retro review: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

“I’d be grateful, admiral, if you’d give the word.”

With that line, even if it’s enigmatic out of context, Scotty is voicing the major theme of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

The context: Spock has died at the end of the previous film, but due to a unique combination of groundbreaking technology— the Genesis Effect that has revived Spock’s body — and Vulcan mysticism— his soul is more or less possessing the body of Dr. McCoy — Spock’s friends and crewmates just might be able to bring him back.

It won’t be easy. Starfleet Command has officially ordered the Enterprise crew to stay away from the Genesis Planet where Spock is awaiting rescue. The gang knows that in order to rescue Spock, they will have to commit several serious crimes in the process. They will, however briefly, be outlaws. They are risking their careers, their freedom, and their very lives.

At one point fairly early into the adventure, Admiral Kirk informs his crewmates that they haven't yet passed the point of no return, and it's not too late for them to turn back.

That's when Scotty delivers that line. Kirk is right that no one would blame them for backing out at that moment, but for the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, who hold their duty to Starfleet Command as something almost sacred, some things surpass even duty. Courage. Friendship. Loyalty.

They don’t think twice before accepting the challenge.

There is a theme running throughout The Search for Spock, a theme that elevates it beyond mere space opera, both by its mere presence, and also by the film's refusal to get preachy on the subject -- and that theme is family. On the one hand, there are the more traditional familial bonds that play pivotal roles in the plot: The search for Spock is set into motion by a demand from Spock's father, Sarek, and Kirk's dramatic, shocking act of vengeance on the Klingons is motivated partially by their murder of his son, David Marcus. But the true family at the heart of the film is the crew of the Enterprise itself. It's unclear at what point in their adventures the crew became a family, but by now, it's undeniably happened. Yes, the crew must face many challenges in their quest to reunite Spock's body and mind. Starfleet has ordered them to stay away. The fastest ship in the galaxy has been assigned to hunt them down. The Klingons are attacking. The planet is decaying from under their feet. But the idea that any of this should give them pause never occurs to anyone. Sarek eventually learns that even if he is Spock's father by blood, Spock has, over the decades, built up his own family as well.

It's become an odd tradition for Trekkies to tell each other that the even-numbered movies are good, the odd-numbered ones not so much. The Search for Spock is the best argument against that silly rule. This is an action-packed, witty story, told with both style and substance. It does the seemingly impossible: reversing the dramatic death of a major character without cheapening or lessening the death's original impact. Sure, comic books, science fiction stories, and even soap operas reverse death all the time, but the inevitable effect is always a cheapening of the idea of death itself. Not so here.

I love this movie. It's hard to find flaw in it. It was made back when Star Trek movies paid more attention to story than to mindless action. Abrams and Kurtzman could learn a thing or two from watching it again.