Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home "Double dumbass on you!!"

OK this is actualy a post revisitation from this blog and the post in question is indeed Star Trek IV: The Voyage as previously promised in my last Star Trek post (well sort of!).  So here I will do the usual and expand on my original post in the usual manner, i.e. more dialogue quotes from the film, more on the film's flaws etc.

Anyway with that being said let's take a closer at look this film...again....

And the usual warning is coming at you's....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY   

OK so the story begins in deep space where an giant orbiting probe sends out powerful signals, which ends up disabling starships that it passes by.  The probe then arrives over the Earth where it signals end up doing serious damage to the Earth's atmosphere and creating heavy storms.  The Federation President (Robert Ellenstein) is then soon advised by Spock's father, Sarek (Mark Lenard) who is also the Vulcan ambassador, to send out a planetary distress signal.

Meanwhile the USS Enterprise crew (or rather the late Enterprise as it was destroyed during the events of Star Trek III) have been living in exile on Vulcan, where Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is still recovering from the experience of his Vulcan ressurection where his living essence was restored to his body at the end of STIII.  Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew at this time are ready to travel back to Earth to face the consequences of their theft and destruction of the Enterprise.

Enroute, travelling in their captured Klingon vessel, the crew receive the president's distress call, and on hearing the probe's signal, Spock soon deduces the signal is that of whale song, sung by humpback whales.  Spock then proposes to Kirk that they attempt time travel to go back in time to the 20th century where they can hope to find and take a humpback whale back into the future to communicate with the prob.  Kirk briefly and manages to communicate with Starfleet command long enough to tell them his theory, and after this Kirk and crew successfully make a timewarp leap back in time via a slingshot round the sun.

The crew soon find that they have arrived back in 1986, however the chief engineer, Scotty (James Doohan) tells Kirk that the time travel has drained the ship's power crystals, and after 24 hours they will be out of power and visible.  On arriving on the surface of the planet, the crew find that they are San Francisco, and Kirk has his crew split up into two teams, with Dr McCoy (DeForrest Kelley), Sulu (James Takei) and Scotty being given the task to create a whale tank, whereas Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) are to find nucelar naval vessels in order to recharge the ship's power.

Meanwhile Kirk and Spock find out the location of two humpback whales, which are kept at a Cetacean institute, which are nicknamed George and Gracie.  The tour director, Dr Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) gives a tour to a group, along with Kirk and Spock, who discreetly slips away and enters the tank to perform a mind meld with one of the whales.  Taylor is outraged by Spock's actions, but Kirk insists they mean no harm, and later on Taylor meets up with Kirk, where he tells them half the truth he needs the whales to be brought back into the future.

Meanwhile Chekov and Uhura, who locate a naval ship, manage to drain enough of the vessel's energy to refuel the klingon ship.  Chekov however is captured, and on attempting to flee he falls and is severley injured.  This leaves Kirk with limited time to find the whales, save Chekov, create the tank and try and get back to his own time to save the planet's future....

THOUGHTS 

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is generally considered to be one of the most popular entries in the Star Trek movie franchise, and its pretty easy to see why as it remains a very entertaining and also a light hearted film.  And the interesting thing in this film is that for once there is no actual villain, as the main problem: the probe, which does all the damage to Earth is merely trying to find out what has happened to the whale species, and as Spock suggests it maybe unaware of the damage it is causing.

The film is also that bit more humorous than most of the entries in the Star Trek world, and there are plenty of amusing moments especially when Krik and his crew travel back in time to San Francisco and they are taken by surprise at the people's customs and behaviour at the time, especially Spock.  The re-training of Spock's mind in a strict Vulcan fashion, also makes for quite a few funny moments in the film as Spock clearly struggles to understand human behaviour and is almost bemused the profanity of the 20th century.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

So onto the performances and they are all pretty good here as the regular Star Trek crew are all in good fettle.  

And to start off with the cast, William Shatner is great again as Kirk, and he has quite a few highlights in the film with one of my favourites being when they walk the streets of San Francisco in 1986 and he is nearly hit by a taxi driver who yells "watch where you're goin' ya dumbass!" and Kirk replies "well a double dumbass on you!".

