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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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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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STAR DATE: 1986. HOW ON EARTH CAN THEY SAVE THE FUTURE?

" A catastrophe in the future can only be averted by a journey into Earth's past. "

Admiral James T. Kirk is prepared to take the consequences for rescuing Spock and stealing and then losing the starship Enterprise , but a new danger has put Earth itself in jeopardy. Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in an old Klingon Bird-of-Prey to right an ancient wrong, in the hopes of saving Earth – and the Federation – from certain doom.

• 1.1 23rd century
• 1.2 20th century
• 1.3 23rd century
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Creation and production
• 3.2 Continuity
• 3.5.1 Merchandise gallery
• 3.6 Awards and honors
• 3.7 Apocrypha
• 4.1.1 Opening credits
• 4.1.2 Closing credits
• 4.2.1 Performers
• 4.2.2 Stunt performers
• 4.2.3 Production staff
• 4.3.1 Other references
• 4.3.2 Unreferenced material
• 4.3.3 Related topics
• 4.4 External links

Summary [ ]

23rd century [ ].

Sensor analysis

It is the year 2286 , and an alien vessel is moving through space . The huge vessel is detected by the USS Saratoga , and sensor analysis reveals it to be some sort of probe . The captain of the Saratoga contacts Starfleet Command and informs them that this alien probe is apparently headed to the Terran solar system . Starfleet tells Saratoga to continue the tracking and they will analyze their transmissions and advise.

" James T. Kirk, renegade and terrorist! "

Back on Earth, the Klingon Ambassador to the United Federation of Planets demands the extradition of Admiral James T. Kirk for murdering a Klingon crew and for stealing a Klingon vessel. The ambassador also denounces the failed Genesis Project as a mere weapon and the Genesis planet as a staging area from which to launch the annihilation of the Klingon race. Just then, Ambassador Sarek arrives in the council chambers and says that Genesis was named for creating life and not death. He goes on to accuse the Klingons of shedding the first blood in attempting to possess the secrets of Genesis. Sarek points out that the Klingons destroyed USS Grissom and killed Kirk's son , which the Klingon ambassador does not deny, saying they have the right to defend their race. Sarek then asks if the Klingons have the right to commit murder, which causes an uproar in the council chambers; breaking his silence by calling for everyone else to make silence, the President states that there will be no further outbursts. Sarek says that he has come to speak on behalf of the accused, which the Klingon ambassador decries as a personal bias, as Sarek's son was saved by Kirk. The president tells Sarek that the council's deliberations have already concluded. He then tells the Klingon ambassador that Admiral Kirk faces nine violations of Starfleet regulations . The Klingon ambassador says that the fact Kirk is only facing Starfleet regulations is outrageous and decries that as long as Kirk lives, there will never be any peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire . As he and his aides storm out of the council chambers, someone in the council chambers calls the ambassador a "pompous ass."

The crew of the Enterprise

On Vulcan, Kirk surveys his crew and they all vote " Aye, sir. " Kirk states then to them " Let the record show that the commander and the crew of the late starship Enterprise have voted unanimously to return to Earth , to face the consequences for their actions in the rescue of their comrade, Captain Spock . " Scott tells Kirk that it'll take him one more day to get their Klingon ship, named by McCoy as the HMS Bounty , ready to go; saying that while damage control is easy, reading Klingon is hard. McCoy laments that Starfleet could have at least sent a ship to pick them up as it's bad enough to know they will be court-martialed and likely imprisoned but the worst is going home in the "Klingon flea trap." Kirk says the "Klingon flea trap" has a cloaking device "which cost [them] a lot." McCoy comments that he wishes they could cloak the stench. Kirk looks up and sees Spock standing at a cliff looking down at them and the ship. Spock then walks off and goes back in a room and resumes computer testing of his mental faculties. While the tests show Spock has regained full control of his faculties once again, he is confused when the computer asks him how he feels.

Spock retrains his mind

Then, Spock's mother Amanda enters and reminds Spock that as he is half-Human he has feelings and the computer is aware of this. Spock says he must go to Earth with the others and offer testimony because he was there when the events occurred. Amanda asks if the good of the many outweighs the good of the one and Spock says it does. Amanda then says that it was a mistake by his flawed, feeling, Human friends for them to sacrifice their futures because they believed that the good of the one, Spock, was more important to them. Spock says that Humans make illogical decisions. Amanda smiles and agrees that they do indeed.

Saratoga disabled

Just then, at the Neutral Zone, the probe comes close to the Saratoga . The captain orders yellow alert , but the probe, issuing a powerful signal, begins draining the ship of all power. As the Saratoga begins to drift, the captain tries to issue a distress call to Starfleet Command.

" Saavik… this is goodbye. " " Yes, Admiral. "

Meanwhile, at Starfleet Command, the President asks Starfleet Admiral Cartwright for a status update and he tells the president that the probe is headed directly toward Earth and that its signal is disabling everything it comes into contact with. According to Cartwright, two Klingon ships have been lost while two Federation starships and three smaller vessels have been neutralized. He then orders contact with the USS Yorktown and their captain says his chief engineer is trying to deploy a makeshift solar sail hoping they can generate enough power to keep themselves alive.

Heading home

As the probe continues toward Earth, on Vulcan the Bounty is almost ready for launch. Kirk comes on the bridge and asks for status reports, Uhura says communications systems are ready and the communications officer is "as ready as she'll ever be." Sulu reports the on-board computer will now interface with the Federation memory bank. Chekov reports the cloaking device is repaired and is now available in all flight modes. Kirk admits to being impressed with all that work for such a short flight. Chekov then tells Kirk since they're in an enemy vessel, he didn't want to risk being shot down on the way to their own funeral. Kirk compliments Chekov's thinking and then calls Scott, who tells him that they are ready to go. Scott says the dilithium resequencer has been converted into something not quite so primitive and that he has personally replaced the Klingon food packs as they were giving Scott a sour stomach. Kirk turns and tells all who are not going to Earth that they better get off. He then turns to Saavik , who is remaining on Vulcan, to tell her goodbye and to thank her. Saavik says that she's not yet had the opportunity to tell Kirk how bravely his son David died and that he saved her and Spock and she wanted Kirk to know. Just then, Spock arrives on the bridge and Saavik wishes him a good day and hopes his journey be free of incident. Spock tells Saavik to " Live long and prosper. " Spock gets permission from Kirk to come aboard, and Kirk tries unsuccessfully to get Spock to call him "Jim" as he is in a command situation. Spock also apologizes for only wearing his Vulcan robes as he seems to have misplaced his uniform. Kirk tells Spock to take his station, a move that concerns McCoy as after all that Spock's been through, he's not liable to be ready to assume such responsibilities but Kirk expresses confidence that it will all come back to him. Kirk then tells Sulu and Chekov to take them home. Sulu and Chekov gently lift the Bounty off the surface and as Saavik and Amanda watch, the Bounty heads off into the Vulcan sunset, on course for Earth.

The probe disables Spacedock

At the same time, the probe has reached Earth and begins the process of neutralizing Spacedock One before they can get the space doors open. All ships inside the dock, including the USS Excelsior , are neutralized and disabled. The probe then continues into Earth orbit and begins pulling water and moisture from the oceans, and clouds begin gathering over the Earth as the probe continues its transmission.

"You really have gone where no man's gone before!"

Sulu reports planet Earth 1.6 hours away, and Chekov reports there are no Federation vessels on assigned patrol stations, which Kirk finds odd. Uhura tells Kirk that the comm channels are flooded with overlapping multiphasic transmissions sounding almost like gibberish. She asks Kirk for some time to try to sort it all out. Just then, McCoy sits next to Spock and asks if he's busy. Spock says that he is simply monitoring and that Uhura is busy. McCoy says that it's sure nice for Spock's katra to be back in Spock's head and not his, stating that he might have carried Spock's soul but he couldn't fill Spock's shoes. When Spock doesn't understand the quip, McCoy drops it and asks if he and Spock could speak about philosophical matters such as life and death but Spock says he didn't have time on Vulcan to review philosophical disciplines. McCoy tells Spock, " You really have gone where no man's gone before " and is amazed that Spock can't tell him what it felt like. Spock says that they can't discuss the subject because they don't have a common frame of reference. When McCoy asks if Spock is joking, Spock defines a joke as "a story with a humorous climax." McCoy is amazed that Spock is inferring that McCoy would have to die in order to discuss Spock's insights on death. Just then Spock tells McCoy he's receiving a number of distress calls , which McCoy doesn't doubt as he gets up and walks away.

Starfleet emergency

Back on Earth, the situation is worsening. Reports from all over the world pour into Starfleet Headquarters . These reports include weather conditions worsening around the planet, such as how temperatures in Juneau , Alaska were dropping and cloud cover was up to 96%. In Tokyo , Japan , all power was gone and only available from reserve banks. Both it and Leningrad had 100% cloud cover and their temperatures were decreasing rapidly. The president asks about worldwide cloud cover and a report of 78.6% comes in. At that point, Cartwright orders a planet-wide emergency and declares red alert . Just then, the influence of the probe comes over and power begins to fade. Cartwright tells the president that even with planetary reserves, they are doomed without the sun. The president states he is well aware of that fact. Just then, Sarek enters into the command center and the president laments that there may be no way to answer the probe. Sarek comments that one cannot answer easily if you don't understand the question. Then Sarek suggests that the president issue a planetary distress signal while there is still time.

" Avoid the planet Earth at all costs!"

Still en route to Earth aboard the Bounty , Uhura tells Kirk that a signal is finally coming through from the Federation. Kirk tells her to put it on screen and they all watch in shock as the president tells all ships everywhere to not approach the planet Earth as the probe is causing critical damage to the Earth, almost totally ionizing the atmosphere. The president says that all power sources have failed and all Earth-orbiting starships are powerless. The probe, according to the president, is vaporizing Earth's oceans and that everyone on Earth will not survive unless they can find a way to respond. The president warns all ships to save their energy and to save themselves and they should avoid the planet Earth at all costs. He then bids farewell and the transmission fades. A stunned Kirk and crew are amazed at what they saw and heard. After a moment, Kirk asks to hear the probe's signal and Uhura patches it through. Spock says that the probe signifies aliens of great intelligence that somehow, are unaware of the signal's destructive nature and that he thinks it illogical that the probe's intention is hostile. When McCoy asks if this is the probe's way of saying hello to the people of the Earth, Spock points out that only Human arrogance assumes the message must be meant for them. When Kirk asks if it could be for some other lifeform, Spock does point out the signal is pointed at Earth's oceans. Kirk asks Uhura to adjust the probe's signal to account for what it would sound like underwater. When she does so, Spock theorizes there can be no response to the message. He then excuses himself to test the theory and he is quickly followed by Kirk and McCoy.

Spock's theory

In the Bounty 's lab, Spock discovers that it is in fact a whale song , specifically that of the humpback whale . McCoy at first wonders who would send a probe across the galaxy to speak to whales, but Kirk and Spock recognize that whales were on Earth ten million years before Humans. Humpback whales, Spock points out, have been extinct since the 21st century , and so it is possible an alien intelligence sent the probe to establish why they lost contact. Kirk wonders if they could simulate a response to the probe's call, but Spock says the language would be gibberish. Kirk asks if the species could exist on some other planet, but Spock answers that they were indigenous to Earth. When Kirk says they must find a way to destroy the probe before it destroys Earth, Spock reminds Kirk the probe would neutralize the Bounty with no effort. Spock does say then that they could theoretically go find some humpback whales. McCoy realizes what Spock is suggesting and is about to ask Kirk to " wait just a damn minute, " but is interrupted by Kirk, who orders Spock to start computations for a time warp .

Kirk's bright idea

In the Bounty 's cargo bay, Kirk asks Scott if they can enclose it to hold water and Scott says he could and McCoy agrees that Kirk is about to go swimming " Off the deep end, Mr. Scott! " Kirk tells Scott they have to go find a couple of humpback whales. McCoy asks Kirk if he is seriously going to attempt time travel in " this rust bucket. " Kirk responds that they have done it before . As he and McCoy head back toward the bridge, McCoy wonders aloud about the plan;

Kirk says that's it and McCoy comments that Kirk's plan is crazy. Kirk tells McCoy if he has a better idea now's the time to tell him. On the bridge he asks Spock about the computations and Spock is working on them. Meanwhile, Kirk has Uhura open a channel to Starfleet Command.

"We're going to attempt time travel. "

Meanwhile the situation on Earth is worsening. A faint transmission believed to be from Admiral Kirk is received and Cartwright orders it put through. Kirk advises Starfleet of their analysis of the probe's signal, tells them that Spock's theory is that only the extinct humpback whale can properly answer the probe and they are going to try time travel. At that moment, Kirk's signal degrades. Cartwright orders the transmission picked back up, but just then the windows behind him shatter and the wind and rain begin to blow into Starfleet Headquarters. At this point, all anyone in the command center can do is wait.

On the Bounty , Spock has completed his calculations and informs Kirk their target is the late 20th century . Unfortunately he can't be more precise because of the limits of the equipment aboard the Bounty . Additionally he had to program some of the variables for his time travel computations from memory. When McCoy worriedly recites a line from Hamlet , " Angels and ministers of grace, defend us, " and Spock recognizes it as act one, scene four, Kirk establishes his faith in Spock's memory and has the ship prepared for warp speed. Kirk orders Chekov to raise the shields and then tells Sulu to engage the Bounty 's warp drive. " May fortune favor the foolish, " Kirk says as the Bounty engages to warp speed.

The Bounty slingshots

The ship slowly accelerates up over warp nine and then as they get closer and closer to the Sun, the ship begins to shake seriously between the effects of high warp and the high solar gravity. A console next to Uhura blows out, but she says she's ok. At the last moment, Kirk orders Sulu to kick in the last of the thruster power, and the Bounty successfully performs the slingshot effect around the Sun . For a brief time, the crew is unconscious as Kirk dreams of their voices and faces (quotes from later are heard here, including Scott saying " Admiral, there be whales here! "), of a whale, and eventually of a person falling from space, through Earth's atmosphere and landing in a lake in a tranquil forest, with a sound of what may be a ship landing.

20th century [ ]

20th century Earth

Kirk awakens to find ship and crew seemingly still intact. He rouses Sulu from his unconsciousness and Sulu finds the braking thrusters have successfully fired. When the viewer is activated Spock determines by the atmosphere's pollution content they have successfully arrived in the latter half of the 20th century. He then reminds Kirk they may already be visible to the Earth's tracking devices of the time and so Kirk orders the cloaking device engaged. The Bounty crosses over the terminator into night and Spock homes in on the west coast of North America . There, Uhura finds a whale song , but is confused to find it coming directly from San Francisco . Just then Scott calls needing to see Kirk immediately.

Dead in the water

Scotty reports a new problem, informing Kirk and Spock the Klingon dilithium crystals have been drained by the time travel and are de-crystallizing. Unfortunately, even in the 23rd century, re-crystallization is not possible and Scott gives them 24 hours before they lose all power and become visible – and dead in the water. Spock theorizes that because of the use of nuclear fission reactors in this time period, they could construct a device to collect some high-energy radioactive photons safely which could then be injected into the dilithium chamber which, in theory, could cause crystalline restructure. Spock then points out that nuclear power was widely used on Naval vessels.

Mission briefing

From his seat at the Bounty 's helm, Sulu recognizes San Francisco and tells everyone he was born there. McCoy remarks that it really doesn't look all that different from the San Francisco of their time. Kirk instructs Sulu to set the ship down in Golden Gate Park . He then assigns everyone to teams, Uhura and Chekov will take care of the photon collection. McCoy, Sulu, and Scott are assigned to find materials to construct a whale tank aboard the ship; and Spock and Kirk are to attempt to find the two humpback whales they detected in San Francisco. Kirk then tells everyone to be very careful as most of the local customs will doubtless be surprising to the time travelers. Everyone then looks at Spock and Kirk says " It's a foregone conclusion none of these people have ever seen an extraterrestrial before. " With that, Spock tears a piece of fabric from his robe and wraps it around his head like a headband which covers his eyebrows and ears. Kirk calls late 20th century culture extremely primitive and paranoid. Chekov is to issue everyone a phaser and communicator but the crew is to maintain radio silence except in emergencies, and anyone in uniform should remove their rank insignia. Kirk firmly tells everyone that they should do their job and get out of there as their own world is waiting for them to save it, if they can.

The Bounty lands in Golden Gate Park , accidentally crushing a trash can (as well as indenting the surrounding ground) under its invisible landing gear, and when the hatch opens, it scares two sanitation workers, who drive out of the area leaving trash behind. Oblivious to this, the Enterprise crew continues onward, Uhura gives the coordinates of the whales to Kirk who quips, " Everybody remember where we parked! "

"Well, double dumbass on you!"

In San Francisco, the crew has trouble adjusting, from watching out for traffic – to which Kirk swears back at a taxi driver – to Kirk's realization that they're going to need some money , being that Earth of then still saw it as a driving force. Kirk and Spock go to an antique shop to sell the glasses McCoy earlier gave Kirk on his last birthday . Kirk receives one hundred dollars (wondering aloud if that's a lot) and then divides it among the teams. He and Spock walk down the streets of San Francisco and Kirk wonders how they're going to find the whales. Spock finds a city map and starts to work out the coordinates on the map. Kirk sees an ad for the Cetacean Institute and the two attempt to get on a bus , only to be tossed back off because they don't have "exact change" and don't know what the term means, either.

In another part of town, McCoy, Scott, and Sulu walk the streets. McCoy wonders how they'll make the whale tank. Scott says he'd normally do it with transparent aluminum but he and Sulu both realize the material doesn't exist yet, so they'll have to make do with a 20th century equivalent. Just then they notice a mural ad on a wall for the Yellow Pages .

"Nu-cle-ar… wessels."

Elsewhere, Chekov and Uhura have also been perusing the phone book and have found the address for the Alameda Naval Base . Unfortunately, their luck in getting those directions isn't entirely successful with people (including one SFPD police officer ) completely ignoring them and a lady telling them the ships are in Alameda , which they already knew but they don't know how to get to Alameda.

Spock takes a dip

Kirk and Spock finally find a bus and, after Spock renders a punk rocker unconscious with a nerve pinch , they arrive at the Cetacean Institute and join in with a tour group which is being led by Dr. Gillian Taylor , a guide and whale lover. Taylor escorts the tour group to the Institute's pride and joy, the only two humpbacks in captivity, named George and Gracie . Kirk comments on the amazing stroke of luck in finding a male and a female humpback in a contained space, they can beam them up together and be on the way home. Spock jumps into the whale tank and performs a mind meld with one of the whales. During Spock's mind meld, he is noticed by a completely astonished Kirk and then an elderly lady in the tour group, which raises Taylor's ire and she and Kirk run back up to the tank and she confronts Spock. Spock tries to explain that he was trying to communicate. Kirk attempts to act as if he's there to help Taylor, but when Spock tells him that if they think the whales are theirs to do with as they please, then they'd be as guilty as those who caused the whales' extinction. At that point, Taylor throws both of them out, threatening to call the police as Spock was messing with her tanks and whales. Spock says the whales like her very much, but they are not " the hell "her" whales, " and when she asks if they told him that, he admits they did.

Kirk and Spock review

As they walk away, Kirk asks about Spock's mind meld. Spock says the whales are not happy with how Humans have treated their species, which Kirk finds understandable and asks if they will help. Spock says he believes he was successful in communicating the Enterprise crew's mission.

Dr. Taylor is outraged by their actions, but later tries to relax with the whales and tells them the intruders didn't mean them any harm. Just then her boss, Bob Briggs , steps up and asks how Gillian is doing and she admits she's very upset. Briggs sympathizes but points out again that they endanger the whales' lives by keeping them at the Institute and they take the same risk letting them go. He tries to calm her by reminding her that they've never been proven to be as intelligent as Humans, but Taylor doesn't buy it, angrily saying she doesn't limit her compassion for someone based on an intelligence estimate.

The nuclear wessel

Chekov and Uhura finally find the location of a nuclear vessel. Chekov begins attempting to make contact with Kirk as Uhura locates the exact coordinates of the reactor. Once Kirk is reached, Chekov reports they found the ship which pleases Kirk, and then Chekov tells Kirk "And Admiral… it is the Enterprise ." Kirk acknowledges and asks the plan. Chekov says they'll beam in that night, get the photons and beam out before anyone can ever know they were there. Kirk approves the plan and tells them to keep him informed.

"I love Italian… and so do you."

Just then Taylor approaches in her truck and agrees to give Kirk and Spock a ride back to San Francisco. Taylor asks Kirk where he's from and he says Iowa . Then asking what Spock meant about the whales' extinction, Kirk says he meant if things go as they are, the humpbacks will disappear forever, but Taylor recounts what Spock said exactly, including referring to the whales as already extinct. Kirk promises that they have nothing to do with the military teaching whales to retrieve torpedoes or "dip shit stuff" like that. Spock then blurts out the fact that Gracie is pregnant , which causes Taylor to slam on her brakes, stopping the truck in amazement because this is something nobody outside the institute knows. She demands to know how Spock knows this. Kirk says he can't say but if she gives them a chance, he'll promise they're not in the military and have no harmful intentions toward the whales. He then says that they may be able to help them in ways she can't imagine. Taylor figures she probably won't believe it either. Kirk and Spock manage to agree that she's not catching them at their best. Kirk then suggests that they all go out to dinner and discuss this further. Taylor asks if they like Italian food and Kirk and Spock banter back and forth for a moment before Kirk can get out that he loves Italian and he tells Spock he does too.

