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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.
The most acclaimed Star Trek adventure of all time with an important message. It is the 23rd century, and a mysterious alien probe is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. In their frantic attempt to save mankind, Admiral Kirk and his crew must time travel back to 1986 San Francisco where they find a world of punk, pizza and exact-change buses that are as alien to them as anything they have ever encountered in the far-off reaches of the galaxy. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy return as Kirk and Spock, along with the entire Star Trek crew. — Robert Lynch <[email protected]>
It is the 23rd century, and a space probe appears over Earth, emanating strange sounds towards the planet, and apparently waiting for something. As time goes on, the probe starts to cause major storms on Earth and threaten its destruction. Admiral James T. Kirk and crew are called upon once again to save mankind. They discover the strange sounds are actually the songs of the humpback whale - which has been hunted to extinction. They have only one choice - to attempt to time travel back into the 20th century, locate two whales, and bring them back to 23rd century Earth to respond to the probe. — Colin Tinto <[email protected]>
In 2286, an enormous cylindrical probe moves through space, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of ships it passes. As it takes up orbit around Earth, its signal disables the global power grid and generates planetary storms, creating catastrophic, sun-blocking cloud cover. Starfleet Command sends out a planetary distress call and warns star ships not to approach Earth. On the planet Vulcan, the former officers of the USS Enterprise are living in exile, after the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Accompanied by the Vulcan Spock, still recovering from his resurrection, the crew - except for Saavik, who remains on Vulcan - take their captured Klingon Bird of Prey vessel (renamed the Bounty, after the Royal Navy ship) and return to Earth to face trial for their actions. Hearing Starfleet's warning, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) determines that the probe's signal matches the song of extinct humpback whales, and that the object will continue to wreak havoc until its call is answered by the whales. The crew uses their ship to travel back in time via a slingshot maneuver around the Sun, planning to return with a whale to answer the alien signal. Other officers include Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Medical officer, Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) engineer, helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) Arriving in 1986, the crew finds their ship's power drained. Hiding their ship in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park using its cloaking device, the crew split up to accomplish several tasks: Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock attempt to locate humpback whales, while Montgomery Scott, Leonard McCoy, and Hikaru Sulu construct a tank to hold the whales they need for a return to the 23rd century. Uhura and Pavel Chekov are tasked to find a nuclear reactor, whose energy output will enable their ship's power to be restored. Kirk and Spock discover a pair of whales in the care of Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) at a Sausalito Museum and learn they will soon be released into the wild. Spock does a mind meld with a whale and figures out that it is preggers. Gillian is suspicious of Kirk and Spock, but Kirk manages to charm her and take her out to dinner. Kirk tells her of his mission and asks for the tracking frequency for the whales, but she refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Scott, McCoy, and Sulu trade the formula of transparent aluminum for the materials needed for the whale tank. Uhura and Chekov locate a nuclear-powered ship, the aircraft carrier Enterprise. They collect the power they need but are discovered on board. Uhura is beamed back but Chekov is captured and severely injured in an escape attempt. Taylor learns the whales have been released early and goes to Kirk for assistance. Taylor, Kirk, and McCoy rescue Chekov and return to the now recharged Bird of Prey. After transporting the whales aboard the ship, the crew returns with Taylor to their own time. On approaching Earth, the ship loses power and comes down in San Francisco Bay. Once released, the whales respond to the probe's signal, causing the object to reverse its effects on Earth and return to the depths of space. All charges against the Enterprise crew are dropped, save one for insubordination: for disobeying a superior officer, Kirk is demoted from Admiral and back the rank of Captain where he is returned to command of a star ship. The crew departs on their ship, the newly christened USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), and leaves on a new mission.

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Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

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Gillian Taylor: Don't tell me — you're from outer space. James T. Kirk: No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space.

The One With… The Whales . And the nuclear " wessels ".

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the fourth movie in the Star Trek film series, released in 1986. It is directed by Leonard Nimoy , with the screenplay by Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett and the story by Bennett and Nimoy.

James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) is prepared to face the consequences of his actions in the previous movie , but a powerful alien probe is making its way to Earth ( yes, another one. Again. ), wreaking havoc with the environment and shutting down anything with power. Deducing that the probe is searching for humpback whales, which are extinct in the twenty-third century, Kirk and crew use a Klingon Bird-Of-Prey they stole in the last film to Time Travel to San Francisco in The '80s , where they hope to retrieve some and save Earth. Hilarity Ensues . Instead of the traditional Space Opera , this movie is an outright comedy. It even lacks a villain, outside of the whale probe and a whaler boat. Star Trek IV also concludes a loose trilogy arc that began with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .

The film also stars Nimoy as Spock, DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy , James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura and Catherine Hicks as Gillian Taylor.

The wild success of this movie (it was the most financially successful Trek film until the 2009 reboot ) proved to Paramount that Star Trek could survive as an expanded franchise . Not only did it greenlight another film , but it gave Gene Roddenberry the opportunity to create a brand new TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation , and kickstarted 18 straight years of Star Trek productions.

The Voyage Home provides examples of:

Abandon Ship : Kirk orders this when the ship crashes in San Francisco Bay and starts to sink.

Except Scotty, who immediately laughs and in the process effectively disappears
Adam and Eve Plot : With the whales George and Gracie that are brought from the 20th century to the future.
Alice Allusion : Kirk's greeting to Gillian as she's beamed aboard the Klingon ship. "Hello Alice, welcome to Wonderland".
The Blu-Ray releases include the Library Computer, an interactive database that will appear on screen as the movie plays offering entries on characters, ships, places, etc. with additional information on them.
The novelization states the Federation planned to clone one or more infant humpback whales from previously collected humpback cell samples that George and Gracie could raise to adulthood in order to provide a basis to repopulate the species. It also explains that the reason this was never done before was because the cloned infants would need adults to teach them how to survive in the wild.
And Starring : The opening cast roll ends with "and Catherine Hicks as Gillian".
And the Adventure Continues : The film ends with the crew embarking on the Enterprise -A. Kirk: Let's see what she's got.
Chekov apologizes to his interrogators before he tries to stun them, however his phaser doesn't work ("Must be the radiation").
During their escape from the hospital, the crew barges into and knocks over a patient on a crutch. McCoy apologizes as he helps the patient up again in passing.
Arc Words : "How do you feel?" Later, "I feel fine."
By Sarek, in response to the Klingon ambassador's overblown accusations against Kirk. Ambassador: We have the right to preserve our race! Sarek: You have the right to commit murder?
During Spock's memory test, the computer asks him, "How do you feel?" Spock is legitimately baffled by the question.
As things are going wrong, Kirk laments that they have two perfectly good whales and could very well lose them. Spock: In likelihood, our mission would fail. Kirk: Our mission? Spock, you're talking about the end of every life on Earth. You're half-human. Haven't you got any goddamn feelings about that?!
Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving : Stealing Starships, Disobeying Orders, And Saving The World.
The scene where Kirk and Spock are walking and talking with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background was shot at Marine Drive, specifically the brief stretch of road that connects to Fort Point. That area is pretty far out of the way, especially if they're coming from Golden Gate Park; it's about four miles away on foot. However, it's conveniently close to where they shot the Marina district scene mentioned above, and the bridge makes for an awesome background.
Take a closer look at the movie poster. It's a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge as seen from the tourist viewpoint in Marin, but the city in the background has been flipped; the Transamerica Pyramid should be on the left side. Also, the bridge runs directly north and south, which means that the sun doesn't rise or set in that direction.
Ironically, and this may be played with, just to show how unadvanced 20th-century medicine is, that the doctor is a lot closer to playing this straight, than Mc Coy is. Neither the doctor or Mc Coy really say anything incorrect, but a couple of the doctor's lines seem to be odd responses. Most notably responding to Mc Coy's diagnosis of a torn middle meningeal artery, is countered by asking him if his degree is in dentistry - despite it being the correct diagnosis (completely averting this trope). And when Mc Coy counters with asking him what he makes of it, the doctor initially responds with "fundoscopic examination". However, even then, Mc Coy's response shows he's familiar with such an examination, by stating that such a thing would be "unrevealing". Mc Coy doesn't chide the doctor about drilling holes in Chekov's skull, until after the doctor offers "A simple evacuation of the expanding epidural hematoma will relieve the pressure!" Which indicates Chekov suffered a skull fracture, which cut an artery, that led to blood pooling between the brain and the skull, putting pressure on the brain. In the 20th (and even 21st) century, drilling a hole/holes in the skull to relieve said pressure, is a valid strategy. Since, y'know, we don't have the technology yet to knit bone, repair arteries, and remove blood by waving a tricorder over the patient's head.
Although averted in the park scenes, played straight when rescuing the whales. Cloaking may indeed make the ship invisible, but that whaling ship would likely have capsized well before they could have fired the harpoon. Between the air turbulence brought on by such a massive, generally non-aerodynamic ship as the Bird of Prey — especially at high speeds, and the thrusters required to keep the ship hovering, to say the waters would have been dangerously choppy, would be a great understatement. Of course, that would have deprived them of the memorable shot of the harpoon colliding with seemingly nothing, or the Bird of Prey decloaking and giving the whalers a massive Oh, Crap! moment.
What he actually said was that acceleration was no longer a constant. That could be referring to the extra weight (particularly if it exceeded the ship's designed load, as the creaking during transport suggested), the state of the dilithium crystals (in the process of being reconstituted through 20th century nuclear energy), or both.
An example with in-universe physics. In the previous film, the cloaking device caused a visual distortion field, "one big enough to hide a ship." No such distortion field is seen for the cloaked Bird of Prey. Then again, preventing the Bird of Prey from landing invalidates the entire plot .
The Probe creates clouds which block the sun's rays. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, since the Federation is a civilization that has harnessed Antimatter, but the probe's carrier wave is also so powerful that it blankets all electrical systems like a continuous long-range EMP, shutting everything down.
The sun is apparently NOT a good source for collecting "photons" to recharge the dilithium crystals, and a 20th century nuclear reactor will do. It's Justified by Spock when he says they need high-energy photons, which means gamma and x-rays given off by fission reactions, while most of the sun's energy hitting earth is lower on the spectrum, in ultraviolet and visible light. Then again, that entire subplot was just an excuse to set up the "FBI interrogates the Russian Chekov" scene and " nuclear wessels ". Totally worth it.
The shuttles inside Spacedock drift to a stop when their engines fail due to the probe signal. Simple inertia should have resulted in some nasty crashes.
And there's the question of how an audio signal travels through the vacuum of space, or alternately how a radio or similar signal resolves into whale song when it hits the water. Even more to the point, how did the probe (or its creators) ever get a response from the whales?
"Ass" in Ambassador : The Klingon ambassador, to be specific. President Hiram Roth: Admiral Kirk has been charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations. Ambassador Kamarag: " STARFLEET REGULATIONS"? THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS ! Remember this well: there shall be no peace as long as Kirk lives! Crowd Member: YOU POMPOUS ASS!
Awesome, but Impractical : After setting the (cloaked) warbird down in a public park, Kirk makes a note of the inevitable drawbacks of hiding your invisible starship: Kirk: Everybody, remember where we parked.
Sarek showing up to the hearing with the Klingons at the beginning of the film to speak on behalf of his son and his crewmates
Spock and Sarek have a moment. After a brief icy exchange where Spock says (somewhat backhandedly) that he appreciated his father making the effort to attend the trial, Sarek countered softly with "it was no effort, you are my son". Probably as close to a gooey moment as you would get between a Vulcan father and son.
Bait-and-Switch : As Kirk and the rest of the crew are being delivered to their new starship post, the Excelsior appears on the horizon and Sulu excitedly wonders if that's their new ship. The crew (and the audience) seem consigned to continuing their adventures on the "great experiment"... until the camera pans over the Excelsior 's saucer to show a newly-built Enterprise -A behind it.
Band of Brothers : At the end Starfleet has a tribunal to sentence Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and McCoy for their actions in the previous film, and when they are called down Spock joins them. The President tells Spock that he was not part of this conspiracy, and Spock responds concisely that he stands with his crew members .
Scotty and McCoy pretend to be a professor and his assistant from the University of Edinburgh, visiting Plexicorp to observe their manufacturing methods.
Later, Kirk, McCoy , and Gillian get into the hospital to rescue Chekov by posing as doctors and a patient. See Expospeak Gag below.
Big Damn Heroes : Kirk and the crew seem too late to stop the whalers, only to have the launched harpoon suddenly hit something invisible. Then Kirk's ship decloaks and reveals it had gotten in place to block the shot in time .
Big Dumb Object : The "whale probe". Presumably to make a point about it being as thoughtlessly destructive to humanity as humanity supposedly is to whales.
Black Boss Lady : Audiences applauded when Madge Sinclair appeared as the (unnamed) Captain of the USS Saratoga at the beginning of the film.
Blue-and-Orange Morality : The probe, which is completely inscrutable.
Blunt Metaphors Trauma : Justified , as Spock has an incomplete grasp on life after being brought Back from the Dead . Kirk: If we play our cards right, we may be able to find out when those whales are being released. Spock: How will playing cards help? Dr. Taylor: Are you sure you won't change your mind? Spock: Is there something wrong with the one I have?
Kirk refers to the others as 'My friends' when they commit themselves to help Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ("My friends, Dr McCoy and I have to do this, the rest of you don't") and again after the resulting trial in this film's ending ("My friends, we've come home").
Early in this movie, Spock is confused when the testing computer asks him "How do you feel?" and his mother tries to help him get in touch with his emotions. At the end, Sarek asks him if he has a message for her. Spock: Tell her... I feel fine.
Brake Angrily : Gillian slams the brakes on her truck after Spock declares that Gracie is pregnant .

