Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film, the fourth installment in the Star Trek film franchise based on the television series Star Trek. The second film directed by Leonard Nimoy, it completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), and continued in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Intent on returning home to Earth to face consequences for their actions in the previous film, the crew of the finds the planet in grave danger from an alien probe attempting to contact now-extinct humpback whales. The crew travel to Earth's past to find whales who can answer the probe's call.

After directing The Search for Spock, Nimoy was asked to direct the next feature, and given greater freedom regarding the film's content. Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett conceived a story with an environmental message and no clear-cut villain. Dissatisfied with the first screenplay produced by Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes, Paramount Pictures hired The Wrath of Khan writer and director Nicholas Meyer. Meyer and Bennett divided the story between them and wrote different parts of the script, requiring approval from Nimoy, lead actor William Shatner, and executives at Paramount.

Principal photography commenced on February 24, 1986. Unlike previous Star Trek films, The Voyage Home was shot extensively on location, using many real settings and buildings for scenes set around and in the city of San Francisco. Special effects firm Industrial Light & Magic assisted in post-production and the film's special effects. Few of the humpback whales in the film were real. ILM devised full-size animatronics and small motorized models to stand in for the real creatures. The film was dedicated to the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which broke up 73 seconds after takeoff on the morning of January 28, 1986.

The Voyage Home was released on November 26, 1986, in North America by Paramount Pictures, and became the top-grossing film at the weekend box office. The film's humor, acting, direction, special effects and unconventional story were well received by critics, fans of the series, and the general audience. It was financially successful, grossing $133 million worldwide, and earned several awards and four Academy Award nominations for cinematography and sound. It was followed by Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in 1989.

Plot

In 2286, an enormous cylindrical probe moves through space, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of every ship it passes. As it takes up orbit around Earth, its signal disables the global power grid and generates planetary storms, creating catastrophic, sun-blocking cloud cover. Starfleet Command sends out a planetary distress call and warns all space-faring vessels not to approach Earth.

On the planet Vulcan, the former officers of the late are living in exile. Accompanied by the Vulcan Spock, still recovering from his resurrection, the crew take their captured Klingon Bird of Prey and return to Earth to face trial for their actions. Receiving Starfleet's warning, Spock determines that the probe's signal matches the song of extinct humpback whales and that the object will continue to wreak havoc until its call is answered. The crew uses their ship to travel back in time via a slingshot maneuver around the Sun, planning to return with a whale to answer the alien signal.

Arriving in 1986, the crew finds their ship's power drained by the time travel maneuver. Hiding the ship in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park using its cloaking device, the crew split up to accomplish several tasks: Admiral James T. Kirk and Spock attempt to locate humpback whales, while Montgomery Scott, Leonard McCoy, and Hikaru Sulu construct a tank to hold the whales they need for a return to the 23rd century. Uhura and Pavel Chekov are tasked to find a nuclear reactor, whose energy leakage can be collected and used to regenerate the decaying dilithium crystals.

Kirk and Spock discover a pair of humpback whales in the care of Dr. Gillian Taylor at a Sausalito aquarium and learn they will soon be released into the wild. Kirk tells her of his mission and asks for the tracking frequency for the whales, but she refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Scott and McCoy trade the formula of transparent aluminum for the materials needed for the whale tank. At the same time, Sulu secures the use of a "Huey" helicopter to transport them. Uhura and Chekov locate a nuclear-powered ship, the aircraft carrier . They collect the power they need but are discovered on board. Uhura is beamed out, but Chekov is captured, interrogated (under the assumption he is a Soviet spy), and subsequently severely injured in an escape attempt.

Gillian learns the whales have been released early and goes to Kirk for assistance. Gillian, Kirk, and McCoy rescue Chekov from a nearby hospital and return to the now-recharged Bird of Prey. After saving the whales from whalers and transporting them aboard, the crew returns with Gillian to their own time. On approaching Earth, the ship loses power due to the alien probe and crash-lands into the waters of San Francisco Bay. Once released from near-drowning, the whales respond to the probe's signal, causing the object to reverse its effects on Earth and return to the depths of space.