"Professor Scott" and his assistant

In the meantime, Scott and his team have managed to find a manufacturer of large plexiglass walls – Plexicorp – and he and McCoy masquerade as scientists from Edinburgh who are to tour the plant – unbeknownst to the plant's head, Dr. Nichols . Scott makes a scene, but is given a tour of the plant by Nichols and Scott, playing the role, asks if McCoy (his "assistant") can accompany. Nichols says he can and as he commandeers a forklift for them to ride on, McCoy tells Scott " Don't bury yourself in the part! "

Sulu approaches a helicopter pilot and begins speaking to him about the old Huey 204 helicopter on which the pilot is working. The pilot asks Sulu if he's flown any and Sulu says he's flown "here and there." Sulu then tells the pilot that he flew something similar during his Academy days, and the pilot recognizes that the helicopter must be old to him which Sulu admits, but says it's still interesting. He then asks if he can ask a few questions and the pilot agrees to answer them.

Altering the future or preserving history?

Meanwhile, at Plexicorp, after the tour, Scott tells Nichols that they have a very fine plant here and Nichols compliments Scott's impressive knowledge of engineering skill. Scott then says he sees Nichols still working with polymers . Nichols asks what else he'd be using. Scott asks how big a piece of the plexiglass need to be at the measurements they'll need for the Bounty 's cargo bay , holding the pressure of the water that will be inside. Nichols says that a six inch piece would do it. Scott then supposes he shows Nichols a way to make a wall that would do the same thing but only be one inch thick. At first Nichols thinks Scott is joking but McCoy suggest Scott make use of Nichols' computer and he obliges. Although Scott mistakes the old computer for one he can talk to, when Nichols finally tells him to just use the keyboard , Scott does so and quickly comes up with the formula for transparent aluminum. Nichols says it'd take years to work out the dynamics of the matrix, but McCoy tells him he'll be richer than he can dream. When Nichols asks what Scott wants, McCoy excuses them and they go over to the corner. McCoy tells Scott that if they give Nichols the formula, they alter the future . Scott then asks how it is they know Nichols didn't invent transparent aluminum? McCoy agrees to Scott's logic and they go off to make the deal.

Out to dinner

Kirk and Taylor bring Spock back to Golden Gate Park. She asks if Spock won't change his mind about dinner and Spock wonders if there's a problem with the one he has. Kirk says that's a little joke and then tells Spock goodbye. Taylor asks how Spock knew that Gracie is pregnant when nobody knows that. Spock says that Gracie knows she's pregnant and he'll be here in the park. Taylor asks Kirk if Spock is going to just hang out around the bushes and Kirk just shrugs and says it's his way. As Gillian and Kirk drive away, Spock is beamed back aboard the Bounty . Kirk and Taylor are at a pizza restaurant and Kirk allows Gillian to order for them. He then asks how she ended up as a cetacean biologist. She says she is just lucky and a sucker for hard luck cases, mentioning that while she'll never see the whales again after they're released, they'll be tagged with radio transmitters so they can keep track of them. She then asks why Kirk hangs around with " that ditzy guy who knows that Gracie's pregnant and calls you admiral. " Just then, Kirk's Klingon communicator beeps. He tries to ignore it, but it keeps beeping and Taylor notices, calling his communicator a pocket pager and then asks Kirk if he's a doctor. Kirk finally answers it and feigns irritation, saying he said not to call him. Scott is the one calling, he apologizes for the interruption but he thought Kirk would want to know he's beaming Chekov and Uhura in now. Kirk says to tell them to set their phasers on stun and wishes them good luck. He then kills the transmission. Taylor asks for an explanation, Kirk asks when the whales are leaving. Gillian asks who he is, he asks who she thinks he is. Taylor then speculates he's from outer space. Kirk reiterates he's from Iowa, but that he works in outer space. Taylor says she was sure outer space would play a role sooner or later. Kirk then decides to tell her the truth to try and gain Taylor's cooperation in getting the whales. Kirk reveals that he is, by her calendar, from the late 23rd century and he's come back in time to bring two humpback whales with him so they can repopulate the species in his century. Taylor is enthusiastic about getting the details (while not believing a word of it). Kirk asks again when the whales are leaving. Taylor decides to go ahead and tell Kirk that Gracie is indeed very pregnant and that at noon the next day, the whales will be shipped out. At that point, Kirk jumps up and tells Taylor they have to leave just as the pizza arrives. Gillian asks if they can have it to go and then asks Kirk if they use money in the 23rd century and Kirk confirms they don't.

Sneaking aboard

At the same time, aboard the Enterprise , Chekov and Uhura hide briefly from a guard and his dog. They then finish their way to the reactor and Chekov attaches the collector to the reactor. When Uhura asks how long this is going to take, Chekov says it will depend on how much shielding there is between them and the actual reactor.

Back at Golden Gate Park, Taylor tells Kirk that was the briefest dinner she's ever had and the makes it clear she doesn't believe Kirk's story at all. Kirk asks what the whale's radio transmitter's frequency is, but Taylor refuses to tell him, citing that it's classified information. Kirk then tells Taylor that he is here to take two humpbacks to the 23rd century and if he has to do so, he will go to the open sea to get them but he'd much rather have hers as it'd be better for him, for Taylor, and for the whales. Gillian once again implores Kirk to tell her who he really is, but he ignores the question and asks her to think about this but not to take too much time and if Gillian changes her mind about helping them, he'll be right there in the park. As Taylor drives off, Kirk walks toward where the Bounty is parked and Taylor hears the transporter beam taking Kirk aboard and sees the light in the corner of her eye. She looks back and sees Kirk gone and drives on, puzzled.

Aboard the Bounty , Kirk asks for an update. Spock says the tank will be finished by morning and there has been no word yet from Chekov and Uhura since beam-in. Kirk grows frustrated that they are so close with two whales that will work great for them if they don't let them slip from their grasp. Spock says there is a possibility then their mission will fail. Kirk reminds Spock he's talking about the future of everyone on Earth and as he walks away angrily ask Spock that as he's half-Human does he not have any feelings about that? McCoy and Scott look at Spock but he does not answer and simply stands there contemplating Kirk's words.

Wrong place, wrong time

Chekov and Uhura continue to collect the photons. On the Enterprise bridge, their attempts have been noticed in the form of a power drain evidently coming from somewhere aboard and the Enterprise crew begins investigating. Meanwhile, in the reactor area, Chekov and Uhura have gained enough photons and Uhura calls for transport but the signal is very weak. At that same time, the Enterprise crew confirms the power drain and the duty officer calls the commanding officer and reports intruders aboard. Uhura finally makes contact with Scott but as power is down to minimum, he'll have to transport them out one at a time. Chekov sends Uhura first with the collector. Uhura transports out safely with the collector, but due to radiation, Chekov's beam-out fails, and as soldiers converge on the reactor area, Chekov continues to try to contact Scott but his signal fails and he is discovered and taken prisoner. Chekov is held for interrogation. Chekov kept his Starfleet ID with him which is discovered by the investigator. He asks Chekov why he is on the Enterprise and what the communicator and phaser are for. Chekov simply reiterates the truth about being a commander in Starfleet and gives his rank and serial number. The investigator and his aide see that he's obviously Russian but the main investigator says about Chekov " …of course he's a Russkie, but he's a retard or something! " While they're distracted, Chekov picks up the phaser and tries to hold the investigators saying if they don't lie on the floor he'll have to stun them. The investigator tells him to go ahead and do so. Chekov apologizes and tries, but the radiation has disabled his phaser. He attempts to escape captivity but just before he can get off the Enterprise , he falls off a ledge landing in the ships elevator shafts and is injured. The Marines who were chasing Chekov call for a corpsman.

On the Bounty Uhura is desperately searching for any sign of Chekov. Kirk comes on the bridge and asks if she's found anything and Uhura says she should never have left Chekov behind, but Kirk tells her to keep looking and that she did what was necessary. He then contacts Scott and asks for a progress report on the recrystallization. Scott says it'll be well into the next day but Kirk says that's not going to be good enough and he needs to speed it up. Scott acknowledges and mutters to Spock how Kirk is in "a wee bit of a snit." Spock agrees and offers that Kirk is a man of deep feelings and Scott wonders what else is new.

That same day, Taylor arrives at the Institute and lets herself in. She then heads back to the aquarium where she is shocked to see the whales gone. She runs back inside, horrified, only to be intercepted by Briggs who tells her that to avoid a mob scene with the press they were taken away the night before and they felt it would be easier for her. In tears and anger, Taylor slaps Briggs hard across the face and calls him " You son of a bitch! " before storming out of the Institute, getting back in her truck and speeding back to the park in hopes of finding Kirk.

Desperately seeking Kirk

" Hello Alice. Welcome to Wonderland. "

Sulu meanwhile, has the helicopter he was speaking to the pilot about earlier and is using it to transport the large pieces of plexiglass to Golden Gate Park to be installed aboard the Bounty . Just then, Taylor arrives in the park and begins yelling for Kirk, when she sees the helicopter lower itself down and then she sees a man seemingly appear waist up out of thin air. After being stunned for a brief moment, Taylor begins running toward that spot still screaming for Kirk when she bumps into something invisible. She stands and feels along the cloaked Bounty 's landing gear, screaming for Kirk still and saying she needs his help as the whales are gone. Scott notices her and yells down at Kirk that they have a problem. Kirk sees Taylor screaming for him on a monitor and then transports her aboard. When Taylor materializes in the transporter chamber Kirk tells her " Hello Alice , welcome to Wonderland . " Taylor is amazed then that what Kirk had told her before was true. Kirk shows her the whale tank and she tells him that the whales were taken the night before without her knowledge. She says that while they're in Alaska by this point, they're tagged, as she said, so they can track them. Kirk says that they can't go anywhere just yet. When Taylor wonders what kind of a ship this is, Kirk says it's a ship with a missing man. Just then Spock appears to tell Kirk full power has been restored. He then greets Gillian and welcomes her aboard and Taylor can only nod back at Spock, seeing him without the headband for the first time and his ears and eyebrows are exposed to her. Just then an upset Uhura calls Kirk and says she's found Chekov in Mercy Hospital . Chekov is going into emergency surgery and he is not expected to survive. McCoy comes up and tells Kirk he's got to be able to go to the hospital and begs Kirk not to leave Chekov in the hands of 20th century medicine. Spock comes up and tells Kirk he believes McCoy to be correct and they must help Chekov. Upon questioning from Kirk, Spock concedes that it is not the logical thing to do, but it is the Human thing to do. Kirk asks if Gillian can help them. She asks how and McCoy says they'll have to look like physicians.

Unexpected guests

In the hospital, McCoy, Kirk, and Dr. Taylor begin their search for Chekov. While McCoy walks down a hall he passes by an elderly woman who is in serious pain. He stops and asks what's wrong with her and she says it's kidney dialysis . McCoy mutters to himself about this being the Dark Ages . He reaches into his bag, gives the woman a pill and tells her to swallow it and if there's any problem for her to call him, then very kindly touches her face. She takes the pill and he walks away. Kirk and Taylor finally locate Chekov and after meeting up with McCoy, the three grab a stretcher, put Gillian on it, cover her up, and run for the elevator. They reach the next floor and when they try to go into the operating room where Chekov is in, they're stopped by hospital security. Taylor screams as if in pain and McCoy tells the police guards that the woman has " Immediate postprandial upper abdominal distention! " The guards let them in, Kirk asks McCoy what he said she had and he says cramps. Just then, McCoy steps up to the operating table before the attending surgeon can start drilling on Chekov's head. The surgeon demands to know who they are and then what sort of device McCoy is using. McCoy diagnoses Chekov's problem as tearing of the middle meningeal artery. The surgeon asks if McCoy's degree is in dentistry. McCoy gets angry and asks how the surgeon would explain a slow respiratory rate and pulse with coma and he says fundoscopic examination , which McCoy argues is useless in this case. The surgeon says the pressure can be relieved by a simple evacuation of the expanding epidural hematoma. McCoy passionately tells the surgeon that the artery must be repaired and you can't do that by drilling holes into the patient's head. He then asks the surgeon to " put away [his] butcher knives, " and let him save Chekov before it is too late. The surgeon threatens to have the new arrivals removed, but Kirk takes his phaser out and moves the surgeon and the nurses into a small room where he melts the lock. McCoy heals Chekov's injury with a cortical stimulator . When Chekov comes to, Kirk asks him his name and rank. Chekov recites his name and gives his rank after looking at Kirk as admiral.

McCoy, Kirk, and Taylor come out with Chekov on the stretcher. The guards ask how the patient is doing and Kirk says he'll make it. But the guards realize they came in with a woman, to which Kirk simply mutters " One little mistake! " The guards run in, see the surgeon and others are trapped, and are informed the patient has escaped.

"Surprise!"

Realizing their cover has been blown, the three start running the gurney down the hospital corridors with the police guards after them. They run around several corners and pass the elderly woman to whom McCoy gave the pill, who is happily telling everyone that a doctor gave her a pill and she grew a new kidney, which has all the hospital doctors and nurses stunned. They continue running and when Chekov tries to look up, Kirk puts his head back down on the gurney. They finally run into an elevator and the police officers run down the stairs intending to catch them at the next level but the four have disappeared from the hospital and have been beamed to safety while the elevator was in motion. When Kirk asks where the whales might be, Gillian says she can show them if there's a chart on board. But all Kirk wants is the radio frequency. Taylor wants to go with Kirk but Kirk says their next stop is the 23rd century but Taylor, saying she has no one there, insists on helping the whales but Kirk won't hear of it. He then asks her again for the radio frequency and Taylor tells Kirk it's 401 megahertz . Kirk thanks her for everything and then orders himself beamed up but Taylor jumps into his arms just as he's being beamed aboard.

On a whale hunt of their own

On the Bounty , Kirk and Taylor come on the bridge just as Scott calls Spock to tell him that he's ready. Sulu is taking a few moments to readjust to the Bounty 's helm console as he got used to the Huey. Kirk accuses Taylor of tricking him but Taylor says Kirk will need her. He tells Taylor to sit down and orders Sulu and Chekov to take off. The Bounty , still cloaked, lifts off from Golden Gate Park just as a couple of joggers are running by and they get blown over by the dust and wind. The Bounty lifts up into the skies above San Francisco and head toward Alaska. As power settles in and stabilizes, Kirk orders Uhura to start scanning for the whales on the frequency Gillian gave him. When they reach the proper altitude, Kirk orders full impulse power which Sulu estimates should get them to the Bering Sea in twelve minutes. Scotty reports the whale tanks are secured but this will be the first time he's ever beamed up four hundred tons before. When Kirk asks why it's that much, Scotty reminds Kirk they're having to beam aboard not just the whales, but the water around them as well. Kirk then checks with Uhura but the whales haven't been located yet.

The Bounty over the whalers

At that same time, McCoy checks on Spock who appears to be concerned. Spock says that he has tried to use the calculations he used to get them to the 20th century as a reference when calculating to return to the exact moment they left the 23rd unfortunately there are some issues with the calculations that just aren't working out. McCoy says Spock will have to take his best guess. Spock says guessing isn't in his nature and McCoy says that no one is perfect. Just then, Taylor recognizes the whales' signal and Uhura confirms. She detects another signal, which is determined to be a whaling ship. Kirk orders the Bounty into a full power descent and they arrive over the whales just in time to prevent the whaler's harpoon from hitting one of them. When the harpoon bounces off seemingly nothing the whalers are confused. Then the Bounty decloaks over the whaling ship causing the whalers to panic and turn away from the whales in terror. Scotty asks for ten seconds to redirect power from all over the ship to the transporter. Scotty then beams the whales and the surrounding water into the whale tank. The tank creaks, but holds the whales and water securely. Scotty tells Kirk they have full power and as the Bounty leaves Earth behind and enters warp, Kirk takes Taylor to see the whales. But first, he stops and asks Spock about his time calculations and because Scotty couldn't give Spock exact figures he will have to make a guess. This statement surprises Kirk, who calls it extraordinary. When he and Gillian leave, Spock thinks Kirk is confused but McCoy tells him that means Kirk feels better about Spock's guesses than he would most anyone else's facts. Spock then understands it as a compliment and endeavors to make the best guess he can.

"There be whales here!"

At the whale tank, Kirk quotes a line from "Whales Weep Not," which Taylor recognizes. Kirk then notes the irony of how in the past when men were killing the whales, they were destroying their own future. Scotty notes the whales seem happy to see Gillian and hopes she likes the tank. She calls it a miracle but Scotty says that's still to come and Kirk explains that their chances of getting home aren't great and she might have been better off staying where she belonged. Taylor says she belongs with the whales as she is a whale biologist. And suppose they do make it to the 23rd century, who there knows anything about humpback whales? Kirk admits her point there. Just then the ship shudders and Scotty reports a power fall-off. Kirk tells Gillian to stay with the whales and heads to the bridge.

Altering the trajectory

The ship is at high warp approaching the sun and Scott reports that warp 7.9 is the best he can do. Spock reports that not only can they not make breakaway speed, they might not even escape the sun's gravity so he shall try to compensate by altering their trajectory. Spock then requests thruster control which Kirk grants. At the right moment, Spock orders the thrusters fired and the Bounty again disappears behind the Sun.

Abandoning ship

Everyone wakes up again and Kirk asks if the thrusters fired. Spock reports they did and Kirk wonders where they are. Just then, he hears the drone of the probe as the Bounty begins to lose power. As the ship's systems shut down, the Bounty plunges through the Earth's atmosphere and when McCoy wonders where they might be Kirk can only tell him " Out of control and blind as a bat. " At Starfleet Command, the original transmission from Kirk to Starfleet fades. Cartwright calls for it to be restored just as the window shatters as it did before. This time Sarek points at something which is revealed to be the Bounty , and Cartwright notes it's heading right for the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bounty sails under the bridge and crash lands in San Francisco Bay . Kirk orders the hatch blown . He looks outside, sees it's the right place and now the task at hand is to get the whales out before the Bounty sinks. Kirk orders everyone to abandon ship. When he can't reach Scott, Kirk runs toward engineering after telling Spock to ensure the safety of everyone else. Kirk runs down toward the whale tank and manages to force the door open, and pulls Scott and Taylor out of the tank area which is almost completely submerged. Taylor notes the whales are trapped and if they're not freed, they'll drown. Scott says the bay doors have no power and that the explosive override is underwater. Kirk sends them out through the bridge hatch and he swims underwater to the explosive override and pulls it open, knocking the hull of the Bounty open and allowing Kirk and the whales to swim out of the ship. Kirk reaches the surface just in time and is pulled up to safety by Spock and Taylor. After a few moments the whales are seen swimming. Meanwhile, the probe keeps calling for the whales and everyone at Starfleet just watches and waits as the power completely fails.

Whale songs

Having oriented himself pointing straight downward, George begins to sing back to the probe, to which it also orients itself downward to a vertical position before replying. After a few minutes of communication with the whales the probe deactivates its scanner and the weather on Earth begins to calm. Power begins to be restored all around the planet and as the probe leaves the way it came, it passes Spacedock and power is restored aboard the station. As the skies clear over Earth, the Enterprise crew and Gillian celebrate at the Bounty 's crash site.

Vulcan overboard

Kirk pulls Taylor in the water and everyone else except Spock jumps in. Kirk gets up on the ship and manages to toss Spock in, going with him as well. The crew celebrates the end of the crisis in the water as a Starfleet shuttle heads toward them to pick them up. Having saved the Earth, George and Gracie head towards the Golden Gate Bridge for open water to explore the new world they've entered, free from the threat of Human hunters.

Standing trial

However, Kirk and crew still have to face court martial. In the Federation Council Chambers, the President calls the trial to order. Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura are brought in from where they were being held, only to be joined by Spock, who was sitting in the Council with his father. The president reminds Spock that he does not stand accused, but Spock intends to stand with his shipmates and the president accepts. He then lists the charges and specifications against the Enterprise crew: conspiracy (which is directed at Bones), assault on Federation officers (which is directed at all of them), theft of Federation property (the starship Enterprise ) (which is directed at Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Sulu, and Chekov), sabotage of the USS Excelsior (which is directed at Scotty), willful destruction of Federation property (again, the USS Enterprise ) (which is directed at Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov), and disobeying direct orders of the Starfleet commander (which is directed at Kirk). The president asks Kirk for his plea, and on behalf of all the officers, Kirk announces he is authorized to plead guilty. The president then says that because of "certain mitigating circumstances," though, all charges are dropped, except for one, and that charge: disobeying a superior officer, is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. The president asks Kirk if he recognizes the need for keeping discipline in any chain of command and Kirk tells the president he does. The president announces that Kirk's punishment is that he will be reduced in rank to captain, and as a consequence of that rank, he is given the duty for which he has demonstrated unswerving ability: the command of a starship. The council chamber begins to cheer until the President silences them and he then tells Kirk that he and his crew have saved Earth from its own short-sightedness and the people of Earth are forever in their debt. At that point, the council chambers breaks into cheering and applause, with people coming down to congratulate the Enterprise crew.

