Spock's body in Star Trek III

[Vasquez Rocks]

I was watching Star Trek III the other day and I'm confused about something. Why did the crew go back to Genesis for Spock's body? His katra was in McCoy's head. Sarek doesn't say anything about needing his body for the ceremony. For that matter they don't even know if there is still a body to bring back. Putting it in a photon torpedo and shooting it towards the planet would make one assume that it would be destroyed, but no one brings this up.

I realize they had to go to Genesis or you wouldn't have much of a movie, but it seemed like the writers could have done something better there.

 

[sonak]

this was just a screw-up by the writers or during the filming process. It was supposed to be the case that Kirk got the news that they'd discovered Spock's body fell safely to Genesis before the whole "stealing the Enterprise" plot to go retrieve Spock from Genesis took place.

I guess they changed the opening of the movie or the order or something and now it's just a glaring mistake.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

See, that makes much more sense than what ended up on screen. I wonder what happened, because that's the main focus of the film and it's done rather sloppily. Although, I have to admit I just noticed it this time around.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Sarek doesn't say anything about needing his body for the ceremony.

He does in the novelization. The film leaves out a lot of the explanatory Vulcan mysticism.

The person receiving the katra is supposed to "remember" to have the dead body taken to the Hall of Ancient Thought. There the katra is reunited with the body once more and the katra goes off with the other katras. Not all Vulcans are so honoured; "the keeper of the katra" should have known that Spock's body should not be "buried in space". Sarek wasn't expecting to hear that Spock's body had been irradiated and had also assumed that Kirk was "the keeper of the katra".

 

[Robert D. Robot]

^ Very interesting! This explains a lot. Thank you, Therin of Andor!

 

[Therin of Andor]

^ Very interesting! This explains a lot. Thank you, Therin of Andor!

Vonda McIntyre hit several assumption problems when novelizing ST II, because at the time it wasn't a given there'd be a ST III, or that she'd be novelizing it.

In the ST II novelization, Jedda is a bald Deltan (as suggested by the script). Saavik is attracted to David Marcus and a relationship develops. IIRC, Spock had taped a will requesting burial in space. Impulsive half-Romulan Saavik reprograms the burial tube to head to Genesis, where she assumes it'll burn up on entering its atmosphere. The book was written before the end scene of the tube on Genesis was added to the movie.

This was all tweaked for the ST III novelization, IIRC. The tube unexpectedly soft-lands, and is discovered by Saavik and David on Grissom, which reports it to Starfleet. Sarek had no idea Spock had baulked at his katra going into the Hall of Ancient Thought, but seemingly Spock had changed his mind by transferring it to McCoy. Amanda is studying to become a priestess and is not to attend the ceremony (or what ended up being the ancient Fal-Tor-Pan ceremony, a Refusion of a katra with its unexpectedly living body). We don't see her onscreen till ST IV. The Saavik/David romance as written in the books was complicated because this film required the Saavik/Spock pon farr scene. Also, Saavik is treated onscreen as a full Vulcan now, not the feisty half-Romulan of the ST II script and McIntyre's novelizations.

In the ST IV novelization, a male Deltan encountered by Carol Marcus has long hair (connecting back to explain the appearance of the actor John Vargas in ST II, who of course had no need to shave his head to play a generic Genesis scientist). This also caused confusions about Efrosians (ST IV and VI)

I elaborate on the Deltan/Efrosian dilemmas here:
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2006/11/truth-about-efrosians-pard_116269248336471480.html

 

[T'Girl]

Saavik reprograms the burial tube to head to Genesis, where she assumes it'll burn up on entering its atmospherel

Am I misremembering?

In the novel, the torpedo tube was originally supposed to burn in the atmosphere, but Saavik secretly reprogrammed it to land on the surface.

 

[Therin of Andor]

In the novel, the torpedo tube was originally supposed to burn in the atmosphere, but Saavik secretly reprogrammed it to land on the surface.

That's why I said "IIRC". I seem to recall a clever bit of tap dancing by Vonda re Saavik's motives from the end of the ST II novelization and the beginning of the ST III novelization.