Review by C.J. Bunce
What do you think of when someone mentions Star Trek III: The Search for Spock? For me watching it for the first time in 1984 it was relief. For a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, the first big Star Trek movie was slow. The second was depressing. Star Trek III was my favorite of the three for having the greatest villain in Christopher Lloyd’s Klingon Commander Kruge, complete with his loyal targ dog. It also allowed fans to see the crew in civilian garb, and Robert Fletcher’s costumes are some of the greatest in all of Star Trek history, including establishing the new look for Klingons that would survive on through Star Trek Voyager. Star Trek III was a lower budget movie that wasn’t as spectacular as the last, but the relief for fans was that it was clear Star Trek was going to keep going. The further out from the movie premieres we get, “behind the scenes” books are going to have less new content, but 40 years later the new book Star Trek III: The Search for Spock–The Making of the Classic Film makes good use of old interviews to introduce newer fans to a memorable entry in the Star Trek franchise. Written by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto, the book is available for pre-order now here at Amazon, arriving in stores next month.
Courtesy of Titan Books, we have a first look inside the book to share. Check it out.
Even diehard fans will find some new photographs here that haven’t made it to light at least recently, like some deleted scene content and production stage photographs, along with images of matte paintings and concept artwork for the Genesis planet and Vulcan.
You will get to see the creation of the Klingon Bird of Prey, which would be a bigger feature in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Spock in his trademark white robe that would be remade for that movie. A key prop from the film is the Klingon communicator Kirk snags for the finale, and it is depicted in the book in a few versions. At last fans can see better images of Kruge’s targ dog than were seen in the dark lighting of the movie, with images during and after the production (but not of that cool Klingon dagger used to kill Kirk’s son).
One chapter recounts filming the last gasp of the original starship Enterprise, which most fans saw as the key “character” death of the movie. Crew and family of crew recount some interesting memories fans probably haven’t heard before, including a camera prank after a key scene was filmed, and the story of how the movie got its name–it turns out it was a joke referencing Nimoy’s role as host of the “In Search Of…” series (discussed here at borg) that eventually stuck.
You can’t get past the fact that so many contributors are gone: director Leonard Nimoy, writer-producer Harve Bennett, composer James Horner, costume designer Robert Fletcher, cast members DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Merritt Butrick, Mark Lenard, Judith Anderson, Miguel Ferrer… the list goes on. The good news is the book’s key contributors: Saavik actress Robin Curtis, Klingon language creator Marc Okrand, visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston, and David Carson, Industrial Light & Magic visual effects art director, are all still enthusiastic about their time making the movie. For the rest of the book the authors weave together interview content from the past 40 years of books, commentaries, and magazines. I’d rather read clips from old contemporary interviews in a book like this than interviews with kids of the crew (although there is a lot of that in the book, too). The coverage hits all the major areas you’d expect, including a near exhaustive examination of the drafts of the screenplay.
Reproduction of photographs at a large format means the larger images aren’t crisp and clear, but the many smaller images reproduced better. The best of these show the extent of the Vulcan crew filmed for the big Spock ceremony scene, but cut from the final edit of the film. Many fans celebrate this movie for featuring the most jewelry of any entry in the franchise. In an older DVD commentary you’ll find a great interview with Maggie Schpak, who made the jewelry for the Vulcans and the knuckle-dusters for Kruge, among hundreds of other items. I was hoping to see more images and references about her but she was not included.
Other key living crew members were not interviewed for this book, including George Takei, Walter Koenig, Klingon actress Cathie Shirriff, and Klingon actor John Larroquette. Fans are always going to want more from these books, sharper photographs, more Polaroid images of actors in costumes, more prop and ship design schematics, and close-ups of costume components–like all those Klingon uniforms. But this book is a good entry point for modern fans.
A solid in-depth look at the making of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, featuring rare and previously unseen production art and some new interview, this photograph-filled chronicle will be a fun addition to your Star Trek library, featuring a foreword from Robin Curtis. Don’t miss it — Star Trek III: The Search for Spock–The Making of the Classic Film is available for pre-order now here at Amazon. You have hardly any wait–the book is slated for release September 2, 2025.
