 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- PG
- Genre: Science Fiction
- 1984
Common Sense Media says
Stirring, successful science-fiction enterprise.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
What parents need to know
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.
What's the story?
Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) gave his life to save the lives of his crewman aboard the USS Enterprise in the finale of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and got the equivalent of an old-time burial at sea, his body fired off in a missile casing. 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, but that Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly) appears to be going insane. Spock's father, the Vulcan ambassador, explains that just before Spock died, he downloaded his mind/soul into McCoy. Only by reuniting McCoy and Spock's body in a ritual on Spock's home world can both be at peace. 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.
Is it any good?
The main problem with STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK is that it ties in snugly with the predecessor film 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. But 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.
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.
What families can talk about
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?
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AGE
I liked that Spock put his spirit in docter bones (who were always arguing) when he died and the way bones showed that spock was really a good friend. the lengths that the crew from the Enterprise, especially captain Kirk, took to reserect spock shows how much people will give up and endure for a friend. this movie took the theme from the previous star trek movie, "the good of the many outwiegh the good of the few", and flipped it with the same amopunt of meaning.
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AGE
Parents need to know that the second and third Star Trek movies are a lot more violent then Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In one scene a worm-like creature attacks one of the Klingons, and the creature is then squeezed to death. Later on, one of the good guys gets stabbed in the stomach and dies. Then another character is thrown into a pit of lava, and disappears in a burst of flames. But since the special effects aren't very good in the lava scene, it's not as graphic as it might sound. The language is too excessive for a PG movie. While the bad language isn't used as often as in Star Trek II, they find time to get in a 5-letter expletive in one scene.
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AGE
STAR TREK 3 is not the best in the saga, but is still a bunch of fun, with very little objectionable content to boot. Language is mild, with some "d**n"s, "h*lls", and "bas**rd"s. There is some mild violence as well, consisting of some people being shot with vapor rays. There is one brief, somewhat intense scene where a man is stabbed with a knife.
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| Topics: | adventures, space and aliens |
| Studio: | Paramount Pictures |
| Director: | Leonard Nimoy |
| Cast: | Christopher Lloyd, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Run time: | 116 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | June 1, 1984 |
| DVD release date: | October 22, 2002 |
| MPAA rating: | PG |
| MPAA explanation: | parental guidance |
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