Spock Must Die!

[Therin of Andor]

If young was the way to go then we could have kept David alive. Not the greatest of actors but still......

Actually, I thought Merritt Buttrick was a fine actor.

And it was intended to keep him for whatever future the franchise would have (ie. telemovies?). Until Nimoy indicated he wouldn't mind returning to the ST franchise, Harve Bennett had no intention of killing off his rebellious "young Kirk" character, who seemed well-paired with "Young Vulcan" character, Saavik. As Bennett told a "Starlog" interviewer, Kirk was breaking the cosmic balance by getting Spock back from the dead, and he had to forfeit even more to put things back into balance. Thus, he gains Spock, against all odds, but must lose David and the Enterprise.

Bennett also realised that the only way to save Carol Marcus (for future possibilities) was not to involve her in ST III. Had she also been in the film, she would have been forever tarnished by David's protomatter cheat, and she'd have had to die too. Bibi Besch had been concerned that Bennett had not liked her work in ST II after all, but that's how he explained it to her.

 

[Ultramann]

Would have been nice then to have seen her in Star Trek 6 or at least mentioned, as in the novelization. Would have made Kirk's "let them die!" more in character, or have her in Generations instead of that Antonia chick.

 

[Timewalker]

If young was the way to go then we could have kept David alive. Not the greatest of actors but still......

It would have been moot, since Merritt Butrick died young.

 

[Uxi]

If young was the way to go then we could have kept David alive. Not the greatest of actors but still......

Actually, I thought Merritt Buttrick was a fine actor.

I thought the actor was ok, it was the character that sucked. I can't see how the character works as more than an accessory to Kirk in any future Trek, unless it'a a Wesley squared with him turning out to be really brilliant or special in some way and drummed into starfleet. His whole "scientist as pawns of the military line" keeps coming up, though.

 

[Kamdan]

It does feel a little cheating that Spock dies and then comes back, but as Meyer said about the death of Spock, it matters if it's done well. It was pulled off in a creative fashion and worked to the character's advantage in Star Trek IV. Nimoy changed his mind during the filming of Star Trek II, because he saw a lot of potential, while Star Trek: The Motion Picture just seemed like a one-off that had no potential.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I thought the actor was ok, it was the character that sucked. I can't see how the character works as more than an accessory to Kirk in any future Trek, unless it'a a Wesley squared with him turning out to be really brilliant or special in some way and drummed into starfleet. His whole "scientist as pawns of the military line" keeps coming up, though.

He was created as an eventual replacement for Kirk (as was Will Decker), since Shatner had forewarned that he wasn't interested in more than 13 episodes of "Phase II" (at which time he'd move to guest spots), or regular telemovies (of which ST II was originally slated to be the first). Shatner had his heart set on motion pictures, be they ST or otherwise.

Had Nimoy not returned, I think the film series may very well have gone the series-of-telemovies route. Starring Young Spock (Saavik) and Young Kirk (David) analogs, only this time reversed: the feisty Vulcan captain and her trusty not-Starfleet feisty beau, plus whomever of the TOS supporting cast decided to keep doing the telemovies: Kelley, Doohan, Nichols and Koenig. I'm Takei would have jumped ship if Sulu was kept at the helm; the "Captain Sulu" concept had not yet taken flight.