star trek a voyage home

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

• 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.
• The most acclaimed Star Trek adventure of all time with an important message. It is the 23rd century, and a mysterious alien probe is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. In their frantic attempt to save mankind, Admiral 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 to them as anything they have ever encountered in the far-off reaches of the galaxy. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy return as Kirk and Spock, along with the entire Star Trek crew. — Robert Lynch <[email protected]>
• It is the 23rd century, and a space probe appears over Earth, emanating strange sounds towards the planet, and apparently waiting for something. As time goes on, the probe starts to cause major storms on Earth and threaten its destruction. Admiral James T. Kirk and crew are called upon once again to save mankind. They discover the strange sounds are actually the songs of the humpback whale - which has been hunted to extinction. They have only one choice - to attempt to time travel back into the 20th century, locate two whales, and bring them back to 23rd century Earth to respond to the probe. — Colin Tinto <[email protected]>
• In 2286, an enormous cylindrical probe moves through space, sending out an indecipherable signal and disabling the power of ships 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 star ships not to approach Earth. On the planet Vulcan, the former officers of the USS Enterprise are living in exile, after the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Accompanied by the Vulcan Spock, still recovering from his resurrection, the crew - except for Saavik, who remains on Vulcan - take their captured Klingon Bird of Prey vessel (renamed the Bounty, after the Royal Navy ship) and return to Earth to face trial for their actions. Hearing Starfleet's warning, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) 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 by the whales. 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. Other officers include Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Medical officer, Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) engineer, helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) Arriving in 1986, the crew finds their ship's power drained. Hiding their ship in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park using its cloaking device, the crew split up to accomplish several tasks: Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) 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 output will enable their ship's power to be restored. Kirk and Spock discover a pair of whales in the care of Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) at a Sausalito Museum and learn they will soon be released into the wild. Spock does a mind meld with a whale and figures out that it is preggers. Gillian is suspicious of Kirk and Spock, but Kirk manages to charm her and take her out to dinner. Kirk tells her of his mission and asks for the tracking frequency for the whales, but she refuses to cooperate. Meanwhile, Scott, McCoy, and Sulu trade the formula of transparent aluminum for the materials needed for the whale tank. Uhura and Chekov locate a nuclear-powered ship, the aircraft carrier Enterprise. They collect the power they need but are discovered on board. Uhura is beamed back but Chekov is captured and severely injured in an escape attempt. Taylor learns the whales have been released early and goes to Kirk for assistance. Taylor, Kirk, and McCoy rescue Chekov and return to the now recharged Bird of Prey. After transporting the whales aboard the ship, the crew returns with Taylor to their own time. On approaching Earth, the ship loses power and comes down in San Francisco Bay. Once released, the whales respond to the probe's signal, causing the object to reverse its effects on Earth and return to the depths of space. All charges against the Enterprise crew are dropped, save one for insubordination: for disobeying a superior officer, Kirk is demoted from Admiral and back the rank of Captain where he is returned to command of a star ship. The crew departs on their ship, the newly christened USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), and leaves on a new mission.

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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STAR DATE: 1986. HOW ON EARTH CAN THEY SAVE THE FUTURE?

" A catastrophe in the future can only be averted by a journey into Earth's past. "

Admiral James T. Kirk is prepared to take the consequences for rescuing Spock and stealing and then losing the starship Enterprise , but a new danger has put Earth itself in jeopardy. Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in an old Klingon Bird-of-Prey to right an ancient wrong, in the hopes of saving Earth – and the Federation – from certain doom.

• 1.1 23rd century
• 1.2 20th century
• 1.3 23rd century
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Creation and production
• 3.2 Continuity
• 3.5.1 Merchandise gallery
• 3.6 Awards and honors
• 3.7 Apocrypha
• 4.1.1 Opening credits
• 4.1.2 Closing credits
• 4.2.1 Performers
• 4.2.2 Stunt performers
• 4.2.3 Production staff
• 4.3.1 Other references
• 4.3.2 Unreferenced material
• 4.3.3 Related topics
• 4.4 External links

Summary [ ]

23rd century [ ].

