ST3: Why I love it

[Smellmet]

Specifics?

Do I really need to spell it out? Dead alien is laid to rest on a planet created by a terraforming device, whilst one of his friends is being driven insane due to the fact that said dead guy's 'soul' resides in his head. All the time said dead guy's corpse has been re-animated and has become a child again and needs the memories from his friend to become the person he used to be. What's not preposterous about that?

Yes I know this is Star Trek, and similar criticisms of the plot can be levelled at several, if not all Trek movies, but this really stretches the suspension of disbelief for me. Does the Genesis planet keep regenerating life after it's formation - the plot certainly suggests this, as Spock was placed there after it’s formation, so why does it not effect David or Saavik or anyone else that goes to the surface? If this 'Genesis wave' regenerates dead cells, why does Spock become a child, why does it just just not simply bring him back to life as he was? Equally the microbes on the torpedo that have evolved at super speed into those slug creatures, why has a similar thing not happened to Spock -he should have evolved into, I dunno, ‘Q’ or something by that rationale. It's all just a bit... silly to me. All my subjective opinion of course.

But... at the same time, I really like this movie, it's very entertaining, and serves as a good sequel to it’s classic predecessor, and as I said earlier, has a superb score, solid acting, good FX, and a high rewatch value. It introduced a lot of new things to the franchise, and had the balls to destroy the Enterprise before it became a predictable thing to happen on the big screen.

I also personally loved Lloyd as Kruge, he brought some sly humour to the role as well as being a pretty ruthless bad guy - at least his motivations were clear and not just the usual bigger ship revenge drivel that dragged down the later movies. And has many have mentioned, the big E theft is one of, if not my favourite scene in all of Star Trek. Overall I rank it over TVH and TFF, and maybe close to on a par with TUC too. I’m a massive TMP fan, so can’t rank it above that and TWOK, but I still like it. A lot.

 

[Vger23]

Personally I think TMP, SFS and TFF are all seriously underrated.

I agree wholeheartedly. And to take it a step further, I believe TUC and TVH are seriously overrated. As Kirk said in TUC, "reality is probably somewhere in between."

 

[Khan 2.0]

2nd best of the whole films imho.

 

[BillJ]

I love Kruge, the stealing and destruction of the Enterprise and all the little things the film added in universe. I feel it is the strongest of the "Genesis" trilogy of films. Though I don't think the trilogy has aged very well, overall. I'd rather watch The Motion Picture.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

A great movie despite a few flaws. It suffers mainly from following up a better movie.

 

[Kor]

I liked the character of Kruge (and his doofus cronies), and the way the Federation/Klingon cold war dynamic was depicted. I definitely see the movie Klingons as "feature film versions" of the cunning TOS Klingons.

Kor

 

[F. King Daniel]

Search For Spock may be my favourite of the original movies. I love the worldbuilding, it's the first time we get a decent look at life outside the USS Enterprise. Plus, it's so 80's and it's a lot of fun.

 

[Blamo]

While Search for Spock isn't as good as the even numbered TOS films, I still really enjoy it, especially in the last half.

One of the best things about this movie is it really succeeded in showing the crew as a close knit family. Mourning Spock, the theft of the Enterprise, everyone pulling together on the bridge and fighting Kruge.

It's also amazing how much this one film added to the Star Trek universe. Lets see, it gave us the Klingon Bird of Prey (plus the cloaking effect), Earth Spacedock, the Oberth class, the Excelsior class and the merchant ship.

And yes, one of the things the TOS movies managed to do is make space feel big and give it an "atmosphere", via a combination of sound (the deep rumbling sound of the engines), lighting (red glows from nearby nebulae, stars etc) and movement (very slow, even the Bird of Prey).

 

[Smellmet]

Search For Spock may be my favourite of the original movies. I love the worldbuilding, it's the first time we get a decent look at life outside the USS Enterprise. Plus, it's so 80's and it's a lot of fun.

I still can't rank it above TWOK, if nothing else, it wouldn't exist without that movie, also, whereas TWOK and TVH which bookends the trilogy have more mass appeal in my opinion, TSFS I feel is a film that is more appreciated by a trekkie, and that's no bad thing, for us fans. It's probably the most underrated trek film, I bet there's not many non fans who are even aware if it.

 

[Tracy Trek]

I think it may have been the first Trek film I'd ever seen. I didn't see it in theater. It was like a ABC Sunday night movie. Actually that's the first place I saw Star Wars 4 as well. I had seen bits and pieces of Trek before that on TV but I didn't really get into Trek as a whole until I saw this movie and then the others on video tape.

 

[Smellmet]

I saw the first two on the big screen but only saw TSFS on VHS. At the time I thought it was as good as it's predecessor, it had a lot of cool stuff in it for me as a 11/12 year old.

 

[publiusr]

ST3 made the Trek universe actually seem to rival Star Wars--what with Spacedock.

