Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

STAR DATE: 1986.

HOW ON EARTH CAN THEY SAVE THE FUTURE?

Kirk and crew travel back in time to 20th century San Francisco in search of two humpback whales to bring to the future to save Earth from destruction by an alien probe.

Summary

It is the year 2286, and as a result of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the recently-destroyed USS Enterprise are stranded on Vulcan. They decide to return to Earth to face the punishment for their actions in the previous film on board their seized Klingon vessel, which was renamed the HMS Bounty. Spock has regained full control of his faculties once again, and returns as a full-fledged member of the crew.

Back on Earth, the Klingon ambassador to the United Federation of Planets is outraged that Kirk faces nine violations of Starfleet General Orders and Regulations and is not being held accountable for the death of the Klingon crew and ship as per The Search for Spock; he pledges that there would be no peace as long as Kirk lives.

As the Enterprise crew returns towards Earth on their Klingon Bird-of-Prey, they discover that Earth faces a destructive alien probe which renders starships powerless in its path. It wreaks tremendous damage on the Earth's surface and proceeds to begin the evaporation of the oceans and the ionization of the atmosphere, leading to extreme weather patterns and cloaking the Earth in clouds and storms. Life on Earth is threatened, and Ambassador Sarek advises the Federation President to issue a warning that all ships should avoid Earth.

The Enterprise crew analyzes the probe's signal, and Spock discovers that it is in fact a whale song, specifically that of the humpback whale, which has been extinct since the 21st century.

Kirk decides the only way to save Earth and Starfleet is to travel back in time, acquire some whales and bring them back to the 23rd century. Kirk advises Starfleet of his plan, and performs the slingshot effect time travel method using the Sun. They find whale song in North America, specifically in San Francisco. They also find themselves in the year 1986.

Kirk and his crew have difficulty adjusting to the 1980s, and rely on mere instinct to survive. The crew is split up into teams - Chekov and Uhura must collect radioactive photons from an American nuclear vessel to recrystallize the drained dilithium crystals on board the Bird-of-Prey; McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu are sent to find materials to construct a whale tank aboard the ship; and Spock and Kirk are to attempt to find the two humpback whales they detected in San Francisco.

Kirk and Spock head to the Cetacean Institute and meet Dr. Gillian Taylor, a guide and whale lover. While at the Institute, Spock jumps into the whale tank and performs a Vulcan mind meld with one of the two whales, George and Gracie, and successfully explains the Enterprise crew's mission. Dr. Taylor is outraged by their actions, but later sympathizes with them as she runs into them while driving home from work. Spock's quirks amaze Dr. Taylor, such as blurting out the fact that the female whale is actually pregnant, something nobody outside the institute knows. Kirk and Taylor end up going out to dinner, and Kirk feels he has to reveal the truth about his identity - being from the 23rd century, working in space, etc. - to try and gain Dr. Taylor's cooperation in getting the whales, which were to be released back into the wild soon. She is skeptical at best and disbelieves Kirk's story.

In the meantime, Scotty and his team have managed to find a manufacturer of large plexiglass walls - Plexicorp - and he and McCoy masquerade as scientists from Edinburgh who were to tour the plant - unbeknownst to the plant's head, Dr. Nichols. Scotty makes a scene, but is given a tour of the plant, and then later secures the required materials for constructing a whale tank by violating the Temporal Prime Directive by revealing the chemical matrix of the futuristic material, transparent aluminum.

Sulu manages to befriend a helicopter pilot and secures the Huey 204's usage later in the film to help install the plexiglass into the Bird-of-Prey.

Chekov and Uhura find the location of a nuclear vessel. Chekov, who of course speaks with a Russian accent, must have looked very peculiar stopping random passers-by asking where nuclear vessels could be located, while the US and Soviet Union were still engaged in the Cold War. They, however, do find a vessel, the aptly named USS Enterprise, and beam in secretly at night to secure the photons. Uhura transports out safely with the collector, but due to radiation, Chekov is discovered and held prisoner. He attempts to escape captivity but falls off a ledge and suffers severe head injuries.

Dr. Taylor discovers in one scene that the whales were released without her knowledge, and in tears, returns to the park where the Bird-of-Prey is located, and is finally beamed aboard the ship by Kirk - the truth is now known. He is her only hope for protecting the whales, something she dearly wants. Before going after the whales, however, the crew has to rescue Chekov. McCoy, Kirk and Dr. Taylor manage to sneak into the hospital, where Chekov is revived quickly by 23rd-Century technology, after which they run through the hospital, and are beamed to safety while in an elevator. Dr. Taylor insists on coming with Kirk by latching onto him while he is transported on-board.

