William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Admiral Kirk must battle the Klingons to protect the Genesis Planet and save a friend's life.

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61% liked it

23,435 ratings

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76% liked it

38 critics

PG, 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Leonard Nimoy

Release Date: December 31, 1984

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DVD Release Date: April 18, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (2,008)


  • September 21, 2009
    'You Klingon bastard you killed my son'! Christopher Lloyd is probably the best Klingon yet.
  • July 6, 2009
    Not too terrible. It was fun to see Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon. I hope that someday if my kid ever gets murded that I remember to scream, "You Klingon Bastards!"
  • April 23, 2009
    Star Trek III:L The Search For Spock had the same duty as Return of the Jedi, Temple of Doom, and the upcoming third part of Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise- it had to follow up a great film that it would obviously be compared to. These are always no win situations because p...( read more)eople will find flaws with it no matter what and film makers will almost try too hard to capture some of the magic from the previous installment.

    Now to give Star Trek III its due, I will say that it's a good sci-fi film and serves as the bridge in what I have been told is the Genesis trilogy. The film opens right where Star Trek II left off with the crew of the Enterprise led by Captain Kirk (William Shatner) bringing their wounded ship home from the Genesis planet. What no one realizes is that Spock (Leonard Nimoy) (and I'm going to say this in lingo so that non-Trekkies like myself can understand) uploaded his files to Dr. McCoys (Deforrrest Kelly) hard drive. Yes, Spock is dancing around Bones' head. Kirk, after learning that it may be possible to bring Spock back ends up stealing the Enterprise and going to Genesis to save his friend, but there's a catch: Klingons (led by Christopher Lloyd) have already landed on the planet looking for the secrets of Genesis.

    So does it hold up to the previous installment? Yes, it does stand on its own, although it tends to play like an old audio cassette with the tape being warped. One moment it drags down and feels slow, the next it's going way to fast, mainly in the last twenty minutes. You can't say much about the acting other than the core characters are there playing the roles that they were typecast in years ago. Lloyd actually isn't bad as a Klingon, even though while he was on screen I kept imagining him screaming "Run for it Marty!" in Klingon.

    Leonard Nimoy directed this installment, ushering in the era of Star Trek actors getting to direct with a good eyes even though the film does have its up and downs. He doesn't waste huge amounts of time on the space shots like the original film, which I thank him profusely for. Bless you, Mr. Spock.

    Star Trek III stands as a middle of the road sci-fi film that gets its glory from having the words Star Trek in its title. It's an enjoyable film. Nothing to spectacular, but it will entertain.
  • October 29, 2008
    Picking up where "The Wrath of Khan" left off, McCoy seems to be going mad, the Enterprise is being retired, Kirk mourns the loss of Spock and his son Dr. David Marcus is off exploring his newly created Genesis planet with the lovely Vulcan vixen Saavik (exit Kirstie Alley, enter...( read more) Robin Curtis). Kirk then finds out from Sarek (Mark Lenard, who had a brief, unrecognizable role in the opening of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" as an ill fated Klingon Commander and played a Romulan before playing Spock's dad) catches up with Kirk and tells him that there's a chance at resurrecting Spock, who's mind and spirit are housed in McCoy's brain while his body is on Genesis. Feeling obligated to return the favor for saving them all at the end of #2, Kirk and the gang hijack the Enterprise and rush towards the Genesis planet to rescue Spock "in whatever form he may still be alive." Meanwhile, a bodily resurrected and rapidly re-aging Spock has been found by Saavik and David and they are stranded on Genesis after their ship is destroyed by Klingon Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) and he comes looking for them in hopes of unlocking the secrets of the Genesis project, which he thinks could be used as a weapon against his people. Who will survive?

    Considered by some to be trash and by others to be the only good odd numbered Star Trek film, this is a sufficiently entertaining bit of science fiction yarn that continues following the theme of what happens when you mess with mother nature. Good performances as usual, with Lloyd giving one of his best as the Klingon Commander Kruge, who becomes oddly sympathetic in light of his blood thirsty actions when you consider that he was just looking out for his own brood and was willing to spare the crew of the USS Grissom. Shatner's brawl with Lloyd is also fun to watch, and the film still has that great James Horner music. Don't miss Shatner kicking Lloyd in the face shouting "I... have HAD... enough of... YOU!"