Sensor analysis

It is the year 2286 , and an alien vessel is moving through space . The huge vessel is detected by the USS Saratoga , and sensor analysis reveals it to be some sort of probe . The captain of the Saratoga contacts Starfleet Command and informs them that this alien probe is apparently headed to the Terran solar system . Starfleet tells Saratoga to continue the tracking and they will analyze their transmissions and advise.

" James T. Kirk, renegade and terrorist! "

Back on Earth, the Klingon Ambassador to the United Federation of Planets demands the extradition of Admiral James T. Kirk for murdering a Klingon crew and for stealing a Klingon vessel. The ambassador also denounces the failed Genesis Project as a mere weapon and the Genesis planet as a staging area from which to launch the annihilation of the Klingon race. Just then, Ambassador Sarek arrives in the council chambers and says that Genesis was named for creating life and not death. He goes on to accuse the Klingons of shedding the first blood in attempting to possess the secrets of Genesis. Sarek points out that the Klingons destroyed USS Grissom and killed Kirk's son , which the Klingon ambassador does not deny, saying they have the right to defend their race. Sarek then asks if the Klingons have the right to commit murder, which causes an uproar in the council chambers; breaking his silence by calling for everyone else to make silence, the President states that there will be no further outbursts. Sarek says that he has come to speak on behalf of the accused, which the Klingon ambassador decries as a personal bias, as Sarek's son was saved by Kirk. The president tells Sarek that the council's deliberations have already concluded. He then tells the Klingon ambassador that Admiral Kirk faces nine violations of Starfleet regulations . The Klingon ambassador says that the fact Kirk is only facing Starfleet regulations is outrageous and decries that as long as Kirk lives, there will never be any peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire . As he and his aides storm out of the council chambers, someone in the council chambers calls the ambassador a "pompous ass."

The crew of the Enterprise

On Vulcan, Kirk surveys his crew and they all vote " Aye, sir. " Kirk states then to them " Let the record show that the commander and the crew of the late starship Enterprise have voted unanimously to return to Earth , to face the consequences for their actions in the rescue of their comrade, Captain Spock . " Scott tells Kirk that it'll take him one more day to get their Klingon ship, named by McCoy as the HMS Bounty , ready to go; saying that while damage control is easy, reading Klingon is hard. McCoy laments that Starfleet could have at least sent a ship to pick them up as it's bad enough to know they will be court-martialed and likely imprisoned but the worst is going home in the "Klingon flea trap." Kirk says the "Klingon flea trap" has a cloaking device "which cost [them] a lot." McCoy comments that he wishes they could cloak the stench. Kirk looks up and sees Spock standing at a cliff looking down at them and the ship. Spock then walks off and goes back in a room and resumes computer testing of his mental faculties. While the tests show Spock has regained full control of his faculties once again, he is confused when the computer asks him how he feels.

Spock retrains his mind

Then, Spock's mother Amanda enters and reminds Spock that as he is half-Human he has feelings and the computer is aware of this. Spock says he must go to Earth with the others and offer testimony because he was there when the events occurred. Amanda asks if the good of the many outweighs the good of the one and Spock says it does. Amanda then says that it was a mistake by his flawed, feeling, Human friends for them to sacrifice their futures because they believed that the good of the one, Spock, was more important to them. Spock says that Humans make illogical decisions. Amanda smiles and agrees that they do indeed.

Saratoga disabled

Just then, at the Neutral Zone, the probe comes close to the Saratoga . The captain orders yellow alert , but the probe, issuing a powerful signal, begins draining the ship of all power. As the Saratoga begins to drift, the captain tries to issue a distress call to Starfleet Command.

