Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Director:

Leonard Nimoy

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek)
Steve Meerson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Beaming down to Earth December 12 1986

Plot:

To save Earth from an alien probe, Kirk and his crew go back in time to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it, humpback whales.

Plot Keywords:

Probe | Whale | Space | Time Travel | Punk

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

William Shatner	...	Admiral / Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
James Doohan	...	Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
George Takei	...	Commander Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig	...	Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols	...	Cmdr. Uhura
Jane Wyatt	...	Amanda
Catherine Hicks	...	Dr. Gillian Taylor
Mark Lenard	...	Ambassador Sarek
Robin Curtis	...	Lieutenant Saavik
Robert Ellenstein	...	Federation Council President
John Schuck	...	Klingon Ambassador
Brock Peters	...	Admiral Cartwright
Michael Snyder	...	Starfleet communications officer

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Italy:T | Canada:G (Canadian Home Video rating) | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:11 | Canada:G (Régie du Cinéma Québec) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12/9 (original rating) | France:U | Norway:10 (1988) | Norway:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

500 Block of Pacific Avenue, Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The scene with Chekov and Uhura kneeling on rocks looking at the Aircraft Carriers was shot in San Diego at North Island Naval Air Station.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The shot of the whales swimming away at the end of the movie was set in San Francisco, but the footage was filmed off the coast of Hawaii (The Big Island is visible in the background).

Quotes:

[first lines]
Saratoga captain: What do you make of it?
Saratoga science officer: It appears to be a probe, Captain. From an intelligence unknown to us.
Saratoga captain: Continue transmitting universal peace and hello in all known languages. Get me Starfleet Command.
Saratoga helmsman: Ready, Captain.
Saratoga captain: Starfleet Command, this is U.S.S. Saratoga patrolling sector five, neutral zone. We're tracking a probe of unknown origin on apparent trajectory to the Terran solar system. Attempts to communicate with the probe have been negative on all known frequencies.
Starfleet Command: Continue tracking, Saratoga. We will analyze transmissions and advise.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Star Trek: New Voyages: Come What May (#1.0)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Genesis Project

Silly but Trek at it's best!

'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' is the most popular of the Trek films and quite right too. Not only does it appeal to both fans and non-fans of the show but it revels in the spirit of what Trek has always been about: how perfect and Utopian the citizens of the twenty-third century are compared to their Neanderthal ancestors of the late twentieth century!

The film sees Kirk and his crew, in disgrace after disobeying Starfleet orders to save Spock following the events of 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock', travel to 1986 San Francisco to retrieve a pair of hump-back whales, a species extinct by Kirk's era. The whales are the key to communicating with an alien probe that is in the process of destroying Earth. As well as the non-too-subtle eco-message ('don't allow any animal be hunted to extinction as they may save us all in the future!'), there is much fun to be had as Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty and the ever-logical Spock struggle to integrate themselves into most alien situation they have ever been in. They are clueless about exact-change buses, pizzas and why 1986 doctors think it's a good idea to drill into someone's head.

It is very light-hearted at times but I imagine this is the film Gene Roddenberry is most proud of given the way it portrays the best of all our favourite characters and reaches the heart of the ethos of 'Star Trek'. When I first watched this as a child, I wished Kirk would come and let me join him in the twenty-third century. In fact, the only thing that could improve this film would be if the probe had aimed its venegeance entirely at Japan and Norway in retaliation for the sins of these countries' backward twenty-first century 'ancestors'. After all, it's these two countries who will surely bring about the extinction of whales.

While this doesn't delve too much into the mythology and background of Trek, it is a great film and deserves to be counted as the best of the ten films. It is also an excellent option for Trek fans trying to convert friends and family to 'seeing the light' and loving Trek!