Star Trek III and IV

Up next we have Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, released in 1984.


Scribe's Remind Me Why They Killed Him Off Just to Bring Him Back Review:

It took me a long time to love this film as much as I currently do. My mom was quite literally obssessed with it. As a Trekker (the preferred nom de geek) she was devastated when Spock died saving his shipmates in the previous installment.

When the film was released on home video, I would wake up to the opening flashback sequence nearly every weekend for what seemed like years. Yet, when I'd first seen it, Trek III served to remind me why I was slowly becoming a casual fan of the series.

This was also the darkest of the six original films in tone as well as lighting. First time director Leonard Nimoy does a damn good Ridley Scott impression, creating what is effectively a film noir involving crushed souls and the opportunity for redemption.

The Genesis Device's legacy continues to cause problems as well. Despite Kirk's belief that Spock is dead on the surface of the newly formed Genesis planet, his son the scientist has a dark secret he's keeping regarding his role in the creation of the torpedo used to create life from lifelessness. It is a secret that can turn it into a weapon of destructive force. However, one Klingon, a misguided patriot, has decided it already is a weapon and races to aquire it for his own people.

Shatner has never been finer in this somber film, his usual quirks and scene-mugging subdued to the point of nigh-extinction. The visuals are great, thanks to the wise decision to start using ILM on the previous film, and the story, while predictable in some spots, still has the ability to shock and awe, in one scene in particular I won't reveal to those who might not have seen it due to living in the sewers for the past 20 odd years!

***** out of *****

GREEN'S UNSTABLE EXPLODING PLANET REVIEW:

Finally realizing that Spock mind-melded with McCoy before dying, Admiral Kirk and crew purposefully disobey Starfleet orders when they leave Earth to bring Spock's body back to Vulcan, risking their careers in the process. An over eager Klingon commander seeks to claim the secrets of the Genesis Device for himself as an ultimate weapon.

This is the first of two consecutive Star Trek moviess directed by Boston, Massachusetts native Leonard Nimoy, who wonderfully displays his directorial talents here. It's an excellent film that successfully bridges the gap between my two favorite films in the original cast films.

What will forever taint this movie for me came when I was in college in the late 1980's or early 1990's. I was watching a Rodney Dangerfield comedy club show on HBO that featured many (at the time) up and coming comedians. During one of the acts, one of the comedians noted that Commander Kruge is played by Christopher Lloyd, who for many years played Reverend Jim on the television series "Taxi". He did an imitation of Kruge in the drunken/stoned voice of Reverend Jim that was so spot on good that I still have difficulty in my mind separating the two characters. I don't get that sensation in anything else I've seen Christopher Lloyd in. It's kind of weird how our minds associate stuff like this.

Some other interesting cast notes from this film that I noticed were John Larroquette ("Night Court") as the Klingon Maltz and Miguel Ferrer ("Robocop" and "Crossing Jordan") as the First Officer. Robin Curtis, in her screen debut, does an adequate job replacing Kirstie Alley as Lt. Saavik.

**** out of *****


This was followed by Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which was released in 1986.

Scribe's Save the Whales Review:

This was the Trek film that appealed to fans and non-fans alike. By wisely deciding they'd gone a little too far into fan-boy/girl territory, the producers realized it was time to lighten up the mood with a story for everybody.

Time travel tales were always among the more popular ones on the original series, so that is what Nimoy and company did. Directing for a second time, Nimoy also reprises his role as a newly ressurected Spock who must re-learn all the human minutiae he's picked on over the decades.

The plot is hippy-dippy central. An ancient space probe arrives tearing the Earth's oceans apart and killing all power sources looking for...something. The Enterprise crew, now mutineers awaiting their day in court, speed back to Earth in their stolen Klingon vessel when they hear the probe's transmission. Turns out it is speaking in whale language. Only problem there is whales are extinct in the 23rd century.

It's a relatively simple matter to slingshot around the sun and travel back to 1986 where whales are still alive and bring them back to their present to tell the probe to go away, everything's cool.

But---say it with me --- wacky antics ensue and nothing is as simple as it seems. This results in some truly funny moments, especially Kirk teaching Spock about 20th Century swearing. Not my favorite in the series because it was a little too mainstream, but a great film none the less.

**** out of *****

GREEN'S CETACEAN BIOLOGIST WANNABE REVIEW:

On the return voyage to Earth, the Enterprise crew, forced to fly home in a Klingon Flea-trap, ummm...Bird of Prey, learns that the Earth is being damaged and on the verge of being destroyed by an alien probe (that looks like a giant Slim Jim) whose communications humans cannot understand. Kirk and crew are forced to identify the creature that can successfully communicate with the probe so they can, as McCoy said, "tell the probe what the hell to go do with itself."

This installment is right up there with "Wrath of Khan" as my absolute favorite films in the original cast Trek movies because the story took me (and many other people) totally and quite pleasantly by surprise. What we end up with is a brilliant contemporary commentary on how man has become careless and irresponsible with the earth and other living creatures that inhabit it, neatly and inoffensively packaged as a Star Trek film.

Leonard Nimoy returns to direct this film and again does a superb job. Catherine Hicks is very believable as Gillian, the cetacean biologist with a soft heart for hard luck cases. I love the scene where Gillian first picks Kirk and Spock up in her beat up green pick-up truck.

Trivial cast notes that interested me from this film were Madge Sinclair, who, according to imdb, became the first female Starship captain shown in any Star Trek television show or movie, in her role as the unnamed captain of the U.S.S. Saratoga. Kirk Thatcher, who played the hood on the bus, wrote the song "I Hate You" that is playing on his boom box. He also provided the voice of the Vulcan computer and served as an Associate Producer of this film.

***** out of *****