Then there is the scene where Kirk and Spock go into a pawn shop and Kirk sells his glasses to the owner.  And in the scene Spock asks Kirk "Weren't they a present from Dr McCoy?" and Kirk replies "And they will be again, that's the beauty of it!".  And the store owner says he will give Kirk 100 dollars for them, and Kirk who has no concept of the value of money simply asks "Is that alot?".

Another good moment comes where Kirk and Spock start to walk the streets of San Francisco alone as the other crew members have split up.  And Kirk asks Spock how they should try and resolve their problem to find the humpback whales and Spock says "Simple logic should suffice..." and he goes into a long diatribe about looking at a mpa but then Kirk sees a bus pull up near by, which has a picture of two whales on it advertising a whale institute.  And Kirk interrupts Spock and says to him "I think we'll find what we're looking for at the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito. A pair of humpbacks named George and Gracie".  And Spock says to Kirk "How do you know this?" and Kirk says "Simple logic!" and they step on the bus but a second later step off it and Spock asks "What does it mean exact change?".

Shatner also has a good scene where he goes out to dinner with Gillian, and he is interrupted on his communicator by Scotty where he quietly says "What is it?? I thought I told you never to call me!".  And Scotty replies over the com "Sorry, Admirial, just thought I'd let you know I'm bringing them in now" and Kirk quietly says "OK tell them to put phasers on stun and good luck, Kirk out!".

Another good scene is when Kirk beams back onboard the Klingon vessel and he is frustrated at the immediate nature of how they need the whales and the danger of missing their chance to get them.  And Kirk says to Spock "Damn it!  Two perfect whales and if we don't move soon we might miss them!" and Spock says "Then in that probability our mission would fail".  And Kirk looks incredulously at Spock and says "Our mission? Spock, you're talking about the end of every life on Earth! You're half human!  Haven't you got any goddamn feelings about THAT?!" leaving Spock to quietly ponder Kirk's words.

And then there is the scene where Gillian arrives outside the Klingon vessel shouting for Kirk's help as the two humpbacks have been let out of the institute into the ocean and Kirk beams Gillian onboard the vessel.  And Gillian yells out in panic as she is beamed onboard and Kirk takes her by the hand and says "Hello, Alice, welcome to Wonderland!".  And Gillian tells Kirk that the whales are gone but they can tag them and Kirk says "We're not going anywhere" and Gillian asks "What sort of spaceship is this?" and Kirk tells her "Its a spaceship with a missing man".

And lastly there is the scene (SPOILER!!!) back in the 23rd century where Kirk and the others have saved the day and Kirk says his goodbyes to Gillian.  And as she is about to go Kirk asks her "This is goodbye?" and Gillian asks "Why does it have to be goodbye?" and Kirk says "Well like they say in your century, I don't even have your telephone number!".   

Leonard Nimoy also provides quite a few of the film's highlights as Spock, with his character being so logical that he fails to understand human behaviour.

One of Nimoy's most memorable scenes in the film of course comes when he performs his Vulcan neck pinch on a ill mannered punk rocker on the bus, who refuses to turn down his music, and he renders him unconscious where the passengers all applaud Spock loudly. 

Nimoy also get's some funny lines of dialogue where he struggles to come to grips with how to use human profanity such as when Gillian Taylor asks him after he performs his mind meld with the whales "What the hell are you doing here??" and he replies "Attempting the hell to communicate!".  And this one is followed up by Gillian angrily saying "You were messing up my tank and my whales!" and Spock replies "They like you very much but they are not the hell your whales" Gillian says "Oh and they told you that did they??" and Spock says "The hell they did!".

Also the moment where Gillian asks Kirk and Spock if they both like Italian food, and Spock keeps saying no with Kirk interrupting saying "yes, I love Italian and so do you" to Spock, who flatly replies "yes".  And then shortly after, Gillian drops Spock off in the spot where the Klingon vessel is parked and she says "Are you sure you won't change your mind?" re: dinner, and Spock replies "Is there something wrong with the one I have???".  And then Gillian, baffled by Spock asks him "Wait a minute.  How did you know Gracie is pregnant? No one knows that!" and Spock says to her "Gracie does!".     

