title: Student

text: In Nigeria, education is classified into four system known as a 6-3-3-4 system of education. It implies six years in primary school, three years in junior secondary, three years in senior secondary and four years in the university. However, the number of years to be spent in university is mostly determined by the course of study. Some courses have longer study length than others. Those in primary school are often referred to as pupils. Those in university, as well as those in secondary school, are referred to as students.


title: Student

text: The Nigerian system of education also has other recognized categories like the polytechnics and colleges of education. The Polytechnic gives out National Diploma and Higher National Diploma certifications after a period of two years and/or four years of study respectively.


title: Student

text: Higher National Diploma (also known as HND) can be obtained in a different institution from where the National Diploma (also known as ND or OND) was obtained. However, the HND cannot be obtained without the OND certificate.


title: Student

text: On the other hand, the respective colleges of education provide students with the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) after a two-year period of study.


title: Student

text: In South Africa, education is divided into four bands: Foundation Phase (grades 1–3), Intermediate Phase (grades 4–6), Senior Phase (grades 7–9), and the Further Education and Training or FET Phase (grades 10–12). However, because this division is newer than most schools in the country, in practice, learners progress through three different types of school: primary school (grades 1–3), junior school (grades 4–7), and high school (grades 8–12). After the FET phase, learners who pursue further studies typically take three or four years to obtain an undergraduate degree or one or two years to achieve a vocational diploma or certificate. The number of years spent in university varies as different courses of study take different numbers of years. Those in the last year of high school (Grade 12) are referred to as 'Matrics' or are in 'Matric' and take the Grade 12 examinations accredited by the Umalusi Council (the South African board of education) in October and November of their Matric year. Exam papers are set and administered nationally through the National Department of Basic Education for government schools, while many (but not all) private school Matrics sit for exams set by the Independent Education Board (IEB), which operates with semi-autonomy under the requirements of Umalusi. (The assessment and learning requirements of both IEB and National exams are of roughly the same standard. The perceived better performance of learners within the IEB exams is largely attributable to their attending private, better-resourced schools with the much lower teacher: learner ratios and class sizes rather than because of fundamental differences in assessment or learning content). A school year for the majority of schools in South Africa runs from January to December, with holidays dividing the year into terms. Most public or government schools are 4-term schools and most private schools are 3-term school, but the 3-term government or public schools and 4-term private schools are not rare.


title: Student

text: Primary 1 to 3 (aged 7–9 respectively, Lower primary) Primary 4 to 6 (aged 10–12 respectively, Upper primary)


title: Student

text: Sec 1s are 13, and Sec 4s are 16. Express Students take secondary school from Sec 1 to 4, and Normal Acad and Technical will take secondary school from Sec 1 to 5.


title: Student

text: There are also schools which have the integrated program, such as River Valley High School (Singapore), which means they stay in the same school from Secondary 1 to Junior College 2, without having to take the "O" level examinations which most students take at the end of secondary school.


title: Student

text: International schools are subject to overseas curriculums, such as the British, American, Canadian or Australian Boards.


title: Student

text: Primary education is compulsory in Bangladesh. It is a near crime to not to send children to primary school when they are of age, but it is not a punishable crime. Sending children to work instead of school is a crime, however. Because of the socio-economic state of Bangladesh, child labour is sometimes legal, but the guardian must ensure the primary education of the child. Anyone who is learning in any institute or even online may be called a student in Bangladesh. Sometimes students taking undergraduate education are called undergraduates and students taking post-graduate education may be called post-graduates.


title: Student

text: Education is free in Brunei. Darussalam not limited to government educational institutions but also private educational institutions. There are mainly two types of educational institutions: government or public, and private institutions. Several stages have to be undergone by the prospective students leading to higher qualifications, such as Bachelor's Degree.


title: Student

text: It takes six and five years to complete the primary and secondary levels respectively. Upon completing these two crucial stages, students/pupils have freedom to progress to sixth-form centers, colleges or probably straight to employment. Students are permitted to progress towards university level programs in both government and private university colleges.


title: Student

text: Education in Cambodia is free for all students who study in Primary School, Secondary School or High School.


title: Student

text: After basic education, students can opt to take a bachelor's (undergraduate) degree at a higher education institution (i.e. a college or university), which normally lasts for four years, though the length of some courses may be longer or shorter depending on the institution.


title: Student

text: In India school is categorized in these stages: Pre-primary (Nursery, Lower Kindergarten or LKG, Upper Kindergarten or UKG), Primary (Class 1–5), Secondary (6–10) and Higher Secondary (11–12). For undergraduate it is 3 years except Engineering (BTech or BE), Pharmacy (B.pharm), Bsc agriculture which are 4-year degree course, Architecture (B.Arch.) which is a 5-year degree course and Medical (MBBS) which consists of a 4.5-year degree course and a 1-year internship, so 5.5 years in total.


title: Student

text: In Nepal 12-year school is categorised in two stages: Primary school (Grade 1 to Grade 8) and Higher Secondary school (Grade 9 to Grade 12). For college it averages four years for a bachelor's degree (except BVSc and AH which are five year programmes and MBBS which is a five and half year programme) and two years master's degree.


title: Student

text: In Pakistan, 12-year school is categorized in three stages: Primary school, Secondary school and Higher Secondary school. It takes five years for a student to graduate from Primary school, five years for Secondary school and five years for Higher Secondary school (also called College). Most bachelor's degrees span over four years, followed by a two years master's degree.


title: Student

text: The Philippines is currently in the midst of a transition to a K-12 (also called K+12) basic education system. Education ideally begins with one year of kinder. Once the transition is complete, elementary or grade school comprises grades 1 to 6. Although the term "student" may refer to learners of any age or level, the term 'pupil' is used by the Department of Education to refer to learners in the elementary level, particularly in public schools. Secondary level or high school comprises two major divisions: grades 7 to 10 will be collectively referred to as 'junior high school', whereas grades 11 to 12 will be collectively referred to as 'senior high school'. The Department of Education refers to learners in grade 7 and above as "students".


title: Student

text: After basic education, students can opt to take a bachelor's (undergraduate) degree at a higher education institution (i.e. a college or university), which normally lasts for four years though the length of some courses may be longer or shorter depending on the institution.


title: Student

text: In Iran 12-year school is categorized in two stages: Elementary school and High school. It takes six years for a student to graduate from elementary school and six years for high school. High school study is divided into two part: junior and senior high school. In senior high school, student can choose between the following six fields: Mathematics and physics, Science, Humanities, Islamic science, Vocational, or Work and knowledge. After graduating from high school, students acquire a diploma. Having a diploma, a student can participate in the Iranian University Entrance Exam or Konkoor in different fields of Mathematics, Science, Humanities, languages, and art. The university entrance exam is conducted every year by National Organization of Education Assessment, an organization under the supervision of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology which is in charge of universities in Iran. Members of the Baháʼí Faith, a much-persecuted minority, are officially forbidden to attend university, in order to prevent members of the faith becoming doctors, lawyers or other professionals; however, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian people are allowed entry to universities.


title: Student

text: In Australia, Pre-school is optional for three and four year olds. At age five, children begin compulsory education at Primary School, known as Kindergarten in New South Wales, Preparatory School (prep) in Victoria, and Reception in South Australia, students then continue to year one through six (ages 6 to 12). Before 2014, primary school continued on to year seven in Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. However, the state governments agreed that by 2014, all primary schooling will complete at year six. Students attend High School in year seven through twelve (ages 13 – 18). After year twelve, students may attend tertiary education at university or vocational training at TAFE (Technical and Further Education).


title: Student

text: In New Zealand, after kindergarten or pre-school, which is attended from ages three to five, children begin primary school, 'Year One', at five years of age. Years One to Six are Primary School, where children commonly attend local schools in the area for that specific year group. Then Year Seven and Year Eight are Intermediate, and from Year Nine until Year Thirteen, a student would attend a secondary school or a college.


title: Student

text: Europe uses the traditional, first form, second form, third form, fourth form, fifth form and six form grade system which is up to age eleven.


title: Student

text: In Finland a student is called "opiskelija" (plural being 'opiskelijat'), though children in compulsory education are called "oppilas" (plural being 'oppilaat'). First level of education is "esikoulu" (literally 'preschool'), which used to be optional, but has been compulsory since the beginning of year 2015. Children attend esikoulu the year they turn six, and next year they start attending "peruskoulu" (literally "basic school", corresponds to American elementary school, middle school and junior high), which is compulsory. Peruskoulu is divided to "alakoulu" (years 1 through 6) and "yläkoulu" (years 7 through 9). After compulsory education most children attend second-level education (toisen asteen koulutus), either lukio (corresponds to high school) or ammattioppilaitos (Vocational School), at which point they are called students (opiskelija). Some attend "kymppiluokka", which is a retake on some yläkoulu's education.


title: Student

text: To attend ammattikorkeakoulu (University of applied sciences) or a university a student must have a second-level education. The recommended graduation time is five years. First year students are called "fuksi" and students that have studied more than five years are called "N:nnen vuoden opiskelija" (Nth year student).


