ST3 is a terrific film. (It’s not as strong an entry as ST2, but what movie could be?) It also has some of William Shatner’s finest acting moments in the role of James T. Kirk. Leonard Nimoy’s direction was solid, and he got good performances out of Shatner and the rest of the cast. Christopher Lloyd, as usual, plays himself.
You are not wrong about that gut punch over the enterprise, i remember sitting watching this on VHS rental back in the mid 80s and the bit they watched the flaming enterprise streaking across the sky was indeed a gut punch.
Then they did it so many times afterward that it lost all potency going forward and was equivalent to the another death star having to be blown up.. YAWN!
@@TheRadioAteMyTV I stopped watching any new Trek after the Tv show Enterprise finished, i won't touch the JJ universe apple store shiny things trek, i won't touch STD, which is the write name for it, or the charactor assasination piece that is Picard, BUT, i did give SNW a go and i liked what i saw, so i await season 2 with my fingers crossed. ;)
Agreed - a real "AW, SHIT!" moment. Remember that bit in 'The Naked Time' (the original, NOT that skinpeelingly bad episode of TNG) where Kirk is losing it, puts his hand on a door panel or something as says to the Enterprise "I'll never lose you" - still great! Mind you - I don't recall Virgil doing/saying something similar to Thunderbird 2, prior to it being accidentally shot down by 'de navy'.
@@bob23301 You are wise. I have watched some of the new stuff and it was not Star Trek at all. Good to hear about Strange New Worlds. I have not messed with it, but glad to hear good things. I might get around to it still with such good recommendations.
I grew up on TOS. I had the blueprints. I made a decent replica of the bridge in my bedroom. I watched the Enterprise die in the theater, and almost cried.
I was 15 at the time, and my dad and i both phoned in sick to go watch the premier of ST3. First time i had ever done something like that. Back then, nobody knew what would happen and it was like watching a live sporting event. The crowd cheering and yelling and reacting. I lived and breathed star trek, all my life. Watching the enterprise being destroyed horrified me. At first the damage wasn’t too bad, it could be fixed , then an explosion, still fixable…. Burning up in the atmosphere, nope. I sobbed most of the way home.
The ship was the standout star of the movie. "Stealing the Enterprise" is one of the best scenes in all of Star Trek, and had its own great death scene. I was 11 at the time, and distinctly remember being gratified that they finally went all the way with the destruct sequence.
16:37 - Spot on. Also, it's irksome whenever someone dismisses the movie due to Christopher Lloyd. The man kicked ass in the movie, yet some keep whining how all they see is Doc Brown... pure cynical idiocy.
This is an example of a trilogy of films (II, III & IV) each unique and not part if a preplanned arc, but work beautifully together. LOVE the idea that Saavik remained on Vulcan because she was pregnant. Sadly, no other film or show in the franchise touched on this. What a missed opportunity! That child would be a perfect lead protagonist age in Picard's era!
I've only recently discovered Stam Fine and have been enjoying the gems in the extensive back catalogue over the last week. There are many YT channels with similar reviews of course - but the combination of the "just right amount of detail", the presentation and the humour make it stand out from the crowd for me. Each subject is obviously well researched and many are labours of love (just thinking back to "And in the 4th series of The Goodies..", MASH and the recent Babylon5.) Live long and be nostalgic.
Hahahha me too. I found him through Man from Atlantis two weeks ago and just like you I went to his first videos and am catching up as well. Him and Minty Comedic Arts and Jonny Baak are all Ausies who really know how to do this retro film thing super well. Stam is the weakest on research of the three but strongest on humour inserts.
Yes he definitely has an edge others don't. The reviews feel nostalgic but are generally more fun and legitimately funny in places, as well as being super knowledgeable about the subject matter. It's perfectly balanced.
One clarifying point...ST2 made $79.8 million, while the first movie made $82.7 million. Technically, Wrath of Khan made less, but that's generally regarded as a similar box office performance. And because of its cost over runs, The Motion Picture needed to gross 2 or 3 times its budget to even be profitable. It isn't about "cheap space adventures", it was about setting a realistic budget so they wouldn't lose money.
Paramount insisted Nimoy get some more directing experience before filming, so Shatner arranged for him to direct an episode of T.J. Hooker. Paramount execs were impressed and gave him the go ahead to direct STIII.
Comedian, Kevin Pollick , is a big Star Trek fan and does a great bit about how without the makeup, Kruge is Reverend Jim from Taxi. If you've never seen the show, go watch now. Lloyd did a guest spot in the first season and was brought back as a regular in season 2. The scene of him taking his driver test is a comedy classic.
This is the most positive review of STIII I've ever seen/heard, and it's well stated (as usual, Stam Fine, I mean how do you not have more subscribers?). I can't remember before STIV (and seen all movies since), but this finally has given me the interest to finally watch STIII.
@@ricardocantoral7672 It's the curse of being a sandwich film. It's a great film but it serves its purpose so well of finishing 2 and prepping for four it can't be a stand out because it can't stand alone. A true victim of its own success.
RUclips has just started pushing him, as so many others are new and saying the same thing, so he is now going to get slammed with lot of new folk and he is good enough to keep it going. Hope others go back though, because he has always been doing it right.