And later on Spock rather amusingly get's the hang of the profanity towards the end of the film when Kirk asks him "Spock, where the hell is that power you promised??" and Spock replies "One damn minute, Admiral!".   

And lastly there is the scene onboard the Klingon vessel where Kirk and the crew have beamed up the whales but Spock needs to make his calculations for them to successfully time travel foward to their own time.

And McCoy asks Spock about it and Spock replies regarding his calculations "In order to return us to the exact moment at which we left the twenty-third century, I have used our journey back through time as a reference, calculating the coefficient of elapsed time in relation to the acceleration curve".  And McCoy says to Spock "Naturally, so what's your problem?" and Spock replies "Acceleration is no longer a constant" and McCoy says "Well then you're gonna have to take your best shot" and Spock asks "Best shot?" and McCoy explains "Guess, Spock.  Your best guess" and Spock stiffly replies "Guessing is not in my nature, Doctor" and McCoy smiles and walks away saying "Well nobody's perfect".

And later on when Kirk asks Spock about his calculations to get them home and has he factored the whales into his re-entry programme and Spock says to Kirk "Mister Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral. ...So I will make a guess".  And Kirk looks surprised but then sarcastically says to him "A guess?  You, Spock??  That's extraordinary!" and he walks out with Gillian.  And this leaves Spock, shaking his head, saying "I don't think he understands" and McCoy explains "No, Spock.  He means he feels safer about your "guesses" than most other peoples facts" and Spock says "So, you are saying it is a compliment" and McCoy says "It is!" and Spock says "Ah, well I will try to make the best guess I can".   

DeForrest Kelley is also great again as Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy and he too has his moments in the film.  

And Kelley's highlights include the scene where Kirk is set on travelling back in time to try and pick up the whales in order to save the Earth.  And McCoy in the scene can't believe Kirk is considering time travel and he asks Kirk "You're going to try time traveling in this rustbucket?!" and Kirk says "Well, we've done it before" and McCoy says to him "Sure, you slingshot around the Sun, pick up enough speed - You're in time warp. If you don't, you're fried!".  And Kirk asks McCoy "You prefer nothing?" and McCoy sharply replies "I prefer a dose of common sense!".

And McCoy continues to follow Kirk around the ship and he says to him "I prefer a dose of common sense! You're proposing that we go backwards in time, find humpback whales, then bring them foward in time, drop 'em off, and hope to hell they tell this probe what to do with itself!".  And Kirk says "That's the general idea" and McCoy yells "That's crazy!" and Kirk says to him "You got a better idea?  Now's the time!".  

Then there is the scene where McCoy and Scotty arrive at a plastics factory, Plexicorp, where they talk with the plant manager, Dr Nichols (Alex Henteloff) and Scotty get's a bit carried away with pretending that he is a professor and that McCoy is his assistant.  And as Scotty says to Nichols "Do you mind if my assistant joins us?" to which Nichols doesn't object and as they are driven away on a forklift, McCoy quietly says to Scotty "Don't bury yourself in the part".

And of course later there is the scene at the hospital where Kirk, McCoy and Gillian turn up to rescue Chekov which is great fun.  And in the scene, they take a stretcher and Gillian lies down as a patient and they enter a lift where two young doctors discuss chemotherapy and McCoy mutters in disbelief at how primitive it sounds to him saying "Unbelievable!".  And one of the young doctors asks him "Do you have a different view, doctor?" and McCoy grumpily says "It sounds like some sort of goddamn Spanish inquisition!" and they exit the lift with Kirk explaining to them that McCoy is having a "Bad day!".

And in the next moment, Kirk and McCoy arrive outside the operating theatre (where Chekov is) with Gillian but a police officer on guard won't let them in.  So McCoy tries on a bit of medical jargon to hurry things up so they can get in and he says to the officer "Dammit, do you want an acute case on your hands? This woman has immediate post-prandial upper abdominal distension! ...Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" and they get through.  And after Kirk asks McCoy "What did you say she has?" and McCoy simply says "Cramps!". 

The rest of the regular also fine, starting with James Doohan, who get's a chance to shine as Scotty in the scene where he approaches the planet manager, Dr Nichols at Plexicorp and gives him the formula for transparent aluminium.

