Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Synopsis
Using a Klingon ship, the crew of the Enterprise return to 1980's Earth to retrieve two whales in an effort to help save the planet from a probe.
Remarkable scenes
- Sarek's appearance.
- McCoy, regarding the Klingon ship: "I just wish we could cloak the stench."
- Spock testing himself. The computer asking him, "How do you feel?"
- Spock's mother's discussion with him on Vulcan.
- Kirk: "May fortune favor the foolish."
- Spock's method of covering his ears.
- The cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey landing by the garbage men.
- The cast's entrance into the 1980s.
- Chekov asking people how to find "nuclear wessels." Hilarious! A Russian during the Cold War asking Americans in a city street how to find American nuclear secrets...
- Spock Vulcan neck pinching the punk rocker.
- Spock continually calling Kirk "admiral" in front of the commoners.
- Spock: "To hunt a race to extinction is not logical." Taylor: "Whoever said the human race was logical?"
- Spock Vulcan mind melding with the whale inside the aquarium.
- Woman: "Maybe he's singing to that man!" Taylor: "What the hell?"
- Taylor: "All right, who the hell are you and what were you doing in there?" Spock: "Attempting the hell to communicate."
- Spock clumsily integrating curses into his speech.
- Kirk clumsily trying to "explain" Spock by passing him off as a former hippy who did too much "LDS."
- Taylor questioning Kirk and Spock in her truck.
- McCoy's and Scotty's performance at Plexicorp.
- Scotty talking to the computer.
- Oh man. I love the random typing on the computer keyboard and the random nonsensical screens they bring up.
- Kirk spilling the beans to Taylor.
- Chekov, a Russian, captured in an American nuclear submarine during the Cold War. Just golden.
- Chekov's reaction to the interrogation.
- McCoy's disgust with 20th century medicine.
- McCoy: "It sounds like the goddamn Spanish inquisition to me!"
- McCoy taking over Chekov's surgery.
- McCoy: "My god, man! Drilling holes in his head's not the answer! The artery must be repaired! Now put away your butcher knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!"
- Kirk: "Scotty, beam me up!" Another very close line to the famous and much parodied but never actually uttered, "Beam me up, Scotty!"
- The Klingon Bird of Prey decloaking in front of the whale hunter ship.
- The Klingon Bird of Prey crashing into the sea in the 23rd century.
- Spock is clearly smiling and laughing with the rest of the cast at the end of this film.
Review
I like the opening of this film, with the Klingons in diplomatic contention with the Federation council. Unfortunately, the plot goes sour fast as the cliches abound. Another alien probe, more time travel, and more slingshot effect magic time travel calculation nonsense. Having said that, the rest of the film redeems itself nicely. The humor is excellent and the ecology issue is original. Also, this film was regarded as the most successful Trek film of all time in terms of the level of appeal to non Trek fans; for perhaps obvious reasons. Unfortunately, the time travel issues are extensive. There is a lot of minor contamination, and some major; for example Chekov left a phaser on board the nuclear vessel. Though the radiation seems to have rendered it useless, it is still a futuristic device the 1980s has never seen before. These things can all be rationalized, but they weigh badly on the film; it shows carelessness. Ultimately, the entire story of the alien probe, the travel into Earth's past, and the whales is completely superfluous. As fantastic as the humor is, I can think of a dozen different and better ways to have used the stolen Klingon ship. I give the film an A for effort though, and I must admit it is one of the most memorable of the Trek films, despite my misgivings regarding its premise.