Brick Joke : Kirk sells the reading glasses that Dr. McCoy gave him as a birthday present in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan so that they'll have money to live on while they're in 1980s San Francisco.
Chekov is caught sneaking around a US Military installation and is mistakenly assumed to be a spy. Kirk had the same thing happen to him in the TOS episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday".
In II , McCoy notes that the antique glasses were rare because "you don't find many with the lenses still intact." They get damaged at the end of II , and when Kirk sells them, the antiques dealer sighs they would be more valuable if the lenses were still intact. Presumably, the lenses in the Stable Time Loop are 100 years younger than the frames, but still "antique".
In "The City On The Edge Of Forever", Kirk tried to explain away Spock's pointed ears to a 1930s police officer by claiming his ears got caught in "a mechanical rice-picker". This time, Spock simply covers his ears with an improvised headband.
Calling Out for Not Calling : An alien species that used to chat with humpback whales before their extinction sends a probe to determine why they haven't called for the last 300 years. The probe removes water from the oceans to find them.
Came Back Wrong : It's implied that maybe we didn't quite get all of Spock back at the end of the previous movie, that there's a certain... something missing. He gets better by the end though. Death apparently isn't something you can just get over straight away.
Both Majel Barrett and Grace Lee Whitney make appearances in the film. Barrett reprises her role as Christine Chapel, now a Commander at Starfleet Medical. note This is Majel Barrett's final appearance as Dr. Chapel, though she'd be far from done with Trek . Whitney also appears at Starfleet Command, and is credited as Janice Rand, also a Commander.
Captain Obvious : Admiral Cartwright mentions during the probe's attack that the Earth can't survive without exposure to the Sun. The Federation President treats this statement as something everybody would know.
Cassandra Truth : After failing to come up with a cover story she'll accept, Kirk flat-out tells Gillian exactly who he is and where he comes from over dinner. She naturally thinks he's full of shit.
Cat Folk : The Caitian admiral at Starfleet headquarters.
Celebrity Paradox : Given that there are references to various aspects of late-20th-century pop culture (punk rock, Jacqueline Susann, etc.), there's an underlying implication that the Star Trek series must not exist in Star Trek ' s universe. (The implication is even stronger in the novelization. Kirk actually introduces himself to Dr. Gillian Taylor by saying "I'm Kirk, and this is Spock," and she doesn't react as if that's significant of anything—this within a larger sequence in which she marvels at their lack of familiarity with everything from Waylon Jennings to pizza.)
Changed My Jumper : The short notice for this particular mission results in the crew arriving in San Francisco in their 23rd-century Space Clothes . As it's San Francisco , they don't look that out of place. Truth in Television — they had unknown crew walk around San Francisco in the outfits for a week before shooting started, and got no comments whatsoever.
The Klingon Bird-of-Prey, which was just the enemy ship and later a means of escaping from the exploding Genesis Planet in the previous film, ends up being a vital part of this film's storyline thanks to its ability to cloak and land.
Kirk's glasses are an unusual case of this; from the perspective of the audience and Kirk himself, this is the last time the glasses are seen. However, 298 years down the line, they're going to be very important once again.
Chekov's Gun : Doesn’t work due to radiation.
*Click* Hello : Chekov is greeted by a Marine this way when he is found on board the nuclear carrier USS Enterprise .
Cloudcuckoolander : Spock, but in all fairness he is still recovering from being dead.
Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like : Sort of. Spock initially feels that his shipmates, being the illogical humans they are, made a huge mistake in saving him because his one life would not seem to be worth the costs they incurred along the way (at least one other life — that of David Marcus (though he likely would have died anyway) — plus the destruction of the Enterprise and putting all their careers in jeopardy). To be fair, he's running almost entirely on logic at this point because his more abstract memories are returning more slowly — and from a pure logic point of view, he's not entirely wrong. It takes the crisis facing Earth and the time travel adventure to save it capped with a reconciliation with his father for Spock to accept that his crewmates made the right decision to save him and in the process save McCoy as well.
Continuity Nod : Kirk mentions that they've done slingshot maneuvers around the sun before, which they first did in the episode " Tomorrow Is Yesterday ."
Crapsack Only by Comparison : How the crew of the Enterprise see The '80s , largely Played for Laughs . Kirk warns the crew that they're dealing with a "primitive and paranoid culture", Spock confirms they're in the late 20th century by the pollution content in the atmosphere, McCoy remarks (on a newspaper headling concerning nuclear arms talks stalling) that "it's a wonder these people ever got out of the 20th century" and then shows characteristic disdain for 20th-century medical practices when Chekov has an accident and ends up critically injured in hospital .
Crazy Enough to Work : Even though it's the crew of the mighty Enterprise we're talking about, the whole "get some whales from back in time" thing did sound pretty ridiculous. McCoy lampshades this, to which Kirk simply responds that if McCoy has a better plan, he should speak up. The film is also nice enough to explain why several saner-sounding plans wouldn't work—getting in weapons range would result in being crippled, and attempting to transmit whalesong themselves would just be shouting gibberish into space.
Creator Cameo : The punk on the bus is played by associate producer Kirk Thatcher . He also co-wrote and recorded the song playing on the boombox ("I Hate You").
Curb-Stomp Battle : Well, there's no actual battle , but the Probe gives V'ger a run for its money to completely decimate the entire Federation and Earth ships and defenses. It does this as a mere side effect of transmitting its signal and is otherwise completely oblivious to the damage it causes.
Damage Control : Kirk asks when they can get their captured Bird-of-Prey under way, Scotty quips, "Damage control is easy; reading Klingon, that's hard."
(Bones actually died in an episode of the The Original Series ((as did Scotty)) and its odd none of them remember it.)
Dedication : To the crew of the Challenger at the beginning of the film.
The Defroster : Spock has been coldly logical since he came back, and when Kirk finally gets upset with him (before having done his usual of pretending everything is fine, much to McCoy's wariness), he starts acting more like his developed self.
Demoted to Extra : Saavik, who was a major character in The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock , made a brief appearance in one early scene on Vulcan in this movie, and then was never seen again note She was supposed to be in the 6th film, but it was decided to create a new character, Valeris; the events of that film come across somewhat differently with that in mind .
Doctor Jerk : The surgeon who was about to operate on Chekov was justifiably upset about McCoy and Kirk intruding into the operating room, but there was no need for him to insult Dr. McCoy's credentials.
Don't Call Me "Sir" : Due to Spock's mental retraining, he insists on calling Kirk "Admiral". Kirk is nonplussed and keeps insisting that Spock used to call him "Jim".
Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help : McCoy helping the woman on dialysis during their rescue of Chekov. Admittedly, the "stop" didn't take more time than it took to give her a couple of pills, but it still (A) potentially draws attention to what's supposed to be a covert mission and (B) has the possibility of changing history.
Eiffel Tower Effect : The very first shot of the Federation headquarters includes the Golden Gate Bridge to establish it is in San Francisco .
The '80s : The crew travels back to the year of the movie's release: '86. Also, one of the test questions Spock gets are events of historical significance from 1987.
Emergency Refuelling : After the crew use the Klingon Bird of Prey to travel back in time, the dilithium crystals in the Bird of Prey start disintegrating due to the amount of effort required to travel back in time. This leads to a subplot where Uhura and Chekov have to find a nuclear vessel, collect high energy photons from a nuclear fission reaction and use those to recrystalise the dilithium crystals.
Everybody Lives : The only Trek film that can boast this.
Everything Is an iPod in the Future : In the brief shot of the Enterprise -A's bridge at the end of the movie, the entire bridge is painted white with black touchscreen control panels.
Exact Words : Spock's plan. Spock: We could try to find some humpback whales. McCoy : But you said there aren't any, except on Earth of the past . Spock: Yes, Doctor, that's exactly what I said.
Explosive Instrumentation : During the time trip, Uhura's panel explodes almost in her face, along with various wall panels and pipes bursting .
Expospeak Gag : With Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness , for cramps after eating: McCoy : This woman has acute post-prandial upper-abdominal distension! Kirk: What did you say she's got? McCoy : Cramps. note In the novelization, Gillian is momentarily angry at this, apparently mistaking McCoy for saying she had menstrual cramps. The actual translation, however, is closer to "food baby."
Extinct in the Future : While Star Trek ' s Earth is generally positive, whales went extinct sometime in the 21st century. Which becomes a problem for Earth when an alien probe arrives wanting to talk to them.
Exty Years from Publication : From 2286 to 1986, the crew travel back exactly 300 years in to the past.
Every Helicopter Is a Huey : Sulu tells a helicopter pilot that he trained on Hueys at the Academy, as a hobby (though the pilot probably didn't know he meant Starfleet Academy). The Novelization expands on it.
Face Palm : Kirk's reaction to Spock diving into the whale tank without warning him, following a Jaw Drop .
Failed Future Forecast : The probe is causing bad weather in 23rd-century Leningrad (the name of Saint Petersburg between 1924 and 1991), although the oblast (province/state) still retains that name.
Fish out of Temporal Water : The whole premise of the film, figuratively and almost literally, thanks to the cetaceans out of temporal water.
The Klingon ambassador mentions attempts to negotiate a peace treaty, and that there would be no peace while Kirk lived. This may or may not have been intentional, but it's picked up as the central theme of the plot in the sixth movie—where, interestingly enough, the same character (and actor) is one of the first to applaud Kirk and the Enterprise crew when they prevent the sabotage of the eventual Federation/Klingon treaty.
As the crew travels back in time, the audience can hear various lines of dialogue that will later be said throughout the course of the movie. Furthermore, the sequence starts with a brief shot of Kirk sitting in a white room. While it's still the Klingon ship's bridge, the white background is very evocative of the bridge of the Enterprise-A.
Funny Background Event : While fleeing the aircraft carrier, Chekov happens to run past a sign painted on the bulkhead which reads "Escape Route."
Whales are extinct in the 23rd century. The probe tries to communicate until something responds... if nothing responds, it never stops trying. (It just so happens that its communication drains Starfleet power supplies and screws up's Earth's surface weather...) The designers of the probe were callous and uncaring what side effects this would have, just as the 20th-century humans were callous and uncaring regarding the plight of the whales — at least that's the idea.
The novelisation expands on this. The probe travelled to Earth to find out why its creators had lost contact with whales (implying whalesong can travel interstellar distances) in a cetacean version of a cut-off distress call. By the time the probe has reached Earth orbit, it has concluded that there will most likely be no response (humanity trying to talk to it does not count any more than fish trying to talk to us) and starts pumping energy into the oceans to create cloud cover and thus freeze the planet in order to start over, but continues to send a signal on the off chance there will be a response. When Kirk and co bring the whales back and they start to sing, the probe immediately pauses (noticable in the movie) and tries to think what to do about a completely unprecedented event. After a brief discussion with George and Gracie, it basically says "good luck with rebuilding" and heads off for parts unknown.
"Get Out of Jail Free" Card : Starfleet can't really punish Kirk and crew too much just after they saved the world, can they?
Going Down with the Ship : Kirk is the last one to leave the sinking Bird-of-Prey, after opening the cargo bay to release the whales.
Good Old Ways : A perfect example of the ways in which Bones subverts this trope. See We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future .
Gracefully Demoted : Kirk has no problem being demoted from Admiral to Captain, as it takes him from his boring desk job and puts him back in the big chair.
Green Aesop : "To hunt a species to extinction is not logical." Gillian: Whoever said the human race was logical?
Hand Signals : After Chekov falls off the carrier Enterprise , one of the Marines signals "hold" before calling for a corpsman.
Happy Ending Override : Downplayed. The multiple criminal acts that Kirk and his officers committed in the last movie can't just be Easily Forgiven too quickly — the only reason they don't all get cashiered (and likely imprisoned) is because they save Earth from the alien probe. Even so, Kirk still gets demoted from Admiral to Captain, which everybody knows is an act of Unishment .
"I Hate" Song : "I Hate You" by Edge of Etiquette, the song played by the punk in the bus scene, is about how rotten humanity is and how we'd be better off nuking ourselves into oblivion.
Immediate Sequel : Picks up shortly after Star Trek III , with Kirk's Captain's Log specifying it has been three months since the events of that film.
Fridge Brilliance: This is the exact same rationale Kruge gave for breaking protocol, crossing the Neutral Zone, and firing upon a Federation vessel in the first place. He did so completely on his own initiative (even telling Torg "share this with no one"), but it becomes brilliance when you consider that the Klingons figured out in hindsight WHY Kruge would have gone to Genesis, and latched on to that as the only defensible explanation. Not having all the facts hurt them (the Ambassador specifically says the Genesis device was test-detonated by Kirk himself, which is a double falsehood), but with Genesis' existence already causing galactic controversy, protecting their interests makes sense for them.
The Klingon ambassador's attempts at rebutting Sarek fall into this: Yes, we killed Dr. David Marcus in cold blood. Yes, we blew up a Federation science vessel and killed 80 Starfleet officers. Yes, we committed espionage and stole classified materiel. But it's ok since we are trying to preserve our culture which prizes honor and courage above all else. Sarek calls him out on this with a glorious Armor-Piercing Question in front of the entire Federation Council.
Just Ignore It : Kirk’s usual trait rears its ugly head for a while, as he wants to assume that everything is fine with Spock when it’s clearly not. Bones stops just short of a What the Hell, Hero? .
Large Ham : John Schuck as the Klingon Ham bassador makes William Shatner look positively subdued. "Behold, the quintessential devil in these matters: James T. Kirk, renegade and terrorist!" "Starfleet regulations, that's outRAGEOUS!!!"
Kicked Upstairs : Inverted : Kirk has violated orders to save the world. They "punish" him by taking away his cushy desk job and demoting him to a "mere" starship captain. So Starfleet gets what it wants (a public punishment to demonstrate they don't tolerate such behavior, not to mention their best captain back in the field) and Kirk gets what he wants (the Enterprise ).
Language Barrier : Spock gently shoots down Kirk's idea to 'simulate' a whale song in response to the probe. Just because humans can mimic the whale sound doesn't mean they know how to speak Humpback Whale.
Laser-Guided Karma : Kirk and Company survived to save the world because they were off-planet rescuing Spock when the probe arrived.
Lighter and Softer : This is pretty much the most lighthearted Trek film there is. Not so much for the novelisation, which while still light in places, goes into detail over Kirk’s PTSD over losing Edith Keeler, the Enterprise, his son, Gary Mitchell, and his brother and sister in law, while Uhura and Chekov have to be more careful with regards to racism, and Bones is still struggling with the dregs of Spock in his head.
List of Transgressions : After saving the world, Kirk and his crew appear before the Federation Council, with the president reading the list of offenses they committed over the last two movies. Kirk pleads guilty to all of them, and then the president dismisses all but one, using that to demote Kirk to "Captain"— which made him very happy .
Literal-Minded : Chekov during the interrogation, much to the frustration of his interrogator. A possible case of Obfuscating Stupidity .
Magical Security Cam : When the Klingon Ambassador shows the Council footage of the Enterprise blowing up with Kruge's crew aboard, it's the exact footage from the previous film. The bit with Kruge's crew on the bridge has an overlay added to suggest that it was somehow recorded and transmitted by one of the crew before they died; no effort is made to explain who recorded the external shots of the ship going down in flames.
Meaningful Rename : McCoy dubbed their stolen Klingon ship the HMS Bounty , with Kirk noting the irony in his log.
Mistaken for Spies : Chekov. An interesting example as Chekov's behavior eventually leads one of his interrogators to suspect he's more probably an escaped mental patient than a Soviet spy.
"Mister Sandman" Sequence : An interesting version, seeing as it was applied to what was then the real-life present day, in which the Enterprise crew crosses a street in 1986 San Francisco and Kirk is called a "dumbass" by an angry taxi driver. The background music seems to be a standard '80s rock tune. It was a jazz/fusion tune that was created for the movie by the group Yellowjackets which was accurate of music adults listened to in the '80's. Also, an unlucky hoodlum is shown jamming on a boombox with music that fit the style of 80's era punk. The song was written specifically for that scene, and performed by the actor that played the punk.
When Gillian starts showing videos of actual whale disassembling. In theaters, the audiences often got very quiet at this point. Sorta-mimicked in the Novelization, in a way: most of the tour group watch the videos without much trouble, but Kirk and Spock are disturbed to say the least, because to them such violence was uncommon in their century.
A Downplayed example in the pizza restaurant. Gillian starts tearing up at the thought of saying goodbye to the whales while worrying about their survival in the open sea—and then Kirk gets a call on his "pocket pager." His pathetic attempt to be discreet about it, as well as the dialogue between him and Scotty (including Scotty calling him "Admiral", just like Spock), produce a " You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! " look on Gillian's face as she clearly wonders just what the hell she's gotten herself involved in.
A captured Chekov plays the fool for his captors, escapes despite his phaser malfunctioning (complete with wacky noises), leads the crew of an aircraft carrier on a merry chase to upbeat music — then runs out of carrier and falls onto concrete hard enough to be fatally injured — at least, by 20th-century medical standards...
Mundanization : They've triumphed many times in space, but how well do they do on present-day Earth? ( er, again ... for the third time ).
The Bridge Computer Sound Effects from The Original Series can clearly be heard in the background as Kirk says "Let's see what she's got".
An In-Universe example. "Sir! Ve have found the nuclear wessels! And Admiral....it is the Enterprise !"
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : Everyone's reaction to the Humans of the past for hunting the Humpback to extinction.
No Antagonist : Even the probe is just trying to find out what happened to their friends on Earth.
Non-Malicious Monster : The probe doesn't even seem to understand that its signal is causing massive weather and geological disruptions to Earth. It's simply broadcasting the same message it always has, believing that being closer to the whales will solve the lack-of-response.
No One Gets Left Behind : When Chekov is at the mercy of 20th-century medicine, Bones insists on going to save him. Spock backs him up. When asked if it's the logical thing to do, he admits that it is not that; however, it is the human thing to do.
Not This One, That One : A notable inversion/subversion at the end: The crew arrives at Space Dock to take charge of their new ship. The crew argues about which ship they will get. Dr. McCoy trusts the bureaucrats to give them a freighter, while Mr. Sulu opines he would like the Excelsior . Scotty, of course scoffs at Mr. Sulu, asking why he would want that "bucket of bolts". Their shuttle starts its approach on the shiny new Excelsior ... then flies over it to reveal the smaller ship hiding behind it: the Enterprise -A. Kirk: My friends... we've come home.
Obfuscating Stupidity : How Chekov deals with his (brief) interrogation by the FBI could be interpreted to be this instead of simple Fish out of Temporal Water naivety. You decide.
Oddball in the Series : Whereas every other TOS movie is set in the 23rd century and features Captain Kirk & company flying around the galaxy on the USS Enterprise , this movie takes place almost entirely in the mid 1980's, on Earth, with the crew being Fish out of Water , trying to literally "Save The Whales" (and hence becoming the Trope Namer for Space Whale Aesop ). The crew is also not flying on the Enterprise as it was destroyed in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and they are instead using a hijacked Klingon Bird of Prey; the Enterprise only appears at the very end when a new one is built and assigned to the crew as a reward for saving Earth. And it's the only Star Trek movie where Everybody Lives ; the only times we see weapons used are Chekov trying and failing to stun his FBI interrogators, and Kirk welding a door shut.
The whaler's crew upon seeing the Bird-of-Prey decloak. Not only could the entire whaler fit in the Bird-of-Prey's torpedo launcher , but these are late-20th-century humans. They have never seen an alien (or even human ) starship of any kind before. Naturally, they bend the speediest retreat they can.
Kirk when Gillian tells him the whales are being released tomorrow .
Once More, with Clarity : During the time travel sequence, the lines spoken by the crew during the sequence are spoken later on.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business : Kirk is amazed when The Spock of all people has to make a guess . Kirk: Mr. Spock, did you account for the variable mass of whales and water in your time re-entry program? Spock: Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so...I will make a guess. Kirk: A guess ? You , Spock? That's extraordinary . [leaves with Gillian] Spock: I don't think he understands. McCoy : No, Spock. He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts . Spock: Oh. So you're saying it is a compliment? McCoy : It is. Spock: Hmm. Then I will try to make the best guess I can.
Open Mouth, Insert Foot : Gillian's co-worker Bob, who spends his few scenes alternately hitting on her and patronizing her, all while doing this constantly; she's never amused, to say the least.
Out-of-Character Moment : At the end when the crew are in the water outside the sinking ship, just after the whales have successfully communicated with the probe , Spock appears to be laughing.
Photographic Memory : Gillian Taylor mentions that she has one — "I see words!" — but it comes into play only once, during Spock's Time-Travel Tense Trouble .
Precision F-Strike : Kirk advises Spock to blend in by "swearing every other word". While he has difficulty at first he finally grasps it, and, in perhaps a running gag, Spock has at least one in parts 5 and 6 as well. Spock: Are you sure it isn't time for a colorful metaphor?
Product Placement : Used to hilarious effect in the scene where Sulu, Scotty, and Bones were discussing where they can find a a large quantity of plastic to make a whale tank. And they manage to walk exactly by a giant ad for Pacific Bell's Yellow Pages.
Promotion, Not Punishment : At the end, Kirk actually experiences a subversion. After stealing the Enterprise and subsequently blowing it up in the process of stopping the Earth from being destroyed and saving the humpbacked whales from extinction , he and his bunch manage to almost completely duck the surefire court-martialing and dismissal from Starfleet. Instead, Kirk is demoted from Admiral back down to Captain, a role both he and his superiors prefer him in.
The Quincy Punk : Kirk and Spock encounter such a punk on a bus in 1980s San Francisco. When he refuses to turn down the loud punk rock music he is playing, Spock nerve pinches him into silence, and everyone else on the bus applauds.
Rapid-Fire Typing : Scotty goes from not even understanding the concept of a computer without voice commands to apparently being able to type three million words per minute. Also combines with Hollywood Hacking — the action on the computer's screen doesn't even remotely synch with his keystrokes.
There was another scene written where Sulu, Bones, and Scotty meet a young boy who mistakenly thinks Sulu is his uncle; it turns out the child is Sulu's great great grandfather. The young boy chosen to play the part was overcome with stage fright (not helped by his showbiz mom) and the scene also had to be scrapped. It appears in the novelization.
Refuge in Audacity : Chekov, in an obviously Russian accent, going around the streets asking about "nuclear wessels" and getting away with it . Doesn't help him when he is found on board one, however.
Replacement Goldfish : The Enterprise NCC-1701-A for the Enterprise NCC-1701, beginning a Star Trek tradition.
The Bird of Prey's bridge set is completely different from its appearance in the previous movie : its layout is much more similar to the Enterprise 's bridge, and the captain's chair is no longer on a raised dais.
All of the Enterprise crew are wearing the same clothes they wore when they stole the Enterprise , except for Chekov who has replaced his awful pink jumpsuit with a cool leather jacket.
Rogue Agent : The Klingon Ambassador tries painting Captain Kirk as this, in an attempt to get him extradited.
Scary Science Words : McCoy bluffs getting Gillian past a police officer guarding the hospital room Chekov is in by claiming she's suffering from "acute post-prandial upper-abdominal distension". Afterwards, when asked about by Kirk, he reveals it to mean "cramps."
Scotty and McCoy obtaining a supply of Plexiglass (to house the whales) by trading the formula for transparent aluminum to a Plexiglass engineer;
Chekov and Uhura illegally boarding a US Navy vessel and stealing power (for the purposes of recrystallizing the dilithium matrix in the warp drive, allowing them to get home);
Then Kirk and company removing a criminal suspect under arrest (Chekov, who gets captured in the process) from police custody.
They also flatten a garbage can and damage the lawn of Golden Gate Park when they land the ship.
Relations between the Federation and the Klingons are left in bad shape because of the Genesis Incident. The Klingons vow there will be no peace as long as Kirk lives, setting up Klaa's pursuit of Kirk in the next film (and the eventual resolution of the antagonism with the Khitomer Confrence in VI).
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness : Combined with Expospeak Gag , for saying "cramps after eating": McCoy : This woman has acute post-prandial upper-abdominal distension! Kirk: What did you say she had? McCoy : Cramps.
Sherlock Can Read : Spock suggests a complicated strategy for finding the whales, but Kirk immediately points out that there are 2 of them at the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito. Spock asks how he knows this, and he replies "simple logic", pointing to an advertisement for the whale exhibit on a bus that just pulled up.
The Whales are named after George Burns and Gracie Allen .
Gillian refers to Kirk and Spock as Robin Hood and Friar Tuck .
Sulu still pines for Excelsior , but Scotty refers to her as a " bucket of bolts ."
Simple Solution Won't Work : When Spock deduces that the probe is seeking humpback whales to communicate with, Kirk suggests trying to answer it with simulated whalesong based on recordings, which would certainly be much easier than traveling back through time to try and find living instances of a long-extinct species. Spock points out that since they have no idea about the language of whalesong, they'd effectively be speaking gibberish note Also, even if they played back recordings for the probe, they still wouldn't know what the whalesong was actually saying. Even if not gibberish, if the response doesn't match the question ("How are you doing on your planet?" "This is nice weather." "Hello? Can you hear me?" "I will go look for food now."), the probe could become, for lack of a better term, angry about the attempted deception and make things even worse .
Kirk tries to be this, with middling success. " Double dumbass on you!"
Spock tries even harder, with less success.
Snap Back : After all the trial and tribulation the crew goes through in the last three films, they all end up back where they started: on the bridge of the Enterprise ready for a new adventure .
A line from the Bus Punk's song:
So Proud of You : Sarek to Spock at end of the film, with his customary Vulcan reserve.
Space Friction : As with the Excelsior in the previous film, when the shuttles in Spacedock lose power they come to a stop, rather than drifting forward until they hit something.
Spaceship Slingshot Stunt : The crew slingshots around the sun at a high enough warp speed to create a time-space warp that carries them back to the 1980s. While it's explained that the star's massive gravity field is used to bend space-time, the logistics of how they choose exactly where and when they end up is explained away as Spock just being that good.
Only an example, though, for the most Literal-Minded interpretation. The intended Aesop is more along the lines of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone", specifically the permanence of extinction.
Also, don't play your music too loud on the bus or you will be nerve-pinched.
Just because somebody claims to have come from the future to save the Earth doesn't mean they're crazy or trying to scam you. They're only almost certainly crazy or trying to scam you.
Spotting the Thread : Security Guard: How's the patient, Doctor? Kirk: He's going to make it. Guard: He? They went in with a she! Kirk: One little mistake... [runs]
In the Novelization , Scotty practically fanboys over the engineer, Marcus Nichols, when they are introduced, because Scotty recognizes Nichols' name as that of the inventor of transparent aluminum; Scotty hints that he and Bones might be required to tell him about it.
Nichols says himself it will take years to figure out the matrix, so they aren't even giving him the formula — just enough hints.
When Kirk sells his glasses at a pawn shop. Spock: Admiral, weren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy ? Kirk: And they will be again. That's the beauty of it.
Stay with the Aliens : Downplayed, with Gillian deciding to leave her life and come along with Kirk's group into the future aboard a modified Klingon spaceship that is manned by the half-alien Spock.
Stopped Dead in Their Tracks : After Spock foolishly jumps into the whale tank and performs a mind-meld on Gracie, Gillian gives the two a ride back to San Francisco Proper in her pickup truck. As she drives on, Spock unexpressively blurts out a line that shocks Gillian and makes her slam on the brakes. Spock: Gracie is pregnant.
Stunned Silence : The reaction of Kirk and his crew when they learn that Earth is in danger.
Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard : During the FBI's interrogation of Chekov: Agent #1: What do you think? Agent #2: He's a Russkie. Agent #1: That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Of course he's a Russkie, but he's a retard or something.
Theme Music Abandonment : James Horner's themes from The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock , as well as Jerry Goldsmith's themes from the first film, were not used in Leonard Rosenman's score for The Voyage Home . Though they still keep the "Enterprise fanfare" at the beginning, which goes all the way back to the original series.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich : Actually averted in the restaurant; for once, a movie remembers that that there's an interval of time between ordering and receiving food that they can put dialogue into. And when Kirk bolts just as the pizza arrives, Gillian has the waiter box it to go. Kirk actually brings his pizza back to share with the crew.
This Is Gonna Suck : Kirk does this just before they go back in time: "May fortune favor the foolish."
Time-Travelers Are Spies : Chekov and Uhura, big time. Though it might have gone better if one of them wasn't Russian. In the Novelization , the fact Uhura is African doesn't help matters. note Ethiopia's relationship with the USSR, for one.
Time-Travel Romance : Kirk finds a Love Interest wherever and whenever he goes, doesn't he? Though it's very low-key (especially for Kirk) and doesn't really become much more than some flirting and a hug. Which makes sense considering the character becoming a female scientist was actually a fairly late revision to the script... in prior drafts, the character was a conspiracy theorist played by Eddie Murphy invoked .
Time-Travel Tense Trouble : Spock of all people screws up here. Leonard Nimoy stresses the tense loud and clear, so it wouldn't take eidetic memory to remember it, too.
Time Traveler's Dinosaur : The humpback whales George and Gracie are this due to being Extinct in the Future .
Totally Radical : Kirk doesn't quite have a grasp on 1986 idioms. Nor does Spock. Kirk: Well, double dumbass on you !
Tranquil Fury : Sarek is incensed with the Klingon Ambassador's attempted justifications for Commander Kruge's actions in the previous movie. Of course, being a typical Vulcan, Sarek is still reserved about it but his tone and words make it clear what he thinks. Sarek: Your vessel did destroy U.S.S. Grissom . Your men did kill Kirk's son. Do you deny these events? Klingon Ambassador: We deny nothing! We have the right to preserve our race! Sarek: You have the right to commit murder?
Troll : Scotty referring to Bones as "his assistant". Scotty's look after implies that he said it just to mess with him. Also, one wonders if Spock's misuse of swears didn't become purposeful over time, especially after Kirk criticized him for it. Kirk: Spock, where the hell is the power you promised? Spock: One damn minute, Admiral.
Trouble from the Past : The humans of the past hunted whales to extinction, and that turned out to be a bad idea.
Unishment : When Kirk is demoted back to the Captaincy of a starship... which is what he wanted all along anyway.
Universal Driver's License : Sulu manages to learn how to fly a helicopter in just one day. Granted, he did quickly learn to pilot a Klingon starship in the previous movie , but learning to fly a helicopter as opposed to a starship that quickly is a bit of a stretch.
Unspoken Plan Guarantee : Chekov gives Kirk a simple explanation for how he and Uhura plan to collect high-energy photons from the aircraft carrier Enterprise . It works perfectly — until the transporter fizzles out and Chekov is captured. And critically injured trying to escape. Although it didn't help that he tempted fate by saying "No one will ever know we were there."
Unusually Uninteresting Sight : Most people are willing to accept the slightly out-of-touch Spock as a harmless stoner , even as he does weird things like jump into the whale tank...until he says things about the whales that he shouldn't be able to know. Truth in Television as anyone who lives in San Francisco could tell you.
Villain of Another Story : Admiral Lance Cartwright, who makes his debut here, but does not become one of the primary villains until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , which is a interesting aspect as this installment had No Antagonist unlike the other films and Cartwright doesn't show any signs of villainy at all, unless he is good at concealing it to get on Kirk's good side .
Visible Boom Mic : A variation: in the scene of the crew on San Francisco streets, the film crew wearing Star Trek IV badges can be seen inside a building through a large plate glass window.
Weapons Understudies : The nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is here played by the non-nuclear USS Ranger . The Enterprise ' s reactor area was highly classified and radioactive to the point the film would have been unusable, and even if filming was feasible, she was at sea at the time. If you look closely, you can see several sailors wearing Ranger insignia.
Weather-Control Machine : The Probe creates devastating storms in Earth's atmosphere as a side effect of its transmission.
Weld the Lock : Kirk uses a phaser to melt the lock on a door he locked some 20th-century medstaff in. This, incidentally, is the only time a phaser is fired throughout the entire movie (successfully—Chekov's attempt fizzles due to a malfunction), showing just how Lighter and Softer IV is compared to pretty much all the other films. note No phasers, handheld or otherwise, were fired in The Motion Picture either, though that film did feature several torpedoes from Klingons, Enterprise , and V'Ger.
"Well Done, Son" Guy : Spock and Sarek, by human standards anyway. To a Vulcan, the two were all but weeping Manly Tears and bear hugging each other.
We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future : Demonstrated when McCoy , visiting a twentieth-century hospital, is horrified that a woman is undergoing kidney dialysis. "Dialysis? What is this, the Dark Ages?" He gives her a pill, and minutes later, doctors are dumbfounded by her miraculous recovery as she grows a new kidney .
"Gracie is pregnant."
Kirk, when he realizes the only way to save Earth: Kirk: Begin computations for time warp.
Wham Shot : The Enterprise -A is revealed behind the Excelsior at the end of the movie.
What a Piece of Junk : For all the crap the crew give the Bird-of-Prey compared to the Enterprise , it holds up remarkably well through all the insane things they put it through.
What We Now Know to Be True : See We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future .
Subverted. All official material indicates they travel back to 1986 (the year the film was released), but Spock determines from the pollution in the atmosphere as being "the latter half of the twentieth century" and Kirk doesn't ask to get more specific than that as it doesn't matter.
Later, Kirk is seen looking at a newspaper machine , but only to confirm that the time period still has a currency-based economy and they will need to acquire some money in order to complete the mission.
When the Clock Strikes Twelve : Gillian tells Kirk that the whales will be shipped out at noon on the following day, forcing him to go into a panic. Subverted, as the whales end up getting shipped in the middle of the night to avoid a media circus.
Wiper Start : Sulu with the helicopter, though it's while he's already in flight.
Yes-Man : The Klingon ambassador regards the Vulcans as being this to the Federation as a whole. Or as he puts it, they are the "intellectual puppets" of the Federation.
You Can See That, Right? : The two sanitation workers who witness the landing of the cloaked Bird of Prey in Golden Gate Park. "Did you see that?" "No, and neither did you, so shut up."
Your Size May Vary : The Bird of Prey rechristened "HMS Bounty" will change size and shape depending on what shot is taken, especially when compared to the previous movie. It varies from about 100 meters wide with maybe three levels to about 50 meters with only space for one level. The famous image of the Bird of Prey decloaking over a whaling ship is considerably upscaled to about 150 meters. Given they were able to fit two humpback whales in the cargo space, the largest size makes more sense. Given the popularity and proclivity of this ship design used across the franchise and the wildly different scale used, the actual canon implies that Klingons made this exact design in about four different sizes.

