Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)

I grew up watching the original Star Trek television series and, like many others, considered Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, McCoy and Scotty almost as family. The advent of syndication gave Star Trek a second wind and the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the original cast back to kick off a successful movie franchise.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was uneven and unimaginative, rehashing familiar television storylines, but the release of the second film, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn was the film all Trek fans had been waiting for. It brought back a character from the original television series that was seeking revenge against Kirk. It was fun and had a lot of great action, wonderful character interaction, the unexpected death of Mr. Spock and exceeded all of the Trek fans expectations.

With the success of Kahn the Trek fans were frothing at the mouth for the next great adventure. The follow up was Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. Like most fans at the time, I expected ST3 to be Kahn, but even more so. In reality, it is a very different story. It deals with Kirk's journey to put his friend, Mr. Spock, into his appropriate final resting place. He sacrifices his friendships, his career and even puts his life on the line because of his love for his friend.

Star Trek: The Original TV Series

I sat down with my movie nut daughter to introduce her to the Star Trek universe. After watching ST3 I turned to her and said "that is some of the best acting I've ever seen William Shatner (Kirk) perform!" Now that the glow of Kahn expectations was over 20 years old, I was able to take in ST3 for what it was, an introspective story on male friendships, of sacrifice, of grieving and of loss. There are some powerful and quiet moments as Kirk struggles with the loss of Spock and the internal battle he faces over it. Sure there are chase scenes and space battles, but this story is so much more than Kahn or any other Star Trek film.

Revisiting this film was a tremendous treat.

If you have the time, I strongly suggest watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in one sitting as they are three films that tell one, continuous story. Follow that up with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and you've tied up the original franchise very well. Avoid Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as they are far less than they could have been.

Twenty-two years ago, I walked out of the theater thinking Star Trek III was an incredible disappointment. Buffering a few decades between viewings has given me the objectiveness to appreciate the story the filmmakers were trying to tell, instead of the story I had expected to see. Rent the DVD and watch Shatner at his best as the infamous character of Captain James T. Kirk.