Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), the
crew of the Starship Enterprise (in a hijacked
Klingon ship) is returning to Earth after
resurrecting Spock on Vulcan. As they
approach Earth, they find an alien satellite that
has drifted into the galaxy and taken a position
near Earth. It is sending out a powerful signal
wave that is disabling all technological devices
in the way. The planet is also being damaged by
the alien probe and is estimated to have only a
couple hours before it is destroyed. They
analyze the signal and find that the signal is of
an ancient extinct species: humpback whales.
They conclude the probe will not leave Earth
until a humpback whale answers them. Seeing
this, the crew of the Enterprise travels into the
past (by using a time-warp technique) to get
humpback whale to answer the call. In a bizarre
plot, the Star Trek crew manage to get the
whales and power to warp back to the present.
The crew puts the whales on Earth, and the
whales answer the probe's call. The alien probe
leaves, and all charges against the Enterprise
crew (from the previous movie) are dropped,
except Kirk gets demoted to captain, which he
prefers over admiral. They then head out on a
new mission on a different ship, a new USS
Enterprise-A.
Summary
This is a very entertaining story, and unlike
other of the Star Trek movies in this series.
It appeals to both Star Trek fans and just
regular people because its storyline does not
require knowledge of previous movies or
Star Trek in general. Filled with humor, the
plot is the best of the six part series. The
acting is superb, with most of the main
protagonists being the original actors from
the Star Trek TV show. The portrayal of the
main characters matches those of the novel
and TV shows. Also, the plot combines the
best of Star Trek: Time travel, a problem
that is impossible to solve through
conventional means, and the crew using
their intelligence (and time travel) to beat the
problem. Lastly, there is plenty of humor
throughout the movie, mostly little jokes
about the difficulties of their journey (by the
crew). Overall, Star Trek IV: The Voyage
Home is an excellent movie.
Review
Credits
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Screenwriter: Harve Bennett and Nicholas
Meyer
Director: Leonard Nimoy
Date Released: November 26, 1986
Starring: William Shatner as Captain Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
James Doohan as Montgomery Scott
Nichelle Nichols as Dr. Gillian Taylor
Awards:
Oscar Nominations for:
Best Original Score
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Cinematography
