They say the third time’s the charm, and if you’re Star Trek, the third time is all about the charm. The studio may have cut the budget and schedule to cash in on the success of \"Star Trek II,\", but when you have a cast that has worked together for decades - and a director who is part of that cast - the characters can’t help but come through, especially when they are all on a mission of friendship. Spock may have died in \"Star Trek II,\" but the gods of retconning were having none of it, and so the crew of the Enterprise had to suit up in their civvies, steal their old ship in a sequence that stands among the best of the franchise, and go on a search… for Spock! Of course, with Christopher Lloyd and John Larroquette as Klingons, they might as well have called it “the search for sitcom actors on hiatus”… and yet, weirdly, it works. There’s this accepted wisdom that the odd numbered treks are the worst, but revisiting this movie after many years, Paul, Javi, and the always-logical Producer Brad found it to be an absolute delight, a feast of wonderful character moments, awesome new ships (lookin’ good, Excelsior, and how you doin’ you sexy Bird of Prey?) and long-awaited franchise payoffs wrapped in a TV-movie like execution that strains to match the humor and emotion on display. Star Trek III may be known to many as the movie where Paramount’s cost-cutting led to the recasting of Kirstie Alley, but to the Multiplex Overthruster gang, it is a warm and comforting bowl of Fal-tor-pan, served up with a hefty dose of humor and the indefatigable camaraderie of a cast so tight that, together, they can overcome any obstacle… even when that obstacle is the search for more profit!
Show Notes:
US Theatrical release date: June 1, 1984
US Weekend Box Office June 1, 1984
US Weekend Box Office June 15, 1984
AFI Catalog Entry for \"Star Trek III\"
Roger Ebert's \"Star Trek III\" review