star trek 4 alien probe

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Why star trek iv angered animal rights activists.

Star Trek IV was a massive success for the franchise, but it raised the ire of some animal rights activists and fishing authorities upon release.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a massive success for the franchise, but it did briefly raise the ire of animal rights activists and fishing authorities over its use of whales. After a mysterious alien probe threatens to destroy all life on Earth, Kirk and crew determine the probe is trying to contact humpback whales, which were seemingly an alien species seeded on Earth millions of years ago. Humpback whales were extinct by the 23rd century, so Kirk and friends time travel to the late 20th century in an effort to acquire a pair of whales to communicate with the probe and save Earth.

The Voyage Home was the biggest box office hit in all of Star Trek until the 2009 J.J. Abrams Kelvin timeline reboot . The light, funny time travel yarn was popular not only with Star Trek fans, but with audiences who didn't always connect with the tales of the final frontier. The film's success was the final push Paramount needed to start developing the spinoff TV series that would eventually become Star Trek: The Next Generation . The film was marred by one minor controversy, however, regarding its depiction of the whales themselves.

Related: Nemesis Broke The Star Trek Movie Curse (& Abrams Reset It)

The Voyage Home features several scenes of very real looking humpback whales, including one where Spock mind melds with one of the whales in an aquarium tank. Some animal rights activists and fishing authorities were alarmed at the apparent treatment of the animals, particularly the fact that humans were physically interacting with them and that they were being housed in such small compartments like the makeshift tank on Kirk's stolen Klingon Bird Of Prey .

These concerns turned out to be moot, as the whales weren't real, except for the footage of them at sea near the film's conclusion. The vast majority of the whale scenes utilized four-foot animatronic models. Director Leonard Nimoy was delighted that the models were mistaken for real whales, and even took a group of activists on a set tour to demonstrate how the models worked.

How Picard Season 2 Homaged Star Trek IV

In many ways, Star Trek: Picard season 2 is an homage to The Voyage Home . After the omnipotent Q meddles with the timeline to create a dark, fascistic version of the 25th century, Admiral Picard and his La Sirena crew travel back to the 21st century to prevent the shift in the timeline. Picard 's time travel mechanics were far more convoluted than The Voyage Home 's, but the film's influence is evident.

One Picard season 2 scene in particular is a direct callback. In The Voyage Home , Kirk and Spock are annoyed by a young punk rock enthusiast blasting his boombox at high volume on a bus. After Kirk's polite protestations are met with vulgarity, Spock nerve pinches the young man, silencing the boombox and garnering a round of applause from the bus passengers.

In Picard , Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker find themselves on a bus with the very same man, 30 years older but still a fan of loud punk music. Seven rather forcefully asks the man to turn his music down, which he quickly does, clearly remembering his encounter with Spock years earlier. It's a fun moment, and one that proves Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is an enduring piece of the franchise's overall legacy.

Next: First Contact Broke Star Trek's Movie Ratings Rule

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Where to Watch & Stream Online

Sci-fi fans looking for where to watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home need look no further. When an alien probe poses a danger to Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk and his crew travel back in time to retrieve two humpback whales, as they are the only species that can communicate with the aliens.

Here’s where you can watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home online.

Where can you watch and stream Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home?

You can watch and stream Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home on Paramount+.

Watch Billions on Paramount+ — Start Your Free Trial Today!

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the fourth installment of the Star Trek franchise. It was directed by Leonard Nimoy and released in 1986 by Paramount Pictures. The iconic movie stars none other than Willian Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, and Catherine Hicks.

How to watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and stream online

To enjoy this science fiction online, in the comfort of your home, you need to subscribe to Paramount Plus. Signing up on the streaming platform gives you access to the Star Trek franchise, as well as many more movies and series under Paramount’s productions.

You can choose from the two subscription plans offered by Paramount+ : 1. Paramount Plus Essential: An ad-supported plan for a monthly fee of $5.99 and an annual fee of $59.99. 2. Paramount Plus with Showtime: A bundle pack featuring Paramount & Showtime content.

The official synopsis for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home reads:

“It’s the 23rd century, and a mysterious alien power is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. In a frantic attempt to save mankind, Kirk and his crew must time travel back to 1986 San Francisco where they find a world of punk, pizza and exact-change buses that are as alien as anything they’ve ever encountered in the far reaches of the galaxy. A thrilling, action-packed Star Trek adventure!”

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The post Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Where to Watch & Stream Online appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More .

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8 Alpha Quadrant Things Star Trek: Voyager Found In Delta Quadrant

• Star Trek: Voyager finds familiar things from the Alpha Quadrant in the Delta Quadrant, sparking important questions and connections.
• Encounter with Ferengi negotiators leads Voyager crew to stop their interference in a pre-warp civilization for profits.
• Janeway and crew discover humans abducted by aliens in the 1930s living in the Delta Quadrant, including Amelia Earhart.