Later, the Enterprise crew stand judgment before the Federation Council, which acknowledges the crew's part in saving the planet, and drops all pending charges except the one against Kirk, for disobeying a superior officer. Kirk is demoted to the rank of captain, but as a furtive reward for his heroics, he is returned to the command of a starship. Kirk and Gillian part ways, as she has been assigned to a science vessel by Starfleet. Spock's father Sarek finally accepts his son's earlier choice to enter Starfleet, further mending their broken relationship. The crew discovers they have been awarded the newly christened , and leaves on a shakedown mission.

Cast

  • William Shatner portrays Admiral James T. Kirk, former captain of the Enterprise. Shatner was unwilling to reprise the role of Kirk until he received a salary of $2 million and the promise of directing the next film. The other members of the Enterprise crew include George Takei as helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov, and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura. Koenig commented that Chekov was a "delight" to play in this film because he worked best in comedic situations.

Majel Barrett reprises her role as Christine Chapel, the director of Starfleet Command's medical services. Many of her scenes—some reportedly very large—were omitted in the final cut, angering the actress. Her final role in the film consists of one line of dialogue and a reaction shot. John Schuck appears as a Klingon ambassador, Robert Ellenstein as the Federation President, Michael Berryman as an alien display officer at Starfleet Command, and Brock Peters as Fleet Admiral Cartwright.

Production

Development

Before Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was released, its director Leonard Nimoy was asked to return to direct the next film in the Star Trek franchise. Whereas Nimoy had been under certain constraints in filming the previous picture, Paramount Pictures gave the director greater freedom for the sequel. "[Paramount] said flat out that they wanted my vision," Nimoy recalled.

Despite Shatner's doubts, and chose to make The Golden Child. Paramount was also averse to the idea of combining two of their strongest franchises of the era, fearing that a failure could damage them both. The character intended for Murphy was combined with those of a marine biologist and a female reporter to become Gillian Taylor. Much of the production was filmed in and around San Francisco during ten days of shooting. The production wanted to film scenes that were readily identifiable as the city. The use of extensive location shooting caused logistical problems, such as a scene in which Kirk is nearly run over by an irate cab driver requiring 12–15 cars to be repositioned if the shot was incorrect, taking a half-hour to reshoot. Other scenes were filmed in the city but used sets rather than real locations, such as an Italian restaurant where Taylor and Kirk eat. In the film, the Bird-of-Prey lands cloaked in Golden Gate Park, surprising trashmen who flee the scene in their truck. The production had planned to film in the real park, where they had filmed scenes for The Wrath of Khan, but heavy rains before the day of shooting prevented it—the garbage truck would have become bogged down in the mud. Will Rogers Park in western Los Angeles was used instead.

[[File:MontereyBayAquariumBackview.jpg|thumb|left|The Monterey Bay Aquarium, viewed from the back. The shallow area behind the rocks was turned into a whale tank via special effects; other changes included the addition of the San Francisco skyline in the background.

thumb|Vasquez Rocks was used as a stand-in for the alien world of Vulcan. The rocks had also appeared in TOS and many other TV shows and movies.

Vulcan and the Bird-of-Prey exterior was created with a combination of matte paintings and a soundstage. Nimoy had searched for a suitable location for the scene of the Enterprise crew's preparations to return to Earth, but various locations did not work, so the scene was instead filmed on a Paramount backlot. The production had to mask the fact that production buildings were away.

Nimoy and the other producers were unhappy with Mangini's attempts to create the probe's droning operating noise and, after more than a dozen attempts, the sound designer finally asked Nimoy what he thought the probe should sound like. Mangini recorded Nimoy's guttural "wub-wub-wub" response, distorted it with "just the tiniest bit of dressing", and used it as the final sound.

The punk music during the bus scene was written by Thatcher after he learned that the sound for the scene would be by "Duran Duran, or whoever" and not "raw" and authentic punk. as well as retelling the events of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock. Winter recalled that the marketing did not seem to make a difference. and spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, peaking at #3. MCA Records released the film's soundtrack November 26, 1986.