The dilithium recrystallizes just in time for the crew to fly to Alaska, where the whales are located, and save them from a whaling vessel. The whales are beamed aboard, and the crew performs another slingshot back to the 23rd century, with Dr. Taylor in hand. The Bird-of-Prey crashes into San Francisco harbor, and the whales are released and communicate to the probe. The probe halts its destruction of the oceans after communicating with the whales, and the Earth is saved.

However, Kirk and crew still face punishment. Due to the preceding circumstances, though, all charges are dropped, except for one: disobeying a superior officer, which was directed solely at Admiral Kirk. Kirk's punishment is a permanent reduction in rank to Captain, and a return to command of a Starfleet vessel.

Flying through Spacedock, the crew heads toward their new assignment. McCoy conjectures they will get a freighter, while Sulu (to Scotty's chagrin) hopes for Excelsior. However, they soon see which vessel they will get: NCC-1701-A, a new USS Enterprise. The film ends with the crew in their new ship, heading out into space, ready for what may come next.

Memorable Quotes

"I find it hard to believe that I've come millions of miles–!"
"Thousands, thousands!"
"– thousands of miles...!"

- Scott and McCoy, with a supplier

"Admiral Kirk has been charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations."
"Starfleet regulations! That's outrageous!"

- Federation President and Klingon Ambassador

"Ah – a keyboard! How quaint!"

- Scott, trying to work a Macintosh

"You realize that if we give him the formula, we'll be altering the future."
"Why? How do we know that he didn't invent the thing?"

- Scott and McCoy, at Plexicorp

"Did... did you see that!?"
"No, and neither did you, so shut up!"

- Two Park workers, as the HMS Bounty lands in San Fransisco

"Everybody remember where we parked!"

- Kirk, as the Bounty crew begins their mission

"They left last night. We didn't want a mob scene with the press. It wouldn't be good for them. Besides, I thought it would be easier on you this way."
"You sent them away without letting me say goodbye?! You son of a bitch!!"

- Briggs and Taylor

"Excuse me, sir. We are looking for the naval base in Alameda. It's where they keep the nuclear wessels."

- Chekov, asking directions from a San Francisco Police Officer

"Admiral – there be whales here!"

- Scott, as the whales are beamed aboard

"Spock, where the hell's that power you promised?"
"One damn minute, Admiral."

- Spock's retort to Kirk, after having learned "colorful metaphors" on 20th century Earth

Taylor: "You guys like Italian?"
Kirk: "Yes."
Spock: "No."
Kirk: "No – Yes."
Spock: "No."
Kirk: "Yes. I love Italian. (Kirk looks at Spock) And so do you."
Spock: "Yes."

- Dr. Taylor asking Kirk and Spock out for dinner to discuss matters

"Back in the sixties he used to be part of the free speech movement at Berkley. (Kirk whispers to Dr. Taylor) I think he did a little too much LDS."
"LDS?"

- Kirk and Dr. Taylor, as Kirk tries to explain Spock's quirks

"Hey, why don't you watch where you're going, you dumbass!"
"Well, a double dumbass on you!"

- An irate driver and Kirk

"Are you sure you won't change your mind?"
"Is there something wrong with the one I have?"

- Dr. Taylor and Spock

"What does it mean, 'exact change'?"

- Spock, after he and Kirk are kicked off a bus

"You're suggesting that we go back in time to find two humpback whales. Then bring them forward in time, drop them off, and hope to hell they tell this probe what to go do with itself."
"That's the general idea."
"Well that's crazy!"
"You got a better idea, now's the time."

- McCoy and Kirk, discussing time travel

"Hello, computer."

- Scotty, speaking into Dr. Nichols' mouse.

"Are those not the glasses Dr. McCoy gave you?"
"And they will be again, that's the beauty of it."

- Spock and Kirk, in an antique shop.

"I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space"

- Kirk, to Dr. Taylor

"Ok, let's take it from the top."
"The top of what?"
"Name."
"My name?"
"No, my name!"
"I do not know your name."
"You play games with me mister, and you're through!"
"I am? May I go now?"

