Star Trek III - The Search for Spock

Directly after the demise of Spock at the hands of the Klingon, Khan, the crew of the Starship Enterprise return to Earth only to discover their beloved ship is about to be decommissioned.

As if he wasn't heartbroken enough at the loss of his friend, not to mention Dr McCoy's increasing hysteria, Kirk has to come to terms with the end of an era - that is, until Spock's father turns up and explains the mind of his son, or his Katra, has been transferred into McCoy's head, and the only way to solve the situation is to reunite Spock's body with McCoy's mind.

This is further complicated by the fact that Kirk and co. jettisoned Spock's body onto a desolate planet soon after he died.

With no crew or ship to help him on his search, Kirk does what he does best - rallies the troops and goes anyway, stealing the Enterprise, dodging Starfleet and flying to the remote planet.

But Kirk isn't the only one with an interest in the planet - Scientists David Marcus and Lt. Saavik are already in the area having conducted a test on the 'Genesis Device', a tool that allows 'life to be created from 'lifelessness' - an effect that may well have reanimated both the desolate planet and the body of Spock, although he, like the planet, is aging rapidly with both facing destruction in just a matter of hours.

To complicate matters further still, a Klingon warship lies cloaked in the planet's orbit, while its owners - led by Klingon commander, Kruge - take the Genesis scientists and a now-teenaged Spock prisoner in an effort to get their hands on the Genesis Device to use as a weapon.

Eschewing the rule that only the even-numbered Star Treks are any good, Search for Spock works largely because it's the middle chapter in a three-story arc, which sees Kirk reunited with his old friend, as well as the added presence of Kirk's son.

Villain duties are ably performed by a pre-Back To The Future Christopher Lloyd, who hams it up  as the desperate Klingon, while the special effects, albeit very much of their time, give the movie a sense of scale that perhaps lacked in the previous outing.

But like most good Trek pictures, even the burgeoning special effects are outgunned by the performances of the original crew, due in part to the direction of Nimoy, whose Star Trek candle had been relit after the success and subsequent burn out caused by Wrath Of Kahn.

It doesn't quite get wrapped up until the Voyage Home, but Search For Spock always has been, and always will be, one of the best Star Trek sequels.

 Rich Phippen