A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Kirstie Alley as the original Lt. (j.g.) Saavik. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures via Wikipedia In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, why didn't Kirstie Alley reprise her role as Lt. Saavik? During the pre-production phase of the making of  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,  producer Harve Bennett and director Leonard Nimoy intended to ask Kirstie Alley to reprise her role of the Vulcan officer, Lt. Saavik, from the previous film,  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Bennett, Nimoy, and many of  Star Trek II’s  fans liked Alley’s performance, which had been her film debut, and they wanted her to come back for  The Search for Spock  and, perhaps, other sequels as well. The problem was that when Alley signed the contract with Paramount for  Star Trek II,  the document had no provisions for sequels or spin-offs. Whether this was an oversight on the part of Paramount’s legal division or a reflection of the studio’s preva...

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Directed by Nicholas Meyer Screenplay by: Jack B. Sowards, Harve Bennett, and Nicholas Meyer (uncredited), based on a story by Harve Bennett & Jack B. Sowards Based on the “Star Trek” television series created by Gene Roddenberry Starring:  William Shatner ,  Leonard Nimoy ,  DeForest Kelley , James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Kirstie Alley, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick,  Ricardo Montalban In June of 1982, less than three years after the premiere of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” Paramount Pictures released director Nicholas Meyer’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” Executive-produced and co-written by Harve Bennett, “Star Trek II” was more of a swashbuckling space opera than Robert Wise’s leisurely-paced and effects-heavy mish-mash of “2001”-style science fiction and producer Gene Roddenberry’s New Age-flavored humanism. In the 23rd Century….. Years after the Starship...