I like this film the more I see it.

I've watched ST II so much I can't enjoy it any more. Oversaturation.

 

[Khan 2.0]

ST3 made the Trek universe actually seem to rival Star Wars--what with Spacedock.
.

yes there was defiantly a Lucas/SW/Indy influence on SFS

 

[Paradise City]

I thought it was a great film. Kruge is cool. The old crew conniving to get Spock to were he belongs. Kirk all busted up sacrificing the original 'prise (back when blowing up the ship actually had meaning), McCoy being his crutch on that occasion. Chocker-block full of plot holes I might add but a fine film nevertheless.

 

[Armus]

Even though Search for Spock was perhaps not quite as good as 2 or 4 (it is an odd numbered one you know), I've always loved it, but I wasn't sure why. I hated he destruction of the Enterprise. Some of the scenes on the Genesis planet kind of drag on a little. Saavik was recast. While the Klingon bridge was OK, it wasn't as good as it could have been. Cheesy klingon puppet pet. But here's the reasons why I love it.

Space and scale: ST3 never let you forget this took place in space. The "mushroom" space station had a sense of being huge. I love the exterior shots of the Enterprise approaching it which really gave a grand feeling of space. It was beautiful! While I love many forms of science fiction, space sic-fi is far and above my favorite. It gives a sense of exploration and thrill, as well as danger. It is unforgiving, but it is also wondrous. Star Trek 3 made me feel like I was really out in space. I think that is one of the reasons I like the Motionless Picture, in spite of its weaknesses.

They brought Spock back to Trek.

Kirk falling backwards at the news of the death of his son. Symbolic of how he was really knocked off his feet. We don't often see that with Kirk. It made him more human to me.

It lead to a lot of discussion as to whether or not Saavik got knocked up by young Spock. The look that she gives Spock after he gets his Katra back speaks volumes.

Shatner didn't direct it.

The humor was great. It really set up IV nicely. McCoy in the bar, "Don't call me Tiny", "How many fingers am I holding up?", "The word is no. I am therefor going anyway?", Mr. Adventure, "A lucky shot", I could go on, but the humor was just great.

Reverend Jim as the Klingon captain. John Larroquette as the "charming...federation flag" Klingon.

McCoy's speech to Spock about he missed him.

This movie really showed how much they loved each other. It showed how much Kirk was willing to sacrifice in order to save his friend, and how he was unstoppable.

I think that this movie is a worthy addition. I just love it!

Even though I'm not a huge fan of TSFS you articulated very well some of the film's positive elements. I would add Horner's score to that list.

 

[Smellmet]

The level of humour in it represented the best balance of the films IMO, before it went a bit far in 4 and way too far in 5.

 

[Vger23]

I think the first 3 movies are the best out of all 13. They all have different strengths and weaknesses that probably total up to being about equal for me. I think the reason I feel this way is that they actually really moved the characters forward, had epic stories, and took themselves seriously. Even though I like IV, V and VI very much, by that time they seemed to be more winking at the audience and the reality and tension seemed further away for me.

Trek III had great stuff going on, and felt very fresh at the time. It also portrayed the crew as a family and the cast and writing really sold that. The humor was well-balanced with the drama and action, just like the original show. The visuals were compelling, the stakes were high, and the outcome left everyone wondering about the future.

Awesome Trek movie.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I honestly believe that the advanced age(s) of the cast sort of imposed a sense of self-effacement on the TOS movies that TVH opened the door for. With the leading actors pushing 60 years old and playing at Space Action Heroes ... there had to be a wink in there, somewhere. But I'm very glad that didn't rear its ugly head in TSFS. You know ... it's ironic ... Nicholas Meyer shoehorned as many pages of Shakespearean dialogue and references into TUC as the story would allow, but TSFS is the most Shakespearean entry in the entire franchise. It's very theatric, with big themes, big emotions ... and lots & lots of thunder.

 

[Longinus]

It sure is an entertaining film. I think Lloyd is a great Klingon and I prefer Curtis Saavik over Alley Saavik (though it might have been better to write her as a separate character.)

However, there is one problem that I just cannot get past. There is a HUGE glaring plothole. The whole plot of the film just doesn't make fucking sense. There is absolutely no reason for Kirk to want to go to Genesis, he doesn't know that Spock is alive!

 

[Smellmet]

It sure is an entertaining film. I think Lloyd is a great Klingon and I prefer Curtis Saavik over Alley Saavik (though it might have been better to write her as a separate character.)

However, there is one problem that I just cannot get past. There is a HUGE glaring plothole. The whole plot of the film just doesn't make fucking sense. There is absolutely no reason for Kirk to want to go to Genesis, he doesn't know that Spock is alive!

He thinks there's a small chance though - hell the end of TWOK in the captain's log he even says "There are always possibilities," Spock said. And if Genesis is indeed life from death, I must return to this place again."