Review Detail

I can't call myself a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination, even though I have seen this entry's predecessor at least a dozen times (in various cuts, official and otherwise) and consider it as one of my personal favourite films.

That had the effect of setting a very high bar for "The Search for Spock" when I saw it for the first and only time a few years ago, making the pacing and tone of the follow-up feel somewhat off in comparison. While this edit still doesn't quite reach the heights of ""The Wrath of Khan"", it feels like a much more worthy successor with the only aspect I can think of that stood out being it feeling quite brief and not very self-contained. That's a result of the source material though so little can be done in that regard, to my eyes the cutting here deletes just superfluous material.

The only key plot elements I can remember that were removed involved McCoy prior to stealing the Enterprise, and while I miss some of the comedic beats in the latter part the scenes did drag when in situ rather than viewed in isolation. A part of me wishes that the message to the Excelsior captain would have been left in, but this might have distracted from the action.

No technical complaints to speak of, first time I have seen the film in HD and it looks and sounds great. No strange cuts noticed and the new sound effects are noticeable only in the right way. Thanks Bob for taking a film I remember getting bored of before and making it into something I had difficulty looking away from, time to see what you have made of Star Trek V!