Jeremy A Perron's multiple year mission to complete an interesting and witty review for every Star Trek series, every movie, and maybe branch out into my novel collection. Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers beware!
Cast of Characters: Captain James T. KirkCommander SpockDr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA
“Bones”Lieutenant Hikaru
SuluDr. Joseph M'BengaEnsign Pavel Chekov Ensign Carl RemingtonAmbassador SarekAmanda GraysonDr. Daniel CorriganEleyna MillerSorelT'Pau SotonStornT'MirSendetT'ParT'Zan
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The adventure
begins in the middle of a battle.The Enterprise
is attacked by a Klingon warship.Kirk
quickly outmaneuvers his opponent and all but destroys the Klingon ship.They take a few Klingons prisoner and tend to
their own wounded.One of their wounded,
Ensign Carl Remington, is extremely injured.His injuries surpass that of Captain Christopher Pike and are more like
that of Joe Bonham.Fortunately for the
injured Ensign there is hope.On Vulcan,
at the Science Academy, there is currently a medical experiment being done that
could reverse the Ensign’s condition. Spock knows of this because the procedure
is being used to treat his mother right now.While the ship is being repaired Kirk, Spock, and McCoy all take
Remington to Vulcan.
The Enterprise captures and damages an enemy ship!
When they arrive, they stop at Sarek’s
house and then go to the hospital where they meet Dr. Daniel Corrigan and
Healer Sorel, the pair who had perfected the procedure.Dr. Corrigan first tested the process on
himself. (McCoy didn’t say anything but I am sure he was proud.) Corrigan was
unnaturally aging fast the under the treatment he went from being a man in his physical
sixties, restored to his physical thirties.Amanda, Spock’s mother, and Sorel’s wife T’Zan were currently undergoing
the procedure.Corrigan states that this
treatment is only for conditions that would otherwise be permanently disabling
or terminal.The process is risky as the
body involuntary functions are all controlled by machine. If the device somehow loses power even for a
few seconds, the patient will die.A
number of redundancy systems are installed to prevent this.
Spock and his comrades visit his father
However, since Chekhov's gun must
be fired, there is a power failure that results in the death of T’Zan.Since Vulcans are touch telepaths and are
mentally bonded to their spouses, her sudden death led her to instinctively
call out to her husband.This message
through the mental link sends Sorel into shock and his own mind starts to shut
down, and Vulcan intervention is needed and they create a mind meld between
Sorel and Corrigan and his friend helps him survive.With T’Zan dead her and Sorel’s adult children,
Soton and T’Mir, arrive back home with a little assistance from Captain
Kirk.During T’Zan’s funeral a male
Vulcan named Sendet shows up to make an offer for T’Mir to become his mate.Making a pass at someone during their
mother’s funeral is just as off putting to Vulcans as it is for humans.Sendet is sent packing but not before he
expresses anger at humans at this ceremony.
Angry Vulcan man
After the ceremony is over T’Mir
takes a pass herself at her father’s long-time friend.It appears that T’Mir has had a
Celine/Rene-type crush on Dr. Corrigan. The newly de-aged doctor starts to warm
up to the idea when he discovers that her family supports the match.
Shortly after that another power
loss results in the death of Ensign Remington.The death of two patients dying in one in a million type accidents
convince Captain Kirk there must have been a murder.Others protest that there has not been a
murder on Vulcan since the modern age began.Because of what happened in “Amok Time,” Kirk doesn’t really buy that
claim.Kirk concludes that one of the
patients was the target and the other was killed to through investigators off,
or the target was the research team’s legitimacy someone wants to see them
fail.Kirk begins an investigation and
begins to interview likely suspects.
They attempt to track which
computer was used to sabotage the stasis chambers.However, the memory banks overload, starting
a fire. While helping treat the wounded McCoy notices the medical computer is
giving of the wrong medical diagnosis to patients.McCoy remembering the incident in “Court Martial” where Spock’s chess program was corrupted exposing sabotage.(What we since the late 1980s called a
“computer virus.”)This is evidence of
sabotage to the Academy’s computer system.