But as Scotty tries to process the formula he tries to speak to the owner's computer, like he would an advanced computer in the 23rd century, and McCoy gives him the mouse to speak into like a mic and Scotty says "Hello computer!", after this Nichols warily says "Just use the keyboard" and Scotty replies "Keyboard, how quaint!".  And as Scotty quickly taps away at the keyboard he completes the forumla, leaving Nichols dumbfounded and to say "Transparent aluminum??" and Scotty says to him "That's the ticket, laddie!  So is that worth something to you, or should I just punch up clear??".  

And later there is the scene where Scotty manages to beam up the whales onboard the Klingon vessel's whale tank and before he does it he tells Kirk over the com "I've never beamed up four hundred tonnes before" and Kirk says "Four hundred tonnes?" and Scotty tells him "Its not just the whales, its the water!".  And as the whales are beamed in, Scotty looks on amazed and says over the com to Kirk "Admiral, there be whales here!". 

And lastly the remaining regular crew, George Takei, Michelle Nichols and Walter Koenig are all in good form here in their respective roles of Sulu, Uhura and Chekov.

And to start with Takei, he has one or two fun moments, firstly the scene where Sulu flies the chopper carrying the parts of the plastic whale tank and he accidentally turns on the windscreen wipers of the chopper, which alarms him and he quickly switches them off.  Then later there is the scene where Sulu back on the Klingon vessel get's ready to take off and Kirk asks him if he is ready and Sulu says "I'm trying to remember how this works.  I got use to a Huey!".

Michelle next doesn't actually have any real standout moments in the film as she mainly just does her comms stuff and helps Chekov try and get the energy they need to re-energise the Klingon vessel's crystals.  Perhaps Michelle's most memorable line is when Uhura beams back onboard the Klingon vessel, leaving Chekov behind to be captured as Scotty was unable to bring them in both at the time and Uhura regretfully says to Kirk onboard the vessel "Admiral, I should never have left him" and Kirk reassures her that she did what was necessary.

And lastly Walter has some fun moments in the film include the scene where Chekov and Uhura in San Francisco try and find out where the naval base in Alameda is by asking a few people but they get nowhere, starting with a policeman who looks at Chekov blankly.  And Chekov asks the policeman in his thick Russian accent "Excuse me, sir. Can you direct me to the Navy base in Alameda? It's where they keep the nuclear wessels. ...Nuc-le-ar wes-sels!" but the cop says nothing.

And later there is the scene where Chekov is captured on the naval wessel, sorry I meant vessel! ;-)  And Chekov is taken to an FBI agent onboard who asks him about his phaser and his communicator devices.  And the agent asks Chekov in the scene a few questions but Chekov doesn't quite get the agent's mode of speech, which annoys the agent who says to him "You play games with me, mister and you're through!" and Chekov says to him "I am?  May I go now?".  

And as the agent has a quiet talk aside with another agent, Chekov grabs his phaser and points it at the men and says "Dont move!" and the agent says "OK...make nice.  Give us the ray gun" and Chekov says "I varn you.  If you don't lie on the floor, I will have to stun you!".  And the agent calls Chekov's bluff and says "OK stun me" and Chekov says "I werry sorry..." and he tries to fire his phaser but it doesn't work and smiles awkardly and says "It must be the radiation" and he throws it at the agent and flees.

And lastly there is the scene where Chekov (SPOILER!!) is saved by McCoy who brings Chekov out of his coma in hospital.  And Kirk says to him "Pavel, talk to me.  Name!  Rank!" and Chekov slowly comes around and says "Chekov...Pavel....rank...admiral!". 

Mark Lenard who reprises his role as Sarek, Spock's father also does a fine job and this time his character takes on the role as an ambassador for Vulcan who plays his part in aiding the federation president in the crisis involving the probe.  And by this time after the events of Star Trek III where Kirk saves Spock he has a new found respect for Kirk and his crew.

And Lenard has some good moments that include his first scene where he arrives during a federation council chamber meeting where the Klingon ambassador speaks out against Kirk's actions against the Klingon crew that were killed onboard the Enterprise when it was destroyed (in Star Trek III).