title: Student

text: The generic term ""étudiant"" (lit. student) applies only to someone attending a university or a school of a similar level, that is to say pupils in a cursus reserved to people already owning a Baccalauréat. The general term for a person going to primary or secondary school is "élève". In some French higher education establishments, a "bleu" or "bizuth" is a first-year student. Second-year students are sometimes called "carrés" (squares). Some other terms may apply in specific schools, some depending on the classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles attended.


title: Student

text: In Germany, the German cognate term "Student" (male) or "Studentin" (female) is reserved for those attending a university. University students in their first year are called "Erstsemester" or colloquially "Ersties" ("firsties"). Different terms for school students exist, depending on which kind of school is attended by the student. The general term for a person going to school is "Schüler" or "Schülerin". They begin their first four (in some federal estates six) years in primary school or "Grundschule". They then graduate to a secondary school called "Gymnasium", which is a university preparatory school. Students attending this school are called "Gymnasiasten", while those attending other schools are called "Hauptschüler" or "Realschüler". Students who graduate with the Abitur are called "Abiturienten". The abbreviation stud. + the abbreviation of the faculty p. e. phil. for "philosophiae" is a post-nominal for all students of a baccalaureus course. The abbreviation cand. for "candidatus" + the abbreviation of the faculty is given as a post-nominal to those close to the final exams. "First name surname", stud. phil. or "First name surname", cand. jur.


title: Student

text: In Ireland, pupils officially start with primary school which consists of eight years: junior infants, senior infants, first class to sixth class (ages 5–11). After primary school, pupils proceed to the secondary school level. Here they first enter the junior cycle, which consists of first year to third year (ages 11–14). At the end of third year, all students must sit a compulsory state examination called the Junior Certificate. After third year, pupils have the option of taking a "transition year" or fourth year (usually at age 15–16). In transition year pupils take a break from regular studies to pursue other activities that help to promote their personal, social, vocational and educational development, and to prepares them for their role as autonomous, participative and responsible members of society. It also provides a bridge to enable pupils to make the transition from the more dependent type of learning associated with the Junior Cert. to the more independent learning environment associated with the senior cycle.


title: Student

text: After the junior cycle pupils advance to the senior cycle, which consists of fifth year and sixth year (usually ages between 16 and 18). At the end of the sixth year a final state examination is required to be sat by all pupils, known as the Leaving Certificate. The Leaving Cert. is the basis for all Irish pupils who wish to do so to advance to higher education via a points system. A maximum of 625 points can be achieved. All higher education courses have a minimum of points needed for admission.


title: Student

text: At Trinity College, Dublin under-graduate students are formally called "junior freshmen", "senior freshmen", "junior sophister" or "senior sophister", according to the year they have reached in the typical four year degree course. "Sophister" is another term for a sophomore, though the term is rarely used in other institutions and is largely limited to Trinity College Dublin.


title: Student

text: At university, the term "fresher" is used to describe new students who are just beginning their first year. The term, "first year" is the more commonly used and connotation-free term for students in their first year. The week at the start of a new year is called "Freshers' Week" or "Welcome Week", with a programme of special events to welcome new students. An undergraduate in the last year of study before graduation is generally known as a "finalist".


title: Student

text: In Italian, a "matricola" is a first-year student. Some other terms may apply in specific schools, some depending on the liceo classico or liceo scientifico attended.


title: Student

text: According to the goliardic initiation traditions the grades granted (following approximately the year of enrollment at university) are: "matricola" (freshman), "fagiolo" (sophomore), "colonna" (junior), and "anziano" (senior), but most of the distinctions are rarely used outside Goliardia.


title: Student

text: In Sweden, only those studying at university level are called students ("student", plural "studenter"). To graduate from upper secondary school ("gymnasium") is called "ta studenten" (literally "to take the student"), but after the graduation festivities, the graduate is no longer a student unless he or she enrolls at university-level education. At lower levels, the word "elev" (plural "elever") is used. As a general term for all stages of education, the word "studerande" (plural also "studerande") is used, meaning 'studying [person]'.


title: Student

text: Traditionally, the term "student" is reserved for people studying at university level in the United Kingdom.


title: Student

text: At universities in the UK, the term "fresher" is used informally to describe new students who are just beginning their first year. Although it is not unusual to call someone a fresher after their first few weeks at university, they are typically referred to as "first years" or "first year students".


title: Student

text: The ancient Scottish University of St Andrews uses the terms "bejant" for a first year (from the French ""bec-jaune"" – "yellow beak", "fledgling"). Second years are called "semi-bejants", third years are known as "tertians", and fourth years, or others in their final year of study, are called "magistrands".


title: Student

text: In England and Wales, primary school begins with an optional "nursery" year (either in a primary school or a privately run nursery,) followed by reception and then move on to "year one, year two" and so on until "year six" (all in primary school.) In state schools, children join secondary school when they are 11–12 years old in what used to be called "first form" and is now known as "year 7". They go up to year 11 (formerly "fifth form") and then join the sixth form, either at the same school or at a separate sixth form college. A pupil entering a private, fee-paying school (usually at age 13) would join the "third form" – equivalent to year 9. Many schools have an alternate name for first years, some with a derogatory basis, but in others acting merely as a description – for example "shells" (non-derogatory) or "grubs" (derogatory).


title: Student

text: In Northern Ireland and Scotland, it is very similar but with some differences. Pupils start off in nursery or reception aged 3 to 4, and then start primary school in "P1" (P standing for primary) or year 1. They then continue primary school until "P7" or year 7. After that they start secondary school at 11 years old, this is called "1st year" or year 8 in Northern Ireland, or "S1" in Scotland. They continue secondary school until the age of 16 at "5th year", year 12 or "S5", and then it is the choice of the individual pupil to decide to continue in school and (in Northern Ireland) do AS levels (known as "lower sixth") and then the next year to do A levels (known as "upper sixth"). In Scotland, students aged 16–18 take Highers, followed by Advanced Highers. Alternatively, pupils can leave and go into full-time employment or to start in a technical college.


title: Student

text: Large increases in the size of student populations in the UK and the effect this has had on some university towns or on areas of cities located near universities have become a concern in the UK since 2000. A report by Universities UK, "Studentification: A Guide to Opportunities, Challenges and Practice" (2006) has explored the subject and made various recommendations. A particular problem in many locations is seen as the impact of students on the availability, quality and price of rented and owner-occupied property.


title: Student

text: Education in Canada (a federal state) is primarily within the constitutional jurisdiction of the provinces. The overall school curricula are overseen by the provincial and territorial governments, therefore the way educational stages are grouped and named can differ. Education is generally divided into primary, secondary and post-secondary stages. Primary and secondary education are generally divided into annual grades from 1 to 12, although grade 1 may be preceded by one or two years of kindergarten (which may be optional). Specifically, Ontario, Quebec and the Northwest Territories offer junior then senior kindergarten (in French, either ' then , or ' then ).


title: Student

text: Education in Ontario from 1988 involved an Ontario Academic Credit (OAC) after grade 12 primarily as university preparation, but that was phased out in 2007. The OAC was informally known as "grade 13" (which it had replaced). All provinces and territories except Quebec now have 12 grades.


title: Student

text: Education in Quebec differs from the other jurisdictions in that it has an ("primary school") consisting of grades 1–6 and an ("secondary school") consisting of I–V, equivalent to grades 7–11. A student graduating from then either completes a three-year college program or a two-year pre-university program required before attending university. In some English-language and most French-language , students refer to I–V as years one through five. This can be confusing for those outside of Quebec, especially out of context.


title: Student

text: In some provinces, grades 1 through 5 are called "elementary school", grades 6 to 8 are called "middle school" or "junior high school", and grades 9 to 12 are considered high school. Other provinces, such as British Columbia, mainly divide schooling into elementary school (Kindergarten to grade 7) and secondary school (grades 8 through 12). In Alberta and Nova Scotia, elementary consists of kindergarten through grade 6. Junior high consists of Grades 7–9. High school consists of Grades 10–12. In English provinces, the high school (known as "academy" or "secondary school") years can be referred to simply as "first, second, third and fourth year". Some areas call it by grade such as grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12.


title: Student

text: In Canadian English, the term "college" usually refers to a technical, trades, applied arts, applied technology, or applied science school or community college. These are post-secondary institutions typically granting two-year diplomas certificates, diplomas, associate degrees and (in some cases) bachelor's degrees. The French acronym specific to public institutions within Quebec’s system of pre-university and technical education is CEGEP ("Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel", "college of general and professional education"). CEGEP is a collegiate level institution in Quebec that most students typically enrols in, whether to learn a trade or applied discipline or to qualify for entrance to university in the Quebec education system. (In Ontario and Alberta, there are also institutions that only grant undergraduate degrees which are designated university colleges to differentiate them from universities, which have both undergraduate and graduate programs.)


title: Student

text: In Canada, there is a strong distinction between "college" and "university". In conversation, one specifically would say either "they are going to university" (i.e., studying for a three- or four-year degree at a university) or "they are going to college" (i.e., studying at a technical/career training).


title: Student

text: A Canadian post-secondary college is generally geared for individuals seeking applied careers, while universities are geared for individuals seeking more academic careers.


title: Student

text: University students are generally classified as first, second, third or fourth-year students, and the American system of classifying them as "freshmen", "sophomores", "juniors" and "seniors" is seldom used or even understood in Canada. In some occasions, they can be called "senior ones", "twos", "threes" and "fours".