Have you seen the Futurama episode"Where no fan has gone before". It has a wonderful quote from Nimoy and Shattner . Nimoy "When I directed Star Trek 4 I got a great perfomane out of Bill because I respect him so much" Shattner "And when I directed Star Trek 5 I got a great peformane out of me because i respect me so much"
Saw this in theater when it first came out. I remember Enterprises death scene. So sad seeing that and the whole theater audience was soooooooo quite when it happened. Wow!🤯
Watching “the Search for Spock” in the theater as a kid and being a major trekker, it’s hard to overstate what a big deal the destruction of the Enterprise was. I actually got into a state after that, when Kirk was fighting Kor, where I legitimately thought that Kirk might die - even though my brain “knew” that wouldn’t happen. Yeah it was very powerful stuff, and I personally mourned the Enterprise.
The Search for Spock received a poor reception because some reviewers looking back at the original Star Trek movies see it in between II and IV. It was the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters and when it came out it was considered a strong, successful entry leading into Star Trek IV being approved by Paramount. I appreciate this review and will add some strong points about this movie: 1. This movie is very cinematic in that it feels like a movie. Whatever budget limitation they had the original series movies always felt cinematic. Compare and contrast this with the TNG movies where two felt very much like episodes (Generations, Insurrection) and one descended into schlock action (Nemesis). 2. The movie continues the themes from Wrath of Khan and shows a logical progression of developing and use of the Genesis device. 3. The depiction of the Klingons is remarkable. They are ruthless, menacing, and the depiction of them progressed from what was established in the original series. Christopher Lloyd deserves a lot of credit for bringing a wonderful villain to the screen. Kruge actually called Kirk's bluff and forced him to improvise. He manages to make Kruge interesting and while he may simply seem like a one note villain he comes across as someone with deeper motivations. The Klingons were completely ruined in TNG and DS9. This started with the TNG writers forgetting the Romulans were the honorable race in TOS. Ronald D. Moore completely reduced them to a defanged caricature that was a worse joke than the Ferengi when they started. You do not see the TOS film and movie Klingons talking ad nauseum about honor, roaring, acting like feral animals and being absurd. Robert O'Reiley 4. This movie captured the brilliant character moments of TOS. Kirk and the crew putting everything on the line to save Spock was a remarkable continuation of theme and spirit in classic Trek that was absent from the TNG movies and completely non-existent in the so-called reboots that are Star Trek in name only. I rank Star Trek III above all the TNG movies and reboot films and only find VI, IV and of course II as better films overall. I never realized just how good we had it.
_STIII_ is a solid, fun heist caper and a love story about a man who loses everything in the hope of saving the one thing he can't live without: his friend. The major flaw was the miscasting of Christopher Lloyd over Edward James Olmos. Nimoy wanted Olmos but Harve Bennett blocked it.
Olmos, Rutger Hauer, or Armand Assante would have been good choices. I think Lloyd did a good job but I would have preferred one of the aforementioned names.
@@shannonbayley3684 Outside of Doc Brown, my favorite Chris Lloyd role was as the surprisingly creepy character in the movie The Onion Field. He plays a character only known as "The Jailhouse Lawyer", a deathrow inmate. His real name is never revealed and neither is his crime. He doesn't have a lot of screentime and he unceremoniously disappears but you won't forget him after the credits role.
Lloyd was already the "it"guy by 1983 when Search for Spock was being cast. Olmos career would really take off when Miami Vice debut on NBC in the fall of 1984.
.. nothing new we fans didn't already know but your presentation, humor and wit (the enterprise cosplay bit about using an elevator 🤣) made your video and a chance for nostalgic welcomed! Btw David's death wasn't really a necessary plot point. Harve Bennett said he just didn't know what to do with the character.
This is my favourite. I recorded it on VHS back in the 80s and would watch it every weekend. I still know most of the dialogue. The model work is superb and man, that "stealing the Enterprise" sequence is outstanding.
I agree with you on Search For Spock getting a bad rep due to it being an odd numbered film. It's a good film, and it's the middle chapter of one of the best trilogies ever. And not all even numbered Trek films were good. Star Trek: Nemesis was the 10th film.
Also USS Excelsior, the first accurate depiction of Vulcan (since the visual effects in STTMP were not properly completed when that film was released), and the first real depiction of the galactic political situation which we see from the view point of Starfleet Command and which would be expanded upon in later TOS films to include the Federation Council the Federation President, and the Starfleet Admiralty. The Star Trek world which had been so focused around the Enterprise during the television series and first two films, was really fleshed out to show how Starfleet was this vast organization.
Costume design on this was outstanding. Refreshing that it isn't the uniform all the time. Those retro-futuristic looks could become popular even today. Ya never know. Except for Chekov's little boy outfit. bless his heart
What came after Star Trek III, was the atrocious re-use of blowing up the Enterprise. When they did it in three it was a true tear jerker moment for all Star Trek fans, but then they just kept destroying the ship again and again. They took something powerful and real and turned it trite and cheap - no different than the million death stars all showing up and all having trenches to be blown up. Talk about ruining not just a good thing but a real thing that was amazing, and making it into a plastic ring from the top of a cup cake that can't wait to be thrown out as soon as it is touched.
Christopher Lloyd - "CAMELPOO CHARDONNAY" - ok not accurate Klingon but it still works (at wedding etc., just before I'm told (yet again) to em, 'grow up'). Fun!
The Enterprise blowing up was actually in the trailers but it wasn't clear whether it was the Enterprise or another Constitution class vessel. We didn't think they'd actually blow it up, so it did come as a shock.
Military vessels that are 20 years old are still basically teenagers. I can't even fathom how much it would cost to build the Enterprise; I'm sure it was made to last more than 20 years.
