^ That doesn't make any sense. Nimoy only did the sequel because Bennett and Meyer had the death sequence. David was killed to give Kirk a consequence for saving Spock's life. Simple as that.
Why did David have to die?
- Thread starter EJA
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No, it does not - it's ridiculous analysis. One might as well say that fans are one-dimensional in their devotion and unwilling to accept anything truly dramatic of the sort one might see in a real movie if it upsets the familiar Trek apple cart.
The line of thinking from the poster is illogical at best. "He always liked to kill something" is a loaded statement with no basis in fact. All of the deaths (including the destruction of the original Enterprise) had emotional impact and consequences for the characters, especially Kirk which they were designed to do. It had nothing to do with Bennett supposedly "always liking to kill something". I find that ridiculous.
Bennett described his choices in a "Starlog" interview. He described his belief that good stories are about balance and consequences. That doesn't sound one-dimensional to me; lost of great stories involve karmic balance. Kirk managed to get back his best friend from somewhere people are not meant to return, so he must answer to the balances of nature and thus loses both his ship and his son to have Spock restored to full health.
Bennett also mentioned how Bibi Besch was at first saddened she had not been asked to return for ST III, thinking Bennett had perhaps not liked her performance in ST II. Bennett explained to her that, had Carol been a part of ST III, the issue of her knowing (or not knowing) about David's unorthodox use of protomatter would have to be explicitly addressed in ST III, and he didn't want to kill her off, too. And Besch understood his reasoning.
Because the last two films had had a substantial death count. Not because he had "enough control", nor that he disliked Bennett's methods for crafting a story.
I remember Nimoy saying in an interview at the time is that the reason he did TVH was to "lighten the mood" a bit because both series had dealt with such heavy subjects.
Anyhow, I always thought they killed off David because their intention was to have David replace Spock (and Saavik would come along too). Then when they realized Nimoy was back on board and they would no longer pursue that story line they killed him off.
Just my 2 cents.
Anyhow, I always thought they killed off David because their intention was to have David replace Spock (and Saavik would come along too). Then when they realized Nimoy was back on board and they would no longer pursue that story line they killed him off.
Just my 2 cents.
Not quite. Decker and Xon were created to replace Shatner's Kirk (he said he'd only do 13 eps of "Phase II" and hopefully have a movie career by then and would perhaps return in guest spots) and Nimoy's Spock.
When "Phase II" became a movie, Decker was forfeited at the end and Xon was saved for possible future use. Sonak replaced him, but only as a placeholder for Spock.
Then, Saavik was groomed as a Spock replacement (based on a male "Dr Savik") and David was groomed as a Kirk replacement. Had ST II spun off into a series of telemovies, without Nimoy, and with limited input from Shatner, they possibly would have had Saavik in a command role, with David as a co-opted science officer. And a developing romance between Spock and Kirk's "kids".