"See ya around the galaxy."

Kirk sees Taylor and she says how happy she is for him and thanks Kirk before starting to leave. Kirk stops her and asks where she's going. Taylor says since she's got three hundred years of catchup learning to do, she's going on board a science vessel. Kirk asks if this means goodbye, especially as one might say back in the 20th century, he doesn't even have Gillian's telephone number and asks how he'll find her. Taylor says she'll find him and kisses him goodbye. " See you around the galaxy, " she says just before departing.

Father and son

Meanwhile Spock has caught up with Sarek and as his father is planning to return to Vulcan, he wants to take his leave of Spock. Spock thanks Sarek for the effort he put out for them, Sarek says there was no effort as Spock is his son and in any case, he was very impressed with Spock's performance during the crisis. Sarek then recalls how he initially opposed Spock's entrance into Starfleet, saying that his judgment may have been incorrect. Sarek says that Spock's associates are people of good character. Spock tells Sarek they are his friends. Sarek accepts that and then asks if Spock has a message for his mother. Spock says he does, and to tell Amanda that he feels fine. He raises his hand in the Vulcan salute and tells his father to " Live long and prosper, " and Sarek reciprocates. Then Spock turns from Sarek, who starts to leave Council chambers en route to Vulcan, and Spock rejoins Kirk and they walk out of the chambers themselves.

"My friends…we've come home."

Flying through spacedock in a travel pod , following an orbit shuttle leading them, the crew heads toward their new assignment. McCoy, saying the bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe, expects they will get a freighter, while Sulu hopes for Excelsior . When Scott asks why Sulu would want "that bucket of bolts " Kirk simply tells Scott that " A ship is a ship ," to which Scott begrudgingly agrees.

" Let's see what she's got. "

From the forward window, the crew notes the Excelsior come into view, but, rather than docking with it, the travel pod continues over it revealing their true destination – a Constitution II -class starship, USS Enterprise , with the primary hull proudly displaying its Starfleet registry : NCC-1701-A. The crew beams as Kirk joyfully announces " My friends… we've come home. " As the new Enterprise departs the Spacedock, the crew takes up their familiar positions on the bridge. With eager anticipation, Sulu informs the captain that the helm is ready. As Kirk takes the center seat, he gives the order: " Let's see what she's got! " With a flash, the Enterprise engages her warp drive, ready to once again boldly go where no man has gone before.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Behold the quintessential devil in these matters! James T. Kirk, renegade and terrorist! Not only is he responsible for the murder of a Klingon crew, or the theft of a Klingon vessel! See now the real plot and intentions. Even as this Federation was negotiating a peace treaty with us, Kirk was secretly developing the Genesis torpedo, conceived by Kirk's son and test-detonated by the Admiral himself! And the result of this awesome energy was euphemistically called the Genesis planet, a secret base from which to launch the annihilation of the Klingon people!! "

" We demand the extradition of Kirk! We demand justice! " " Klingon justice is a unique point of view, Mr. President. Genesis was perfectly named the creation of life, not death. The Klingons shed the first blood while attempting to possess its secrets. " " Vulcans are well known as the intellectual puppets of this Federation! "

" Your vessel did destroy USS Grissom . Your men did kill Kirk's son . Do you deny these events? " " We deny nothing. We have the right to preserve our race! " " Do you have the right to commit murder? "

" Mr. Ambassador, with all respect, the Council's deliberations are over. " " Then Kirk goes unpunished? " " Admiral Kirk has been charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations. " " Starfleet regulations?! That's outrageous!! Remember this well. There shall be no peace as long as Kirk lives! "

"You pompous ass!"

" You'd think they could at least send us a ship. It's bad enough to be court-martialed and to have to spend the rest of our lives mining borite, but to have to go home in this Klingon flea trap? " " We could learn a thing or two about this flea trap. It's got a cloaking device that cost us a lot. " " I just wish we could cloak the stench! "

" Emergency channel 0130. Code red. It has been three hours since our contact with the alien probe. All attempts at regaining power have failed. " " It's using forms of energy we do not understand. " " Can you protect us? " " We are launching everything we have. " " Our systems engineers are trying to deploy a makeshift solar-sail. We have high hopes that this will, if successful, generate power to keep us alive. "

" Cloaking device now available on all flight modes. " " I'm impressed! That's a lot of work for a short voyage. " " We are in an enemy wessel, sir. I did not wish to be shot down on the way to our own funeral. " " Good thinking. "

" …and Admiral, I have replaced the Klingon food packs. They were giving me a sour stomach. " " Oh, is that what that was? "

" Saavik… this is goodbye. Thank you. " " Sir, I have not had the opportunity to tell you about your son. David died most bravely. He saved Spock. He saved us all. I thought you should know. " (to Spock) " Good day, Captain Spock. May your journey be free of incident. " " Live long and prosper, Lieutenant. "

" I don't know if you've got the whole picture, but he isn't exactly working on all thrusters. " " It'll come back to him. "

" I may have carried your soul but I sure couldn't fill your shoes. " " My shoes? " " ...Forget it. "

" Come on, Spock. It's me, McCoy! You really have gone where no man has gone before! "

" You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death? " " Forgive me, Doctor. I am receiving a number of distress calls. " " I don't doubt it! "

" There are other forms of intelligence on Earth, Doctor. Only Human arrogance would assume the message must be meant for man. "

" Are you planning to take a swim? " " Off the deep end, Mister Scott. "

" You're proposing that we go back in time, find humpback whales, then bring them forward in time, drop 'em off, and hope to hell they tell this probe what to go do with itself?! " " That's the general idea. " " Well, that's crazy! " " Got a better idea? Now's the time. "

" Angels and ministers of grace, defend us. "

" May fortune favor the foolish. "

" Did you see that? " " No, and neither did you, so shut up! "

" Everybody remember where we parked! "

" Why don't you watch where you're going, you dumb-ass! " " Well, a double dumb-ass on you! "

" It's a miracle these people ever got out of the twentieth century. "

" The rest of you, break up. You look like a cadet review. "

" Weren't those a present from Doctor McCoy? " " And they will be again. That's the beauty of it. "

" I'll give you one hundred dollars. " " Is that a lot? "

" What does it mean, exact change? "

" Excuse me, sir. Can you direct me to the naval base in Alameda? It's where they keep the nuclear wessels . " (no response) " Nu-cle-ar wes-sels. "

" Ooh, I don't know if I know the answer to that. I think it's across the bay. In Alameda." " That's what I said, Alameda. I know that. " " But where is Alameda!? "

" Excuse me! Excuse me! Would you mind stopping that noise? (punk rocker turns up boombox louder) EXCUSE ME! WOULD YOU MIND STOPPING THAT DAMN NOISE?! (punk rocker flips Kirk off) "

" Your use of language has altered since we arrived, Admiral. It is currently laced with... shall we say, more colorful metaphors." " You mean the profanity. " " Yes. " " Well, that's simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays any attention to you unless you swear every other word. You'll find it in all the literature of the period. " " Such as? " " The collective works of Jacqueline Susann. The novels of Harold Robbins. " " Ah. The giants. "

" To hunt a species to extinction is not logical. " " Whoever said the Human race was logical? "

" They like you very much, but they are not the hell your whales. " " I … I suppose they told you that, huh? " " The hell they did. " " Right. "

" If we play our cards right, we may be able to find out when those whales are leaving. " " How will playing cards help? "

" Very little point in my trying to explain. " " Yeah, I'll buy that. What about him? " " Him? He's harmless. Back in the sixties he was part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. I think he had a little too much LDS . " " LDS? "

" I have a photographic memory. I see words. "

" Are you sure it isn't the time for a colorful metaphor? "

" You're aren't one of those guys from the military, are you, trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes, or some dipshit stuff like that? " " No, ma'am. No dipshit. "

" Gracie is pregnant. " (Gillian suddenly stops her truck) " Alright, who are you, and don't jerk me around anymore. I wanna know how you know that? "

" You're not exactly catching us at our best. " " That much is certain. "

" I love Italian. " (Kirk looks at Spock) " And so do you. " " Yes. "

" I find it hard to believe that I've come millions of miles! " " Thousands! Thousands! " " Thousands of miles on an invited tour of inspection! "

" Don't bury yourself in the part! "

" Hello, computer. "

" NOT NOW, MADELINE!!! "

" You realize, of course, if we give him the formula, we're altering the future. " " Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing? "

" Are you sure you won't change your mind? " " Is there something wrong with the one I have? "

" Wait a minute! How did you know Gracie's pregnant? Nobody knows that. " " Gracie does. "

" Don't tell me. You're from outer space. " " No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space. "

" Okay, the truth. I am from, what on your calendar, would be the 23rd Century. I have come back in time to retrieve a pair of humpback whales in an attempt to... repopulate the species. " " Well, why didn't you just say so? Why all the coy disguises? "

" You play games with me, mister, and you're through! " " I am? May I go now? "

" All right, make nice. Give us the ray gun. " " I warn you, I will have to stun you. " " Go ahead. Stun me. " " I'm very sorry, but... " (Chekov uses the phaser but it doesn't work, making only a weak noise) " Must be the radiation. "

" They left last night. We didn't want a mob scene with the press; it wouldn't have been good for them. Besides, I thought it would be easier on you this way. " " You sent them away without even letting me say goodbye?! You son of a bitch!! " (slaps him hard)

" Hello, Alice. Welcome to Wonderland. "

" Is that the logical thing to do, Spock? " " No, but it is the Human thing to do. "

" Well, what's wrong with you? " " Kidney dialysis. " " "Dialysis"? What is this, the Dark Ages? (McCoy gives her a pill out of his bag) Now you swallow that. And if you have any more problems, just call me. "

" This woman has immediate post-prandial upper abdominal distension! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! " " What did you say she's got? " " Cramps. "

" Tearing of the middle meningeal artery. " " What's your degree in, dentistry? " " How do you explain slowing pulse, low respiratory rate and coma? " " Fundoscopic examination... " " Fundoscopic examination is unrevealing in these cases! " " A simple evacuation of the expanding epidural hematoma will relieve the pressure. " " Good God, man! Drilling holes in his head's not the answer! The artery must be repaired! Now put away your butcher knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!"

" We're dealing with medievalism here! Chemotherapy! Fundoscopic examinations! "

" Pavel, talk to me. Name! Rank! " " Chekov, Pavel. Rank, admiral! "

" He's gonna make it! " " He? You went in with a she! " " One little mistake. "

" Doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney! The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney! "

" Where would the whales be by now? " " At sea. If you have a chart on board, I'll show you. " " No, no, no. All I need is the radio frequency to track them. " " What are you talking about? I'm coming with you. " " You can't. Our next stop is the twenty-third century. " " Well, I don't care! I've got nobody here. I have got to help those whales!! " " I have no time to argue with you, or even tell you how much you've meant to us. The radio frequency, please. " " The frequency's 401 megahertz. " " Thank you, for everything. Scotty, beam me up! " " Surprise! "

" Spock, where the hell's that power you promised? " " One damn minute, Admiral! "

" Guessing is not in my nature, Doctor. " " Well, nobody's perfect. "

" Admiral! There be whales here! "

" He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts. "

" They say the sea is cold but the sea contains the hottest blood of all. "

" My God, Jim. Where are we? " Out of control and blind as a bat."

" Captain Spock, you do not stand accused. " " Mr. President, I stand with my shipmates. "

" The charges and specifications are: conspiracy, assault on Federation officers, theft of Federation property, namely the starship Enterprise , sabotage of the USS Excelsior , willful destruction of Federation property, specifically the aforementioned USS Enterprise , and finally, disobeying the direct orders of the Starfleet Commander. Admiral Kirk, how do you plead? " " On behalf of all of us, Mr. President, I'm authorized to plead guilty. " " So entered. Because of certain mitigating circumstances, all charges but one are summarily dismissed. The remaining charge, disobeying the orders of a superior officer, is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. "

" James T. Kirk, it is the judgment of this council that you be reduced in rank to Captain, and that as a consequence of your new rank, you be given the responsibility for which you have repeatedly demonstrated unswerving ability: the command of a starship. "

" I'm so happy for you I can't tell you! Thank you so much. " " Wait a minute! Where are you going? " " You're going to your ship, I'm going to mine. Science vessel. I've got 300 years of catch-up learning to do. " " You mean, this is goodbye? " " Why does it have to be goodbye? " " Well... like they say in your century, I don't even have your telephone number. (they laugh) How will I find you? " " Don't worry. I'll find you. (kisses Kirk) See you around the galaxy. "

" I am returning to Vulcan within the hour. I would like to take my leave of you. " " It was most kind of you to make this effort. " " It was no effort. You are my son. Besides, I am most impressed with your performance in this crisis. " " Most kind. " " As I recall, I opposed your enlistment in Starfleet. It is possible that judgment was incorrect. Your associates are people of good character. " " They are my friends. " " Yes, of course. Do you have a message for your mother? " " Yes. Tell her... I feel fine. "

" The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe. We'll get a freighter. " " With all due respect, Doctor, I'm counting on Excelsior . " "Excelsior? Why in God's name would you want that bucket of bolts? " A ship is a ship, Mr. Scott. " " Whatever you say, Sir. Thy will be done. "

" My friends. We've come home. "

" All right, Mr. Sulu, let's see what she's got. "

Background information [ ]

The dedication displayed at the beginning of the film

Australian poster for The Voyage Home

• The film is dedicated " to the men and women of the spaceship Challenger ", which exploded shortly after liftoff on 28 January 1986 , almost ten months before the release of Star Trek IV .
• Prior to the release of the 2009 film Star Trek (which as of October, 2009, grossed over $384.9 million), The Voyage Home was the highest-grossing Star Trek film, making $109.7 million in the United States. Due to the success of this film, Paramount decided to make the second Star Trek TV series a reality (after the unsuccessful attempt of Star Trek: Phase II ). That series eventually became Star Trek: The Next Generation , which premiered the next fall. The first US VHS tape release of the movie contained a small promo clip for The Next Generation , briefly introducing the new Enterprise and characters.
• Outside of North America, the film's title was changed to The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV (see UK trailer below), and references to the Star Trek brand were consciously avoided. This was done largely because Star Trek III: The Search for Spock had suffered badly from competition with Ghostbusters outside of North America and only grossed just over ten million dollars. A special prologue (see Trivia section below), in the form of a captain's log was created to detail the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock to aid newcomers, narrated by William Shatner himself. [1] (X) While the tactic was somewhat successful, the rest-of-the-world gross of around $24 million was still less than a fifth of the film's overall total, and so Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was marketed as normal worldwide ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was not theatrically released in most countries). Although the early VHS releases also carried the inverted title, when the film was eventually released on DVD, its title reverted to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home worldwide.
• The Voyage Home was released in the United Kingdom on 10 April 1987 . It launched at the top of the box office and stayed there for two weeks. It earned £2,697,776 overall. [2]
• The Voyage Home is ranked #2 out of the #11 Star Trek-based films according to Box Office Mojo, not adjusting for inflation, which makes it the most successful film until the 2009's Star Trek . [3]

Creation and production [ ]

• This film marked the start of Michael Okuda 's nineteen year relationship with the Star Trek franchise, both movies and television. For this film, he designed the computer displays as well as introducing the "touch screen" computer consoles, seen in the rest of the Star Trek films and television shows (except for Star Trek: Enterprise ).
• According to several issues of the DC Star Trek comics letters page, the film was originally scheduled for release in the summer of 1986, but was delayed due to William Shatner still filming episodes of TJ Hooker and they had to wait until its shooting season was completed before Shatner could join the project.
• The letters page of at least one issue (26) of the DC Star Trek comic also refers to the film by its apparent working title, Star Trek IV: The Adventure Continues .
• The character of Dr. Taylor was originally a male character who was a wacky college professor who was a " UFO nut," and, for added humor to the lighthearted script, actor Eddie Murphy was offered the role. Mike Okuda 's DVD text commentary, as well as William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories , indicate that Murphy, as a fan of Star Trek, had approached Nimoy and Bennett about a role in the film, but later he decided to appear in The Golden Child instead (a decision he admits later was a big mistake), and Catherine Hicks won the rewritten and revised role. Nicholas Meyer later stated that when he came in to write the 20th century section of the film, he realized the earlier drafts were written with Murphy in mind.
• An early draft of the script had Sulu meeting a young child on the streets of San Francisco who was his distant ancestor . According to William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories , the scene was an idea pitched to Harve Bennett by George Takei, who was delighted when he discovered the scene was to be shot. However, when it came time to film the scene, the child they hired to play the role of Sulu's great-great-great grandfather was not a professional actor, and his mother was on set, causing the child to be extremely nervous. Consequently, they couldn't get anything done with the boy and eventually they had to move on. The scene was scrapped, much to the heartbreak of Takei. The scene survives in Vonda McIntyre 's novelization . In the novel, while Sulu, McCoy and Scotty are walking the streets of San Francisco, a young Japanese boy walks up to Sulu, thinking him a relative and begins speaking to Sulu in Japanese and Sulu would find out the boy's name was Akira Sulu. After the boy leaves, McCoy asks who that was and Sulu tells him that the boy was in fact, his great-great-great grandfather.
• Early drafts of the script had Saavik remaining on Vulcan due to her being pregnant with Spock's child, following the events of the previous movie when young Spock went through pon farr as he aged rapidly, implying that he had sex with Saavik on the Genesis Planet .
• The scene where Kirk says "LDS" instead of "LSD" originally called for Gillian Taylor to ask if he was dyslexic on top of everything else.
• Most of the shots of the humpback whales were taken using four-foot long animatronics models. Four such models were created, and were so realistic that after release of the film, US fishing authorities publicly criticized the film makers for getting too close to whales in the wild. The filmmakers reportedly said that they enjoyed telling those same authorities that except for the live shots toward the end of the film, the whale scenes weren't real. The scenes involving these whales were shot in a swimming pool in a Los Angeles area high school. A large animatronic tail was also created, for the scene on the sinking Bird-of-Prey, filmed on the Paramount car park, which was flooded for the shoot. The same spot was previously seen as a part of planet Vulcan in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . The shot of the whales swimming past the Golden Gate Bridge was filmed on location, and nearly ended in disaster when a cable got snagged on a nuclear submarine and the whales were towed out to sea.

The crew of the USS Enterprise in San Francisco, 1986

• Some of the Bird-of-Prey footage is reused from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .
• A shot of the Bird-of-Prey heading to the Sun at warp speed was reused, with added disruptor fire in TNG : " Redemption II ".
• The aircraft carrier sequences were actually filmed aboard the conventionally-powered Forrestal -class carrier USS Ranger (CV 61) . Ranger can be distinguished from Enterprise by her longer rectangular superstructure (barely visible behind the hair of Nichelle Nichols ) and different arrangement of aircraft elevators. Enterprise was out at sea at the time and unavailable for filming. Even if available, in 1986, the engineering spaces of the nuclear carriers were deeply classified and filming a movie in them would have been impossible. All Enterprise sailors and marines were played by Ranger personnel (in certain scenes, freeze-frame reveals sailors wearing Ranger ball caps rather than Enterprise ones).
• Dr. Taylor orders Michelob beer over dinner, one of the few instances where an actual product is named in Star Trek . While the beer's label was never shown, another company managed to have a rare Trek moment of product placement . The computer used by Scotty at the Plexicorp factory is clearly a period-appropriate Macintosh Plus , and Apple Computer Company – as it was then known – receives a credit at the end of the film. Pacific Bell advertising is also prominently visible. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier offers one of the few other instances of product placement in the franchise's history, when Kirk, Spock and McCoy go camping wearing Levi's jeans. Another instance of this was in the opening sequence of Star Trek Generations , when a bottle of Dom Perignon was smashed on the hull of the Enterprise -B at the ship's christening. In Star Trek , a young Kirk uses an integrated Nokia mobile car phone, while Uhura is seen ordering Budweisers in an Iowa bar .
• The Voyage Home is the first Star Trek production to be directed by a member of the main cast. While Leonard Nimoy had also directed the previous film, he was not a member of the main cast, only appearing at the end.