" Saavik… this is goodbye. " " Yes, Admiral. "

Meanwhile, at Starfleet Command, the President asks Starfleet Admiral Cartwright for a status update and he tells the president that the probe is headed directly toward Earth and that its signal is disabling everything it comes into contact with. According to Cartwright, two Klingon ships have been lost while two Federation starships and three smaller vessels have been neutralized. He then orders contact with the USS Yorktown and their captain says his chief engineer is trying to deploy a makeshift solar sail hoping they can generate enough power to keep themselves alive.

Heading home

As the probe continues toward Earth, on Vulcan the Bounty is almost ready for launch. Kirk comes on the bridge and asks for status reports, Uhura says communications systems are ready and the communications officer is "as ready as she'll ever be." Sulu reports the on-board computer will now interface with the Federation memory bank. Chekov reports the cloaking device is repaired and is now available in all flight modes. Kirk admits to being impressed with all that work for such a short flight. Chekov then tells Kirk since they're in an enemy vessel, he didn't want to risk being shot down on the way to their own funeral. Kirk compliments Chekov's thinking and then calls Scott, who tells him that they are ready to go. Scott says the dilithium resequencer has been converted into something not quite so primitive and that he has personally replaced the Klingon food packs as they were giving Scott a sour stomach. Kirk turns and tells all who are not going to Earth that they better get off. He then turns to Saavik , who is remaining on Vulcan, to tell her goodbye and to thank her. Saavik says that she's not yet had the opportunity to tell Kirk how bravely his son David died and that he saved her and Spock and she wanted Kirk to know. Just then, Spock arrives on the bridge and Saavik wishes him a good day and hopes his journey be free of incident. Spock tells Saavik to " Live long and prosper. " Spock gets permission from Kirk to come aboard, and Kirk tries unsuccessfully to get Spock to call him "Jim" as he is in a command situation. Spock also apologizes for only wearing his Vulcan robes as he seems to have misplaced his uniform. Kirk tells Spock to take his station, a move that concerns McCoy as after all that Spock's been through, he's not liable to be ready to assume such responsibilities but Kirk expresses confidence that it will all come back to him. Kirk then tells Sulu and Chekov to take them home. Sulu and Chekov gently lift the Bounty off the surface and as Saavik and Amanda watch, the Bounty heads off into the Vulcan sunset, on course for Earth.

The probe disables Spacedock

At the same time, the probe has reached Earth and begins the process of neutralizing Spacedock One before they can get the space doors open. All ships inside the dock, including the USS Excelsior , are neutralized and disabled. The probe then continues into Earth orbit and begins pulling water and moisture from the oceans, and clouds begin gathering over the Earth as the probe continues its transmission.

"You really have gone where no man's gone before!"

Sulu reports planet Earth 1.6 hours away, and Chekov reports there are no Federation vessels on assigned patrol stations, which Kirk finds odd. Uhura tells Kirk that the comm channels are flooded with overlapping multiphasic transmissions sounding almost like gibberish. She asks Kirk for some time to try to sort it all out. Just then, McCoy sits next to Spock and asks if he's busy. Spock says that he is simply monitoring and that Uhura is busy. McCoy says that it's sure nice for Spock's katra to be back in Spock's head and not his, stating that he might have carried Spock's soul but he couldn't fill Spock's shoes. When Spock doesn't understand the quip, McCoy drops it and asks if he and Spock could speak about philosophical matters such as life and death but Spock says he didn't have time on Vulcan to review philosophical disciplines. McCoy tells Spock, " You really have gone where no man's gone before " and is amazed that Spock can't tell him what it felt like. Spock says that they can't discuss the subject because they don't have a common frame of reference. When McCoy asks if Spock is joking, Spock defines a joke as "a story with a humorous climax." McCoy is amazed that Spock is inferring that McCoy would have to die in order to discuss Spock's insights on death. Just then Spock tells McCoy he's receiving a number of distress calls , which McCoy doesn't doubt as he gets up and walks away.

