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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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Template:Infobox Movie (2)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Paramount Pictures, 1986; see also 1986 in film) 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.

Cast

Actor Role
William Shatner Admiral/Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley Dr. Leonard McCoy
James Doohan Captain Montgomery Scott
George Takei Commander Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols Commander Uhura
Majel Barrett Commander Christine Chapel
Grace Lee Whitney Commander Janice Rand
Mark Lenard Ambassador Sarek
Jane Wyatt Amanda Grayson
Catherine Hicks Dr. Gillian Taylor
John Schuck Klingon Ambassador
Robert Ellenstein Federation President
Brock Peters Fleet Admiral Cartwright
Robin Curtis Lieutenant Saavik

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler A huge alien vessel orbits Earth and begins probing its oceans, causing widespread mayhem and draining the power from nearby ships. Admiral James T. Kirk and his crew return from their mission on Vulcan to revive Captain Spock to face criminal charges after his theft of the USS Enterprise. The crew reasons 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 to time travel to the late 20th century. Arriving in the year 1986, the crew hides their ship in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, and spreads out to find materials to repair the ship's drive so that they can return to the future, and to find and procure some whales to communicate with the giant alien vessel and save Earth.

After rescuing two humpback whales and bringing them back, the crew is brought before the Federation Council facing numerous charges. Spock, though not accused, stands with his crewmates. Everyone but Admiral Kirk, who pleads guilty of disobeying a Starfleet superior officer, has their charges dropped. Kirk is 'demoted' to Captain and given command of the USS Enterprise-A.

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. 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, thus denying viewers the opportunity to see Kirk and company have to own up to their actions.

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 supposedly 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; ironically, he would command that ship in Star Trek VI.

Notes

The film was directed by Leonard Nimoy, who also reprised his role as Mr. Spock.

The popularity of this film, the highest grossing Star Trek movie to date, was what prompted the decision to make a new spinoff series, which became Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Trivia

  • To date, this is the only Star Trek film in which no one dies or is killed (on screen at least.); Although some texts disagree, in keeping with the lighter mood of this film, it is generally assumed that the U.S.S Saratoga was only disabled but not destroyed by the probe.
  • Phasers are only used for sealing a lock shut, not used for fighting.
  • The film was dedicated to the crew of the ill-fated STS-51-L space shuttle mission, who were killed when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. Before the opening credits, these words appeared on the screen: "The cast and crew of Star Trek wish to dedicate this film to the men and women of the spaceship Challenger whose courageous spirit shall live to the 23rd century and beyond...".
  • The "punk on the bus" was played by one of the film's associate producers, Kirk R. Thatcher.
  • The model of Apple Macintosh computer shown in the Plexicorp office scene is the Mac Plus. According to rumor, it was intended to be an Amiga, but Commodore required the producers to purchase a computer while Apple was willing to lend them the machine shown. Amigas were used to produce the screens of the Vulcan computer used by Spock to re-train himself in logic.
  • This is the only Star Trek production in which obvious product placement appears: an ad on a building for the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages is given considerable screen time, and the Yellow Pages are later used by Uhura and Sulu to locate the naval base. In addition, Dr. Taylor and Kirk drink Michelob beer, which is mentioned by name.
  • Sequences planned but cut from the final film included Hikaru Sulu encountering an ancestor in San Francisco, as well as a sequence that would have revealed that Lieutenant Saavik was pregnant with Spock's child (a continuation of events from Star Trek III), which is why she stays behind on Vulcan. The latter has caused much debate among Trek fans over whether Saavik's pregnancy should be considered canon if it was never confirmed on screen.
  • The film marks the first use of the word "shit" in a Star Trek production, when the term "dipshit" is used twice. The film suggests that, by the late 23rd Century, swearing is uncommon, although this is contradicted not only by previous and later Trek films, but also by Kirk himself in this very film (although it's likely that he was just trying to fit in with the times (1986).
  • The scenes in which Uhura and Chekov asked passersby (including a police officer) where the "nuclear wessels" were located were filmed via hidden camera. The passersby were not actors and were unaware that they were being filmed. It was intended that Chekov's Russian accent combined with the unusual nature of his request would dissuade people from offering assistance. In the end, when a young woman does stop and offer some directions, the directors felt it was so comical that they decided it had to be included.
  • The scenes in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park were actually filmed in a park in Los Angeles.
  • The exact amount of time that elapses during the conclusion of this film is a matter of debate. It is evident that a number of months must elapse between the crew returning to Earth and later taking command of the NCC-1701-A, in order to allow for a trial, and refitting and recommissioning of a previously existing Constitution class vessel. In addition, Dr. Taylor is shown to have adjusted to life in the future and sports a new hairstyle, while Spock appears to have fully recovered from his regeneration.
  • The whalers in the film spoke Finnish, which is strange considering that Finland is not a whaling nation.
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