Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Leonard Nimoy

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek)
Steve Meerson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Beaming down to Earth December 12 1986

Plot:

To save Earth from an alien probe, Kirk and his crew go back in time to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it, humpback whales.

Plot Keywords:

Probe | Whale | Space | Time Travel | Punk

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

William Shatner	...	Admiral / Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Captain Spock
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
James Doohan	...	Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
George Takei	...	Commander Hikaru Sulu
Walter Koenig	...	Commander Pavel Chekov
Nichelle Nichols	...	Cmdr. Uhura
Jane Wyatt	...	Amanda
Catherine Hicks	...	Dr. Gillian Taylor
Mark Lenard	...	Ambassador Sarek
Robin Curtis	...	Lieutenant Saavik
Robert Ellenstein	...	Federation Council President
John Schuck	...	Klingon Ambassador
Brock Peters	...	Admiral Cartwright
Michael Snyder	...	Starfleet communications officer

Also Known As:

Star trek IV - Retour sur Terre (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Ürszekerek IV - A hazatérés (Hungary) [hu]
Jornada nas Estrelas IV - A Volta para Casa (Brazil) [pt]
Star Trek IV: Regresso à Terra (Portugal) [pt]
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - kotiinpaluu (Finland) [fi]
Star Trek IV: Zurück in die Gegenwart (West Germany) [de]
Star trek - A hazatérés (Hungary) [hu]
Star trek 4 - Resan hem (Sweden) [sv]
Star trek IV - Misión: salvar la Tierra (Spain) [es]
Star trek IV - aikamatka (Finland) [fi]
Star trek IV: rotta verso la Terra (Italy) [it]
Viaje a las estrellas 4: Misión: Salvar la tierra (Argentina) [es]
Zurück in die Gegenwart - Star Trek IV (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Italy:T | Canada:G (Canadian Home Video rating) | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:11 | Canada:G (Régie du Cinéma Québec) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12/9 (original rating) | France:U | Norway:10 (1988) | Norway:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

500 Block of Pacific Avenue, Chinatown, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

When the alien ship is approaching Earth at the beginning to look for the humpback whales, there were originally subtitles saying things like "Where are you? Can you hear us?". The studio wanted to keep them despite Leonard Nimoy's objections. In the first test screening, however, test audiences indicated the subtitles were unnecessary so they were cut.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The USS Enterprise was deployed throughout 1986 to support Operation Eldorado Canyon in the Mediterranean Sea.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Saratoga captain: What do you make of it?
Saratoga science officer: It appears to be a probe, Captain. From an intelligence unknown to us.
Saratoga captain: Continue transmitting universal peace and hello in all known languages. Get me Starfleet Command.
Saratoga helmsman: Ready, Captain.
Saratoga captain: Starfleet Command, this is U.S.S. Saratoga patrolling sector five, neutral zone. We're tracking a probe of unknown origin on apparent trajectory to the Terran solar system. Attempts to communicate with the probe have been negative on all known frequencies.
Starfleet Command: Continue tracking, Saratoga. We will analyze transmissions and advise.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Misión: Salvar la Tierra (2008)

Soundtrack:

I Hate You

Star Trek with a sense of humor!

My wife loved this movie and I did enjoy it more than most Star Trek films. This surprised me a little bit because the ads for the film made it look like a film made by Green Peace or PETA--with its emphasis in going back in time to rescue some whales. However, while this was part of the plot, the journey there was so much fun that it didn't seem preachy.

The important crew members (you know, the ones you knew couldn't die when they went on landing parties in the old show) take a stolen cloaked (i.e., invisible) ship back in time to the 1980s to bring back some whales to save the Earth of the future. Some odd probe arrived over the planet and began sending messages to the Humpback whales but since they'd all been wiped out, the probe began destroying everything). Once they arrive, they try with little success to blend it. Spock tries cursing a lot because he'd read that the 80s were a rather coarse time, McCoy starts effecting miracle cures in the hospital he visits, and Chekov, with his Russian accent, gets busted when he begins asking where he can find the "Nuclead Wessels (vessels)". It's all great trivial fun. Not the deepest movie, but the trip was so much fun who cares?