title: Student

text: In the United States, the first official year of schooling is called kindergarten, which is why the students are called kindergarteners. Kindergarten is optional in most states, but few students skip this level. Pre-kindergarten, also known as "preschool" (and sometimes shortened to "Pre-K") is becoming a standard of education as academic expectations for the youngest students continue to rise. Many public schools offer pre-kindergarten programs.


title: Student

text: In the United States, there are 12 years of mandatory schooling. The first eight are solely referred to by numbers (e.g. 1st grade, 5th grade) so students may be referred to as 1st graders, 5th graders, then once in middle school, they are referred to as 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Upon entering high school, grades 9 through 12 (high school) also have alternate names for students, namely freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. The actual divisions of which grade levels belong to which division (whether elementary, middle, junior high, or high school) is a matter decided by state or local jurisdictions.


title: Student

text: College students are often called Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors for each of the four years unless their undergraduate program calls for more than the traditional four years.


title: Student

text: The first year of college or high school is referred to as Freshman year. A freshman is a first-year student in college, university or high school.


title: Student

text: In the U.S., a sophomore, also called a "soph", is a second-year student. Outside the United States, the term "sophomore" is rarely used, with second-year students simply called "second years". Folk etymology indicates that the word means "wise fool"; consequently "sophomoric" means "pretentious, bombastic, inflated in style or manner; immature, crude, superficial" (according to the "Oxford English Dictionary"). It is widely assumed to be formed from Greek "Sophos", meaning "wise", and "Moros" meaning "foolish", although the etymology suggests an origin from the now-defunct "sophomore", an obsolete variant of "sophism".


title: Student

text: In the U.S., a Junior is a student in the penultimate (usually third) year and a Senior is a student in the last (usually fourth) year of college, university, or high school. A student who takes more than the average number of years to graduate is sometimes referred to as a "super senior". This term is often used in college but can be used in high school as well. The term "underclassman" refers collectively to Freshmen and Sophomores, and "upperclassman" refers collectively to Juniors and Seniors, sometimes even Sophomores. In some cases, the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are considered underclassmen, while seniors are designated as upperclassmen. The term Middler is used to describe a third-year student of a school (generally college) that offers five years of study. In this situation, the fourth and fifth years would be referred to as Junior and Senior years, respectively, and the first two years would be the Freshman and Sophomore years.


title: Student

text: A graduate student is a student who continues his/her education after graduation. Some examples of graduate programs are: business school, law school, medical school, and veterinary school. Degrees earned in graduate programs include the Master’s degree, a research doctoral degree, or a first professional degree.


title: Student

text: Students attending vocational school focus on their jobs and learning how to work in specific fields of work. A vocational program typically takes much less time to complete than a four-year degree program, lasting 12–24 months.


title: Student

text: Students have their own current of politics and activism on and off campus. The student rights movement has centered itself on the empowerment of students similar to the labor movement.


title: Student

text: A mature, non-traditional, or adult student in tertiary education (at a university or a college) is normally classified as an (undergraduate) student who is at least 21–23 years old at the start of their course and usually having been out of the education system for at least two years. Mature students can also include students who have been out of the education system for decades, or students with no secondary education. Mature students also make up graduate and postgraduate populations by demographic of age.


title: Student

text: University students have been associated with pranks and japes since the creation of universities in the Middle Ages. These can often involve petty crime, such as the theft of traffic cones and other public property, or hoaxes. It is also not uncommon for students from one school to steal or deface the mascot of a rival school. In fact, pranks play such a significant part in student culture that numerous books have been published that focus on the issue.


title: Student

text: "Freshman" and "sophomore" are sometimes used figuratively, almost exclusively in the United States, to refer to a first or second effort ("the singer's "sophomore" album"), or to a politician's first or second term in office ("freshman senator") or an athlete's first or second year on a professional sports team. "Junior" and "senior" are not used in this figurative way to refer to third and fourth years or efforts, because of those words' broader meanings of "younger" and "older". A junior senator is therefore not one who is in a third term of office, but merely one who has not been in the Senate as long as the other senator from their state. Confusingly, this means that it is possible to be both a "freshman senator" and a "senior senator" simultaneously: for example, if a senator wins election in 2008, and then the other senator from the same state steps down and a new senator elected in 2010, the former senator is both senior senator (having been in the Senate for two years longer) and a freshman senator (being still in their first term).


title: Student

text: International Students' Day (17 November) remembers the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi storming of the University of Prague after student demonstrations against the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. Germans closed all Czech universities and colleges, sent over 1200 students to Nazi concentration camps, and had nine student leaders executed (on 17 November).


title: Bae Suzy filmography

text: Bae Suzy (; born October 10, 1994), better known by the mononym Suzy, is a South Korean singer and actress. She was a member of the girl group miss A under JYP Entertainment.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was a South African politician, a scholar of applied psychology and sociology, and chief editor of "Die Transvaler" newspaper. He is commonly regarded as the architect of Apartheid. Verwoerd played a significant role in socially engineering apartheid, the country's system of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy, and implementing its policies as Minister of Native Affairs (1950–1958) and then as prime minister (1958–1966). Furthermore, Verwoerd played a vital role in helping the far-right National Party come to power in 1948, serving as their political strategist and propagandist, becoming party leader upon his premiership. He was the Union of South Africa's last prime minister, from 1958 to 1961, when he proclaimed the founding of the Republic of South Africa, remaining its prime minister until his assassination in 1966.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd was an authoritarian, socially conservative leader and an Afrikaner nationalist. He was a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond (Afrikaans: Brotherhood), an exclusively white and Christian Calvinist secret organization dedicated to advancing the Afrikaner "volk" interests, and like many members of the organization had verbally supported Germany during World War II. Broederbond members like Verwoerd would assume high positions in government upon the Nationalist electoral victory in 1948 and come to wield a profound influence on public and civil society throughout the apartheid era in South Africa.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd's desire to ensure white, and especially Afrikaner dominance in South Africa, to the exclusion of the country's nonwhite majority, was a major aspect of his support for a republic (though removing the British monarchy was long a nationalist aspiration anyway). To that same end, Verwoerd greatly expanded apartheid. He branded the system of apartheid as a policy of "good-neighborliness", stating that as different races and cultures have different beliefs and values, they could only reach their full potential if they lived and developed apart from each other, avoiding cultural clashes. . He further advocated that the white minority had to be protected from the majority non-white in South Africa by pursuing a "policy of separate development"—namely apartheid—and keeping power firmly in the hands of whites, to whom he gave credit to South Africa's economic development. Given Verwoerd's background as a social science academic, he attempted to justify apartheid on ethical and philosophical grounds. This system however saw the complete disfranchisement of the nonwhite population.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd heavily repressed opposition to apartheid during his premiership. He ordered the detention and imprisonment of tens of thousands of people and the exile of further thousands, while at the same time greatly empowering, modernizing, and enlarging the white apartheid state's security forces (police and military). He banned black organizations such as the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress, and it was under him that future president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for life for sabotage. Verwoerd's South Africa had one of the highest prison populations in the world and saw a large number of executions and floggings. By the mid-1960s Verwoerd's government to a large degree had put down internal civil resistance to apartheid by employing extraordinary legislative power, draconian laws, psychological intimidation, and the relentless efforts of the white state's security apparatus.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Apartheid as a program began in 1948 with D. F. Malan's premiership, but it was Verwoerd's role in its formulation and his efforts to place it on a firmer legal and theoretical footing, including his opposition to even the limited form of integration known as , that have led him to be dubbed the "Architect of Apartheid". His actions prompted the passing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761, condemning apartheid, and ultimately leading to South Africa's international isolation and economic sanctions. On 6 September 1966, Verwoerd was stabbed several times by parliamentary aide Dimitri Tsafendas. He died shortly after, and Tsafendas was jailed until his death in 1999.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Hendrik Verwoerd was born in Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1901. Verwoerd was South Africa's only foreign-born prime minister. He was the second child of Anje Strik and Wilhelmus Johannes Verwoerd. His father was a shopkeeper and a deeply religious man who decided to move his family to South Africa in 1903 because of his sympathy towards the Afrikaner nation in the wake of the Second Boer War. Verwoerd went to a Lutheran primary school in Wynberg, Cape Town. By the end of 1912, the Verwoerd family moved to Bulawayo, Rhodesia, where his father became an assistant evangelist in the Dutch Reformed Church. Verwoerd attended Milton High School where he was awarded the Beit Scholarship, established by diamond magnate and financier Alfred Beit. Verwoerd received the top marks for English literature in Rhodesia.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In 1917, the family moved back to South Africa since the congregation in Bulawayo had appointed a second minister of religion. His father took up a position in the church in Brandfort, Orange Free State. Due to the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic, the younger Verwoerd only sat for his matriculation exams in February 1919, achieving first position in the Orange Free State and fifth in country.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd studied at Stellenbosch University, where he was regarded as a brilliant social science academic, and it was widely claimed that he possessed a photographic memory. Verwoerd was fluent in Afrikaans, Dutch, English and German. He obtained his B.A with distinctions in Sociology, Psychology and Philosophy, and then completed his Masters cum laude. He then went on completing his Doctorate in Psychology in 1925 at Stellenbosch University. Verwoerd's over three hundred page Doctorate thesis titled "Die Afstomping van die Gemoedsaandoeninge" (Afrikaans: The numbing of the Emotion) was at the time regarded as a monumental academic achievement in field of Applied Psychology in South Africa.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Due to the work undertaken by Verwoerd in his doctoral thesis , he was awarded two scholarships for post-doctoral research abroad—one by the Abe Bailey Trust to study at the University of Oxford, England, and another one to continue his studies in Germany. He opted for the latter, as Verwoerd wanted to continue his research under a number of renowned German psychology and philosophy professors of the time, and possibly due to his own anti-British views at the time. Verwoerd left for Germany in 1926, and proceeded to research psychology and sociology at the University of Hamburg, Berlin, and Leipzig. In Hamburg he studied under William Stern, in Berlin under Wolfgang Köhler and Otto Lipmann, and in Leipzig under Felix Krueger. Most of these professors were not allowed to teach anymore once the Nazis came to power in 1933.. Claims that Verwoerd studied eugenics during his German sojourn and later based his apartheid policy on Nazi ideology, are still being evaluated by scholars. Critics contend that eugenics was usually taught at medical faculties during this period. Christoph Marx asserts that Verwoerd kept a conspicuous distance from eugenic theories and racist social technologies, emphasising environmental influences rather than hereditary abilities.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd's fiancée, Betsie Schoombie, joined him in Germany and they were married in Hamburg on 7 January 1927. Later that year, he continued his studies in the United Kingdom, and then proceeded to the United States. His lecture notes and memoranda at Stellenbosch University stressed that there were no biological differences between the big racial groups, and concluded that "this was not really a factor in the development of a higher social civilization by the Caucasians."