Kirk, after getting treated for
burns, proceeds with his investigation and he interviews T’Pau, and leaves both
impressed with her and a little embarrassed about suspecting her. After returning he is invited by Eleyna
Miller to go out in the dessert to observe T'Khut and its moon.The pressure was off as Sendet attacked
Corrigan when he learned of his relationship with T’Mir.It is now assumed that he was targeting
Corrigan’s research.
Kirk goes off on his date while
Sendet is forced to undergo a Verification ceremony. The Verification ceremony is a forced mind
meld done by healers, to determine guilt or innocence.During the Verfication's group mind meld, it
is discovered that Sendet is a member of the Followers of T'Vet, a minority
Vulcan group hoping to return Vulcan to its warlike past. When they look into his actions they find he
is innocent of the two murders.He may
be a throwback and follows a violent unpopular philosophy, but he is no
murderer.
While Kirk and Miller are on their
date, Kirk slips and is injured with a broken ancle making it impossible for
him to walk.Miller says she is going to
get help but does not return.Kirk did
not fall, he was pushed.Fortunately, he
told McCoy where he was going a McCoy grabbed a vehicle and rescued Kirk. Before Kirk could recover and revel the
identity of the killer to McCoy, Miller goes ahead with her plan to kill
Amanda.She then feels that Sarek will
need to be saved, and he will then fall in love with her.She fails because she is stopped by Sarek,
Spock, and Sorel.Miller is exposed as
the villain; she is judged to be mad and sent elsewhere on Vulcan for
treatment.
Time to fill Amanda in
The story ends with everyone
gathered around Amanda explaining to her everything that happened.
Additional thoughts: It’s not the first Star Trek
story to be a murder mystery. We have seen them before in “The Conscience of the King,” “Wolf in the Fold,” and “Journey to Babel.” It’s not Star Trek’s
specialty but it is something they will do from time to time. I generally
enjoyed this story but for other reasons. Mostly learning about Vulcan culture,
what it is like for non-Vulcans on Vulcan, and interaction between the
characters.
The very beginning features a fight
with Klingons.Immediately after reading
“Tears of the Singers” where Klingons, such as Kor, are treated with complexity
it was a bit of a 180° shock to have Spock dismiss all Klingons as “illogical
but predictable.” Well, I suppose he was just speaking in generalizations.
I couldn’t help not thinking of
Captain Christopher Pike in this book.If such medical treatment was available would Spock have risked
everything to get him to Talos IV?Could
this have restored his lost abilities?
Sarek was a lot kinder and more
open than he was in “Journey to Babel.”He is actually likeable in this book. He seems generally interested in
catching up with his son and getting to know his friends. There is a great
scene where Kirk and Sarek are entertaining each other with stories from their
pervious adventures that I enjoyed quite a bit.
I don’t understand why T’Pau was so
surprised to see Captain Kirk alive.I
thought she had been informed about what had happened by the Enterprise.I had always assumed that is why she
contacted Starfleet to clear the crew of any wrongdoing by coming there. In
this book she starts as a bigoted jerk, before revealing her more complex and
interesting traits.
T'Pau
The whole T’Mir-falls-in-love-with-Corrigan
story has grooming vibes all over it.I
just have to keep reminding myself that these are aliens not humans with
different biological and cultural standards than us.Also, it was clearly generated by T’Mir.If I didn’t know that author is a woman, I
would swear this was a man’s fantasy.(I
say that as an unmarried 43-year-old, who will be a 44-year-old tomorrow.)
There is some timeline confusion they often
reference “Amok Time” as if it were two years ago.However, in this book we see Dr. McCoy
recruit Dr. M'Benga to the Enterprise.This explains why he was not involved in Sarek’s operation that McCoy
performed.However, he is in the very
next episode.All of these are part of
season 2, which to me has always meant that they happened in the same year
roughly.