Continuity [ ]

• This film establishes that Hikaru Sulu was born in San Francisco.
• This marks Majel Barrett 's final performance as Christine Chapel .
• The slingshot effect used by the Bounty to travel into the past was previously used in " Tomorrow is Yesterday " and " Assignment: Earth ". Kirk directly references these events when he says " We've done it before ", referring to the slingshot maneuver. In Assignment: Earth and this movie, the Enterprise travels back exactly three hundred years, a fact perhaps explained by Spock's comment that he had to program some of the variables from memory.
• The film marks the last on-screen appearance of a Starfleet commodore , seen as a non-speaking extra in the Federation Council chambers, until the Star Trek: Enterprise episode " First Flight ". It remained the chronologically-latest sighting of the rank in-universe prior to the appearance of Commodore Oh in Star Trek: Picard .
• The city of San Francisco would be visited by time-traveling Star Trek characters again, in the episodes TNG : " Time's Arrow " and TNG : " Time's Arrow, Part II ", and DS9 : " Past Tense, Part I " and DS9 : " Past Tense, Part II ".
• Brock Peters, who plays Admiral Cartwright in this film (and later in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ), also played the father of Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .
• This film establishes that Kirk is from Iowa. However, Kirk doesn't specifically say he was born in Iowa but was from there. According to Roberto Orci , one of the writers of Star Trek , the USS Kelvin was headed to Earth where James T. Kirk was eventually going to be born in Iowa and not on the Kelvin or Medical shuttle 37 in the alternate reality created by the Narada 's arrival in 2233 .
• During the final courtroom scene, one shot of the crew filing in has the entire main TOS cast in it: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu are entering the room, and Rand and Chapel are visible in the audience behind them. This is the only shot in the entire franchise in which all of these characters are on screen at the same time.
• A copy of the San Francisco Register seen in the film dates the 20th century part of the film to Thursday, 18 December , 1986 . This is consistent with marketing for the film, which used the phrase "Stardate: 1986". Leonard Nimoy, in an interview about the film's release on "Good Morning America" in November 1986, mentions that the crew journeys back in time "300 years to now," which strongly suggests 1986 as the destination year and, perhaps less strongly, suggests the crew's own time is 2286.
• The headlines and text in the newspaper are fictional, and can't be straightforwardly linked to real events. Notably, however, one headline mentions that a "Geneva summit [is] in doubt". This is in the context of "nuclear arms talks". Two Geneva summits have been held between the US and other nuclear powers; one in 1955 and one in 1985.
• Kirk states in his Captain's log near the opening of the film that he and his crew are in "our third month of our Vulcan exile", following the final events of Star Trek III . The date of the events of Star Trek III however are not entirely clear . Upon traveling to the 23rd century , Gillian mentions that she has "three hundred years of catch-up learning to do" after being transported to the future, though may have been casually approximating the time difference. StarTrek.com , Star Trek Chronology and Star Trek Encyclopedia , 3rd ed., p. 691 use this the line from Gillian to date the film to 2286. Memory Alpha also uses this year.
• Kirk makes a reference to the HMS Bounty mutiny having occurred five hundred years ago (from his own time). Since that event took place in 1789, it suggests his own time is 2289, though he, too, may have been casually approximating.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium , used as the setting for the Cetacean Institute . The top picture shows how the aquarium looks in real life, and the bottom is how it was adapted for the film

• The lighted table in Starfleet Command eventually became the famous "pool table" located in main engineering of the USS Enterprise -D .
• The USS Saratoga seen in early scenes was actually a slightly modified shooting model of the USS Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .
• The bridge set for the aforementioned USS Saratoga was a simple redress set of the bridge of the Grissom from Star Trek III (which itself was a redress of the Enterprise bridge from the first three films). The camera angles used for scenes aboard the Saratoga do not make clear whether modifications seen to the bridge set at the end of the film had yet been made. The shot of the Captain from the Yorktown , which sent a transmission to Starfleet HQ, was also filmed on this set.
• The Bridge of the HMS Bounty was different from its appearance in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .
• This film has a sense of historical irony regarding ship names. The film depicts the USS Saratoga and mentions the USS Yorktown (which Roddenberry claimed became the Enterprise -A) while featuring the aircraft carrier Enterprise (which was actually portrayed by the real life USS Ranger ). During the period before World War II, the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise , USS Saratoga , USS Yorktown , and USS Ranger , were four of the seven fleet carriers in United States Navy service. The other three were Saratoga 's sister-ship, Lexington , the unique Wasp , and Enterprise 's sister, USS Hornet . All seven of these ships served in the Pacific. Only Enterprise, Ranger, and Saratoga survived the conflict, and were decommissioned shortly after its conclusion.
• The clothes worn by Leonard Nimoy as Spock during his swim in the whale tank were auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction . [5]
• During Spock's retraining, an original configuration Constitution -class ship appears on the monitor.
• The whaling ship used in the film was a World War II minesweeper called Golden Gate . [6]
• The whale hunters speak Finnish , even though the script called for a crew of famous humpback hunters like the Norwegians, Icelanders or Russians to be used. [7] Finland has never had any sort of whale hunting industry. However, Norway, a prominent whaling country, has a minority of Kvens, who speak a dialect of the Finnish language.
• Director Nimoy mentioned in the film's DVD commentary that in the scene where Gillian Taylor slaps Bob Briggs for letting the whales leave without letting her say goodbye to them that Catherine Hicks really did slap Scott DeVenney rather hard, and that while DeVenney was neither expecting it nor very happy about it, he took it and was a good sport about it later.
• Since the producers decided not to use subtitles for the Finnish dialogue or the probe/whale song sequence (although Paramount at one point did want subtitles for the film's climax), this is the only film of the first six Star Trek movies to not have any subtitles – not even to establish location or timeframe.
• Due to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock being released direct-to-video in some European and South American territories, a prologue recapping the events of The Search for Spock , narrated by Shatner, was added to release prints of this film in the territories listed above. The UK home video masters were also used for the Australian video release. Some of these releases omitted the Challenger dedication in order to make room for this prologue, but some releases kept both the prologue and the dedication.
• Though he had been distinctly unimpressed by Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , US President Ronald Reagan viewed this film, at the White House , on 20 December 1986 . ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 160 , p. 53)
• Several costumes, props, and items from this movie were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including a puppet which stood in as an alien ambassador. [8]
• The Voyage Home and Star Trek Beyond are the only two Star Trek films to not feature a starship Enterprise as the primary setting of the film. In both cases, it is due to the destruction of the Enterprise , and its replacement, the Enterprise -A, is seen at the end of the film.
• The Saratoga is popularly assumed to have been harmlessly disabled by the probe even though it's not seen again. And it is generally surmised that the probe just made a big mess on Earth for everyone to clean up. The overall light, comedic nature of this film tends to lead credence to the widely popularized sentiment of Star Trek IV being the only film in the series in which absolutely no one dies.
• This is the only film where none of Star Trek 's signature weapons (phasers, photons, and disruptors) are fired at a ship or individual with the intent to neutralize, kill or destroy. Only two attempts at using a handheld weapon are made; once by Chekov aboard the Enterprise , which fails, and once by Kirk, in which he melts the lock on the door to the room where the surgical staff is confined adjunct to Chekov's operating room at Mercy Hospital.
• Due to the events of the movie, DC Comics' first set of comics had to change course with their stories to accommodate the events of the movie. To this end, they had Spock's mind ravaged by a virus, forcing Kirk and his crew to take the HMS Bounty , which was docked within the Excelsior , and return to Vulcan. Thus, Kirk and his crew were fugitives again, this time for abandoning the Excelsior .
• This is the last Star Trek film to use the 1975-1986 Paramount Pictures logo.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 's network television premiere occurred on the March 4, 1990 edition of The ABC Sunday Night Movie , the fourth consecutive and last such TV broadcast debut of a Star Trek film on the American Broadcasting Company until the 1999 TV premiere of 1996's Star Trek: First Contact .
• For the occasion of the film's 35th anniversary , Fathom Events organized a limited theatrical release on 19 and 22 August 2021 in select North American cities of the 4K Ultra HD version of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , whose remastering to such had just been completed. Aside from the film itself, the 2009 The Three Picture Saga special feature was also shown. [9] [10] [11]

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• US Betamax release: 1987

Merchandise gallery [ ]

Awards and honors [ ]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home received the following awards and honors.

Apocrypha [ ]

• The novel The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume One established that Chekov's Klingon phaser and communicator, which he threw at the investigators on the Enterprise in order to make his escape attempt, were sent to Area 51 and then subsequently recovered by Roberta Lincoln (who was sent by Gary Seven ) before they could be analyzed and potentially alter history.
• In the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , during the court martial, when the president tells Spock that he's not accused, Spock tells the president " Mr. President, I stand with my shipmates. Their fate shall be mine. "
• The novelization also expands on McCoy and Scotty's discussion on whether or not they should give Dr. Nichols the formula for transparent aluminum. In the novel, Scotty knows for certain that Nichols did indeed invent transparent aluminum and so it is OK for them to give him the formula and it may well be essential that they do so .
• The unfilmed scene between Sulu and his great-great-great grandfather (see above) was also featured in the novelization .
• In the novelization Kirk recaps the tragic events of " The City on the Edge of Forever " while discussing a possible time travel with Spock and McCoy.
• After her initial shock, Gillian begins to like the transporter and is actually quite surprised when she finds out Doctor McCoy dislikes and distrusts it.

Links and references [ ]

Credits [ ], opening credits [ ].

• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• James Doohan
• George Takei
• Walter Koenig
• Nichelle Nichols
• Mark Lenard as Sarek
• Jane Wyatt as Amanda
• Majel Barrett as Commander Chapel
• Robert Ellenstein as the Council President
• John Schuck as the Klingon Ambassador
• Brock Peters as Admiral Cartwright
• Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik
• Catherine Hicks as Gillian
• Gene Roddenberry
• Leonard Rosenman
• Peter E. Berger
• Jack T. Collis
• Don Peterman , ASC
• Ralph Winter
• Leonard Nimoy & Harve Bennett
• Steve Meerson & Peter Krikes
• Harve Bennett & Nicholas Meyer
• Harve Bennett

Closing credits [ ]

• Kirk – William Shatner
• Spock – Leonard Nimoy
• McCoy – DeForest Kelley
• Scotty – James Doohan
• Sulu – George Takei
• Chekov – Walter Koenig
• Uhura – Nichelle Nichols
• Amanda – Jane Wyatt
• Gillian – Catherine Hicks
• Sarek – Mark Lenard
• Lt. Saavik – Robin Curtis
• Federation Council President – Robert Ellenstein
• Klingon Ambassador – John Schuck
• Admiral Cartwright – Brock Peters
• Starfleet Communications Officer – Michael Snyder
• Starfleet Display Officer – Michael Berryman
• Saratoga Science Officer – Mike Brislane
• Commander Rand – Grace Lee Whitney
• Alien Communications Officer – Jane Wiedlin
• Starship Captain – Vijay Amritraj
• Commander Chapel – Majel Barrett
• Saratoga Helmsman – Nick Ramus
• Controller #1 – Thaddeus Golas
• Controller #2 – Martin Pistone
• Bob Briggs – Scott DeVenney
• Lady in Tour – Viola Stimpson
• 1st Garbageman – Phil Rubenstein
• 2nd Garbageman – John Miranda
• Antique Store Owner – Joe Knowland
• Waiter – Bob Sarlatte
• Cafe Owner – Everett Lee
• Joe – Richard Harder ( deleted scene )
• Nichols – Alex Henteloff
• Pilot – Tony Edwards
• Elderly Patient – Eve Smith
• Intern #1 – Tom Mustin
• Intern #2 – Greg Karas
• Young Doctor – Raymond Singer
• Doctor #1 – David Ellenstein
• Doctor #2 – Judy Levitt
• Usher – Theresa E. Victor
• Jogger – James Menges
• Punk on Bus – Kirk Thatcher
• FBI Agent – Jeff Lester
• Shore Patrolman – Joe Lando
• CDO – Newell Tarrant
• Mike Timoney ( Electronics Technician #1 )
• Jeffrey Martin ( Electronics Technician #2 )
• Marine Sergeant – 1st Sgt Joseph Naradzay , USMC
• Marine Lieutenant – 1st Lt Donald W. Zautcke , USMC
• R.A. Rondell
• Gregory Barnett (also Starfleet technician )
• Steve M. Davison
• Clifford T. Fleming (Stunt helicopter pilot)
• Eddie Hice ( Mercy Hospital patient )
• Bennie E. Moore, Jr. ( Starfleet technician )
• Charles Picerni, Jr.
• Sharon Schaffer ( Mercy Hospital nurse )
• Spike Silver ( Stunt double for Walter Koenig )
• Patrick Kehoe
• Douglas E. Wise
• Frank Capra III
• Ken Ralston
• Brooke Breton
• Kirk Thatcher
• Amanda Mackey
• Bill Shepard
• Keith Peterman
• Kenneth Nishino
• Jay Peterman
• Gene S. Cantamessa , CAS
• Steven G. Cantamessa
• Mark Jennings
• Michael Lantieri
• Clay Pinney
• Brian Tipton
• Don Elliott
• Robert Spurlock
• Robert Fletcher
• Eric Harrison
• Joseph Markham
• Dan Bronson
• Mary Etta Lang
• James L. McCoy
• Silvia Abascal
• Carol O'Connell
• Monique DeSart
• Lily LaCava
• Kal Manning
• Lloyd Gowdy
• Frank McKane
• Calvin Sterry
• Waverly Smothers
• Mike Brooker
• Richard Dow
• Ron Greenwood
• Bart Susman
• Charles Sertin
• Dick Bayard
• John H. Matheson
• Ed Charnock
• Jerry Gadette
• Joe Hubbard
• James Bayliss
• Richard Berger
• Michael Mann
• Michael Meehan
• Stu Statterfield
• Ray McLaughlin
• Andrew Lipshultz
• Bruce Birmelin
• George Villaseñor
• Thomas Bryant
• Reel People, Inc.
• Harry Moreau
• Mark Mangini
• David Stone , MPSE
• Michael J. Benavente
• Warren Hamilton , MPSE
• Stephen Flick , MPSE
• John Pospisil
• Alan Howarth
• George Budd
• Solange Schwalbe
• Tim Mangini
• Dan O'Connell
• Ellen Heuer
• Destiny Borden
• Christopher Flick
• Doug Hemphill
• Else Blangsted
• David Marshall
• Leonard Rosenman and The Yellowjackets
• Ralph Ferraro
• Record Plant Scoring
• Terry Porter
• Dave Hudson
• Mel Metcalfe
• Jack Cooperman , ASC
• Gina Neilson
• Robert Cecil Thorson
• John R. Craig
• Joe Adamson
• Barbara Harris
• Sylvia Rubinstein
• Brigette Roux-Lough
• Rebeca R. Brookshire
• Susan Sackett
• Susan Smith
• Kevin F. Barry
• Industrial Light & Magic , Marin County, CA
• Ralph Gordon
• Mike Gleason
• Chris Evans
• Ellen Lichtwardt
• Warren Franklin
• Erik Jensen
• Selwyn Eddy III
• John V. Fante
• Peter Daulton
• Toby Heindel
• Pat Sweeney
• Ray Gilberti
• Pete Kozachic
• Marty Rosenberg
• Jim Hagedorn
• Bruce Vecchitto
• Lori J. Nelson
• Tim Geideman
• Todd Heindel
• Rick Anderson
• Tony Hudson
• Mark Miller
• Pete Romano
• Craig Barron
• Frank Ordaz
• Caroleen Green
• Randy Johnson
• Eric Christensen
• Bruce Walters
• Ellen Ferguson
• Ralph McQuarrie
• Bob Finley, Jr.
• Brad Jerrell
• Mike Olague
• ILM Computer Graphics
• Craig Caton
• Allen Feuerstein
• Shannon Shea
• Nancy Nimoy
• Richard Hollander
• Mark Peterson
• Michael Okuda
• Hal Landaker
• Alan Landaker
• Donald Hansard, Sr.
• Music by Alexander Courage
• Craig Huxley
• Written by Kirk Thatcher
• Arranged by Mark Mangini
• Performed by Edge of Etiquette
• MCA Records and Tapes
• Monterey Bay Aquarium , Monterey, California
• Humpback Whale Sounds, Courtesy of Roger Payne and New York Zoological Society
• Mark Ferrari and Debbie Glockner-Ferrari of the Humpback Whale Fund
• Howard Weinstein
• Apple Computer Company
• Roy Danchick
• RAdm Charles Reynolds McGrail
• Capt. Walter Davis
• Lt. Sandra Stairs
• Lt. Lee Saunders
• Mr. John Horton
• Marine Detachment, USS Ranger
• US Coast Guard , Long Beach
• US Coast Guard, San Francisco
• Westheimer Company
• Todd-AO/Glen Glenn Studios
• Technicolor
• Industrial Light & Magic

Uncredited [ ]

Performers [ ].

• Joe Adamson as Mercy Hospital doctor
• Cynthia Brian as street passerby
• Michelle Chateau as nun
• Ron Cragg as Federation Council guard
• Jay Crimp as Vulcan electrician
• Monique DeSart as Madelaine
• Michael DiMente as Deltan ambassador
• Paul Giebner as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Brooks Gulledge as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Christine Hansen as nun
• Robert Jack as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Stephen Liska as Torg (archive footage)
• Joel Marston as Starfleet Admiral
• Genevieve Martin as Vulcan noblewoman
• Mary Mascari as Mercy Hospital patient
• Nanci Meek as mental patient
• Ralph Moratz as Mercy Hospital visitor
• Leonard Nimoy as Mercy Hospital visitor
• Ken Peacock as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Trainee Enterprise crewmember
• Layla Sarakalo as street passerby
• Louise Schulze as Female cafe employee
• Melanie Shatner as Female jogger
• Madge Sinclair as Saratoga captain
• Teresa E. Victor as Aamaarazan councilor
• Philip Weyland as tourist
• Rhoda Williams as alien vocals
• Aamaarazan councilor
• Andorian admiral
• Andorian commodore
• Arcadian delegate
• Arcadian councilors
• Ariolo councilor
• Caitian officer (brown)
• Caitian officer (black)
• Civilian FBI agent
• Three Deltan ambassadors
• Mercy Hospital nurse 1
• Mercy Hospital nurse 2
• Mercy Hospital OP nurse 1
• Mercy Hospital OP nurse 2
• Mercy Hospital PA announcer
• Eleven Mercy Hospital staffers
• Nine Mercy Hospital visitors
• Five street passersby
• Aquarium tourists
• Bus passengers
• Plexicorp workers
• Restaurant cooks
• Restaurant patrons
• Street passersby
• Whale hunters
• Kasheeta councilor
• Purple-skinned alien councilor
• SFPD officer
• Saratoga navigator
• Saratoga bridge crewman and woman
• Tellarite dignitaries
• Vulcan Federation councilor 1
• Vulcan Federation councilor 2
• Vulcan female delegate
• Vulcan delegate
• Xelatian councilors
• Animatronic puppet – Bzzit Khaht councilor

Stunt performers [ ]

• Vince Cadiente
• R.A. Rondell as taxi driver
• Unknown stunt performers as two Starfleet technicians

Production staff [ ]

• Gregory Barnett – Assistant Stunt Coordinator
• Jim Bissell – Technical Advisor: Opening Sequence
• Tom Boyd – Musician: Oboe
• Al Fleming – Makeup Artist
• Pieter Folkens – Advisor, Designer, and Sculptor: Humpback whales mechanics
• Casey Simpson – Lighting Technician
• Rick Stratton – Makeup Artist

References [ ]