Starfleet emergency

Back on Earth, the situation is worsening. Reports from all over the world pour into Starfleet Headquarters . These reports include weather conditions worsening around the planet, such as how temperatures in Juneau , Alaska were dropping and cloud cover was up to 96%. In Tokyo , Japan , all power was gone and only available from reserve banks. Both it and Leningrad had 100% cloud cover and their temperatures were decreasing rapidly. The president asks about worldwide cloud cover and a report of 78.6% comes in. At that point, Cartwright orders a planet-wide emergency and declares red alert . Just then, the influence of the probe comes over and power begins to fade. Cartwright tells the president that even with planetary reserves, they are doomed without the sun. The president states he is well aware of that fact. Just then, Sarek enters into the command center and the president laments that there may be no way to answer the probe. Sarek comments that one cannot answer easily if you don't understand the question. Then Sarek suggests that the president issue a planetary distress signal while there is still time.

" Avoid the planet Earth at all costs!"

Still en route to Earth aboard the Bounty , Uhura tells Kirk that a signal is finally coming through from the Federation. Kirk tells her to put it on screen and they all watch in shock as the president tells all ships everywhere to not approach the planet Earth as the probe is causing critical damage to the Earth, almost totally ionizing the atmosphere. The president says that all power sources have failed and all Earth-orbiting starships are powerless. The probe, according to the president, is vaporizing Earth's oceans and that everyone on Earth will not survive unless they can find a way to respond. The president warns all ships to save their energy and to save themselves and they should avoid the planet Earth at all costs. He then bids farewell and the transmission fades. A stunned Kirk and crew are amazed at what they saw and heard. After a moment, Kirk asks to hear the probe's signal and Uhura patches it through. Spock says that the probe signifies aliens of great intelligence that somehow, are unaware of the signal's destructive nature and that he thinks it illogical that the probe's intention is hostile. When McCoy asks if this is the probe's way of saying hello to the people of the Earth, Spock points out that only Human arrogance assumes the message must be meant for them. When Kirk asks if it could be for some other lifeform, Spock does point out the signal is pointed at Earth's oceans. Kirk asks Uhura to adjust the probe's signal to account for what it would sound like underwater. When she does so, Spock theorizes there can be no response to the message. He then excuses himself to test the theory and he is quickly followed by Kirk and McCoy.

Spock's theory

In the Bounty 's lab, Spock discovers that it is in fact a whale song , specifically that of the humpback whale . McCoy at first wonders who would send a probe across the galaxy to speak to whales, but Kirk and Spock recognize that whales were on Earth ten million years before Humans. Humpback whales, Spock points out, have been extinct since the 21st century , and so it is possible an alien intelligence sent the probe to establish why they lost contact. Kirk wonders if they could simulate a response to the probe's call, but Spock says the language would be gibberish. Kirk asks if the species could exist on some other planet, but Spock answers that they were indigenous to Earth. When Kirk says they must find a way to destroy the probe before it destroys Earth, Spock reminds Kirk the probe would neutralize the Bounty with no effort. Spock does say then that they could theoretically go find some humpback whales. McCoy realizes what Spock is suggesting and is about to ask Kirk to " wait just a damn minute, " but is interrupted by Kirk, who orders Spock to start computations for a time warp .

Kirk's bright idea

In the Bounty 's cargo bay, Kirk asks Scott if they can enclose it to hold water and Scott says he could and McCoy agrees that Kirk is about to go swimming " Off the deep end, Mr. Scott! " Kirk tells Scott they have to go find a couple of humpback whales. McCoy asks Kirk if he is seriously going to attempt time travel in " this rust bucket. " Kirk responds that they have done it before . As he and McCoy head back toward the bridge, McCoy wonders aloud about the plan;

Kirk says that's it and McCoy comments that Kirk's plan is crazy. Kirk tells McCoy if he has a better idea now's the time to tell him. On the bridge he asks Spock about the computations and Spock is working on them. Meanwhile, Kirk has Uhura open a channel to Starfleet Command.

