What was planned just in case? I'm not sure when Nimoy decided he wanted to return, despite his character dying. Would the film be completely different? Would Spock be reborn as a young man with a new actor? And when Spock shares his mind with Bones' would that have meant DeForest would play dual roles of Bones and occasionally act like Spock?
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I suspect that if Nimoy had no interest in directing and rebirthing Spock, we would have had a completely different story for this movie. Spock would've stayed dead.
Fortunately, Leonard did the most logical thing.
"Oh no...they sent the wrong Spock!"
I'm thinking maybe this:
http://starsmedia.ign.com/stars/image/article/964/964252/james-t-kirk- 20090319033235663.jpg
That "remember" moment makes me think Spock would've played a role somehow, even if Nimoy didn't return. Otherwise it would've been a completely meaningless action.
http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/
That "remember" moment makes me think Spock would've played a role somehow, even if Nimoy didn't return. Otherwise it would've been a completely meaningless action.
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That was included so if Nimoy decided to return, they could use it as an explanation. I think if he didn't, that moment could've easily been ignored.
I think saavik might have been intended as spocks replacement.
shareJust read the book: "I am Spock" to see how it all unfolded for Nimoy. He was actually EXCITED to get to correct his mistake of letting Spock get killed, and he actually cried when he had to kill Spock (and when he watched it on the silver screen the first time).
He also wanted to direct, but was perplexed by the fact that it was as easy as 'asking'. They simply let him direct it, just because he asked them, and he was surprised.
I wish they had had a better plot, though, but Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home redeemed everything, so all is good.
And because Nemoy was given the director's chair, they had to give Shatner a chance to direct a movie as well. We all know how that came out.
shareThread is a year old, but hey I thought it was an interesting question, I'm sure others do, too.
If you try to watch TWOK with fresh eyes and try to forget for a moment what happens in the future of the series, you definitely get the sense that they were grooming Saavik to become a permanent member of the cast should more movies be made without Spock. While of course you could never truly replace Spock, she probably would have filled his role in the 'balancing logic and emotion' and 'understanding the human condition' overarching themes of TOS Star Trek.
Who knows what they would have done with the "Remember" mind meld. There's a million different ways that could go. Perhaps Saavik would have mind melded with McCoy and become a keeper of Spock's memories (which would make her even MORE of a Spock stand-in).
It does make you wonder if that were the case, and if so then Spock's return necessitated that the Saavik character be phased out (or at least, be kept from being "main cast" status and always just a guest or cameo), that could even have played a role in Kirstie Alley deciding not to reutrn if she saw the role didn't have much of a future with the series.
I never actually thought of Saavik as being a possible replacement for Spock. I always took "Remember" as a plan for DeForest Kelley to play dual roles.
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Originally, Saavik was a male character (hence the "mister" and the male Vulcan name).
When Leonard refused to do Phase 2, they created the character Xon, a young inquisitive Vulcan intrigued with humanity, as his replacement on the Enterprise. I can see them going that route, or just keeping Saavik.
Xon loosely became the basis for Data in TNG.
"Lovey-dovey. Bonk bonk on the head!"
One of the reasons Alley didn't return is because Nimoy refused to work with her again given her deciding to renegotiating for a larger paycheck. He also preferred a stage trained actress hence his hiring of Robin Curtis, a far, far superior actress and who understood the character better. His other issue with Alley is that she didn't understand Saavik wasn't supposed to be emotional given her Vulcan/Romulan heritage. In the scene at the end of WOK, she was crying. Saavik isn't supposed to be doing that. He wanted someone who would play the character given her background. Robin Curtis was a better fit for the part. I also loved her interplay with Merritt Buttrick.
shareI suspect they might have been tempted to use a different actor.
shareI was at a convention the other day and they did a talk about Star Trek 2 - it's a hodgepodge of a few different scripts. One of the last rewrites was that Spock was supposed to have a shocking death in the middle of the movie - Saavik was supposed to take over the quasi-Spock role in the next films. In fact, Saavik has a much larger role in earlier drafts. She was supposed to have a relationship with David, but again, the final version focused more on Kirk and Spock.
Later on they decided to leave it open a bit. Saavik was recast because they forgot to add a sequel to Alley's contract and she wanted too much, so she was recast and given a smaller role.
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All I know is that if Nimoy/Spock had not returned, I would probably have never watched another Star Trek movie. Spock was my favorite. I enjoyed his interactions with McCoy and his logical mind. I also liked Mark Lenard as his father Sarek.
In the spinoffs, TNG and Voyager, Tim Russ is a good Vulcan and Brent Spiner as Data fills the outsider role as the logical mind of the crew with a hunger to be human that neither of the others exhibits, although Spock's half human side does sometimes overcome his Vulcan reserve and even Tuvok occasionally has his moments.