18th century ; 19th century ; 20th century ; 1960s ; 21st century ; 40 Eridani A ; .45 automatic ; 747 ; Aamaarazan ; " abandon ship "; ability ; acceleration ; acceleration curve ; acceleration thruster ; act ; act of war ; accusation ; accused ; ailing patient ; aircraft carrier ; Alameda ; Alameda Naval Base ; Alaska ; Alice ; " all ears " ( ear ); " all hands "; " all the tea in China " ( tea , China ); alternative ; AMC Hornet ; American ; amplification wave ; Andorian ; anesthesia ; angel ; annihilation ; answer ; appointment ; aquarium ; Arcadian ; Ariolo ; Arkenite ; arm ; arrival ; arrogance ; arson ; assault ; assistant ; assistant director ; associate ; Atlanta Falcons ; atmosphere ( air ); Atomic Energy Commission ; attention ; attire ; aux power ; axiom ; band ; bathroom ; base ; bearing ; beer ; behavior ; Bering Sea ; " between a rock and a hard place "; binoculars ; bio-sterilization capsule ; birthday present ; " blind as a bat " ( blind , bat ); " bloody "; " blow the hatch "; blue whale ; BMR ; BMW 2002 ; bolt ; " Bones "; borite ; Bounty , HMS ; bowhead whale ; brain ; braking thruster ; breadstick ; breakaway speed ; brochure ; bucket ; Buick LeSabre ; Buick Riviera ; bumper sticker ; bureaucratic ; " bury yourself in the part "; bus ; bus stop ; Busch Gardens ; bush ; buster ; butcher knife ; button badge ; Bzzit Khaht ; Cab Co. ; cable car ; cadet review ; Caitian ; calendar ; calf ; California ; California State Assembly ; camera ; candy striper ; cannula ; Canon ; Captain Video ; captivity ; cargo bay ; cargo bay door ; Carlton ; case ; Cernan, Eugene ; cetacean ; cetacean biologist ( whale biologist ); Cetacean Institute ; chain of command ; chance ; charge ; chemotherapy ; Chevrolet ; Chevrolet C 30 Step Van ; Chevrolet Caprice Classic ; Chevrolet Chevette ; Chevrolet Townsman ; Chevrolet truck ; China ; choice ; CIC ; City Council ; Chrysler LeBaron ; classified ; climax ; cloaking device ; closing speed ; cloud ; cloud cover ; clue ; Coca-Cola ; Code Red ; coefficient ; coffee ; coffeemaker ; coin operated laundry ; Coit Tower ; collector ; colorful metaphor ( profanity ); Columbus Avenue ; coma ; combat information center ( CIC ); command duty officer ; commanding officer ( commander ); common sense ; communicator ; comm channel ; communications ; communications officer ; communications system ; compassion ; compliment ; computation ; computer ; comrade ; conclusion ; condition report ; conspiracy ; constant ; Constitution IIi -class ( unnamed 1 and 2 ); contact ; coordinates ; Copernicus , USS ; court martial ; contact ; corpsman ; country ; cops ; crab ; cramps ; creature ; credit card ; crisis ; critical condition ; crop top ; Crown ; crutch ; crystalline restructure ; cubic foot ; culture ; custom ; damage ; damage control ; damage report ; Dark Ages ; data ; Datsun ; Datsun 510 ; Datsun Truck ; day ; " dead in the water "; death ; degree (academic); degree (angle); deliberation ; demotion ; density ; dentistry ; departure ; deposition ; destruction ; device ; devil ; DeSoto Cab ; dialysis ; Diet Coke ; Diet Pepsi ; dilithium chamber ; dilithium crystal ; dilithium sequencer ; dinner ; discipline ; distance ; distress call ; Doctor ( physician ); Dodge 600 ; Dodge Lancer ; dollar ; Do not enter sign ; door ; Earth ; Edinburgh ; Efrosian ; elapsed time ; electrical power ; electronics technician ; Embarcadero ; emergency ; emergency channel ; emergency channel 0130 ; emergency light ; emergency reserve ; emergency surgery ; emergency system ; emergency thruster ; enemy ; energy ; energy reserve ; engineering ; Enterprise , USS (CVN-65); Enterprise , USS (NCC-1701); Enterprise , USS (NCC-1701-A); epidural hematoma ; escape hatch ; escape route ; estimated time of arrival (ETA); estimating ; Excelsior , USS ; exile ; exit sign ; explosive override ; extinction ; extradition ; extraterrestrial ; E-Z Scrub ; fact ; Fairground Hotel ; false killer whale ; farm boy ; Federal Bureau of Investigation ; Federation ; Federation Council ; Federation President ; feeling ; Feinberg's Loan and Pawn ; Fiat 124 Sport Spider ; Fiat X1/9 ; figure ; " fill your shoes "; fin whale ; finger, the ; Finnish ; fire alarm ; fireman ; fish ; fishing ; " fish story "; Fisherman's Wharf ; flea trap ; floor ; floor plan ; Flyer Industries E800 ; fog ; foot ; Ford Escort ; forklift ; formula ; frame of reference ; Free Speech Movement ; freighter ; frequency ; Friar Tuck ; friend ; friendship ; fuel component ; fundascopic examination ; funeral ; fusion era ; gangway ; garbage can ; garbage truck ; garbageman's significant other ; Genesis ; Genesis Device ; Genesis Torpedo ; Geneva ; genocide ; George and Gracie ; ghetto blaster ; giraffe ; glasses ; GM New Look ; God ; " God damn "; Gold Dust ; Golden Gate Bridge ; Golden Gate Park ; Gottlieb ; Gramalkin ; gravity ; gray whale ; Great Northern Railway ; Grissom , USS ; ground cushion ; Grumman LLV ; guest ; guidance system ; guide ; guilt ; gumball machine ; gums ; gun ; habit ; Hamlet ; Handi-Wrap II ; hangar deck ; harm ; harpoon ; harpoon gun ; hatch ; hate ; head ; headline ; heat shield ; helicopter ; hello ; high school ; " hit the deck "; home ; Honda Accord ; Honda Civic ; horoscope ; hostility ; hospital bracelet ; hospital gown ; hour ; Huey 204 ; Human ; humpback whale ; hundred ; hunting ; Hyster ; " I Hate You "; ice cream sandwich ; idea ; identification card ; " If we play our cards right "; image therapy ; impulse power ; inch ; infrared ; insight ; intelligence ; intention ; International Harvester Scout ; intruder ; Iowa ; irony ; Italian food ; job ; jogger ; joke ; judgment ; judo ; Juneau ; Junior Mints ; justice ; juxtapose ; Karmann Ghia ; Kasheeta ; katra ; Kearny Street ; kelp forest ; keyboard ; kilometer ; kidney ; kidney pill ; killer whale ; Klingon ; Klingon crew ; Klingon food pack ; Klingon language ; Klingon vessels lost to Whale Probe ; Knott's Berry Farm ; knowledge ; " kook "; L.A. International Airport ; landing pad ; landing procedure ; landlubber ; language ; Latin language ; Lawrence, D.H. ; lay-away ; Lay or Bust Poultry Feeds ; LDS ; " learn a thing or two "; learning ; leave ; Leningrad ; lens ; lie ; life ( lifeform ); lightbox ; lighthouse ; light year ; Lincoln Continental Mark VII ; lion ; literature ; location ; lock ; logic ; luck ; M16 rifle ; M203 grenade launcher ; macho ; Macintosh ; Magic Mountain ; magnetostatics ; mains ; main power ; mammal ; manufacturing ; manual control ; Marcus, David ; MARDET ; marine theater ; Market Street ; mass ; master chief petty officer ; mating ritual ; maximum speed ; Mazda ; Mazda B-Series ; mean sea level (MSL); media circus ; medievalism ; medical degree ; medical tricorder ; medicine ; megahertz ; megaton ; memory : memory bank ; memory test ; mentality ; Mercury Capri ; medical system ; Mercy Hospital ; message ; metaphor ; MG B ; Michelob ; microphone ; middle meningeal artery ; mind meld ; mile ; military ; milk ; million ; mind ; mining ; minke whale ; minute ; miracle ; miracle worker ; Miranda -class ( unnamed ); mission ; Mission District ; mistake ; mitigating circumstance ; MMR ; Moby Dick ; money ; monitoring station ; morning ; mouse ; Movieland Wax Museum ; M Series Walkie Stacker ; multiphasic transmission ; murder ; museum ; mushroom ; Mustang ; mutineer ; name ; name tag ; nautical mile ; naval vessel ; navigational signal ; negotiation ; news machine ; Neutral Zone ; night ; Nissan 280ZX ; noise ; noon ; North America ; nose ring ; novel ; nuclear fusion ; nuclear fission ; nuclear fission reactor ; nuclear power ; nuclear vessel ; nun ; nurses station ; nurse's cap ; Oberth -class ; ocean ; officer ; " off the deep end "; Oldsmobile Ciera ; Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais ; Olvera Street ; OMNI ; " on course "; onion ; open sea ; operating room ; opinion ; orbital shuttle ( unnamed 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ); Orbital shuttle 5 ; Orbital shuttle 7 ; order ; OrthoLav ; outer space ; owner ; oxygen tent ; Pacific Bell ; Pacific Basin ; pager ; Palace of Fine Arts ; paper towel ; paper towel dispenser ; parking ; past tense ; patient ; peace ; peace treaty ; pedestrian crossing sign ; pepperoni ; percent ; performance ; permission ; phaser ; photographic memory ; photon ; picnic table ; piercing ; pill ; pirate ; pizza ; place ; plan ; planet ; planet distress signal ; Planetary Reserve ; plant ; plant manager ; plastic wrap ; playing card ; " play our cards right "; plea ; Plexicorp ; plexiglass ; Plymouth Reliant ; plot ; poker ; police ; pollution ; polymer ; Pontiac Fiero ; Pontiac Firebird ; Pope Olive Oil ; Portola Brand Sardines ; pound ; Powell & Mason ; Powell Street ; power ; power drain ; power source ; pregnancy ; press ; pressure ; priority 1 ; probability ; probe ; problem ; professor ; property ; pulse ; puppet ; pygmy sperm whale ; quadrant ; question ; Queen Mary, The ; radiation ; radio frequency ; radio silence ; radio transmitter ; range ; rank ; rank insignia ; ray gun ; red alert ; reentry ; reference ; renegade ; rescue ; reserve bank ; reserve power ; respiratory rate ; result ; " rich beyond the dreams of avarice "; right ; Robbins, Harold ; Robin Hood ; " Roger "; room ; Russian language ; Russkie ; rust bucket ; sabotage ; St. Paul Hotel ; salinity ; Saloon, The ; Sam ; San Diego Zoo ; San Francisco ; San Francisco Bay ; San Francisco City Hall ; San Francisco Chronicle ; San Francisco Department of Sanitation ; San Francisco Ferry Building ; San Francisco Municipal Railway ; San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge ; San Francisco Police Department ; San Francisco Register ; Saran Wrap ; Saratoga , USS ; Sausalito ; scene ; Scots language ; screen ; scrubs ; Seaboard Air Line Railroad ; seal ; sea otter ; seat ; seawater ; SeaWorld ; secret ; Sector 5 ; security corridor ; service number ; Shepard , USS ; shield ; shipmate ; shoes ; short-sightedness ; shrimp ; shorts ; side effect ; signal ; silence ; singing ; slaughter ; slingshot effect ; Slits, The ; Smith & Wesson Model 15 ; smoking ; solar flare ; solar sail ; SONAR ; " son of a bitch "; Sony ; soul ; sound ; " sour stomach "; Spacedock One ; spacedock door (aka space door ); Spanish Inquisition ; speaker ; species ; specimen ; speed ; stairs ; " stand by "; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet Commander ; Starfleet regulations ; Starfleet uniform ; starship ; status report ; stench ; storage tank ; story ; street ; Stryker ; subject ; subbscription ; sucker ; summit ; Sun ; superior officer ; surgical mask ; surprise ; Susann, Jacqueline ; suspicion ; swim ; system map ; systems report ; " tango ; Taylor's science vessel ( science vessel ); teaching ; team ; team leader ; Team 2 ; teeth ; Telegraph Hill ; telephone ; telephone booth ; telephone number ; temperature ; terminator ; terra incognita ; Terran solar system ; terrorist ; testimony ; test program ; " that's the ticket "; theater ; theft ; theory ; thing ; thousand ; three smaller ships neutralized by Whale Probe ; thruster ; thruster control ; time ; time continuum ; time re-entry program ; time travel ; time warp ; tire iron ; tissue ; toast ; toaster oven ; Tokyo ; ton ; torpedo ; tour ; tour of inspection ; tracking device ; trajectory ; Transamerica Pyramid ; transmission ; transparent aluminum ; transporter ; transporter beam ; transporter power ; trash can ; travel pod ; travel pod 05 ; tricorder ; tricycle ; truth ; toucan ; Toyota Corolla ; unicorn ; universal constant ; underground storage system ; United States Government ; United States Marine Corps ; United States Navy ; United States of America ; Universal Peace and Hello ; universe ; University of California, Berkeley ; Universal Studios ; uranium ; Valvoline ; value ; variable ; violation ; visit ; visor ; Volkswagen Beetle ; Volkswagen Rabbit ; vote ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet); Vulcan language ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; Vulcan salute ; walker ; wall ; warm-blooded ; warp drive regulator ; warp speed ; Washington, DC ; water ; weapons system ; " wee "; Weintraub ; Wendy's ; west ; West Coast ; whale ; whale hunter ; whale song ; " Whales Weep Not! "; whale tank ; whaling ; whaling ship ; whiteboard ; White Rose ; White GMC Xpeditor ; Winchell's Donut House ; Winchester Model 1200 ; Wonderful World of Whales, The ; Wonderland ; word ; year ; yellow alert ; Yellow Pages ; Yerba Buena Island ; Yorktown , USS ; Yorktown chief engineer ; zebra ; Zober, Sandi

Other references [ ]

Memory test: 1987 ; anti-graviton ; anti-neutron ; bioengineering ; Cambridge ; carrot ; checkmate ; Constitution -class ; electron configuration ; gadolinium ; Kiri-kin-tha ; Kiri-kin-tha's First Law of Metaphysics ; Klendth ; Klingon mummification glyph ; knight ; Loonkerian outpost ; New York Times ; magazine ; magnetic envelope ; Massachusetts ; matron ; metaphysics ; molecular formula ; object ; pawn ; queen ; rook ; sensor ; sine wave ; three-dimensional chess ; toroidal space-time distortion ; T'Plana-Hath ; universal atmospheric element compensator ; Vulcan philosophy ; white ; yominum sulfide

Phylum search mode : Alopex lagopus ; amphibian ; armadillo ; Beardius baerdi ; Cancer productus ; cattle ; Cervus elaphus ; Chama arcana ; chameleon ; Ciona intestinal ; Coleonyx brevis ; Crisia occidental ; crocodile ; Dasypus novem ; feline ; flatworm ; insect ; kangaroo ; lamprey ; lion ; Martes pennanti ; Megaptera novaeangliae ; moth ; Myotis volans ; nautilus ; Orcinus orca ; Ovis dalli ; Physeter macro ; Plethodon dunni ; Podiceps auritus ; Sciurus griseus ; Sebastes mustinus ; trilobite ; Tursiops tancts ; virus ; Vulpes velox ; Ziphius cavitro

MUNI system map : Albany ; Alcatraz ; Angel Island ; Bay Farm Island ; Belmont ; Berkeley ; Brisbane ; Brooks Island ; Burlingame ; Daly City ; East Richmond ; El Cerrito ; Foster City ; Hillsborough ; Kensington ; Millbrae ; Oakland ; Oakland Army Base ; Oakland Supply Depot ; Piedmont ; Richmond ; Richmond-San Rafael Bridge ; San Bruno ; San Francisco State Fish and Game Refuge ; San Mateo ; Tiburon

San Francisco locations : 101 California Street ; 123 Mission Street ; 30-Stockton ; 345 California Center ; 44 Montgomery ; 50 Fremont Center ; 580 California Street ; 601 California Street ; 650 California Street ; Baker Beach ; Bank of America Center ; Bathhouse Building ; Bay Street ; Embarcadero Center ; Fort Mason ; Fort Point ; Gateway, The ; Greenwich Street ; Holiday Inn Chinatown ; Hoyt Street ; Hyatt Regency San Francisco ; Marina Green ; Mason Street ; Mount Davidson ; Mount Sutro ; One Maritime Plaza ; One Market Plaza ; One Sansome Street ; Sentinel Building ; Stockton Street ; Sutro Tower ; Treasure Island ; Twin Peaks ; Van Ness Avenue ; Yerba Buena Island

Unreferenced material [ ]

A-13 ; Adams ; Argus ; Bandit V ; bio-sterilization capsule ; Clampett ; Com Sat 4 ; Com Sat 12 ; Delta V ; dirt bike ; dyslexia ; Engineering Control ; four dimensional time gate ; great flood ; hiber-sedative ; Intrepid , USS ; Jesus ; Joe ; K-12 ; Leaning Tower, The ; Lee ; maternity leave ; Mona Lisa ; Noah's Ark ; parallex matter echo ; Pleadian Quadrant 5 ; Pleadian Quadrant 7 ; Quadrant 12-340 ; Reon VII ; rescue shuttle ; Rigel ; Rigel IV ; Rigel V ; San Francisco Bay Area ; Sector 15 ; Seron, Ralph ; shore patrol ; Shres ; Sphinx, The ; Sulu, Akira ; Vegan D virus ; warp drive regulator ; Zanxthkolt Dynasty

Related topics [ ]

alternate timeline ; Riverside ; Starfleet ranks ; time travel

External links [ ]

• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Wikipedia
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home screenplay  at Star Trek Minutiae
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home screenplay at CCDump.org
• Filming locations at FilmInAmerica.com
• " Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Calypso (episode)

Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 motion picture released by Paramount Studios. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series. It completes the story begun in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock . Intent on returning home to Earth to face trial for their crimes, the former crew of the USS Enterprise travels to Earth's past in order to save their present from a probe attempting to communicate with long-dead humpback whales.

After directing The Search for Spock , cast member Leonard Nimoy was asked to direct the next feature, and given greater freedom to the film's content. Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett conceived a story with an environmental message. After dissatisfaction with the first script produced by Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes, Paramount hired The Wrath of Khan writer and director Nicholas Meyer , who collaborated with Bennett to rewrite the script. Principal photography started on February 24, 1986, with many real locations used as stand-ins for locations around San Francisco. Industrial Light & Magic assisted in postproduction and the film's special effects, including animatronic whales. Composer Leonard Rosenman wrote the film's score.

The Voyage Home was well received. It earned $133 million worldwide. The film earned four Academy Award nominations, for Best Cinematography, Best Effects, Best Music and Best Sound.

• 3.1 Development
• 3.3 Filming
• 3.4 Effects
• 4.1 Release
• 4.2 Critical response
• 4.3 Home video

A large cylindrical probe moves through space towards Earth, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of any vessel or station that it passes. As it takes up orbit around Earth, it continues signaling, disrupting the global power system and causing extreme weather patterns to develop over the planet while evaporating the oceans. Starfleet Command, on the last of its power reserves, sends out a subspace signal warning of the danger.

On the planet Vulcan , the former officers of the USS Enterprise are living in exile after the events of Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock . Accompanied by the Vulcan Spock , still recovering from his resurrection, the crew takes their stolen Klingon starship and head to Earth to face trial for their theft and destruction of the Enterprise . As they enter the solar system, they hear Starfleet's warning and the alien signal; Spock determines that it matches the song of humpback whales , long since extinct on Earth, and that the object will continue to wreak havoc on the planet until its call can be answered. The crew use their ship to travel back in time by a slingshot maneuver around the Sun; the plan is to go to the past and return with whales to repopulate the species.

The crew travels back in time to the year 1986, but their ship's power is drained in the process. Hiding their ship using its cloaking device in San Francisco , the crew splits up to accomplish their tasks: James T. Kirk and Spock attempt to locate humpback whales, Montgomery Scott , Leonard McCoy and Hikaru Sulu must create a holding tank for the return trip, and Uhura and Pavel Chekov search for a way to recharge the ship. Kirk and Spock discover a pair of humpback whales—"George" and "Gracie"—in the care of Dr. Gillian Taylor at the Sausalito Cetacean Institute and learn they will soon be released into the wild. Kirk attempts to learn the tracking codes for the whales from Taylor, but is rebuffed. Scott, McCoy, and Sulu procure the necessary materials for the holding tank by giving the formula for transparent aluminum to a local manufacturer; Uhura and Chekov beam aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and draw some of its power to recharge their ship, but are discovered. Though Uhura is beamed back, Chekov is severely injured in an escape attempt and captured. Kirk and company rescue him from a hospital and return to the ship.

The ship is successfully recharged, but Taylor learns the whales have been moved early. Kirk reluctantly lets her tag along on the ship to get the tracking codes. The crew locates George and Gracie before they are killed by whalers, and transport the creatures into the waiting tank. With the intended cargo, the crew returns to the future. On approaching Earth, the ship loses power and crashes into San Francisco Bay . Once released, the whales respond to the probe's signal, causing the object to restore Earth and return to the depths of space. Charges against the Enterprise crew are all waived in light of their heroism; only Kirk is punished for disobeying a superior officer, and is demoted from Admiral to the rank of Captain. Having been brought to the future, Taylor takes a position on a science vessel. The crew departs for their ship, the newly-christened USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) , and depart on another mission.

William Shatner plays James T. Kirk , former captain of the Enterprise . Shatner was initially unwilling to reprise the role of Kirk until his salary was increased to $2 million and that he was promised that he could direct the next film. [1] Shatner described The Voyage Home Template:'s comic qualities as one "that verges on tongue-in-cheek but isn't, it's as though the characters within the play have a great deal of joy about themselves, a joy of living [and] you play it with the reality you would in a kitchen-sink drama written for today's life." [2]

Leonard Nimoy plays Spock , resurrected by the effects of a powerful terraforming device in the previous film, and whose "living spirit" was restored to his body.

DeForest Kelley portrays Doctor Leonard McCoy . McCoy was given many of the film's comedic lines; Kelley biographer Terry Lee Rioux wrote that in the film "he seemed to be playing straight man to himself". On Earth McCoy was paired with engineer Montgomery Scott ( James Doohan ), as Bennet felt that Kelley worked well with [Doohan's] "old vaudeville comic". [3] The other members of the Enterprise crew include George Takei as helmsman Hikaru Sulu , Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov , and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura . Koenig commented Chekov was a "delight" to play in this film because he worked best in comedic situations. [4]

Catherine Hicks plays Doctor Gillian Taylor, a biologist on 20th century Earth. During production a rumor circulated that the part had been created because Shatner had demanded a love interest, something Kirk had frequently had in the television series but that had been absent in the films; writer Nicholas Meyer denied this, saying that the inspiration for Taylor came from a woman biologist featured in a National Geographic documentary about whales. [5] The choice for Taylor came down to Hicks and another actress. Nimoy invited them to lunch with Shatner and ultimately picked Hicks, as she and Shatner had the better chemistry. [6]

Majel Barrett reprised her role as Christine Chapel , the director of Starfleet Command's medical services. Many of her scenes—some reportedly very large—were omitted in the final cut, angering the actress. Her final role in the film consists of one line of dialogue and a reaction shot. [7] Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt play Ambassador Sarek and Amanda Grayson , respectively, Spock's parents. [8] Wyatt commented that although she disliked working with actors who were directing, she found Nimoy an exception because he could concentrate on working with being part of the cast as well as setting up the crew. [4] Robin Curtis reprises the role of Saavik , a Vulcan member of Starfleet. Saavik's role is largely minimal in the film—originally, she was intended to have remained behind on Vulcan because she was pregnant with Spock's child after they mated in The Search for Spock . In the final cut of the film, all references to her condition were dropped. [7]

The film contains several cameos and smaller roles. Madge Sinclair made an uncredited appearance as captain of the USS Saratoga . [8] Jane Wiedlin appears as a Starfleet officer seen briefly at Starfleet Command. John Schuck appears as a Klingon ambassador, Robert Ellenstein as the Federation President , and Brock Peters as Fleet Admiral Cartwright . Grace Lee Whitney reprises her role as Janice Rand from the original television series.