- Chekov being interrogated.

Background Information

Challenger dedication — The dedication displayed at the beginning of the film.

This film is dedicated to the women and men (including crew) of the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger that exploded on January 28, 1986, almost 10 months before the release of Star Trek IV.
Most of the shots of the humpback whales were taken using four-foot long animatronics models. Four such models were created, and were so realistic that after release of the film, US fishing authorities publicly criticized the film makers for getting too close to whales in the wild. The scenes involving these whales were shot in a high school swimming pool. A large animatronic tail was also created, for the scene on the sinking Bird-of-Prey, filmed on the Paramount car park, which was flooded for the shoot. The shot of the whales swimming past the Golden Gate Bridge was filmed on location, and nearly ended in disaster when a cable got snagged on a nuclear submarine and the whales were towed out to sea.
The shot with Chekov (Koenig) and Uhura (Nichols) asking about the location of the naval base was shot with a hidden camera and the people they were asking had no idea they were being filmed for a movie. It was done that way, according to the director, for "realism", the woman speaking in the scene had to be inducted into the Actors' Guild in order for the lines to be kept; the production crew found the line too amusing to be cut out.

File:EnterpriseCrew1986.jpg

The crew of the USS Enterprise in San Francisco, 1986

The character of Dr. Taylor was originally a male character who was a wacky college professor who was a "UFO nut," and, for added humor to the lighthearted script, actor Eddie Murphy was offered the role. He declined and decided on The Golden Child instead (a decision he admits later was a big mistake), and Catherine Hicks won the role.
Madge Sinclair's character as the captain of the Saratoga was the first female captain shown in Star Trek.
The mysterious "speech" of the probe was real whale song. The whale song could be heard clearly when the probe's speech was adjusted for underwater attenuation.
The whale hunters speak (very broken) Finnish. One shot shows the look-out in the mast shouting "Siellä ne puhaltaa!" (roughly translated as "There they blow!"). The older man (captain?) also comments "Valaita edessä!" ("Whales ahead!"), and when the harpoon hits the cloaked Klingon ship, a man exclaims "Mitä helvettiä tuo oli?" ("What the hell was that?"). However, Finnish-flagged ships have never hunted whales; Norwegians would have been a better choice. (However, there is nothing to prevent Finns from serving on a foreign-flagged whaler.)
Early drafts of the script had Saavik remaining on Vulcan due to her being pregnant with Spock's child, following the events of the previous movie when young Spock went through pon farr as he aged rapidly.

File:Punk.jpg

The Punk, later rendered unconscious via nerve pinch

Kirk Thatcher was a special-effects crewmember in Star Trek III. In The Voyage Home, he was associate producer, provided the computer voice for Spock's test computer (along with the touch-sensitive controls), and not only played the legendary Punk on the bus but he also penned the song "I Hate You" heard on the punk's boom box. (The song "I Hate You" was later re-used in the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello film Back To The Beach.)
The lighted table in Starfleet Command eventually became the famous "pool table" located in main engineering of USS Enterprise-D.
This marks Majel Barrett's final performance as Nurse/Doctor Christine Chapel.
The film marks the last on screen apperance of a Starfleet Commodore, seen as a non-speaking extra in the Federation Council chambers.
Much of the outer space Klingon Bird-of-Prey footage (except the time warp) is reused from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
The aircraft carrier sequences were actually filmed aboard the conventionally-powered Forrestal-class carrier USS Ranger (CV 61). Ranger can be told from Enterprise by her longer rectangular superstructure (barely visible behind the hair of Nichelle Nichols) and different arrangement of aircraft elevators. Enterprise was out at sea at the time and unavailable for filming. Even if available, in 1986, the engineering spaces of the nuclear carriers were deeply classified and filming a movie in them would have been impossible. All Enterprise sailors were played by Ranger personnel (in certain scenes, freeze-frame reveals sailors wearing Ranger ballcaps rather than Enterprise ones).
When McCoy asks for Spock's comments of dying and being reborn, Spock states that he could not explain it to McCoy, who has no frame of reference since he has never died. Both appear to be forgetting McCoy's death and resurrection in TOS: "Shore Leave".
Kirk quotes D.H. Lawrence's poem "Whales Weep Not!" to Gillian Taylor ("They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains the hottest blood of all") who recognizes the quotation's provenance.
The Voyage Home is the highest-grossing Star Trek film to date, making over $109 million in the United States.
In the shot of Kirk looking out the escape hatch of the Bird of Prey you can clearly see the studio and not the storm.
The Federation President tells the Klingon ambassador that there are nine charges against Admiral Kirk. At the end of the movie during the trial he only lists six. It is possible however, that there were multiple counts of certain charges thereby making the President's count of nine charges correct although there is of course, no direct onscreen reference to this.
A possible breakdown of the charges could run as follows: Conspiracy (2 charges - Kirk and co. conspire to break McCoy out of Starfleet custody and they also conspired to steal Enterprise out of Spacedock). Assault on Federation officers (2 charges - Kirk assaults the guard in McCoy's cell and Sulu assaults the large guard outside the cell). Theft of Enterprise. Sabotage of Excelsior. Willful destruction of Enterprise. Insubordination (2 charges - Kirk disobeyed Admiral Morrow's order not to go to Genesis and he ignored Morrow's order to surrender Enterprise as they were trying to leave Spacedock)
Due to the success of this film, Paramount decided to bring the franchise back to the small screen, in the form of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The city of San Francisco would be visited by time-traveling Star Trek characters again, in the episodes DS9: "Past Tense, Part I" and DS9: "Past Tense, Part II". An interesting tie-in is that some of the characters seen in the Deep Space Nine episode (such as Vin) may have been living in San Francisco during the events of Star Trek IV, assuming they had lived in the city for their whole lives.