For a show with the conceit of being so far from home, Star Trek: Voyager found a surprising number of things in the Delta Quadrant that originated in the Alpha Quadrant, including several from Earth itself. The USS Voyager, commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), and Commander Chakotay's (Robert Beltran) Maquis raider Val Jean were both brought to the Delta Quadrant in 2371 by the Caretaker (Basil Langton). After Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's array to save the Ocampa , Voyager and the Val Jean were left without a ticket back to the Alpha Quadrant, and banded together to make the long journey.

Finding something familiar in an otherwise totally alien corner of the galaxy brought a sense of familiarity to the USS Voyager crew and viewers at home alike, but the presence of something from the Alpha Quadrant in the Delta Quadrant inevitably raised important questions , like how familiar people and objects traveled 70,000 light years from home in the first place, and whether the find could lead Captain Kathryn Janeway towards a quicker path home to Earth.

Star Trek: Voyagers 20 Best Episodes Ranked

A pair of ferengi negotiators, arridor and kol, star trek: voyager season 3, episode 5 "false profits".

The USS Voyager encounters a pair of Ferengi negotiators, Arridor (Dan Shor) and Kol (Leslie Jordan), who claim to be the prophesied Great Sages of the Takarians, a society with Bronze Age level technology. The Ferengi have no Prime Directive to deter them from interfering with the Takarians' development , so they're performing "miracles" with a standard replicator to reap the monetary benefits of the Takarians' worship. Voyager's crew know the Ferengi reputation well enough to know they're no Sages, so they must figure out how to put a stop to Arridor and Kol's grift.

"False Profits" serves as a Star Trek sequel episode to Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 8 "The Price", as Voyager catches up with Arridor and Kol (formerly played by J. R. Quinonez) seven years after their Delta Quadrant arrival. The Ferengi took a test flight through the supposedly stable wormhole near Barzan II, which was supposed to emerge in the Gamma Quadrant, but instead stranded the Ferengi in the Delta Quadrant, where they made the best of their situation as only Ferengi can.

Star Trek: Voyager Season 3, Episode 23 "Distant Origin"

"Distant Origin" opens on Forra Gegen (Henry Woronicz), a scientist who discovers that his people, the Voth, share certain genetic similarities with the humans aboard the USS Voyager. While this confirms Gegen's theory that the Voth are the descendants of a species brought to their homeworld millions of years ago , religious leader Minister Odala (Concetta Tomei) refuses to accept the truth. Even with Commander Chakotay present as a living specimen of humanity, Odala pushes Gegen to recant, because Gegen's theory goes against the Voth Doctrine that keeps Odala in power.

After meeting Gegen's assistant, Tova Veer (Christopher Liam Moore), Janeway and the Doctor use the holodeck as a research guide to extrapolate how hadrosaurs might look in the 24th century if they'd been able to evolve into a humanoid form with comparable intelligence. The result resembles Veer, so Janeway and the Doctor conclude, like Gegen, that the Voth evolved from hadrosaurs into a highly advanced species on Earth , then fled to the Delta Quadrant in spacefaring vessels instead of being wiped out with the other dinosaurs.

The Friendship One Probe

Star trek: voyager season 7, episode 21 "friendship one".

By Star Trek: Voyager season 7 , the USS Voyager is in regular contact with Starfleet Command, and Starfleet gives Voyager a mission to retrieve a 21st-century Earth probe, Friendship One . The probe proves difficult to find, but once discovered on an alien planet suffering devastating climate collapse, the implications of Friendship One's launch become clear. Besides the irreversible damage to the planet's climate, the inhabitants are all suffering from radiation sickness, and bear understandable hostility towards Earth, because the aliens believe humans orchestrated their destruction with the Friendship One probe.

The United Earth Space Probe Agency was one of the early names for the organization the USS Enterprise belongs to in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "Charlie X".

Friendship One was launched in 2067 by the United Earth Space Probe Agency with the intention of making friends with whomever found it, as the name implies. Although Friendship One, the 400-year-old Earth probe, traveled for centuries carrying messages of peace, musical recordings, and ways to translate languages, the people who discovered Friendship One in the Delta Quadrant took a greater interest in the antimatter it used to travel across space. Without the proper knowledge of its use, antimatter proved devastating to the planet and its people, resulting in death and disease for generations.

Dreadnought, a Cardassian Missile

Star trek: voyager season 2, episode 17 "dreadnought".