Now for the plot twist.I have always said that a good twist is one
you don’t see coming but when you go back and check the evidence has been right
there all along and you blame yourself for not seeing it. This I would give
this twist a “C” grade. That’s because although there was nothing that I could
see that made it clear she was committing the murders. There was the warning
about the desert being fatal, I totally missed it when she invited Kirk out
there.I thought it was just humans
being stupid. It was actually the perfect place to try to kill him.
Should it be canon: I have no objections to this
story being canon with exception to the statements about “Amok Time” being two
years ago.
Cover Art: Spock is in the Vulcan desert with T'Khut
in the night sky. Spock has a phaser pointed at a le-matya.It’s cool and all but it’s also a lie, as this
scene appears nowhere in the book.
My Spoiler filled summary and review: This Star Trek
adventure begins not with our heroes, but with those who fans regard as the
enemy.The Romulan Star Empire is the oldest adversary for the United Federation of Planets.We are introduced to Commander-General Ael
i-Mhiessan t'Rllaillieu henceforth referred to as Ael, an extraordinarily
successful military commander.However,
politics have been removed from her traditional command of the Bloodwing
and instead assigned to the Cuirass. This was done to separate her from her loyal
officers and place her with those installed by her political opponents.
Bloodwing
On the Federation side, Kirk and
Spock are now playing 4-D chess, a new game.Kirk starts to lose but McCoy takes cover and beats Spock.While discussing this the Enterprise
is summoned to the Romulan Neutral Zone. While on the Romulan side Ael has discovered
something horrible that the imperial government is doing that it makes her
question her loyalty.Not to the Empire
but to its Senate and Praetors. She
devices a plan where she escapes her present ship and returns to her old
command and loyal crew.When they are
given the information from her the crew agrees to join her on her quest.
At the Neutral Zone the Enterprise
joins several other starships including the new Constellation and Intrepid.
They have an all-staffs meeting where
they decide to come up with a plan to deal with the Romulans.However, before they are finished the Bloodwing
shows up and the Ael wants a meeting with Captain Kirk.Ael has fought Captain Kirk on many occasions,
and they respected each other as rivals.They agreed to meet.They engage
in some small talk, and we learn that it was Ael’s niece that that Kirk and
Spock had tricked in “The Enterprise Incident.”This originally made her despise Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the rest
of the Enterprise. However, as
time went on, she came to see her adversaries as honorable people despite what
happened to her dear niece. As “good to
meet you” conversation came to an end that is where Ael gives them some
shocking information.
Commander Ael's niece
The information she gives them is
this.The Romulan Empire has been
raiding civilian vessels that had been carrying Vulcans.They kidnap the Vulcans and use the bodies
for experiments in order to capitalize on the telepathic capabilities that the
Romulans seem to have lost to evolution.They are using Vulcan biological material to create a telepathic
superweapon.This knowledge is what
caused Ael to become disillusioned with the Empire and wants to help Starfleet
to stop it.Where this monstrosity is located
is on a Starbase orbiting the planet Levaeri V, which is deep in Romulan space.
Ael proposes that they allow her and her
crew to “capture” the Enterprise and bring it in is a prize before they
attack the base together.
She agrees to a mind meld with Mr.
Spock, but Kirk doubts they will be able to cooperate with this plan.There are too many X-factors and Kirk
couldn’t justify risking his ship.However, they then received news that the Romulans using this new Vulcan
bioweapon were able to capture the new Intrepid. Kirk is now forced to go along with the plan.
As they sneak into Romulan space
with the Enterprise pretending to be the prisoner of the Bloodwing,
the two crews get to know each other.There is much cultural exchange, and friendships are made at all levels
from the commanders to the doctors, and even a good deal of the regulars on
each crew.The first Romulan ship they
encounter has an arrogant commander who will not except explanations and
insists on inspecting the captured ship.This results in a quick battle that ends in that ship’s destruction.