Continuity

Scotty is shown wearing the rank of commander as the crew is in the Council Chambers having the charges read to them. Scotty was promoted to Captain in Star Trek III and also wears Captain rank in Star Trek V and Star Trek VI. This is surely just a costuming error, as Scotty was seen with Captain's rank on during his scene on Excelsior with Captain Styles and from that point on in Star Trek III.
At one point, Kirk tells Gillian that he comes from the late 23rd century. This date is consistent with later timeline points established by Star Trek: The Next Generation, but at the time conflicted with assumptions previously made by the Spaceflight Chronology and FASA role-play manuals that the movie was set around the 2220's.

Awards

This film was nominated for four Oscars, which is more than any other Trek film. It was nominated for Cinematography (Don Peterman), Music (Original Score) (Leonard Rosenman), Sound, and Sound Effects Editing (Mark Mangini).
This film was nominated for the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
The film was also nominated for the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases (Don Peterman).
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was also nominated for 11 Saturn Awards, of which it won one. It won for Best Costumes (Robert Fletcher), and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director (Leonard Nimoy), Best Actor (both Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner), Best Supporting Actor (both James Doohan and Walter Koenig), Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Hicks), Best Writing, Best Special Effects, and Best Make-up.

Links and References

Cast

William Shatner as Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Spock
DeForest Kelley as McCoy
James Doohan as Scotty
George Takei as Sulu
Walter Koenig as Chekov
Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Jane Wyatt as Amanda
Catherine Hicks as Gillian
Mark Lenard as Sarek
Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik
Robert Ellenstein as Federation Council President
John Schuck as Klingon Ambassador

Starfleet Personnel

Brock Peters as Admiral Cartwright
Michael Snyder as Starfleet communications officer
Michael Berryman as Starfleet display officer
Mike Brislane as Saratoga science officer
Grace Lee Whitney as Commander Rand
Jane Wiedlin as Trillya (Alien Communications Officer)
Vijay Amritraj as Joel Randolph (Starship Captain)
Majel Barrett as Commander Chapel
Nick Ramus as Saratoga helmsman
Thaddeus Golas as Controller #1
Martin Pistone as Controller #2

In Old San Francisco

Naval Personnel

Jeff Lester as FBI Agent
Joe Lando as Shore Patrolman
Newell Tarrant as Rogerson (CDO)
Mike Timoney as Electronics Technician
Jeffrey Martin as Electronics Technician
1st Sgt. Joseph Naradzay, USMC as Marine Sergeant
1st Lt. Donald W. Zautcke, USMC as Marine Lieutenant

Uncredited

Madge Sinclair as the Saratoga Captain
Stephen Liska as Torg (archived footage)
Monique DeSart as Madelaine
Joseph Adamson as Doctor #3

Stunts

Gregory J. Barnett as Stunt Double for Leonard Nimoy (Spock)
John Meier as Stunt Double for William Shatner (Kirk)

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