McGinnis: Star Trek III?s Mr. Adventure

[TrekToday]

In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Trek fans were amused by a character known as “Mr. Adventure,” played by Scott McGinnis, whose desire to escape “the hind end of space” led to his being locked into a closet by Commander Uhura after his wish for a little excitement came true. Mr. Adventure was [...]

More...

 

[Green Shirt]

Uhura shoulda vaporized his whiny ass.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^But then we wouldn't have the image of his excuses of why he was in a closet!

 

[Kirby]

Keep in mind it was a different time back in the early 80s. Sure, he was in the closet, but eventually he came out of that closet.

 

[R. Star]

Uhura forced him into the closet? I mean she's old, but she's not that bad looking!

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Didn't mean that kind of a closet.
I meant that he could say he was in the closet with a beautiful woman.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I admit I was a bit confused as to why Uhura locked him in there in the first place. Was she just pissed at him for insulting her? ("someone whose career is winding down...") If so, did she bother to alert Starfleet that he's in there? Better hope he didn't starve to death in there, and that he's not claustrophobic...

Sure, he did make a smartass remark. But in all other respects, he was just a loyal Starfleet officer doing his duty. Why did he deserve this?

I mean, it's not as if he could have actively interfered with Uhura's plans. She was his superior officer (and thus he would follow whatever orders she gave) and could probably kick his ass in a fight. Both reasons why he surely would never have actually tried to block whatever she was doing. So I doubt that's the reason...

 

[Brikar99]

I figured it was to help keep him from calling for help while Kirk and the others were making their escape.

 

[RyanKCR]

According to the novelization she did it to protect his career so he would not get into trouble for what happened. He might be embarrassed by the situation but she didn't mind that because of his comments to her.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

According to the novelization she did it to protect his career so he would not get into trouble for what happened.

Really. Hmm. I wonder if it worked.

Even if Uhura left behind a sworn statement that she alone was at fault (and testified to that effect at trial - in fact, every one of them was witness to Mr. Adventure protesting "No orders? No encoded IDs?"), would Starfleet believe it? I'm guessing there's some kind of log of every command executed at that station, complete with a record of who performed it, so there'd be "proof" that all of the transporting was done by Uhura alone, but still...I wonder if this guy faced a court-martial for this. We know that the rest of them did.

Edit: Memory Beta says that Mr. Adventure appeared in the novel Catalyst of Sorrows (in which he is named 'Scott Heisenberg'). Anyone read that? What happened to him?

 

[Therin of Andor]

in which he is named 'Scott Heisenberg'

He is named Heisenberg in the ST III novelization, too. It's an in-joke relating to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

and was eventually picked up in TNG, with the transporter's "Heisenberg compensator".

 

[Ssosmcin]

He fascinated me due to his lack of earlobes.

 

[NebulaClassGuy]

Cool little article. He seems like a nice guy.

 

[zephramc]

According to the novelization she did it to protect his career so he would not get into trouble for what happened.

Really. Hmm. I wonder if it worked.

Even if Uhura left behind a sworn statement that she alone was at fault (and testified to that effect at trial - in fact, every one of them was witness to Mr. Adventure protesting "No orders? No encoded IDs?"), would Starfleet believe it? I'm guessing there's some kind of log of every command executed at that station, complete with a record of who performed it, so there'd be "proof" that all of the transporting was done by Uhura alone, but still...I wonder if this guy faced a court-martial for this. We know that the rest of them did.

Edit: Memory Beta says that Mr. Adventure appeared in the novel Catalyst of Sorrows (in which he is named 'Scott Heisenberg'). Anyone read that? What happened to him?

There seems to be video logs of everything that occurs onboard starships so I'd assume that's true of Starfleet installations as well. I'm sure SF security would replay the logs and see (and hear) Mr. Adventure's protests as well as Uhura holding him at phaser-point and locking him in the closet.

Out of curiousity, I wonder why Kirk didn't give Uhura a heads-up that they were on their way. Uhura could have sent Mr. Adventure on an errand to get some coffee or something while she beamed them to Enterprise. Kirk's plans to go to Genesis would have been cut short if Mr. Adventure were packing his own phaser or was a worldclass martial artist or something.