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After being brought back to life, Spock has learned logic from Vulcan culture but is unfamiliar with the emotions of human culture.

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Published Feb 5, 2018

Star Trek 101: George and Gracie

Star Trek 101 serves two functions: succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans. We're pulling our entries from the book Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, And Why , written by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block and published in 2008 by Pocket Books. An invaluable resource, it encompasses The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise , as well as the first 10 Trek feature films.

Today, we share Star Trek 101 's file on George and Gracie, the humpback whales from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home :

Humpbacks, already an endangered species in the twentieth century, are extinct in the twenty-third. But the space probe doesn't plan to leave Earth until it "talks" to one. Kirk and his senior officers retrieve the pair from the past so the whales can carry out the conversation. (What they ultimately discuss is known only to George and Gracie). After the probe leaves, the whales are free to repopulate their species in Earth's oceans.

Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann are coauthors of numerous books about the entertainment industry, including Star Trek 101; Star Trek Costumes: Fifty Years of Fashion from the Final Frontier ; Star Trek: The Original Series 365 ; and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion . They currently are writing the latest in their series of Ferengi novellas, which (so far) includes Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found) ; and Rules of Accusation . Their most recent non- Star Trek book is Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History.

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There Be Whales Here: ‘The Voyage Home’ at 30

| November 25, 2016 | By: Steve Vivona 93 comments so far

On November 26, 1986 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home debuted on movie screens across the United States. The film’s lighthearted tone and environmental message struck a chord with moviegoers, and became the first Star Trek film to have crossover appeal with mainstream audiences who normally wouldn’t be interested in the adventures of the Enterprise crew. The movie often referred to as “the one with the whales” continues to charm audiences today, and we wanted to mark its 30th anniversary with a remembrance not only of the film, but of the time it was made in. We hope you enjoy it.

“It’s going to have whales.”

Sitting in a dimly lit Knights of Columbus hall in Mineola, N.Y., sometime in 1985 I heard those words from Adam Malin, the co-founder of Creation Entertainment, during a slide presentation about the following year’s highly anticipated Star Trek IV.

“Whales and Eddie Murphy.”

My Star Trek fever had reached its apex after devouring Star Trek II and III, as well as all 79 episodes of the Original Series in very rapid succession between 1983-85. After years of denying how awesome Star Trek was, now I couldn’t get enough.

But whales and Eddie Murphy? Are you guys high? Try to picture a time with no Internet, no YouTube, when fandom was held together by conventions, fanzines , and genre magazines like Starlog and Cinefantastique . Creation Entertainment were the purveyors of said conventions since the early 70s, and as luck would have it , they decided to open a comic shop mere blocks from my home.

I had yet to attend one of their bigger shows in New York City, but they would host local “mini-cons,” that were bare bones affairs (no celebs, no dealers, etc.) but they were fun nonetheless, and there they would share morsels of information they had gleaned from their contacts in fandom and I imagine, at Paramount.

I was less concerned about the whale thing as I was the presence of Eddie Murphy. Don’t get me wrong: I loved him. Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hours are still favorites of mine. But with his name attached, Star Trek IV became akin to Superman III , a disaster that shoehorned Richard Pryor together with the Man of Steel. The wounds were still fresh.

In this information stone age that was as much as we got. We knew Leonard Nimoy would direct, having earned his stripes on Trek III. I remember seeing William Shatner on Merv Griffin saying he wanted “a little” more money. Salary negotiations and his T.J. Hooker schedule were holding up production.

Fast forward to fall of 1986. I was feeling better about Trek IV. Eddie Murphy dropped out, and made The Golden Child. His character morphed into Gillian Taylor, the cetacean biologist played with pluck and zest by Catherine Hicks. Everything I saw and read made me confident this would be a winner.

More than anything, I was confident Leonard Nimoy would deliver. And deliver he did.

Star Trek IV could’ve been an unmitigated disaster. In lesser hands, it would’ve been.

Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett felt as though a lighter touch was in order. After all the death, destruction (and resurrection) of the prior two films, it was time to lighten the mood. With a script assist from Trek II director Nicholas Meyer they balanced the lighter tone with a grand sense of adventure and excitement, with no moustache twirling villain in sight (if there was a villain it was the human race hunting a noble species to extinction).

The story, that of a n alien probe reigning destruction upon earth in a vain attempt to contact humpback whales , was a cautionary tale about our short sighted tendencies as a race, one that was never preachy or overbearing. The light moment s sprouted organically from our intrepid 23 rd century crew ’s desperate attempts to fit into 1986 San Francisco while fighting a ticking clock in their attempt to bring two humpbacks forward in time to answer the probe.

Nimoy had proven his worth as a director with Trek III. As he often said, the training wheels came off with Trek IV. He was allowed to make his movie. He delivered a film that pleased fans and the general public in equal measure, and the crossover appeal led to huge box office returns, making The Voyage Home easily the most successful of the TOS films to date. My Mom saw it .

Leonard was particularly sensitive to the needs of his castmates, all of whom railed against the perfunctory dialogue they were often given , as well as their marginalized roles. Already well respected by his colleagues, Nimoy made sure each of them had their moment in the sun. Taking them out of their familiar roles on the bridge (or the engine room) , each had an integral part to pl ay in completing this most critical mission, and it was wonderful to see t hem stretch acting muscles left to atrophy . What a talented group of performers!

Nimoy elicited wonderful performances from his actors (and himself!) and got the best from his talented crew. Not enough can be said about the man’s professionalism, ravenous intellectual curiosity , and human decency . In all my years as a fan, I have never heard anyone criticize him, and one need only seek out his son Adam’s recent documentary, “For the Love of Spock,” to understand the esteem with which he was held by all who knew him. Seriously, seek it out!

As much as I loved James Horner’s previous scores for Trek II and III, Nimoy hired his friend Leonard Rosenman to write the music for The Voyage Home , and he delivered a buoyant, joyful soundtrack that perfectly matched the film’s tonal shift from heavy and operatic to light and fun. It remains one of my favorite Trek scores.

The Voyage Home represents perhaps the apex of my Star Trek fandom. That isn’t to say it ever waned or wavered, but we were in the midst of an era when we still had new TOS movies on the horizon, and as much as I loved certain further iterations, nothing has ever eclipsed my love for the original crew. I was immersing myself in fandom, and meeting people who shared my love for Trek. I was devouring books and ancillary material like mad.

It took almost a year for Trek IV to be released on VHS (let that sink in). Repeating their prior strategy with Trek III , Paramount shrewdly released Trek IV at the sell through price of $29.99 and it was well within my 17-year old grasp. I watched it twice the day I bought it and daily for weeks afterward . In the thirty subsequent years, I have upgraded to laserdisc, DVD, and blu ray, from standard to special editions, from pan and scan to widescreen.

It’s a film that richl y rewards repeated viewings, and hasn’t lost a step. It’s the film that made the mainstream sit up and take notice. It is proof positive you don’t need a scener y chewing villain for our intrepid crew to oppose, merely a heroic quest for the good of all mankind.

At the end of the day , it’s a love letter to the fans from Leonard Nimoy, executed with technical brilliance, but more importantly, with great reverence and intimate understanding of that which we all love so much.

Thanks, Leonard. We love you too.

Feature Films (TMP-NEM) , History

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‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’ Returns To Theaters In August For 2 Nights; Tickets Available Now

I watched the movie on DVD a few nights ago! It is still one of the best Star Trek movies ever made!

Wow, what a great tribute to this cozy, feels-like-home kind of movie. Mr. Vivona you have certainly succeeded in communicating your affection for this movie.

“… you don’t need a scenery chewing villain for our intrepid crew to oppose, merely a heroic quest for the good of all mankind.”

Boom! Exactly! This is precisely what we haven’t been getting in the last ST movies and what we need so much. Well said sir!

I agree 100% Stop the “villain” casting in the next ST movie. It’s all been just too repetitive. I understand the economics of Chris Pine stating you can’t make a cerebral ST movie in 2016 but the generalization he made too much. ST is not Marvel Comics! It never was. ST IV is a movie of heart, soul with comedy overtones and great intentions. Look at the success of “The Martian”. It’s got all that.

Right on. “The Martian” proved again you don’t always need a scowling, growling villain delivering speeches and megaweapons to make an entertaining movie. A survival tale and a race against time works too.

Arrival was a very good example too of sci-fi without a traditional villain. Great movie BTW.

Except Arrival had multiple villains that made the situation much more difficult.

We should really ask this: Either make a Star Trek movie, or make another movie! Call it Star Warfare or something!

Unfortunately, audiences want a Star Wars influenced Star Trek. Hopefully,the new show will be continue in the tradition of the good Trek shows.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2016/11/musical-surprises-fill-la-la-lands-trek-50th-soundtrack/

I fine Trek film and ending to the Genesis / Accidental Trilogy, shame about the music score tho. Finally watched Beyond a couple of times this week, that doesn’t get any better the more you watch it.

Respectfully disagree

Which, Beyond being average or the score to Voyage?

Nice article, but one nit-pick: “script assist” from Nicholas Meyer? How about “he wrote the dialogue for the entire body of the movie?”

He did acts two and three. From ‘judging by the pollution content in the atmosphere, we’ve arrived in the twentieth century’ before going out on the poem about the whales

Yes–what I”m loosely calling “the body/middle,” i.e. Acts 2 & 3. Harve wrote 1 & 4. In any case, writing half the movie and dubbing that an “assist” feels a bit understated here.

Let’s also give credit to Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes who wrote the original script that Harve and Nick Meyer added to.

I am tempted to say that this is the best Trek movie. The decisions to down play “Treknobabble”, traditional villains, and space travel were wise ones. My only complaint is the flaccid score. I know Horner would not have worked here but what about Alan Silvestri ? He would been terrific.

Great article about a wonderful film and probably my favourite of the original cast movies. I recall first seeing it on release in the UK in Spring 1987. Tears of joy for me at the end when NCC-1701-A leaves space dock accompanied by a majestic rendition of the Original Series Main Title/End Title credits music, before warping off-screen. Movie magic.

You just reminded me of another horrid thing. After we just sat through this terrible movie the neat and trite way they wrapped up the trial was nauseating. And then it seems they just happened to have a Constitution Class starship lying around they repainted and added an “A”. Pathetic. This was Trek at it’s absolute worst. It makes “The Final Frontier” look like Citizen Kane and “Encounter at Farpoint” a laugh a minute action packed adventure.

Dare I say sir, your opinion is in the minority.

Popularity does not = good.

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments, Steve.

This film, above all the others, IMO, really captures the essence of “Star Trek” in all its wonder. The humor, humanity and love that the crew and actors feel for the material and for the whales is quite palpable.

If there will be another JJ Abrams universe Trek – I would advise him to watch this film….”Shore Leave” and “Mirror Mirror”. Those 3 elements would make for a great kind of big screen experience.

Its time for the JJ-verse to stop looking for its next “black hat”.

I wouldn’t hold my breath. The guy doesn’t care about Trek. He just wants a Star Wars clone. Hell, he can’t even direct a genuine Star Wars movie.

Maybe you would do well to watch The Doomsday Machine too

I was 31 when I saw Star Trek IV on opening night. After the wonderful drama of II and III, it was a HUGE disappointment. That’s when Star Trek “jumped the shark”for me and never fully recovered. What a piece of crap!

I’ve never heard anyone dump on Voyage Home before. You sir, are an idiot!

Well, I never ‘dumped’ on it per se, but I remember not being particularly impressed by it when I saw it in theaters. I thought it was just okay. It has grown on me since then, but it isn’t my favorite at all.

Harry… The movie was (and still is) garbage. Just because you disagree with opinions doesn’t make those people “idiots”.

Although I don’t think Trek jumped the shark then. It was in a pretty deep hole it didn’t crawl out of until “The Undiscovered Country”.

ML31 – It’s true, people who disagree with my opinion are idiots. I’ve gathered a large group of Scottish bagpipe singers and Vegas showgirls and spent a year researching my opinions and cross referenced them with the opinions of others and the data was clear – those who disagree with me are idiots and sometimes morons.

Voyage Home = Greatest Trek movie ever! Undiscovered Country was ok but come on, funny jokes and whales trump boring cold war references and bad cgi floating purple blood every time.

I was 31 when I saw STIV and loved it. So did my wife, mom and friends.

BTW: Great article and tribute to the film and Leonard Nimoy. Saw Nimoy at a speaking appearance at UNCC a few weeks before the film opened. He finished by saying he recently saw the final cut and said, “I think you will like it.”

Leonard Rosenman scored the COMBAT! TV series among his many noteworthy efforts. Vic Morrow, one of COMBAT!’s co-stars (along with Rick Jason) was a friend of Nimoy and may have helped Nimoy get cast for at least 3 episodes as a guest star. I wonder if this was how Nimoy met Rosenman.

Totally get the jumped the shark feeling. Having to go get whales IS a bit hokey. For me Trek 4 was always more a comfort food while TWOK was epic entertainment.

not hokey as the concept of the whales and probe are centre stage where as the genesis device a mere mgguffin to allow for a lot of space battles.

proper ‘trek’ concept used well.

There is definitely some suspension of disbelief in how easy it is to time travel. And ofcourse TVH makes the entire Orci-inspired Bad Robot crap fest moot as far as time travel.

But TVH was very enjoyable. They fought whatever urge might exist to make it completely stand alone and continued the story of II & III. Spock still learning to be himself led to some wonderful moments that sprung organically from the evolution of the character.

My favourite scene is still where Hicks asks them out for pizza and they do a yes, no, yes, no routine ending with Kirk saying “I love Pizza. And so do you”. Shatner got to be funny, showing off skills that would earn him awards years later. And he was good.

Little things like using the eye glasses Bones gave him Kirk in WoK…and ofcourse he got less money for them because he had carelessly broken the lenses.

And ofcourse, the chickens finally came home to roost as the crew faced judgement for their prior actions and it turned into a good news scenario.

@Harry Ballz

re: Star Trek “jumped the shark”for me and never fully recovered.

I agree completely, though there were some moments I enjoyed. The worst thing is the horrid music score, muddy/smoky/hazy cinematography, terrible optical shots (the bird of prey appearing/hovering over the whaling vessel for example), and of course the moronic floating CGI heads sequence. Oh, and uh…John Schuck. The worst of the original TOS-cast movies.

‘I love Italian. and so do you’ ‘yes’

shame paramount has not learned the lesson from this great film. not every ‘trek’ movie has to be a clone of ‘wrath/khan’.

Yes! That was the line (i wrote it as “pizza” above). Great scene. Great comedic timing by both Nimoy and Shatner.

Not funny. Lame. And out of character for both of them.

Hands down, Voyage Home is my favorite Trek movie. Yep it beats WOK, which is a close second.

I don’t think it’s right that Trek III was priced “sell through”. At least …not initially. It was the first movie I ever bought…and I KNOW I paid 80 dollars for it. That was a lot for me when I was 14 years old! I cherished it.

Trek 3 absolutely was priced sell through. I bought it the day it came out and was 14 also.

I was robbed!

Did you buy it on half-inch videotape or LaserDisc? In my area I found it strange that the LD was cheaper than the VHS or SuperBeta.

BTW the ad is from March, 1985.

http://www.terapeak.com/worth/store-display-shelf-talker-87-vtg-star-trek-iv-voyage-home-kirk-spock-vhs-8/311504398846/

Also, I remember Trek III coming out on video in early 1985, certainly not a year later (which would have been May-June.) I clearly remember walking in a K-Mart around late January and seeing Star Trek III running on all the TVs in the TV area.

Trek IV came out on home video in Sept. 1987 and had a preview for TNG. Trek III came out on home video in Feb. 1985.

I really enjoyed TVH because it was outside the box, not the usual round of space battles and bad guys. It was clever, with a great message. Only Star Trek could have pulled this one off. That was the greatness of Trek.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-trek-iv-voyage-home-writer-eddie-murphys-lost-role-950551

One really has to wonder how Eddie Murohy starring in a Trek film would have changed the franchise. This would have hands down been the highest grossing Trek film of all time, including the Abrams films …

This I have long argued is the thing that holds Trek back, the lack of star power. Abrams and Paramount gambled that their inexpensive up-and-coming cast would catapult them into super-stardom and thus Trek along with them, but sadly that gamble failed. None of them have really achieved that kind of status. It’s just so disappointing they don’t treat Trek like the Marvel and the DC universe franchises. Even Star Wars gets better treatment as they brought the original stars back, who if they didn’t achieve super stardom, they earned legendary status.

Had Eddie Murphy been in the film, it would have watered down the “Star Trek” part of the story. Did you notice that there was only like 1 or 1 1/2 scenes that tell Gillian’s (Catherine Hicks) backstory. With Eddie, he would have commanded a lot more screen time and rightfully so… The Star Trek cast was royalty and they didn’t need a heavyweight guest star that would take away from their screen time.

I would say Zoe Saldana is doing nicely

Eddie would have over-shadowed everyone and everything. It would certainly have tested Nimoy’s efforts. Shatner would have felt the need to out-shine Eddie and the race would have been on.

Regarding no big names in the JJ films, again, you wonder where all the money went. They paid for a big name producer and didnt get the results. Could have had big name guest stars and didnt. Although Peter Weller was great, but under-utilized by Orci’s self-serving script. And clearly, they didnt have any money for a big name actor. Then again, they did try to get Del Toro which would have helped…

Huh? Benedict Cumberbatch and Idris Elba? (To say nothing of Eric Bana and Peter Weller.) Those are certainly big names. Cumberbatch was miscast, IMO, but you can’t say they went small on the names.

I was there that first Friday night. It was and still is a great Star Trek film! I still have my Star Trek 4 poster magazine, movie magazine and a newspaper ad for the film!!!

It is the best of the Star Trek movies, but Star Trek Beyond is more than a competitive second place, even with the mustache twirling villain. I hope Simon Pegg gets to take a hand in another soon, he has it all down, a fun movie that rollicked from start to finish.

I hate when people say that the movie had no villain. It most certainly did! When I watched it growing up, that probe was a scary thing and very villainous. Hence the urgent need to stop it from… you know… destroying Earth.

it is man who is the real villain according to mr meyer.

short sightedness in the past led to this but can we say that the probe is attacking earth or its signal to the whales absent from the 23rd century merely causing unintended mayhem?

They never specify for sure that it is unintended though. Just random speculation.

i heard mr meyer say it in a featurette about the movie villains on the ‘trek’ TNG movie boxset

Aaron (Naysayers are gonna nay),

Re: that probe was a scary thing and very villainous

I hate when people watch STAR TREK and fail to pickup on its most basic precept: that because some other entity’s alienness and strangeness frightens you, it doesn’t automatically mean that it therefore has evil motives which are requisite to it actually being a villain.

If you go out for a morning jog listening to tunes and obliviously step on an anthill on your circuit, your oblivious action makes you a danger to the ant colony but not a villain.

I love The Voyage Home. It has all of the quirks necessary to make it fun all these years later. My Grandpa wasn’t a sci-fi guy – but he actually watched this one with me and enjoyed it. Good memories. Plus, my step-dad was on the Enterprise when they filmed this movie, so even more good memories.

Not to burst your bubble, but as I recall, the aircraft carrier posing as the Enterprise was actually the USS Ranger…

I have avoided the film for years. When the blu ray set came out the thing that gave me pause was the inclusion of this film in the set. I bought it anyway and gave the movie another chance since I hadn’t seen it in so very very long. Maybe seeing it decades later will give me a different perspective than the negative one I got when I watched it in the theater that one time. I have to say it. This film is STILL by far the worst Trek ever. I can appreciate the lighter tone but unlike “The Trouble with Tribbles” the jokes in this one NEVER worked and the characters were so far away from themselves they all were barely recognizable. The script was terrible and the story line was worse. The whale thing was so monumentally dumb words cannot accurately describe it. The message was so in your face it made “Let That be Your Last Battlefield” look nuanced by comparison. And then there was the time travel thing. A tool that had already become tired even then. Plus the way they did it made it seem like traveling through time was about as difficult as catching the 7:15 train to downtown.

There is so very much wrong with this movie from Nimoys sub par directing to the the awful Rosenman score to the afore mentioned plot. I found myself wishing they did a similar story but place it on Vulcan. Thought it would be a fun twist to see the humans need to blend in with the Vulcans instead of the other way around. Or they could have… Wait… There was far too much wrong with the film to list all the things they could have done to make it better.

And I thought I was the only one who doesn’t care for this film! After 3 films with amazing scores, I couldn’t stomach this one. And though I really appreciate the tone and lack of a villain, the film itself just comes off as schmaltzy to me. From the dialog, to the acting, to the half-assed composite shots… I would put this film at the bottom of trek films, only remarkable for it’s nostalgia and whatever merit you give for cross-over appeal.

The fact that this is the Trek film that actually has crossover appeal pretty much cements the concept that Trek will never be a popular movie series. The worst and most non-Trekish movie of all is the one that non Trek people flocked to.

And yes… You are not alone in your opinion of “The Voyage Home”.

How was time travel a tool that had become tired by then? It hadnt been used in the previous films and TNG hadnt even come out yet.

Characters were not far removed from themselves at all. They were ‘fish out of water’. I think its not that TVH was bad, its that it went over your head.

