov, activate the ship’s self-destruct device.  They transport away just before the Klingons are transported onboard.  They search going all the way to the bridge.  The lead Klingon checks back with his Commander and tells Kruge that the ship appears abandoned.  With constitution-class starship normally having over 400 crew members Kruge can’t believe it.  The team leader states the computer is talking, Kruge hears it and realizes what it is but it is too late.  The Enterprise lights up in fire of its own creation destroying itself and anything aboard her which includes most of Kruge crew.  Kirk and crew watch as the Enterprise turns to dust in the atmosphere over planet Genesis.  Kirk shoots with a phaser the exact Klingon who killed his son.  He then manipulates Kruge to come down to the planet and to bring his crew up, save him and Spock.  At this point Kruge only has one crew member, however since he thought a small landing party could hold over 400 people, he clearly doesn’t doubt his warrior’s ability to guard five. 

The Death of the Enterprise

Kirk and Kruge face off.  We know Kruge is a warrior, but he is not facing David Marcus, Kirk’s late and soft son, he is facing one of greatest fighters this side of galaxy.  Kirk fights with speed and grace that will often leave his opponents spellbound.  And Kruge is more than spellbound, with some boot kicks to the face he falls to his death and ends up in a poll of lava just before the planet explodes.

Warrior to warrior

Kirk tricks the Klingon remaining to beam him and Spock’s reanimated body up to the ship.  They escape in the nick of time and head to Vulcan.   There they bring Spock’s body and McCoy to the Hall of Ancient Thought at Mount Seleya.  The Vulcan priests and priestesses manage to take Spock’s katra out of McCoy and back into the body it belongs.  Spock is out of it and clearly has a long way to go but he recognized his friends who came back to save him.  

A family reunited!

    

Additional thoughts: There are those who say the good Star Trek movies are the even numbered ones and the bad ones are the odd number films.  Those people are really stupid, and you shouldn’t listen to them about this subject or any other subject.  The Search for Spock gives the viewer everything you would want in a middle chapter story.  We start right where we had left off, followed by non-stop action, and finish ready for the next chapter.  The title is a bit of spoiler to paraphrase Leonard Nimoy, we called it “The Search for Spock” it would be rather odd if Kirk turned to the audience at the end and said, “sorry folks, we didn’t find him.”

Everyone seeing the damage

What ever happened to T’Pau? You remember her from the famous episode “Amok Time.”  The last time Kirk defied Starfleet to save Spock’s life.  She, by her own authority, was able to get the Enterprise’s orders retroactively changed so Kirk could keep his command.  Why don’t they go to her for help against Starfleet this time?  Heck, they could save themselves half a trip and she could just order the Grissom to bring Spock’s body back to Vulcan.  Is she dead or otherwise incapacitated.  I wonder more about her missing than I do about Big Spock.  Why didn’t Kirk bring him up again? 

Where was she this whole time?

In Lenord Nimoy’s follow up auto-biography I Am Spock, when discussing the Spock and Savvik scene dealing with Spock’s Pon’ Farr, Nimoy had a bet with one of writers.  Nimoy did not think anyone would laugh and then made a bet about it which Nimoy won.  Well, that may have been true in 1984, however ever since I first watched it, I always found it hilarious.  First, why is Spock going through this now where in his original life it didn’t hit him well into adulthood at which point he was a commander in Starfleet and first officer of the Enterprise?  Here since it started early it will now hit often with rapid aging which means Saavik and Spock really got down to it a lot.  What a lucky Spock!  Too bad remember any of it, or can he?  That was never really clear.  

Before I talk about the death of the Enterprise, I want to point out in Star Trek Which Way book I reviewed a little while ago, I, as a Starfleet ensign, lead a boarding party onto a Klingon ship.  When fighting on the bridge some Klingons were near the computer consul entered something in and retreated.  Going up to the consul I saw images flashing, now I don’t speak Klingonese but I can recognize symbols changing and could easily guess these were numbers counting down.  So, I took my phaser and blasted it preventing the self-destruct and allowing the capture of the Klingon ship.  For that I was promoted to lieutenant.  Now if you are wondering if I feel superior to the Klingon officer who didn’t understand what the talking computer was doing, I do feel superior.