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd returned with his wife to South Africa in 1928 and was appointed to the chair of Applied Psychology and Psycho Technique at the University of Stellenbosch where, six years later, he became Professor of Sociology and Social Work. During the Great Depression, Verwoerd became active in social work among poor white South Africans. He devoted much attention to welfare work and was often consulted by welfare organizations, while he served on numerous committees.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Afrikaans politics from 1910 to 1948 were divided between the "liberals" such as Jan Smuts who argued for a reconciliation with Britain vs. the "extremists" who expressed anti-British sentiments due to the Boer War. Both the "liberals" and the "extremists" believed that South Africa was a "white man's country", though the latter were more stridently committed to white supremacy. Verwoerd belonged to the anti-British faction in Afrikaans politics who wanted to keep as much distance as possible from Britain.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In 1936, Verwoerd joined by a group of Stellenbosch University professors protested against the immigration of German Jews to South Africa, who were fleeing Nazi persecution. His efforts in the field of national welfare drew him into politics and in 1936 he was offered the first editorship of "Die Transvaler", a position which he took up in 1937, with the added responsibility of helping to rebuild the National Party in the Transvaal.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: "Die Transvaler" was a publication which supported the aspirations of Afrikaner nationalism, agricultural and labour rights. Combining republicanism, populism and protectionism, the paper helped "solidify the sentiments of most South Africans, that changes to the socio-economic system were vitally needed". With the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Verwoerd protested against South Africa's role in the conflict when the country declared war on Germany, siding with its former colonial power, the United Kingdom.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In 1943, Verwoerd, editor of "Die Transvaler", sued the English-language newspaper "The Star" after it accused him of being a Nazi propagandist. In his judgment dismissing the case, Justice Mallin stated that Verwoerd 'did support Nazi propaganda, he did make his paper a tool of Nazis in South Africa, and he knew it' (cited by Scheub 2010, 42; Bunting 1964, 106–107).


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: The South African general election of 1948 was held on 26 May 1948 and saw the Nationalist Party together with the Afrikaner Party winning the general elections. Malan's Herenigde Nasionale Party (HNP) concluded an election pact with the Afrikaner Party in 1947. They won the elections with a very narrow majority of five seats in Parliament, although they only got 40 percent of the voter support. This was due to the loaded constituencies in cities, which was to the advantage of rural constituencies. The nine Afrikaner Party MPs thus made it possible for Malan's HNP to form a coalition government with the Afrikaner Party of Klasie Havenga. The two parties amalgamated in 1951 as the National Party, although Havenga was not comfortable with NP policy to remove coloured voters from the common voters' roll.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Running on the platform of self-determination and apartheid as it was termed for the first time, Prime Minister Daniel Malan and his party benefited from their support in the rural electorates, defeating General Jan Christiaan Smuts and his United Party. General Smuts lost his own seat of Standerton. Most party leaders agreed that the nationalist policies were responsible for the National Party's victory. To further cement their nationalist policies, Herenigde Nasionale Party leader Daniel Malan called for stricter enforcement of job reservation protecting the rights of the white working class, and the rights of white workers to organise their own labour unions outside of company control.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd was elected to the Senate of South Africa later that year, and became the minister of native affairs under Prime Minister Malan in 1950, until his appointment as prime minister in 1958. In that position, he helped to implement the Nationalist Party's programme.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Among the laws that were drawn and enacted during Verwoerd's time as minister for native affairs were the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act in 1950, the Pass Laws Act of 1952 and the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953. Verwoerd wrote the Bantu Education Act, which was to have a deleterious effect on the ability of black South Africans to be educated. Verwoerd himself noted that the purpose of the Bantu Education Act was to ensure that blacks would have only just enough education to work as unskilled laborers.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: The Bantu Education Act ensured that black South Africans had only the barest minimal of education, thus entrenching the role of blacks in the apartheid economy as a cheap source of unskilled labor. In June 1954, Verwoerd in a speech stated: "The Bantu must be guided to serve his own community in all respects. There is no place for him in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour. Within his own community, however, all doors are open".


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: One black South African woman who worked as an anti-apartheid activist, Nomavenda Mathiane, in particular criticized Verwoerd for the Bantu Education Act of 1953, which caused generations of black South Africans to suffer an inferior education, saying: "After white people had taken the land, after white people had impoverished us in South Africa, the only way out of our poverty was through education. And he came up with the idea of giving us an inferior education."


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Prime Minister Daniel Malan announced his retirement from politics following the National Party's success in the elections of 1953. In the succession debate that followed Malan's retirement in 1954, N. C. Havenga, and J. G. Strijdom were potential successors. The Young Turks of the Transvaal got the upper hand and thus J. G. Strijdom was elected as the new leader of the National Party, who succeeded Malan as Prime Minister.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd gradually gained popularity with the Afrikaner electorate and continued to expand his political support. With his overwhelming constituency victory in the 1958 election and the death shortly thereafter of Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom, Verwoerd was nominated together with Eben Dönges and C. R. Swart from the Orange Free State as candidates to head the party. Verwoerd got the most votes in the second round and thus succeeded Strijdom as Prime Minister.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Hendrik Verwoerd is often called the architect of apartheid for his role in shaping the implementation of apartheid policy when he was minister of native affairs and then prime minister. Verwoerd once described apartheid as a "policy of good neighbourliness".


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: At the time that the NP came to power in 1948, there were factional differences in the party about the implementation of systemic racial segregation. The larger faction, favoured segregation, but also favoured the participation of black Africans in the economy as long as black labour could be controlled to advance the economic gains of Afrikaners. A second faction were the "purists", who believed in "vertical segregation", in which blacks and whites would be entirely separated, with blacks living in native reserves, with separate political and economic structures, which, they believed, would entail severe short-term pain, but would also lead to independence of white South Africa from black labour in the long-term. Verwoerd belonged to a third faction, that sympathised with the purists, but allowed for the use of black labour, while implementing the purist goal of vertical separation.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd's vision of a South Africa divided into multiple ethno-states appealed to the reform-minded Afrikaner intelligentsia, and it provided a more coherent philosophical and moral framework for the National Party's racist policies, while also providing a veneer of intellectual respectability to the previously crude policy of "baasskap". Verwoerd felt that the political situation of South Africa had become stagnant over the past century and called for reform.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Under the Premiership of Verwoerd, the following legislative acts relating to apartheid were introduced:


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: The creation of a republic was one of the National Party's long-term goals since originally coming to power in 1948. In January 1960, Verwoerd announced that a referendum would be called to determine the republican issue, the objective being a republic within the Commonwealth. Two weeks later, Harold Macmillan, then British Prime Minister, visited South Africa.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In an address to both Houses of Parliament, Macmillan gave his famous Winds of Change speech. The speech, which implicitly criticized apartheid, together with the worldwide criticism following the Sharpeville massacre, created a siege mentality in South Africa. Verwoerd seized upon this to booster his case for a republic, presenting Elizabeth II as the ruler of a hostile power.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd also ensured that South African media gave generous coverage of the breakdown of society in the Congo in the summer of 1960 following independence from Belgium as an example of the sort of "horrors" that allegedly would ensue in South Africa if apartheid was ended. He then linked the Congo situation to the criticism of apartheid in Britain, arguing the Congolese "horrors" were what the British government was intent upon inflicting on white South Africans (via their opposition to apartheid), fanning the flames of Anglophobia.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In order to bolster support for a republic, the voting age for whites was lowered from 21 to 18, benefiting younger Afrikaans speakers, who were more likely to favour a republic, and the franchise was extended to whites in South-West Africa, most of whom were German or Afrikaans speakers. This was done even though English South Africans were slightly outnumbered by Afrikaners. The vast majority of English South Africans were against South Africa becoming a republic and were still loyal to the British Crown, especially in Natal, where anti-republican and secessionist sentiment was very strong.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: The 1960 South Africa referendum was accepted by Parliament. In March 1961 at the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London, Verwoerd abandoned an attempt for South Africa to become a republic within the Commonwealth, which was necessary given the intention to declare a republic following a resolution jointly sponsored by Jawaharlal Nehru of India and John Diefenbaker of Canada declaring that racism was incompatible with Commonwealth membership. Verwoerd abandoned the application to rejoin the Commonwealth after the Indo-Canadian resolution was accepted mostly by votes from non-white nations (Canada was the only majority white country to vote for the resolution), and stormed out of the conference. For many white South Africans, especially those of British extraction, leaving the Commonwealth imposed a certain psychological sense of isolation as South Africa left a club that it had belonged to since 1910 and of which it had been a prominent member. The Republic of South Africa came into existence on 31 May 1961, the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging that had brought the Second Boer War to an end in 1902, and the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The Anglophobic Verwoerd timed the declaration of a republic with the anniversary of the Treaty of Vereeniging as a form of revenge for the defeat of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State in the Boer War. The last Governor-General, Charles Robberts Swart, took office as the first State President.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: After South Africa became a republic, Verwoerd refused to accept black ambassadors from Commonwealth member states. Verwoerd's overt moves to block non-whites from representing South Africa in sports—starting with cricket—started the international movement to ostracise South Africa from international sporting competition. Their last Olympic Games—until the abolition of apartheid—was in 1960, South Africa was expelled from FIFA in 1976, and whenever South African teams did participate in sports, protests and disruptions were the result. When supporters of South Africa decried their exclusion, the usual response was: "Who started it?", in reference to Verwoerd.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: On 9 April 1960, Verwoerd opened the Union Exposition in Milner Park, Johannesburg, to mark the jubilee of the Union of South Africa. After Verwoerd delivered his opening address, David Pratt, a rich English businessman and farmer from the Magaliesberg, near Pretoria, attempted to assassinate Verwoerd, firing two shots from a .22 pistol at point-blank range, one bullet perforating Verwoerd's right cheek and the second his right ear.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Colonel G. M. Harrison, president of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society, leapt up and knocked the pistol from the gunman's hand. After the pistol fell to the floor, Harrison, with the help of Major Carl Richter, the Prime Minister's personal bodyguard, civilians and another policeman overpowered the gunman. He was taken to the Marshall Square police station and later transferred to the Forensic Medical Laboratory due to his peculiar behaviour.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Within minutes of the assassination attempt, Verwoerd—still conscious and blood gushing from his face—was rushed to the nearby Johannesburg Hospital. Two days later, the hospital issued a statement which described his condition as 'indeed satisfactory—further examinations were carried out today and they confirm good expectations. Dr. Verwoerd at present is restful. There is no need for any immediate operation.' Once his condition stabilised, Verwoerd was transferred to a Pretoria hospital. The neurologists who treated Verwoerd later stated that his escape had been 'absolutely miraculous'. Specialist surgeons were called in to remove the bullets. At first, there was speculation that Verwoerd would lose his hearing and sense of balance, but this was to prove groundless. He returned to public life on 29 May, less than two months after the shooting.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: David Pratt was initially held under the emergency regulations, declared on 30 March 1960, nine days after the Sharpeville massacre and shortly after Verwoerd received a death threat with a red note reading, "Today we kill Verwoerd". Pratt appeared for a preliminary hearing in the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court on 20 and 21 July 1960, once it was clear that the attempt was not fatal.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Pratt claimed he had been shooting 'the epitome of apartheid'. However, in his defence, he stated he only wanted to injure, not kill, Verwoerd. The court accepted the medical reports submitted to it by five different psychiatrists, all of which confirmed that Pratt lacked legal capacity and could not be held criminally liable for having shot the prime minister. On 26 September 1960, he was committed to a mental hospital in Bloemfontein. On 1 October 1961, his 53rd birthday, he committed suicide, shortly before parole was to be considered. His cause of death is disputed, since many suicides during the apartheid era were actually murders and killings by police.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In 1961, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld visited South Africa where he could not reach an agreement with Prime Minister Verwoerd. On 6 November 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, condemning South African apartheid policies. On 7 August 1963, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 181 calling for a voluntary arms embargo against South Africa, and in the same year, a Special Committee Against Apartheid was established to encourage and oversee plans of action against the authorities.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: From 1964, the US and UK discontinued their arms trade with South Africa. Economic sanctions against South Africa were also frequently debated in the UN as an effective way of putting pressure on the apartheid government. In 1962, the UN General Assembly requested that its members sever political, fiscal and transportation ties with South Africa.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: The National Party under Verwoerd won the 1966 general election.The election marked a major strengthening of power for the ruling NP, which gained a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time. During this period, the National Party government continued to foster the development of a military industrial complex, that successfully pioneered developments in native armaments manufacturing, including aircraft, small arms, armoured vehicles, and even nuclear and biological weapons.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Three days before his death, Verwoerd had held talks with the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Chief Leabua Jonathan, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Following the meeting, a joint communique was issued by the two governments with special emphasis on "co-operation without interference in each others' internal affairs".


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: On 6 September 1966, Verwoerd was assassinated in Cape Town, shortly after entering the House of Assembly at 14:15. A uniformed parliamentary messenger named Dimitri Tsafendas stabbed Verwoerd in the neck and chest four times before being subdued by other members of the Assembly. Four members of Parliament who were also trained doctors rushed to the aid of Verwoerd and started administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Verwoerd was rushed to Groote Schuur Hospital, but was pronounced dead upon arrival.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd's state funeral, attended by a quarter of a million people, was held in Pretoria on 10 September 1966, during which his South African flag-draped casket was laid on an artillery carriage towed by a military truck. He was buried in the Heroes' Acre in Pretoria. The still blood-stained carpet where Verwoerd lay after his murder remained in Parliament until it was removed in 2004.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Over the days that followed the assassination, Tsafendas was questioned by the police while in custody, while the police turned every possible stone in order to obtain as much information as possible. Under questioning, Tsafendas made coherent statements explaining that he had committed his act in the hope that after Verwoerd's "disappearance" "a change of policy would take place". He added that he "I wanted to see a government representing all the South African people. I do not think the Nationalist Government is representative of the people and I wanted to see a different government … I did not care about the consequences, for what would happen to me afterwards. I didn't care much and didn't give it a second thought that I would be caught. I was so disgusted with the racial policy that I went through with my plans to kill the prime minister."


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: At the same time, the South African police gathered a plethora of evidence of Tsafendas's long history of political activism, from his membership of the South African Communist Party (SACP) between 1936 and 1942 to his time in London in the early 1960s, when he had attended meetings of the Committee of African Organizations and had held "the posters up" at "anti-colonial", "anti-apartheid” and "anti-racial" meetings; in South Africa from 1939 to 1942, he had "engaged actively in Communistic propaganda"; he had fought on the Communist side in the Greek Civil War of 1947–49; and in London he had been a close associate and assistant of the ANC's local representative, Tennyson Makiwane. In short, and according to his own words, he was "anti-colonial, against slavery and in favour of all colonies which were controlled by Belgium, France and Portugal to be afforded self-government."


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Nevertheless, none of these became known during a summary trial where Tsafendas escaped the death penalty on the grounds of insanity. Judge Andries Beyers ordered Tsafendas to be imprisoned indefinitely at the "State President's pleasure"; in 1999 he died aged 81 still in detention.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: The town of Orania in the Northern Cape province houses the Verwoerd collection—memorabilia collected during Verwoerd's lifetime which is now on display in the house where his widow lived for the last years before her death in 2000 at the age of 98. Verwoerd's legacy in South Africa today is a controversial one as for black South Africans, Verwoerd was and still is regarded as the epitome of evil, the white supremacist who become a symbol of apartheid itself. Apparently, most white South Africans now speak of Verwoerd as an embarrassment and only a minority still praise him. However, in 2004 Verwoerd was elected by popular poll as one of the top 20 South Africans of all time in the TV show Great South Africans. Melanie Verwoerd, who was married to Verwoerd's grandson Willem, joined the African National Congress (ANC) (like her ex-husband). She recalled that bearing the surname Verwoerd always produced awkward stares in ANC circles when she introduced herself and she had to explain that she was indeed the granddaughter-in-law of the Verwoerd who was the prime minister.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: In 1992, Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Verwoerd, moved to Orania, the Afrikaner settlement founded by her son-in-law. She was visited by the first democratically elected president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, at her home in 1995.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: On the 50th anniversary of Verwoerd's assassination in 2016, parts of the South Africa media argued that Tsafendas should be regarded as an anti-apartheid hero, while others argued against such an interpretation on the grounds that Tsafendas assassinated Verwoerd because he was mentally ill, not because he was opposed to Verwoerd's politics.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Many major roads, places and facilities in cities and towns of South Africa were named after Verwoerd; in post-apartheid South Africa, there has been a campaign to take down statues of Verwoerd and rename buildings and streets named after him. Famous examples include H. F. Verwoerd Airport in Port Elizabeth, renamed Port Elizabeth Airport, the Verwoerd Dam in the Free State, now the Gariep Dam, H. F. Verwoerd academic hospital in Pretoria, now Steve Biko Hospital, and the town of Verwoerdburg, now Centurion.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Gross cautioned that he felt the campaign against Verwoerd as the "architect of apartheid" was going too far in the sense that it was too convenient to blame all the wrongs and injustices of apartheid on one man who was designated as being especially evil, stating that many people were involved in creating and maintaining the apartheid system. Gross concluded that blaming everything on Verwoerd was in effect excusing the actions of everyone else who supported apartheid.