So you are saying that Scotty was too stupid to realize he was in the 1980’s. A time when one could not talk to a computer. And that it was quite normal for McCoy to run around a hospital screaming about what barbarians the doctors of 1986 are. Sorta like when he was when he was pumped full of cordrazine. This was hardly “fish out of water”. It was just full on stupidity on the part of our intrepid crew. It was quite embarrassing to see them act like children. Maybe if it were actually funny or clever. But it didn’t even have THAT going for it. It was just sad to see. As far as time travel is concerned, there were a number of time travel movies in the 80’s already. It was just a tired concept by then not just for Trek but in general.

Again, you’re so angry about making your point, you’re failing to use common sense. I dont recall if they knew they were in 1986. I do know they knew they were in “late 20th century”.

Bones wasnt running around screaming until he was actually exposed to the medical knowledge of the time. He didnt arrive with that knowledge. In fact he seemed quite surprised.

If Scotty had gone back to early 20th century, I could see your point. But your judging Scotty’s knowledge of events YOU know about a time YOU live in. If you were plopped in the “late 18th century”, you might not have intimately knowledge of the technology of the time. Especially of technology that was readily available within a few years.

Re: I dont recall if they knew they were in 1986

If their computer knew of humpback whales but not of this, “WWVB: A Half Century of Delivering Accurate Frequency and Time by Radio “:

https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/div688/grp40/Bin-2702.pdf

and how to decode it to determine exactly that, I’d have been curious. Not to mention Uhura monitoring standard radio transmissions and not stumbling across it even if they didn’t know. The broadcast also has an audio component that identifies what it is etc. in plain English.

Re: A time when one could not talk to a computer.

I don’t think the fictional Scotty was the one being too stupid:

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/speechreco/

“By 1971, IBM had developed its next experimental application of speech recognition. The Automatic Call Identification system enabled engineers anywhere in the US to talk to and receive “spoken” answers from a computer in Raleigh, NC. It was IBM’s first speech recognition system to operate over telephone lines and respond to a range of different voices and accents.”

A great time travel plot, a smart take on the alien culture theme, superb performances all round and plenty of excitement. There’s literally nothing in that movie that doesn’t work. Well, apart from the score, obviously. And so many quotable lines! ‘Just one damn minute, Admiral.’ ‘Computer…hello computer!’ ‘Everyone remember where we parked.’ ‘How will playing cards help?’ ‘I think he took a little too much LDS.’… Oh and lest we forget, this is the first time in the franchise when we saw a female starship captain. And (quite wonderfully) African-American, no less. Take that modern Diversity Police!

Rosenman’s score did get nominated for an Oscar so it can’t be that bad. His music for all the space scenes is just fine in my opinion. Some of the music during the earth bound scenes are more average…but his best work is the music where our crew’s Klingon ship goes into time warp…and the post verdict music.

Thanks for reminding me…

“‘Computer…hello computer!’”

That was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back for me. After that weak joke (calling it weak is an insult to weak jokes everywhere) that made Scotty look like a blithering idiot I checked out of the movie. I finished it just because I already invested time so I might as well see where that tire fire would go. But that was point when all hope for an enjoyable or worthwhile time at the movies was gone.

In the hands of another actor that line may have seemed silly rather than funny, but I think Doohan’s delivery made it work. In any case, as a Trek joke i’ll take that over the ‘hilarity’ of Keenser sneezing on a doorknob any day of the week.

I’m sorry but it didn’t work because it made Scotty look like a moron. In fact, pretty much everyone forgot they were 300 years in the past. Except for Sulu who somehow knew how to operate a 300 year old flying machine. That’s quite a stretch. The jokes in “The Final Frontier” ALL worked better. For all the other problems with that movie at least the scenes with Kirk, Spock and McCoy around the campfire were excellent. “I’m sorry Doctor. Were we having a good time?”

Firstly, Scotty bumped his head in TFF and knocked himself out. That was stupid.

He didnt look like a moron in TVH. He looked like a genius working with technology that was very dated to him. Can we extrapolate that unlike most Star Trek character, Scotty was not an expert of late 20th century technology? Not sure where he was in the technology timeline…

He then began typing at lightening speed and within seconds had written the formula for transparent aluminum. Yup, moron.

Except… Bumping his head was actually funny because of the timing of it. “I know this ship like the back of me hand.” KLANG! Not a great joke but light years better than talking into a mouse like an ignorant fool. Twice. One does not need to be an expert in 300 year old tech to know that there were no automobiles around in 1500. What Scotty did was equivalent one of us knowingly being whisked back to 1517 and then waiting for a streetcar on a London corner. If he was THAT unfamiliar with I/O devices of early computers how is it he could whip up the complex formula on that ancient keyboard? I seriously doubt any newspaper printers could just whip up a page on a 1500’s printing press just like that. So yeah… Talking to an ancient computer… Moron. One of a number of instances that were completely out of character for our gang. Perhaps you loved it because it was geared for the lowest common denominator of non-Trek audiences. Aimed low enough for you?

You’re equating not knowing the computer couldnt respond to a microphone in the late 80’s to cars existing in the 1500’s? If you want your point to be taken seriously, compare apples and apples.

Scotty knowing he’s in the late 20th century, coming from 300 years in the future and he’s supposed to know? Come on…You act like computers couldnt handle voice commands for another 500 years. Which is clearly untrue. Use some common sense.

Re: not knowing the computer couldn’t respond to a microphone in the late 80’s

Actually, ML31’s making a fundamental mistake, and you are going right along with it, that because voice recognition didn’t exist in home computer models that it didn’t exist back then or that Mr. Scott would know that in an industrial setting the computer he was going to use was of such a home model with such a limited capability.

It’s the equivalent of assuming that because that Apple computer had no internet access that therefore the internet backbone didn’t exist and therefore it would be ridiculous if Scotty had instead used “the internet”, which I was using in 1980 to access a Cray supercomputer back then, in looking for answers to some problem back then as well.

Here’s that actual “history” that ML31 mucked up in ignorance:

‘how quaint’.

‘gentlemen, we’ve come home’

or “My friends (since Uhura was there), we’ve come home”.

…and because I thought the movie was so good…I felt like this was Shatner saying…the series had come full circle and we were back to the 2nd season where “Star Trek” was great.

damn it, knew I got it wrong.

I forgot. ‘Tell her…I feel FINE.’ Not a funny line, but still the best of the movie. The perfect end to the Spock arc begun in Khan. You know when I think back to the day I first saw that film, on a 20 inch tv on pan and scan vhs (sadly, the first Trek I ever saw in the theatre was The Final Frontier-yes, your sympathy is welcome) well, it’s just pure nostalgia. I almost wish I could go back to the eighties and live there. But at the same time, it makes me a little sad. If you’d have told my thirteen year old self, sitting there in blissful ignorance watching Spock swimming with whales and calculating impossible odds, that twenty years hence when I was all ‘grown up’, my favourite Vulcan would be beating the shit out of people and diddling Uhura-i’d never have believed you. Not in a million years. Say what you like about your perceptions of the film’s flaws. We didn’t know when we were lucky.

actually TMP gifted that spock character arc to the trilogy. melding with v’ger chilled him out about his heritage.

You are quite correct.

I’ve always wondered if Shatner’s involvement with Greenpeace in the ’70s had anything to do with the “save the whales” message of STIV. I saw him at a convention in ’78 and he spent most of his time talking about the importance of saving the whales, but then also talked about a movie idea with an environmental message: something about the ship being out of resources and finding a planet that could replenish their supplies — but doing so would wreak havoc on the environment of the planet. I’m not sure that’s the right plot, but I’ve always liked the idea of a movie where the crew is forced to make a really difficult decision.

Trek IV’s concept was all Nimoy. Bill was still busy with “TJ Hooker” at that time, but I do recall Shatner being interviewed on his horse ranch by Merv Griffin and Bill just being elated when he said how unique the storyline was for “Star Trek IV” which was already in production at the time of the interview.

I need guidance with something. After 4’s initial release on vhs..years Later a Director’s Edition was issued. I recall this vhs version had a making of featurette I believe never was ported over to the dvd/BD issues. It was a fair sized featurette on the fake whales/animatronics aspect. Am I correct and did this never again appear on future releases of this film?

I got the only copy I could find in mail yesterday. The cover was correct..however the vhs inside was NOT The Paramount Director’s Series release w/ Nimoy’s segment. Paramount only did 2 such releases…the other was “Fatal Attraction”. I have searched google, Amazon, ebay. Only a handful of the standard theatrical release version is out there. Help! This segment NEVER got ported over to dvd or Bluray! Need this!

but then the OS was known for silly humour.

Star Trek IV's Greatest Feat Wasn’t Sci-Fi - It Was Saving the Whales

Star Trek IV was a major success for the franchise, and its impact not only helped spawn TNG but also played a part in actually saving whales.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home achieved a lot of amazing things. It made the most money of any of the Star Trek films at the box office at that point, made room for the series to start its sequel, The Next Generation, and gave fans a fun romp with the crew of the Enterprise finally getting home. But its greatest accomplishment may have been the reason Leonard Nimoy agreed to make the film in the first place: the chance to, as the characters do, save the endangered humpback whale species.

The Voyage Home follows the Enterprise crew attempting to return home after the events of Star Trek III with the newly restored but still slightly amnesiac Spock (Nimoy). But in order to save the galaxy, they must return to the late 1980s to locate humpback whales to communicate with an unknown alien entity. On a quest to steal some whales and potentially restore the species, Kirk (William Shatner) and the gang meet a marine biologist (Catherine Hicks) who assists them in their heist .

RELATED: Star Trek: Prodigy Bosses Tease a New Ship, More Familiar Faces in Season 2

How Star Trek IV Helped Save the Whales

The film's legacy is bigger than its simple, funny story of space friends out of time might indicate. At the time of the film's release, 1984, the humpback whale species in the real world really was in danger of being hunted to extinction. Given that Star Trek had been conceived in the idealistic 1960s under the idea of a utopian future, the fact that the real future was going to doom such an innocent species must have been rather poignant to the crew. Nimoy, agreeing to do the film in hopes of spreading the message about whales , must have hit on that feeling the 1980s had of nostalgia for the more visionary past, which allowed Trek to return in the first place.

And The Voyage Home achieved its goal. There was an uptick in donations to Greenpeace following the film's release, and by 2016, the humpback whale was removed from the endangered species list following a downtick in hunting in the '80s and '90s. While the outcome may not just be because of this one film, many still look to The Voyage Home as the model of how to integrate social issues with action. Indeed, beyond helping encourage activism in saving the whales, the film showed how environmental and socially conscious messages could be placed in a big-budget action sci-fi franchise movie and do well at the box office while inspiring viewers to try to better the world.

RELATED: Star Trek: Prodigy's Saviour is a Voyager Deep Cut

How Star Trek IV Changed Sci-Fi Movies

While real subtext certainly exists in action films before The Voyage Home, such as the appearance of the Empire in Star Wars , actual political discourse in this kind of film was generally unheard of. Nowadays, the idea of a big-budget action franchise having overtly environmental ( Avatar) , political ( Captain America: The Winter Soldier) or feminist ( Captain Marvel) messages is pretty standard. But in the '80s, action films generally did not touch social problems, at least not in blockbuster series . But Star Trek had always been a series willing to confront political issues, and it had to bring that to the movies eventually.

The Voyage Home opened the door for more action films to incorporate a socially conscious message into their stories. Environmental action films were popular in the 1990s -- Jurassic Park, for instance -- and The Way of Water and Avatar probably wouldn't exist without Star Trek to blaze the path. The uprise in environmental films has also helped to encourage real-world activism, at the very least spreading awareness of the issues and adding depth and power to the often dismissed action genre. Much like how bands in the '60s, like The Beatles, brought social messages to the music they knew the world would be listening to, Star Trek had the power for good and chose to use it.

Musings of a Middle-Aged Geek

… observations from a lifetime of geekiness.

“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986); the ‘one with the whales’ is still seaworthy…

34 years ago this November, I went to see “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” with my Trekkie sister over Thanksgiving weekend. I was a month shy of my 20th birthday, and still filled with much of the optimism for the years ahead that is often reflected in the Star Trek universe. Star Trek III was terrific; a strong outing for first time feature director Leonard Nimoy, so I was hopeful. But all I knew in that pre-internet, spoiler-lite age was that the new story involved humpback whales and time travel. Since some of the better Trek episodes also involved time travel, this could be icing on the cake.

1986 was a good time to be a Star Trek fan. The original series was rerun almost nonstop in syndication, and the episodes were also being released to video (VHS, Beta and laserdisc), including the original pilot, “The Cage” (1965). There was also announcement of a new syndicated Star Trek series coming the following year (which, of course, became “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). There were also many terrific original Star Trek novels from writers such as the late Vonda McIntyre and Ann Crispin. While not quite the ‘golden age’ of Star Trek that was the mid-1990s, the 1980s weren’t half-bad either. Less content, yes, but a few real gems to be found.

Star Trek IV would be the end of an unofficial trilogy (tying off loose plot threads from Star Treks II & III) while also offering something new in the Star Trek franchise–bona fide mainstream success, which made other avenues of Star Trek possible. This would be the Trek movie that non -Trekkies enjoyed as well.

******CETACEAN PROBE-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!******

For this retrospective, I decided to take yet another look at this old favorite of mine through my newly acquired digital projector (my COVID-quarantine sanity machine). Pulling the collapsible screen out to its full diagonal width (80”/203 cm), this would be the first time in 34 years that I’d watched this movie on a big(gish) screen, in the dark, with my undivided attention…

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

The movie opens with Alexander Courage’s original TOS theme before it segues into a new main title track by Leonard Rosenman. We see an incandescent nebula warming and then cooling, followed by what looks like a giant scanning electron micrograph of a hair follicle out in space…

On the soundtrack we hear unearthly sounds blasting over the comms that have an oddly familiar resonance. We then cut to the bridge of the Federation starship USS Saratoga under the command of Star Trek’s first onscreen unnamed female captain (Madge Sinclair), who asks her science officer to analyze these strange sounds, but to no avail.

The Saratoga captain calls Starfleet command to advise them that the large probe is on a trajectory into the Terran solar system (aka the Sol system… us ). At Starfleet Headquarters, the absentia trial of James T. Kirk and his officers is underway. The president of the Federation Council (Robert Ellenstein) is personally presiding. A visiting Klingon ambassador (John Schuck) shows footage of the last moments of the starship USS Enterprise right before its self-destruction over the Genesis planet, which killed several Klingons who commandeered the ship. The Klingon wants Kirk to answer not only for the deaths of that Klingon crew, but also the theft of their Bird of Prey as well as his part in creating the terraforming Genesis device; which the Klingon government sees as a threat to galactic peace.

Note: Could someone explain how a civilian Federation president can legally preside over a Starfleet court-martial? Shouldn’t it be a military court-martial? Isn’t the Federation civilian? So many potentially disturbing questions on that one…

Interrupting the Klingon’s rhetorical ranting about “Klingon justice” is the cool-headed Vulcan ambassador to Earth, Sarek (Mark Lenard), father of the resurrected Mr. Spock. Sarek reminds the Federation Council that Genesis was created as a terraforming device, not a weapon. Speaking on behalf of Kirk and his exiled officers, Sarek also reiterates that the Klingons shed first blood when they attempted to steal Genesis for themselves. The Klingon ambassador denies nothing, arguing it was an act of racial preservation. Angered that the Council isn’t adding his grievances to the official list of charges, the Klingon warns, “There will be NO peace as long as Kirk lives!” An anonymous voice in the observers’ gallery calls the Klingon a “pompous ass” as he leaves (‘colorful metaphors’ are indeed alive & well in the 23rd century…).

In the third month of their exile to the planet Vulcan, Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) and his comrades, Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Mr. Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Sulu (George Takei) and Chekov (Walter Koenig) make a unanimous decision to return to Earth in their stolen Klingon ship (renamed the HMS Bounty , of course) to face the charges for their mutinous actions in Star Trek III. They have spent the last three months repairing their recently acquired Klingon ‘rust bucket,’ and are ready to go home, whatever the cost…

The recently rejuvenated Spock is elsewhere, undergoing rigorous computerized testing to ensure that his vast scientific knowledge survived the “Fal Tor Pan” ritual, which restored his memory from McCoy’s mind back into his body. Essentially Dr. McCoy served as Spock’s backup hard drive, following the Vulcan’s ‘death’ in STII. Now, Spock is his old self (more or less), and his scientific knowledge is intact, but the emotional growth and wisdom he was beginning to show in the recent films appears to have wiped clean. Spock stumbles when the computer asks him a very simple question; “How do you feel?” Unable to answer, Spock’s mother Amanda (Jane Wyatt) enters, and tells her restored son that the computer is aware of his half-human lineage, and is testing his emotions. Spock dismisses the question of emotion as irrelevant, as Amanda then makes the case for their value. Making the decision to return to Earth with his colleagues, Amanda still seems confident that her son will eventually come to realize the importance of his human heritage…

In deep space, the USS Saratoga is now immobilized by the loud cries of the unknown alien probe, which wrecks havoc on electrical power systems as it passes. As the ship begins to drift and life-support systems fail, the Saratoga issues a distress call to Starfleet Command.

Back on Vulcan, Kirk and his officers prepare to liftoff for Earth. It’s here that we say goodbye to the character of Lt. Saavik (Robin Curtis), who is choosing to remain behind, under the apparent care of Amanda. Both watch as the Klingon vessel ascends into the sky and flies off into the sunset…

Note: In a (wisely) deleted scene, there was supposed to mention of Saavik being pregnant with Spock’s child, as she ‘eased his suffering’ during his bout with the Vulcan mating urge of ‘pon farr’ back on the Genesis planet. Last time I watched STIII, that ‘fingers’ scene became very difficult to watch, as it now feels (post-MeToo) like statutory rape when viewed out of context. Spock was supposed to be, physically at least, a teenaged boy in that scene, so her being pregnant with his child from that act just feels genuinely wrongheaded.

Aboard the Klingon ship, Uhura is getting multiple distress calls that are “almost a gibberish” as multiple ships are hit with massive power failures. Uhura attempts to sort them out. Speaking of sorting things out, a worried McCoy checks in on Spock. McCoy is worried that Spock isn’t exactly “firing on all thrusters” following the ritual which separated Spock’s essence from his own mind. The good doctor also prods the Vulcan for insight into the experience of death and rebirth, trying to understand for himself what it must’ve been like to have gone “where no man has gone before.” Spock offers no insights however, as his newly literal manner doesn’t seem to grasp what McCoy asks of him. He waves the doctor’s questioning off, telling him he’s receiving “a number of distress calls,” to which McCoy sarcastically adds, “I don’t doubt it.” Their exchanges together are some of my favorite moments in the movie, as they capture the essence of the loving but prickly Spock/McCoy relationship to a tee . So help me, DeForest Kelley gets the best lines in all of the original cast’s Star Trek movies (going all the way back to The Motion Picture) and he delivers them with his unique, wild-eyed charm.

The probe reaches Earth orbit, immediately immobilizing Earth’s massive orbiting spacedock complex. Once directing its shrieks towards the planet’s oceans, they immediately begin to vaporize, causing severe weather storms and electrical blackouts all over the planet. If allowed to continue, the probe’s call to Earth could lead to the planet’s destruction. The Federation president, on Sarek’s urging, issues a planetary distress call which effectively warns all space vessels to avoid the doomed planet and save themselves. The message is met by the stunned silence of Kirk and his officers, as their home planet faces imminent extinction . Kirk sullenly asks Uhura if she can replay the probe’s message for them.

The vaguely familiar wailing noises fill the Klingon ship’s bridge. Spock appears to recognize the sound, which he later confirms to be the songs sung by humpback whales, a species extinct on Earth since the 21st century ( though I certainly hope not ). Since the species doesn’t exist on any other planet in the galaxy, Kirk decides their is but one course of action left; time-travel into Earth’s past, retrieve some humpback whales, and take them into the 23rd century to communicate with the probe. McCoy raises an objection (“Now wait, just a damn minute!”), but Kirk and the crew are adamant; it’s the only solution left to save their home planet. He orders Spock to start calculations for ‘time warp’ using the same dangerously unpredictable time-travel technique seen in TOS’ “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” and “Assignment Earth”; slingshot around the sun at high warp speed, create a time warp, and hope to hell that they wind up in the right era…

Calculating the complex variables for time travel from Spock’s patchy memory, and flying toward the sun in their creaky Klingon craft, it’s a dangerous move. The ship nearly shakes apart as Sulu shouts their warp speeds (“Nine point three! Nine point five…”). It’s a moment that conveys the danger of time travel in a way the old TV show never really could. The crew, pressured by increasing heat and g-forces, lose consciousness as their time-travel drive program continues automatically.

Kirk’s dream sequence is, as an old review in CFQ magazine once put it, “like something out of Russian science fiction.” Early, crude computer graphics show rough forms of the crew’s faces, as well as an abstraction of a humpback whale. We hear spoken dialogue from both earlier and later in the film, giving the impression that the dream is precognitive. There is a weird image of a clay doll flying over the Earth which is more suitable for “The Twilight Zone” than Star Trek. Despite the hit-and-miss graphics, there’s a surreal oddness to the dream sequence that is daringly experimental. Nimoy’s directorial ambition clearly exceeded the available technology, but the result was intriguing. Kirk wakes up to discover that the braking rockets fired on time, and they are indeed over Earth. Spock scans the planet and with almost undetectable sarcasm, tells the crew, “Judging by the pollution content in the atmosphere, I believe we have arrived at the latter half of the 20th century.”

Note: According to the commentary on the DVD, that last line of Spock’s was Nicholas Meyer’s entry point in the screenplay. Writer/producer Harve Bennett wrote all the 23rd century stuff, and Meyer did all of the 20th. There were some legal issues regarding the creative input of credited co-writers Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes, but Nimoy had dismissed their ‘contributions’ as largely irrelevant. Ouch!

Spock advises Kirk to engage the cloaking device of their ship, noting that they may already be visible to radar and satellite tracking of the era. Once cloaked, Kirk arranges for Sulu to set their ship down in Golden Gate Park (really inconspicuous , guys). The admiral then divides his crew into teams. Uhura and Chekov will collect high energy photons from the nuclear reactor of a nearby naval vessel to reconstitute their ship’s drained dilithium crystals; McCoy, Scotty and Sulu will convert one of the ship’s storage bays into a massive aquarium, while the admiral and Spock track the humpback whale songs to their source–somewhere inside the city. Spock takes a moment to disguise his Vulcan ears and eyebrows with a strip of cloth torn from his robe (!). Landing at night, the crew’s eerie arrival from an invisible spaceship causes a bit of UFO trauma for a pair of early morning garbagemen cleaning up at the park (and into the trash goes Starfleet’s ‘non-interference directive’ apparently… ).

We then cut to a bright sunny day in 1986 San Francisco with a blast of ‘hip’ contemporary music to remind us we’re not in the mild-mannered 23rd century anymore. Noticing a newspaper dispenser with a coin box, Kirk remembers that “they’re still using money” in the 20th century. Kirk then decides to pawn his 18th century antique reading glasses (a birthday gift from McCoy in “The Wrath of Khan”) for $100, which he divides among the teams.