Stam your reviews are just as epic and legendary as these Star Trek Movies..thank you I've laughed so much. I'm a new sub and a huge fan now. Good on you buddy 👍👍👍😎
Stan Fine, I just discovered your channel, and subscribed. Very nice work! I like this film a lot, but I have some gripes with it. I don’t know how much negotiation they did with Kirstie Alley’s agent, but it was a mistake to recast her. Some of the soundstage scene were extremely obvious, which was distracting. Chekov’s civilian clothes were a crime against the galaxy! The biggest sin of all, was leaving Uhura behind. She loved Spock as much as everyone else, and should have been with the boys on the mission. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to watching more of your reviews! 🖖😀
I just watched it for the first time since I was 21 and saw it in first run. At the time, I kept my expectations down, since Wrath of Khan was (and remains) my favorite movie. I was disappointed anyway. On tonight's rewatch, I thought that the visual effects were awful around the spacedock. I wish that nobody ever had taught me about exposition, because the exposition is so hamfisted here. And three times people talk on the radio telling the person on the other end that they are talking on the radio. Christopher Lloyd is great here. I completely missed John Laroquette. The stealing the Enterprise sequence is great. The luring the Klingon crew to its death sequence is great. The fight between Kirk and the Klingon commander is long and unbelievable. (There is only one movie that has succeeded with one opponent on top of a cliff with his enemy hanging on the edge: Blade Runner. Special mention to The Princess Bride for cleverly avoiding the problem.) (Peter Jackson totally ripped off the falling into lava shot in Return of the King.) How the disarmed Enterprise crew took the Klingon ship was never explained, or even hinted at. The Enterprise crew was uniformly good, but that cannot be said of all the supporting actors. A more experienced director would have fixed that. One word to describe STIII: Uneven.
Star Trek III is a great film, but you are right, it suffers from it's success of being a bridge movie. Watching it in retrospect does like you said, every frame feels like a set up for the following movie and finishing touches on the prior film. It is not a stand alone film at all. When we saw it in the theaters we didn't know for sure there would be a follow up, but since the film industry was swamped in sequels it seemed likely (not like now where it's a ll reboots of 40 year old titles - geesh!). It's a great film, but it never felt and really isn't a stand alone film, so it doesn't get to stand out either.
"Face the music"! Please do Bill & Ted. Less known in germany but in 33 years I got many, many people to see/like it. And the german version is special in syncro. They made it their own with (not exact translated) special quotes. Bunt ist das Dasein und granatenstark. Volle Kanne, Hoschi!
I always felt this was an underrated film, and IV somewhat overrated. IV is so often the Star Trek for non-Trek fans, with its largely Earthbound setting and cheesy humour. III, while never hitting the heights of Wrath of Khan, really does a great job. DeForest Kelly gets to show off his acting chops and Christopher Lloyd's scenery-devouring performance as Kruge arguably redefined Klingons for the Next Gen era. "Yes, exhilarating, isn't it?"
This film really shouldn't be seen as an example of the uneven film curse. The first act was weak but when Kirk and company finally take off for Genesis, it ends up being a fine space adventure flick and I honestly think it's better than The Undiscovered Country.
Just found your channel after the algorithm suggested this vid - already subscribed and queued up about 10 others! Heres hoping you get to Undiscovered Country - I'd love to hear what you think about my personal absolute favourite Trek film!
I had one BIG question 5 seconds after seeing Generations - did Captain Peckerhead NOT (have to) do the Kobayashi Maru test? If not, why not? Still awaiting an answer....
ST3 is probably DeForest Kelly's best performance. Shatner does great, too, though I think he helped save the entire franchise in ST 2. Christopher Lloyd was the most entertaining guest actor in Trek (I never warmed to Christopher Plummer). But, despite all that, ST 4 is still my personal fave, I find its humor and convolutions and its weird little bits like the annoying freak on the bus, some comic bits with Kirk and Spock ("Yes,." "No." "Yes.") and Spock swimming with the whales entertaining. Goes to show, these had a lot of depth, and the "trilogy" of II - IV is the best of Trek, bar none.
I wish they would make trek films now, in the same way as they did in the 80s but with even better FX. Instead of the crap we have been getting for the last 12 years or so, with the crazy Camera angles and lens flair and terrible scripts ect. I've always really liked this movie with the stealing of the enterprise and its destruction. Kirk's reaction to losing his son, falling back off his chair and being upset but he still has to save his crew in that moment also. I could never understand why certain fans of the franchise didn't like the search for Spock.
Abrams Trek would have had Kirk demanding that he stay on board so he could kill the Klingons one by one with the timer running out. He also would have killed Kruge without hesitation instead of offering him a chance to live. He probably would have broken his neck, yelled, and then tossed his body into the lava. Way better than those boring movies that old people like. Joking aside, '09 Trek had a purpose and that was to get the average movie goer into the theaters. I didn't like the film but I understand why it was written the way it was. Into Darkness was the one that should have been something that the fans would have appreciated. Instead, we got a TV buddy cop scenario mixed in with in yet another regurgitation of Wrath of Khan. That film is easily the worst feature length Trek film of all.
Come on! of course Trek fans knew the Enterprise was a big character one the franchise - that’s why we got all those shots in the 1st Trek film when Kirk sees the updated Enterprise. Despite all the jokes, True Trek fans know #3 was a good film.