    Robin Curtis is a capable Saavik. As a bit of trivia, Saavik apparently engaged in sexual intercourse with Spock while he was going through his aging phases and, as part of an idea never utilized in the films or even in the spin off series, Saavik became pregnant with Spock's child, which was originally why she was supposed to stay on Vulcan in "Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home".
  • September 6, 2008
    Not one of the better Star Trek films.
  • October 28, 2009
    Loved it just like all the Star Trek movies....
  • October 22, 2009
    not even christopher lloyd could save this one.
  • October 5, 2009
    You Klingon bastards!!You killed my son!-James T.Kirk

    ...( read more)yle="text-align:center;font-size:10px;">Flixster - Share Movies

    Directed by:Leonard Nimoy
    Cast:William Shatner,Leonard Nimoy,DeForrest Kelley,Christopher Lloyd
    Genre:Science Fiction
    Year of release:1984
    Running Time:105 minutes

    Plot:
    Admiral Kirk's defeat of Khan and the creation of the Genesis planet are empty victories. Spock is dead and McCoy is, seemingly inexplicably, being driven insane. Then an unexpected 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 Enterprise and defying Starfleet's Genesis quarantine. But the Klingons have also learned of Genesis and race to meet Kirk in a deadly rendezvous.

    Review:
    I was kinda reluctant to see Star Trek 3:The Search for Spock because i ve heard that is the weakest of the series but at the same i wanted to see what happens after the emotional premisse of Star Trek 2:The Wrath of Khan following Spock s shocking death.I enjoyed Star Trek 3 because grabbed perfectly the emotion of the previous movie but isn t that brillaint.Overall,Star Trek 3:The Search for Spock is a fun movie to watch and i m really into Star Trek right now thanks to J J Abrams s fantastic reboot.

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    Wlilliam Shatner delivers another fantastic perfomance as James T.Kirk.I was amazed how great actor the Shat is because he s very known for his comic roles but everyone remembers him as the brave leader of the Enterprise crew.Shatner was fantastic on giving more emotion to Kirk while discovers that Spock is alive and he ll do anything to bring his friend back.Leonard Nimoy is back as the ressurected Spock.Honestly,if he didn come back to life,i would be really pissed because Spock is my favorite Trek character.DeForrest Kelley was great as Bones McCoy because he sort of going mad in the beggining but he soon realizes that Spock s spirit is in him.I couldn t believe that Doc Brown himself,Christopher Lloyd played a Klingon.He was really funny as Kruge,the Klingon captain but he will always be Doc Brown of Back to the Future trilogy.

    Leonard Nimoy also directed the movie and i loved his direction.He wasn t better than Nicholas Meyer of Wrath of Khan but he was able to make a fun movie with some great moment as Kirk stealing the Enterprise,Spock s ressurection and the destruction of the Enterprise starship.

    Star Trek 3:The Search for Spock may not be the best movie of the series but is a enjoyable space adventure for those who are Trek fans and sci fi fans aswell.A excellent third installement for Star Trek.
  • September 19, 2009
    Star Trek sounds nerdy, and it is old.
  • September 12, 2009
    The third Star Trek Movie only served to bring Mr. Spock back from the dead after they killed him in Star Trek II. It's also where the reputation that odd number Star Trek movies aren't any good. The story doesn't amount to much but then they shouldn't have killed off Spock in th...( read more)e second movie. He's too good of a character. I'd put this story along the lines of the episode in the original series were the alien women steal Spock's brain. Leonard Nimoy directed the movie. It was the only way they could get him to come back. The actress who replaced Kirstie Alley wasn't as good. That's why the character never came back in later movies. I'd heard that the reason Kirstie Alley didn't come back was because she went "Hollywood". I guess that means she wanted more money. You get to see the new Klingons for the first time since the first movie. It's the form the Klingons take for the Next Generation TV show and all the future movies. Not only did they change the look of the Klingons they established that the Klingon society was a chaotic warrior society where the most ruthless get ahead. The original Klingons had been a military dictatorship were everyone obeyed orders. They had been patterned after the Soviet Union and the Nazi's. It's interesting how they kept changing the Klingon world from one movie to the next and from one TV show to the next. The Klingons are still the best Star Trek bad guys. This movie is were they make the first deviation to more of a pirate/criminal society where the individual commanders make their own decisions without direction from the home world. Without the Klingons this wouldn't be much of a movie.

Critic Reviews


October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This is a good but not great Star Trek movie, a sort of compromise between the first two. full review

View more Star Trek III - The Search for Spock reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • jamiah
    November 20, 2007
    I think this is the only film of the series to escape the 'odd number curse." It resurrected one character but destroyed another much loved character (although my usage of the term 'character' may seem a bit unusual).
  • tomkinsman
    August 13, 2006
    not the best star trek film, but certainly not the worst. it was a shame to bring spock back though after the brilliant send-off he recieved at the end of the previous film.

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Star Trek III - The Search for Spock Trivia

Star Trek III - The Search for Sp... Trivia


  • Who played Saavik in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock?  Answer »
  • Which movie has the tagline: " Join The Search " ?  Answer »
  • Which 1984 science fiction movie has an engineer say the following sentence: "Aye. And if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon!"  Answer »
  • What actor (most famous for comedy roles) played the villain Commander Kruge in "Star Trek III : The Search for Spock?"  Answer »

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