Boldly going where no man (or woman) has gone before, climb aboard the Enterprise and let it fly and soar, as old friends gather, reunite, off to battle and to fight, strange new worlds, civilisations to explore.

A child is discovered all alone, a Vulcan without soul, perhaps a clone, while a Doctor rediscovers, an old friend inside another and a starship's final journey helps them home.

Some things are more important than rules and regulations as the captain of the Enterprise takes his pride and joy to recover what was lost and resurrect what was saved.

I enjoyed STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK a lot better than the overrated previous instalment, which was way too derivative of the original TV show (with its 'villain of the week' format) and did absolutely nothing for me. Let's face it, such story lines have been done time and again, and it takes something special to make a film stand out from the rest.

Thankfully, THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK has that something special to it. Leonard Nimoy steps in as director and does a confident, assured job; even better, the quest storyline is heartfelt, emotionally wrought, and unexpected. The crew are all on top form, giving it their all and staying true to their characters throughout, and the Klingons make great, theatrical enemies, particularly Christopher Lloyd's OTT head bad guy.

At the end of the day, I watch these films as somebody with an interest in the sci-fi genre rather than as a Trekkie, and so far this has been my favourite. I look forward to checking out part four!

Having been one of the shows that was part of my childhood and growing up, the original 'Star Trek' still holds up as great and ground-breaking, even if not perfect.

'The Search for Spock' is not the 'Star Trek' franchise at its worst (marginally better than 'The Motion Picture' and much better than 'Final Frontier' for the films based on the original series). However, considering that it came after one of the best (perhaps even the best) 'Star Trek' films 'The Wrath of Khan', it was a disappointment and could have been so much more. It is not as bad as has been said by some but has too many faults to be in the passionate defence camp. Am in the camp that was mixed on the film.

Starting with the faults with 'The Search for Spock', like 'The Motion Picture' the pacing is pedestrian, again taking a while to get going, and parts could easily have been trimmed and gotten to the point more. The whole Grissom and crew stuff could have been better explored (like being lost suddenly and then their fate being ambiguous).

Leonard Nimoy takes the director's helm and while he does a competent job it is somewhat workmanlike and his experience in TV and not-so-much-experience in feature films shows, loved the focus on the characters and their relationships but it could have been more expansive. While 'Wrath of Khan' took a darker approach it wasn't consistently so and had themes that many could relate to, with the pacing being as dull as it was the tone often feels bleak and funereal which takes away from any excitement. The final scene is emotional, but the lead up is somewhat self-indulgent, while Robin Curtis is as stiff as a board and with the emotion of a corpse.

However, for all its flaws 'The Search for Spock' has a lot to recommend too. The visuals, like 'Wrath of Khan', are a marked improvement over the original series. The sets are more elaborate, the photography is moody and stylish and the special effects (and there's plenty of them) are amazing and have a real sense of wonder and emotional charge. The music by James Horner is even more clever than in 'Wrath of Khan' and him returning was effective for continuity reasons. It is bombastic and rousing at times but also swelling in romance and sensitivity and beautiful orchestration, the heavy representation of the percussive and dissonant theme for the Klingons was also effective.

'The Search for Spock' does have an intelligent script that develops the characters very well indeed, it also doesn't feel too talky like 'The Motion Picture' did. The story is not perfect and the search could have been more exciting and had more point to it, but that it focused on the characters and allowed them and their relationships to drive the story proved to be a good move, plus the characters that were underused before have more to do and the characters are interesting apart from the underdeveloped villain. The stealing and destruction of the Enterprise are a lot of fun and also very tense and the Kirk and David relationship does bring some emotional wallop.

Acting-wise, 'The Search for Spock' is just fine. Nimoy proves why Spock is such an interesting and well-loved character, while William Shatner is more understated than usual and the rest of the original series crew have expanded screen time and make good impressions, DeForest Kelley having some really meaty moments. Consensus on Christopher Lloyd has been mixed, to me he did a really good job with what he was given to work with (the character itself could have been better written and was the problem, not Lloyd),bringing a sinister approach and also an enjoyably over-the-top one.

In conclusion, watchable but disappointing at the same time. 6/10 Bethany Cox