3:45 I've never been able to understand it either. By today's navy standards, 20 years is barely midlife for a warship, especially a capital ship. 4:13 Oh, the irony: Bimbo: "Brain, brain, what is brain?!"
One of the worst things that Star Trek was guilty of. They killed off Scotty's nephew, Kirk's son, and Picard's nephew. Did Sulu's daughter survive, or was she also a casualty?
Can I say I never liked the reason for the planet being unstable given in the film, I always though that the planet being made from a nebular would have been sufficient excuse enough
Im a Trekker, but I can't believe a community can be so idiotic as to think that a movie is bad just for having an odd number. That's one of the most toxic superstitions ever to come out of a fandom.
It wasn't really the fandom pushing that at first. It was film reviewers Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert who were trying to put forward a point of view that Star Trek II and Star Trek IV had much more main stream appeal based on the action and presence of Ricardo Montaban in ST II and due to the lighter tone, and environmental messaging of ST IV. They were putting it out there that the first and third films were more trekkie orientated and didn't appeal as much to those who were not devoted fans of the franchise. When ST V actually bombed in the summer of 1989 (dominated by Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Ghostbusters 2, it really set in, that odd numbered Trek films were all bad films.
It’s interesting… Nimoy got a better performance from Shatner than Meyer - Meyer used the method of having Shatner repeat his lines endlessly until he was bored - and it shows in II and VI. III is by far the most emotional of all, and I would say feels more epic than II… better editing and cinematography. So much of II feels so much cheaper… the music (Horner vastly improved this time), the scope, fx, sound, ILM’s work. I rank the original Trek movies best to least: I, III, V, II, IV, VI. V trumps the others because of nostalgia, seeing it in a Cinerama theater when I was 8…. and it has THE best music of all the films. The odd numbers also happen to be most like the original show (and II a bit)
..ironically though wrath of kahn made pretty good money, the studio didn't let nimoy have the money he wanted to build the sets he wanted as well. They were to shoot some of the tropical scenes on the genesis planet in Hawaii. Paramount never really believed in the potential nor the fans of star trek
This destruction of the Enterprise in this movie is the most powerful, because it was unexpected and organic to the story. The subsequent Enterprise destructions carried less impact, and by the JJ movies, it was just trite.
ST3 is a terrific film. (It’s not as strong an entry as ST2, but what movie could be?) It also has some of William Shatner’s finest acting moments in the role of James T. Kirk. Leonard Nimoy’s direction was solid, and he got good performances out of Shatner and the rest of the cast. Christopher Lloyd, as usual, plays himself.
"How can you be deaf with EARS like that??"
DeForest Kelley is pure gold in this film.
How very true and every ST Film there after as well.
That "How many fingers am I holding up" line is perfection.
.. they actually had to tie the shat's fingers together with black threat because he can't separate them the right way into the vulcan symbol
@@snoopytrekschannel- That's OK, neither can I.
You are not wrong about that gut punch over the enterprise, i remember sitting watching this on VHS rental back in the mid 80s and the bit they watched the flaming enterprise streaking across the sky was indeed a gut punch.
Then they did it so many times afterward that it lost all potency going forward and was equivalent to the another death star having to be blown up.. YAWN!
@@TheRadioAteMyTV I stopped watching any new Trek after the Tv show Enterprise finished, i won't touch the JJ universe apple store shiny things trek, i won't touch STD, which is the write name for it, or the charactor assasination piece that is Picard, BUT, i did give SNW a go and i liked what i saw, so i await season 2 with my fingers crossed. ;)
Agreed - a real "AW, SHIT!" moment. Remember that bit in 'The Naked Time' (the original, NOT that skinpeelingly bad episode of TNG) where Kirk is losing it, puts his hand on a door panel or something as says to the Enterprise "I'll never lose you" - still great! Mind you - I don't recall Virgil doing/saying something similar to Thunderbird 2, prior to it being accidentally shot down by 'de navy'.
@@bob23301 You are wise. I have watched some of the new stuff and it was not Star Trek at all. Good to hear about Strange New Worlds. I have not messed with it, but glad to hear good things. I might get around to it still with such good recommendations.
I grew up on TOS. I had the blueprints. I made a decent replica of the bridge in my bedroom. I watched the Enterprise die in the theater, and almost cried.
I was 15 at the time, and my dad and i both phoned in sick to go watch the premier of ST3. First time i had ever done something like that. Back then, nobody knew what would happen and it was like watching a live sporting event. The crowd cheering and yelling and reacting. I lived and breathed star trek, all my life. Watching the enterprise being destroyed horrified me. At first the damage wasn’t too bad, it could be fixed , then an explosion, still fixable…. Burning up in the atmosphere, nope. I sobbed most of the way home.
Dads are great 👍
Always remember that. 😉
The ship was the standout star of the movie. "Stealing the Enterprise" is one of the best scenes in all of Star Trek, and had its own great death scene. I was 11 at the time, and distinctly remember being gratified that they finally went all the way with the destruct sequence.
Probably my favourite sequence of the Genesis Trilogy
Love the amusingly placed clip inserts
Gratified????? Why?
16:37 - Spot on. Also, it's irksome whenever someone dismisses the movie due to Christopher Lloyd. The man kicked ass in the movie, yet some keep whining how all they see is Doc Brown... pure cynical idiocy.
Ha ha! Loved the tie-in with 'In Search Of' footage.