 Now let’s talk about the Death of the Enterprise.  When this movie came out in 1984, Star Trek was eighteen years old.  It is hard to overstate the trauma of watching this beautiful ship die on the big screen to these Star Trek fans.  For those eighteen years the starship Enterprise was the ship of their dreams.  The amazing vehicle that traveled through space faster than light and took them to all their adventures both on the small screen, the big screen, live action, animated, and in literary form.  The ship was where their characters returned to at the end of all their adventures.  Once they were back on board, they were safe again.  Although there were times when the entire ship was in danger, she would always escape whatever peril they faced just in the nick of time with the chirping of the computer equipment on the bridge.  As Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov enter in the death codes what fan didn’t to hear Admiral Kirk’s voice say, “Code1-2-3-continuity, abort destruct order."  Just like he did the last time they considered scuttling the ship.  Thus, saving and the ship and finding another way to defeat their enemy that didn’t involve killing one of their friends.  However, it was not to be here in orbit on the Genesis planet.  The Enterprise would go out on her own terms at the hands of a lover rather than a stranger.  She was consumed by fire of her own creation destroying both herself and the Klingon crew that infiltrated her.  As what was left of her crew watched her remains burn up in the atmosphere, they were reminded that she was a beautiful lady, and they loved her.

Saying good-bye to their ship!

     Sadness aside, there was also something else about the destruction.  Although it may have been a stunning visual effect, it didn’t make a lot of sense.  You would think the ship blowing itself up would have its main explosion be its primary engine.  With the saucer burning up in the atmosphere after that.  What we see is the exact opposite, the place with personal quarters and research laboratories explodes and the engine star drive section is what falls into the atmosphere.

This has to be the damn coolest the landing party has ever looked! 

The Genesis planet is unstable that I can buy but they think they were a little too quick to come up with the reason and blame it on David?  David explained he used proto-mater in the Genesis formula to solve certain problems, and Saavik objects to this as it is widely considered unstable. Yet the earlier Genesis in the undergrown cave was fine.  Some may say it’s the scope, but I am bothered by something different.  When were explained Genesis, the plan was to test it out on some dead world or moon.  The mission of the Reliant in the previous film was to find such a planet for them to use.  It was never meant explode inside a damaged starship flouting around the middle of a nebula.  Such a major change of variables should be the first thing that is pointed out, yet no one ever does.  Instead of labeling Genesis a failure they should say it has never been properly tested.

In reading Nimoy’s I Am Spock we learn a great deal about what went to his decisions on the movies where he was director.   He stated that he was given a number of ship design models.  Of the bunch he chose the one that became the Excelsior because it looked the most like the Enterprise.  There was a clear evolution between the designs, Nimoy felt as if the two were designed by the same people.    

There was one small detail that I really liked.  Scotty was promoted to captain, yet on the Enterprise’s computer system he still identified as a commander.  This makes since considering the vastness of space there is no way for all the starships to be so interconnected.  (They probably weren’t thinking of that in 1984 as the world was not yet online.)  It was a nice little detail that they didn’t update the personal files on a decommissioning starship.

The Klingons attack

We must talk about Christohpher Lloyd and how he as Commander Kruge came to define the Klingons for the franchise going forward.  Yes, there have been impressive Klingons in the past such as Kor and Kang.  Here, however, is where the standard is set.  When the Klingons got the new/traditional/true look in The Motion Picture, the only thing we saw from them was they were getting their butts kicked to V’ger.  Here we get to see what these Klingons are all about.  A warrior species that thinks about honor, glory, and duty.  The first thing we see Kruge do is kill his wife along with the human smugglers because she saw something she wasn’t authorized; we also see that she has no problems with this and gladly goes to her death.  Kruge leads his own landing party and when he encounters a strange life form, he puts aside his advanced weapons and meets it head on.  It almost kills him before he kills it and tells his ship that they have encountered nothing important.  He dares to take on a starship that has ten times his fire power and actually win.  He chooses battle with his enemy and almost certain death because he won’t give quarter.  He was a great leader of Klingons; he does not tolerate repeated failure and will punish it with death.  The guy probably would have won if he didn’t have the misfortune of going against James T. Kirk.  