And in the scene the Klingon ambassador says "We demand the extradition of Kirk!  We demand justice!" and Sarek arrives saying "Klingon justice is a unique point of view, Mr President.  Mister President. ...Genesis was perfectly named. The creation of life not death. The Klingons shed the first blood while attempting to possess its secrets".  And the Klingon ambassador angrily says to Sarek "Vulcans are well known as the intellectual PUPPETS of this federation!" and Sarek reminds the Klingon ambassador "Your vessel did destroy U.S.S. Grissom. Your men did kill Kirk's son. Do you deny these events?".  And the Klingon ambassador arrogantly says "We deny nothing.  We have the right to preserve our race!" and Sarek says to him "You have the right to commit murder??".  

And lastly there is the scene near the end where (SPOILER) the Enterprise crew save the day and after the crew's trial, Sarek pays respect to his son, impressed by his actions in saving the Earth.  And Sarek says to Spock "I am returning to Vulcan within the hour.  I would to take my leave of you" and Spock says to him "It was most kind of you to make this effort" and Sarek says "It was not an effort. You are my son. ...Besides, I am most impressed with your performance in this ...crisis".  And Sarek continues "As I recall, I opposed your enlistment in Starfleet. ...It is possible that judgment was incorrect. ...Your associates are people of good character" and Spock says "They are my friends" and Sarek acknowledges this and says "Yes of course".

And last of all is Catherine Hicks as Gillian Taylor who does a fine job as the hotheaded by compassionate whale institue doctor, who tries to protect the whales in her care. 

Hicks also has some good scenes that include the scene where she angrily confronts Spock over his swimming in the whale tank with the whales.  And she angrily says to Spock "Who the hell are you? What were you doing in there?!" and Spock has a poor go at and directing a profanity back at her  "Atttempting the hell to communicate".  And Gillian angrily continues "Communicate? Communicate what? You have no right to be here!" and as Spock says to Kirk that if they did what they pleased with the whales then they would be just as guilty of their extinction in the future.  And Kirk tries to reassure Gillian they were trying to help and she says to Kirk "The hell you were, buster. Your friend was messing up my tank and messing up my whales!".  And Spock tells her even though the whales like her they are "not the hell her whales" and Gillian incredulously says "I...I suppose they told you that?  Huh!" and Spock says to her "The hell they did!" and she crosses her arms huffily and says "Right!". 

And later on Gillian follows Kirk and Spock in her truck and stops by them and says "Well if it isn't Robin Hood and Friar Tuck!"  and she offers them a lift and they get in.  And Gillian, troubled by Spock's futuristic claim about the whales extinction asks "What did you mean when you said all that stuff back at the Institute about extinction?".  And Kirk tries to cover up Spock's statement by saying if things carry on as they are the whales will disappear forever but Gillian doesn't buy it and she says "That's not what he said, farm boy. 'Admiral, if we were to assume those whales are ours to do with as we please, we would be as guilty as those who caused' ...past tense... 'their extinction.' ...I have a photographic memory. I see words!".  And Spock tries to diffuse the situation by saying "Are you sure it isn't time for a colour metaphor?" and after a pause Gillian asks Kirk "You're not one of those guys from the military, are you? Trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes, or some dipshit stuff like that?" and Kirk says "No, ma'am, no dipshit!".

And last of all is the scene when Gillian discovers that the whales have been released from the institute without her being told and she angrily confronts Bob, her associate at the institute.  And Bob says to her "They left last night. We didn't want a mob scene with the press. It wouldn't have been good for them. Besides ...we thought it would be easier on you this way".  And Gillian, furious, says to Bob "You sent them away without even letting me say goodbye???!!  You son of a bitch!!" and she slaps his face and storms off.  

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Finally getting onto the director, Leonard Nimoy reprises his role at the directorial helm and he does an excellent job here again as he gives the film a more light hearted than previously in Star Trek III.  Nimoy also was under certain constraints during the product of ST III so this time the studio gave him more creative freedom on Star Trek IV and Nimoy decided to go with the concept of a time travel story. 

