After the last two films, The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, I did not expect for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to hit as well as it did. While I've seen these films before, it has probably been decades since I watched them, and I don't really remember enjoying “the one with the whales” as much as I did this time around. Plus, Trekkies tend to hail the second and third films as the cream of the crop, so that dampened my spirit a little when it came to moving on past them. I'm glad to see that my younger self was wrong, as I was very pleasantly surprised.
Naturally, after the success of those two films, Paramount Pictures decided that the crew of the Enterprise needed yet another theatrical adventure. Who could blame them? Those movies did more than bring in a ton of money at the box office; they renewed the public's interest in the franchise overall, something that I think everyone was a little worried about after the somewhat slow first film. Even more surprising than my enjoyment of the film, there were several differences with The Voyage Home than with any previous installment. For starters, Leonard Nimoy was asked to direct again, this time with much more creative freedom than before. Harve Bennett was on board again too, this time bringing back Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer to help conceive of a new story and script. Said story eventually wound up having an environmental theme and no actual villain, which concerned Paramount since much of Khan's return in the second film was centered on the idea that the crew needed to clash against a bad guy. It didn't help that the plot also included time travel and humpback whales. Say what??
Oh, by the way, this is the latest installment of an ongoing rewatch/review that I'm doing on the entirety of Star Trek! If you want to read my previous reviews, you can find them here:
You can also follow me on Bluesky for commentary while I watch live and any other random thoughts that pop into my head. I also have a personal website at jiggyflyjoe.com!
My least favorite actor of the bunch, William Shatner, was initially unwilling to return for a fourth outing for the Star Trek gang. Although I would have absolutely loved to see an attempt from the cast at returning without him, Paramount eventually persuaded him to return by upping his salary and promising him that he could direct a potential fifth film. So I guess we have that to look forward to now, friends. This entire situation did result in something great though: The rising cost of this cast's salary is what eventually convinced Paramount to start developing the new TV series that we now know as Star Trek: The Next Generation! But more on that later when I get to that show.
The Voyage Home picks up with Spock recovering from his surprising resurrection alongside the rest of his compatriots. Upon finally deciding to return to Earth in their captured Klingon Bird-of-Prey to face the music for their role in the theft and subsequent destruction of the Enterprise toward the end of the previous film, they intercept a planetary distress call from Starfleet Command, warning all ships not to approach Earth. A massive probe has positioned itself in Earth's orbit and is sending out an unusual signal. This signal appears to be rendering Earth and other nearby vessels as powerless and is also causing havoc with Earth's weather systems. After some short analysis, Spock is able to deduce that the signal the probe is emitting matches the same tones and frequencies as the sounds made by humpback whales, and that it likely will not cease the destructive activity until it receives a matching signal. The problem is that, in Star Trek's universe, humpback whales have been extinct for quite some time. This causes the crew to come up with a plot to use the Bird-of-Prey to travel back in time via slingshot around the Sun.1 The idea is that they will return to Earth's past and bring humpback whales forward to their time period to respond to the probe.
The crew arrives in San Francisco in 1986, and weirdly enough, this is where the movie truly shines. Comedy ensues with the crew not really accustomed to '80s slang and technology. The cast really plays up that aspect of the film, also. After one motorist refers to Kirk as a “dumbass” and Kirk responds with, “Double dumbass on you!”... It's like you can immediately tell what kind of territory this new Star Trek is going. There's more hijinks than campy sci-fi exploration at work here. For example, Scotty's attempts at operating a computer in the '80s is one of my favorite scenes in all of Star Trek, and often reminds me of helping my own father out with technology. Uhura and Chekov getting lost on their way to the nuclear “wessels” in Alameda is another memorable scene that plays out. Even the more serious moments, such as when Kirk and Spock are trying to kidnap the two humpback whales they discover at the aquarium and are caught by Dr. Gillian Taylor, their caretaker at the aquarium, are broken up with Spock's attempts at using the more colorful language at the time. Most notably when he firmly assures her that, “They are not the hell [her] whales.”
After their adventures in San Francisco are complete and the whales are aboard the Bird-of-Prey in a newly-constructed tank that Scotty, Bones, and Sulu put together for them, the crew (along with Dr. Taylor) board the ship and return to their present. The ship eventually loses power from the probe's signal, however, and crashes into San Francisco Bay. They release the whales, who respond in kind to the probe, which eventually packs it up and returns from whence it came. Their adventure gets wrapped up in a nice little bow, complete with Starfleet bestowing the crew with a brand new and shiny U.S.S. Enterprise-A, which looks remarkably similar to the previous refit Enterprise. In fact, it's so similar that I'm pretty certain they even introduced it with archived footage from one of the previous films, just with a letter ‘A’ stamped on its hull. Regardless, Starfleet does dole out some discipline for Kirk disregarding direct orders, and demotes him back to Captain, with that new Enterprise under his command. This leaves plenty of room open for the crew to carry on with future missions in the next two films!
As for my thoughts on this film? A+. 10 out of 10. All the stars. Seriously. Some Trekkies do argue that this one can't be taken seriously with the unconventional plot about time travel and whales and that it's more a comedy than it is action or science-fiction. Personally, I think we needed a little bit more levity among this crew. One of the reasons why my favorite episode of the original series is the one involving the Tribbles is not just because of the cute, furry little critters that take center stage and purr. It's actually because the cast, including Shatner himself, manage not to take themselves too seriously, and that's the case yet again here in The Voyage Home. And then they took that element, and wrapped it around a story that is a cautionary tale about animals and the environment that we should take better care of. The animal lover inside of me can appreciate that from a societal standpoint. You can have your fun, explore the cosmos, and complete your mission, while also doing no harm to the people or world(s) around you. And I think that's at least partially what Star Trek is all about, right??
Anyway, if you're going to watch any of the original cast's six films, make sure this is one of them and thank me later. 😉