Production [ ]

Development [ ].

Leonard Nimoy was asked to return to direct The Voyage Home before The Search for Spock was released. Whereas Nimoy had been under certain constraints in filming the previous picture, Paramount gave Nimoy greater freedom for the sequel. "[Paramount] said flat out that they wanted my vision," Nimoy recalled. [9] In contrast to the drama-heavy and operatic events of previous Star Trek features, Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett wanted a lighter movie that did not have a clear-cut villain. [6] As William Shatner was unwilling to return, Nimoy and Bennett spent eight months considering a prequel concept by Ralph Winter about the characters at Starfleet Academy , before Shatner received a pay increase and signed on to star. [1]

Despite Shatner's qualms, [6] Nimoy and Bennett selected a time travel story where the Enterprise encounter a problem which could only be fixed by something only available in the present day (the Star Trek characters' past). They considered numerous ideas including violin makers and oil drillers , as well as a disease which had its cure destroyed with the rainforests . "But the depiction of thousands of sick and dying people seemed rather gruesome for our light-hearted film, and the thought of our crew taking a 600 year round trip just to bring back a snail darter wasn't all that thrilling!", explained Nimoy. The director then read a book on extinct animals and conceived the used storyline. [1] Nimoy hit upon the idea of humpback whales after talking with a friend—their song added mystery to the story, and their size added logistical challenges the heroes would have to overcome. [10]

Nimoy approached Beverly Hills Cop writer Daniel Petrie, Jr. to write the script when a concept that executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg described as "either the best or worst idea in the world" arose— Star Trek fan Eddie Murphy wanted a starring role. Both Nimoy and Murphy acknowledged his part would attract non- Star Trek fans to the franchise following the rising popularity of Murphy, but it also meant the film might be panned. Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes ( The Long Way Home ) were hired to write a script with Murphy as a college professor who believes in aliens and who likes to play whale songs . Murphy disliked the part, explaining he wanted to play an alien or a Starfleet officer (Nimoy was unaware of this) [11] and chose to make The Golden Child (a decision Murphy later said was a mistake). Murphy's character was combined with a marine biologist and a female reporter to become Gillian Taylor. [12]

Paramount was dissatisfied with the script, so head of Paramount Dawn Steele asked The Wrath of Khan writer and director Nicholas Meyer to help rewrite the script. Meyer never read the earlier script, reasoning that since the studio did not like it there was no reason to. Instead he and Bennett split up the plot. Bennett wrote the first quarter of the story, up to the point where the crew goes back in time. Meyer wrote the story's middle portion, taking place on 20th century Earth, and Bennett finished with the ending. [13] After 12 days of writing, Meyer and Bennett combined their separate portions. [10] In this version, Gillian Taylor stays in 1986 Earth and vows to ensure the survival of the humpback whale despite the paradox it would create. Meyer preferred this "righter ending" [5] to the film version, explaining "The end in the movie detracts from the importance of people in the present taking the responsibility for the ecology and preventing problems of the future by doing something today, rather than catering to the fantasy desires of being able to be transported in time to the near-utopian future." [12] Meyer and Bennett also cut out Krikes and Meerson's idea of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey flying over the Super Bowl (where the crowd assume it is part of the halftime spectacle) and the hint that Saavik remained on Vulcan because she had become pregnant with Spock's child. [12]

Nimoy said Meyer gave the script "the kind of humor and social comment, gadfly attitude I very much wanted". [4] Nimoy added his vision was for "no dying, no fighting, no shooting, no photon torpedoes, no phaser blasts, no stereotypical bad guy. I wanted people to really have a great time watching this film [and] if somewhere in the mix we lobbed a couple of big ideas at them, well, then that would be even better." [14] Meyer's film Time After Time had been largely based in San Francisco, and when he was told by the producers that The Voyage Home had to be set in the same city, he took the opportunity to comment upon cultural aspects not covered by his earlier film, among them punk rock — The Voyage Home Template:'s scene where Spock knocks out an annoying punk rocker with a stereo via a Vulcan nerve pinch was based on a similar scene cut from Time After Time . [5]

Meyer described the writing process as running smoothly. He would write a few pages, go to Nimoy and Bennett and show it to them. After a conversation about the pages Meyer would return to his office and wrote some more. Once Nimoy, Bennett, and Meyer were happy, they showed the script to Shatner, who offered his own notes and started the rewriting process over again. [15] The completed script was shown to Paramount executives, who loved it. [10]

The alien probe was the responsibility of ILM's model shop. The modelmakers started with Rodis' simple design, which was a simple cylinder with whalelike qualities. The prototype was covered with barnacles and colored. The probe's ball-shaped antenna that juts out from the bottom of the craft was created using a piece of irrigation pipe with machinery to turn the device. Three models were created; the primary Template:Convert probe model was supplemented by a smaller model for wide shots and a large Template:Convert model that used forced perspective to give the probe the illusion of massive dimensions. [16]

During the Earth-based scenes, the 23rd century crew continues to wear their future clothing. Nimoy debated about whether the crew would change costumes, but after seeing how some people in the city dressed, he decided that they would still fit in. [6]

Filming [ ]

Nimoy chose Donald Peterman, ASC , as director of photography. [17] Nimoy said that he regards the cinematographer as a fellow artist, and that it was important for him and Peterman to agree on "a certain look" that Peterman was committed to delivering. Nimoy had seen Peterman's work and felt that his work was more nuanced than simply lighting a scene and capturing an image. [18]

The film's opening scenes aboard the starship Saratoga were also the first to be shot, with principal photography commencing on February 24, 1986. [8] The set was a redress of the science vessel Grissom bridge from The Search for Spock , which in turn was a redress of the Enterprise bridge created for The Motion Picture . The scenes were filmed first to allow time for the set to be revamped to stand in for the new Enterprise -A at the end of filming. [8]

The Voyage Home was the first real look at how Starfleet Command operated. Bennett and Nimoy visited NASA JPL to learn how a real deep space command center might look and operate. Among its features was a large central table with video monitors that the production team nicknamed "the pool table"; the prop would later find a home in the engine room of the USS Enterprise-D on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation . [8]

As with previous Star Trek films, existing props and footage were reused where possible to save money. The Voyage Home Template:'s Earth-based story required less of this than The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock . The Earth Spacedock interiors and control booth sets were reuses from The Search for Spock , although the computer monitors in these scenes featured new graphics (the old reels had deteriorated in storage.) Stock footage of the destruction of the Enterprise and the Bird of Prey moving through space were reused. While the Bird of Prey bridge was a completely new design, other parts of the craft's interior was also redresses (the computer room was a modification of the reactor room where Spock died in The Wrath of Khan . [8] After all other Bird of Prey bridge scenes were completed, the entire bridge was painted white for the one shot that transitioned into the dream sequence.

Vulcan and the Bird of Prey exterior was created with a combination of matte paintings and a soundstage. Nimoy had searched for a suitable location for the crew's deliberations to go back to earth, but various locations did not work, so the scene was instead filmed on a Paramount backlot, with creative ways to mask the fact that buildings were Template:Convert away. [6] A wide angle shot of Spock on the edge of a cliff was filmed at Vasquez Rocks , a park north of Los Angeles. [8]

The Voyage Home was the first Star Trek film to extensively film on location (only one day was spent doing so in The Search for Spock .) [10]

The Federation council chamber was a large set filled with representatives from many alien races. Production manager Jack T. Collis economized by building the set with only one end; reverse angle shots used the same piece of wall. The Federation President's podium and the actors filling the chamber's seats simply switched positions for each shot. Much of the production was filmed in and around San Francisco in ten days of shooting. The production wanted to film scenes that were instantly identifiable as the city. [19] The use of extensive location shooting caused logistical problems; a scene where Kirk is nearly run over by an irate driver required 12–15 cars that had to be repositioned if the shot was not correct, taking a half-hour to reshoot. Other scenes were filmed in the city but used sets rather than real locations, such as an Italian restaurant where Taylor and Kirk eat. In the film, the Bird-of-Prey lands cloaked in Golden Gate Park , surprising some trashmen who flee the scene in their truck. The production had planned to film in the real park (where they had filmed scenes for The Wrath of Khan ), but heavy rains before the day of shooting prevented this (the garbage truck would have become bogged down in the mud.) Will Rogers Park in western Los Angeles was used as the stand-in instead. [6]

When Kirk and Spock are traveling on a public bus, they encounter a punk rocker blaring his music on a boom box, to the discomfort of everyone around him. Spock takes matters into his own hands and performs a Vulcan nerve pinch , stunning the man. The inspiration from the scene came from Nimoy's personal experiences with such a character on the streets of New York. "[I was struck] by the arrogance of it, the aggressiveness of it, and I thought if I was Spock I'd pinch his brains out!" [6] The character (credited as "punk on bus") was played by Kirk Thatcher, an associate producer on the film. [20] On learning about the scene, Thatcher convinced Nimoy that he could play the role; he shaved his hair into a mohawk and bought clothes to complete the part. [6] Thatcher also wrote and recorded "I Hate You," the song in the scene, and it was also Thatcher's idea to have the punk (once rendered unconscious by Nimoy), hit the stereo and turn it off with his face. [20]

Much of the Cetacean Institute was created by using the real-life Monterey Bay Aquarium . A holding tank for the whales was added via special effects to the Aquarium's exterior. [6] For close-ups of the characters watching the whales in the tank, the Aquarium's walls and railings were measured and replicated for a set on the Paramount parking lot. One scene takes place by a large glass through which observers can see the whales (and Spock initiating a mind meld ) underwater. This was a combination of footage of actors reacting to a brick wall in the Aquarium (shot from the front) and shots created using a large blue screen at ILM (shot from the back.) The footage of Spock melding with the whales was shot weeks later in a large water tank used to train astronauts for weightlessness. [6]

In the film, Uhura and Chekov visit the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise . The real Enterprise , being at sea at the time, was unavailable for filming , so the non-nuclear powered carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) was used. [21] Oakland International Airport was used for the foreground element of Starfleet Headquarters. Scenes in the San Francisco Bay were shot at a tank at Paramount's backlot. [22]

The scene in which Uhura and Chekov question passersby on the location of nuclear vessels was filmed with a hidden camera. However, the people whom Koenig and Nichols speak to were extras hired off the street for that day's shooting, and, despite legends to the contrary, knew they were being filmed. In an interview with StarTrek.com , Layla Sarakalo , the extra who said, "I don't know if I know the answer to that... I think it's across the bay, in Alameda", stated that after her car was impounded because she refused to move it for the filming, she approached the assistant director about appearing with the other extras, hoping to be paid enough to get her car out of impoundment. She was hired and told not to answer Koenig's and Nichols' questions. However, she did answer them and the filmmakers kept her response in the film, though she had to be inducted into the Screen Actors Guild in order for her lines to be kept. [23]

When Sulu, Scotty and McCoy are standing in front of the Yellow Pages ad, they encounter an arguing Asian couple. This scene was supposed to end with Sulu encountering his young ancestor, Akira Sulu, but the child actor hired for the part began to cry and was unable to finish the scene. [6] [24]

Effects [ ]

Industrial Light & Magic created the visual effects. Nimoy approached the effects house early in development and helped develop storyboards for the optical effects sequences. [18]

Most shots of the humpback whales were scale models shot at their studio or life-size animatronics shot at Paramount. [14] The USS Enterprise was destroyed in the previous film partly because visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston wanted to build a "more state-of-the-art ship for the next film", but the filmmakers made the less costly decision to have the crew return to serve on the duplicate USS Enterprise A , and six weeks was spent repairing the old model. A travel pod from Star Trek: The Motion Picture was also reused for the ending, although the twenty-foot long interior set had to be rebuilt. Graphic designer Michael Okuda designed smooth controls with backlit displays for the Federation which were eventually dubbed " Okudagrams ". Okudagrams were also used for displays on the Klingon ship, though large buttons remained for that set. [25]

A scale model of the Golden Gate Bridge was used, which was two feet tall at one end and sixteen feet tall at the other. The shorter end was filmed in front, creating a forced perspective which made it look longer. For the alien probe, Ralston had it painted black to make it look more mysterious after viewing the first few shots of it. Computer graphics were used for the crew's time traveling. [22]

James Horner , composer for The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock , declined to return for The Voyage Home . Nimoy turned to his friend Leonard Rosenman , who had written the music to, among other films, Fantastic Voyage , Ralph Bakshi 's The Lord of the Rings , and two Planet of the Apes sequels. [26] [27] Rosenman wrote an arrangement of Alexander Courage 's Star Trek television theme as the title music for The Voyage Home , but Nimoy suggested that he write his own instead. As music critic Jeff Bond writes, "The final result was one of the most unusual Star Trek movie themes," consisting of a six note theme and variations set against a repetitious four note brass motif; the theme's bridge borrowed material from Rosenman's Frodo March for The Lord of the Rings . [27] The melody makes appearances in the beginning of the film at Vulcan as well as when Taylor seeks Kirk's help finding her whales. [28]

The Earth-based setting of the filming gave Rosenman leeway to write a variety of music in different styles. Nimoy intended the crew's introduction to the streets of San Francisco to be accompanied by something reminiscent of George Gershwin , but Rosenman changed the director's mind [29] and the scene was scored with a contemporary jazz fusion piece by Yellowjackets . When Chekov flees detention aboard the aircraft carrier, Rosenman wrote a bright cue that incorporated classical Russian compositions, while the escape from the hospital was done in a baroque style. More familiar Rosenman compositions included the action music as the Bird of Prey and a whaling ship face off in open water, while the whale's communication with the probe utilized atmospheric music reminiscent of the composer's work in Fantastic Voyage . After the probe leaves, the music turns into a Vivaldiesque "whale fugue". The first sighting of the Enterprise -A uses the Alexander Courage theme before the end title music. [28]

Mark Mangini served as The Voyage Home Template:'s sound designer. He described it as different from working on many other films because Nimoy appreciated the role of sound effects and made sure that they were prominent in the film. Since many sounds familiar to Star Trek had already been established—the Bird of Prey's cloaking device, the transporter beam, et al.—Mangini focused on making only small changes to them. The most important sounds were those created by the whales and the probe. Mangini's brother lived closed to biologist Roger Payne , who had many recordings of whale song. Mangini went through the tapes and chose sounds that could be mixed to suggest a sort of language and conversation. The probe's screeching calls were the whale song in distorted form. The humpback's communication with the probe at the climax of the film contained no dramatic music, meaning that Mangini's sounds had to stand alone. He recalled that he had some difficulty with envisioning how the scene would unfold, leading Bennett to perform a puppet show to explain. Nimoy and the other producers were unhappy with Mangini's attempts to create the probe's droning operating noise; after 18 attempts, the sound designer finally asked Nimoy what he thought the probe should sound like, and recorded Nimoy's response. Nimoy's voice was distorted with "just the tiniest bit of dressing" and used as the final sound. [30]

The punk music that blares during the bus scene was written by Thatcher after he learned that the audio to be added to the scene would be " Duran Duran , or whoever" and not "raw" and authentic punk. [20] Thatcher collaborated with Mangini and two sound editors (who were in punk bands) to create their own music. They decided that punk distilled down to the sentiment of "I hate you", and wrote a sound to match. Recording in the sound studio as originally planned produced too clean a sound, so they moved to the outside hallway and recorded the entire band in one take using cheap microphones to create the distorted sound intended. [19] The song was later used for Paramount's " Back to the Beach ". [20]

Reception [ ]

Release [ ].

The movie begins with a dedication from the cast and crew of Star Trek to the memory of the astronauts killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.

Since Star Trek had traditionally not performed well internationally, the producers created a special trailer for foreign markets which de-emphasized the Star Trek part of the title, [31] as well as retelling the events of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock . Winter recalled that the marketing did not seem to make a difference. [32]

The Voyage Home was the first Star Trek film shown in the Soviet Union. It was screened by the World Wildlife Fund on June 26, 1987 in Moscow to celebrate a ban on whaling. Nimoy and Bennett attended the screening. Bennett was amazed the film got the same laughs as it did with an American audience; he said "the single most rewarding moment of my Star Trek life" was when the Moscow audience applauded at McCoy's line, "The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe. We'll get a freighter." To him, it was a clear "messenger of what was to come." [4]

A novelization of the film, written by Vonda N. McIntyre , was released alongside the film. Publisher Pocket Books ' biggest tie-in novel, [33] it spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, [34] with a top spot of #3. [35]

The film was a major commercial success for Paramount, with five of the top ten films of the year released by the studio, [36] and 22% of all money taken in at American theaters. [37] In six weeks, it sold $81.3 million in tickets, more than the second or third films, and almost as much as Star Trek: The Motion Picture . [38] Much of the credit for Paramount's success was given to chairman Frank Mancuso, who moved The Voyage Home Template:'s release from Christmas to Thanksgiving after research showed that the film might draw filmgoers away from The Golden Child . [39] In Australia the film took in $A39.6 million in its first five days, beating The Search for Spock Template:'s three-day opening by $A14 million. [40] In its first week it knocked "Crocodile" Dundee from the top box office spot, [41] which it had held for eight weeks. [42]

It grossed $109,713,132 in the U.S. and another $133,000,000 in the rest of the world, [43] against a $23,000,000 budget. [39]

Critical response [ ]

The Voyage Home was well-received by critics; Nimoy called it the most well-received of all the Star Trek films made to that point. Template:Citation needed Producer Ralph Winter also added that this film did very well as it was liked by both fans and non-fans of the Star Trek phenomenon. Template:Citation needed Due to the success of this film, Paramount greenlit a new Star Trek television series (after failing to get one off the ground in 1977). The series ultimately became Star Trek: The Next Generation , which premiered in major markets on September 28, 1987.

USA Today gave the film a positive review, declaring "Kirk and company turn into the most uproarious out-of-towners to hit the Bay area since the Democrats in 1984," and felt the lack of special effects allowed the actors to "prove themselves more capable actors than ever before." Janet Maslin of The New York Times noted The Voyage Home "has done a great deal to ensure the series' longevity." [14]

The Voyage Home garnered 11 nominations at the 14th annual Saturn Awards , tying Aliens for number of nominations. Nimoy and Shatner were nominated for best actor for their roles. [44] It was nominated in the "Best Cinematography" category at the Academy Awards. [45]

Home video [ ]

The Voyage Home was first released on VHS home media on September 30, 1987. Paramount Home Video spent $20 million marketing the film's release alongside 10 episodes of the original series. [46] The video sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the United States and Canadian markets, [47] and was in the top ten rankings for sales and rentals in December and January 1987.

Paramount rereleased the film on March 12, 1992 with Fatal Attraction as part of a "Director's Series"; these editions had additional commentary and were presented in a widescreen letterbox format to preserve the film's original cinematography. Nimoy was interviewed on the Paramount lots and discussed his acting career as well as his favorable opinion of the widescreen format. [48]

The film was given a "bare bones" DVD release on November 9, 1999, containing the film with no extra features. Three and a half years later, a two disc "Collector's Edition" was released with supplemental material and the same video transfer as the original DVD release. It featured a text commentary by Michael Okuda and an audio commentary from director Leonard Nimoy and star William Shatner . [49]

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in May 2009 to coincide with the new Star Trek feature, along with the other five films featuring the original crew in Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection . [50] The Voyage Home was remastered in 1080p high-definition from the 1999 DVD transfer. All six films in the set have new 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. The disc features a new commentary track by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , the writers of the 2009 Star Trek film. [50] [51]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hughes, 31.
• ↑ Dillard, 83.
• ↑ Rioux, 265.
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Dillard, 85-87.
• ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Fischer, 37.
• ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 Nimoy & Shatner.
• ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gire, 4.
• ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Okuda.
• ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Special features: "Future's Past: A Look Back".
• ↑ Template:Cite news
• ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Hughes, 32-33.
• ↑ Fischer, 36.
• ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Reeves-Stevens, 233.
• ↑ Fischer, 38.
• ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lee, 46.
• ↑ 19.0 19.1 Special features: "On Location".
• ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Template:Cite web
• ↑ Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda . The Star Trek Encyclopedia Second Edition 1997 Pocket Books Page 137.
• ↑ 22.0 22.1 Reeves-Stevens, 240-241.
• ↑ "Visions of Layla: Taking the Voyage Home" startrek.com October 27, 2005
• ↑ William Shatner. Star Trek: Movie Memories
• ↑ Reeves-Stevens, 236-237.
• ↑ 27.0 27.1 Bond, 119.
• ↑ 28.0 28.1 Bond, 120.
• ↑ Bond, 131.
• ↑ Special features, "Below-the-Line: Sound Design".
• ↑ Template:Cite web
• ↑ Cine, 46.
• ↑ The New York Times January 7, 1987, Wednesday, Late City Final Edition Paramount Films Lead at Box Office BYLINE: AP SECTION: Section C; Page 20, Column 5; Cultural Desk
• ↑ 39.0 39.1 The New York Times December 22, 1986, Monday, Late City Final Edition PARAMOUNT'S SURPRISE STREAK BYLINE: By GERALDINE FABRIKANT, Special to the New York Times SECTION: Section D; Page 1, Column 3; Financial Desk
• ↑ Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) December 4, 1986 Thursday Late Edition TODAY'S PEOPLE BYLINE: Edited by Anthony Dennis SECTION: NEWS AND FEATURES; Today Page; Pg. 18
• ↑ The Advertiser December 5, 1986 Friday STAR TREK: Still soaring after 20 years SOURCE: aap BYLINE: BRUCE GUTHRIE
• ↑ TELEGRAPH December 9, 1986 Tuesday SPOCK'S MANY HAPPY RETURNS SOURCE: QNP BYLINE: GUTHRIE B
• ↑ 50.0 50.1 Template:Cite web
• 1 Star Trek (2009)
• 2 Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock
• 3 Time Travel

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Trailer 1

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

It's the 23rd century and a mysterious power is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. To save mankind, Capt. Kirk and the rest of the Starship Enterprise crew travel back in time to 1986 San Francisco. more

It's the 23rd century and a mysterious power is threatening Earth ... More

Starring: William Shatner Leonard Nimoy Catherine Hicks

Director: Leonard Nimoy

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It's the 23rd century and a mysterious power is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. To save mankind, Capt. Kirk and the rest of the Starship Enterprise crew travel back in time to 1986 San Francisco.

