History TearJerker / StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock

*** Even worse; he died knowing that his life's work had failed ''because of him''. His [[FatalFlaw impatience]] lead to the deaths of the other researchers on the Genesis Project, Khan and his followers; and the crew of the USS ''Grissom'', and it was [[AllForNothing all for]] ''[[AllForNothing nothing]]''.

** And then there's Kirk's reaction. He tries to sit in his chair to absorb what has happened, only to [[PeopleFallOffChairs fall on the floor]]. The distraught look on his face suggests he's not even aware that he fell.

*** Even worse; he died knowing that his life's work had failed ''because of him''. His {{pride}} lead to the deaths of the other researchers on the Genesis Project, Khan and his followers, and the crew of the USS ''Grissom'', and it was all for ''nothing''.

*** There's some more fridge sadness when you take into account things said in the previous and following movies. In the last film, David was afraid that Starfleet wanted Genesis for warmongering purposes and didn't want his life's work to be used as a military weapon. Come Star Trek IV, the device he devoted his life to in hopes of helping those in need is being accused of being a weapon of aggression by the Klingons.

** As if all the above isn't enough, pay attention to the rest of the ''Enterprise'' crew as they react to Kirk's heartbreak; notable are closeups of [=McCoy=] (Kirk's best friend next to Spock himself, and also a father) and Scotty (who lost his nephew in the previous movie). They barely knew David but they knew how devastated Kirk was.

--->'''Kirk:''' (''to the crew'') I swear to you, we're not finished yet.

* Also heartwarming, but for a lot of the movie, Kirk has no idea if bringing Spock back will work or not. He still ''tries'', even when threatened he'll never sit on the Enterprise again, a fact that we were told over and over again was one of the most important things in the world to him.

** If you thought the sequence of the Enterprise being destroyed in the film was bad, then it’s worse in the book, Kirk trying desperately to distance himself from the old girl, and tell himself it was just a machine, not actually grieving for her own destruction.

** Scotty's reaction, however, indicates he's not upset at all. He looks up with a more interested, philosophical look. However, this is later subverted when Scotty turns up on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' in the episode "Relics", where he reveals that he truly misses her like his first love, and that "you don't ever love a woman like quite like that again."

** Scotty's reaction, however, indicates he's not upset at all. He looks up with a more interested, philosophical look.

** As if all the above isn't enough, pay attention to the rest of the ''Enterprise'' crew as they react to Kirk's heartbreak; notable are closeups of [=McCoy=] (Kirk's best friend next to Spock himself) and Scotty (who lost his nephew in the previous movie). They barely knew David but they knew how devastated Kirk was.

'''Bones:''' [[IDidWhatIHadToDo What you had to do. What you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live]].

*** There's some more fridge sadness when you take into account things said in the previous and following movies. In the last film, David was thought that Starfleet wanted Genesis for warmongering purposes and didn't want his life's work to be used as a military weapon. Come Star Trek IV, the device he devoted his life to in hopes of helping those in need is being accused of being a weapon of aggression by the Klingons.

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'''Bones:''' What you had to do. What you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live.

-->''Even as the doors close, his mood changes. The mantle of command falls away and he allows himself the luxury of his deeper feelings. Feelings of aloneness. And grief.''

-->'''Kirk:''' (to the crew) I swear to you, we're not finished yet.

--->'''Kirk: [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone My God, Bones. What have I done]]?\\

** Kirk's reaction hammers it in further. ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone "My God, Bones. What have I done?"]]''
** Bones responds with “what you had to do, what you always do, turn death into a fighting chance to live”, a sum up of all the {{sadistic choice}}s the poor Admiral has had to go through. [[note]]Tarsus in which he survived but others didn’t, Edith with her death versus millions more who would perish if she lived, etc.[[/note]]

** HarsherInHindsight: After Creator/LeonardNimoy's death in 2015, the actors in this scene are the only main cast of the Original Series still alive.

** As if all the above isn't enough, pay attention to the rest of the ''Enterprise'' crew as they react to Kirk's heartbreak; notable are closeups of [=McCoy=] (Kirk's best friend next to Spock himself) and Scotty (who lost his nephew in the previous movie).

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normal_tsfshd1167.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[HeartbrokenBadass "Klingon bastards! You've killed my son!"]]]]