The USS Voyager discovers a dangerously powerful, self-guided Cardassian missile in the Delta Quadrant, which Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) recognizes as one nicknamed "Dreadnought" . When B'Elanna was with the Maquis, Torres had actually reprogrammed the missile herself, with the intention of turning the Cardassians' own weapon against them. Without a Cardassian target in sight, the artificially intelligent Cardassian Dreadnought targets a heavily-populated Class-M planet , Rakosa V. B'Elanna determines she must be the one to keep Dreadnought from hurting anyone else, and boards the missile to convince it to stand down.

While no concrete reason is given for exactly how the Dreadnought wound up in the Delta Quadrant, its last known location in the Alpha Quadrant was the Badlands, the same rough patch of space where Voyager and the Val Jean, Chakotay's Maquis raider, fatefully met. Because of this, Torres theorizes that Dreadnought arrived in the Delta Quadrant the same way that Voyager and the Val Jean did , courtesy of the Caretaker.

Star Trek: Voyagers BElanna Is More Klingon Than TNGs Worf Ever Was

A klingon d-7 class cruiser, complete with klingons, star trek: voyager, season 7, episode 14 "prophecy".

The USS Voyager certainly never expected to find a Klingon ship in the Delta Quadrant, but more surprising is the fact that the crew of the Klingon D-7 Class Cruiser believes their savior, the prophesied kuvah'magh, is aboard Voyager . Janeway assures the Klingon captain, Kohlar (Wren T. Brown), that the Federation and Klingon Empire have been allies for the past 80 years, and offers Voyager's own half-Klingon, Lt. B'Elanna Torres, as proof their societies are working together now. The kuvah'magh is Torres' unborn daughter, who does save the Klingons, but not the way they expected.

Centuries ago, Kohlar's great-grandfather set off on a quest to find the kuvah'magh, and the Klingon D-7 Cruiser became a generation ship that is now crewed by the descendants of its original crew . The quest begun by Kohlar's great-grandfather brought Kohlar and his crew to the Delta Quadrant after four generations of searching. Whether B'Elanna's child is actually the kuvah'magh or not, Kohlar desperately wants the baby to be their savior, so that his people may finally rest.

Amelia Earhart

Star trek: voyager season 2, episode 1 "the 37s".

The discovery of a 1936 Ford truck, seemingly disconnected from any parent vehicle, leads the USS Voyager to a nearby Class-L planet, where they find eight humans who have been in cryo-stasis since they were abducted by aliens in the 1930s. Among them are one of Janeway's personal heroes, legendary American aviator Amelia Earhart (Sharon Lawrence) , who disappeared without a trace while attempting to fly around the world, and Earhart's navigator, Fred Noonan (David Graf). Earhart and the other preserved humans are known by the planet's inhabitants as "The 37s", and revered as sacred.

Originally thought to be aliens, the natives of the unnamed planet are the descendants of humans. A species called the Briori abducted the natives' ancestors, along with Earhart and the other 37s, from Earth centuries earlier , and took them to the Delta Quadrant. Once held as slaves, the humans who weren't in stasis revolted to free themselves from the Briori, and developed a thriving, Earth-like civilization in the Delta Quadrant. Voyager's crew consider staying with the humans in their little slice of home, while Janeway also offers a ride back to Earth to anyone who wants it, including Amelia Earhart.

The USS Equinox

Star trek: voyager season 5, episode 26 & season 6, episode 1 "equinox".

The crew of the USS Voyager believe they're the only Starfleet vessel in the Delta Quadrant until they find the USS Equinox, five years into their journey home. Captain Rudolph Ransom (John Savage) and the Equinox crew have had a harder time in the Delta Quadrant than Voyager, with more damage, fewer starting resources, and fewer opportunities to make friends along the way. Ransom's survival tactics include sacrificing innocent nucleogenic life forms for a more efficient form of fuel, which Janeway finds hard to stomach, and decides that Ransom needs to be held accountable for defying Federation ideals, regardless of how badly the Equinox is damaged.

Although Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) suggests that the Equinox might be in the Delta Quadrant on a rescue mission to find Voyager, the USS Equinox's specs don't fit the profile of a starship that would be assigned to a long-range mission. The explanation of how the Equinox arrived in the Delta Quadrant in the first place seems fairly simple, because Captain Ransom tells Janeway that the Equinox was also abducted by the Caretaker , just like Voyager, but the Equinox has only been in the Delta Quadrant for 2 years, and Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's array 5 years earlier.

Seven of Nine

Debuts in star trek: voyager season 4, episode 1 "scorpion, part 2".