title: Hendrik Verwoerd

text: Verwoerd is depicted on the obverses of a pair of .800 fine Silver 1 Rand coins dated 1967, which was struck to commemorate him.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 American science fiction film, written and produced by Harve Bennett, directed by Leonard Nimoy, and based on the television series "". It is the third film in the "Star Trek" franchise and is the second part of a three-film story arc that begins with "" (1982) and concludes with "" (1986). After the death of Spock (Nimoy), the crew of the USS "Enterprise" returns to Earth. When James T. Kirk (William Shatner) learns that Spock's spirit, or katra, is held in the mind of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Kirk and company steal the decommissioned USS "Enterprise" to return Spock's body to his homeworld. The crew must also contend with hostile Klingons led by Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) who are bent on stealing the secrets of a powerful terraforming device.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Paramount Pictures commissioned the film after the positive critical and commercial reaction to "The Wrath of Khan". Nimoy directed the film, becoming the first "Star Trek" cast member to do so. Producer Harve Bennett wrote the script starting from the end and working back and intended the destruction of the "Enterprise" to be a shocking development. Bennett and Nimoy collaborated with effects house Industrial Light & Magic to develop storyboards and new ship designs; ILM also handled the film's many special effects sequences. Aside from a single day of location shooting, the film was shot entirely on Paramount and ILM soundstages. Composer James Horner returned to expand his themes from the previous film.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: "The Search for Spock" opened on June 1, 1984. In its first week of release, the film grossed over $16 million from almost 2,000 theaters across North America. It went on to gross $76 million at the domestic box office, with a total of $87 million worldwide. Critical reaction to "The Search for Spock" was generally positive, but notably less so than the previous film. Reviewers generally praised the cast, Nimoy's direction and characters, while criticism tended to focus on the plot; the special effects were conflictingly received. Roger Ebert called the film a compromise between the tones of the first and second "Star Trek" films.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The Federation starship returns to Earth following the superhuman Khan Noonien Singh, who tried to destroy the "Enterprise" by detonating an experimental terraforming device known as Genesis. The casualties of the fight include Admiral James T. Kirk's Vulcan friend, Spock, whose casket was launched into space and eventually landed on the planet created by the Genesis Device. Upon arriving at Earth Spacedock, Doctor Leonard McCoy begins to act strangely and is detained. The commander of Starfleet, Admiral Morrow, visits the "Enterprise" and informs the crew the ship is to be decommissioned; the crew is instructed not to speak about Genesis due to political fallout over the device.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: David Marcus (Merritt Butrick)—Kirk's son and a key scientist in Genesis's development—and Lieutenant Saavik (Robin Curtis) are investigating the Genesis planet on board the science vessel "Grissom". Discovering an unexpected life form on the surface, Marcus and Saavik transport to the planet. They find that the Genesis Device has resurrected Spock in the form of a child, although his mind is not present. Marcus admits that he used unstable "protomatter" in the development of the Genesis Device, causing Spock to age rapidly and meaning the planet will be destroyed within hours. Meanwhile, Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), the commander of a Klingon Bird of Prey, intercepts information about Genesis. Recognizing the device's potential as a weapon, he takes his cloaked ship to the Genesis planet, destroys the "Grissom", and searches the planet for survivors.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Spock's father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), confronts Kirk about his son's death. The pair learn that before he died, Spock transferred his "katra", or living spirit, to McCoy. Spock's "katra" and body are needed to lay him to rest on his homeworld, Vulcan, and without help, McCoy will die from carrying it. Disobeying orders, Kirk and his officers spring McCoy from detention, disable the USS "Excelsior", and steal the "Enterprise" from Spacedock to return to the Genesis planet to retrieve Spock's body.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: On Genesis, the Klingons capture Marcus, Saavik, and Spock, and before Kruge can interrogate them, their ship signals that the "Enterprise" has arrived. Kruge beams back to the Bird of Prey.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: In orbit, the undermanned "Enterprise" initially gains the upper hand in battle, but the Klingons return fire and disable the ship. In the standoff that follows, Kruge orders that one of the hostages on the surface be executed. Marcus is killed defending Saavik and Spock. Kirk and company feign surrender and activate the "Enterprise" self-destruct sequence, killing the Klingon boarding party while the "Enterprise" crew transports to the planet's surface. Promising the secret of Genesis, Kirk lures Kruge to the planet and has Kruge beam Kirk's crew to the Klingon vessel. As the Genesis planet disintegrates, Kirk and Kruge engage in a fistfight; Kirk emerges victorious after kicking Kruge off a cliff into a lava flow. Kirk and his officers take control of the Klingon ship and head to Vulcan.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: There, Spock's "katra" is reunited with his body in a dangerous procedure called "fal-tor-pan". The ceremony is successful and Spock is resurrected, alive and well, though his memories are fragmented. At Kirk's prompting, Spock recalls he would refer to Kirk as "Jim" and recognizes the crew as well. His friends joyfully gather around him.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Merritt Butrick reprises his role as David Marcus, Kirk's son and a scientist who had helped develop the Genesis Device, from "The Wrath of Khan".


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: "" was a critical and commercial success, and Paramount Pictures quickly prepared for a third "Star Trek" film. "The Wrath of Khan"s director, Nicholas Meyer, would not return; he had disagreed with changes made to his film's ending without his consent. Upon seeing "The Wrath of Khan", Leonard Nimoy became "excited" about playing Spock again. When asked by Paramount if he wanted to reprise the role for the third feature, Nimoy agreed and told them, "You're damned right, I want to direct that picture!" Studio chief Michael Eisner was reluctant to hire Nimoy because he mistakenly believed that the actor hated "Star Trek" and had demanded in his contract that Spock be killed. Nimoy was given the job after he persuaded Eisner that this was not the case. "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry's first reaction to the news was that producer Harve Bennett had "hired a director you can't fire".


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Paramount gave Bennett the green light to write "Star Trek III" the day after "The Wrath of Khan" opened, the fastest go-ahead the producer had received. He began writing the screenplay, noting that "seventeen other people could have written [it]" after the hints at Spock's resurrection in the previous film. Bennett and Nimoy used the open thread of Spock mind melding with McCoy at the end of "The Wrath of Khan" as a way to explain Spock's restoration. The idea and name of the Vulcan "katra" came from Bennett's discussions with Nimoy. The actor referred the producer to an episode of the television series, "Amok Time", that suggested to Bennett a high level of "spiritual transference" among the Vulcans. Bennett admitted that the idea of Kirk and company going back to the Genesis planet to recover Kirk's "noble self" stemmed from a poem he read in a "Star Trek" fan magazine. The film's production acknowledged certain expectations from fans—Nimoy remarked that if Spock had not been resurrected and, instead, "Captain Kirk turn[ed] to the camera and [said] 'Sorry, we didn't find him,' people would throw rocks at the screen." A major issue Bennett wrestled with was how to introduce the story for people who had not seen "The Wrath of Khan". Bennett said that his television producer mentality "won out"; he added a "previously in "Star Trek" ..." film device, and had Kirk narrate a captain's log, describing his feelings and sense of loss. Aware of the story's predictability, Bennett decided to have the USS "Enterprise" destroyed, and intended this plot element be kept a secret.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Nimoy wanted "The Search for Spock" to be "operatic" in scope; "I wanted the emotions to be very large, very broad, life and death themes [...] and the [look of the film] and everything about it derives everything from sizable characters playing out a large story on a large canvas," he said. In addition, he wanted the characters to have significant scenes, however small, that made them grounded and real. Bennett started writing the script with the ending, where Spock says, "Your name is... Jim", and worked backwards from that point. Elements such as Kruge killing his lover were added to establish context and add drama and intrigue. Originally, the Romulans were the villains, but Nimoy preferred the more "theatrical" Klingons, feeling that their pursuit of Genesis was analogous to the Soviet race for nuclear weaponry. Bennett took the opportunity to flesh out the alien race, who he felt were ill-defined in the television series. The name of the class of the antagonists' ship, Bird of Prey, remained unchanged.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The script was completed in six weeks. The production's estimated budget of $16 million was slightly larger than that of "The Wrath of Khan", but still much less than "" (1979). Since elements such as many sets and uniforms had been established, more money was available for special effects. Assistant producer Ralph Winter described the extra money as a "toybox" that allowed more leeway and "fun" in planning the scope of the film.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Nimoy and Bennett worked with effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to produce special effects, models, and live-action scenes. ILM received a two-page story treatment in November 1982, titled "Return to Genesis". Production supervisor Warren Franklin said that the script they received in early 1983 was "one of the best scripts we read" out of the submissions that arrived weekly. Although ILM had provided the effects work for "The Wrath of Khan", they had only been approached after effects storyboards had been completed. For "The Search for Spock", ILM were brought in much earlier, meaning that visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston and his team were involved from the planning stages. Nimoy credited this early involvement with increasing the amount of creative input into the film's design and execution.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: It became apparent to ILM that "The Search for Spock" script required more design and model work than had been necessary for "The Wrath of Khan". A merchant ship destroyed by Kruge early in the film was a kitbash—a design made of combined model pieces. Effects cameraman Don Dow reasoned that since the ship was destroyed so quickly it did not make sense to spend a large amount of time building it. The USS "Grissom" was named for astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom; the same model would be used to depict other science vessels in the television series "".