This is an example of a trilogy of films (II, III & IV) each unique and not part if a preplanned arc, but work beautifully together. LOVE the idea that Saavik remained on Vulcan because she was pregnant. Sadly, no other film or show in the franchise touched on this. What a missed opportunity! That child would be a perfect lead protagonist age in Picard's era!
Agreed! Missed potential there, indeed! I’d say write it and get a copy write on it if Trek weren’t already dead.
I've only recently discovered Stam Fine and have been enjoying the gems in the extensive back catalogue over the last week. There are many YT channels with similar reviews of course - but the combination of the "just right amount of detail", the presentation and the humour make it stand out from the crowd for me. Each subject is obviously well researched and many are labours of love (just thinking back to "And in the 4th series of The Goodies..", MASH and the recent Babylon5.) Live long and be nostalgic.
Hahahha me too. I found him through Man from Atlantis two weeks ago and just like you I went to his first videos and am catching up as well. Him and Minty Comedic Arts and Jonny Baak are all Ausies who really know how to do this retro film thing super well. Stam is the weakest on research of the three but strongest on humour inserts.
Yes he definitely has an edge others don't. The reviews feel nostalgic but are generally more fun and legitimately funny in places, as well as being super knowledgeable about the subject matter. It's perfectly balanced.
One clarifying point...ST2 made $79.8 million, while the first movie made $82.7 million. Technically, Wrath of Khan made less, but that's generally regarded as a similar box office performance. And because of its cost over runs, The Motion Picture needed to gross 2 or 3 times its budget to even be profitable. It isn't about "cheap space adventures", it was about setting a realistic budget so they wouldn't lose money.
James Horner's soundtracks are kick ass - they always get me pumped when I hear them!
More excellence from Stam Fine. Always look forward to seeing your content.
Paramount insisted Nimoy get some more directing experience before filming, so Shatner arranged for him to direct an episode of T.J. Hooker.
Paramount execs were impressed and gave him the go ahead to direct STIII.
Comedian, Kevin Pollick , is a big Star Trek fan and does a great bit about how without the makeup, Kruge is Reverend Jim from Taxi. If you've never seen the show, go watch now. Lloyd did a guest spot in the first season and was brought back as a regular in season 2. The scene of him taking his driver test is a comedy classic.
I saw Maurice LaMarche do a good routine. Young comedian special in 80s.
This is the most positive review of STIII I've ever seen/heard, and it's well stated (as usual, Stam Fine, I mean how do you not have more subscribers?). I can't remember before STIV (and seen all movies since), but this finally has given me the interest to finally watch STIII.
The hate over III is just silly. The film is a fine space adventure movie.
ST III is great - love TWOK & TSFS equally
@@ricardocantoral7672 It's the curse of being a sandwich film. It's a great film but it serves its purpose so well of finishing 2 and prepping for four it can't be a stand out because it can't stand alone. A true victim of its own success.
RUclips has just started pushing him, as so many others are new and saying the same thing, so he is now going to get slammed with lot of new folk and he is good enough to keep it going. Hope others go back though, because he has always been doing it right.
It's a decent popcorn movie. Has its cheesy aspects, but all Star Trek movies inevitably do.
Have you seen the Futurama episode"Where no fan has gone before". It has a wonderful quote from Nimoy and Shattner .
Nimoy "When I directed Star Trek 4 I got a great perfomane out of Bill because I respect him so much"
Shattner "And when I directed Star Trek 5 I got a great peformane out of me because i respect me so much"
Thanks!
I really loved Christopher Loyd as a Klingon. When I first watched the film, I still thought of him as that guy from Taxi.
I love 3. Its the best first half of any of them for me.
Saw this in theater when it first came out. I remember Enterprises death scene. So sad seeing that and the whole theater audience was soooooooo quite when it happened.
Wow!🤯
I was in shock for a while. Nothing like a connie
Watching “the Search for Spock” in the theater as a kid and being a major trekker, it’s hard to overstate what a big deal the destruction of the Enterprise was. I actually got into a state after that, when Kirk was fighting Kor, where I legitimately thought that Kirk might die - even though my brain “knew” that wouldn’t happen.
Yeah it was very powerful stuff, and I personally mourned the Enterprise.
He was fighting Kruge.
The Search for Spock received a poor reception because some reviewers looking back at the original Star Trek movies see it in between II and IV. It was the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters and when it came out it was considered a strong, successful entry leading into Star Trek IV being approved by Paramount. I appreciate this review and will add some strong points about this movie:
1. This movie is very cinematic in that it feels like a movie. Whatever budget limitation they had the original series movies always felt cinematic. Compare and contrast this with the TNG movies where two felt very much like episodes (Generations, Insurrection) and one descended into schlock action (Nemesis).
2. The movie continues the themes from Wrath of Khan and shows a logical progression of developing and use of the Genesis device.
3. The depiction of the Klingons is remarkable. They are ruthless, menacing, and the depiction of them progressed from what was established in the original series. Christopher Lloyd deserves a lot of credit for bringing a wonderful villain to the screen. Kruge actually called Kirk's bluff and forced him to improvise. He manages to make Kruge interesting and while he may simply seem like a one note villain he comes across as someone with deeper motivations. The Klingons were completely ruined in TNG and DS9. This started with the TNG writers forgetting the Romulans were the honorable race in TOS. Ronald D. Moore completely reduced them to a defanged caricature that was a worse joke than the Ferengi when they started. You do not see the TOS film and movie Klingons talking ad nauseum about honor, roaring, acting like feral animals and being absurd. Robert O'Reiley
4. This movie captured the brilliant character moments of TOS. Kirk and the crew putting everything on the line to save Spock was a remarkable continuation of theme and spirit in classic Trek that was absent from the TNG movies and completely non-existent in the so-called reboots that are Star Trek in name only.
