10 Biggest Behind The Scenes Star Trek Mistakes That Ever Happened
9. Saavik Goes From Being Half-Romulan To A Full-Blooded Vulcan And Loses Her Personality Along The Way
This is not a critique of Robin Curtis's portrayal of Saavik, but rather at the curious choice to retcon was was an essential element of Saavik's character between films.
Though there were many drafts of the script for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, one of the earliest introduced 'Savik' (originally named Wicks, a male Vulcan then later lengthened to Saavik). This half-Romulan, half-Vulcan female officer was shown to be more emotional than her other Vulcan counterparts. There was a lot of uncertainty around the character, as even writer-producer Harve Bennett had no idea what her future might be.
Kirstie Alley was very received by audiences for her portrayal of Saavik, but through financial issues she did not return for Star Trek III. Robin Curtis took over the role and the Half-Romulan aspect of the character was dropped, making Saavik a full-blooded Vulcan.
This stymmied Curtis' room to expand the character. The only true tender/emotional scene that she gets to play is the Pon Farr scene with a young Spock. Audiences were left scratching their heads as to why Saavik, so emotional (for a Vulcan) in the previous film was suddenly as cold as this in the new film.
The change only served to hammer home the casting issue, to the detriment of the character.