Note: Excellent use is made of Union Square, the cable cars, the Golden Gate, and other downtown Frisco locales. Product placements abound as well, with signs for Winchell’s Donuts, Junior Mints, Yellow Pages, etc. Hey, a movie’s gotta eat, right? Product placement, however vilified, is a ‘logical’ means to get extra financing bucks for one’s film.

This following scenes are some of the loosest and most comical in the entire movie, as we see Uhura and heavily Russian-accented Chekov asking locals if they can help them find “nuclear wessels ” (according to the commentary, this scene was largely improvised using real locals as extras). We also see Sulu, McCoy and Scotty roaming the back alleys, trying to find a 20th century equivalent for ’transparent aluminum’ (there was a never-completed scene where San Franciscan native Sulu was to have met his own great-great grandfather, but an uncooperative child actor dashed the scene before it could be finished). Meanwhile, Spock quietly disables an obnoxious punk rocker on a local bus with his famed Vulcan nerve pinch, much to Kirk’s satisfaction. The bus takes the two time travelers to the source of the whale songs, which are coming from the fictional “Cetacean Institute” (nee: Monterey Bay Aquarium). A pair of stray humpback whales named George and Gracie wandered into the bay as calves, and have since taken up residence in a massive outdoor aquarium at the facility. Once there, Spock and Kirk go on a guided tour led by Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks; don’t ask me why a whale biologist at the Institute would be conducting visitor tours; that’s usually an exhibit worker’s job, but oh well).

Note: If there’s one weak link in this otherwise crowd-pleasing Star Trek film, it would have to be Leonard Rosenman’s score. While generally competent, it’s a significant downgrade from the lush scores of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner in the previous movies. The punk song “I Hate You” is very generic (though the lyrics are hilarious ), and the music used for the later hospital escape sequence sounds dangerously close to something one might use for a gaggle of clowns exiting a Volkswagen. Even the orchestral main title track sounds dangerously close to Rosenman’s own music for the 1978 animated version of “Lord of the Rings”; so much so that when I first heard the 1978 “Rings” theme years later, I thought it was the same track. While not a bad score per se, it calls attention to itself largely in contrast to the previous three films’ objectively superior music.

During the tour, Gillian wears her passion for her subjects on her sleeve, as she brings up disturbing videos and statistics regarding humanity’s cruel and heinous slaughter of whales over past centuries. Composing herself, she then takes the tour group over to an underwater observation window of George and Gracie’s giant tank. Kirk looks around to find that Spock has gone missing. As he looks for his errant Vulcan friend, a woman notices a man swimming in the tank with the whales… Spock . The Vulcan is mind-melding with Gracie in order to communicate their intention to save their species. Gillian, of course, is enraged, and she temporarily leaves the tour, rushing to the upper deck of the aquarium, where she ( and Kirk) confront a soaked Spock, who is putting on his robe after his little swim with the fishies.

Spock is dismayed to find Kirk seemingly taking Gillian’s side (the admiral is trying to keep his ‘cover’ as a native). As Gillian angrily shouts and hurls a few curses at Spock, the Vulcan calmly retorts that neither Gillian nor the rest of humanity ‘owns’ the whales, and that such arrogance is what will lead to the creatures’ extinction in the future. Kirk steps in as peacemaker, and assures Gillian he and Spock will leave peacefully if she promises not to escalate the situation. Gillian, a self-professed “sucker for hard-luck cases” agrees to let the two middle-aged pranksters go.

Meanwhile, at San Francisco Naval Bay, Uhura and Chekov discover a rich source of high-energy photons, ripe for collection–inside of the US aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVA-65); an earlier namesake of their own lost starship. The two plan to beam aboard the carrier later that evening, collect their photons, and beam out. Easy-peasy. What could go wrong?

Note: The now decommissioned USS Enterprise’s near-identical twin, the USS Ranger, doubled for the USS Enterprise in the exterior and interior sequences. In the spring of 1985, my late father and I got to go aboard a tour of the USS Constellation, which is of the same Nimitz-class as Ranger and Enterprise. It was a huge ship; more like a small city on the inside. The view from the bridge, overlooking the flight deck, was amazing as well. I even took a seat at the navigation table. I’ll never forget that tour. The carrier’s appearance in the movie was the only way I could get my father, who hated Star Trek, to watch this movie (after we bought it on laserdisc a year later). He grudgingly admitted to enjoying “the one with the whales.”

Leaving the Cetacean Institute on foot, Kirk and Spock run into Gillian once again, who is heading home herself in her old blue Chevy pickup truck. Feeling sorry for the two sad sacks, she graciously offers them a lift, but warns that if they try anything, she’s got a tire iron right where she can get at it. During their ride out of the parking lot, Kirk tries to pass Spock off as some wild ex-professor hippie from Berkeley who did “a little too much LDS.” She’s also very curious about Spock’s past-tense usage when referring to the whales. Not wanting to blow their cover completely, Kirk nevertheless assures Gillian that he and Spock intend no harm or other “dipshit” for the whales, and in fact, they’re all equally motivated to help the creatures. Their cover is nearly blown for good when Spock blurts out, “Gracie is pregnant.” This fact is known only to Gillian…and, of course, to Gracie . Kirk offers to smooth things out over dinner. Asking if the two guys “like Italian”, Spock immediately answers Gillian with a brutally honest and repeated “no” until Kirk tells him that they both like Italian food. Dropping Spock off at Golden Gate Park instead (actually Will Rogers Park in L.A), Gillian and Kirk drive away…. just as Spock is beamed aboard the ship , barely out of sight.

Note: Gillian’s beat-up old pickup truck, which is more function over form, says a lot about a woman whose life is more clearly about her work rather than personal luxuries or indulgences.

We then catch up with McCoy and Scotty, who manage to locate a business called PlexiCorp, which specializes in large, thick, clear plexiglass panels–perfect for use in a giant aquarium. Mr. Scott pretends to be an indignant professor who has come “millions–er, thousands of miles” from Edinburgh Scotland for a tour of the facility, along with his ‘assistant’ (McCoy). After a tour to sooth the ‘professor’s’ feigned indignity, plant manager Dr. Nichols (Alex Henteloff) takes the pair of tourists back to his office, where Scott piques Nichols’ curiosity by asking what thickness of material would be required to construct a large ( theoretical ) aquarium. Nichols mentions the six inch-thick material they carry in stock. “Burying himself in the part”, Scotty proposes a material that could do the same job–but with one inch thickness. After Nichols laughs him off, Scotty offers to show him by using his vintage 1980s Mac computer. Unsuccessfully trying to voice-activate the device (hehe), Scotty then uses the ‘quaint’ keyboard to create the formula for “transparent aluminum.” He offers to give Nichols the formula in exchange for several sheets of six-inch plexiglass. McCoy whispers to Scotty that giving Nichols the formula for transparent aluminum in 1986 might ‘alter the future’ until Scotty reminds him that for all they know, Nichols himself might be the future ‘inventor’ of the stuff. Outside of the plant, helmsman Sulu makes casual conversation with a Plexicorp helicopter pilot, asking the young pilot “a few questions” about flying such a “old” vehicle.

Note: According to a 2009 article from Science Daily, ‘transparent aluminum’ is, in fact, possible, and can be made by bombarding aluminum with powerful soft x-ray lasers. Google it!

Over dinner at a high-end pizzeria, Kirk and Gillian chill over Michelob beers while they wait for their food. Gillian is deeply and insatiably curious as to who Kirk really is (much as Edith Keeler was in TOS’ “City on the Edge of Forever”). Their conversation is interrupted by a chirp from Kirk’s communicator. He grabs the device, chiding Scotty for the needless interruption. Gillian’s curiosity is fully aflame now; she begins to wonder if Kirk is some kind of secret agent or if he’s working for the military somehow. Coming clean, Kirk tells Gillian he is from the late 23rd century and has come backward in time to retrieve two humpback whales in an attempt to “repopulate the species.” Kirk tries to get information out of Gillian as well–specifically, the radio transmitter frequency the Cetacean Institute will use to track the humpback whales after their return to the open sea. Gillian refuses to answer that (classified) question until the evasive Kirk gives her a reason to trust him. After paying for their pizza (Kirk has no money), Gillian assumes the admiral’s story is a crock and disappointedly drives him back to Golden Gate Park. With a rapidly running clock until the humpbacks are released into the open sea ( noon , the following day), Kirk tells Gillian he will go out into the open sea to get those humpback whales if necessary, but that both of their interests could be better served by cooperation. Kirk reminds her that if she changes her mind, he’ll be “right here” in the park.

Note: The scene when Kirk tries to answer his communicator discreetly may get chuckles today, but one has to remember that tiny mobile/cell/smartphones weren’t yet a thing in 1986. The closest we had to such devices in those days were “pocket pagers” as Gillian assumed Kirk had. Mobile phones were available, but they were the size of bricks. Pocket pagers were much smaller, but they only let you know if someone called; they were incapable of making or receiving calls themselves (let alone send/receive texts). These devices were the preferred emergency contact means of doctors, lawyers and even drug dealers of that time.

Chekov and Uhura’s mission of high-energy photon collection aboard the nuclear reactor room of the USS Enterprise doesn’t quite go as planned. Radiation around the reactor room makes communications and transporters dodgy, so only Uhura is able to be safely beamed back with the photon collector, while Chekov has to wait for a second transport window…which never comes. Chekov is then captured as a suspected Russian agent, interrogated by the FBI, and later chased by armed marines until he falls from the carrier’s flight deck and suffers a head injury after hitting the asphalt below. The suspected saboteur is then taken to Mercy Hospital in San Francisco’s Mission District, where he is listed in critical condition. It’s a really bad day to be Pavel Chekov…

As Sulu gets the hang of flying a 20th century Bell-Huey helicopter to facilitate transport of the heavy plexiglass panels to Scotty aboard the waiting cloaked Klingon ship at Golden Gate Park, Gillian arrives at the Cetacean Institute to find George and Gracie gone! Their giant outdoor tank has been drained. Gillian’s supervisor Bob Briggs (Scott DeVenney) released the whales into the ocean ahead of schedule to spare Gillian the pain of their separation. Understandably, Gillian is super -pissed that Bob denied her a chance to say goodbye, and she delivers a thunderous slap across his chops. With nothing left to lose, the angry, heartbroken Gillian goes back to her truck and makes a spontaneous decision to trust that weird “admiral” and that “ditzy guy” he hangs around with at the park…

Note: The smarmy character of Bob Briggs is the closest thing this atypical movie has to a villain; a welcome relief after the various revenge-seeking Khan-imitators that would plague the rest of the Star Trek movies (including a rebooted Khan in the Kelvinverse movies).

Arriving at the park, Gillian begins shouting for Admiral Kirk. Running into one of the park’s open spaces, she slams right into the invisible Bird of Prey starship, which is given away only by the crushed grass beneath its landing struts (and the sight of Sulu’s helicopter delivering plexiglass panels into open sky ). Just as Gillian begins to realize she might be in over her head, she feels the tingle of a transporter beam and begins to scream… only to finish her scream aboard the Klingon ship. Kirk meets her in the transporter bay, and shows her the progress they’re making in building the tanks for the whales. Jolted out of her awe by mention of her beloved whales, Gillian tells Kirk that the whales were taken out to sea ahead of schedule. She figures the whales might be out near the Bering Sea by now, where they are at risk from whale hunters in that region. Kirk tells her that they can’t leave yet, because their comrade Chekov has been captured. Monitoring phone calls, Uhura tells Kirk and Gillian that Chekov is being prepared for emergency brain surgery at Mercy Hospital. Gillian offers to help them get their man back.

Stealing hospital scrubs, Kirk, McCoy and Gillian disguise themselves as doctors and infiltrate the hospital. Gillian lies on a gurney, pretending to be in agony (“cramps”) in order to get into the operating room where Chekov is being readied. Locking Chekov’s would-be surgeons into a supply room, McCoy uses his advanced, non-invasive 23rd century medical tools to heal Chekov’s brain hemorrhage without drills or other ‘medieval’ 20th century medical tools. With a recovered Chekov, the four of them make for a broadly comical escape from the hospital (as mentioned earlier, Rosenman’s music bludgeons the humor instead of punctuating it). Along the way, McCoy casually slips an elderly dialysis patient a pill, which allows her to grow a new kidney within minutes (forget that whole ‘non-inference directive’ thing, right?). Once inside a hospital elevator, the four are beamed back to Golden Gate Park, where Kirk offers Gillian his thanks in exchange for the whales’ radio frequency. She tells him it’s 401 megahertz, and just as the admiral calls to be beamed up, she grabs him in a bearhug (“Surprise!”), allowing herself to be beamed aboard as well (good thing the Klingon transporter didn’t splice their DNA together.. . just saying ).

Lifting off from the park, the still-cloaked Bird of Prey makes course for the Bering Sea, between Alaska and Russia. Kirk confronts Gillian for tricking him, but she irrefutably reminds him that he will need her whale expertise in the 23rd century. Point taken. As they close in on the whales’ transmitters, they see a Scandinavian whaling vessel in hot pursuit! Closing the distance between them, Sulu hovers over the whaling ship—and turns off the cloaking device! The shock of the massive UFO causes the whalers to abort their hunt and get the hell out of there. With the whalers no longer a threat, Scotty beams George and Gracie (and the water that surrounds them) aboard their “little aquarium.”

Taking Gillian down to have a look at the whales, Gillian is delighted to see her whales again, safe and sound…for the moment. Scotty then reports a power drop, and Kirk rushes to the bridge, where he learns Sulu is unable to achieve the necessary escape velocity from the sun’s powerful gravity well. Spock takes control of the craft’s acceleration thrusters, giving the ship the necessary oomph to make ‘breakaway speed’ in order to achieve time warp. They enter time warp, and again, lose consciousness…

Note: There are major continuity issues with warp speeds in the film. At warp 9 point whatever it was, the journey around the sun should’ve happened in the blink of an eye, not several minutes. Furthermore, Sulu takes the ship to warp speed within Earth’s atmosphere after they rescue George and Gracie… really? Warp drive within a planetary atmosphere ? In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Kirk was reluctant to engage warp drive while still “within the Solar system.” Oh, and did I mention their cloaking shields were off, meaning that anyone on the ground or in the air could’ve seen that little trick? Moving on…

Safely ‘back to the future’, the Klingon ship is rendered powerless by the orbiting cetacean probe, which causes it to splash down into San Francisco Bay. As their spaceship begins to sink, Kirk orders the crew to abandon ship. Gillian tells Kirk they have to free the air-breathing whales from the cargo hold before they drown; humpback whales can only hold their breath for about a half hour before they need to surface. Holding his own breath, Kirk swims below and opens a manual release to the bay doors, which frees the whales into the Bay. As rain pours outside, Kirk, Gillian and the crew gather along the still-buoyant uppermost hull of their sinking vessel. Curiously the freed whales remain silent, not yet answering the thunderous calls from the orbiting probe…

The whales hear the call of the probe, and angle their bodies into a downward bearing. A conversation between the whales and the probe ensues (much like the musical ‘conversation’ in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). Suddenly, the conversation ceases, and the probe moves away from Earth orbit.

Note: I love that the writers/filmmakers refused to subtitle the conversation between the whales and the probe. Like the monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey”, their conversation should remain enigmatic; it’s between them , not us . It’s also never explained exactly why the probe wreaked havoc with Earth’s weather systems when it failed to contact the whales. Was this a natural side-effect of its signal, or was it deliberately vaporizing the oceans in response to a lack of response? And if only seeking out humpback whales, why was its devastating signal activated so far away from the Sol system? I wonder if Spock could mind-meld with the whales and learn exactly what they said to each other, and if it will ever return again? Perhaps that’s a potential subject for a future Star Trek novel (unless someone’s tackled it already).

As the probe exits our solar system, the weather, as well as Earth’s artificial power systems, both begin to function normally again. Storm clouds break and sunlight hits the Bay. The crew are overjoyed, and they begin playing in the water like kids in a swimming pool. Kirk even yanks Spock off of the Bird of Prey’s exterior ladder right into the drink, forcing the Vulcan to break out with an uncharacteristic grimace of indignation (you can hear Nimoy make an audible “Aaaagh!” ). The aquatic frivolities soon come to an end, as we see a rescue shuttle from Starfleet Command close in on the sinking Bird of Prey…

The action then returns to the business of Kirk and his crew’s court-martials over the charges stemming from their actions in Star Trek III. Spock, back in Starfleet uniform, leaves the gallery to stand with his shipmates. Due to the “certain mitigating circumstances” (saving the world and such), the Federation president informs them that all the charges have been dropped, save one; the charge of disobeying a senior officer, which is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. For his ‘punishment’, Kirk is reduced in rank to captain, and as a consequence of his new rank, he’s being given what he’s best suited for–command of a starship. The court martial is dismissed as the gallery breaks into applause, hugs, handshakes and smiles (we even see a pair of smiling Vulcan delegates… oops!). Gillian meets up with Kirk to tell him she’s been assigned to a science vessel (300 years of catch-up learning). Before she leaves a near-speechless Kirk, she gives him a kiss on the cheek, promising to “see ya around the galaxy” (that line still sounds positively Buck Rogers ). This is one of the rare times Kirk didn’t get the girl, though she did pay for their dinner date.

There is also a nice, understated reconciliation of sorts between ambassador Sarek and his resurrected son Spock. After years of disapproving of his son’s military career, Sarek tells his son that his associates are people of good character. “They are my friends,” replies Spock. Asked if he has a message for his human mother back on Vulcan, Spock says with the slightest of smiles, “Yes, tell her… I feel fine .” Father and son then give their customary “live long and prosper” farewells to each other, as Spock joins his captain.

Aboard a travel pod within the massive orbital spacedock complex, the former mutineers-turned-heroes are off to their next assignment, which remains a subject of mystery and speculation. Cynic McCoy assumes they’ll get a freighter. Sulu pines for the USS Excelsior (his future command in Star Trek VI), but Kirk doesn’t really care, simply saying, “a ship is a ship.” Their tiny pod travels towards the giant saucer section of the USS Excelsior…

… only to glide over it, to the ship beyond– another refit-Constitution class starship. This new ship bears the name the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-A (in the movie’s novelization, it was a rechristened USS Yorktown). Overjoyed at a second chance, Kirk speaks for his shipmates, and perhaps the audience, when he says, “My friends? We’ve come home .”

On a gleaming white bridge, Kirk tells helmsman Sulu, “Let’s see what she’s got!” The ship then streaks off at warp speeds into ‘the final frontier’ (both figuratively and literally, as that would be the title of the William Shatner-directed next feature film, released three years later in 1989).

Note: The graphics on the new bridge, as well as the Klingon bird of prey, were inexpensive backlit transparencies called “Okudagrams,” named after graphic artists (and future Star Trek historians) Michael and Denise Okuda, who would also work together on The Next Generation, and every subsequent Star Trek movie and TV series through 2005.

Spock in Command.

Star Trek IV was director Leonard Nimoy’s second feature film, and when contrasted with his work in Star Trek III, it’s clear that, as Nimoy put it, “the training wheels came off.” Star Trek III was a fine entry in the canon, but it’s often maligned for its shortcomings (lack of scope, predictable story, a television- look ) rather than its strengths (emphasis on character, humor). With Star Trek IV, Nimoy’s style had matured dramatically.

Even the cinematography (under new director of photography Don Peterman) was much more natural, and less harshly lit. Actual locations around San Francisco (as well as Monterey and Los Angeles) gave the film tremendous scope that the somewhat claustrophobic, all-indoor sets of STIII lacked. Even the widescreen images are better composed this time, as Nimoy’s confidence clearly grew.

Even the humorous interplay between the actors, who were already a longtime troupe of 20 years at this point, feels more natural as well. Nimoy had already directed theater and television (“T.J. Hooker”, “The Night Gallery”), but he was clearly coming into his own as a feature film director as well. He would find even greater mainstream success a year later with the hit comedy “Three Men and a Baby” (1987).

Personal Log.

I was privileged to have met Leonard Nimoy in the summer of 2009, at San Diego Comic Con, when he was enjoying mainstream success with JJ Abrams’ “Star Trek” movie. When I met him, we spoke only briefly, but he was very kind and was very forgiving of starstruck fans like myself. In fact, meeting Nimoy was one of only a handful of times I recall being genuinely starstruck, and I freely admit this. This was a man whose talents I’ve idolized since I was a little kid– not to mention that my kid sister had a huge crush on him as well (hehe).

My sister and I were also big fans of Nimoy’s admittedly cheesy but fun syndicated investigative series “In Search Of” (the name of which was jokingly referenced for “The Search For Spock”). I also enjoyed his role in 1978’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (where he played an ‘emotionless’ pod person who’s snatched the body of a renowned pop psychologist). The actor-director was also known for his somewhat controversial nude photography of plus-sized women, which was quite innovative and arguably ahead of its time, now that acceptance of different body images has permeated the mainstream, including the covers of Sports Illustrated and various glamour magazines. Nimoy also shot fascinating photos of abstract Jewish iconography as well, which were his way of recognizing and honoring his lifetime faith. Nimoy’s passing was the lost of an innovative artist in so many fields. Despite the actors who’ve played the Spock character since (Zachary Quinto, Ethan Peck), there was only one Leonard Nimoy. Others can certainly assume the Spock role, but Nimoy’s interpretation was both iconic and unique. Sadly, Leonard Nimoy, actor, director and photographer, passed away in 2015 at age 83.

I also had a chance to meet the delightful Catherine Hicks at a convention in Burbank back in 2013. Sweet lady with a beaming smile. We talked a bit about her playing Marilyn Monroe in theTV movie “Marilyn: The Untold Story” (1980). In the film, Hicks captured both the innocence and sadness of the late movie star, and she seemed to really enjoy talking about the role. She told me she didn’t do many conventions and wasn’t even sure how largely to sign her autograph. It was all very new to her, and she was somewhat taken aback by the enduring popularity of her role as Dr. Gillian Taylor ( still can’t imagine Eddie Murphy in that role, however differently written …). I really enjoyed talking with her.

I’ve met other stars of Star Trek, including Nichelle Nichols, whom I’ve met several times, in San Diego, Las Vegas and in Los Angeles. Such a grand lady. While I’m saddened that she’s retired from doing conventions (due to various health issues), I’m just grateful that I’ve had opportunities to meet this lovely woman, and that I can share those encounters here on this site. A friend of mine recently met her last summer at the annual Star Trek Vegas convention, and I loved seeing him geek out over meeting her as well.

Achieving balance.

STIV would be the first Star Trek movie that managed to break out into the mainstream (a feat not repeated until 2009’s “Star Trek”). Suddenly even non-Trekkies talked around water coolers about “the one with the whales.” In a decade full of popular movies about various fish-out-of-water (“Beverly Hills Cop,” “Crocodile Dundee,” “Red Heat,” “Twins,” “Moscow on the Hudson”), “Star Trek IV” fit right in. Despite its mainstream popularity, the film was no less Star Trek, either. STIV managed to steer away from the heavier, black-hat sagas of the previous two (and subsequent ) Star Trek movies and told a genuine science fiction story.

