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Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

103.0. "McIntyre: The Search for Spock" by ELMER::GOUN () Sun Jul 01 1984 03:46

	 Star Trek III:  The Search for Spock, by Vonda McIntyre,
		 based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett,
		 (c) 1984, Pocket Books 0-671-49500-3-295

			  Reviewed by Roger Goun

I made the mistake of picking up STAR TREK III:  THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK this
afternoon, when I had other things to do, and just finished it.  Its review
deserves a note of its own, rather than being relegated to the "Star Trek
III" movie note.

Like McIntyre's previous "Star Trek" novelization, STAR TREK II:  THE WRATH
OF KHAN, STAR TREK III expands on (and makes sense of) much of the action in
the movie.  Saavik is clearly a Vulcan/Romulan half-breed, and her
relationship with Kirk's son David is explored more thoroughly (yet
tastefully).  McIntyre provides good explanations for the disappearance of
Carol Marcus from "Star Trek III," and the non-appearance of Spock's mother,
Amanda.  We learn that Captain Sulu was supposed to command the new
Excelsior, but is being kept incommunicado because of the furor surrounding
Genesis.  Christine Chapel even has a role in the novel; I've missed her in
the movies.

The novel begins with a wake for Spock and Commander Scott's nephew, Peter
Preston.  It works fairly well in the novel, which can spend the time
required to properly develop long scenes.  This material was correctly left
out of the movie, though.  There's a scene where Kirk accidentally comes upon
David and Saavik on the way to her cabin.  I imagine this scene played by
Kirstie Alley ("Star Trek II") as Saavik, and chuckle whenever I think about
it.

Peter's funeral in Scotland is another scene that doesn't appear in the
movie.  It's the first material I've seen that fleshes out Scotty's family,
and helps explain his devotion to Star Fleet at the expense of shore leaves
and vacations:  his family's a strange bunch!

Though McIntyre motivates the actions of the characters so as to require
much less suspension of disbelief than the movie does, the dialog is still
flat in places, particularly in a conversation between David and Saavik,
in which he admits to using "protomatter" in the design of Genesis.  Perhaps
this dialogue was rewritten for the movie -- it's quite different there --
after McIntyre got the screenplay.

McIntyre also has some trouble translating the visual humor of the film into
the novel.  This is most apparent in the bar scene, where McCoy attempts to
neck-pinch the Federation security agent.

These are small nits, though. My overall impression of STAR TREK III is that
it's a well-thought-out novelization of a somewhat choppy screenplay.  It
rates a 6 out of 10, or a 7 of 10 if you're into "Star Trek" novels.
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