Written by Mr. Mouseburger 20th May 2006
Kindly submitted by Iellwen
Commander Kruge informs Kirk that if he and his crew do not surrender the Enterprise, then one of his Klingon underlings will stab Saavik, Spock, or David Marcus, prisoners they had captured earlier. When the Enterprise is not surrendered, Kruge decides to execute Saavik. David see this, and decides to take matters into his own hands by putting up a fight. David and the Klingon struggle over the dagger, but it is not long before the more powerful Klingon triumphs and stabs David, killing him.
Actually, the Klingon solider had decided to kill Saavik. David saw this and decided to take matters into his own hands to keep Saavik from being killed. As I understood it, the producers decided to have David be the one to die in order to give him a way to make up for his cheating in creating the Genesis Device - which had caused so many deaths in both the second and third films.
Thanks for this Servo. i have modified the write-up slightly to take into account your comments.
Mouseburger
Kruge doesn't decide to kill Saavik. He tells his minion to kill any one of the three. (Young Spock, David Marcus, or Saavik)
Iellwen is correct, Kruge tells his men to kill one of the hostages, and that he doesn't care which one they take out either. Kruge's minion is the one who initally decides to off Saavik, but his plans rapidly change when David decides to take matters into his own hands.
I saw Merritt Butricks AIDS Quilt. I mean no disrespect. It was a shock. I wonder if his character was killed because he was starting to get sick or if someone at Paramount had a problem with someone with AIDS going where no one has gone before?
The killer should be listed as Klingon Sergeant played by David Cadiente.
I believe David Marcus was killed off, because he was born out of wedlock. Unfortunately, Star Trek III HAD TWO MAJOR FLAWS - the absence of Dr. Carol Marcus and the death of her son Dr. David Marcus, OTHERWISE IT WAS A GOOD STAR TREK FILM. Killing the son of Kirk made Kirk more self-absorbed and the Star Trek films floundered until Nicholas Meyer was allowed to direct the excellent Star trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. THERE WAS ONLY ONE MENTION OF KIR'S SON IN STAR TREK IV BY LT. SAAVIK AND MENTION OF DAVID IN STAR TREK V. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HARVE BENNETT OR LEONARD NIMOY'S MODE OF THINKING WHEN IT CAME TO KILLING OFF THE SON OF ADMIRAL JAMES T. KIRK AND MAKING DR. CAROL MARCUS JUST DISSAPEAR.
The Klingon Sergeant that stabbed David was later shot by Admiral James T. Kirk (David's father) with a phaser.