"The Search for Spock" Mix-Up Trivia Quiz

"Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" begins directly after the end of the previous movie, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", during which the USS Enterprise did battle with Kirk's archenemy, Khan. During the course of this battle the planet Genesis is generated, and Spock also sacrifices his life for his comrades. At the end of the film Spock's casket is jettisoned off of the Enterprise and lands on the planet surface.

Meanwhile, the USS Enterprise returns to Space Dock, half of its crew dead from the battle and Dr. McCoy acting strangely. McCoy is found in Spock's old sealed-off quarters, disoriented and speaking like Spock. It foreshadows what happens next.

The news of the Enterprise's decommission comes soon after the crew's arrival back from battling Khan. This is not the only unfortunate event to occur at this time, either: Dr. McCoy is detained due to his strange behavior and mental state (at one point he believes he can execute a Vulcan mind-freeze and fails completely), and the whole crew is told not to speak of the Genesis project and planet, which is now considered classified information.

The Genesis project was supposed to create "life from lifelessness", and this is what the planet did with Spock's body. However, due to a corner-cutting method used by David during the Genesis creation, which he admits to Saavik, the planet will age quickly and be destroyed within hours.

Spock also becomes the victim of lightning-fast aging; beginning as a baby, he is a young boy when he is discovered by David and Saavik. By the time he is rescued off of the planet by Kirk, he is at the same age he was when he died.

Spock's father, Sarek, visits Kirk following the Enterprise's return and tells him that he believes his son is not dead. Wishing to know how this is possible, Sarek mind-melds with Kirk, replaying his memories of Spock's last moments, but nothing is discovered.

The two replay security footage taken in the Enterprise's engine room at the time of Spock's death, and find out Spock's fate: moments before entering the reactor chamber, Spock is seen mind-freezing Dr. McCoy and then pressing his hand to his face, whispering "remember". Sarek tells Kirk that Spock transferred his living spirit, called Katra, to McCoy during this process. This explains why McCoy has been acting so strangely and why he believes himself to be a Vulcan at times. From this, Kirk is determined to return Spock to his Katra.

Dr. McCoy is being detained for medical examinations, and Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov manage to break him out. Meanwhile, Scotty, who works on the Enterprise's successor, the USS Excelsior, disables part of the ship so that it will be unable to give chase. For her part, Uhura locks up all opposition to stealing the Enterprise.

Together, the five crew members pilot the ship out of Space Dock, and the Excelsior is unable to do anything about it. They set course for the planet Genesis.

David and Saavik, with Spock in tow, are found and captured by the Klingons. These Klingons, under their commander, Kruge, are interested in the Genesis planet and hope to benefit by it. They are about to ask their new prisoners about Genesis when the USS Enterprise appears above the planet, and they have a new problem to think about. Meanwhile, Spock continues aging.

Kirk is given this news by Saavik over their communicators. The son that Kirk had just rediscovered is gone.

David is killed after the Enterprise engages the Klingon ship in battle. The Enterprise initially has some success in the battle, until Kruge orders that a hostage, David, be killed. This spurs Kirk to pretend to surrender, while using the Enterprise's self-destruct mechanism to gain the upper hand once more.

This is a painful moment for the whole crew of the Enterprise, but especially for Admiral James T. Kirk. It is necessary, however, to save them all and gain the upper hand over the Klingons. After feigning surrender, Kirk invites the Klingons to beam aboard, then he, Scotty, and Chekov activate the Enterprise's self-destruct sequence.

They abandon the ship, just in time for the Klingon party to beam aboard, and find nothing but "the voice". "The voice" is the countdown for self-destruct...and those Klingons die in the explosion that also "kills" the Enterprise. Kirk is devastated for the loss of the ship, but it puts him on equal footing with Kruge, who will still not let them go without a fight.

Kirk uses Kruge, by suggesting that he has knowledge about Genesis to convince Kruge to beam down to Genesis, while having the rest of the Enterprise's crew, except for Spock, beam aboard the Klingon ship. Once on Genesis, however, Kirk and Kruge fight it out in the only way left: with their fists.

Genesis is burning up around them, and when Kruge falls over the edge of a chasm, just gripping the edge, Kirk offers his hand; but Kruge tries to pull Kirk down with him. Instead, crying "I have had enough of you", Kirk kicks Kruge off into the fire below and successfully beams off of Genesis with Spock, with minutes to spare. They set course for Vulcan, although the Enterprise crew find piloting a Klingon ship difficult.

The Vulcan ceremony whereby Spock's spirit is taken from McCoy and reunited with Spock's body is called the fal-tor-pan, and is dangerous for both parties. However, McCoy agrees, since he is in danger of dying because of Spock's spirit anyway.

The ceremony is, however, successful, and although Spock appears not quite himself, he joins his friends in the last scene of the film, saying to Kirk, "My father says that you have been my friend. You came back for me." At last he recognizes Kirk as Jim, although, as the next film, "The Voyage Home" proves, Spock's return to normal takes some time.