15 More Things You Didn’t Know About Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)

4. A Vulcan Processional Was Filmed—Then Cut

Search For Spock
Paramount Pictures

An elaborate sequence of Spock being carried to the steps of Mount Seleya was filmed at Occidental College in Los Angeles, but was largely cut during editing. In one of the deleted moments, six Vulcan priestesses—in illogically diaphanous gowns—carried Spock through a plaza not by grabbing the litter that bore him, but by resting their hands atop him. Per the script:

As Spock’s body moves, now seen -- now blocked by passing forms, we realize the bearers’ hands are no longer under the body, but are ON TOP OF IT.

The script also identifies a small Vulcan girl to be featured, in a moment when she breaks from her father's grip to give Spock’s body the Vulcan salute and deliver the line, “Live long and prosper, Spock.” The child actress who played this part, Katerine Blum, received screen credit, but her part still ended up on the cutting room floor.

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Maurice is one of the founders of FACT TREK (www.facttrek.com), a project dedicated to untangling 50+ years of mythology about the original Star Trek and its place in TV history. He's also a screenwriter, writer, and videogame industry vet with scars to show for it. In that latter capacity he game designer/writer on the Sega Genesis/SNES "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Crossroads of Time" game, as well as Dreamcast "Ecco the Dolphin, Defender of the Future" where Tom Baker performed words he wrote.