I rank Star Trek III above all the TNG movies and reboot films and only find VI, IV and of course II as better films overall. I never realized just how good we had it.
Many years ago I watched this movie on acid and came up with the alternative title "Finding Nimoy"
Naming one of the Starfleet vessels, Grissom was a nice touch. A nod to the Apollo 1 crew
Except the Grissom gets destroyed, and Gus Grissom was killed, along with astronauts White and Chaffee, when the Apollo 1 capsule caught fire in 1967.
_STIII_ is a solid, fun heist caper and a love story about a man who loses everything in the hope of saving the one thing he can't live without: his friend. The major flaw was the miscasting of Christopher Lloyd over Edward James Olmos. Nimoy wanted Olmos but Harve Bennett blocked it.
Olmos, Rutger Hauer, or Armand Assante would have been good choices. I think Lloyd did a good job but I would have preferred one of the aforementioned names.
Lloyd was good, but I'll never not see Doc Emmett Brown 🤣
@@shannonbayley3684 Outside of Doc Brown, my favorite Chris Lloyd role was as the surprisingly creepy character in the movie The Onion Field. He plays a character only known as "The Jailhouse Lawyer", a deathrow inmate. His real name is never revealed and neither is his crime. He doesn't have a lot of screentime and he unceremoniously disappears but you won't forget him after the credits role.
Lloyd was already the "it"guy by 1983 when Search for Spock was being cast. Olmos career would really take off when Miami Vice debut on NBC
in the fall of 1984.
Christopher Lloyd was always a top #3 Klingon for me through the entire saga. He nailed it.
Doc Brown witb a bumpy head id say.
I remember my uncle taking me and my brother to see this on Dundas Street in London (Canada). One of my first theatre memories.
During a random conversation, suddenly do a sharp intake of breath, followed by "GENESIS!!!???". Works every time!
"Kirk has had some fine times in things that are 20 years old," Good lord, man, you're hilarious.
I guess my dad was a secret Spock fanboy- he had the exact same haircut as older Spock here. RIP dad.
.. nothing new we fans didn't already know but your presentation, humor and wit (the enterprise cosplay bit about using an elevator 🤣) made your video and a chance for nostalgic welcomed! Btw David's death wasn't really a necessary plot point. Harve Bennett said he just didn't know what to do with the character.
Stan does a “fine” job of combining entertainment and research 🎉
I tend to forget just how gorgeous some of the shots in 3 were.
“Pop a Spock on it” is one of the greatest phrases ever!
Anything is better if you pop a Spock on it! 🤣
Excellent movie. Like a western. Genes intention. A western in space.
This is my favourite. I recorded it on VHS back in the 80s and would watch it every weekend. I still know most of the dialogue. The model work is superb and man, that "stealing the Enterprise" sequence is outstanding.
The insert of the In Search Of segment was a nice touch.
Good video.
I agree with you on Search For Spock getting a bad rep due to it being an odd numbered film. It's a good film, and it's the middle chapter of one of the best trilogies ever.
And not all even numbered Trek films were good. Star Trek: Nemesis was the 10th film.
Cracking humour, love this newly found channel. Subscribed!
Awesome writing, delivery, presentation and editing!
Nimoy's FIRST masterpiece as a director (he'd have a few more)!
@@kthx1138 He's talking about this video, not ST3. But yes, Leonard Nimoy did a great job on this and other's.
Great work as always mate.... Looking forward to IV
Not true because it's odd#!!! Star Trek III was very good that showed just how much the crew was dedicated to one another. Great film!
Bloody funny review. Cheers mate.
When that guy told him he'd never sit in the captain's chair, Kirk was already an admiral.
Klingon son, you killed my bastard!!
thanks for all the extra info and detail in this video. Awesome;
A lot of firsts introduced in this movie. The Bird of Prey got its debut, Klingons that we know them now, Grissom class, The space Station, Transwarp.
Also USS Excelsior, the first accurate depiction of Vulcan (since the visual effects in STTMP were not properly completed when that film was released), and the first real depiction of the galactic political situation which we see from the view point of Starfleet Command and which would be expanded upon in later TOS films to include the Federation Council the Federation President, and the Starfleet Admiralty.
The Star Trek world which had been so focused around the Enterprise during the television series and first two films, was really fleshed out
to show how Starfleet was this vast organization.
It's Friday so it's another Stam Fine video. Let's go ❤
Costume design on this was outstanding. Refreshing that it isn't the uniform all the time. Those retro-futuristic looks could become popular even today. Ya never know. Except for Chekov's little boy outfit. bless his heart
What came after Star Trek III, was the atrocious re-use of blowing up the Enterprise. When they did it in three it was a true tear jerker moment for all Star Trek fans, but then they just kept destroying the ship again and again. They took something powerful and real and turned it trite and cheap - no different than the million death stars all showing up and all having trenches to be blown up. Talk about ruining not just a good thing but a real thing that was amazing, and making it into a plastic ring from the top of a cup cake that can't wait to be thrown out as soon as it is touched.
I always liked 3. It was about the 3 main guys, most like an episode.
Christopher Lloyd - "CAMELPOO CHARDONNAY" - ok not accurate Klingon but it still works (at wedding etc., just before I'm told (yet again) to em, 'grow up'). Fun!
