Movie – Star Trek IV - the voyage home

Movie – Star Trek IV - the voyage home

Score : 8/10  

Year :1986

Director: Leonard Nimoy

Country : USA

Language : English. 

Duration: 1h45 

Writers : 
Leonard Nimoy & Harve Bennet (story) ; 
Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Harve Bennet &  Nicholas Meyer (screenplay) 

Last portion of the trilogy formed by Star Trek II, III & IV, the voyage home brings the crew back to Earth after much hardship and loss, to face the consequences for their actions in the previous movies. But, they must make a detour in order to retrieve the only creatures who can communicate with a menacing alien probe. 

A mix of science-fiction and comedy, The voyage home quickly became one of the most beloved Star Trek movies, and I think there are several reasons for this :

First, it renews with the core of the saga, by adding ecological and social messages through the mission the crew must undertake, which is saving an animal which was threatened with extinction in the 1980's and thus hypothesized that by the 23rd century, if humans destructiveness didn't change by then, this animal would then be indeed extinct. In the story, this has indeed occurred, and in order to both correct this and also save the planet, the crew must transfer this animal from the past, to their present. 

Secondly, the amount of humor is much higher than the previous movies, and not only renews with TOS ways of adding fun, but also helps alleviating the atmosphere all in the whilst proposing this serious ecological topic. 

Thirdly, this movie gets the funniest line in the entire saga, only possible by travelling to the more colorful language of the mid 1980's. 

Star Trek IV does present a few unanswered questions ; impossible situations such as an empty park in a busy metropolis, and possibly isn't truthful to scientific theory, but this is fiction, and the core story isn't about exactness. It's about the human adventure of finding  one's compassion and doing the right thing. 

Overall, this is a rather fast paced movie and Leonard Rosenman's score accompanies it with lighthearted and funny notes, sometimes even too much so. 

The cinematography is alright, but as a good portion happens in the 1980's, on Earth, there are fewer special effects than habitually.

I do have to caution the sensitive viewers that there is a short (couple minutes) scene showing a documentary about whaling. it starts about 45 minutes into the movie. I personally don't look at it because of the amount of blood and depicted whaling. 

Nimoy who co-wrote the story and directed the movie had an important message about this topic, so it had to be shown for the unaware. 

Overall, the voyage home is my second favorite classic Star Trek movies, even though I don'y systematically watch it, as I tend to watch movies while eating and I find it quite difficult to digest. It's good that my wife can fast forward through that scene and spare my view.

Starring : William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Mark Lenard, Jane Wyatt, Catherine Hicks, Robin Curtis, 

also appearing John Schuck who plays several other roles in Star Trek movies and shows - and, off note, guests on Babylon 5 ; and Brock Peters, who plays Sisko's father in Star Trek Deep Space 9.