Kruge leading his men

According to Nimoy the original antagonists in this film were going to be the Romulans, but he changed it to the Klingons.  That is why they have a ship called “Bird of Prey” and can cloak; this is something Klingons couldn’t do up until that time.  Although the Klingons were mentioned as having the cloaking ability in the episode “The Time Trap.”

I still don’t understand why Kirk was tasked with retrieving Spock’s body. Also, would it have continued to age and regrow the radiation burns that killed him if he stayed on the planet too long?  I wonder if his ever-growing changing body has some sort of consequence for Saavik who had sex with him a lot.  

Did Kirk actually sacrifice in the way Sarek says he did at the end?  Did he give up his son and ship for Spock?  Because I think he would have lost those things anyway.  The Enterprise was set to be decommissioned by Starfleet, and the Klingons were already chasing after Genesis.  He wasn’t getting his ship back, and the Klingons might have killed David anyway considering he could neither fight nor shut his mouth for too long.  

 

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5

THE WRATH OF KHAN, THE BOOK

 

Name: The Wrath of Khan  

Author: Vonda N. McIntyre

Publication Date: 7/1981

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #7)

Page Number: 223

Historian’s Note:  NA

Cast of Characters:  Rear Admiral James T. Kirk       Captain Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Commander Hikaru Sulu              Commander Nyota Uhura              Commander Pavel Chekov         Commander Max Arrunja           Lieutenant Commander Kyle                Dr. Christine Chapel          Lieutenant Janice Rand                Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Saavik            Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Croy        Captain Clark Terrell                    Commander Ralston "Stoney" Beach                            Captain Mandala Flynn                  Khan Noonien Singh           Joachim            Dr. Carol Marcus                     Dr. David Marcus              Dr. Jedda Adzhin-Dall                    Dr. Vance Madison               Dr. Delwin March 

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Reliant NCC-1864, Space Station Regula I, unnamed shuttlecraft, SS Botany Bay 

Planets:  Earth, Ceti Alpha V, and Regulas I

My Spoiler filled summary and review: Since this is a review of the book version to the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, there is no need to provide a summary of the story as I already did that in my last review.  So, I am just going to focus on the differences between the book and the movie.

1.       In the Kobayashi Maru test the other cadets have a larger role.  They are the ones manning the helm and stations with the regular crew overseeing them.  This takes away a bit of the misdirection of the opening.  There is also more detail to the debriefing.  Kirk challenges the cadets with other possible scenarios.  Saavik takes it all a little too seriously.  

2.       More information is given about the crew of the Reliant.   The book mentions that they all hate this assignment for the sheer boredom it creates.  There is a good explanation why finding an ideal planet is hard. “Lifeless planet in the goldilocks zone” is a lot harder than just lifeless planet.  Chekov and Terrell’s idea about removing the potential life makes more sense here than in the film.  In the book they argue that the life signs they find may be the end of an evolutionary line not the beginning of one. If this were true, they would be rescuing it anyway.  This is what gets Carol to agree.

3.       Dialogue throughout the book is different.  Not too different but enough that it sometimes annoys me.  Throughout the entire book the Ceti Alpha system and planets get referred to as “Alpha Ceti.”  My head, however, always goes for the former.  Some things are good additions like when Terrell proclaims that he doesn’t know Kirk it’s in response to Khan asking if he ever had a conversation with him. 