The Enterprise captured
They get to their destination and
organize a giant landing party to free the Intrepid crew, their ship,
and destroy this weapon the Romulans have created.They run into two unexpected problems.The first is the weapon is made of biological
matter from the earlier Vulcan victims an it’s alive.Spock now wants to rescue and not destroy it
so it can have a home on Vulcan.Also,
the Subcommander of the Bloodwing, Tafv, who also happens to be the
Commander’s son, betrays his mother and her cause by leading the younger
members of his crew to try to steal the Enterprise for real.Sulu and Chekov lead a resistance to
this.Both the problems on the ship and
on the ground are resolved by our heroes shooting their way out. When the Enterprise,
Intrepid, and Bloodwing are ready to leave they defeat the Romulan
fleet which was sent to stop them.Tafv was mortally wounded in the battle, and
he is dying but he lives long enough to explain to his mother that he did what
he did to avenge his cousin on Kirk and Spock. She then takes his life as
custom dictates she must to a traitor, although he was going to die anyway.
The two leading the ship resistance.
In the end the Federation is in a
good position, the Starfleet characters are set to resume their lives, while
Commander Ael embraces her new existence, taking her ship elsewhere to become a
freelance operator in space.Kirk is
fine with this so long as she doesn’t take up piracy.
Additional thoughts: When “The Search for Spock” was
being written the Romulans were supposed to be the villains.Nimoy changed it to the Klingons because he
wanted to explore their culture more.This
is why the Klingons in that film had a cloaking device on a ship called a bird
of prey.This book gives the Romulans a
chance to shine.However, it is one that
pits Romulan against Romulan.The
honorable ones vs. the corruptible.
Okay, one error the author has in
this book is forgetting that Kirk is better at chess than Spock.Spock is a scientist; Kirk is a military
tactician.Often Kirk’s “illogical”
thinking confounds and confuses him.We
first see this in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and in “Court Martial” Kirk,
thinking his career is over, tells Spock “Maybe he can beat his next captain at
chess.”
Kirk is more the master
This book takes place toward the
end of the five-year mission but what is neat is when Intrepid arrives
it is clearly the Constitution-class refit design, the Enterprise
herself will have by "The Motion Picture."It is also a little sad because it is a reminder that this is the first
Star Trek adventure that features the Enterprise where we know her final
fate. We know the ship will survive this
because she is fated to die in orbit over the Genesis planet.
I really enjoyed the Horta
character, Ensign Dahai Iohor Naraht.“The Devil in the Dark” is one of the great episodes of the original
series. It challenged us to look at life and recognize that the monster in the
dark might not be a monster at all.The
Horta looks like a moving pizza, but the Silicon-based life gives them a great
advantage in certain situations.
Horta
Commander Ael is a great role model
for someone serving in a regime that turns fascist. In the end of the day Ael
is a Romulan patriot but she will stand by while her government commits these
horrible Josef Mengele-type crimes.She
will even defect to her traditional enemies if she can see they have
honor.Yet, she never supplies the
Federation with more information than they need to stop these atrocities, and they
do not get any real advantage over the Empire.It is also interesting to compare her actions to those that Kirk will
take in “The Search for Spock” when he betrays Starfleet for the life of his
friend. There are limits in his betrayal because he won’t give up Genesis to
the Klingons even to save Spock.
I do like that Kirk doesn’t jump on
board immediately with Ael’s plan.For
one it was too great of a risk.She
easily could have been a Romulan plant and given that the Romulans and Vulcans
are kin she may have been able to resist or trick a mind meld.Kirk only agrees when he has no better
option.
In an earlier pair Star Trek novels
The Price of the Phoenix and The Fate of the Phoenix, the Romulan Commander
from “The Enterprise Incident” shows up as an ally to Kirk and Spock.This something I found ridiculous considering
what they did to her in that episode is something that no one would just brush
off as no big deal, and the fact that the Romulans would still have in her in a
high-profile position after that major mess-up is absurd.In this book, her Aunt Ael gives her a more
realistic fate, in her explanation of the aftermath of that encounter.That she was stripped of her command, rank,
and House.This rendering her a
non-person in Romulan society.No one
knows where she is now or what she is doing.
