Product Details

• Actors: Merritt Butrick, Robin Curtis, Joe W. Davis, James Doohan, Robert Hooks
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English, Russian
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: August 25, 1993
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (187 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300214400
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,813 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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• This is item 3 in The Star Trek Feature Films Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

You didn't think Mr. Spock was really dead, did you? When Spock's casket landed on the surface of the Genesis planet at the end of Star Trek II, we had already been told that Genesis had the power to bring "life from lifelessness." So it's no surprise that this energetic but somewhat hokey sequel gives Spock a new lease on life, beginning with his rebirth and rapid growth as the Genesis planet literally shakes itself apart in a series of tumultuous geological spasms. As Kirk is getting to know his estranged son (Merritt Butrick), he must also do battle with the fiendish Klingon Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), who is determined to seize the power of Genesis from the Federation. Meanwhile, the regenerated Spock returns to his home planet, and Star Trek III gains considerable interest by exploring the ceremonial (and, of course, highly logical) traditions of Vulcan society. The movie's a minor disappointment compared to Star Trek II, but it's a--well, logical--sequel that successfully restores Spock (and first-time film director Leonard Nimoy) to the phenomenal Trek franchise...as if he were ever really gone. With Kirk's willful destruction of the U.S.S. Enterprise and Robin Curtis replacing the departing Kirstie Alley as Vulcan Lt. Saavik, this was clearly a transitional film in the series, clearing the way for the highly popular Star Trek IV. --Jeff Shannon

From the Back Cover

Admiral Kirk's defeat of Khan and the creation of the Genesis planet are empty victories. Spock is dead and McCoy is inexplicably being driven insane. Then a surprise visit from Sarek, Spock's father, provides a startling revelation: McCoy is harboring Spock's living essence. With one friend alive and one not, but both in pain, Kirk attempts to help his friends by stealing the U.S.S. Enterprise and defying Starfleet's Genesis planet quarantine. But the Klingons have also learned of Genesis and race to meet Kirk in a deadly rendezvous.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars underrated meditation on the nature of friendship, April 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (DVD)

Don't be fooled by some of the negative reviews here. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a thoughtful meditation on the nature of friendship. I admire its careful attention to developing a classical story arc in which Kirk is driven by concern for his friends (Spock and McCoy) and by outer events (a feckless Federation bureaucracy) to steal the Enterprise and outwit and outrun enemies on all sides. Indeed, the film's first act is a gem: a model of balanced writing in its build-up to Kirk's inexorable conclusion that he must steal the Enterprise to save his friends. Among the priceless scenes in that first half-hour: A visit by Spock's father to Kirk's San Francisco pad in which, during a "mind meld" between them, successive shots end with a quiet, touching close-up of Kirk's eye as he relives Spock's "death" in the previous film; Scottie's hilarious asides toward a pompous captain played deftly by character actor James Sikking; and Kirk being told by a superior officer that under no conditions can he undertake a mission to save his friends as the camera tracks in on him, staring off in the middle distance, his inevitable insubordination written on his face. Good stuff. Even better is the focus (singularly among the Star Trek movies, which usually concern the Enterprise crew saving the Earth or the universe) on Kirk's mission to save his friends and the sacrifices he makes in the process. I can tell you (if you haven't seen the film) that these sacrifices are significant, in once case touchingly sad and in another spectacular. Other reasons to see Star Trek III: It contains a terrific, humorous, self-consciously strapping but still tough villain played by Christopher Lloyd; a really good, early James Horner (of Titanic fame) score; elegant special effects (including the real-time destruction of a planet tearing itself apart that holds up well); William Shatner's best performance ever (be honest -- he does a nice, even subtle job in this film as a soulful, resourceful, and self-sacrificing Kirk -- indeed, the Kirk character has never been more appealing); an apropos climax that, unique to the science fiction genre, is understated and gentle and moving; a swift pace; deft direction from Leonard Nimoy; genuine surprises that, when I first saw the film, I could not believe were happening (including a clever and powerful one involving the Enterprise itself); and a mythic elementalism in which the battle-scarred Enterprise crew seems straight out of Homer and Kirk makes a forceful stand-in for Odysseus. This film deserves a reappraisal from Trekkers, but more importantly, from the general public. Nicely done.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A difficult film to make, and Nimoy and Shatner did it., April 1, 2006

By	Mr. Eddie (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

Star trek III is widely considered to be an infinitely inferior sequel to The Wrath of Khan, yet is in fact a more complex film and has a much more difficult task set in front of it. Although not perfect, it is an engaging story filled with a number of excellent reversals and has some of Shatner's best acting.

Montalban is the absolute driving force in Star Trek II and much of that film relies on this fact. Christopher Lloyd does a fine job as a merciless Klingon, yet it is up to Shatner to carry this film. And he does an great job. His stealing of the Enterprise gives Kirk back the initiative in the entire series, and is one of the all-time great moments for the original cast. Why this sequence, and so many others, is not given more credit is beyond me. One gripe: As usual, Kirk gets a LOT of screen time, cut-aways shots etc. at the expense of the other cast members.

Mired in some necessary exposition, The Search for Spock effectively navigates its way through Klingons, Vulcans, the tragic genesis project, Starfleet regulations... no easy task. The finale is lovingly presented, and tests the depths of not only the crews's emotions but that of the audience and fans. Nimoy did a fine job with this film, and it led the way to the unprecedented Star Trek IV.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great continuation, September 2, 2002

By	K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (DVD)

Star Trek III The Search for Spock is a wonderful, middle movie to the more or less trilogy of II, III and IV. I was a little disappointed that Kirstie Allie couldn't pick up where she left off in the role of Saavik. Robin Curtis does do a very good job though. Christopher Lloyds Klingon Commander is absolutely Klingon through and through. All of the original cast members are true to their characters. Overall, Star Trek III is not the best of the original six, but it's most certainly not the worst either. A wonderful story that, like all the rest, I've watched more times than I can remember.