Star Trek III: The Search For Spock/Trivia


 * Directed by Cast Member: Leonard Nimoy, marking the first time a cast member directed a Star Trek production, paving the way for future cast members like Jonathan Frakes.
 * Same can be said for Shatner, but people tend to ignore that one.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: James B. Sikking as the Excelsior captain. Also, Phil Morris, who would play Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld, appears in the beginning as Cadet Foster.
 * Not to mention Christopher Lloyd as "Doc" Kruge. His ship even looks like a DeLorean. And it was later used for Time Travel.
 * And a post-Black Sheep Squadron pre-Night Court John Larroquette as the surviving Klingon crewmember.
 * "Mr. Adventure" was played by Scott McGinnis, who became a prolific television director.
 * I had to kill the Excelsior helmsman because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake.
 * The Other Darrin: Kirstie Alley loved playing Saavik (she apparently wore the ears home a number of times) and wanted to return, but apparently failed to communicate this clearly to her agent, who demanded a higher fee for her to play Saavik than Paramount was willing to pay. Paramount switched in Robin Curtis instead.
 * Throw It In: Kirk stumbling off the chair after being told was entirely accidental, but Leonard Nimoy felt it suited the scene, and left it in.
 * To be quite exact: Shatner stumbled on a previous take, whereupon the two convened and decided that the scene should include such a gesture. The recorded take was then staged, leading to the movie we now know.
 * What Could Have Been: Edward James Olmos was Leonard Nimoy's preference for Kruge.
 * Early scripts has the Klingons as a rogue group who commandiered a Romulan Bird of Prey.
 * And earlier than that, it was supposed to be Romulans period. It was only changed because Klingons were the better known bad guys of the franchise.
 * In the novelization, Saavik and David Marcus became romantically involved (the seeds for this were planted in the previous movie's novelization); this storyline was completely dropped from the films.
 * In the novelization, Saavik became pregnant with Spock's kid. This, too, was dropped.
 * Maltz was going to return during the trial of Kirk and McCoy in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; he was going to testify about their actions in stealing the Klingon scout ship. Laroquette was unavailable at the time of filming so the scene wasn't done.