Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - PG
Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that there's much violence, with hand-to-hand combat (and a knifing) in addition to the usual bloodless phaser fire. There's quite a sense of sadness and loss, and a certain heroic starship is destroyed. Kirk and the rest of Spock's friends disobey direct Starfleet orders -- a real first, in a very military discipline-oriented series -- in order to carry out their personal rescue mission. All of the Star Trek world may seem old fashioned to kids used to today's special effects wizardry. It's best to see how they like the TV show first.
Families can talk about Spock's code of self-sacrifice for "the needs of the many" and how Kirk reverses that, deciding that "the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many." Kirk and his crew truly risk everything here, including their careers in Starfleet. Though the idea of resurrection from death is tangible throughout the film, only the enigmatic Vulcan mystic-logic culture attaches overt religious significance to the idea of an enduring "soul." The human characters, meanwhile, keep their beliefs to themselves, despite their "emotions." Do you think this is a deeply spiritual film, as many fans do?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
The main problem with STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK is that it ties in snugly with the predecessor film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the next one in the series, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Put end-to-end, these three practically amount to one super-sized episode. In other words, Trekkie heaven. But viewers lacking prior exposure to Wrath of Khan or Star Trek (is that even possible?!) might be confused about the setup.
For followers of the classic TV cast and science-fiction fans of all ages, it's a great ride. When thunderbolts rip across the skies of an unruly planetscape because someone's having a really, really tough day, it hits mythic, almost Wagnerian-opera notes.
Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the favorite alien of the show, gave his life to save the lives of his crewman aboard the USS Enterprise in the finale of the last film, and got the equivalent of an old-time burial at sea, his body fired off in a missile casing, in a well-remembered scene.
Returning to Earth after Spock's sacrifice, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) learns that not only is the starship Enterprise to be decommissioned and scrapped (it's all of 20 years old, we're told), but that Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly) appears to be going insane. Spock's father, the Vulcan ambassador, explains that just before Spock died he sort of downloaded his mind/soul into McCoy (DeForest Kelly has one of his best lines ever: "This must be his revenge for all those arguments I won!"). Only by reuniting McCoy and Spock's body in a ritual on Spock's home world can both be at peace.
But because Spock's makeshift coffin came to rest on an unstable planet, spawned out of the top-secret Genesis experiment in the last film, Starfleet forbids Kirk from carrying out this highly personal mission (this is the first time in the series that Starfleet itself becomes an antagonist). Kirk resorts to stealing the Enterprise -- with the help of his faithful bridge crew -- even though it's practically committing mutiny.
Meanwhile at the Genesis planet, Starfleet's Vulcan representative on the scene, Lt. Saavik (Robin Curtis) and Kirk's estranged son (Merritt Butrick) are exploring the strange, new world, and find bizarre indications that Spock -- or something -- is alive on the surface. But a snooping ship from the brutal, deadly Klingon empire is lurking nearby, intending to seize any Genesis data for themselves as a potential weapon.
Some of the Khan themes seem to have gotten lost in the interim -- there are no more hang-ups about old age for this James T. Kirk, who suddenly doesn't need glasses and brawls enthusiastically. But those are minor complaints, in a space-adventure movie that has all the expected stupendous visuals, but also characters that are just as compelling. We know and care for these people, and really root for them as they risk everything for their friends. In a lot of science-fiction spectacles the actors are pretty much stick-figures, but in any given Star Trek they're charming, funny, perceptive, touching, pained, smart -- in other words, just as interesting as the futuristic stuff. Even with planets exploding around them.
You can amaze kids with your Trek moxie by turning them onto an animated Star Trek series, done in half-hour format for Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s and released by Paramount to home video. The original cast voices and some of the old show's writers gave the material the respect it deserved, and one episode, Yesteryear, illuminates Spock's unhappy childhood. In another one, The Infinite Vulcan, we find out there's at least one extra Spock in safekeeping, an 18-foot tall clone made by a Spock-fancying mad scientist. Dr. McCoy is not amused by that either.
Rate It!
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ViolencePhaser and photon starship battles, hand-to-hand combat with casualties, and characters evaporated by death rays. Planets and spaceships blow up. |
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Language"Bastard" is uttered in the famous line, "You Klingon bastard, you killed my son!" |
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Social BehaviorEven though it means unthinkably rebelling against Starfleet, the main characters go above and beyond to save their comrade. Starfleet is racially and species-integrated. There is a continuing theme throughout about how to react with courage and resourcefulness in a seemingly hopeless situation. While many female characters are secondary, a female Vulcan character makes up for it. |
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CommercialismNone, except that Star Trek itself is an enormous commodity. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSocial drinking, toasts, and a 23rd-century bar. |
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