Review of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) by Data B — 27 May 2010

SCORE: 06/10.

BUDGET: $16 MILLION.

GROSS REVENUE: $87 MILLION.

FINAL JUDGEMENT: CAME OFF AS A "CHEESY" MOVIE WITH AN UNEVEN MIX OF TENSION AND HUMOUR, IT'S A REAL MIXED BAG!

At the time the producers and actors didn't realise that they were in the process of telling a loose trilogy - TWOK acting as a dramatic and dark movie which resulted in the sacrifice of Spock, TSFS acting as the aftermath of these actions and the results of what had happened, with crew searching for Spock on Genesis, while "The Voyage Home" began with the resurrection of Spock and finally veered off into a different direction altogether.

TSFS is the middle chapter and its a rather strange movie. It seems to produce a mix of the darker elements of TWOK and the comedic elements of TVH.

It's the polar opposite of what TMP was in terms of scope in my opinion.

"The search for Spock" isn't boring on the whole and the the Klingons provide their first major appearance in the film franchise. What I am a little annoyed by though is the cheesy sets on Genesis and the rather slow scenes regarding the resurrection of Spock on Vulcan at the end of the movie. It's simply not a terribly exciting movie and it hasn't aged as well as TWOK either despite the extra $2 MILLION added to the budget.

Strangely this is a movie that was apparently aimed at the fans more than the casual audience - perhaps reflecting in the loss of $10 MILLION that was achieved with "The Wrath of Khan". I am a fan myself and I will say that TSFS is not really any good really.

Its better than the first but not as good the second in my opinion.