20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1. What Happened To Lt. Saavik?
Perhaps the character from the Original Series-era of films to go through the most ups and downs behind the camera is Lt. Saavik. Originating in Star Trek II, played by Kirstie Alley, the character was originally written to be part-Romulan. While this aspect was excised by Nicholas Meyer before filming, Alley's performance is still more emotionally led than her counterpart, Robin Curtis.
Curtis took over the role for Star Trek III and Star Trek IV. While she is a supporting member in III, she barely garners a cameo in The Voyage Home. So, what happened? The truth is that Saavik fell victim to yet another rewrite, though this one at least explains, in part, why she chooses to remain on Vulcan.
Though she was in way part of the conspiracy to steal the Enterprise and therefore would face no charges on return, she elects to stay on her homeworld. In the early drafts of the film, this is because she was pregnant - with Spock's baby. She had helped an adolescent Spock navigate his Pon Farr while he rapidly aged in Star Trek III. This being a Star Trek film, nothing was shown on-screen, bar ritualistic hand movements.
Yet the idea was for her to be pregnant, thus remain on Vulcan for the birth. However, this was chopped from the script. So, as presented, Saavik basically stays behind, tells Kirk how David died - then books it out of there and leaves them to their fate.