Starring 3rd Trek

As we all know odd numbered STs are crap, so with that let's dive in.

After a long recap of the end of the previous movie, we get a quick retcon of who presents the Genesis project, and a recast of Saavik no-one talks about (she helps Spock get through Pon-Farr, so did she basically...?). But what this is is Christopher Lloyd versus William Shatner, and there's a great buildup of tension until they meet, right after Kirk has sacrificed everything. And this build up of tension underlies the entire movie, will they get out to the Genesis planet, will Kruge kill off the young Spock (or the redundant Kirk, which has long term repercussions, but more in books than the movies), will Kirk give up the Enterprise, will Kirk or Kruge win? (Was I the only one who wanted someone to shout "If we fight like animals, we die like animals!"?)

So, what I'm saying is, this is a better movie that the past two, which throws out the odd numbered movie theory for me. Well... up until the Vulcan sequence. What is it with these movies and having long drawn out endings that don't really go anywhere? And fortunately, Spock aged to exactly the right moment in his life and he survives off the planet. Phew.

This is a different experience to "received wisdom". Let's see how it keeps up.

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