Screenwriters Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer (both of whom were longtime good luck charms for the Trek franchise) crafted a deft screenplay about contemporary species extinction and its possible effect on future ecological balance, which was precisely the kind of story Star Trek might’ve done back in the 1960s (time & money permitting, of course). Key to the movie’s success was that it also brought back much of the humor we saw in the original series as well. The humor sold the heavier ecological message, and the result was a popular sci-fi crowd pleaser that works just as well as a mainstream comedy, but without compromising its integrity. “The Voyage Home” was, and is Star Trek “firing on all thrusters.”

COVID-Friendly Viewing.

“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” is available for streaming on CBS All Access & Tubi TV in the United States, and for rental on Prime Video, YouTube ($2.99 US). It can, of course, also be purchased on Blu Ray/DVD via contact-free shipping through Amazon.com, among other retailers.

To my readers, I once again wish you and all of your loved ones good health and strength during the current coronavirus pandemic as well. The current number of COVID-19 related deaths in the United States is nearing 182, 000 as of this writing (that number is increasing daily ). So, for the time being, please continue to practice social safe-distancing wherever possible, wear masks in public, and avoid crowded outings as much as possible.

Live long and prosper!

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Where to watch.

Watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home with a subscription on Max, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is perhaps the lightest and most purely enjoyable entry of the long-running series, emphasizing the eccentricities of the Enterprise's crew.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Leonard Nimoy

William Shatner

Captain Spock

Catherine Hicks

Dr. Gillian Taylor

DeForest Kelley

Commander Leonard H. McCoy, M.D.

James Doohan

Captain Montgomery Scott

Movie Clips

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is pure, joyful cinema

Entertainment Geekly's 'Star Trek' series looks at the best whale movie ever made

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise – and the release of Star Trek Beyond , the 13th feature film in the series. To celebrate this big year, and ponder the deeper meanings of Trek ’s first half-century, the Entertainment Geekly column will look at a different Star Trek film each week from now till Beyond . This week: The only Trek film that feels like a Howard Hawks comedy. Last week: The Trek film about the clashing egos of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy . Next week: Shatner unleashed .

In 1965, Leonard Nimoy said the first words ever uttered in the Star Trek universe. “Check the circuit!” says Spock at the start of “The Cage,” the original pilot for Star Trek and the first time Star Trek was boring. To modern eyes, Spock doesn’t look like Spock: Eyebrows too big, hair too mussed, a noose-collar atop a too-baggy uniform, flanking an un-Kirk Captain who looks too much like Jay Leno’s chin chest-bursting out of Ray Liotta’s face.

NBC didn’t like Star Trek , didn’t like Spock. A year later, Gene Roddenberry filmed a new pilot. He fired everybody — he fired his mistress! — but he kept Nimoy.

Twenty years later, Roddenberry was gone — to Next Generation , not for long — and Nimoy was in control. Tricky thing, applying words like “control” or “authorship” to anything Star Trek . Nimoy directed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , and received a “Story By” credit. So did Harve Bennett, the producer of Movie Two through Movie Five, making him another Man Who Saved Star Trek and another Man Who Almost Destroyed Star Trek . Bennett shares screenplay credit alongside three other men. One of those writers later wrote Double Impact , the movie where Jean-Claude Van Damme headbutts Jean-Claude Van Damme.

And one of those writers was Nicholas Meyer, the man who made Wrath of Khan . Meyer’s generally credited with writing the film’s 20th Century-set Act 2. Perhaps not coincidentally, The Voyage Home has one of the greatest and daffiest Act 2’s of any film ever. Here is a movie that begins as A Race Against Time To Save The Earth and then takes a sharp detour into aquarium etiquette and Bay Area geography; a movie where the stakes are global, and there’s plenty of time for Kirk to take a marine biologist out for an Italian dinner; a movie where Kirk is a noble romantic protagonist who makes his date foot the bill. There’s a wonderful lack of seriousness powering The Voyage Home , recalling Howard Hawks’ loopy genre exercises To Have and Have Not or The Big Sleep . It is the kind of movie where characters spend the whole movie taking a break from the movie.

So it was a team effort, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. But it was a team effort with a leader. And the leader wanted to make a different kind of film. Nimoy later explained the core concept: “No dying, no fighting, no shooting, no photon torpedoes, no phaser blasts, no stereotypical bad guy.” His previous Star Trek film had all those things, and outer space, and aliens, and sets. Nimoy wanted to make a movie about Earth, right now, shot on location, with human people.

Nimoy was an actor, a director, a photographer, a memoirist, a musician, a cameo cartoon voice, a face in advertisements that baited your nostalgia and dared you not to smile. In all things he was Spock. Sometimes that bothered him: He wrote I Am Spock , but also I Am Not Spock . Nimoy was never a dilettante, a preening highbrow — never the Alan Rickman character from Galaxy Quest, that self-loathing Shakespearean slumming for fanboy dollars and residual fame. Nimoy liked Spock, truthfully. He liked the work, occasionally. He liked the money, naturally: $2.5 million for Trek IV . (That’s more than Hemsworth made on Avengers — and that’s mid-’80s dollars, unadjusted.) Nimoy was frustrated with Spock, but it wasn’t merely the frustration of typecasting or of repetition. It was the internal struggle, the human condition: Nimoy struggled with Spock the way Hamlet struggles with Hamlet.

And Nimoy loved people. That sounds like a simple thing to say, until you watch The Voyage Home , one of the loveliest and strangest and lightest comedies ever made, and you realize that “loving people” can be something tangible, like an added filter on the camera. Nimoy loved the supporting players, and his film bestows each of them with a Hall of Fame moment. Scotty: “A keyboard. How quaint .” Chekov: “Nuclear wessels .” Uhura: “But where is Alameda ?” McCoy, undercover as a surgeon, asks an old lady in a hospital what’s wrong with her. Kidney dialysis, she says. “Dialysis!” McCoy sputters — an actual honest-to-god sputter, DeForest Kelley’s voice like an old engine cackling. “What is this, the Dark Ages ?”

Sulu was supposed to get a showcase scene meeting his own great-great-great-grand-something. It didn’t work out — the kid got scared — and Nimoy was still bummed about it a decade later when he wrote I Am Spock . But oh, how I treasure Takei, in his baritone voice, narrating the Enterprise’s warpspeed run into the center of our solar system: “Nine point five! Nine point six! Nine point seven! NINE POINT EIGHT! ” (And The Voyage Home continues one of the great embedded subplots in Trek history: The love story between Sulu and the Excelsior .)

Did I mention that they’re warping straight into the sun so they can travel through time? There’s an energy-sapping probe destroying Earth, apparently because no one can respond to the probe’s message. Is the probe saying “hello” to humanity? “Only human arrogance would assume the message must be meant for man,” Spock chastises.

It’s been said there are no villains in Star Trek IV. In the future, the probe hails from some unknown intelligence that almost destroys Earth by accident. In the past, every hint of antagonism is quickly undercut. At one point, Chekov is captured by the FBI, and there’s a much simpler, more on-the-nose version of this movie where the FBI becomes the bad guys. Maybe that wouldn’t be terrible; maybe it would be sharp, playing the utopian sensibility of the Federation against Cold War paranoia. But in The Voyage Home , it’s an opportunity for a “Who’s On First” routine:

FBI AGENT: Let’s take it from the top.

CHEKOV: The top of what?

FBI AGENT: Name?

CHEKOV: My name?

FBI AGENT: No, my name.

CHEKOV: I do not know your name!

FBI AGENT: You play games with me, mister, and you’re through.

CHEKOV: I am? Can I go now?

At this point, the FBI agent — who looks like the uncanny valley between Paul Rudd and Armie Hammer — whispers to his partner, “What do you think?” His partner says, “He’s a Russkie.” The FBI agent, completely deadpan, missing a beat: “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.” Every one-scene character in The Voyage Home is smarter than they should be, wittier than they have to be. Chekov grabs his phaser and tries to fire it, but it’s run low on batteries. He tosses it to the FBI agent, and watch closely here.

The actor is Jeff Lester — who naturally played both “Lane Brody” and “Lance Jarvis” on Baywatch — and he catches the phaser with a look of weary amusement. Here’s a film where the shady FBI guys feel tired, and a bit embarrassed, about being shady FBI guys.

The Voyage Home reminds me of something Dan Harmon told Vulture regarding Cheers : “The characters were so distinct. As with Peanuts , you could put them in outer space and still know which one was Charlie Brown.” The Voyage Home is the inverse of that theorem: It takes its characters from outer space and sets them down on the streets of San Francisco, in the halls of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, in the front seat of a truck. And here’s something strange. You’ve seen Kirk and Spock on alien planets production designed like pop art comic strips, in cosmic mountain ranges battling aliens beyond our ken; you’ve seen them battle gods and monsters.

Yet I don’t think there is any single moment in Star Trek history where Kirk and Spock look better — at once grander and more approachable, like statues of the Founding Fathers buying rounds at sports bar — than the moment when they walk along Marina Boulevard. Behind them: The bay, the Bridge, the fog.

Kirk’s still wearing his magenta-maroon disco suit, looking like the communist dictator of Studio 54; Spock’s wearing a karate bathrobe. You can giggle at the buried joke of the movie — they fit right into pre-digital San Francisco — but you can also appreciate how the movie makes them seem so much bigger by bringing them down to Earth.

No other Star Trek film has done location shooting like this; maybe The Voyage Home is Trek as neo-realism. Legend holds that the “nuclear wessels” scene was shot in secret, with Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols talking to random passers-by. That’s maybe not true — counter-legend holds that those are all paid extras — but in the most memorable part of the scene, Russian Chekov asks a nearby policeman for directions to the closest nuclear reactor. The cop says nothing, doesn’t even move; he was an actual San Francisco, working with the production crew in an official capacity. So, actually, hang the neo-realism: The Voyage Home is as close as Trek ever gets to the start of “Duck Amuck,” when Daffy walks off his own film strip.

The humor of The Voyage Home is playful without ever becoming sarcastic, self-aware without ever feeling like self-loathing. The characters feel engaged — watch how Takei is constantly looking around San Francisco, a great grin on his face. Think of how this movie shifts from Act One to Act Two: Spock says they need to save the whales; Kirk says “Let’s time travel!”; and then they aim their ship right into the sun. Think, too, of Catherine Hicks, in a tricky role. She plays Gillian, the whale-loving marine biologist. She thinks Kirk and Spock are crazy, but intriguing; she doesn’t really believe they’re from the future, but she intuitively understands that they’re people she should hang out with.

A lesser film might try to architect this interaction somehow. (Maybe Gillian is an FBI agent; maybe the wrong thing for America circa 1986 is the right thing for the world .) Hell, one of the greatest hours of television ever is a Star Trek time travel episode where Kirk goes to the past and falls in love with the most important woman in history. The Voyage Home has no time for such pretensions. Gillian’s an obvious love interest, but they never really have a “romantic” scene. Gillian thinks Kirk is interesting; Kirk likes how much she cares. And Gillian is allowed to come to the future — where she promptly says goodbye to Kirk, because there’s just so much more to see.

Their final scene together is one of the most graceful light-comedic romance moments in any movie I can think of. “How will I find you?” he asks her — kidding but not quite, Shatner’s laugh a bit too forced. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I’ll find you.” Nimoy holds his camera for two long moments, first of Gillian saying farewell:

Then of Kirk, astonished. What do you think is going through his mind?

Is he amazed that, for once, he’s the one left behind? Is he bemused at the grand divine comedy of existence? Maybe I’m a shameless romantic, but I can’t help but imagine his thought bubble in Shatnerian overspeak: “My god, Bones! I think I’m in love!”

Shatner! My god, Shatner! Another one of the graceful jokes powering The Voyage Home is that, here in the past, Captain Kirk remains the most confident man in the galaxy, despite all indications that he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. Needing money, he pawns McCoy’s birthday glasses at an antique shop. The owner will pay a hundred dollars for them. “Is that a lot?” Kirk asks, smiling wide like a con man.

Later, at the aquarium, Kirk spots Spock swimming with the whales, and his wild overreactions belong in a silent movie museum:

Of course, Kirk is a con man in The Voyage Home . To his crew, he pretends to know everything about the past. (“Double dumb ass on you!”) To people in the past, he offers one BS line after another. (“I think he had a little too much LDS.”) The joke of his brimming confidence paired against Spock’s Holy Fool confusion reaches Chico-and-Harpo levels:

But the film isn’t some shallow self-parody of Kirk, or Star Trek . It has heart, and passion — Save the Whales! — and a tremendous sense of fun. When the crew crash-lands into the Bay, they need to climb out of their sinking ship. The whales start singing; the probe is vanquished. Another film might cut away, but Nimoy’s camera lingers, and we watch the crew of the Enterprise cheerfully jump into the water. The line between character and actor falls away, phasered into nonexistence. James Doohan does a bellyflopping dive into the water; Nichelle Nichols splashes water toward DeForest Kelley. At one point, Kirk pulls Spock into the water — or maybe that’s Shatner and Nimoy, fooling around.

And yet, there is a seriousness to the wonderful, exuberant silliness of The Voyage Home . At the film’s beginning, the resurrected Spock is asked a question: “How do you feel?” At the end of the film, Spock has traveled across space and time, has rescued a dead great species from the dustbin of existence, has saved the Earth one more time. And none of that plot stuff matters half so much as Spock saying, nonchalant: “I feel fine.” To feel “fine” is not to feel “perfect” or even “happy,” does not imply tremendous success nor some massive personal change.

To feel “fine” in The Voyage Home is to be aware of your place in the great scheme of existence, content in your place among your fellow creatures. There is such optimism in this movie, and perhaps that optimism is residual from Roddenberry — but Roddenberry preferred grand statements, not whimsy. The Voyage Home needed Nimoy, a thoughtful man with a sense of humor, a leader who loved his people, and loved people in general, and damn it, who loved the whales, and Earth, and the Golden Gate Bridge, and the nightmare intersection where Columbus and Kearny and Jackson hit each other right in front of the Zoetrope Building.

Nimoy died last year, age 82: A long life, and prosperous. Spock will live forever, of course — and The Voyage Home is his magnum opus. Quickly, listen to the theme music for Voyage Home by Leonard Rosenman.

Can you hear the festive melody? Aren’t those bells ringing vaguely yuletidal? There’s no obvious comparison in movie history for Star Trek: the Voyage Home , not many time travel message movies about family and friends and the fear that we’re all doomed because of sins in the past, and how that fear will always crash like waves against the shore of the eternal human hope that it’s not too late, that we can change.

But there is that famous story about heavenly visitors and time travel, a myth about how any person can change a dark-sad future into a happy-better one, a parable that argues that the great heroic act of existence is being an engaged part of a community. So maybe The Voyage Home is our new A Christmas Carol . Maybe Ebenezer Scrooge can save Tiny Tim; maybe the Earth isn’t doomed; maybe, in 2286, whales will still be swimming through oceans unrisen; maybe our descendants will be here, too, in this world someone saved for them. Probe bless us, every one.

THE WHOLE MOVIE IN ONE SHOT:

A specific aircraft under the Golden Gate Bridge

“They are not the hell your whales.”

In 1986, Star Trek pushed a Greenpeace agenda as a blockbuster movie. It worked.

The legacy of 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage' is more than just a goofy movie time travel movie. Here's how it changed our world for the better.

After James T. Kirk stole Doc Brown’s ride, he decided to go back in time and save the whales.

You might think I’m describing some quirky fanfiction or a deleted scene from Ready Player One . But, the truth is, the Klingon ship Kirk and company commandeered in Star Trek IV to travel back in time to 1986, was owned by Klingon Commander Kruge, who, in 1984’s Star Trek III , was played by Christopher Lloyd (who went on to become much more famous as Doc Brown in 1985’s Back to the Future ).

By stealing that specific craft, the crew of the late Starship Enterprise was destined to go on a time-travel adventure. But unlike any other time-travel romp dating to the 1980s, this journey is a creative piece of commentary on a nascent environmentalism movement that put endangered species at its heart. In the fall of 1986, one year after Back to the Future , Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home not only became a transtemporal box-office hit, it also propelled climate change and concern for endangered species into the mainstream.

In short, Star Trek tried to literally save the whales in 1986, and it basically worked.

Welcome to FUTURE EARTH , where Inverse forecasts 100 years of possibilities, challenges, and who will lead the way.

Prior to J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot in 2009, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home held the record for the Star Trek feature film with the most successful box office, ever . The movie opened over Thanksgiving weekend in 1986 and went on to gross $109,713,132. To put this in perspective, Top Gun , which was the number one movie of 1986, made $176,781,728. Yes, Top Gun was the top gun, but The Voyage Home was right up there. Until J.J. Abrams, it was Star Trek’s most popular crossover film, which is saying something considering the film lacks both violence and sex. In 1986, the Trek franchise went toe-to-toe with the horror of Aliens and the sexy action of Top Gun and, while it didn’t quite win, it came out as a serious contender.

A view on Earth in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" movie

The mysterious probe in The Voyage Home . All it wants to do is to talk to some whales...

Co-written by Wrath of Khan maestro Nicholas Meyer , and directed by Leonard Nimoy, The Voyage Home was a political film imbued with environmental activism masquerading as a fish-out-of-water comedy. So, it turns out, humpback whales are just as intelligent as humans, and, at some point in the past, communicated only in whale song to this particular alien probe that looks like a smoother version of ʻOumuamua.

The movie sets out a humbling idea: If aliens were to make contact with Earth, they might not necessarily want to talk to humans. As Spock (Leonard Nimoy, directing himself) puts it “Only human arrogance would assume the message must be meant for man.” When this alien probe rolls up on Earth, hoping to talk to some whales, the probe’s transmission sounds one way from the air, but totally different underwater. These signals are also destructive and require an answer that can’t be given because, in the Star Trek universe, humpback whales are extinct.

Once Spock and Uhura realize that the probe’s signals sound different underwater, there’s only one option; get some whales and hope those whales, as Bones says, “tell this probe what the hell to go do with itself.” Kirk decides time-travel to 1986 is the only possible solution. So, not only is their mission to find humpback whales in the past but also to bring them forward in time to the future. No one has ever called this movie Star Trek Some Whales Back to the Future , but that’s what happens.

The Voyage Home starts with this tough talk, and then, less than 15-minutes later, dumps the famous Starfleet crew into a comedy of errors on the streets of San Francisco in 1986. During the trip back in time, the stolen Klingon ship is broken (of course) and the crew has to figure out how to build a whale tank that can fit inside of their (broken) spaceship.

William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock in Star Trek

Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in a pawn shop, selling some antique glasses to have enough cash to get around in the 20th Century.

This means Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Bones, Uhura, Scotty, and Chekov are super busy. Sulu flies a helicopter expertly but forgets how to use windshield wipers. Chekov gets mistaken for a quirky Russian spy. And, best of all, Spock tries out profanity for the first time, referring to swear words as “colorful metaphors.” There’s never been a science-fiction time-travel romp quite like The Voyage Home , probably best exemplified by the moment Spock uses a Vulcan nerve pinch to silence a rowdy punk’s boom box on a city bus.

But The Voyage Home’s overarching message comes to the fore in an over-the-top scene in which Spock literally connects his mind with that of a whale. The idea is elegant: If human beings possessed Spock’s telepathic powers, we too might connect with other creatures and, in turn, have a greater understanding and compassion for the other, defenseless denizens of our world. The heart of the movie is when Spock jumps into a giant whale tank and mind-melds with a humpback whale named Gracie. Later, when cetacean biologist Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) accuses Spock of “messing with my whales,” Spock fires back “They like you very much, but they are not the hell your whales.” The whales own themselves and Spock respects that.

The Star Trek characters come from a more enlightened future, and they’re ashamed of the actions of humankind in the “past” — the present for moviegoers of the ‘80s. In 1986, humpback whales really were on the endangered species list. In the movie’s final scenes, Kirk puts his stolen Klingon spaceship directly between a whaler’s harpoon and Spock’s new whale friends, saving them from humanity. For an audience unaware of environmental activism, it was a wake-up call.

“Greenpeace used to go out in rubber rafts in front of the Russian ships to try to prevent them from firing their harpoons, and that’s where that idea came from.”

“There’s a homage to Greenpeace in the movie because the idea of putting the spaceship between the whaling ship and the whales and being hit by the harpoon has Greenpeace roots,” Leonard Nimoy said in a 1986 interview. “Greenpeace used to go out in rubber rafts in front of the Russian ships to try to prevent them from firing their harpoons, and that’s where that idea came from.”

In 1986, Greenpeace representatives noted that while The Voyage Home played fast and loose with the truth, “the message is right on the money.″ After the movie’s release, there was an uptick in donations to Greenpeace, according to the organization. In fact, Greenpeace went so far as to say that the film “subtly reinforces why Greenpeace exists.”

Appropriately, Star Trek IV did not employ real whales in filming. Other than some stock footage toward the end of the film, the vast majority of the whales in the film were animatronic; a special effect so good that nobody noticed.

Star Trek IV’s influence on real conservation efforts in the 1980s is hard to quantify today. In 2016, the humpback whale was removed from a federal endangered species list, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called the humpback whale comeback “an ecological success story.” When that happened, several publications pointed out a link between Star Trek IV and the resurgence of humpback whales. Quite literally, Star Trek’s cautionary tale seemed to usher in a better future in which whales didn’t go extinct in the 21st century.

It is impossible to prove a direct link between The Voyage Home and the de-escalation of whale hunting in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Correlation and causation are two different things, after all. In truth, years of dedicated environmental activism, political action, and education did the hard work. But it’s also true that Star Trek IV opened up a lot of people’s eyes to humanity’s cruelty toward whales and the perilous state of their survival.

At one point in the film, Bones quips that the 20th century is like “the Dark Ages” to his future, enlightened eyes. But, perhaps because of a quirky and bold Star Trek movie, some of us started to see the light.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is streaming for free on Pluto TV . It’s also streaming on Paramount+.

This article was originally published on April 20, 2021

Environment
Science Fiction

Mechanical Marine Mammals

Ever think about what it takes to make an animatronic whale no well, we have, and soon, so will you..

Filed under: animatronic whales , animatronics , free willy , movies , star trek , whales

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Hey all, Ernie here with a fresh one from David Buck. This time, he’s got fake whales on his mind. That’s not a joke or a saying. Read on:

Today in Tedium : Since the day I visited the Denver Museum of Natural History and saw a giant whale skeleton, I’ve been fascinated by whales. There’s just something inherently fascinating about whales that captures the imagination. There’s also a natural beauty to them that is hard to define. Similarly, robots and animatronics have always been a subject of fascination for me as well. When I read an article in an old art magazine from the 90s highlighting depicting whales in art, it got me thinking about animatronic whales and how they might change the world for the better–not to mention having a fascinating history. In today’s Tedium, we’re bringing you one whale of a tale about animatronics and art in the cerulean world. — David @ Tedium

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The worldwide box office gross for the 1993 film Free Willy . The film–which centers on a young boy helping set a captive orca whale free–was incredibly popular the year it was released and was kind of a family/feel-good movie. It also features an iconic scene of the whale leaping over a rock wall, which was done with CGI special effects . The real whale who portrayed Willy, Keiko, was eventually released into the wild, but tragically died of pneumonia only one year after being set free . Over half of the shots in the film used an animatronic whale and the sequels switched to animatronics entirely. The film also won several awards and spawned numerous sequels/spin-offs.