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The "Excelsior" was a new design that ILM felt was a better rendition of a Federation starship—sleeker and more modern than the "Enterprise". The art department created concept sketches to show to Paramount, and at an art director's urging model maker William George submitted another design, based on what he thought the "Enterprise" would look like if designed by the Japanese. Nimoy picked George's angular and simplified take for production. While in the film, the "Excelsior" is supposed to be larger than its predecessor, the physical model was smaller than the "Enterprise".


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The Earth Spacedock was a design intended to expand the scope of "Star Trek". After approving a small three-dimensional maquette of the final design, the effects team created an exterior Spacedock model measuring tall. Rather than painstakingly wiring thousands of small lights, ILM made the model out of clear Plexiglass and painted it; scratching off the finish created windows, and an inner core of neon lights illuminated the resulting holes. The inside of the dock was simulated by an additional model, long, with a removable center section. The interior illumination was generated by outside fiber optics and 2,000- to 5,000-watt lights.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Art directors Nilo Rodis and Dave Carson designed the Klingon Bird of Prey, while George constructed the model. Nimoy wanted the ship to be reminiscent of an attacking bird, with movable wings that changed depending on whether the ship was in a cruising or attack posture. George took design cues from sketches of bodybuilders and football players, incorporating the starship equivalents of down-stretched, threatening arms and muscular shoulders, together with what looked like shoulder pads and a chin guard on the ship's outstretched neck. Although the stolen Romulan ship thread was cut from the film, the Bird of Prey design had incorporated elements of Romulan design. "It has some of the basic bird shape, but it's more ominous", Ralston said. A graphic bird design was integrated into the ship's underside.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: To save money, many sets, particularly interiors, were redresses of existing sets. The "Enterprise" bridge was reconfigured to stand in for the "Grissom", with the chairs reupholstered and the central navigation console rotated to modify the floor plan. An Earth bar and the Klingon medical bay were redresses of the "Enterprise" sickbay. Nimoy even appropriated the Klingon bridge set from another production. Many blinking consoles were rented from a props company rather than being fabricated. The "Enterprise" bridge itself remained largely unchanged from the previous film, notably its black floor was repainted grey for photogenic reasons. The most drastic change was made to Spock's quarters. Nimoy had felt the previous grey color scheme did not express a Vulcan style, and had it brightened with yellows and oranges.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Adding local color to the Klingon bridge was a ragged doglike creature the effects team derisively called "Fifi Rebozo". Ken Ralston thought that giving the Klingon captain a pet would add atmosphere, and sculpted a reptilian dog worked into the script as Kruge's mascot. The animal's hair was made from cheap wig clippings; creature supervisor David Sosalla sprayed the material with adhesive and laid clumps of the distressed fur onto the painted puppet body to make the animal appear "beat-up and moth-eaten". During filming, Sosalla and crew sprinkled the creature with water to make it look more unpleasant. The animal was a hand puppet; Ralston operated the head and body by placing his arm into an opening on the creature's side while hidden inside Kruge's command chair. Three helpers operated cables that opened the animal's eyes and made it snarl; the creature's head was large enough for Ralston to fit his hand inside the spring-loaded jaw to operate it. Many of the animal's intended movements were minimized; the crew did not move its ears because it made the supposedly repulsive creature "cute". For the animal's demise during the Klingons' fight with the "Enterprise", an additional "dead" puppet was created, but Ralston used the "live" one for the scene instead.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Many of the props in "The Wrath of Khan" had been reused from "The Motion Picture", or scrounged from other productions, but for "The Search for Spock" Winter wanted to design uniquely "Star Trek" items. George and artist Phil Norwood collaborated on many of the prop designs, creating updated and sleeker versions of the original series communicators and phasers. Many props were created out of wood and embellished with small pieces from model kits. While the Federation tricorder was created using a model race car body, the Klingon props were intended to look dirtier, with sharp surfaces that looked uncomfortable to carry. George was insistent on using the shapes and materials, rather than blinking lights, to suggest the props were real and manufactured.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Robert Fletcher, costume designer for the previous "Star Trek" films, was responsible for "The Search for Spock"s wardrobe. Fletcher's job was to sketch outfits, choose the necessary fabrics, and complete the fittings for principal characters. He collaborated with costumer Jim Linn, who clothed extras and managed the logistics of cleaning, repairing, and tracking costumes. Most of the Starfleet uniforms had already been designed for the previous film, but Fletcher wanted to dress the main characters in civilian clothes. Fletcher developed a mythology behind each outfit; the stone ornaments on Sarek's robe, for instance, were intended to be representative of a Vulcan's level of consciousness. The costumer had the advantage of access to Paramount's store rooms, which contained literal tons of expensive fabrics.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The designer and production staff were satisfied with the Klingon costume designs inspired by feudal Japanese dress, made by Fletcher for "The Motion Picture", but they had to make new versions; of 12 original costumes, half had been destroyed during publicity tours. The remaining six were loaned out for an episode of "Mork & Mindy" and badly damaged; Fletcher spent three months salvaging what remained. Additions to established clothing included an officer's vest for Kruge, and jewelry.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: In addition to his costume chores, Fletcher designed the Klingon and Vulcan makeup. Makeup artist Thomas R. Burman suggested that Fletcher was asked to help because the studio neglected to contract the work out; Burman received a contract only three weeks before the start of photography. Burman's bid of $160,000 was much higher than Paramount's $50,000 budget, but he secured the job when his competitor dropped out close to the start of production. "It didn't come down to money in the end but to who could do it quickly [...] we had a [reputation] for working fast and doing quality work," Burman explained. Fletcher and Burman agreed that the cragged foreheads of the Klingons in "The Motion Picture" were too prominent, obscuring the individuals' faces. "It was just too cartoonish, and I didn't want a "Star Wars" look in [the] movie. There had never been a good marriage between the forehead appliance and the actor's faces. We tried to keep them in character rather than have these obtrusive things on their heads," Burman said. The resulting Klingon makeup took two hours to apply.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: To guard against leaks that had prefigured Spock's death during production of "The Wrath of Khan", Paramount took precautions to secure the sets. Set designer Cameron Birnie noted that the production's security was highly unusual; sets were built out of sequence and the crew given only as many pages as they needed to fabricate each locale. Security guards checked the picture identification cards of production staff. Any mention of the production was removed from stationery and documents, and "Trois" (three, in French) was written as a code word. Offices and workshops were bereft of identifying signage, with doors double-locked for extra protection. "The Search for Spock"s scripts were chemically treated so that copies could be traced to the original; as a further canary trap, subtle changes in wording distinguished each copy. Nimoy's name never appeared on call sheets, and Spock was referred to in the script as "Nacluv" (Vulcan spelled backwards). Despite the precautions, word of the "Enterprise"s destruction leaked out before the film's release.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Principal photography commenced on August 15, 1983. All but two days of production were filmed on Paramount soundstages, by cinematographer Charles Correll. "The Search for Spock" was one of the first major feature films to use Eastman 5294, a color high speed negative film stock. The film allowed Correll latitude in choosing a broad range of exposure indexes. Since "The Search for Spock" was shot with anamorphic lenses and many theatergoers would see widescreen 70 mm prints, Correll needed to produce a crisp depth of field, a difficult task on many sets. For scenes on the bridge, Correll pushed the exposure index above the Eastman recommendation to keep the image crisp at less than 50 foot-candles.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Many of "The Search for Spock"s dialogue sequences feature tight close-up shots. During Kirk and Sarek's mind meld, Nimoy chose cuts that focused on accentuating the dialogue; "Instead of watching people's faces, all you see is the mouth or the eyes and you have the tendency to hear better," Correll explained. Correll was unhappy that every scene save one was filmed on a soundstage. Feeling that recreating everything on set resulted in a fake look, the cinematographer suggested that Genesis be filmed on Kauai in Hawaii, and that Red Rock Canyon stand in for Vulcan. The production did not have the money to shoot on location, meaning that Nimoy was preoccupied with making sure the various outdoor settings felt believable. While the various vessel exteriors were handled by ILM, Correll was responsible for the look of the interior sets. He preferred to treat these as actual locations inside the ships; although the sets' ceilings were designed to be removed so that lights could be rigged in the rafters, Correll used other lighting methods. In the Bird of Prey, he used fluorescent tubes to pick up the walls' metallic paints and kept the set smoky to convey a dirty atmosphere.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Before McCoy is arrested by security, he attempts to charter a spaceflight to Genesis in a bar. The scene opens with two officers playing a World War I-era dogfight video game. The wireframe biplanes were created using black lines on clear paper printouts placed on an overlay cell. "It was really just a gag shot", effects artist Charlie Mullen explained, "the idea that people in the future would be playing an old war game." To accommodate the effect, Correll had to use a large amount of exposure without making the bar appear overlit. Much of the lighting was provided by tables rigged with fluorescent tubes to provide an effect different from other parts of the film. Correll could not add smoke to the scene to enhance the bar "feel", because the disturbed atmosphere would have made ILM's game hard to insert. The scene was intended to end in a barroom brawl when security tried to take McCoy into custody; Nimoy decided that "it didn't feel right" and there was not enough time or money to achieve the scene successfully.