Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
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| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Leonard Nimoy |
| Produced by | Harve Bennett |
| Written by | Leonard Nimoy (story) Harve Bennett (story and screenplay) Steve Meerson (screenplay) Peter Krikes (screenplay) Nicholas Meyer (screenplay) Gene Roddenberry (creator) |
| 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. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27,000,000 (estimated) |
| Gross revenue | $133,000,000 (worldwide) |
| Preceded by | Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) |
| Followed by | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| 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 completes the loose story trilogy started in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Leonard Nimoy directed, as well as starred in The Voyage Home, which earned four Academy Award-nominations, for Best Cinematography, Best Effects, Best Music and Best Sound.[1] The original music score was composed by Leonard Rosenman, reusing some material from his earlier score to Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
It is the year 2286, and (as a result of the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the recently-destroyed USS Enterprise are in self-imposed exile on Vulcan. They decide to return to Earth to face the punishment for their actions, using their seized Klingon Bird of Prey, which they have renamed the HMS Bounty. Spock has almost regained full control of his faculties once again, and returns as a full-fledged member of the crew.
Back on Earth, the Klingon ambassador to the United Federation of Planets is outraged that Kirk faces nine violations of Starfleet General Orders and Regulations, and is not being held accountable for the death of the Klingon vessel's crew; he pledges that there will be no peace as long as Kirk lives.
As the Enterprise crew heads toward Earth on their Klingon Bird-of-Prey, they discover that Earth faces a destructive alien probe which renders starships powerless in its path; including the USS Saratoga. It wreaks tremendous damage on the Earth's surface and proceeds to begin the evaporation of the oceans and the ionization of the atmosphere, leading to extreme weather patterns and covering the Earth in clouds. Life on Earth is threatened, and Ambassador Sarek advises the Federation President to issue a warning that all ships should avoid Earth. The Enterprise crew analyzes the probe's signal, and Spock discovers that it is in fact a whale song, specifically that of the humpback whale, which has been extinct since the 21st century.
Kirk decides the only way to save Earth and Starfleet is to travel back in time, acquire some whales and bring them back to the 23rd century. Kirk advises Starfleet of his plan, and performs the slingshot effect time travel method using the Sun. They find whale song in North America, specifically in San Francisco. They also find themselves in the year 1986.
Kirk and his crew have difficulty adjusting to the 1980s, and rely on mere instinct to survive. Since money doesn't exist in the 23rd century, Kirk manages to get some money by selling his antique glasses (McCoy's birthday present to him from Star Trek II. The scene in the movie was filmed in an actual Antique Store in San Francisco "Beaver Brothers Antiques and Props"), which he then gives to his crew to get around in the time period. The crew is split up into teams - Chekov and Uhura must collect radioactive photons from an American nuclear vessel to recrystallize the drained dilithium crystals on board the Bird-of-Prey; McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu are sent to find materials to construct a whale tank aboard the ship; and Spock and Kirk are to attempt to find the two humpback whales they detected in San Francisco.
Kirk and Spock head to the Cetacean Institute and meet Dr. Gillian Taylor, a guide and whale lover. While at the Institute, Spock jumps into the whale tank and performs a Vulcan mind meld with one of the two whales, George and Gracie, and successfully explains the Enterprise crew's mission. Dr. Taylor is outraged by their actions, but later sympathizes with them as she runs into them while driving home from work. Spock's quirks amaze Dr. Taylor, such as blurting out the fact that the female whale is actually pregnant, something nobody outside the institute knows. Kirk and Taylor end up going out to dinner, and Kirk feels he has to reveal the truth about his identity - being from the 23rd century, working in space, etc. - to try and gain Dr. Taylor's cooperation in getting the whales, which were to be released back into the wild soon. She is skeptical at best and disbelieves Kirk's story.
In the meantime, Scotty and his team have managed to find a manufacturer of large plexiglass walls - Plexicorp - and he and McCoy masquerade as scientists from Edinburgh who were to tour the plant - unbeknownst to the plant's head, Dr. Nichols. Scotty makes a scene, but is given a tour of the plant, and then later secures the required materials for constructing a whale tank by violating the Temporal Prime Directive by revealing the chemical matrix of a futuristic material, transparent aluminum (rationalising that they actually provide an essential part to history, since Nichols may have been the inventor of the substance). Sulu manages to befriend a helicopter pilot and secures the Huey 204's usage later in the film to help install the plexiglass into the Bird-of-Prey.
Chekov and Uhura find the location of a nuclear vessel. Chekov, who of course speaks with a Russian accent, must have looked very peculiar stopping random passers-by asking where nuclear vessels could be located, while the US and Soviet Union were still engaged in the Cold War. They, however, do find a vessel, ironically the USS Enterprise, and beam in secretly at night to secure the photons. Uhura transports out safely with the collector, but due to radiation, Chekov's beam-out fails, and he is discovered and held prisoner. He attempts to escape captivity but falls off a ledge and suffers severe head injuries.
