What you ask is difficult

[gominokouhai]

How did Kirk know he had to steal the Enterprise? Last thing he knew, Spock and his tube were burning up into their component atoms in the upper atmosphere of the Genesis Planet, to the tune of Amazing Grace. As far as Kirk knows, there's no body for him to rescue.

In the novelization, Saavik secretly adjusts the torpedo's orbital parameters to give Spock a soft landing. That's not the case in the movie, since David and the crew of the Grissom are surprised to find the tube on the surface. The gravitational fields were in flux, David says. That's remarkably fortunate, because otherwise it would have made for an incredibly awkward conversation with Spock's dad.

INT. ELECTRONIC CENTRE. NIGHT.

KIRK and SAREK SON OF SKON, SON OF SOLKAR are watching CLIPS from THE PREVIOUS MOVIE.

COMPUTER VOICE
[filtered]

Flight recorder, engine room, visual. Twenty-eight point seven six.

SPOCK
[on monitor]

I'm sorry Doctor. I have no time to discuss this logically.

KIRK
[to computer]

Freeze!... Repeat... and... augment!

SPOCK
[on monitor]

Remember.

KIRK

McCoy.

SAREK

One alive, one not. Yet both in pain.

KIRK

What... must I... do?

SAREK

You must bring them both to Mount Seleya, on Vulcan. Only there can both find peace.

KIRK

What you ask... is difficult.

SAREK

You will find a way, Kirk. If you honour them both, you must.

[Beat.]

KIRK

Um. Did Spock by any chance... know how... to be fireproof?

SAREK

Your question is not logical.

KIRK

I kinda... burned him.

[Beat.]

SAREK

What.

KIRK

Fired his... corpse into the... ionosphere. Vaporized him. It was a beautiful... ceremony. You should... have been there.

SAREK

Bloody humans. I knew I should have put my foot down about him attending the Science Academy instead.

KIRK

Hang on a minute, Ambassador Pointy-ears. How the hell was I... supposed to know... not to give him a funeral?

SAREK

Because he asked you to. With everything that was not of the body.

KIRK

He bloody didn't. He said... a lot of stuff about... the needs of the many.

SAREK

That's my son all right. Never make a straight request when you can quote an aphorism and sound all erudite and superior in that luscious Boston Jewish accent. Dear God, I wish Leonard Nimoy were still alive.

KIRK

But wait!... Spock infused... his katra... into McCoy.

SAREK

And what did the doctor ask of you?

KIRK

Not a... lot. He mumbled something about... steps... and mountains. Then he passed out. When we reached Spacedock... he headed... straight for the bar.

SAREK

Bloody humans.

Of course none of this would have happened in the first place if Chekov knew how to count to six.

Comments

[rmc28]

Chekov's mistake was recoverable, if Kirk had followed protocol and raised the damn shields.