Don’t worry, Spock was only mostly dead. When Paramount the day after the second one opened in 1982, there was really only one goal: bring back Spock, whose noble sacrifice at the end of sent shockwaves throughout pop culture. It was an audacious and emotional demise that fit perfectly with the operatic melodrama of Nicholas Meyer’s film.
In fact, it was so dramatic, it felt incomplete without Spock’s grieving friends carrying out a daring, Federation-defying, friendship-first mission to take advantage of and resurrect him. Spock’s blend of calming reason and alien strangeness defined Star Trek more than any captain; he sees the galaxy differently than his crewmates, both with scientific acumen and a curiosity about his own imaginative inabilities. The character was carefully balanced by placing contrasting personalities around him, so it’s fitting that his absence in 1984’s , directed by Leonard Nimoy, feels like a loss of galactic proportions.
Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of a battered arrive at Spacedock in mourning, and it’s not long before Spock’s father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), confronts Kirk over his decision to jettison Spock’s body onto newly formed Genesis planet. He tells Kirk that Spock’s “katra,” in effect his spirit, needs to be laid to rest with his body back on Vulcan, and they both learn that Spock transferred his katra to Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), which explains why Bones keeps breaking out in an eerie Leonard Nimoy impression .