In its first week, The Voyage Home ended Crocodile Dundees eight-week reign of the American box office. The Star Trek film made $39.6 million in its first five days of release, exceeding The Search for Spocks opening by $14 million. Ultimately, the film grossed a global total of $133 million The film was a major commercial success for Paramount, which released five of the top ten films of the year, and garnered 22 percent of all money taken in at American theaters. Much of the credit for Paramount's success was given to chairman Frank Mancuso Sr., who moved The Voyage Homes release from Christmas to Thanksgiving after research showed that the film might draw filmgoers away from The Golden Child.

Critical response

The Voyage Home received mostly positive reviews—Nimoy called it the most well received of all Star Trek films made at that point—and it appealed to general audiences in addition to franchise fans. The movie was a "loose, jovial, immensely pleasurable Christmas entertainment" for The Washington Posts Paul Attanasio, and a retrospective BBC review called the film "one of the series' strongest episodes and proof that the franchise could weather the absence of space-bound action and the iconic USS Enterprise, and still be highly enjoyable". Although Janet Maslin of The New York Times admitted the film's plot was "demented", she wrote that the film "has done a great deal to ensure the series' longevity".

The film's "fish out of water" comedy Newsweeks David Ansen considered The Voyage Home not only the most light-hearted of the movie franchise, but the most true in spirit to the original television series. A more negative review was offered by Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail, who wrote that under Nimoy's "choppy" direction there was a lack of comic timing paired with feeble humor. American film critic Pauline Kael commented, "The crewmates are supposed to be technical wizards of the 23rd century, but they deliver their lines as if they were ancient tortoises who had to get their heads out and up before they could say anything. It's a relief to hear two San Francisco garbagemen talk, because there's some energy in their voices, and when Madge Sinclair turns up for a minute, as the captain of the S. S. Saratoga, her crisp, urgent tone is like a handclap."

The special effects were generally well received; Similarly, USA Today felt the lack of special effects allowed the cast to "prove themselves more capable actors than ever before".

The Voyage Home garnered 11 nominations at the 14th annual Saturn Awards, tying Aliens for most nominations. Nimoy and Shatner were nominated for best actor for their roles, and Catherine Hicks was nominated for best supporting actress. At the 59th Academy Awards, The Voyage Home was nominated for Best Cinematography, Sound (Terry Porter, David J. Hudson, Mel Metcalfe and Gene Cantamessa), Sound Effects Editing, and Original Score.

In 2018, Popular Mechanics ranked the scene where Chekov talks about "nuclear wessels" the 50th-greatest moment in science fiction.

Home media

The Voyage Home was first released on VHS home media on September 30, 1987. Paramount Home Video spent $20 million marketing the film's release alongside 10 episodes of The Original Series. The video sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the United States and Canadian markets, and was in the top ten rankings for sales and rentals in December and January 1988. Paramount re-released the film on March 12, 1992, with Fatal Attraction as part of a "Director's Series", these editions having additional commentary and being presented in a widescreen letterboxed format to preserve the films' original cinematography. Nimoy was interviewed on the Paramount lots and discussed his acting career as well as his favorable opinion of the widescreen format.

A "bare bones" DVD of the film was released on November 9, 1999. Aside from the film, the contents include the original theatrical trailer and the introduction from the "Director's Series" VHS release. Three-and-a-half years later, a two-disc "Collector's Edition" was released with supplemental material and the same video transfer as the original DVD release. Among other special features, it contains a text commentary by Michael Okuda and an audio commentary from director Leonard Nimoy and star William Shatner.

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in May 2009 to coincide with the new Star Trek feature, along with the other five films that feature the original crew in Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection. The Voyage Home was remastered in 1080p high definition. Each film in the set has an additional soundtrack, enhanced to 7.1 Dolby TrueHD standard. The disc features a new commentary track by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the writers of the 2009 Star Trek film. On July 7, 2021, it was announced that a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray box set containing the first four Star Trek films would be released on September 7 of that year to commemorate the franchise's 55th anniversary.

See also

  • Star Trek film series
  • Whales Alive album
  • Aluminium oxynitride

Notes

References

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  • Interviews with DeForest Kelley, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy about Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Texas Archive of the Moving Image