Starring: William Shatner Leonard Nimoy Catherine Hicks DeForest Kelley James Doohan

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Star Trek III: Search for Spock / Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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Product Description

Includes: Star Trek 3: Search For Spock and Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home.

Product details

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.88 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 2517
• Director ‏ : ‎ Robert Wise, Nicholas Meyer
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Widescreen, Color, NTSC
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 223 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ September 10, 2013
• Actors ‏ : ‎ William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, Spanish, French
• Studio ‏ : ‎ PARAMOUNT
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00DB97LA4
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
• #28,424 in DVD

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The voyages of the Starship Enterprise came to a sudden and premature end on June 3, 1969, with the airing of the final episode of the Star Trek original television series. Ironically, the show’s cancellation came just six weeks before humanity embarked on its first voyage to land on another celestial body. Although the show ran for only three seasons, it generated a devoted fan base disappointed by the cancellation despite their write-in campaign to keep it on the air. But as things turned out, over the decades Star Trek evolved into a global phenomenon, first with the original episodes replayed in syndication, followed by a series of full-length motion pictures, and eventually a multitude of spin-off series. With its primary focus on space exploration, along with themes of diversity, inclusion, and innovation, the Star Trek fictional universe formed a natural association with NASA’s real life activities.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first had the idea for a science fiction television series in 1964. He presented his idea, a show set in the 23 rd century aboard a starship with a crew dedicated to exploring the galaxy, to Desilu Productions, an independent television production company headed by Lucille Ball. They produced a pilot titled “The Cage,” selling it to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) network that then bought a second pilot titled “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” NBC introduced the show to its fall 1966 lineup, with the first episode “The Man Trap” airing on Sep. 8. To put that date in perspective, NASA launched Gemini XI four days later, one of the missions that helped the agency achieve the Moon landing nearly three years later. Meanwhile, Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise continued its fictional five-year mission through the galaxy to “seek out new life and new civilizations.” The makeup of the Enterprise’s crew made the show particularly attractive to late 1960s television audiences. The major characters included an African American woman communications officer, an Asian American helmsman, and a half-human half-Vulcan science officer, later joined by a Russian-born ensign. While the show enjoyed good ratings during its first two seasons, cuts to its production budget resulted in lower quality episodes during its third season leading to lower ratings and, despite a concerted letter-writing campaign from its dedicated fans, eventual cancellation.

Despite the show’s cancellation, Star Trek lived on and prospered in syndication and attracted an ever-growing fan base, turning into a worldwide sensation. Often dubbed “trekkies,” these fans held the first of many Star Trek conventions in 1972. When in 1976 NASA announced that it would name its first space shuttle orbiter Constitution, in honor of its unveiling on the anniversary of the U. S. Constitution’s ratification, trekkies engaged in a dedicated letter writing campaign to have the orbiter named Enterprise, after the starship in the television series. This time the fans’ letter writing campaign succeeded. President Gerald R. Ford agreed with the trekkies and directed NASA to rechristen the first space shuttle. When on Sept. 17, 1976 , it rolled out of its manufacturing plant in Palmdale, California, appropriately accompanied by a band playing the show’s theme song, it bore the name Enterprise. Many of the original cast members of the show as well as its creator Rodenberry participated in the rollout ceremony, hosted by NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher . Thus began a lengthy relationship between the space agency and the Star Trek brand.

During the development of the space shuttle in the 1970s, the need arose to recruit a new group of astronauts to fly the vehicle, deploy the satellites, and perform the science experiments. When NASA released the call for the new astronaut selection on July 8, 1976, it specifically encouraged women and minorities to apply. To encourage those applicants, NASA chose Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the Starship Enterprise, to record a recruiting video and speak to audiences nationwide. She came to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston in March 1977, and accompanied by Apollo 12 and Skylab 3 astronaut Alan L. Bean , toured the center and filmed scenes for the video in Mission Control and other facilities. NASA hoped that her stature and popularity would encourage women and minorities to apply, and indeed they did. In January 1978, when NASA announced the selection of 35 new astronauts from more than 8,000 applicants, for the first time the astronaut class included women and minorities. All distinguished themselves as NASA astronauts and paved the way for others in subsequent astronaut selections. Nichols returned to JSC in September 2010 with the Traveling Space Museum, an organization that partners with schools to promote space studies. She toured Mission Control and the International Space Station trainer accompanied by NASA astronaut B. Alvin Drew . She also flew aboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne telescope aircraft managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, in September 2015.

Meanwhile, the Star Trek brand renewed itself in 1979 as a full-length motion picture with the original TV series cast members reprising their roles. Over the years, several sequels followed this first film. And on the small screen, a reboot of sorts occurred in 1987 with the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a new series set in the 24 th century aboard the Enterprise-D, a next generation starship with a new crew. That series lasted seven seasons, followed by a near-bewildering array of spin-off series, all built on the Star Trek brand, that continue to this day.

James Doohan, the actor who played Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, the Starship Enterprise’s chief engineer, had early associations with NASA. In April 1967, Doohan visited NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center in California, spending time with NASA test pilot Bruce A. Peterson. A month later, Peterson barely survived a horrific crash of the experimental M2-F2 lifting body aircraft. He inspired the 1970s TV series The Six-Million Dollar Man, and the show’s opening credits include film of the crash. Doohan narrated a documentary film about the space shuttle released shortly before Columbia made its first flight in April 1981. In January 1991, Doohan visited JSC and with NASA astronaut Mario Runco (who sometimes went by the nickname “Spock”) toured the shuttle trainers, Mission Control, and tried his hand at operating the shuttle’s robotic arm in the Manipulator Development Facility. In a unique tribute, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong , the first person to step on the lunar surface , spoke at Doohan’s retirement in 2004, addressing him as “one old engineer to another.”

George Takei, who played Enterprise helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu, and his husband Brad, visited JSC in May 2012. Invited by both Asian American and LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Groups, Takei spoke of leadership and inclusiveness, including overcoming challenges while in Japanese American internment camps during World War II and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. He noted that Star Trek remained ahead of its time in creating a future when all members of society could equally participate in great undertakings, at a time when the country struggled through the Civil Rights movement and the conflict in Southeast Asia. The inclusiveness that is part of NASA’s culture greatly inspired him. JSC Director Michael L. Coats presented Takei with a plaque including a U.S. flag flown aboard space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-135 mission. He also visited Mission Control and spent some time with Robonaut.

Leonard Nimoy played the science officer aboard the Starship Enterprise, the half-human, half-Vulcan Mr. Spock. The actor watched in September 2012 when space shuttle Enterprise arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, on the last leg of its journey to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it currently resides. “This is a reunion for me,” observed Nimoy. “Thirty-five years ago, I met the Enterprise for the first time.” As noted earlier, the Star Trek cast attended the first space shuttle’s rollout in 1976. Following his death in 2015, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti paid tribute to Nimoy aboard the International Space Station by wearing a Star Trek science officer uniform, giving the Vulcan greeting, and proclaiming, “Of all the souls I have encountered … his was the most human.”

Captain James T. Kirk, played by actor William Shatner, a life-long advocate of science and space exploration, served at the helm of the Starship Enterprise. His relationship with NASA began during the original series, with references to the space agency incorporated into several story lines. In 2011, Shatner hosted and narrated a NASA documentary celebrating the 30 th anniversary of the Space Shuttle program , and gave his time and voice to other NASA documentaries. NASA recognized Shatner’s contributions in 2014 with a Distinguished Public Service Medal , the highest award NASA bestows on non-government individuals. NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications Robert “Bob” N. Jacobs presented the medal to Shatner. The award’s citation read, “For outstanding generosity and dedication to inspiring new generations of explorers around the world, and for unwavering support for NASA and its missions of discovery.” In 2019, Shatner narrated the NASA video We Are Going , about NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the Moon. He has spoken at numerous NASA-themed events and moderated panels about NASA’s future plans. On Oct. 13, 2021, at the age of 90, Shatner reached the edge of space during the NS-18 suborbital flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle, experiencing three minutes of weightlessness.

Elements of the Star Trek universe have made their way not only into popular culture but also into NASA culture. As noted above, Star Trek fans had a hand in naming the first space shuttle Enterprise. NASA’s Earth observation facility aboard the space station that makes use of its optical quality window bears the name the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). The connection between that acronym and the name of a Klingon officer aboard the Enterprise in the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series seemed like an opportunity not to be missed – the facility’s official patch bears its name in English and in Klingon. Several astronaut crews have embraced Star Trek themes for their unofficial photographs. The STS-54 crew dressed in the uniforms of Starship Enterprise officers from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, the second full-length feature motion picture of the series. Space shuttle and space station crews created Space Flight Awareness (SFA) posters for their missions, and more than one embraced Star Trek themes. The Expedition 21 crew dressed in uniforms from the original series, while the STS-134 crew chose as their motif the 2009 reboot motion picture Star Trek.

As much as Star Trek has influenced NASA, in turn the agency has left its mark on the franchise, from episodes referencing actual and future spaceflight events to NASA astronauts making cameo appearances on the show. The first-season episode “Court Martial” that aired in February 1967 featured a photograph of the December 1965 Gemini VI launch adorning a wall aboard a star base. In the second-season episode “Return to Tomorrow,” airing in February 1968, Captain Kirk in a dialogue about risk-taking remarks, “Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn’t reached the Moon?” a prescient reference to the first Apollo mission to reach the Moon more than 10 months after the episode aired. Astronaut Mae C. Jemison , who credits Nichelle Nichols as her inspiration to become an astronaut, appeared in the 1993 episode “Second Chances” of Star Trek: The Next Generation , eight months after her actual spaceflight aboard space shuttle Endeavour. In May 2005, two other NASA astronauts, Terry W. Virts and E. Michael Fincke , appeared in “These are the Voyages…,” the final episode of the series Star Trek: Enterprise.

In the 2016 documentary “ NASA on the Edge of Forever: Science in Space ,” host NASA astronaut Victor J. Glover states, “Science and Star Trek go hand-in-hand.” The film explores how for 50 years, Star Trek influenced scientists, engineers, and even astronauts to reach beyond their potential. While the space station doesn’t speed through the galaxy like the Starship Enterprise, much of the research conducted aboard the orbiting facility can make the fiction of Star Trek come a little closer to reality. Several of the cast members from the original TV series share their viewpoints in the documentary, along with those of NASA managers and scientists. Over the years, NASA has created several videos highlighting the relationship between the agency and the Star Trek franchise. In 2016, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden led a video tribute to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the first Star Trek episode.

In 2021, on the 100 th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s birth, his son Rod hosted a virtual panel discussion , introduced by NASA Administrator C. William “Bill” Nelson , about diversity and inspiration, two ideals the Star Trek creator infused into the series. Panelists included Star Trek actor Takei, Tracy D. Drain, flight systems engineer for the Europa Clipper spacecraft at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim , Swati Mohan, guidance and operations lead for the Mars 2020 rover at JPL, and Hortense B. Diggs, Director of the Office of Communication and Public Engagement at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mutual attraction between NASA and Star Trek stems from, to paraphrase the opening voiceover from the TV series, that both seek to explore and discover new worlds, and to boldly go where no one has gone before. The diversity, inclusion, and inspiration involved in these endeavors ensure that they will live long and prosper.

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Published Jun 6, 2024

The Infinite Diversity of Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd Century

A guide to the vibrant variety of sentient species we met during our trip through the 32nd Century!

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for the fifth season of Star Trek: Discovery.

StarTrek.com

The quest for the Progenitors ' life-changing technology came to an astonishing conclusion in Star Trek: Discovery 's series finale, " Life, Itself ," as Captain Michael Burnham decided that such power was too great for any one individual or culture to wield. Since the Progenitors had brought infinite diversity in infinite combinations to the galaxy when they seeded humanoid life throughout the stars, Captain Burnham justifiably believed that the technology's mission had already been fulfilled.

The captain's astute observation was backed up by the vibrant variety of sentient species we met during our trip through the 32nd Century. As our investigation into Discovery 's cultural tapestry begins, we'll focus on some old friends who received more time in the spotlight and the new civilizations which were introduced by the series.

A Kwejian Connection

"The Sanctuary"

Cleveland "Book" Booker's appearance at the moment Michael Burnham arrived in the distant future in "That Hope Is You, Part 1" represented our first contact with the Kwejian, an empathic species capable of communicating with other beings. This fostered a strong connection between the Kwejian and the natural world, as they found great meaning in their planet’s all-encompassing World Root and the heirlooms created from its sap.

Sadly, the Dark Matter Anomaly (DMA) destroyed the Kwejian homeworld in "Kobayashi Maru," leaving Book as one of the last living Kwejian. Despite these hardships, Book continued to cherish the Kwejian way of life by connecting with lifeforms and safeguarding a World Root cutting. The birth of Leto, the son of Book and Burnham, guaranteed that the Kwejian culture would survive into the 33rd Century.

The Betelgeusian Resurgence

"That Hope Is You, Part 1"

Our earliest 32nd encounters also allowed us to meet Cosmo Traitt, an unscrupulous Betelgeusian courier who trafficked in trance worms. First seen among a crowd of U.S.S. Enterprise crew members in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and later glimpsed in Jett Reno's triage unit aboard the U.S.S. Hiawatha in "Brother," the Betelgeusian species finally took center stage… at least until the Emerald Chain chose to vaporize him for permitting his cargo to get stolen.

In " Terra Firma, Part 1 ," we learned that Commander Yor, a Betelgeusian time soldier, had been the only individual known to have traveled forward in time and across from another dimension prior to the Terran Philippa Georgiou accomplished the same feat. Unfortunately, Yor experienced a grisly death as every molecule in his body fought to either go back in time or return to the Kelvin Timeline.

Understanding the Alshain

"Kobayashi Maru"

Ruled by Emperor Lee'U, the Alshain greeted Captain Burnham and Book with skepticism when the Federation offered to provide them with "no strings attached" dilithium in "Kobayashi Maru." With a reverence for monarchs and an apparent aversion to carnivores, the Alshain misunderstood Grudge's presence aboard Book's starship and nearly executed their friendly visitors.

Able to deploy delicate wings and utilize their planet's magnetic fields to navigate, the Alshain were forced to build satellites to help compensate for their world's shifting magnetic poles. Those artificial structures needed dilithium to operate, and Burnham's decision to reactivate the equipment played a significant role in easing tensions. The emperor opted to attend the Federation's emergency conference pertaining to the DMA, even going so far as to voice support for the diplomacy and courtesy Burnham exhibited toward his people.

The Eccentric Akoszonam

Although the Akoszonam only recently made their Star Trek debut in the Short Trek "Children of Mars," Discovery found an Akoszonam named Kanak working as one of Osyraa's Emerald Chain regulators in " There Is A Tide… ." While that individual endured an icy fate when she was launched out into the frozen void, another Akoszonam also perished in grim fashion during the events of "Kobayashi Maru."

Commander Nalas, the anxious officer who oversaw Starfleet's Deep Space Repair Beta Six, taught us the Akoszonam term "squiddled" — their word for "destroyed beyond repair" — and was impressed that President Laira Rillak knew of his homeworld's wondrous Fissure of Jorat. Panic gripped Nalas after the DMA interfered with his station, and he ultimately died in a fiery crash before he could safely reach Discovery 's shuttlebay. 

The Stately Saurian

"All is Possible"

The Saurians made their comeback in the form of Discovery 's own Linus in Season 2, but the presence of a Saurian delegate at the final sessions of the Federation's negotiations to bring Ni'Var back into the fold in " All Is Possible " confirmed that the culture, famous for its Saurian brandy and yet another species introduced via a background character in The Motion Picture , thrived within the government body during the 32nd Century.

And, as an added bonus, we were treated to more run-ins with Linus across the show's last three seasons.

Haz Mazaro's Magic

"All In"

Even though his species was never mentioned by name, the multifaceted proprietor of Haz Mazaro's Karma Barge made quite the impression in "All In." Always prepared with a clever nickname for his customers or a creatively descriptive saying, Haz Mazaro ran a gambling establishment at the front of his business and presided over illicit sales in its back room.

A friend of both Burnham and Book, his facility became a hub for galactic controversy when the captain deduced that her partner would go to Haz to obtain isolynium for Ruon Tarka's unauthorized anti-DMA weapon. Haz's personality displayed an odd blend of extroverted affection and nefarious intentions, but he seemed to genuinely consider Book and Burnham to be his friends.

An Entreaty to Species Ten-C

"Coming Home"

As the designation the Federation assigned to the culture that constructed the DMA, Unknown Species Ten-C did not reflect the highly-advanced civilization's actual name. With their planet having undergone a cataclysm, Species Ten-C relocated to another star system and fabricated an immense hyperfield to maintain their privacy.

Unaware that their DMA caused harm to other sentient life, the Ten-C unleashed it upon the galaxy to mine the boronite necessary to power the field. Captain Burnham and her crew discovered that the Ten-C communicated by emitting hydrocarbons and light patterns to express emotional inflection and context, a revelation that enabled them to convince Species Ten-C to halt the DMA and attempt to clean up the toxic mess it left behind in "Coming Home."

The Kellerun Commander

"Face the Strange"

Before reemerging in Discovery 's " Red Directive ," our sole confrontation with the Kellerun occurred in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's " Armageddon Game ." Depicted as centuries long enemies of the T'Lani who engaged in a vicious war involving biomechanical gene disruptors, the Kellerun became so dedicated to peace that they were willing to kill those familiar with how to create the infectious weapon.

By the 32nd Century, Kellerun had suffered under a harsh occupation led by Primarch Tahal of the Breen Imperium . Rayner, the Kellerun who would go on to serve as Discovery 's new Number One, resisted the Breen and witnessed his entire family die on Tahal's orders. Those traumas left unimaginable scars that fostered Rayner's ongoing disdain for the Breen.

A New Day for the Selay

"Jinaal"

If the relationship between the Kellerun and T'Lani seemed extreme, then the Selay and Anticans' violent hijinx in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's " Lonely Among Us " will shock you even more. Though both species petitioned for Federation membership prior to their voyage, the two delegations hunted each other as the U.S.S. Enterprise -D transported them to their conference. The Anticans even took quite the interest in a meal that strongly resembled a missing Selay delegate.

In " Jinaal ," a Selay's attendance at an important meeting within the halls of Federation Headquarters indicated that his government's application had been approved at some point in the previous 800 years.

An Efrosian Archivist

"Labyrinths"

While an Efrosian bridge officer served aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga when Admiral Kirk took his jaunt through time in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , the Federation president from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country stood as Star Trek 's most famous Efrosian until Discovery 's " Labyrinths ."

That installment brought us Hy'Rell, the delightfully chipper and well-read Efrosian archivist who spent her days assisting visitors to the Eternal Gallery and Archive. Eager to share her extensive knowledge and greet all those who came in peace, Hy'Rell nevertheless proved willing to raise the library's shields, threaten to sentence troublemakers to its oubliette, and revoke agitators' access to the station's invaluable collection of cultural treasures.

An Eclectic Committee

"...But to Connect"

We'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention the multitude of unnamed species present throughout Discovery 's third, fourth, and fifth seasons. Most notably, many such cultures dispatched delegates to attend the Federation's DMA conference in "...But to Connect."

From a species which lost countless probes in the DMA to another that liquidated a wealth of latinum to figure out how to get a ship inside the anomaly, this grand assembly showcased the interstellar community's bustling and diverse nature.

