Movies - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

	Movies - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Paramount Pictures, 1986) is the fourth feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. It is often referred to as ST4:TVH or TVH. It completes the trilogy started in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
and continued in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
. This film is known colloqially as "The One with the Whales."

Cast

Plot summary

A huge alien probe approaches Earth and begins boiling its oceans, causing widespread mayhem and draining the power from nearby ships. Admiral James T. Kirk and his crew return from their mission to revive Captain Spock on Vulcan, despite knowing that they will face court-martial for the theft of the USS Enterprise. Spock, who is still recovering mentally, discovers that the alien ship is trying to contact humpback whales, which unfortunately were hunted to extinction two centuries ago.

Kirk orders their hijacked Klingon Bird-of-Prey to slingshot around the sun in order to travel back in time to the late 20th century. Arriving in San Francisco, California in the year 1986, the crew hides their ship in Golden Gate Park. Thereafter, they attempt to find both the whales needed to communicate with the alien probe, as well as materials to repair the Bird-of-Prey's drives, which were damaged in travel. Kirk and Spock eventually recruit the assistance of Dr. Gillian Taylor, a cetacean specialist.

After rescuing two humpback whales and bringing them back (and saving Earth in the process), the crew is brought before the Federation Council facing numerous charges. Spock, though not accused, stands with his crewmates. All charges against the accused are dropped, except for those against Admiral Kirk. Pleading guilty of disobeying a superior officer, Kirk is demoted to Captain as a token reprimand, but as reward for his heroics is given command of the USS Enterprise-A. Dr. Taylor, who came to the 23rd century with the Enterprise crew, decides to join Starfleet.

A sub-plot, which is presented as a narrative frame, shows Spock gradually recovering both his memories and his previously-earned acceptance of his human heritage. At first, he does not understand the relevance of being asked his feelings; by the end, he is aware enough of their importance to humans that he asks his father to tell his mother that he "feel(s) fine".

Themes

The Voyage Home is played broadly for humor. Mr. Spock's memory and sense of self have not fully recovered from the events of the previous films, and his pilgrim-like appearance in Vulcan robes makes him the subject of a number of jokes, although he gives as good as he gets. Every member of the crew also gets an opportunity to star in a few scenes. Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett co-wrote the script, with Bennett writing the 23rd century scenes and Meyer writing the 20th century scenes. The film is essentially a lighthearted adventure. This was a conscious choice on the part of the producers, who felt that the prior three films were very serious affairs and that it was time to lighten up.

The loose threads from The Search for Spock involving the crew's disobedience of Starfleet orders is handled perfunctorily at the end of the film. In a way this denied viewers the opportunity to see Kirk and company having to own up to their actions, however Kirk was busted down to the rank of Captain in this film for his failure to obey orders.

At the end of the film, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), which was destroyed in the previous film is replaced by the almost identical USS Enterprise-A (which Gene Roddenberry suggested was the USS Yorktown renamed, not a new starship constructed for them). While it was a popular moment, some viewed it as marginalizing the destruction of the previous ship. The filmmakers initially intended for the crew to receive the USS Excelsior (NCC-2000) (possibly renamed to Enterprise), but an unexpectedly large outcry caused this idea to be dropped. Sulu still mentions Excelsior before they find out which ship is theirs; he would later command that ship in Star Trek VI.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay