If you haven't seen Star Trek III, here's a spoiler, David is killed.
David is part of an expedition on the Genesis planet that is exploring the results of the project. Indeed life had flourished on Genesis, however as an unstable rate. The planet is tearing itself apart, because David had 'cheated' in the creation of Genesis. Much like his father had during the Kobayashi Maru.
Kirk meanwhile steals his ship to go to the Genesis planet in the hopes of recovering Spock. The Klingons come for Genesis and when Kirk arrives, a confrontation ensues. The Klingons take David, Saavik (also on the expedition) and a newly re-born Spock (without the consciousness or memories) hostage. David calls Genesis a failure, he quips "I don't think they'll kill for it". Has he ever met a Klingon? Kruge orders a hostage killed, David attempts to defend Saavik and Spock and is killed in the process.
Before we go into Kirk's reaction, I want to talk about Commander Kruge for a minute. Kruge is not your typical blood-thirsty Klingon. He is violent but he is calculating about it. He is smart and sees Genesis potential as a weapon. He specifically did not want the Grissom to be destroyed. This is a very calculating Klingon, not a mere brute. Kruge is also gracious in accepting Kirk's surrender. I honestly don't think that Kruge would have killed a hostage at that time had he known that Kirk had personal connections to them. I'm sure he would have if he was pushed by Kirk, but not merely from David's flippant remark.
So we have now, one of Shatner's strongest performances. Kirk, stumbles back to his seat and misses, falling to the floor muttering "You Klingon bastards, you've killed my son" Kirk is devastated, but he must recover quickly because the lives of his crew and the hostages is at-stake.
Father and son, brought together so briefly and separated so quickly and cruelly. There isn't much interaction between David and Kirk in this movie. But I think Kirk's reaction says enough. Kirk is devastated, and it follows him for the rest of the movies.
So what does this mean in relation to my father? There's a few notable parallels in the David-Kirk relationship as well as a few things that are flipped. In that sense, the movie always struck an odd cord for me. Firstly, though this is only for the last few years, there's a death, in this case it's the father, in Star Trek's case it's the son. However both were sudden and while it's not unusual for a father to die before his son, my father was not old and predeceased his own father (my grandfather). There's also the brevity of the relationship. But the hardest thing is what that relationship had that my relationship didn't. David and Kirk both see each other at some of their lowest points, their biggest failures, their hardest challenges, and both exceed the others expectations in those moments. I did not get the fortune of seeing my father at his best, as a fantastic step-dad, as completely sober, as someone that could balance business and family. Another family got to see that and got to experience that before his passing. It was only in his near death that he thought of me and my brother.
However, there is hope in Star Trek, the running thread that connects all 6 movies, and even Kirk's role in Generations, is the aging of the crew. Kirk is unhappy with his career because he's advanced too far! He's out of the captain's chair and he's unfamiliar with new technology. Kirk needs glasses to read. But more importantly, is the decisions of the past come back to haunt Kirk and crew. Khan, his relationship with the Klingons, etc. David is just one of those threads, and his death re-iterates Kirk's sacrifice of family to his life of service. But while Kirk lost both his son David and the Enterprise itself in Star Trek III, he did gain something for the effort, he re-gained Spock. And that is the ultimate lesson of Star Trek III and the movie series as a whole. family isn't always a wife or a biological child, it can be those who you've grown so close to in your life that you would die for them and they would die for you. Not just Kirk, but the whole 'bridge crew' threw their careers away, committed treason and theft, risked their lives out of loyalty to Kirk and love of Spock. Ultimately that is as close to family as anything gets. I am blessed to have my mom, my brothers, my grandma and Abbey. I am also blessed to have some amazing surrogate families in my life as well. Whether or not we are working together or not, close or miles away. Perhaps I have learned not to watch Star Trek for a father-son relationship that I can't change, but rather for the importance of my 'crew' the family that I have chosen to accept into my life and those who have accepted me.
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