4.       According to the book Chekov was working the night shift during in “Space Seed.” We also find out he had a crush on Lt. McGivers and it adds to the reason he doesn’t like Khan. 

5.       Sulu has just been promoted to captain and has this rank for the entire book. Also, Sulu is never at the helm, instead Saavik is.  Where in the movie Saavik manned the navigator station.  

6.       Peter Preston is a much larger character in this book than he was in the movie.  He is Scotty’s nephew and lot of pages are devoted to him and his past before he is killed off.  He is said to be only fourteen years old.

7.       In the book, Carol Marcus’s Genesis presentation includes the possibility of using large amounts of matter that is not a planet to make a world and solar system that we actually see after the battle of the Mutara Nebula.  This closes my largest plot hole.

8.       Saavik is established as both Vulcan and Romulan.  She has no contact with either family and was raised and orphaned.  She tries her best to be Vulcan but fails at times.  She is not even a vegetarian.

9.        We see Khan invade Regula I where he tortures and kills the scientists there.  There were no real surprises or interesting things to learn as I didn’t care about any of these one-shot characters.

10.   There is still no indication of what regulation Kirk was ignoring.  I assume it was the process that later began such as raising the additional force fields around the bridge. 

11.   McCoy tries to shield Kirk and Saavik from seeing what has been done to the scientists of Regula 1.  It doesn’t make any sense considering everything Kirk has seen and Saavik is a professional Starfleet officer.

12.   McCoy apparently served with Captain Terrell and considers him a friend.  When he did this is not clear, but he is upset by his death.

13.   David is a much better fighter than he is in the movie.  Also, in the book Kirk doesn’t know that David is his son.  Both Kirk and David find out at the exact same moment.

14.   Both Dr. Christine Chapel and Lieutenant Janice Rand are in the book but not in the movie.                

15.   The Genesis cave is bigger in the book.  While in the cave David and Saavik make a connection that is not seen in the movie.   

16.   In that battle of the Mutara Nebula Sulu is seriously injured and it is David who performs CPR to save his life long enough for Dr. Chapel to put him back together.  Sulu is the person who Chekov replaces at the weapons station.

17.   Kirk and David get in disagreement on the bridge in the middle of the battle.  

18.   We get Spock’s thought process when making the decision to sacrifice himself on behalf of the ship. There is no “remember” moment with Dr. McCoy.  Also, the description is more vivid as Spock describes his hands bleeding as he repairs the ship.  In the movie Spock was burnt but he didn’t bleed at all.

 

Additional thoughts: Reading this book made me curious to how the whole thing was put together to begin with.  It is just that there are many contradictions between the book version and the film that naturally makes one wonder about the cause.  The book came out a month after the movie premiered, given I have rough idea of what it takes to get books published it is safe to say that the novelization was probably written around the same time the movie was being made.  So, was the author just handed the script?  Was there any active collaboration?  Is the book closer to the original script than the movie? The author takes time to update us on her original character Mandala Flynn from The Entropy Effect.  We can safely say that part is completely original.

So, let’s look at the changes to Sulu.  McIntyre, the author, clearly cares for Sulu as she was the one who gave him the name “Hikaru” that the rest of the franchise.  Now I know George Takei has stated that they filmed a scene that was at end of film where Sulu was promoted to captain, but they scratched it.  However, this scene doesn’t see Sulu promoted, he is in fact already a captain.  He is referred to as “Captain Sulu” throughout the story.  Sulu even remarks that the new rank insignia is strange because of the “extra braid.”  This indicates that Sulu is wearing a captain’s uniform, and the author is still under the belief that the costumes would still be the Starfleet uniforms from The Motion Picture that still had the braid rank.  In the movie, Sulu wears a commander’s uniform, and the Enterprise crew all dressed in the best monster maroons.  The author has Sulu state to his fellow officers that his command is slated to be the USS Excelsior.  At the time the only USS Excelsior in the franchise’s existence was the constitution-class NCC-1718 from the Technical Manual.  The later one would not be invented until the next film.  Sulu is never at the helm in this one, Saavik is.  Sulu operates the weapons station and has to leave the bridge part way through the battle. 