When Captain Kathryn Janeway allies with the Borg in order to secure safe passage across Borg space, Janeway refuses the cursory assimilation that the Borg want to use to communicate with Janeway and Voyager's crew, and instead requests a speaker for the Borg, citing the existence of Locutus (Patrick Stewart) as precedent. Seven of Nine , Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01, is selected as the Borg drone to act as liaison between the Collective and Voyager, likely because Seven of Nine had once been a member of Species 5168, like most of Voyager's crew -- in other words, human.

Voyager season 5, episodes 15 & 16, "Dark Frontier" provides even more detail of the Hansens' fateful journey.

After Seven's link with the Collective is severed, more information about Seven's human origin comes to light. In Voyager season 4, episode 6 "The Raven", when Voyager nears the Hansens' ship, the USS Raven, memories of Seven's early life surface, revealing that Seven had been six-year-old human Annika Hansen , the daughter of Magnus Hansen (Kirk Baily) and Erin Hansen (Laura Stepp), Federation scientists who were studying the Borg when they were assimilated. Voyager season 5, episodes 15 & 16, "Dark Frontier" provides even more detail of the Hansens' fateful journey, showing the Raven arriving in the Delta Quadrant by following a Borg Cube through a transwarp conduit.

10 Ways USS Voyager Changed In Star Treks Delta Quadrant

Star Trek: Voyager links back to the greater Star Trek universe with people and starships from the Alpha Quadrant. Connections to the familiar were especially important early on, because Voyager 's place in the Star Trek franchise was established and aided by the legitimacy these finds offered. Later, when the USS Voyager used the Hirogen communications array to communicate with Starfleet Command, links back to the Alpha Quadrant were plentiful again, not only to prove that the USS Voyager was closer to home, but to help Star Trek: Voyager maintain connections to Star Trek and carry the franchise in its final years.

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager

Cast Jennifer Lien, Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, Robert Duncan McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo

Release Date May 23, 1995

Genres Sci-Fi, Adventure

Network UPN

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Michael Piller, Rick Berman

Showrunner Kenneth Biller, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Brannon Braga

Rating TV-PG

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

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Probe (novel)

• View history
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Cover gallery
• 4 Characters
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Summary [ ]

In the aftermath of the visit of the mysterious probe to Earth in 2286 , Starfleet is wondering what this strange visitor really was about, and who sent it. At the same time, a major political upheaval on Romulus has deposed a ruling party that has ruled for decades, and the new leadership is interested in more diplomatic relations with the Federation . With the probe headed towards Romulan space, it is a chance for the two powers to work together to understand who sent the probe, and why.

Eventually, the crew of the USS Enterprise , working with Romulan counterparts, tracks down the probe, and learns more about its background and history. Spock successfully mind melds with the probe, learning that it did not seek to be destructive to other races, instead they were so different from its creators that they were ignored as "mites" in "metal bubbles", and teaches the probe to be more aware of what it is doing to humanoid life in the galaxy as it travels, leaving the probe to continue to explore the galaxy and the detente seeking Romulans with some of the first peaceful interaction they have ever had with the Federation.

Memorable quotes [ ]

Background information [ ].

• As Voyages of Imagination notes, " an objective report of Probe 's bumpy road to publication is, unfortunately, impossible. All the parties involved have different recollections of those events, as well as different ways of interpreting them, and the various accounts are contradictory. " ( Voyages of Imagination , pp. 125-126) The credited author, Margaret Wander Bonanno, disclaims the book, noting on her website that " I know my name is on the cover, but no, I did not write it ," and provides the full-text of The Music of the Spheres , the novel she handed in. [1] Bonanno acknowledges Gene DeWeese as an uncredited rewriter of the published novel.
• The original manuscript was reportedly rejected after Gene Roddenberry 's office " took issue with certain characterizations in the book. " Pocket editor Dave Stern then brought in DeWeese to rewrite the novel. ( Voyages of Imagination , pp. 125-126)
• In a contemporary interview with The New York Times , Bonanno explained that " [they] are telling their readership that this is a book by a certain author they have come to know, and the book is not mine. It was written by someone with a great scientific background who lectures the reader for 300 pages. I do great characterizations, and there are no interesting characters in this book. I just don't want my name associated with it. " [2]
• Despite all of the controversy, Voyages of Imagination notes that " everyone involved wishes that the situation had not deteriorated to the extent that it did, and that the book could have been published to everyone's satisfaction. " ( Voyages of Imagination , pp. 125-126)
• Probe reached number six on the New York Times Best Seller List for 29 March 1992 , its second week on the list. [3] It remained on the list for six weeks.
• The Science Fiction Book Club released a special edition of the hardback in July 1992 .
• The audiobook version was abridged by George Truett .

Cover gallery [ ]

Characters [ ]

References [ ], external links [ ].

• Probe at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Probe at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database