Shatner's hair by House of Wigs!
The Wrath of Wigs!
The Enterprise blowing up was actually in the trailers but it wasn't clear whether it was the Enterprise or another Constitution class vessel. We didn't think they'd actually blow it up, so it did come as a shock.
Military vessels that are 20 years old are still basically teenagers. I can't even fathom how much it would cost to build the Enterprise; I'm sure it was made to last more than 20 years.
All hail Captain Jonathan T. Esteban, the most cautious Caprain of the Starfleet !
I always wondered if there's a reason his first and middle initials are the same as Kirk's.
@@carlrood4457 Wonder if it is from from here Captain Archer got his first name, or he got it from Commander Frakes .
"Risk" must not have been in his vocabulary.
Stam your reviews are just as epic and legendary as these Star Trek Movies..thank you I've laughed so much. I'm a new sub and a huge fan now. Good on you buddy 👍👍👍😎
Great work Stam Fine. Thank you for all the thought and effort you invest in your content.
Stan Fine, I just discovered your channel, and subscribed. Very nice work! I like this film a lot, but I have some gripes with it. I don’t know how much negotiation they did with Kirstie Alley’s agent, but it was a mistake to recast her. Some of the soundstage scene were extremely obvious, which was distracting. Chekov’s civilian clothes were a crime against the galaxy! The biggest sin of all, was leaving Uhura behind. She loved Spock as much as everyone else, and should have been with the boys on the mission.
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to watching more of your reviews! 🖖😀
I just watched it for the first time since I was 21 and saw it in first run. At the time, I kept my expectations down, since Wrath of Khan was (and remains) my favorite movie. I was disappointed anyway. On tonight's rewatch, I thought that the visual effects were awful around the spacedock. I wish that nobody ever had taught me about exposition, because the exposition is so hamfisted here. And three times people talk on the radio telling the person on the other end that they are talking on the radio.
Christopher Lloyd is great here. I completely missed John Laroquette. The stealing the Enterprise sequence is great. The luring the Klingon crew to its death sequence is great. The fight between Kirk and the Klingon commander is long and unbelievable. (There is only one movie that has succeeded with one opponent on top of a cliff with his enemy hanging on the edge: Blade Runner. Special mention to The Princess Bride for cleverly avoiding the problem.) (Peter Jackson totally ripped off the falling into lava shot in Return of the King.) How the disarmed Enterprise crew took the Klingon ship was never explained, or even hinted at.
The Enterprise crew was uniformly good, but that cannot be said of all the supporting actors. A more experienced director would have fixed that.
One word to describe STIII: Uneven.
At 15:56, haven't mentioned it yet but might the cool wing design was actually Nimoy's own idea to ILM.
9:59 Well, Chekov had been serving on the Reliant in the previous film up until Khan commandeered it. Maybe that's why🤣
Khanandeered, surely? 😁
Star Trek III is a great film, but you are right, it suffers from it's success of being a bridge movie. Watching it in retrospect does like you said, every frame feels like a set up for the following movie and finishing touches on the prior film. It is not a stand alone film at all. When we saw it in the theaters we didn't know for sure there would be a follow up, but since the film industry was swamped in sequels it seemed likely (not like now where it's a ll reboots of 40 year old titles - geesh!). It's a great film, but it never felt and really isn't a stand alone film, so it doesn't get to stand out either.
"fine; I'll kill you later."
Great line and best way to deal with a klingon
"Face the music"! Please do Bill & Ted. Less known in germany but in 33 years I got many, many people to see/like it. And the german version is special in syncro. They made it their own with (not exact translated) special quotes. Bunt ist das Dasein und granatenstark. Volle Kanne, Hoschi!
Star Trek: Generations was an excellent film! I have never heard anything of it being considered poor.
I always felt this was an underrated film, and IV somewhat overrated. IV is so often the Star Trek for non-Trek fans, with its largely Earthbound setting and cheesy humour. III, while never hitting the heights of Wrath of Khan, really does a great job. DeForest Kelly gets to show off his acting chops and Christopher Lloyd's scenery-devouring performance as Kruge arguably redefined Klingons for the Next Gen era.
"Yes, exhilarating, isn't it?"
Pretty damn fine recovery from Spock's death, plausible resurrection story! It made sense that the Genesis planet would regenerate Spock!
I really like this movie - in its own way it is as strong as 2 and 4. Great review 😊
Chekov’s outfit in this film looks like, what my brother and I called the "Pink Pilgrim".😆
This film really shouldn't be seen as an example of the uneven film curse. The first act was weak but when Kirk and company finally take off for Genesis, it ends up being a fine space adventure flick and I honestly think it's better than The Undiscovered Country.
really I always felt the first act was the best part and the villain drags it down
I find that the later films haven't aged too good. But 1 & 2 still hold up.
An entertaining and lively review. Thanks mate!
Great commentary, of a Great film.
Fun auto-captioning moment when you bring up Spock's Vulcan puberty, aka "pond fire".
Oh they keep coming... "As we say on Earth: 'Celery'"
Somehow, Genesis has made Spock return.
I really liked how the universal translator did not translate French into Klingon, take that Frenchie's 😆
Just found your channel after the algorithm suggested this vid - already subscribed and queued up about 10 others! Heres hoping you get to Undiscovered Country - I'd love to hear what you think about my personal absolute favourite Trek film!
Enterprise destruction was painful to watch.
I always see the captain of the Excelsior as Doogie Howser's Dad.
