20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)

4. Robin Curtis Was Embarrassed So Saavik Looks Down

Star Trek III Spock
CBS

For the final scenes of the film, set on Vulcan, Spock has returned to life. As he passes through his friends, he stops at Saavik. At this moment, she looks at him, and then, in an uncharacteristic moment, she averts her gaze and looks down.

Before filming, Nimoy and Robin Curtis discussed how they would frame this scene. Both the Wrath of Khan and the Search for Spock established that, in her Vulcan way, Saavik had feelings for Spock. This is perhaps most clear in the single tear that falls on her cheek during the funeral scene, though in this film, she has helped him through Pon Farr.

Nimoy approached her, got very close, and asked her how she would react if she bumped into an old flame, one with whom she had had a passionate affair, years later on a busy city street. He pulled back and she looked up at him, wanting to answer but instead found herself blushing deeply, embarrassed by the question. She, Robin Curtis, averted her eyes and looked down.

Nimoy pounced on this, saying that this was the perfect reaction, and that was how they shot the reunion.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick