Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation
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Written by	Tim Metcalfe Miguel Tejada-Flores Steve Zacharias Jeff Buhai
Directed by	Roland Mesa
Starring	Robert Carradine Curtis Armstrong Ted McGinley Julia Montgomery Morton Downey Jr.
Music by	Garry Schyman
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Robert Engelman Steve Zacharias
Cinematography	Zoran Hochstätter
Running time	100 minutes
Production company(s)	Zacharias/Buhai Productions 20th Television FNM Films
Distributor	20th Century Fox
Budget	$2 million
Release
Original release	July 13, 1992
Chronology
Preceded by	Nerds in Paradise
Followed by	Nerds in Love
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation is a 1992 20th Century Fox made-for-television sequel to the 1984 hit comedy film Revenge of the Nerds, produced by Robert Engelman and Steve Zacharias, directed by Roland Mesa, and starring Robert Carradine, Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, and Morton Downey Jr.

Plot

A new generation of nerds are settled into early-90's Adams College and the campus is a happy nerd-centric community. The Alpha Betas are now respectful of the nerds' prominence and even wish they could get more of them to join their fraternity. Everything changes when a successful but rotten businessman alumnus named Orrin Price (Morton Downey, Jr.) becomes a member of the Adams College Board of Regents. A new generation of jocks has also just come to the campus, including Orrin's snotty nerd-hating son and a brain-dead jock named Bobo. Former Alpha Beta Stan Gable, now a motorcycle police officer, is installed as the new Dean of Students by Orrin Price. Gable and Price rally the new Alpha Betas to cause trouble for the nerds, whose group now includes an obese kilt-wearing English inductee, a Korean Elvis impersonator who says he is South Korean, when asked about his dixie accent, and several women. Anti-nerd actions escalate with the vandalizing of the Computer Science Center and a Alpha Beta raid that ruins the Tri-Lamb's welcoming party for new campus members.

Lewis, who chairs Adams' Computer Science Department, has been distancing himself from his nerd past by growing a ponytail and asking people to call him "Lew" rather than Lewis. His nephew Harold, now a student at Adams, is surprised at his uncle's behavior, pointing out to him that in his day Lewis was the "George Washington of nerds". Betty, now married to Lewis and also an art professor at Adams College, tries to remind him that she fell in love with him because he had the courage to be himself. But Lewis is more interested in becoming friends with the new dean, not noticing that Stan Gable hopes to break up Lewis' marriage and win Betty back for himself. When Stan and the Alpha Betas escalate their campaign against the nerds, Lewis is forced to reexamine his "self-hating nerd" persona. Unable to ignore what is happening, Lewis takes action.

Price has framed the Tri-Lambs by planting marijuana in their fraternity house. Lewis reaches out to Stan to help defend the Tri-Lambs, but Stan says no. Lewis angrily reminds Stan that he was forgiving of their rocky past and even defended him when others were telling him Stan was worthless. But Stan says that he is not Lewis' friend and that Lewis will always be a nerd, no matter his changed behavior. This betrayal finally spurs Lewis to once again embrace his nerd self. He arranges for bail for the arrested Tri-Lambs by putting up his house as collateral. He then calls upon all the nerds, those on campus and in the city, who are sympathetic to their cause to participate in a massive nerd strike. Many of the city's basic utilities and services become crippled. To end the strike, Price decides to frame Lewis for embezzling college funds; in reality, Price stole the money himself and Stan is visibly sickened by Price's plans though he doesn't stand in his way. Lewis is arrested, and the strikers return to work. Betty confronts Stan about telling the truth and getting Lewis released. Stan suggests he would do it if she were to offer herself to him. When Betty pointedly asks if that is what he really wants, Stan becomes deeply ashamed, saying he still has a little bit of pride left.

Many of Lewis' old Tri-Lamb friends have returned to support him, despite Lewis believing they would never forgive him for denying his nerd self. When the trial begins, things look bad for Lewis as the judge (who previously denied the Tri-Lambs an injunction on civil rights grounds) denies all of Booger's arguments and outright says that Lewis is guilty. After introspection, Stan has a change of heart and testifies against Price, admitting that he has proof that Price framed Lewis and planted the marijuana. Stan also admits that he is a nerd and has always wanted to read books, but his family always discouraged it. Price is arrested, and the charges against Lewis are dismissed. The Tri-Lambs are cleared of all charges, and the Alpha Betas are defeated once again, this time losing their Adams fraternity charter. Stan feels it best that he resign as Dean of Students, but Lewis convincingly argues against his leaving. The nerds accept Stan as one of their own, once again guaranteeing nerd freedom at Adams College.

Cast

This film features a new generation of nerds in the Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity and also marks the return of several other characters from the first two films.

• Robert Carradine as Lewis "Lew" Skolnick
• Ted McGinley as Stan Gable
• Curtis Armstrong as Dudley "Booger" Dawson
• Julia Montgomery as Betty Childs Skolnick
• Gregg Binkley as Harold Skolnick
• Richard Israel as Ira Poppus
• Henry Cho as Steve Toyota
• Bernie Casey as U. N. Jefferson
• James Cromwell as Mr. Skolnick
• Mike Greenwood as Gilbert Lowe
• Larry B. Scott as Lamar Latrelle
• Sean Whalen as Harold Wormser
• Brian Tochi as Takashi Toshiro

Casting

While most of the cast from the original Revenge of the Nerds film reprised their roles, five did not. Anthony Edwards was unavailable for his role of Gilbert Lowe, Lewis's best friend, because he was busy shooting the new medical TV series ER, which aired in 1994. Gilbert appears in the film, played by Mike Greenwood, while Sean Whalen plays the role of Wormser, replacing Andrew Cassese. Alan Wittert takes the role of Dean Ulich, replacing David Wohl. The Poindexter character was written out of the series due to actor Timothy Busfield choosing not to participate in the film.

Home media

The film was released on DVD both as part of the Atomic Wedgie Collection and separately.

External links

• Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation at IMDb
• Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation at AllMovie