I had one BIG question 5 seconds after seeing Generations - did Captain Peckerhead NOT (have to) do the Kobayashi Maru test? If not, why not? Still awaiting an answer....
ST3 is probably DeForest Kelly's best performance. Shatner does great, too, though I think he helped save the entire franchise in ST 2. Christopher Lloyd was the most entertaining guest actor in Trek (I never warmed to Christopher Plummer). But, despite all that, ST 4 is still my personal fave, I find its humor and convolutions and its weird little bits like the annoying freak on the bus, some comic bits with Kirk and Spock ("Yes,." "No." "Yes.") and Spock swimming with the whales entertaining. Goes to show, these had a lot of depth, and the "trilogy" of II - IV is the best of Trek, bar none.
Vonda McIntyre's novelisation is worth reading as it goes deeper.
Kudos to her for patching several of the holes in the script.
I see Star Treks II and III as one long film, with "Star Trek IV" as the comedy sequel.
I wish they would make trek films now, in the same way as they did in the 80s but with even better FX. Instead of the crap we have been getting for the last 12 years or so, with the crazy Camera angles and lens flair and terrible scripts ect. I've always really liked this movie with the stealing of the enterprise and its destruction. Kirk's reaction to losing his son, falling back off his chair and being upset but he still has to save his crew in that moment also. I could never understand why certain fans of the franchise didn't like the search for Spock.
I totally agree.
I miss the vibe of 80's/90's Star Trek. Really miss the ORIGINAL CREW.
Abrams Trek would have had Kirk demanding that he stay on board so he could kill the Klingons one by one with the timer running out. He also would have killed Kruge without hesitation instead of offering him a chance to live. He probably would have broken his neck, yelled, and then tossed his body into the lava. Way better than those boring movies that old people like.
Joking aside, '09 Trek had a purpose and that was to get the average movie goer into the theaters. I didn't like the film but I understand why it was written the way it was. Into Darkness was the one that should have been something that the fans would have appreciated. Instead, we got a TV buddy cop scenario mixed in with in yet another regurgitation of Wrath of Khan. That film is easily the worst feature length Trek film of all.
Come on! of course Trek fans knew the Enterprise was a big character one the franchise - that’s why we got all those shots in the 1st Trek film when Kirk sees the updated Enterprise. Despite all the jokes, True Trek fans know #3 was a good film.
loved the movie. saw it many times.
3:45 I've never been able to understand it either. By today's navy standards, 20 years is barely midlife for a warship, especially a capital ship.
4:13 Oh, the irony:
Bimbo: "Brain, brain, what is brain?!"
One of the worst things that Star Trek was guilty of. They killed off Scotty's nephew, Kirk's son, and Picard's nephew. Did Sulu's daughter survive, or was she also a casualty?
Can I say I never liked the reason for the planet being unstable given in the film, I always though that the planet being made from a nebular would have been sufficient excuse enough
Im a Trekker, but I can't believe a community can be so idiotic as to think that a movie is bad just for having an odd number. That's one of the most toxic superstitions ever to come out of a fandom.
It wasn't really the fandom pushing that at first. It was film reviewers Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert who were trying to put forward a point of view that Star Trek II and Star Trek IV had much more main stream appeal based on the action and presence of Ricardo Montaban in ST II and due to
the lighter tone, and environmental messaging of ST IV. They were putting it out there that the first and third films were more trekkie orientated
and didn't appeal as much to those who were not devoted fans of the franchise.
When ST V actually bombed in the summer of 1989 (dominated by Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Ghostbusters 2,
it really set in, that odd numbered Trek films were all bad films.
@@TheLAGopher ugh one more reason to dislike Ebert who I always thought is overrrated
@@ElOchentero What's funny is, Ebert gave I and III positive reviews. Then when VI was released, he said only the even numbered Treks worked.
Please explain the "Auntie Beryl walks out the jungle with a necklace of human teeth" reference.
she's had an interesting life.
It’s interesting… Nimoy got a better performance from Shatner than Meyer - Meyer used the method of having Shatner repeat his lines endlessly until he was bored - and it shows in II and VI. III is by far the most emotional of all, and I would say feels more epic than II… better editing and cinematography. So much of II feels so much cheaper… the music (Horner vastly improved this time), the scope, fx, sound, ILM’s work. I rank the original Trek movies best to least: I, III, V, II, IV, VI. V trumps the others because of nostalgia, seeing it in a Cinerama theater when I was 8…. and it has THE best music of all the films. The odd numbers also happen to be most like the original show (and II a bit)
All rise for the destruction of the Enterprise. Who didn't shed a tear for her glorious destruction?
Robin Curtis as Saavik kind of looks like Zachary Quinto with a wig having done voice training
I remember sitting in the cinema as a young man and crying silently at the destruction of the Enterprise.
..ironically though wrath of kahn made pretty good money, the studio didn't let nimoy have the money he wanted to build the sets he wanted as well. They were to shoot some of the tropical scenes on the genesis planet in Hawaii. Paramount never really believed in the potential nor the fans of star trek
This destruction of the Enterprise in this movie is the most powerful, because it was unexpected and organic to the story. The subsequent Enterprise destructions carried less impact, and by the JJ movies, it was just trite.
Hey Mr Fine, you're Australian, aren't you? Have you ever mentioned:
Cook --> Kirk
Banks --> Spock
?
A very good video ✔️
What do you do when your last film killed Spock?
You pop a Spock in the directing spot.