At no point is what the Reliant looks like explained to the viewer.  If you have never seen the movie, you would have no idea what it meant to be a Miranda-class starship.  Indeed, that term isn’t even used in the book.  Khan mentions that the ship is like the Enterprise.

Not described in book

Peter Preston is a far more important character in the book than he is in the film.  Where in the movie he is a two-scene character, the book gives large parts of early chapters to his point of view and even establishes that Saavik is tutoring him in math where he develops a schoolboy crush on her.  This is all to make his death more tragic.  Some things they establish about him are ridiculous, such as him being only fourteen years old.  This makes him the age of an older 8^th grader or high school freshmen, yet he is a first-class cadet, so he is supposed to be a senior in college.  The actor in the movie was twenty at the time.  He is Scotty’s nephew which is fine, but they also say he has an older sister who for some reason is so awesome that she is already a commander—the same rank as Scotty—and yet always one step away from being kicked out of Starfleet.

Peter Preston, not 14

Joachim is also given more attention but at least he was still important in the film.  The book draws out his dilemma between his loyalty to Khan yet clearly realizing that Khan is insane and will lead them to destruction.  He is a weak and failed character because he never overcomes this challenge, instead, he just follows Khan to oblivion.

Joachim

The author also tries to explain why they didn’t notice Ceti Alpha V was V and not VI.  As I explained in my last review this never bothered me.  In here the book explained that Ceti Alpha V had a large moon that turns out was unstable.  When Ceti Alpha VI exploded and altered their orbit, it caused the moon to break up altering the climate. 

The book also dives into Saavik’s past as a Vulcan/Romulan hybrid who is claimed by neither.  Saavik heavily implies that she is most likely the product of rape.  That Romulan on Vulcan sexual assaults are common.  Her Romulan family threw her away and her Vulcan family doesn’t know she exists. This is why her name doesn’t start with a “T” like most Vulcan women.  She also has problems with conforming to Vulcan culture as she is not a vegetarian.  She is enraged when David mistakes her for Spock’s daughter as she sees such a statement as insulting to Mr. Spock.

Saavik and Spock

The big David issue: his relationship to Admiral Kirk.  In the movie David is horrible at fighting and his paternal history has been hidden from him.  It is presented as a crime that both his parents have committed against him.  They agreed to separate, and that David would be better with Carol.  Kirk is disappointed that Carol never told David, but he never bothered to reach out himself.  In the book its very different not only is David a much better fighter but neither man knew of Kirk’s paternity.  The two of them were equally shocked to learn.  In other words, Carol decided by herself that she didn’t want dad around and decided to deny both father and son the right to know each other.  Again, I wonder if that was part of the original script because someone had to change something.  Did the author not like the of Kirk being a deadbeat dad and since Carol Marcus didn’t exist before the author didn’t care about pushing her character under the bus?  Or when making the movie did Nicholas Meyer say “no, they’ll hate her if that’s the backstory” and he changed it?  David was also told someone else, who is dead, was his father.  The book seems to imply that David and Saavik have an attraction to one another.

David

I did like knowing Spock’s thought process.  The time to Genesis detonation, time to engine room decontamination, his abilities as a Vulcan, his pride and Saavik, and his thoughts about how Jim Kirk was the only true captain of the Enterprise, and that he held that position only in trust.  We also are told by the book that Spock’s space funeral was his own request, and all the other bodies were being taken home to their families.  

Last moments

Should it be canon: I prefer to think of what we saw on screen as the canon version of events and the book is just a clever “what if?”.

Cover Art: The cover art has Admiral Kirk and Captain Spock standing side by side in their monster maroons with Spock on the viewers left and Kirk on the right.  Khan’s face is centered between them with streaks shooting out at the viewer as if Khan head was itself a ship that was leaving at warp speed.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5