"We're going to attempt time travel. "

Meanwhile the situation on Earth is worsening. A faint transmission believed to be from Admiral Kirk is received and Cartwright orders it put through. Kirk advises Starfleet of their analysis of the probe's signal, tells them that Spock's theory is that only the extinct humpback whale can properly answer the probe and they are going to try time travel. At that moment, Kirk's signal degrades. Cartwright orders the transmission picked back up, but just then the windows behind him shatter and the wind and rain begin to blow into Starfleet Headquarters. At this point, all anyone in the command center can do is wait.

On the Bounty , Spock has completed his calculations and informs Kirk their target is the late 20th century . Unfortunately he can't be more precise because of the limits of the equipment aboard the Bounty . Additionally he had to program some of the variables for his time travel computations from memory. When McCoy worriedly recites a line from Hamlet , " Angels and ministers of grace, defend us, " and Spock recognizes it as act one, scene four, Kirk establishes his faith in Spock's memory and has the ship prepared for warp speed. Kirk orders Chekov to raise the shields and then tells Sulu to engage the Bounty 's warp drive. " May fortune favor the foolish, " Kirk says as the Bounty engages to warp speed.

The Bounty slingshots

The ship slowly accelerates up over warp nine and then as they get closer and closer to the Sun, the ship begins to shake seriously between the effects of high warp and the high solar gravity. A console next to Uhura blows out, but she says she's ok. At the last moment, Kirk orders Sulu to kick in the last of the thruster power, and the Bounty successfully performs the slingshot effect around the Sun . For a brief time, the crew is unconscious as Kirk dreams of their voices and faces (quotes from later are heard here, including Scott saying " Admiral, there be whales here! "), of a whale, and eventually of a person falling from space, through Earth's atmosphere and landing in a lake in a tranquil forest, with a sound of what may be a ship landing.

20th century [ ]

20th century Earth

Kirk awakens to find ship and crew seemingly still intact. He rouses Sulu from his unconsciousness and Sulu finds the braking thrusters have successfully fired. When the viewer is activated Spock determines by the atmosphere's pollution content they have successfully arrived in the latter half of the 20th century. He then reminds Kirk they may already be visible to the Earth's tracking devices of the time and so Kirk orders the cloaking device engaged. The Bounty crosses over the terminator into night and Spock homes in on the west coast of North America . There, Uhura finds a whale song , but is confused to find it coming directly from San Francisco . Just then Scott calls needing to see Kirk immediately.

Dead in the water

Scotty reports a new problem, informing Kirk and Spock the Klingon dilithium crystals have been drained by the time travel and are de-crystallizing. Unfortunately, even in the 23rd century, re-crystallization is not possible and Scott gives them 24 hours before they lose all power and become visible – and dead in the water. Spock theorizes that because of the use of nuclear fission reactors in this time period, they could construct a device to collect some high-energy radioactive photons safely which could then be injected into the dilithium chamber which, in theory, could cause crystalline restructure. Spock then points out that nuclear power was widely used on Naval vessels.

Mission briefing

From his seat at the Bounty 's helm, Sulu recognizes San Francisco and tells everyone he was born there. McCoy remarks that it really doesn't look all that different from the San Francisco of their time. Kirk instructs Sulu to set the ship down in Golden Gate Park . He then assigns everyone to teams, Uhura and Chekov will take care of the photon collection. McCoy, Sulu, and Scott are assigned 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 then tells everyone to be very careful as most of the local customs will doubtless be surprising to the time travelers. Everyone then looks at Spock and Kirk says " It's a foregone conclusion none of these people have ever seen an extraterrestrial before. " With that, Spock tears a piece of fabric from his robe and wraps it around his head like a headband which covers his eyebrows and ears. Kirk calls late 20th century culture extremely primitive and paranoid. Chekov is to issue everyone a phaser and communicator but the crew is to maintain radio silence except in emergencies, and anyone in uniform should remove their rank insignia. Kirk firmly tells everyone that they should do their job and get out of there as their own world is waiting for them to save it, if they can.