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Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Brent Spiner: Star Trek Flop With No Way Home Actor as Villain Was “a Message from the fans that they were done with us”

Star Trek is one of the most significant and oldest media franchises out there. It has amassed a massive fan base over the years. However, the franchise faced a major setback in 2002 when  Star Trek: Nemesis turned out to be a gigantic critical and commercial flop.

Brent Spiner, who played the role of the android Data in  The Next Generation series, 4 films, and in the  Picard  series admitted that  Nemesis ‘ failure made him feel that the fans are done with  Star Trek.

Star Trek: Nemesis was the fourth and the last film with the cast of The Next Generation series. Additionally, it also had Tom Hardy playing the antagonist opposite Patrick Stewart’s lead. Unfortunately, nothing could save the film from the abysmal response with some critics even labeling it as the worst in the franchise.

What did Brent Spiner say about  Star Trek: Nemesis ?

The primary cast of  Star Trek: The Next Generation  reprised their roles in four films- Star Trek: Generation ,  Star Trek: First Contact ,  Star Trek: Insurrection , and  Star Trek: Nemesis. While the movies started on a mixed note, Nemesis came out as a major mess.

Michelle Paradise Addresses Her Possibly Never Returning to Star Trek Franchise After Unexpected Cancellation of Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Nemesis pitched Tom Hardy ‘s antagonist Shinzon against Patrick Stewart ‘s Picard. Anyhow, it came out as a nightmarish experience for the Trekkies and attracted a very poor 38% critics rating and an equally disappointing 49% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes .

The woes did not end for  Star Trek: Nemesis  as it only earned $67.3 million against a budget of $60 million, as reported by Box Office Mojo . On top of that, it became more infamous after being the first in the franchise that failed to debut as the highest-grossing film of the week. The makers repeatedly asserted that it was due to the massive competition.

But, when Brent Spiner spoke about the film in Star Trek All Good Things: A Next Generation Companion  (via  TrekMovie.com ), he claimed that the film’s failure implied an important message.

Usually the films opened big, even if they had a lot of competition, but Nemesis didn’t even do that. This was a message from the fans that they were done with us. It was unexpected.

Star Trek: Nemesis  closed the doors for any future movie with the cast of  The Next Generation . The film series was rebooted and we did not get any film until 2009’s  Star Trek by J.J. Abrams. Interestingly, contrary to Shinzon, Tom Hardy shined as Bane when the  No Way Home actor was cast in Christopher Nolan’s  The Dark Knight Rises .

Tom Hardy surprises fans with an electrifying  Venom 3  trailer

Tom Hardy is all set to reprise his role as Eddie Brock aka Venom for the third installment of  Venom . The threequel titled Venom: The Last Dance is set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and as the title suggests, it will conclude Hardy’s anti-hero trilogy.

While Sony is highly infamous for its disappointing works in the Spider-Man Universe like Morbius  and  Madame Web. Nonetheless, the  Venom  films have been surprisingly entertaining in the franchise. Both  Venom  and  Venom: Let There Be Carnage managed to garner a massive box office collection even after attracting mixed reviews.

“He was literally born to be Venom”: Kevin Feige Better Steal This 1 Superstar From James Gunn’s DCU Who is Hellbent on Playing Batman

It is to be noted that  Let There Be Carnage was a superhit at a time when the pandemic was hitting the movie market hard. The trailer of  Venom: The Last Dance promises us some high-octane entertainment. While the  Peaky Blinders  actor gets credit for the story, his writing collaborator Kelly Marcel will serve as the director of the film.

Venom: The Last Dance will be released on October 25, 2024, while  Star Trek: Nemesis  can be streamed on Max. 

Community | News

Update 56 – Voyager Pt 3 Patch Notes

By Star Trek 4 July 2023

Commanders, “A Borg Sphere is orbiting a Progenitor Installation in Dareb. From what we can tell, the Borg have yet to gain access.” The Borg have been suspiciously quiet since their defeat over the Arcaelans, but the Voyager crew know that it is only a matter of time before the Queen’s newest machination reveals itself. They need to find out what she’s up to and put an end to it. Just as their investigation begins, Voyager and the Commander are drawn into a decades-long conflict between the Coalition and Insurgence. With the Borg threat ever looming, the Voyager crew scrambles to find a diplomatic solution. They soon realize that things are more complex – and dangerous – than they first appeared. Meanwhile, the Commander and Tuvok search for an ancient technology created by a people called the Pakik, who were stranded in the Delta Quadrant millennia ago. It could be a way home… or a weapon of mass destruction. “We need to be very careful. Who knows what the Coalition or Insurgence might do if they got their hands on this technology.”

• Voyager Pt 3 is here, and along with it:
• A new activity, Q’s Trials
• New Ship Enhancements – Forbidden Tech

New Officers

New missions, q’s trials and forbidden tech.

Q is here, Commander, and he’s ready to throw his most fearsome challenges at you. Build the new Court of Q building and face Q’s Trials to unlock and upgrade powerful Forbidden Tech. Forbidden Tech can be slotted in your ships to acquire significant buffs and meaningfully increase their power. Voyager Part 3 includes 12 Trials of increasing difficulty and 15 unique pieces of Forbidden Tech. Log in to claim your first Tech and build the Court of Q! Forbidden Tech is a brand new way to customize the many different ships in your fleet. Located next to the bridge officers, an unlockable slot will be available for all ships once they achieve tier 2. This is where you’ll be able to equip one of fifteen different Forbidden Tech items. By collecting Forbidden Tech Fusion Rods, you’ll be able to unlock the Forbidden Tech capability on a ship. This technology was brought by Q and provides extremely powerful benefits when equipped to a ship. Starting with one enhancement, Forbidden Tech can be upgraded, and depending on the rarity of the item, can give up to 4 enhancements to the ship that it’s equipped to. These enhancements range from massive bonuses when going against any target in the galaxy to increasing the combat effectiveness of your cloaking capabilities. Q may bring with them chaos, but he also does provide incredible rewards to the worthy. Complete in Q’s Trials to prove your worth and gain access to this new technology.

To learn more about Q’s Trials and Forbidden Tech , check here!

Chakotay, now available as an Epic Officer

Captain Manoeuvre: Visionary

• 40% base, 30% synergy with any VOY officer (regardless of class) = 100% increase with full synergy

Officer Ability: Maquis Strike

• 8% / 12% / 16%/ 22% / 30%

Tuvok, now available as a Rare Officer

Officer Ability: Artifact Analysis

• 80% / 100% / 130%/ 160% / 200%

Below Deck Ability: Logical Logistics

• 100% / 150% / 220%/ 300% / 400%

There are 10 new missions continuing the Voyager story. Five new missions have been added to introduce you to the arrival of Q, alongside five new planetary missions in the Delta Quadrant. In addition, Strange New Worlds pt.3 missions are now available in the Holodeck.

New Research

Voyager Part 3 will launch 1 new Prime Node available for Commanders Ops 35+ and 3 new Nodes in the Ex-Borg Tree for Commanders Ops 41+:

Ex-Borg Tree:

• 2 new Nodes greatly facilitating acquisition of Bajoran Reputation and Hostile Loot
• 1 new Node enabling new refinery options for the Amalgam

Galaxy Tree: Prime: Structure

New Battle Pass

An all-new Battle Pass featuring new officer shards, missions, cosmetics, resources, and more! Unlock tiers and content by participating in events throughout the month or purchasing the Premium Pass.

New Frames and Avatars

Avatars (7):

• Uncommon Compression Phaser Rifle Avatar
• Rare Tuvok Avatar
• Rare Chakotay Avatar
• Rare Silver Blood Janeway Avatar
• Epic Q’s Trials (Building) Avatar
• Epic Q Avatar
• Epic Capt. Proton Pistol Avatar

Frames (4):

• Uncommon Hirogen Ship Frame
• Rare Pendari Champion Frame
• Epic Q’s Trials Frame
• Epic Forbidden Tech Frame
• Fixed an issue where shield deflection values of Armadas/Ships are not having numeric symbols such as K (thousand) & M (millions).
• Fixed an issue where when tapping between ships, the color of the ship bar text darkens
• Fixed an issue where on PC, the player details menu is stacked in the chat screen when the player scrolls the chat list
• Fixed an issue under Daily Goals where  Level 60 Hostiles did not get counted for the faction’s daily goals after being defeated
• Fixed an issue where the pink hue behind the Fog of War effect is missing when the user sets windows Quality Settings to Low or on Android LD
• Fixed an issue where there was a cut-off issue with ship ability string ‘Assimilator Data Cube Isolytic Vulnerability’
• Fixed an issue where the push notification translations are not localized when a Formation Armada is created 
• Fixed an issue where the hostile name was present next to the amount of Critical Isolytic damage dealt
• Fixed an issue where Ship Ability information is missing for hostiles when found in token space
• Fixed an issue where officers that boost mining speed do not affect anomaly nodes from the voyager loop
• Fixed an issue where on the artifact “Blade of Tkon” the description was misleading when fighting against armadas
• Fixed an issue where the pip fails to appear on the bundle in the Artifacts Store

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Inside the ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Series Finale: The Last-Minute Coda, the Surprise Easter Eggs, and What Season 6 Would Have Been About (EXCLUSIVE)

SPOILER WARNING: This story includes descriptions of major plot developments on the series finale of “ Star Trek : Discovery,” currently streaming on Paramount+ .

Watching the fifth and final season of “ Star Trek: Discovery ” has been an exercise in the uncanny. Paramount+ didn’t announce that the show was ending until after the Season 5 finale had wrapped filming — no one involved with the show knew it would be its concluding voyage when they were making it. And yet, the season has unfolded with a pervasive feeling of culmination. 

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“I think there’s more to it than just, ‘Oh, it was a coinkydink!’” the actor says with a laugh, before explaining that she’s thinking more about subtext than direct intent. “I’ve gotta give Michelle her flowers. She has always asked the deeper questions of this story and these characters. Those questions of meaning and purpose led to questions of origin and legacy, and, yes, that is quite culminating.”

Martin-Green and Paradise spoke exclusively with Variety about filming the finale and the coda, including the surprising revelation about the origins of one of “Discovery’s” most memorable characters and what Paradise’s plans for Season 6 would have been.

“It’s the Most Complicated Thing I’ve Ever Seen”

Once the “Discovery” writers’ room decided the season would be organized around a search for the Progenitor’s technology, they also knew that, eventually, Burnham would find it. So then they had to figure out what it would be.

“That was a discussion that evolved over the course of weeks and months,” Paradise says. Rather than focus on communicating the intricate details of how the technology works, they turned their attention to delivering a visual experience commensurate with the enormity and complexity of something that could seed life across the entire galaxy.

“We wanted a sense of a smaller exterior and an infinite interior to help with that sense of power greater than us,” Paradise says. Inspired in part by a drawing by MC Escher, the production created an environment surrounded by towering windows into a seemingly endless procession of alien planets, in which it’s just as easy to walk on the walls as on the floor. That made for a daunting challenge for the show’s producing director, Olatunde “Tunde” Osunsanmi: As Burnham battles with the season’s main antagonist, Mol (Eve Harlow), inside this volume, they fall through different windows into another world, and the laws of gravity keep shifting between their feet.

“It’s the most complicated thing I’ve ever seen, directorially,” Paradise says. “Tunde had a map, in terms of: What did the background look like? And when the cameras this way, what’s over there? It was it was incredibly complex to design and shoot.”

Two of those planets — one in perpetual darkness and rainstorms, another consumed by constant fire — were shot on different parking areas on the Pinewood Toronto studio lot.

“The fire planet was so bright that the fire department got called from someone who had seen the fire,” Paradise says. “It should not be possible to pull those kinds of things off in a television show, even on a bigger budget show, with the time limitations that you have. And yet, every episode of every season, we’re still coming in on time and on budget. The rain planet and the fire planet we shot, I believe, one day after the other.”

Martin-Green jumps in: “Michelle, I think that was actually the same day!”

“It Felt Lifted”

The last time a “Star Trek” captain talked to a being that could be (erroneously) considered God, it was William Shatner’s James T. Kirk in 1989’s “Star Trek: The Final Frontier.” The encounter did not go well.

“I had my own journey with the central storyline of Season 5, just as a believer,” Martin-Green says. “I felt a similar way that Burnham did. They’re in this sort of liminal mind space, and it almost felt that way to me. It felt lifted. It really did feel like she and I were the only two people in this moment.”

It’s in this conversation that Burnham learns that while the Progenitors did create all “humanoid” alien species in the galaxy in their image, they did not create the technology that allowed them to do so. They found it, fully formed, created by beings utterly unknown to them. The revelation was something that Martin-Green discussed with Paradise early on in the planning of Season 5, allowing “Discovery” to leave perhaps the most profound question one could ask — what, or who, came first in the cosmos? — unanswered.

“The progenitor is not be the be all end all of it,” Paradise says. “We’re not saying this is God with a capital ‘G.’”

“There’s Just This Air of Mystery About Him”

Starting on Season 3 of “Discovery,” renowned filmmaker David Cronenberg began moonlighting in a recurring role as Dr. Kovich, a shadowy Federation operative whose backstory has been heretofore undisclosed on the show.

“I love the way he plays Kovich,” Paradise says of Cronenberg. “There’s just this air of mystery about him. We’ve always wanted to know more.” When planning Season 5, one of the writers pitched revealing Kovich’s true identity in the (then-season) finale by harkening back to the “Star Trek” show that preceded “Discovery”: “Enterprise,” which ran on UPN from 2001 to 2005.

In the final episode, when Burnham debriefs her experiences with Kovich, she presses him to tell her who he really is. He reintroduces himself as Agent Daniels, a character first introduced on “Enterprise” as a young man (played by Matt Winston) and a Federation operative in the temporal cold war. 

This is, to be sure, a deep cut even for “Star Trek” fans. (Neither Cronenberg nor Martin-Green, for example, understood the reference.) But Paradise says they were laying the groundwork for the reveal from the beginning of the season. “If you watch Season 5 with that in mind, you can see the a little things that we’ve played with along the way,” she says, including Kovich/Daniels’ penchant for anachonistic throwbacks like real paper and neckties.

“I didn’t know that that was going be there,” Martin-Green says. “My whole childhood came back to me.”

“We Always Knew That We Wanted to Somehow Tie That Back Up”

Originally, Season 5 of “Discovery” ends with Burnham and Book talking on the beach outside the wedding of Saru (Doug Jones) and T’Rina (Tara Rosling) before transporting away to their next adventure. But Paradise understood that the episode needed something more conclusive once it became the series finale. The question was what.

There were some significant guardrails around what they could accomplish. The production team had only eight weeks from when Paramout+ and CBS Studios signed off on the epilogue to when they had to shoot it. Fortunately, the bridge set hadn’t been struck yet (though several standing sets already had been). And the budget allowed only for three days of production.

Then there was “Calypso.” 

To fill up the long stretches between the first three seasons of “Discovery,” CBS Studios and Paramount+ greenlit a series of 10 stand-alone episodes, dubbed “Short Treks,” that covered a wide variety of storylines and topics. The second “Short Trek” — titled “Calypso” and co-written by novelist Michael Chabon — first streamed between Season 1 and 2 in November 2018. It focuses on a single character named Craft (Aldis Hodge), who is rescued by the USS Discovery after the starship — and its now-sentient computer system, Zora (Annabelle Wallis) — has sat totally vacant for 1,000 years in the same fixed point in space. How the Discovery got there, and why it was empty for so long, were left to the viewer’s imagination. 

Still, for a show that had only just started its run, “Calypso” had already made a bold promise for “Discovery’s” endgame — one the producers had every intention of keeping.

“We always knew that we wanted to somehow tie that back up,” says Paradise, who joined the writers’ room in Season 2, and became showrunner starting with Season 3. “We never wanted ‘Calypso’ to be the dangling Chad.”

So much so, in fact, that, as the show began winding down production on Season 5, Paradise had started planning to make “Calypso” the central narrative engine for Season 6. 

“The story, nascent as it was, was eventually going to be tying that thread up and connecting ‘Discovery’ back with ‘Calypso,’” she says.

Once having a sixth season was no longer an option, Paradise knew that resolving the “Calypso” question was non-negotiable. “OK, well, we’re not going to have a season to do that,” she says. “So how do we do that elegantly in this very short period of time?”

“I Feel Like It Ends the Way It Needed to End”

Resolving “Calypso” provided the storytelling foundation for the epilogue, but everything else was about giving its characters one final goodbye.

“We want to know what’s happening to Burnham, first and foremost,” Paradise says. “And we knew we wanted to see the cast again.”

For the latter, Paradise and Jarrow devised a conceit that an older Burnham, seated in the captain’s chair on Discovery, imagines herself surrounded by her crew 30 years prior, so she (and the audience) could connect with them one final time. For the former, the makeup team designed prosthetics to age up Martin-Green and Ajala by 30 years — “I think they were tested as they were running on to the set,” Paradise says with a laugh — to illustrate Burnham and Book’s long and happy marriage together.

Most crucially, Paradise cut a few lines of Burnham’s dialogue with Book from the original Season 5 finale and moved it to a conversation she has with her son in the coda. The scene — which evokes the episode’s title, “Life Itself” — serves as both a culminating statement of purpose for “Discovery” and the overarching compassion and humanity of “Star Trek” as a whole.

To reassure her son about his first command of a starship, Burnham recalls when the ancient Progenitor asked what was most meaningful to her. “Do you know how you would answer that question now?” he asks.

“Yeah, just being here,” Burnham replies. “You know, sometimes life itself is meaning enough, how we choose to spend the time that we have, who we spend it with: You, Book, and the family I found in Starfleet, on Discovery.”

Martin-Green relished the opportunity to revisit the character she’s played for seven years when she’s reached the pinnacle of her life and career. “You just get to see this manifestation of legacy in this beautiful way,” she says. “I will also say that I look a lot like my mom, and that was that was also a gift, to be able to see her.”

Shooting the goodbye with the rest of her cast was emotional, unsurprisingly, but it led Martin-Green to an unexpected understanding. “It actually was so charged that it was probably easier that it was only those three days that we knew it was the end, and not the entirety of season,” she says.

Similarly, Paradise says she’s “not sure” what more she would’ve done had there been more time to shoot the coda. “I truly don’t feel like we missed out on something by not having one more day,” she says. “I feel like it ends the way it needed to end.”

Still, getting everything done in just three days was no small feat, either. “I mean, we worked ’round the clock,” Martin-Green says with a deep laugh. “We were delirious by the end — but man, what a way to end it.”

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'Star Trek: Discovery' Reaches the Final Frontier in Series Finale Trailer

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The Big Picture

• Michael Burnham is trapped in mysterious world, seeking the secrets of the Progenitors in series finale of Star Trek: Discovery.
• The crew races to retrieve Burnham while battling alien warships in "Life, Itself".
• Star Trek fans have more to look forward to, with a new streaming-original Section 31 movie and a Starfleet Academy series on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery 's five-year mission is at an end , but Michael Burnham may not be around to make the voyage home. As seen in the new trailer for the show's series finale, the USS Discovery 's captain is trapped in a strange new world. She may find, however, that it holds all the secrets behind the final episode's title - "Life, Itself".

Following up on last episode's cliffhanger conclusion, Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) was chasing down the antagonistic Moll ( Eve Harlow ) when they were both sucked into a wormhole. As seen in the trailer, that has left Burnham in a new dimension beyond imagination - the home of the Progenitors, a mysterious, ancient alien race that seeded the galaxy with life in the distant past. Meanwhile, on the other side of the portal, Burnham's crew on the Discovery , including Saru ( Doug Jones ), Sylvia Tilly ( Mary Wiseman ), Hugh Culber ( Wilson Cruz ), Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ), Book ( David Ajala ), Adira Tal ( Blu del Barrio ), and new addition Rayner ( Callum Keith Rennie ) race to retrieve her, even as they battle a fleet of alien warships. Can Burnham be saved? What will she learn from the Progenitors? Is this Discovery 's final mission? Find out this Thursday, May 30, when the extra-sized finale episode "Life, Itself" premieres on Paramount+.

What Happened in Season Five of 'Star Trek: Discovery'?

The fifth season of Discovery saw the titular ship and her crew traverse the galaxy on a cosmic scavenger hunt, searching for an ancient artifact that may answer the mysteries of the Progenitors, a powerful alien race introduced in the shocking conclusion of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode " The Chase ". However, they soon find they have competition; Moll (Harlow) and L'ak ( Elias Toufexis ), a duo of spacefaring scavengers with their own designs on the secret. That also brought Captain Burnham and company into conflict with the Breen, a powerful and hostile alien empire first glimpsed during the climactic Dominion War story arc of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . With one episode left, the secret is within Burnham's grasp - but will they take it? Or will the Breen use it to sunder the Federation and dominate the galaxy?

Although Star Trek: Discovery is coming to an end, Star Trek fans have more to look forward to on Paramount+. Star Trek: Section 31 , a new streaming-original movie starring Michelle Yeoh , is on its way, as is the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks . Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just wrapped filming its hotly-anticipated third season , while new spinoff Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will shoot this summer, with newly-added cast member Holly Hunter in tow.

Star Trek: Discovery

Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.

Star Trek: Discovery 's series finale, "Life, Itself," will premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, May 30 . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the new trailer for "Life, Itself" below.

• Sonequa Martin-Green