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The Genesis planet was produced via matte paintings and soundstages on Paramount lots under art director John Edward Chilberg II. Much of the planet occupied Stage 15, known as the DeMille stage in honor of the director's Parting of the Red Sea on the stage during filming of "The Ten Commandments" (1956). The space measured . The perceived boundaries of the scenes were extended via matte paintings created by Chris Evans, Frank Ordaz, and Michael Pangrazio. Because parts of the set had to literally collapse during the planet's destruction, the set was built off the ground and featured trapdoors and pyrotechnics in the floor. The hundreds of 10,000-watt lights in the rafters were covered in silk for day scenes to soften the light and fitted with blue filters for night; dimmers eased the transition between periods. Since the doomed planet was no longer a paradise, the art director, Nimoy, Bennett and Correll considered constant changes to the colors on the scenes, but decided not to get "fancy photographically". While many of the scenes appeared lit with minimal light sources such as flickering fires, Correll tried to use as much light as possible. To get the fire to reflect on the actor's faces, Correll used a variety of tricks with normal lights; using natural fire would not have provided the required intensity.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: A significant feature of the Genesis planet are the alien worms that rapidly evolve from microbes on Spock's coffin. The creatures start as small, slimy crawlers, then grow to lengths of . The small worms were created by injecting molten "Hot-Melt" vinyl into epoxy polymer molds that were immediately put into cold water to create a translucent product. The resulting hundred or so creatures were painted and coated with methacyl, a slippery, slimy coating. Each worm was attached to an elevated platform by a piece of fishing line; the lines were tied to rods underneath the set. Offscreen helpers pushed the rods or pulled fishing line to create motion; the scene required many takes because the fishing line would periodically flash at the camera. The larger worms proved more problematic, with filming taking place at ILM and Paramount Stage 15. Similar to "The Wrath of Khan"s parasitic Ceti eels, the worms featured cobra-like cowls and a ringed mouth of teeth. ILM built one of the worms with more articulation than the others; Ralston operated the creature through a hole in the set floor with his hand stuck inside the creature. The other worms were animated using pneumatic bladders that caused air to pass through hoses in sequence, creating an undulating motion. During the scene, the worms attack Kruge, who kills one of them. The usual method for achieving the effect of the creature wrapping itself around Kruge would have been to film the sequence in reverse, but this posed problems: the slime coating Kruge would have been out of place with reverse filming, and multiple takes would ruin the Klingon makeup Lloyd wore. ILM's solution involved rigging the worm with fishing lines that were pulled in a choreographed fashion by multiple off-screen helpers to simulate the wrapping movement. When small pieces of the Klingon uniforms caught or snapped the fishing lines, Ralston resorted to steel cables.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The fiery breakup of the Genesis planet involved fire, smoke, and earth upheaval. "The main part of the floor was rigged so that rocks would shoot up out of the ground [on catapults]. Trees were rigged to fall and start fires," Correll explained. Producing the shots required meticulous direction and between 20 and 30 helpers were on hand the day of shooting. Correll shot simultaneously on nine cameras; the hope was to get as many usable shots as possible in one take, in case all the trapdoors and pyrotechnics had to be reset for another round of filming. This entire sequence was completed in three weeks.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The Vulcan stairs were filmed at Occidental College—the production's only location shooting. To create the orange atmosphere, Correll used a large floodlight, created for the 1983 Peter Hyams film "The Star Chamber", placed on the top of a crane. The location's blue-grey sky was replaced with a matte painting that covered the top half of the stairs shot. Many ornamental touches Nimoy wanted for the procession scene ultimately never materialized. The background of the set was simply a painted piece of canvas; Nimoy had the background out of focus in all the shots as a way to hide the shortcomings of the scenery. Elements removed from the Vulcan sequence included a procession through the "Vulcan Hall of Ancient Thought", a space dominated by large heads atop columns and a sculpture towering to a height of . The scene was cut because the procession dragged on for too long.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Production on the film was temporarily shut down after a fire destroyed several soundstages at Paramount Studios, one of which was adjacent to the set for the Genesis planet. Initially, the set's pyrotechnics were suspected of causing the fire, but the cause was ruled to be arson. Shatner was among the cast members who grabbed fire hoses to stop the flames. Correll hoped the place would burn down so that he would get his chance to film in Hawaii. While most of the set was undamaged, holes in the side of the building had to be covered with heavy black curtains to prevent outside light from leaking in.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: As with previous "Star Trek" films, time and money were major constraints for special effects. The effects artists were concerned about producing the right look no matter the time involved. While effects cameraman Scott Farrar and his assistants constantly traversed the separating ILM from Paramount, teams at the effects house organized post-production effects and photography. The constant travel took a toll on Ralston, who began to forget which airlines he was taking and what city he was in. As a pause in work meant wasted time, effects editors Bill Kimberlin and Jay Ignaszewski produced usable effects shots for the live-action editors at Paramount; these half-finished, monochromatic composites gave the editors an idea of scene pacing. ILM contributed 120 shots to the film. Like Correll, Ralston used Eastman 94 for all shots that did not require bluescreen.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: ILM filmed starships using motion control for timed and computer-assisted model movement. The ship models required multiple camera passes because different parts of the ship and its lights were filmed at different exposure levels. The "Excelsior" required eight passes to supplement the main "beauty pass", the "Enterprise" six. ILM could have combined passes with multiple exposures, but not without risk; "If anything got out of synch, or somehow we dropped a frame, we would have to reshoot—and then you're stuck. You've ruined two pieces, two elements," Farrar said.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The Klingon Bird of Prey's cloaking device required a new effect. The original concept featured the layers of the ship forming up from the inside out, requiring a series of overlaid elements filmed with an Oxberry animation camera. ILM decided the effect appeared too "animated-looking", and defied common sense: "if there was a fanfare to decloaking, everyone would know the Klingons were coming and blow them out of the sky before they could even finish materializing," Ralston said. The supervisor decided on subtlety, throwing color separations out of sync to create a blurry ripple effect. While simple, the sequence was more effective than the elaborate planned scene. Effects such as the destruction of the merchant ship were created using projected explosions, a technique perfected during the production of "Return of the Jedi". Simulated zero-gravity explosions were filmed and reflected onto a card using the same motion control program used for the models. The result was an explosion that moved with the model.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: The most laborious effects sequences took place inside Spacedock; months were spent completing the station's interior shots. The effects crew tested different looks to make sure the dock interior seemed appropriately vast. "We found the interior demanded some degree of atmospheric haze, even though there probably wouldn't be any in space," Farrar said. To create a slightly degraded look, the crew used blue color gels for lights and shot through smoke for fill shots. They switched to diffusion filters for light passes, as using smoke for longer shots would have required time-consuming smoke level monitoring. Due to difference in the scales of the dock and ship models, it was impossible to film the "Excelsior" and "Enterprise" inside the set. Opening the dock's space doors was problematic because the lights illuminating the inside of the dock from the exterior had to be hidden from the camera to prevent lens flares. Massive fans were used to keep equipment cool and prevent the lights from melting or warping the dock's interior artwork. The realism of the dock scenes was heightened by live action footage of a cafeteria, with windows overlooking the dock interior. The cafeteria was a set built at ILM and filled with 40 extras in front of a bluescreen so that the dock and "Enterprise" could be composited in later; matte paintings extended the ceiling of the set.


title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

text: Ralston, who considered the "Enterprise" ugly and the model hard to shoot, delighted in destroying the ship. Several shots were combined for the complete destruction sequence; while Ralston would have preferred to take a mallet to the original $150,000 model, a variety of cheaper models were used. The first part of the ship to be destroyed was the bridge, a separate miniature with stars added to the background. The shot switches to the Bird of Prey moving away as the top of the saucer burns, where explosions (filmed upside down to simulate the absence of gravity) were superimposed over a motion control pass of the ship. The camera cuts to a closeup of the ship's registration number being eaten away by inner explosions. George created a light Styrofoam model that was dissolved by acetone dripped on the saucer from above. By shooting at less than one frame per second and keeping light off the model, the drips were not visible in the print. Burning steel wool on the inside of the saucer created a glowing ember effect from the ship's inner decks being destroyed. The saucer explosion was simulated by blowing up a talcum powder-covered plaster dish. Two- and four-ounce bombs and gasoline were used as pyrotechnics in live action scenes of the bridge being destroyed. Stuntmen used spring-loaded platforms to launch themselves in the air.