The next morning, Dr. Taylor discovers that the whales were released without her knowledge, and in tears, returns to the park where the Bird-of-Prey is located, and is finally beamed aboard the ship by Kirk - the truth is now known. He is her only hope for protecting the whales, something she dearly wants. Before going after the whales, however, the crew has to rescue Chekov. McCoy, Kirk and Dr. Taylor manage to sneak into the hospital, where Chekov is revived quickly by 23rd-Century technology, after which they are chased through the hospital by security, and are beamed to safety while in an elevator. Dr. Taylor insists on coming with Kirk by latching onto him while he is transported on-board.
The dilithium recrystallizes just in time for the crew to fly to Alaska, where the whales are located, and save them from a whaling vessel. The whales are beamed aboard, and the crew performs another slingshot back to the 23rd century, with Dr. Taylor in hand. The Bird-of-Prey falls afoul of the probe and crashes into San Francisco harbor, and the whales are released and communicate to the probe. The probe halts its destruction of the oceans after communicating with the whales, and the Earth is saved.
However, Kirk and crew still face punishment. Due to the preceding circumstances, though, all charges are dropped, except for one: disobeying a superior officer, which is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. Kirk's punishment is a permanent reduction in rank to Captain, and a return to command of a Starfleet vessel. Dr. Taylor is assigned a position in a Starfleet Science vessel.
Flying through Spacedock, the crew heads toward their new assignment. McCoy conjectures they will get a freighter, while Sulu (to Scotty's chagrin) hopes for Excelsior. However, they soon see which vessel they will get: NCC-1701-A, a new USS Enterprise. The film ends with the crew in their new ship, heading out into space, ready for what may come next.
In 1992, a sequel novel was published by Pocket Books entitled Star Trek: Probe (ISBN 0671724207) by Margaret Wander Bonanno and Gene DeWeese. Set ten years after the events of the film, the Probe is returning to Earth and has plotted its course, and the Enterprise must continue to delve into the mystery of its language and its cosmic purpose to save Earth once again.
[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 (Dr.) Christine Chapel |
| Grace Lee Whitney | Commander 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] Production and locations
The scene in which Uhura and Chekov question passersby on the location of "nuclear wessels" was filmed with a hidden camera. However, the people whom Koenig and Nichols speak to were extras hired off the street for that day's shooting, and, despite legends to the contrary, knew they were being filmed. In an interview with StarTrek.com, Layla Sarakalo (the extra who said, "I don't know if I know the answer to that... I think it's across the bay, in Alameda") stated that after her car was impounded because she refused to move it for the filming, she approached the assistant director about appearing with the other extras, hoping to be paid enough to get her car out of impoundment. She was hired and told not to answer Koenig's and Nichols' questions. Knowing she would be paid more for a speaking role, she did answer them and had to be inducted into the Screen Actors' Guild as a result, since director Nimoy liked her ad-libbed line and did not wish to cut it. [1]
The "double dumb-ass on you" scene was filmed on Columbus Street at Kearney in San Francisco, facing the historic green copper-faced Sentinel Building owned by Francis Ford Coppola.
When Sulu, Scotty and McCoy are standing in front of the Yellow Pages ad, they encounter an arguing Asian couple. This scene was supposed to end with Sulu encountering his young ancestor, Akira Sulu, but the child actor hired for the part began to cry and was unable to finish the scene.
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 non-nuclear powered carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) was used. Instead, the scene was filmed in the Ranger's engine room, called a main space, and the 'nuclear reactor' was actually the Chief Engineer's (ChEng) office dressed up for the part. The Marine security force was the actual ship's Marine Detachment.
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.
Kirk Thatcher, who played the punk on the bus who was neck pinched by Spock, also recorded the song playing on the punk's boom box. Thatcher had complained that the music that was planned to be used did not sound authentic. He was invited to create a song that would be appropriate. He did so, and the song was inserted in postproduction. The song was called "I Hate You", and Thatcher credited his band as "The Edge of Etiquette".
[edit] Box office
The film was a critical and commercial success. It grossed $109,713,132 in the U.S. and $133,000,000 worldwide,[2] against a $27,000,000 budget.[3] Of the first ten films, this was the most profitable movie in the series (in absolute gross) and sold the second-most tickets (behind The Motion Picture).
[edit] Soundtrack
Soundtrack listing taken from Amazon.com.
- Main Title
- The Whaler
- Market Street - The Yellowjackets
- Crash-Whale Fugue
- Ballad Of The Whale - The Yellowjackets
- Gillian Seeks Kirk
- Chekov's Run
- Time Travel
- Hospital Chase
- The Probe
- Home Again: End Credits
[edit] References
- ^ IMDB 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home retrieved June 25, 2007
- ^ Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) - Box office / business. IMDb.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
- ^ Leonard Nimoy Says New Star Trek Movie Will Revitalize the Entire Franchise. TrekWeb.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
[edit] External links
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at the Internet Movie Database
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Allmovie
- 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
| Preceded by Crocodile Dundee |
Box office number-one films of 1986 (USA) November 30, 1986 – December 14, 1986 |
Succeeded by The Golden Child |
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