Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Theatrical release poster by Bob Peak
Directed by	Leonard Nimoy
Produced by	Harve Bennett
Written by	Screenplay: Steve Meerson Peter Krikes Nicholas Meyer Harve Bennett Story: Leonard Nimoy Harve Bennett Characters: Gene Roddenberry
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
Followed by	Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

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. The original music score was composed by Leonard Rosenman, reusing some material from his earlier score to Ralph Bakshi's animated The Lord of the Rings.

Plot

A large cylindrical object moves through space heading towards Earth, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of any vessel or station that it passes. As it takes orbit around Earth, it continues to send out a signal and disrupting the global power system, and then starts causing extreme weather patterns to develop over the planet while evaporating the oceans. Starfleet Command on the last of its power reserves sends out a subspace signal warning of the danger. On Vulcan, the former crew of the USS Enterprise decide to return to Earth to face the punishment for the willful destruction of the ship; Spock, still recovering from being reborn on the Genesis planet, goes with them. The crew uses the seized Klingon Bird of Prey, renamed the HMS Bounty, to return to Earth. As they enter the solar system, they hear Starfleet's warning and the alien signal; Spock is able to determine that it matches the song of humpback whales, long since extinct on Earth, and that the object will continue to wreak havoc on the planet until it can be answered. The crew devise a plan to slingshot around the Sun to time travel back to the late 20th century and return with a whale.

The time travel process is completed successfully, placing them in the year 1986, although their dilithium crystals are nearly drained and cannot be used in their current state to return to the future. After cloaking the Bird of Prey and landing it in a San Francisco, California park and adjusting to the time period, the crew splits up; Kirk and Spock to locate a whale, Scotty, Dr. McCoy and Sulu to devise a holding tank for the whale, and Uhura and Chekov to search for a nuclear power source to repair the dilithium crystals. Kirk and Spock are able to quickly discover a pair of humpback whales, "George" and "Gracie", at the Cetacean Institute, and are told by the Institute's whale expert, Dr. Gillian Taylor, that the whales are shortly going to be released into the wild, making the pair ideal for their needs. However, to be able to track them, Kirk attempts to woo Dr. Taylor to reveal the tracking codes for the whales. Despite his pleas, she rebuffs him.

Scotty, McCoy, and Sulu search for materials to fabricate a tank on board the Bounty large and strong enough to carry the whales and the water to contain them. While masquerading as engineers from Scotland, Scotty and McCoy secure materials made of 20th Century material, by exchanging the formula to create "transparent aluminum" (not yet discovered in 1986).^[1]

Sulu secures a helicopter to transport the materials secured by McCoy and Scotty (albeit by uncertain means). While Uhura and Chekov are able to locate the USS Enterprise, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and draw some of its power to restore the dilithium, but as they do, Chekov is captured, and a resulting escape attempt severely injures him and he is taken to a hospital. McCoy worries for Chekov's health due to the barbaric practices of the current era of medicine ("Don't leave him in the hands of 20th Century medicine!"), and the crew put together an escape attempt, forcing Kirk to reveal their true intent to Dr. Taylor to pull it off. After they safely recover Chekov, Dr. Taylor reveals that the whales have been released a day early, and coerces Kirk to bring her along so she can help find them. The crew is able to locate the whales before they are hunted by whalers, and transport the creatures aboard. With Dr. Taylor and the whales, the crew reverses the slingshot maneuver and return to the future.

The Bounty approaches Earth but immediately loses power due to the alien signal. The ship splashes down into the San Francisco bay, and they are able to release the whales from the hold. The whales are able to answer the signal, causing the object to restore Earth to its normal condition and to return to the depths of outer space. Despite their success, the crew is put to trial at Starfleet for several charges, including the destruction of the Enterprise, but in light of their heroic efforts, only the charge of disobeying a superior officer is not waived, with the punishment being the demotion of Kirk from Admiral to Captain, giving him command of a new starship. Though smitten by Kirk, Dr. Taylor takes a position aboard a civilian science vessel, being the only expert on whales in this century. The crew departs to their new vessel, the newly constructed USS Enterprise A, and depart on another mission.

Cast

Production

The scene in which Uhura and Chekov question passersby on the location of nuclear vessels 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. However, she did answer them and the filmmakers kept her response in the film.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4] The scene was filmed in one of the Ranger's engine rooms, 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.

Associate producer 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".

Box office

The film was a critical and commercial success. It grossed $109,713,132 in the U.S. and $133,000,000 worldwide, against a $27,000,000 budget.^[5] Of the first ten films, it sold the second-most tickets and the second most profitable movie in the series adjusted for 2007 inflation (behind The Motion Picture). On the Special Edition DVD of the film, Leonard Nimoy says that this was the most well-received of all the Star Trek films made to date. Producer Ralph Winter also added that this film did very well as it was liked by both fans and non-fans of the Star Trek phenomenon.

Soundtrack

Soundtrack listing taken from Amazon.com.

1. Main Title
2. The Whaler
3. Market Street - The Yellowjackets
4. Crash-Whale Fugue
5. Ballad Of The Whale - The Yellowjackets
6. Gillian Seeks Kirk
7. Chekov's Run
8. Time Travel
9. Hospital Chase
10. The Probe
11. Home Again: End Credits

Additionally, the song played by the obnoxious punk on the bus was written by associate producer Kirk Thatcher and performed by Edge of Etiquette -- in reality Thatcher and members of the sound department. The song has never been commercially released.

References

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