Nimoy also does well at giving the story a contemporary modern feel as it is largely based in the 20th century and it captures a bit more of the gritty reality where there is a bit more wariness and cynicism of its 20the century characters and also more profanity to the dialogue (albeit mild profanity as it is a PG rated film).  In fact its safe to say that Star Trek IV is probably the most profane of all the Star Trek films largely due to its 20th century setting.

Anyway Nimoy again does a fine job overall both in front and behind the camera in ST IV: TVH and in a way it was a pity he didn't return to direct anymore especially after the debacle that was Star Trek V directing by Shatner!     

As for the music score by Leonard Rosenman, well I have to say its not really one of my favourite scores for the Star Trek series as it just doesn't quite fit the tone for an ST film as it just has a bit too much of a jaunty, leisurely feel to it and lacks any real kind of impact and drama.  Rosenman, who was a good friend of Leonard Nimoy, however was brought in after James Horner, who composed the previous two films, declined to return.  Regardless of all that though Rosenman's score still receieved an Academy award nomination although if you ask me its the score that deserved such a nomination the least.

And lastly in regards to the music there is one other song that features in the movie and that is "I hate you" which was written by the actor, Kirk Thatcher, who plays the punk on the bus and blasts out his stereo loudly and refuses to turn it down for Kirk, which leads into Spock knocking him out with his neck pinch.  The song itself is pretty cheesy but it is fit for purpose given that it was recorded in the hallway outside the recording studio to give it a rawer sound and it works pretty well.

FLAWS

So as for the film's flaws....yeah OK there are some.

And to start off you could argue the lack of a villain in the film, does take away some of the excitment factor of the story and this is where the film has to rely more on its humour to keep it fun and interesting.  

Then there is the whole idea of time travel via a slingshot around the sun seems in intself to be a daft one although of course it was achieved in the original TV series episode "Tomorrow is yesterday" to which McCoy makes a brief reference to.  However for myself I think the concept of going into timewarp and building up enough energy to do so in itself would have been more sufficient here than bringing the sun into it in my opinion, as I think they just used it as a dangerous obstacle they had to pass just for the sake of needing one!

And another bugbear I have with this film, along with Star Trek III is the footage of Kirk's report on the Genesis project, which originally featured Dr Carol Marcus in Star Trek II but they just decided to re-record it with Kirk instead but ultimately its with no real good reason in itself.  I mean Kirk didn't design the Genesis torpedo himself but it is presented in such a way that he was directly involved in it when he wasn't, so why didn't they just show the footage of Dr Marcus instead????   

I also found the idea of the probe itself was a bit stupid in some ways as Spock says himself at one point how the probe has great power and intelligence and how it is evidently unaware its transmissions are destructive.  Now if the probe is so intelligent why doesn't it release that its transmissions are destructive in the first place?!  In that regard the probe isn't that smart after all as its just blindly transmitting its signals without any consideration for anything around it!  So this really runs a bit contrary to Spock's theory.

Its also worth noting (well on a picky note!) that Leonard Nimoy as the director, has a bit of a penchant for using badges and stickers in the film such as the sticker on Gillian's truck that says "I Love Whales" which is just a bit too cheesy for my liking.  And to back this up Nimoy then decide's to have Dr Nichols at Plexicorp wear a badge that says "I quit smoking" which is again pretty daft.  I mean is it really necessary than we need to know either of these things???  Especially as we already know Gillian loves whales and her job and we don't need it spelt out for us on a sticker!

Also at the end of the film the charges against the crew are submarily dismissed and Kirk is reduced in rank to Captain and given the command of a starship, but that in itself isn't really a punishment its more what he would have wanted.  And if they did want to really punish Kirk then surely they should have put him in the brig or something for a few months rather than giving him what he would want most!

Anyway that's for the flaws...I think!

SUM UP

Right so to finally sum up, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home still is one of the most enjoyable entries in the franchise and its light hearted tone and humour and nice performances from the cast make it work well.  And yeah OK it does have some plot niggles here and there and its lack of a proper villain also means the film has to work a bit harder than some of the others to find other ways to keep itself interesting and it relies morely on its humour to do so.

But if you are willing to forget the film's problems then Star Trek IV is still a very entertaining film to watch and it remains one of the most solid entries in the series.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again on here sometime soon.

Till then live long and....ughhh...sorry I mean bye for now!