The Surprising Impact a Fan Poem Had On Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Harve Bennett was inspired by a fan's poem to come up with the main plot of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
In a lot of ways, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was an easy gig for screenwriter Harve Bennett.
For one, due to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan being a big hit, Bennett didn't have to worry about whether he would be asked back for another movie, as he was offered the gig VERY shortly after Wrath of Khan came out. Not only that, but Bennett was made a producer on the third Star Trek film (as there were some disagreements during the filming of Wrath of Khan between Bennett and other producers and so when it was a hit, Bennett clearly "won" and so he was the one who got to stick around and move higher up on the food chain).
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowNot only that, but the groundwork for Search for Spock had already been set up with the end of the previous movie, namely that Spock was obviously going to be resurrected and that McCoy's mind meld with Spock would likely play a part in that resurrection.
Beyond that, though, Bennett didn't have a clear vision in mind for the film (Bennett would often joke that he's cool with people thinking that he had everything planned out, but he did not actually have anything set, just a couple of ideas he threw out there in the hopes that perhaps he could connect with them later). When Bennett was hired, though, he found inspiration in a surprising place.
In Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman's seminal work, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years, Bennett described the surprising role that a fan poem played in the film's story....
So the film became about Kirk returning to the planet Genesis to bring Spock back, even if he and his fellow Enterprise officers had to go rogue...
even if they had to sacrifice the Enterprise itself...
He had to get Spock back, his "noble soul" was left on Genesis with Spock...
The whole thing worked out pretty well (and Bennett, of course, came back for two more movies, including Star Trek IV, which was for many years the most successful Star Trek film ever).
The legend is...
STATUS: True
Thanks to Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman and, of course, the late, great Harve Bennett for the information.
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Source: www.cbr.com