Jurassic Park, perhaps the most iconic animatronic-driven film franchise.

Animatronic animals have a storied history

Most of us have experienced animatronic animals in some way or another. Whether it was through the creepy Showbiz Pizza band members, Disney, or something like Jurassic Quest , many of us have interacted or been exposed to animatronics in some way.

The original Jurassic Park famously utilized a blend of animatronic dinosaurs and CGI to accomplish its legendary dropping effects. You’ve even seen animatronic creatures in the likes of Jaws and ET . And they’re all over Disney theme parks.

So where did they come from, anyway?

It started out as something called “audio-animatronics.” Walt Disney was fascinated by toys and wanted to find a way to bring them to life, so to speak. In 1951, a team of what would later be called imagineers began working on an automaton.

The building of Disneyland put a wrench in the works and the project would be revisited once the park was completed . After some false starts and a few notable successes the first animatronic creatures (singing birds) appeared in the park. After that, it was only a matter of time before other attractions would utilize the animatronics.

Those birds Julie Andrews is singing to are not real.

Since then, animatronics have long been a part of Disney history. Beginning with the film Mary Poppins (which used animatronic birds ), Disney sought to add more fanatical creatures to its films.

Since then, animatronics have appeared in feature films, commercials, television shows (including my personal favorite ’90s show, Dinosaurs ), and more projects not associated with Disney.

But perhaps the most spectacular use of animatronics is in marine creatures in various movies, educational properties, and real life.

The year an animatronic whale exhibit opened in Los Angeles featuring orca, gray, humpback, and sperm whales. Dubbed Whales: Giants of the Deep , it featured five life-size animatronic whales. According to a Los Angeles Times article from the time, the exhibit happened at the same time a real life gray whale was migrating along the California coast. What a spectacle that must have been. One year later, Free Willy would be released to the public and feature an impressive animatronic whale in its own right.

Before there was Free Willy, there was Star Trek IV.

A tale of two humpback whales

If there’s one traditionally “nerdy” program I enjoy, it’s Star Trek . Usually, music is my major nerdy focus (and sometimes the two meet ), but I’ve always genuinely enjoyed Star Trek in its various iterations. The original six Star Trek films are among some of my favorites in the series, with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home being a personal favorite–even if it’s a bit weird . The film’s plot centers around bringing whales back to the Future to stop a probe that’s destroying the Earth.

But the challenge of making those whales appear on screen and be believable to the audience was significant. At the time, there weren’t many existing videos of whales on 35mm film and it was difficult to film whales in the wild. So the effects team turned to Walt Conti to help.

As an engineering expert and special effects artist, Conti knew what he was doing. Before founding his company, he designed medical equipment . For The Voyage Home , Conti teamed up with Pieter Folkens —an illustrator and author—to help bring the two humpback whales to life.

They ultimately manufactured four-foot, free-floating animatronic models that could be controlled via RC. The models were created by the special effects artists at industrial light and magic . In addition to the models, the production also created some full size wheel parts to handle those parts of the film. All of this was supervised by Walt Conti, resulting in what we see in the finished film.

Without the dedicated efforts of Conti and Folkens, who knows what George and Gracie would’ve looked like in the final film?

The video clip you came here to see.

When the production for Free Willy began a few years later, Conti wanted to scale up the whale models he used for The Voyage Home , which required extensive work and expertise to accomplish .

When Conti worked on The Voyage Home , he created the first free swimming animatronic creature and, in the process, set in motion an entirely new initiative for helping marine animals in the real world.

Free Willy and Star Trek turned out only to be the tip of the iceberg …

“A special thing goes on in the tail of a well in which the tendon absorbs energy and contributes to the kickback of a whale. We incorporate that kickback into the whale on screen, and viewers can’t tell the difference between the real well in a scene and our fake one.”

— Pieter Folkens , the designer behind the animatronic whales, from the March/April 1994 edition of Wildlife Art News . In the article, be discusses the challenges of capturing realistic whale movement through animatronics. Folkens used foam, stainless steel, rubber, and other materials to create realistic will skeletons for animatronics on film.

Next time you watch Free Willy, see if you can figure out when the animatronic whale is used. (Warner Bros.)

Close to the edge of innovation

Animatronic animals are sort of a mix between incredibly sophisticated puppets and automatons. That very connection is part of what gives them their name. Whales aren’t easy to create as animatronic creatures. Neither are dolphins or other marine creatures. But that didn’t stop Conti from continuing to do it when he created his own company, Edge Innovations.

The company was not only responsible for some of the groundbreaking working Free Willy but they also created the anaconda in the film of the same name and were instrumental in developing the lower pod of James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger .

Today, there’s a very popular initiative to replace dolphins and whales currently in captivity–such as those in zoos, amusement parks, and the like–with animatronic creatures.

Conti is actively involved with creating realistic dolphins and marine animals to replace those currently held in captivity. The concept, known as Delle, is a marvel of modern animatronic technology.

Talking about Delle, Conti’s partner (and creative director) Roger Holzberg is incredibly enthusiastic, stating “Nobody believed it was a robot. They believed it was real.” Holzberg came up with the idea to replace marine mammals in theme parks with their animatronic counterparts. He took his idea to Conti at Edge Innovations:

I pitched the idea of a Next generation attraction for water parks. I reached out to Walt and said, do you think it would be possible to take your motion picture animals, create a new kind of Waldo control system and use them as real time animatronic figures?

It wasn’t easy to make the dolphin, either. The team had to study dolphins extensively to learn their movements and figure out the best way to train the AI to make it work. When they finally did get it to work, they noticed the fish in the aquarium believed the dolphin was real and the sharks avoided it entirely. This development eventually led to developing the concept further. Now, they’re just waiting on finalizing a contract to install their attraction in a theme park (at least as of a 2021 interview ) by the end of this summer .

The animatronic dolphins are around 600 pounds and swim using a simple AI program. They’re incredibly impressive, to say the least and could be real game changers in the years to come.

The weight of a robotic dolphin currently being produced to replace marine animals in captivity. The dolphin costs around $26 million to build and the idea is to help educate people about the creatures without endangering real life dolphins in the process. The skin is made with silicon and apparently, it’s hard to tell the difference between this dolphin and the Real McCoy. Whether or not these dummy animals can replace real ones in zoos remains to be seen, but it can be an effective tool for saving the animals and educating the populace in the process.

This fight scene from King Kong is a good reminder that someone occasionally needs to rein Peter Jackson in. Naomi Watts looks like she was Photoshopped into this fight.

CGI and animatronics work well together … sometimes

Every so often, a new technology comes along that disrupts the way things are done. We’re seeing a version of this trend happening right now with the likes of DALL-E and Midjourney helping people create digital art from prompts via an AI.

Some of the images being created are mighty impressive and quite realistic, but the debate rage is on whether or not it can be considered true art or if it will replace graphic designers. It can be a pretty sore subject for some, so we’ll leave it at that.

When CGI came to prominence, it upended the special effects world. But that doesn’t stop current films from using practical effects or a mix of CGI, makeup, and practical effects to create amazing cinema.

But it makes sense that CGI would end up replacing animatronics to an extent, but they tend to work best when combined.

If you ever wanted to see a bunch of sled dogs get into a fight with a leopard seal, this one is for you.

In the 2006 film Eight Below , for instance, the leopard seals were built as full animatronics and given a layer of CGI effects to give them a more realistic look. Essentially, anything the practical puppets couldn’t do, the CG could help accomplish. The Mandalorian does the same thing with Grogu (or Baby Yoda, if you prefer).

More recently, Jurassic World: Dominion ’s director spoke to MovieWeb about the virtues of using a blend of CGI and animatronics stating having the animals there as puppets gave more life to the scenes than merely making it digitally. On the other hand, poor CGI and execution with animatronics can look awful .

Then there’s the artificial intelligence factor. Very recently, an AI-generated piece of artwork won a State Fair contest —in my home state, no less. Not only did this market debate about whether AI is art or if this was fair, but it got me thinking about how AI and CGI have affected animatronics over the years.

We’ve seen what CGI and animatronics can do together, but what about incorporating artificial intelligence? Will the results be as realistic as the art that one the prize at the fair? Or will it just create something uncanny that’s difficult to watch? Only time will tell.

The year Disney’s Imagineers began working on artificial intelligence-controller animatronics. Per New Scientist , the character was supposed to interact with guests throughout the park. It seems like a good idea or not will ultimately remain to be seen, but it could make for a fun addition to visiting the park and enjoying the best of what artificial intelligence and animatronics have to offer.

Replacing animatronics completely with CGI doesn’t seem likely anytime soon, but there’s something to be said about the idea of using robotic standings for marine animals at zoos and amusement parks.

While movies like Free Willy and Jaws aptly demonstrate what animatronics can do in a Marine environment, there still seems to be untapped potential for these types of puppetry in modern film. Ideally, I’d like to see a movie that utilizes such creatures in a way that doesn’t pick up as evil monsters, but instead centers the plot around how remarkable they truly are. Yes, I’m aware that the 1996 film Flipper features a friendly animatronic dolphin. That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m still quite fascinated with whales and will continue to learn about them for a long time to come. Perhaps I’ll learn to draw eventually and create some artwork of my own, probably without the assistance of artificial intelligence. Either way, animatronic marine animals are a remarkable part of our cinematic history.

Find this one an interesting read? Share it with a pal , and let us know if you have a favorite animatronic mammal.

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Your time was just wasted by David Buck

David Buck is a former radio guy/musician who researches and writes about all manner of strange and interesting music, legacy technology, Nintendo and data analysis.

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Whale Probe

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The Whale Probe

The Whale Probe was the designation for an immense probe of unknown origin which visited Earth in 2286 . It was given this designation due to the fact that it apparently came to Earth in order to contact members of the humpback whale species.

1 Specifications
3.1.1 Studio models
3.2 Apocrypha
3.3 External link

Specifications [ ]

Dwarfing the Miranda -class Federation starship USS Saratoga and even the Spacedock One , the Whale Probe was a featureless black cylinder, and carried a small deployable sphere, normally stowed internally, at the front. This sphere was physically detached from the Probe while in use, but connected to it by an energy beam . The sphere's purpose was that of a communications device.

It apparently served to broadcast the message of the Probe, but had the side effect of causing virtually any device that used energy to function to lose its power. It was also capable of ionizing planetary atmospheres , seemingly as another unintended side effect. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

History [ ]

First contact with the Probe by a Federation starship was made by the USS Saratoga while patrolling the Neutral Zone . The Saratoga was disabled by the probe's powerful communication, as were at least seven other vessels along the probe's route to Earth , including the starships USS Yorktown and USS Shepard and two Klingon vessels . The ships did not recover from their neutralized states even after the Probe had continued on, beyond their ranges.

USS Saratoga 's scan analysis

After disabling both Spacedock One and the USS Excelsior , the Probe settled over the planet and directed its transmissions towards its oceans . The sheer amount of energy contained in the broadcast began to vaporize Earth's oceans and ionize the atmosphere, creating a catastrophically thick cloud layer over the entire planet, disabling power and communications over many of Earth's largest cities. One report to the Federation President gave the planetary cloud cover at 73% and rising.

As all planetary power sources began to fail, the Federation President was forced to send out a planetary distress signal , which was picked up by Admiral Kirk , aboard the " HMS Bounty ", a captured Klingon Bird-of-Prey . In the signal, the President gravely advised any unaffected space craft to avoid Earth at all costs. Spock , also aboard, noted that the transmission appeared to have been intentionally directed at Earth's oceans, and theorized that the message may have been intended for some aquatic creature.

After listening to what the Probe's transmission sounded like underwater, it was discovered to be identical to the sounds produced by an extinct cetacean species called the humpback whale. Spock theorized that the Probe had been sent by some unknown intelligence that had once been in contact with whales, who had sent the Probe after the whales went extinct to find out why contact had been lost.

Destroying the probe appeared to be out of the question, as any vessel that went anywhere near it immediately lost power. As such, it was determined that the only way to save Earth was to respond to the Probe and hope that it would leave once it had made contact with its intended recipient. However, with no whales left on Earth, there was no way to accurately respond to the Probe, as simply replicating the sounds made by humpback whales would have been useless without knowledge of the language involved.

Kirk determined that the only way to stop the probe was to find some humpbacks who could answer it. Consequently, the Bounty was taken into the past via the slingshot effect , and successfully retrieved two of the species from 1986 . Returning to the time shortly after the probe's arrival in 2286 , the two whales were able to respond to the probe's call, and it departed for an unknown destination, restabilizing the Earth's atmosphere and restoring power to the vessels it disabled along the way. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

Original "whale probe"

A cylindrical space probe was already envisioned in the reference book Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (p. 121) of 1979 as "first evidence of extra-galactic civilizations". In the book, it was described as a small probe of unknown origin, measuring 2.0×0.375 meters. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely to have been the original inspiration for the eventual "Whale Probe".

Studio models [ ]

Rodis' original concept

Described in the script of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as " a simple cylinder, non-threatening but huge in size, with odd, eye-like antennae " [1] , no specifics of the Whale Probe were ever given on screen. Yet, Effects Director of Photography Don Dow stated that, as far as in-universe dimensions were concerned, " it was to be five miles long and a mile-and-a-half wide. " The Whale Probe was designed by Nilo Rodis , incorporating ideas he had received from The Film-Makers' Cooperative in Los Angeles, that translated into an apparently simple, vaguely whale-like cylinder, transferred onto pre-production storyboards. ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 5)

Deceptively simple as it might have seemed, Industrial Light & Magic did encounter problems while trying to realistically bring the concept of the probe onto the big screen. Model Shop Supervisor Jeff Mann recalled, " There were some difficulties early on with the probe. Trying to get that to have some scale was difficult because it was big and shiny. It had blue-spill problems. Early on, we did a bunch of tests to try to figure out what kind of texture or what we could do to give it that kind of scale that the starships had. " ("From Outer Space to the Ocean", Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Special Edition) DVD special features) Don Dow elaborated, " I think the probe was the most difficult thing we had to work with on this show, simply because there was nothing to it. Our original instructions from L.A. were to make it 'menacing, military and massive' and it was supposed to be about five miles long and a mile-and-a-half wide. To really do that, we would have had to build a model that was as big as a building. And because it was so devoid of detail, I was afraid it was just going to look like a giant water heater in space. " ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 5)

Though the fourth Star Trek film was supposed to be light on ILM where starship studio models were concerned, no less than three models of the Whale Probe were constructed in the end. Jeff Mann recalled, " Since Nilo's concept was that the probe looked similar to a whale, we built a prototype that was a cylinder shape with barnacles and whale-like coloring – but still basically just a tube. We capped the ends of a piece of irrigation pipe and installed a mechanism to turn the ball-like antenna that jutted out from the bottom. " ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 5)

Eventually, the bullet was bitten and a model was constructed, about which Jeff Mann stated, " Basically, it's a cylinder that started off to look like a section of a whale. We used a barnacle type of texture for it, and it was originally painted with a crusty-textured white on a blue background. It was sort of organic looking, and that was the design we originally settled on. We built several versions of this monolithic probe that threatens the Earth. The main model we used was an eight foot long cylinder about two feet in diameter, and it had a hole at one end through which an antenna ball emerges on a shaft of light and sort of searches around. " ( American Cinematographer , October 1982 ed., p. 68) Also constructed were a " smaller version to scale for the distance shots, and then we built a large section of the ship – just a third of the side of it – and it was tapered for a shot where the ship is heading towards camera and then flies overhead. Like a takeoff on that first shot in Star Wars . We also built some large antennas for close-ups, " as reported by Mann. ( American Cinematographer , October 1982 ed., p. 68) More to the point, Mann stated, " Our primary probe was eight feet long, but we also made a small one for the long-distance shots and another big section that was a forced perspective model – about twenty feet long and really wide at one end and the tapered back at the other. " ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 5)

In order to save as much financially as post-production opticals were concerned, Jeff Mann decided to have his new Whale Probe models, as much as possible, have self-illuminating capabilities. Mann elaborated, " The Probe had a hole on the bottom that the ball jutted out from. Inside it, we put six halogen bulbs that emitted a general glow down onto the ball and out the hole. Then, down the center we had a tube of plexiglass that was about two inches in diameter that attached to the ball. Inside of that was a long tube lamp – like a refrigerator lamp – which was just screwed into a 110 socket. So the stage crew could do several light passes on the probe. " ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 5)

Whale probe studio model filmed before modification

The eight-foot model on stage, filmed by Selwyn Eddy and Ray Gilberti at ILM before modification

Whale probe studio model filmed after modification

The eight-foot model on stage after modification

The whale-colored probe did not quite work out on screen, and after several shoots, a decision was made to alter the color scheme of the model as was recalled by Don Dow; " We had to give it some texture. After brainstorming it for a while, Ken Ralston came up with the idea of painting it shiny black and then backlighting it so there would be reflections coming off of it. We also ended up pock-marking the surface a little so that the backlighting would pick up some hills and valleys. Then we shot it with fog filters which helped to give it an awesome, mysterious quality. " ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 6) Jeff Mann gave an additional reason from a different point of view; " We worked for quite a while on these models with a specific color and texture on mind, but then we reached a point where they just didn't look right. It wasn't exciting, because it was blue, like a whale. Also, the antenna originally didn't move and it didn't have a light source in it, so we made the antenna move and added an interior light to the ball. For the antenna's beam of light, we added a hot shaft of light in the center and put a much milder glow around that. I think it was Ken Ralston who came up with the idea to paint the probe black and eliminate all the color from it so we could use light and reflections on it to create interest and mystery. " ( American Cinematographer , October 1982 ed., p. 68)

Whale Probe antenna as featured

No matter what the original intent was, lighting the ball-shaped antenna presented its own set of additional problems, as ILM's Optical Supervisor Ralph Gordon recalled; " The spherical antenna underneath the probe was originally shot so that it was orange, which unfortunately made it look very much like a spinning basketball. So we pulled mattes off of that that one element to drop it out – the ball itself had been shot separately from the probe – and then we made high-con elements that allowed us to expose blue light over that same area. We threw in all sorts of diffusion and filters on it to break up the image and give it a glow that looked like it was coming from the inside. That took a lot of finagling. We put diffusions on both the main projector head of our optical printer and on the aerial head, the back projector. We'd find a diffusion that worked somewhere, lock that off and then move the back head around trying to figure out where the best placement of the diffusion was. Like always, it was just a matter of trial and error. " ( Cinefex , issue 29, p. 6)

Apocrypha [ ]

The novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home refers to the Whale Probe as "The Traveler" (not to be confused with the humanoid from Tau Alpha C also referred to as The Traveler ).

A sequel novel to Star Trek IV , Probe , accounted another run-in with the Probe during proposed peace talks/joint archeology-survey with the Romulans . Kirk and his crew later discover that the Probe was created by beings that resembled Earth cetaceans, and that it was damaged thousands of years earlier by what it described as "mites" in cube-shaped vessels, which implies that it encountered the Borg at some point before coming to Earth.

In the Myriad Universes novels, in an alternate timeline with both Kirk and Spock dead, the Probe did indeed decimate Earth, leading Doctor Carol Marcus to attempt to use the Genesis Device to fix it.

External link [ ]

Cetacean Probe at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
3 Marlys Burdette

Star Treks 3 Efrosians In Movies & Discovery Explained

Efrosians in Star Trek were originally seen in movies, but a new named character is introduced in Discovery season 5.
The design of Efrosians was created by artist Thomas Blackshear and translated into prosthetics by makeup artist Brian Wade.
The Efrosians have limited appearances on screen, with only 3 Efrosians appearing in Star Trek, including the Federation President.

The Efrosians in Star Trek appear twice, and only briefly, in the Star Trek movies , before a named Efrosian character debuts in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. The Efrosians are a Star Trek alien species characterized by long, flowing white or platinum blonde hair, piercing light eyes, and V-shaped cranial ridges. The first two appearances of Efrosians imply that every member of the species may be blind, but without a larger sample size, it's hard to tell if that's a universal trait among all Efrosians, or simply coincidence. It's possible -- and far more likely -- that Efrosian sight simply differs from that of other sentient species in Star Trek .

Several people had a hand in the creation of the Efrosians in Star Trek . The name "Efrosian" comes from Star Trek IV unit production manager Mel Efros , who anecdotally wasn't aware that bus punk and associate producer Kirk Thatcher had decided to honor Efros as the namesake of a new alien species. Artist Thomas Blackshear, whose work appears on the Star Trek collectors' plates in the Hamilton Collection, sketched the initial design for the Efrosians, which was translated into facial prosthetics by makeup artist Brian Wade. Later Efrosian characters appear in Star Trek novels, but only 3 Efrosians canonically appear on-screen in Star Trek .

A Classic Star Trek Movie Alien Returns In Discovery Season 5 Episode 8

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 introduces Hy'Rell, a new character who is from the same alien species seen in the movies Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI.

USS Saratogas Helmsman In Star Trek IV Is Efrosian

Nick ramus' efrosian starfleet officer encounters the whale probe.

The unnamed helmsman of the USS Saratoga in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, played by Nick Ramus, is the first Efrosian to appear in Star Trek . Star Trek IV opens with the USS Saratoga's encounter with the alien probe that will later prompt the USS Enterprise's journey back through time. The Saratoga crew consists of unnamed characters, from the uncredited human navigator to Madge Sinclair's captain, who also happens to be the first female captain in Star Trek . Everyone attempts to determine the nature of the alien vessel, and the Saratoga's helmsman contributes by establishing communication with Starfleet Command, in addition to operating the helm controls.

In the absence of official Star Trek material referring to the Saratoga helm officer as an Efrosian, the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home called Ramus' character a Deltan. Later Star Trek novels rectified the error by naming the Efrosian planet of origin Efros Delta.

The design of Ramus' nameless Efrosian stands out among the Saratoga's primarily human bridge crew. Light from the consoles reflects off the Efrosian's white hair in the dim lighting of the bridge. His eyes are also completely white, and seem to shine in the darkness. The helmsman of the Saratoga is clearly a new Star Trek alien, but the name of the helm officer's species is never stated as Efrosian in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , and only appears in the captions of publicity photos. For a while, it seems as though Nick Ramus' Efrosian character may be a one-off alien design, never to be seen again in Star Trek .

The Federation President In Star Trek VI Is Efrosian

Kurtwood smith's efrosian president attends the khitomer conference.

Star Trek 's next Efrosian character is the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , the first of 4 Star Trek characters played by Kurtwood Smith . The Efrosian Federation President is responsible for initiating peace talks with Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner), and releasing Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to the Klingons after Kirk and McCoy are framed for Gorkon's assassination. The Efrosian Federation President represents the United Federation of Planets at the Khitomer Conference during the negotiations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and narrowly avoids his own assassination, thanks to the crews of the USS Enterprise-A and the USS Excelsior.

