Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986)

A Journey to the Past

Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home, was one of the best Star Trek movies involving the original cast. The movie was continuation from Star Trek III - The Search for Spock. During the opening scenes of the movie, Admiral Kirk and his crew, were making the hard decision to return to Earth to answer for their violations of Starfleet rules and regulations. At the same time, the alien space probe was approaching Earth and creating major problems. During the flight home, Kirk, Spock and McCoy discover the alien space probe was attempting to communicate with the humpback whales. During his research, Spock informs Kirk and McCoy, the humpback whales had been extinct on Earth since 21st century. In order to save Earth, the only viable solution was time travel. During the course of the movie, Kirk and his crew must locate humpback whales and make repairs to their captured Klingon Bird of Prey without violating the temporal prime directive or altering the time line to Earth's future. Adding to the problems, was Chekov. He was seriously injured trying to evade capture and Dr. McCoy did not leave him in the hands of 20th century medicine. For Kirk and his crew, it was a race against time. The whales they wanted were now in the open ocean and a rogue whaler had the whales in the sights of their harpoon gun. In the end, Kirk and his crew, accomplished their mission with little or minor damage to the time line. Admiral Kirk and his crew, were cleared of the major infractions that could of sent them to prison. The only thing that was distasteful, Admiral Kirk was held accountable for a minor infraction of Starfleet Regulations and demoted for it. If given a chance, he might have been able to clear himself.
The movie had a excellent story line and the special effects from Industrial Light & Magic, was the major draw to the movie. Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home, would be an excellent addition to anyone's movie collection. I thought it was appropriate for Gene Roddenberry and the cast & crew of Star Trek, to honor the crew of the space shuttle Challenger when the dedication appeared at the beginning of the movie. November 19, 2008

Hilarious and tender movie

My title sounds like a romantic comedy, but watching the Enterprise crew trying to fit in with the 1980s world is just great.

The back story of the hump back whale is also a lesson to all of us about what can happen if we do not wake up and take care of Gods creatures.
Some people consider this movie silly because of the ease of time travel whenever convenient, but that is why it is called science fiction. October 7, 2008

Is This a Good Time for a Colorful Metaphor?

The Good Things
*Some good special effects. Some of it is quite memorable.
*Filming style is good.
*Storyline is great; an interesting departure from the story-arc of the last two films that ties everything together nicely.
*Characters are still good. You get to learn one or two more things about them all. Good acting.
*This is mostly a comedy, so there are loads of funny scenes. Lots of memorable dialogue. Good writing.
*Strong themes about the environment and saving the whales from extinction.
*Music is good (uses a different, more upbeat theme).

The Bad Things
*Ummm...

The Questionable Things
*It almost seems too different in a way; can be good or bad.

This is definately the funniest and most light-hearted of the bunch. Aside from the continuing "Star Trek" storyline and a number of great special effects, the story is dominated largely by hilarious dialogue and scenes as the crew travels back in time and tries to fit into an urban environment. On top of it all, it has some very strong messages about preserving our environment. Altogether, it'll leave you smiling.

The one-disc version had okay video and sound quality. The two-disc version has good quality and a number of featurettes and trailers. August 4, 2008

True Irony: The Most Popular Star Trek Movie, Based Upon Time Travel, Was Roddenberry's Idea That Led Paramount To Replace Him

Gene Roddenberry's original concept for the second Star Trek movie was time travel. Paramount wanted nothing to do with the idea and successfully "replaced" Roddenberry with Harve Bennett, and, thereby, "stealing" Star Trek from it's creator. Yet, in a truly ironical twist, Paramount reversed itself when Bennett approached them with Leonard Nimoy's ideas for time travel. Again, Roddenberry had "no" say in this movie--nor does it use any of Roddenberry's original ideas that I am aware of--and the story is written by Bennett and Nimoy, while the script was written primarily by Bennett and his buddy, Nicholas Meyer. Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes are also credited with "writing" the script--although it well known that what Harve Bennett wanted, that was what was in the script.

When "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" came out in theaters, I refused to go to see it; even after the high praise for the film. I recently purchased it, however, as I am trying hard to accept Harve Bennett's and Nicolas Meyer's "new" version of Star Trek. Having watched it twice now, I can honestly say that from my perspective the only thing the film has going for it, is it's (then/now) timely environmental theme of saving the whales. Moreover, I can emphatically state that the only reason I rate this a three star movie is because the bonus features and commentaries on "Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)" provide the "rest of the story." Without the insight from these features as to what the movie was attempting to do, this movie is nothing more than bad science fiction and weak slapstick comedy.

Leonard Nimoy's directing skills could not help the script; and I sense that if the movie had not been so successful at the box office, Nimoy would have come clean. That is, I cannot accept that Leonard Nimoy really believes that the final product is what he wanted; and the fact that this isn't a director's cut suggests to me that Nimoy wanted to leave well enough alone. As for the "cast," I feel like they are more than missing--quite literally for the non-core actors--since the Star Ship Enterprise (blown up in the previous movie) is not even present. Moreover, because most of the movie actually takes place "outside" of the Star Trek environment, the movie frequently dose not even "feel" right. As a result, I think, the actors just walk through their performances, with the "characters" seldom doing their usual roles.

I suspect it is the fact that the movie really is NOT a Star Trek movie at all that made it so appealing to a much wider audience. Too bad the "fools" at Paramount did not listen to Gene Roddenberry; maybe this, the "most favorite" of the "Star Trek" movies would have been even a five star movie if the creator of this "universe" had written and controlled the show.

Update--1 July 2008: If this review was not helpful to you, I would appreciate learning the reason(s) so I can improve my reviews. My goal is to provide help to potential buyers, not get into any arguments. So, if you only disagree with my opinion, could you please say so in the comments and not indicate that the review was not helpful. Thanks. June 26, 2008

I watched Them Shoot from My High School Classroom

And that is the truth. They shot scenes from this fine film in my high school's backyard (The Former Alameda Naval-Air Base). And that was years and years before I ever met the likes of Blane, my production manager at the trophy shop, who laughs at me whenever I talk Trek with some of my customers. Heck Blane, I know you own this title on DVD AND VHS! Just like me. Why don't you just admit it already. It won't make you any less annoying to let the world see the fact that you are a nerd, like us (I mean you ex-wife and me). Maybe one day, when you're really drunk on too much Bud, you'll throw your ball at the bowling alley, miss every single pin, and remark, "No, I'm from Iowa, I just work in outer space." June 14, 2008

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