Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (DVD, 2002, 2-Disc Set, Special Collector's Edition)

Vastly underrated, I think that 'Star Trek III: The Search For Spock' is my favorite of the original crew Trek films.

Following the events of 'The Wrath of Khan' and the death of Spock, the Enterprise returns to Starfleet to discover, with some sadness, that the battle-damaged ship is being decommissioned and replaced with the new Excelsior, commanded by Captain Styles. In the meantime McCoy is acting strangely, behaving like the late Spock. Spock's father, Sarek, informs Kirk that his son's "katra" (all that which is "not of the body") inhabits McCoy. In order to preserve all of Spock's knowledge Kirk must retrieve Spock's body from Genesis and take it, along with the possessed McCoy, back to Vulcan.

Starfleet won't allow it since Genesis is a galactic controversy and is declared off-limits. Undaunted, Kirk, Sulu and Chevkov spring McCoy from the insane asylum whilst Scotty sabotages the Excelsior. The gang steals the derelict Enterprise and sets off for Genesis to retrieve Spock's body. Styles attempts to follow only for the Excelsior to break down, due to Scotty's sabotaging.

At Genesis, a science team led by Kirk's son, David, and the Vulcan Saavik beam down to the surface of the planet to study it and discover that Genesis has rejuvenated Spock as a child (only without his katra he has no memory of who he is). Things get complicated when first David discovers that Genesis is rapidly aging, and Spock with it, and will blow up within a matter of hours, and then a group of Klingons led by the ruthless Commander Kruge arrive and kill everyone but David, Saavik and Spock, with Kruge determined to learn the secret of Genesis for the Klingons or else he'll kill them, too. Can Kirk and the others get there in time!

It's a shame that these two-disc DVDs aren't commercially available anymore as their wealth of production info are quite fascinating. The audio commentary by Leonard Nimoy on the first disc is a great listen. For playing such a reserved character onscreen, Nimoy is a very energetic and cheery speaker.

This is in my opinion one of the best installments in the Star Trek motion picture series. The movie literally picks up right where part two left off and makes excellent use of a loose thread from that movie, where Spock mind-melds with Dr. McCoy. This becomes the basis for The Search for Spock, the attempt to retreive Spocks personal essence, stored in McCoy's brain, and reunite it with his rejuvenated and regenerating body, now marooned on the newly terra-formed Genesis planet from which Spock must be rescued before it self destructs. All this while Captain Kirk has to fend off Klingons eager to get their hands on this new Federation technology they consider a weapon. All together, it adds up to a great entertainment experience.

This movie gets a bad wrap. But, without it, the story arc begun in "The Wrath of Khan", would remain ultimately incomplete. In "Khan", we see Spock make the ultimate sacrifice for his shipmates, giving his life to save them. If the story had ended there, it would have been a true tragedy in every sense of the word. We would have lost the character of Spock once and for all, and there would have been none of the simply great "Trek" moments that came thereafter. I, for one, believe that the story involving McCoy's stewardship of Spock' katra, and the culmination of the return of that katra to Spock's regenerated body, is one of the most truly imaginative and innovative science-fiction ideas of them all. The movie is well-written, well-directed (contrary to popular opinion), and well-executed. Christopher Lloyd plays the perfect Klingon "bad guy"...gritty, determined, without honor. And, Kirk's character just kicks ass. Anyway, if you pass this movie up, you are truly losing out on one of the greatest science-fiction stories of the genre. There's my two cents.

Capt.Kirk and Co. are back in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, a rousing adventure that is easily one of the best of the TREK theatrical movies.Shatner turns in a great performance as Kirk in this romp,disobeying Starfleet orders to try and save his friends McCoy and Spock from a strange predicament.Kirk's Enterprise crew decide to help and they run up against a band of nasty Klingons,led by Christopher Lloyd,while trying to put things right and hopefully bring back their old friend Spock.Nimoy does a great job here as director,keeping the film moving at a crisp pace and throwing in lots of humor to spice up the action.Terrific special effects and great dialogue make this a great space journey for all TREK fans.I do wish they could've brought back Kirstie Alley as Saavik---newcomer Robin Curtis is okay in the role but doesn't have the presence Alley had. That minor quibble aside,Star Trek III is tons of fun, and I recommend this DVD to anyone who loves the classic TREK!

Not Contrived At All... Considering that it was a continuation of the second movie.

Glad that Leonard Nimoy decided to come back to the Star Trek franchise, sometime you will have to read what was happening behind the scenes of the franchise during these movie years! Really opened up my eyes when I read William Shatner's book!!

Definitely a rental for those that don't want to collect the whole ST Movie series, but for those that want ST items to replay, this would be one of them!

Michael