Her fall only makes sense.
I felt the use of the Romulan
language to be distracting, it was interesting at first, but I had to keep
reminding myself that Rihannsu and Romulan are the same thing as the author
keeps using the former.I don’t mind
them mentioning it once but since every other word I don’t see why they don’t
continue to use throughout the book.
Something I found odd, so the Enterprise
is summoned to the Neutral Zone with four other starships.So, you have four separate equally ranked
captains and command staff, don’t you think a flag officer such as a rear
admiral or commodore would have been sent to direct operations instead of a
committee of captains?I thought that
the absence of one was very odd.
Overall, I thought this was a good
story.However, I do feel the ending was
a bit rushed. There was a lot of time building up to this but when the final
event came it was just “shoot and get out of there”-type scenes.
Should it be canon: I see no conflicts with stories
depicted in the action or animated series of any of the shows.So, I have no issue with this book being
accepted into the general canon of Star Trek.
Cover Art: The cover art is pretty cool.It has Captain Kirk on the front holding what
I think is a Romulan disruptor because it doesn’t look like any phaser I have
seen.Behind him is Commander Ael
holding a similar weapon and behind both is a futuristic looking city.
Cast of Characters: Rear Admiral James T. KirkDr.
Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”Commander Hikaru
SuluCommander Nyota
UhuraCommander Pavel ChekovCommander Max Arrunja Lieutenant Commander
Kyle Dr. Christine ChapelLieutenant Commander Janice RandLieutenantSaavikLieutenant (Junior Grade) FosterFleet Admiral Harrison Morrow Captain J.T. EstebanCommander Miguel DarbyCaptain Lawrence H. Styles Lieutenant (junior grade)
HeisenbergDr. David
MarcusCommander KrugeTorgMaltz Ambassador SarekValkrisT’MeiT’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.
Cast: William Shatner as Rear Admiral James T. KirkDeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA
“Bones”James Doohanas Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”George Takeias Commander Hikaru SuluNichelle Nichols as Commander Nyota UhuraWalter Koenig as Commander Pavel
ChekovRobin Curtis as Lieutenant SaavikLeonard Nimoy as the Excelsior’ computer
and as Captain Spock’s adult body Carl
Steven as Young zombie SpockVadia
Potenza as early teenage zombie SpockStephen Manley as older teenage
zombie SpockJoe W. Davis as Young
adult zombie SpockPhil Morris as Lieutenant
(junior grade) FosterGrace Lee
Whitney as Lieutenant Commander Janice RandMark Lenard as Ambassador
Sarek Phillip R. Allen as
Captain J.T. EstebanRobert Hooks as
Fleet Admiral Harrison MorrowJames
Sikking as Captain Lawrence H. Styles Miguel Ferrer as Commander Miguel
DarbyScott McGinnis as Lieutenant (junior grade) HeisenbergChristopher Lloyd as Commander KrugeStephen Liska as Torg John Larroquette as MaltzDavid Cadiente as unnamed Klingon
SergeantBob K. Cummings as unnamed Klingon Gunner #1Branscombe Richmond as unnamed Klingon
Gunner #2Cathie Shirriff as ValkrisPaul Sorensen as Captain Harry PriceDanny Rogers as Hans Markheim Jeanne Mori as unnamed Helm officerMario Marcelino as unnamed Communications
officerMario Marcelino asunnamed AlienSharon Thomas Cain as unnamed WaitressKatherine
Blum as unnamed Vulcan ChildJudith
Anderson as unnamed Vulcan High PriestessGary Faga as unnamed Prison Guard#1Doug Shanklin as unnamed Prison Guard#2Teresa E. Victor as Enterprise ComputerJudi
M. Durand as space dock controllerShirley Anthony as unnamed Vulcan PriestDavid
Armstrong as unnamed Vulcan PriestBenjie Bancroft as unnamed Vulcan PriestJessica
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 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.