Kurtwood Smith also appears in Star Trek: Voyager season 4, episodes 8 & 9 "Year of Hell", as Annorax, leader of the Krenim Imperium; in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5, episode 3 "Things Past" as Cardassian security officer Thrax; and in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1, episode 8 "Veritas" as Imperium Magistrate Clar.

Kurtwood Smith's Efrosian Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is never named, just like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 's Efrosian on the USS Saratoga , but anonymity isn't all the two Efrosians in the Star Trek movies have in common. After being created for Nick Ramus' helmsman in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , the same Efrosian makeup appliances were reused for Kurtwood Smith to play the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . The Federation President has bright blue eyes, however, instead of the pure white lenses that were used for the USS Saratoga helmsman.

Archivist HyRell In Star Trek: Discovery Is Efrosian

Elena juatco plays hy'rell, librarian of the eternal gallery and archive.

The most recent addition to the list of Efrosians in Star Trek, Hy'Rell (Elena Juatco) represents the constantly moving Eternal Gallery and Archive and appears in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 8 , "Labyrinths". Because of its current location in the Badlands, the Archive doesn't get many visitors, so Hy'Rell is eager to introduce the Archive with a bubbly prepared speech and excited to help Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) find the next clue to the Progenitors' technology. Archive librarians aren't supposed to take sides, but Hy'Rell is sympathetic to the plight of the USS Discovery crew and assists in evading the Breen.

Star Trek: Discovery 's Hy'Rell is the first Efrosian with a name and female identity, in addition to being the first Efrosian on a Star Trek television show after their origin in the Star Trek films. Curiously, Hy'Rell doesn't seem to exhibit the limited eyesight of the 23rd century Efrosians, but retains the bright blue eyes that originated in the President's design. The relative rarity of Efrosians in Star Trek means there's not much information about Efrosian culture or people as a whole, so hopefully, Star Trek: Discovery 's Hy'Rell won't also be the last Efrosian in Star Trek .

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country are available to stream on Max.

Star Trek: Discovery is streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Where To Watch Paramount+

Release Date September 24, 2017

Directors Jonathan Frakes, Olatunde Osunsanmi

Cast Blu del Barrio, Oded Fehr, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Eve Harlow, Mary Wiseman, Callum Keith Rennie

Star Treks 3 Efrosians In Movies & Discovery Explained

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock Returning To Cinemas For 40th Anniversary – New Poster Exclusive

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock – poster crop

Trekkers, get ready to beam back up to your local cineplex. A classic Star Trek film is about to be given a sparkly new re-release, returning in 4K and ready to prove – once and for all – that the ‘odd-numbered Trek movies are the bad ones’ rule is far from hard and fast. Yes, 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search For Spock turns 40 this year, and to mark that occasion the film will be heading back to the big screen. Along with the re-release, the film has a brand new retro-styled poster from Matt Ferguson, which you can see exclusively here:

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock – poster

And here's the quad poster, for all the fellow Brits:

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock – poster quad

If you’ve been following Ferguson’s work, be sure to file this one alongside his designs for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan . As for The Search For Spock , it’s the first film in the series to have been directed by Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy – and, following the tragic conclusion of Wrath Of Khan , sees Captain Kirk heading off on… well, a search for Spock. Get ready for Genesis planets, resurrections, and Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon. Great Scott! The film will be heading to UK cinemas on 14 June – so there’s not long to wait.

So, set your phasers to cinemagoing, pore over all the lovely details of that gorgeous new poster – and warm up your space whales in case Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home gets its own re-release in two years time.

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10 star trek episodes & movies that prove peabody award is deserved.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 - Everything We Know

Best star trek: ds9 episode from each of the show’s 7 seasons, 14 episode details you missed in star trek: tng's “the measure of a man”.

Star Trek's diverse cast and uplifing themes make it deserving of the prestigious Peabody Award for promoting empathy and understanding.
Iconic Star Trek episodes such as "The Inner Light" and "The Visitor" showcase timeless storytelling and emotional depth that resonate with fans.
The series continues to reflect on important social issues through episodes like "Far Beyond the Stars" and "The Measure of a Man," exploring themes of humanity.

Over the course of its near-60-year history, Star Trek has produced some truly phenomenal stories that prove the franchise deserves its recent Peabody Award win. According to the official website for the Peabody Awards, the purpose of the awards is to "elevate stories that defend the public interest, encourage empathy with others, and teach us to expand our understanding of the world around us." As part of the 84th Peabody Awards, the entire Star Trek franchise won the 2024 Institutional Award, which celebrates programs that have an enduring legacy and impact.

Since Star Trek: The Original Series began in 1966, the franchise has always celebrated the best of humanity, with its diverse cast of profoundly empathetic characters. The primary mission of the Starship Enterprise and her crew has always been exploration, and the United Federation of Planets is a peaceful coalition of peoples from all over the galaxy. Star Trek won the Peabody Award "for its enduring dedication to storytelling that projects the best of humanity into the distant future," and few franchises embody the spirit of the awards so well, as evidenced by these 10 Star Trek episodes and movie.

This is not the first Peabody Award that the Star Trek franchise has won. In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, episode 12, "The Big Goodbye" won a Peabody, in part for setting "a new standard of quality for first-run syndication."

Star Trek Actors & Executive Producers React To Peabody Award

Star Trek was honored with the Peabody Institutional Award, and Star Trek creatives and actors, including William Shatner, react on social media.

10 "Face The Strange"

Star trek: discovery season 5, episode 4, star trek: discovery.

With a classic science fiction premise, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange" sends Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her new First Officer, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), jumping through time. The USS Discovery has been trapped in a time loop thanks to a Krenim time bug, and Burnham and Rayner must work with Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) to find a way out of their predicament.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange" celebrates the series' past, present, and possible future.

In Star Trek: Discovery' s past, Captain Burnham encounters herself from Discovery season 1 . Specialist Burnham, Starfleet's first mutineer, trusts no one, and she immediately lashes out at her future self whom the younger Michael thinks is a Changeling. After a brief fistfight, future Burnham renders her past self unconscious with a Vulcan nerve pinch. Burnham then uses her knowledge of the USS Discovery's crew members to convince them she's from the future. "Face the Strange" is an incredibly fun episode of television that shows just how much Michael Burnham has changed throughout Star Trek: Discovery 's five seasons.

9 "The Last Generation"

Star trek: picard season 3, episode 10, star trek: picard.

Star Trek: The Next Generation already had a great finale in "All Good Things...," but the final adventure for the TNG crew in Star Trek: Nemesis was lackluster. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his USS Enterprise-D crew reunited in Star Trek: Picard season 3 to face off against a threat from the Borg and the Changelings. After they saved the galaxy one final time, Picard and his friends sat down for their traditional game of poker .

Star Trek Picard Season 3 Ending Explained (In Detail)

Star Trek: Picard season 3's finale concludes the story of TNG in grand style and sets up the next generation's legacy, along with a big surprise.

With the introduction of Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) as the son of Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Star Trek : Picard season 3 told a story of legacy and acted as a passing of the torch to the new generation. With the return of several beloved characters and the introduction of some great new faces, Star Trek: Picard season 3 was a nostalgic tour-de-force that ended on the perfect note with its series finale, "The Last Generation."

Despite the perfect setup for a spin-off featuring the newly rechristened USS Enterprise-G, Picard 's long-rumored Star Trek: Legacy seems like a long shot at this point.

8 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

"they like you very much, but they are not the hell 'your' whales.".

In Star Trek's most lighthearted film, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew travel back in time for a fun romp through 1980s San Francisco. After the darker storylines of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home takes a lighter approach, closing out the movies' unofficial "Genesis Trilogy" with a storyline that centers around finding humpback whales to bring back and save the future.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has a timely ecological message and is an endlessly joyful watch.

As Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and the crew attempt to navigate the 20th century, they hilariously misuse curse words and stumble into and out of trouble. Kirk enjoys a flirtatious chemistry with Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), who travels back to the future with the crew and later joins a Starfleet science vessel. In the end, Kirk and his crew rescue two whales, George and Gracie, and save Earth from certain disaster. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has a timely ecological message and is an endlessly joyful watch.

After returning to his own time, Kirk is demoted from Admiral to Captain and given command of the newly christened USS Enterprise-A.

7 “Ad Astra Per Aspera”

Star trek: strange new worlds season 2, episode 2, star trek: strange new worlds.

When Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Number One, Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), is put on trial for lying about being a genetically enhanced Illyrian, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the USS Enterprise crew rally to her defense. In a powerful Star Trek courtroom episode , Number One opens up about the oppression she faced as a young girl and says she joined Starfleet because she believed in its mission.

Number One's belief in Starfleet is not just felt by fans but echoes into Starfleet's future, as Star Trek: Lower Decks ' Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) joined Starfleet because he was inspired by Una's Starfleet recruitment poster.

Una's attorney and childhood friend, Neera Ketoul (Yetide Badaki) , argues that Una could be seen as seeking asylum by joining Starfleet. Although the judges do not overthrow Starfleet's ban on genetic engineering, they do side with Neera and Una, allowing Number One to go back to her position on the Enterprise. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” highlights the goodness of the individuals within Starfleet and the Federation even when the organizations themselves sometimes falter.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 ended with an epic cliffhanger and here's everything known about when it will be resolved in season 3.

6 "Darmok"

Star trek: the next generation season 5, episode 2, star trek: the next generation.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation' s "Darmok," Captain Picard finds himself stranded on a planet with a Tamarian Captain named Dathon (Paul Winfield). Because of the Tamarians' complex language of metaphors, the two Captains cannot understand one another. Picard grows increasingly frustrated as he tries to understand his companion, and the two slowly begin to form an unspoken bond.

Dathon and Picard work together to defend themselves against an alien beast on the planet, but Dathon is fatally wounded. After Picard is rescued by the Enterprise, he has learned enough to communicate with the Tamarian ship and he shares the story of Dathon's sacrifice. Not only does "Darmok" show Picard at his best , but it also tells a simple and classic Star Trek story that celebrates the importance finding common ground.

5 "Far Beyond The Stars"

Star trek: deep space nine season 6, episode 13, star trek: deep space nine.

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's all-time classic "Far Beyond the Stars", Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) is transported to a vision where he is Benny Russell, a Black 1950s science fiction writer for a magazine called Incredibles Tales . Russell imagines a story of a Black captain who commands a space station called Deep Space Nine. The other staff members of Incredibles Tales, played by the rest of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's cast , and they all love and support Russell's story.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' s "Far Beyond the Stars" was directed by Avery Brooks.

The magazine's unseen publisher, however, refuses to print a story with a Black protagonist. Meanwhile, a young hustler named Jimmy (Cirroc Lofton) is shot and killed by two white police officers, and Benny Russell is beaten when he protests. Captain Sisko later wakes up on DS9, deeply moved by his vision of life as Benny Russell. With its depictions of racism and violence against the Black community, "Far Beyond the Stars" remains one of Star Trek's most socially relevant episodes even today.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had an astonishing run of episodes across seven seasons, but which of its 173 episodes best represent each season?

4 "The City on The Edge Of Forever"

Star trek: the original series season 1, episode 28, star trek: the original series.

In one of Star Trek's most heartbreaking episodes , Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) must follow Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) through a time portal and prevent history from being irrevocably changed. As Kirk and Spock interact with the locals of Depression-era New York City, Kirk begins a romance with a soup kitchen operator named Sister Edith Keeler (Joan Collins).

Although the aired version differs from the original story written by Harlan Ellison, "The City on the Edge of Forever" is considered Star Trek 's greatest episode.

Spock soon learns that Edith Keeler must die to prevent an altered timeline in which the Nazis won World War II. Despite Kirk's love for Edith, he sacrifices her to ensure the proper future is restored. Throughout Star Trek: The Original Series , Captain Kirk gained a reputation as a ladies' man, but his romance with Edith Keeler felt different. "The City on The Edge Of Forever" took the time to develop their relationship, making its inevitable end all the more tragic.

3 "The Visitor"

Star trek: deep space nine season 4, episode 2.

"The Visitor" is another seminal Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode that begins with Captain Benjamin Sisko apparent death, which leaves his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton) heartbroken . However, Captain Sisko has actually become trapped in subspace outside the normal flow of time. Over the next several years, Sisko visits his Jake, gives up his writing career and becomes obsessed by finding a way to save his father. As a grown man, Jake (Tony Todd) chooses to sacrifice his own life to bring Captain Sisko back.

The Visitor" is a resonant portrayal of a son's love for his father.

The elderly Jake injects himself with a lethal hypospray dose while his father is present, hoping that it will return them both to a time before the accident. As Jake hoped, his death restored Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's timeline and returned Captain Sisko, who understands the magnitude of Jake's sacrifice. With powerhouse performances from Tony Todd, Cirroc Lofton, and Avery Brooks, "The Visitor" is a resonant portrayal of a son's love for his father, and it remains one of Star Trek's most emotionally powerful episodes.

2 "The Measure Of A Man"

Star trek: the next generation season 2, episode 9.

In one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's most celebrated episodes, a trial is held to determine the rights of the android Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner). Anyone who has watched TNG up to this point knows that Data clearly has his own kind of humanity, making it grating every time Dr. Bruce Maddox (Brian Brophy) refers to the android as an "it." Maddox eventually comes around, thanks in part to a powerful speech delivered by Captain Picard .

"The Measure of Man" was one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Here are 14 details you missed.

With its conversations on what it means to be human, "The Measure of a Man" is quintessential Star Trek. As Picard eloquently points out, Data exemplifies the kind of new life that Starfleet seeks out, and claiming him as property would set a dangerous precedent. This landmark Star Trek: The Next Generation episode belongs to Data and Picard, but Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) also excels in the difficult job of testifying against his friend.

1 "The Inner Light"

Star trek: the next generation season 5, episode 25.

"The Inner Light" has long been considered one of the finest hours of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and with good reason. With its creative and powerful Star Trek story, it's no surprise the episode won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. When the USS Enterprise-D encounters a strange probe, Captain Picard wakes up as a villager named Kamin on the planet Kataan. Picard then lives Kamin's entire lifetime, while only minutes pass for those aboard the Enterprise.

With a captivating, but nuanced performance from Patrick Stewart, "The Inner Light" remains a Star Trek classic.

As Kamin, Picard marries a woman named Eline (Margot Rose), has children, and then, later, grandchildren. Jean-Luc learns of a previously unknown alien culture who preserved their story within a probe to be found by someone centuries later. When Picard wakes up back on the Enterprise, he shares the story of the people of Kataan and reminisces about his time as Kamin. With a captivating and nuanced performance from Patrick Stewart, "The Inner Light" remains an all-time Star Trek classic.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, & Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are all available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is available to stream on Max.

Star Trek: 10 Biggest Takeaways From 'William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill'

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Jack Kiely is a writer with a PhD in French and almost certainly an unhealthy obsession with Star Trek.

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COMMENTS

Whale
A whale was a large aquatic cetacean mammal native to the oceans of Earth. A young whale was called a calf. According to Dr. Gillian Taylor, a Human whale biologist, she had "a notorious weakness for hard luck cases, that's why I work with whales." (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) Whales originally evolved from land mammals and were among the largest species to ever live on Earth. (Star Trek IV ...
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Box office. $133 million [3] Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film, the fourth installment in the Star Trek film franchise based on the television series Star Trek. The second film directed by Leonard Nimoy, it completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), and continued in Star Trek III ...
The One About the Whales
An early story idea had not whales as the target of the probe, but the tiny snail darter — a fish roughly the length of two paper clips. It'd recently been discovered, and Bennett liked the very Star Trek-esque idea of something so small having such a big impact (as well as its potential for cost-savings in production).Humpback whales, though, were ultimately chosen.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Kirk and Spock discover a pair of whales in the care of Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) at a Sausalito Museum and learn they will soon be released into the wild. Spock does a mind meld with a whale and figures out that it is preggers. Gillian is suspicious of Kirk and Spock, but Kirk manages to charm her and take her out to dinner.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Film)
The One With… The Whales.And the nuclear "wessels".Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the fourth movie in the Star Trek film series, released in 1986. It is directed by Leonard Nimoy, with the screenplay by Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett and the story by Bennett and Nimoy.. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is prepared to face the consequences of his actions in the ...
Humpback whale
The two whales seen in Star Trek IV were mechanically created by Industrial Light & Magic under project supervisor Walt Conti with help of advisor and marine mammal expert Pieter Folkens.Several scenes, such as the last scene in which the two whales responded to the alien probe and swam out to sea, were footage from a whale documentary.
The Biggest Lesson From Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Isn't Talked
This article was originally published on July 9, 2019. When a giant space log comes to Earth and demands to speak to only whales, Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (who are temporarily the crew of the H.M.S. Bounty) must travel back in time to before humpback whales went extinct, in order to bring two of them back to the future to talk to the alien log and tell it to please ...
Star Trek 101: George and Gracie
Today, we share Star Trek 101 's file on George and Gracie, the humpback whales from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Humpbacks, already an endangered species in the twentieth century, are extinct in the twenty-third. But the space probe doesn't plan to leave Earth until it "talks" to one. Kirk and his senior officers retrieve the pair from the ...
There Be Whales Here: 'The Voyage Home' at 30
April 25, 2024 | Prep Begins For 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 3 Finale; ... Having to go get whales IS a bit hokey. For me Trek 4 was always more a comfort food while TWOK was epic ...
How Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Helped Save the Whales
How Star Trek IV Helped Save the Whales. The film's legacy is bigger than its simple, funny story of space friends out of time might indicate. At the time of the film's release, 1984, the humpback whale species in the real world really was in danger of being hunted to extinction. Given that Star Trek had been conceived in the idealistic 1960s ...
Cetacean
Cetaceans were aquatic mammals indigenous to the planet Earth and many other worlds with large oceans, such as Zadar IV. Some cetacean species were considered sentient beings. The Blue Whale was the largest known creature ever to inhabit the Earth. In 2286, an unidentified probe tried to make contact with the then-extinct humpback whale species, and in doing so wreaked havoc on Earth's ...
star trek
In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the survival of Earth depends on a mysterious probe having a conversation with humpback whales. McCOY: Well, dammit? You think this is its way of saying 'Hi there' to the people of the Earth? SPOCK: There are other forms on intelligence on Earth, Doctor. Only human arrogance would assume the message must be ...
Star Trek -- Humpback Whales
Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeAn alien probe of great power has entered Earth orbit, focusing its unintelligible transmissions not to the people of Earth, but...
"Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986); the 'one with the whales' is
Star Trek III was a fine entry in the canon, but it's often maligned for its shortcomings (lack of scope, predictable story, a television-look) rather than its strengths (emphasis on character, humor). With Star Trek IV, Nimoy's style had matured dramatically. Director Leonard Nimoy makes maximum use of the story's San Francisco location.
Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (4/10) Movie CLIP
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home movie clips: http://j.mp/1J9zolDBUY THE MOVIE: http://amzn.to/t2YsYoDon't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6prC...
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
An effective and stylish addition to the Stsr Trek canon Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/01/24 Full Review C B Best star trek movie made. Period. Period.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is pure, joyful cinema
Entertainment Geekly's 'Star Trek' series looks at the best whale movie ever made. By. Darren Franich. Darren Franich. Darren Franich is a former critic at Entertainment Weekly. He left EW in 2023.
You need to watch the sci-fi movie that saved the whales for free
Star Trek IV's influence on real conservation efforts in the 1980s is hard to quantify today. In 2016, the humpback whale was removed from a federal endangered species list, and the National ...
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Official translation from the official novel of the movie:[Probe] Why did you remain silent for so long?They [The whales] tried to explain, but it reacted in...
Star Trek, Free Willy: Animatronic Whales in Movies
At the time, there weren't many existing videos of whales on 35mm film and it was difficult to film whales in the wild. So the effects team turned to Walt Conti to help. As an engineering expert and special effects artist, Conti knew what he was doing. Before founding his company, he designed medical equipment.
Humpback whale population bounces back : r/startrekmemes
But nooo they cant hunt whales, largely due to the popularity of Star Trek IV. You could have dozens of gray whales washing up on shore from starvation and the majority of the people will just say no, even though it means breaking a 160 year old treaty. People go from Save the Whales to Fuck the Native Americans in the same breath.
Star Trek's 3 Efrosians In Movies & Discovery Explained
The Efrosians in Star Trek appear twice, and only briefly, in the Star Trek movies, before a named Efrosian character debuts in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. The Efrosians are a Star Trek alien species characterized by long, flowing white or platinum blonde hair, piercing light eyes, and V-shaped cranial ridges. The first two appearances of Efrosians imply that every member of the species may ...
List of Star Trek films
1.3 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) 1.4 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) 1.5 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) ... To save the planet, the crew must time-travel back to the late 20th century to obtain a mating pair of these whales. Nimoy returned as director for this film. Nimoy and Bennett wanted a film with a lighter tone ...
Whale Probe
The Whale Probe was the designation for an immense probe of unknown origin which visited Earth in 2286. It was given this designation due to the fact that it apparently came to Earth in order to contact members of the humpback whale species. Dwarfing the Miranda-class Federation starship USS Saratoga and even the Spacedock One, the Whale Probe was a featureless black cylinder, and carried a ...
Star Treks 3 Efrosians In Movies & Discovery Explained
The Efrosians are a Star Trek alien species characterized by long, flowing white or platinum blonde hair, piercing light eyes, and V-shaped cranial ridges. The first two appearances of Efrosians ...
Star Trek: 10 Biggest Takeaways From 'William Shatner ...
The documentary is not just about Bill, it needs Bill, for his candour, his intelligence, his philosophy, and for the uniqueness of his life still living. You Can Call Me Bill is also about ...
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock Returning To Cinemas For 40th
So, set your phasers to cinemagoing, pore over all the lovely details of that gorgeous new poster - and warm up your space whales in case Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home gets its own re-release in ...
10 Star Trek Episodes & Movies That Prove Peabody Award Is Deserved
With a classic science fiction premise, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange" sends Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her new First Officer, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), jumping through time.The USS Discovery has been trapped in a time loop thanks to a Krenim time bug, and Burnham and Rayner must work with Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp ...
Star Trek: 10 Biggest Takeaways From 'William Shatner ...
Then, the storming ratings in re-runs, and the emergence of the Star Trek convention in the 1970s gave the show a new life and a go at the movies. The rest is… history still being written. The ...
Temp Score (?) for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
A clip from 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' (1986) using an alternate score tracked in from 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock' (1984) by James Horner: the...

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is pure, joyful cinema

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In 1986, Star Trek pushed a Greenpeace agenda as a blockbuster movie. It worked.

Mechanical Marine Mammals

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Animatronic animals have a storied history

A tale of two humpback whales

“A special thing goes on in the tail of a well in which the tendon absorbs energy and contributes to the kickback of a whale. We incorporate that kickback into the whale on screen, and viewers can’t tell the difference between the real well in a scene and our fake one.”

Close to the edge of innovation

CGI and animatronics work well together … sometimes

Your time was just wasted by David Buck

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Whale Probe

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9 "The Last Generation"

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8 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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6 "Darmok"

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3 "The Visitor"

2 "The Measure Of A Man"

1 "The Inner Light"

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