Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
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| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Leonard Nimoy |
| Produced by | Harve Bennett |
| Written by | Leonard Nimoy Harve Bennett Steve Meerson Peter Krikes Nicholas Meyer |
| Starring | See table |
| Music by | Leonard Rosenman |
| Cinematography | Donald Peterman |
| Editing by | Peter E. Berger |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 26, 1986 |
| Running time | 119 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25,000,000 |
| Preceded by | Star Trek III: The Search for Spock |
| Followed by | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier |
| IMDb profile | |
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Paramount Pictures, 1986) is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series. It is often referred to as ST4:TVH, STTVH 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. This film is known colloquially as "The One with the Whales."
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[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| William Shatner | Admiral/Captain James T. Kirk |
| Leonard Nimoy | Captain Spock |
| DeForest Kelley | Commander (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 | Chief Petty Officer 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 |
| Madge Sinclair | Saratoga Captain (uncredited) |
[edit] Plot summary
A huge alien probe approaches Earth and begins boiling the oceans, causing widespread mayhem and draining the power from nearby ships. Admiral James T. Kirk and his crew return from their mission to revive Captain Spock on Vulcan, despite knowing that they will face court-martial for the theft and subsequent loss of the USS Enterprise. Spock, who is still recovering mentally, discovers that the alien ship is trying to contact humpback whales, which unfortunately were hunted to extinction two centuries previously.
Kirk orders their hijacked Klingon Bird-of-Prey to slingshot around the sun in order to travel back in time to the late 20th century. Arriving in San Francisco, California in the year 1986, the crew hides their ship in Golden Gate Park. Thereafter, they attempt to find both the whales needed to communicate with the alien probe, as well as materials to repair the Bird-of-Prey's drives, which were damaged in travel. Kirk and Spock eventually recruit the assistance of Dr. Gillian Taylor, a cetacean specialist.
After rescuing two humpback whales and bringing them back (and saving Earth in the process), the crew is brought before the Federation Council facing numerous charges. Spock, though not accused, stands with his crewmates. All charges against the accused are dropped, except for those against Admiral Kirk. Pleading guilty of disobeying a superior officer, Kirk is demoted to Captain as a token reprimand, but as reward for his heroics is given command of the USS Enterprise-A. Dr. Taylor, who came to the 23rd century with the Enterprise crew, decides to join Starfleet.
A sub-plot, which is presented as a narrative frame, shows Spock gradually recovering both his memories and his previously-earned acceptance of his human heritage. At first, he does not understand the relevance of being asked his feelings; by the end, he is aware enough of their importance to humans that he asks his father to tell his mother that he "feel(s) fine".
[edit] 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. This was a conscious choice on the part of the producers, who felt that the prior three films were very serious affairs and that it was time to lighten up. However, the story still remains dedicated to the series' overall serious nature with constant reminders of the crew's mission to save the Earth in the future.
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. In a way, this denied viewers the opportunity to see Kirk and company having to own up to their actions; however, Kirk was demoted to the rank of Captain in this film for his failure to obey orders. Since Kirk was dissatisfied with the responsibilities of being an Admiral anyway, it was not an onerous punishment for him.
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 Gene Roddenberry suggested 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 (NX-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; he would later command that ship in Star Trek VI.
[edit] Production and locations
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 as special fx devices to create the Vulcan supercomputer used by Spock in the beginning of the movie. It has been spotted from Amiga "Garnet font" used to write messages on monitor screens.
In the film, Uhura and Chekov visit the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The real Enterprise, being at sea at the time, was unavailable for filming, so the carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) was used. Since part of the ship's scenes were filmed in the engineering spaces, which on the nuclear-powered Enterprise (as with all of the Navy's nuclear-powered carriers) were deeply classified at the time, it is unlikely that the production crew would have been allowed to use it for filming even if it had been in port.
The scenes at the fictional "Cetacean Institute of Biology" in Sausalito, California were actually filmed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, while the scenes set in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park were actually filmed at Will Rogers State Park in Los Angeles.
[edit] Notes
- The film was directed by Leonard Nimoy, who also reprised his role as Mr. Spock.
- The film is dedicated to the crew of the ill-fated STS-51-L space shuttle mission, who were killed when the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after liftoff.
“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 popularity of this film to the general public, the highest grossing Star Trek movie to date, prompted the decision to make a new spinoff series, which became Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- The infamous 'nuclear wessels' scene was unscripted. A hidden camera was used to film passersby's reactions to Uhura and Chekov. The only other dialogue in this scene (other than the Starfleet officers) came from the woman who said "...I think it's across the bay, in Alameda". Crew members had to catch up to her and ask her to sign a Screen Actors Guild waiver so that she could still appear in the film.
- Kirk Thatcher, who played the punk on the bus, also wrote the song ("I Hate You") the punk is listening to on his boombox.
- The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 1986, but lost to The Mission.
- Overseas, the film was retitled as The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV and the fact that it was a Star Trek film was downplayed, largely due to the fact that Star Trek III had performed dismally outside of the US, barely breaking the $10m barrier. [1]
[edit] Continuity Errors
On the bridge of the Bird of Prey upon their departure from Vulcan for Earth, McCoy entreats Spock to enter into a conversation about "life, death, life, things of that nature" now that Spock has died and essentially been resurrected. Spock rebuffs McCoy, saying that they could not have a conversation on this matter since they had no common frame of reference. In other words, Spock cannot talk with McCoy about dying and then living again since McCoy has also not died and then lived again. However, this is an internal error based on episodic canon. In the series episode "Shore Leave", McCoy is killed by a knight's lance and then brought back to life by the miraculous technology of the planet's overseers. Thus, McCoy, too, has in fact died and lived again. (This is a continuity error, one of many that have been found by "nitpickers" who have closely examined the artificial Star Trek universe. The very same nitpickers could counter, however, that in "Shore Leave", McCoy states he hadn't died--having been repaired before any permanent damage could result--and that the natures of their "resurrections" are sufficently different to render the arguement moot anyway. This kind of problem is due in part to the many individual writers in the various entries in the series, and in part to the lengthy time gap between the classic TV series and the films.)
In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Scotty was promoted to the rank of "Captain of Engineering" and is seen throughout the rest of the movie wearing a Captain's rank insignia on his Starfleet "bomber jacket". In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Scotty is wearing a Commander's rank insignia at the beginning and end of the movie. This is an obvious continuity error because in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the other movies, and the ST:TNG episode "Relics", Scotty is wearing a Captain's rank insignia and is addressed as Captain Scott. Similarly, after Kirk's demotion, his uniform rank insignia is changed from admiral to captain on his shoulder strap; however, the gold piping on the front flap under the black seam remained.
[edit] External links
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at the Internet Movie Database
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Rotten Tomatoes
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Box Office Mojo
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at StarTrek.com
- Interview with Robin Curtis (Lt. Saavik) in which she describes working with Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and the rest of the cast of Star Trek III and IV
- Lost Prologue of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, seen only on European and South American release prints
| Star Trek television series and feature films | ||
| Television series The Original Series · The Animated Series · The Next Generation · Deep Space Nine · Voyager · Enterprise |
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| TOS-Era Feature films The Motion Picture · The Wrath of Khan · The Search for Spock · The Voyage Home · The Final Frontier · The Undiscovered Country |
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| TNG-Era Feature films Generations · First Contact · Insurrection · Nemesis |
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| Unknown-Era Feature films XI |
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