The 14 Dumbest Things In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
13. Saavik’s Last-Minute Speech
As the story begins the crew of the late great starship Enterprise (no -A) are three months into their Vulcan exile, working on their captured Bird of Prey and twiddling their thumbs waiting for Spock to get his marbles back. (Why they need to do this is never adequately explained; the Klingon ship got them to Vulcan after all.) That means it’s been three months since Kirk’s son David got killed resisting the Klingons on the Genesis Planet. So, why is it that as they are literally about to take off that’s the moment Lt. Saavik picks to stroll in and say…
SAAVIK: Sir. I have not had the opportunity to tell you about your son. David died most bravely. He saved Spock. He saved us all. ...I thought you should know.
Mind you, in the previous film, shortly after David’s death, we got this:
KIRK: What happened?
SAAVIK: He gave his life to save us.
In three months she didn’t have time to say…that?
You honestly get the feeling that director Leonard Nimoy was trying to tie off the loose ends of Saavik and David for Trekkies with all due haste, with zero interest in making the moment matter, or thematically tying it into the story.
And it makes Saavik look dumb.