Director: Leonard Nimoy
Writer: Harve Bennett, Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Nicholas Meyer (Screenplay) Gene Roddenberry (Characters)
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig
Plot: 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.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Fun Adventure
Story: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home starts by picking up where the last film finished, Kirk (Shatner) and his crew are wanted for Star Fleet crimes but when an alien probe starts heading towards Earth trying to communicate, Kirk learns the origin of the signal as the signal are trying to communicate with humpback whales, a species that are extinct in the 23rd century.
Kirk takes his crew back to 1986 San Francisco in search of humpback whales but the clash of the culture makes the mission difficult. Can Kirk and his team overcome the problems to help the future Earth from being destroyed.
Thoughts on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Characters – Kirk is now a fugitive because of his actions in the previous film, returning home to face the consequences he learns of an impending threat to Earth and decides to go back in time to save the day, Kirk seems to be the one that adapts to the 1980s being able to cover the problems which the others do face. Spock is still remembering who he was before his death and rebirth, his logic does get in the way for moments in the past but he is a quick learner. The crew are involved in the mission getting moments of laughs through the film which adds to the film.
Performance – The performances throughout do start to add the comical tone the film ends up taking, we do find ourselves getting more from the rest of the cast though who all understand how to make their character work.
Story – The story here answers the question the fans of the show had, what if the crew were in the present day. This puts the crew in a time travel mission to find whales to save their present day, this all does sound farfetched but it works on an entertainment levels which was all we wanted from the Star Trek movies by now.
Adventure/Mystery/Sci-Fi – The adventure brings our characters back in time on a time travel adventure to save the day, the mystery comes from the idea of the mysterious signal threatening Earth and we know the sci-fi side of this by now but adding in time travel too.
Settings – Bring the film into the 1980s adds something to the idea of just spaceships and new world planets, it gives us the chance to see the space bound characters in a real present-day world.
Special Effects – The effects are dropped in places to try and tell a natural story here and when used they are all fine.
Scene of the Movie – Swimming.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact whales are extinct in the future.
Final Thoughts – After the last disappointing outing this does turn into a fun enjoyable but never taking itself too serious addition to the Star Trek world.
Overall: Nice addition to the Star Trek universe.
Rating
