Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
stars William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George
Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, and Catherine Hicks. It is directed by: Leonard Nimoy, written by:
Steve Meerson, Peter Kirkes, Nicholas Meyer, and Harve Bennett, from a story
by: Harve Bennett and Leonard Nimoy, and is produced by: Harve Bennett. It was released theatrically on November 26,
1986.
It's genuinely quite surprising that Leonard Nimoy
would be asked to return to direct another Star Trek film, mainly
because any follow up to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock would bring
the challenge to Nimoy of directing a film where he is a main character. There are obviously challenges having to
direct yourself, but Nimoy was attached to the fourth Star Trek film
before there was even a script developed.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home had a particularly odd development,
starting life as a potential prequel due to the potential of William Shatner dropping
out though he would be signed on after negotiation. Like Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home would be afforded a budget increase from
the previous film and uniquely much of the film would be shot on location,
largely in California though not entirely San Francisco where the majority of
the film is actually set. This above everything
else is what gives the film its unique atmosphere and tone, it’s very different
to see our characters interacting with real locations and not the science
fiction sets. Robert Fletcher returned
from the previous three films to provide the costumes and his work on the film
is integral in making the futuristic costumes work in the modern setting. Yes, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is
a time travel film where Kirk and company in their stolen Klingon vessel (rechristened
the Bounty after Mutiny on the Bounty) have to go back to the
1980s to steal some humpback whales because an alien probe is causing havoc on Earth
by emitting the call of humpback whales.
The actual premise to get our characters to travel
back in time when you think about it is utterly ridiculous, there is no
explanation as to why an alien signal would even be Earth humpback whales. This, of course, doesn’t matter. The film needs to have a plot to end the
trilogy of reflection on ideas of humanity’s needs and the sacrifices that are
made to meet them. The first act of the
film, before the time travel slingshot maneuver gets these themes right out in the
open. Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard as
Amanda Grayson and Sarek are integral to this, the former giving her son advice
while the latter advocates for clemency towards the Enterprise crew for
the actions in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. In terms of roles, they’re quite small, Wyatt
doesn’t even get to appear in the film’s denouement, but they both provide the
film the harmony that Star Trek so often represents thus making the film
work. There’s a knock on effect of
making Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home feel like an ending for the Star
Trek films, despite two more being produced with the original cast (though it’s
possible they would have stopped here with the production of Star Trek: The
Next Generation beginning after this film was released). There’s a finality in the production even
down to the score, Leonard Rosenman being brought in and basing everything on
variations both obvious and subtle of Alexander Courage’s original television
theme. Rosenman’s theme work for the
film is potentially among the franchise’s best and most interesting so far,
even above the stellar work of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner (legendary
composers in their own right).
So much of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home can be
described as an incredibly fun time. While
the premise is ridiculous, it’s a vehicle to allow the cast to have some of the
best interactions and for the supporting cast the deepest
characterization. The film is one that
is carried by a script full of some of the best one liners and character
interactions that the franchise has done.
Nimoy’s portrayal as Spock is characterized as the stiffest and most
logical he has ever been, rationalized as an effect of his resurrection in Star
Trek III: The Search for Spock for better and for worse. By the end he is back to the character familiar
to viewers and there are especially good interactions with the fish out of
water setting of 1980s San Francisco, but Nimoy is perhaps given the weakest
material, likely reflecting Nimoy pulling double duty of acting and
directing. Everyone else on the other
hand is clearly relishing the chance to play against the typical supporting
material. Each character has a mission
in San Francisco to capture the two humpback whales, a pair set to be released
into the wild. This is where some of the
film’s best lines and ideas come about: from Walter Koenig just blatantly
asking people where he can find nuclear vessels, to DeForest Kelley being intensely
angry about 20th century medical practices, to James Doohan causing
a bootstrap paradox to get materials in a smug way only James Doohan
could. Nichelle Nichols is also clearly
relishing the chance to be the authoritative figure in her own plotline, being
largely paired with Koenig and getting some of the best pieces of face acting
she’s had to pull.
William Shatner is still the leading man of the film
as Kirk, for the first time in these films being given a love interest in Catherine
Hicks as Dr. Gillian Taylor, a marine biologist who has fallen in love with the
whales. This is where the script’s
dialogue equally sparkles, the roundabout way Kirk gets to the point is a
particular masterstroke before culminating in the line “I’m from Iowa, I only
work in outer space.” There is this pop
cultural depiction of Kirk as incredibly sexually active, but Star Trek IV:
The Voyage Home avoids that. The
relationship between Kirk and Taylor is one that grows over the film, but never
actually spills out into proper, explicit romance. Despite Taylor ending the film in the 23rd
century with her precious whales, the ending is explicit that their romance really
wasn’t a romance at all. The film makes
the decision to not frame this as disappointing for either party, handling it
with an adult sensibility that really works.
It helps that Hicks is perfect at playing the straight man to a lot of
the film’s future comedy, especially as it goes on and she is embroiled in the
science fiction plot. It’s another aspect
that really builds the film and helps end things in a satisfying way that the
series probably should have ended here.
Overall, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home can be described as an incredibly
fun film. Somehow, each installment of
the Star Trek films has had a radically different tone and plot, yet
each feel like an aspect of Star Trek.
This review couldn’t possibly encompass everything that makes the film
work, especially with how strong the script is in terms of comedy while not
ever letting the viewer or characters lose the tension. The premise is just a tad too ridiculous and
in terms of drama it obviously doesn’t become as emotionally satisfying of Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but it is certainly a satisfying film just to
let watch over you. It’s a funny
adventure with huge stakes and the cast giving it their all under a director they
already love working with and the quality reflects what makes that work. 8/10.
