Plot

Admiral Kirk and his bridge crew risk their careers stealing the decommissioned U.S.S. Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis Planet to recover Spock's body.

In the wake of Spock's ultimate deed of sacrifice, Admiral Kirk and the Enterprise crew return to Earth for some essential repairs to their ship. When they arrive at Spacedock, they are shocked to discover that the Enterprise is to be decommissioned. Even worse, Dr. McCoy begins acting strangely and Scotty has been reassigned to another ship. Kirk is forced to steal back the Enterprise and head across space to the Genesis Planet to save Spock and bring him to Vulcan. Unbeknownst to them, the Klingons are planning to steal the secrets of the Genesis Device for their own deadly purpose.—Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>

Admiral Kirk's defeat of Khan Noonien Singh and the creation of the Genesis Planet are empty victories. Mr. Spock is dead and Dr. McCoy is, seemingly inexplicably, being driven insane. Then an unexpected visit from Spock's father, Sarek provides a startling revelation: McCoy is harboring Spock's living essence. With one friend alive and one not, but both in pain, Kirk attempts to help his friends by stealing the Enterprise and defying Starfleet's Genesis quarantine. However, the Klingons have also learned of the Genesis Device and race to meet Kirk in a deadly rendezvous.—Robert Lynch <docrlynch@yahoo.com>

The starship USS Enterprise returns to Earth following a battle with the superhuman Khan Noonien Singh, who tried to destroy the Enterprise by detonating an experimental terraforming device known as Genesis. The casualties of the battle include Admiral James T. Kirk's (William Shatner) Vulcan friend, Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), whose casket was launched into space and eventually landed on the planet created by the Genesis Device. Depressed over Spock's death, the crew returns to port aboard the Enterprise for essential repairs to their ship, which was severely damaged in the fierce battle against Khan.

On arriving at Earth Spacedock, Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) enters Spock's quarters, begins to behave strangely and is detained. Admiral Morrow (Robert Hooks), the commander of Starfleet, visits the Enterprise and informs the crew the ship is to be decommissioned; the crew is ordered not to speak about Genesis due to political fallout over the device. The other officers are Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), the Enterprise's chief engineer; Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), the Enterprise's helmsman; Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), the navigation and acting science officer; and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), the ship's communications officer.

David Marcus (Merritt Butrick)-Kirk's son, a key scientist in Genesis' development-and Lieutenant Saavik (Robin Curtis) are investigating the Genesis Planet on board the science vessel USS Grissom. Discovering an unexpected life form on the surface, Marcus and Saavik transport to the planet. They find that the Genesis Device has resurrected Spock in the form of a child, although his mind is not present. Marcus admits that he used unstable "protomatter" in the development of the Genesis Device, causing Spock to age rapidly and meaning the planet will be destroyed within hours. Meanwhile, Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), the commander of a Klingon warship, intercepts information on Project Genesis. Believing the device to be useful as a potent weapon, he takes his cloaked ship to the Genesis Planet and destroys the Grissom.

Spock's father Sarek (Mark Lenard) meets with Kirk and confronts him about his son's death. They both learn that before he died, Spock transferred his katra, or living spirit, to McCoy. Spock's katra and body are needed to lay him to rest on his home world Vulcan, and without help, McCoy will die from carrying the katra. Disobeying orders, Kirk and his officers release McCoy from detention, disable the USS Excelsior, and steal the Enterprise from Spacedock to return to the Genesis Planet to retrieve Spock's body. On the Genesis Planet, the Klingons capture Marcus, Saavik and Spock and before Kruge can interrogate them, their ship signals that the Enterprise has arrived and Kruge immediately beams back to the Bird-of-Prey.

In orbit, the undermanned Enterprise is attacked and disabled by Kruge. In the standoff that follows, Kruge orders that one of the hostages on the surface be executed. David is killed defending Saavik and Spock. Kirk and company feign surrender and activate the Enterprise's self-destruct sequence, killing the Klingon boarding party while the Enterprise crew transports to the planet's surface. Promising the secret of the Genesis Device, Kirk lures Kruge to the planet's surface and has him beam his crew to the Klingon vessel. As the Genesis Planet disintegrates, Kirk and Kruge engage in a fistfight; Kirk emerges victorious after kicking Kruge from a cliff into a lava flow. Kirk and his officers take control of the Klingon warship and head to Vulcan at best speed.

There, Spock is taken directly to Mount Seleya where his katra is reunited with his body in a dangerous procedure called fal-tor-pan. The ceremony is successful, and Spock is resurrected, alive and well, though his memories are fragmented. At Kirk's prompting, Spock remembers he called Kirk "Jim" and recognizes the crew.