The Bounty lands in Golden Gate Park , accidentally crushing a trash can (as well as indenting the surrounding ground) under its invisible landing gear, and when the hatch opens, it scares two sanitation workers, who drive out of the area leaving trash behind. Oblivious to this, the Enterprise crew continues onward, Uhura gives the coordinates of the whales to Kirk who quips, " Everybody remember where we parked! "

"Well, double dumbass on you!"

In San Francisco, the crew has trouble adjusting, from watching out for traffic – to which Kirk swears back at a taxi driver – to Kirk's realization that they're going to need some money , being that Earth of then still saw it as a driving force. Kirk and Spock go to an antique shop to sell the glasses McCoy earlier gave Kirk on his last birthday . Kirk receives one hundred dollars (wondering aloud if that's a lot) and then divides it among the teams. He and Spock walk down the streets of San Francisco and Kirk wonders how they're going to find the whales. Spock finds a city map and starts to work out the coordinates on the map. Kirk sees an ad for the Cetacean Institute and the two attempt to get on a bus , only to be tossed back off because they don't have "exact change" and don't know what the term means, either.

In another part of town, McCoy, Scott, and Sulu walk the streets. McCoy wonders how they'll make the whale tank. Scott says he'd normally do it with transparent aluminum but he and Sulu both realize the material doesn't exist yet, so they'll have to make do with a 20th century equivalent. Just then they notice a mural ad on a wall for the Yellow Pages .

"Nu-cle-ar… wessels."

Elsewhere, Chekov and Uhura have also been perusing the phone book and have found the address for the Alameda Naval Base . Unfortunately, their luck in getting those directions isn't entirely successful with people (including one SFPD police officer ) completely ignoring them and a lady telling them the ships are in Alameda , which they already knew but they don't know how to get to Alameda.

Spock takes a dip

Kirk and Spock finally find a bus and, after Spock renders a punk rocker unconscious with a nerve pinch , they arrive at the Cetacean Institute and join in with a tour group which is being led by Dr. Gillian Taylor , a guide and whale lover. Taylor escorts the tour group to the Institute's pride and joy, the only two humpbacks in captivity, named George and Gracie . Kirk comments on the amazing stroke of luck in finding a male and a female humpback in a contained space, they can beam them up together and be on the way home. Spock jumps into the whale tank and performs a mind meld with one of the whales. During Spock's mind meld, he is noticed by a completely astonished Kirk and then an elderly lady in the tour group, which raises Taylor's ire and she and Kirk run back up to the tank and she confronts Spock. Spock tries to explain that he was trying to communicate. Kirk attempts to act as if he's there to help Taylor, but when Spock tells him that if they think the whales are theirs to do with as they please, then they'd be as guilty as those who caused the whales' extinction. At that point, Taylor throws both of them out, threatening to call the police as Spock was messing with her tanks and whales. Spock says the whales like her very much, but they are not " the hell "her" whales, " and when she asks if they told him that, he admits they did.

Kirk and Spock review

As they walk away, Kirk asks about Spock's mind meld. Spock says the whales are not happy with how Humans have treated their species, which Kirk finds understandable and asks if they will help. Spock says he believes he was successful in communicating the Enterprise crew's mission.

Dr. Taylor is outraged by their actions, but later tries to relax with the whales and tells them the intruders didn't mean them any harm. Just then her boss, Bob Briggs , steps up and asks how Gillian is doing and she admits she's very upset. Briggs sympathizes but points out again that they endanger the whales' lives by keeping them at the Institute and they take the same risk letting them go. He tries to calm her by reminding her that they've never been proven to be as intelligent as Humans, but Taylor doesn't buy it, angrily saying she doesn't limit her compassion for someone based on an intelligence estimate.

The nuclear wessel

Chekov and Uhura finally find the location of a nuclear vessel. Chekov begins attempting to make contact with Kirk as Uhura locates the exact coordinates of the reactor. Once Kirk is reached, Chekov reports they found the ship which pleases Kirk, and then Chekov tells Kirk "And Admiral… it is the Enterprise ." Kirk acknowledges and asks the plan. Chekov says they'll beam in that night, get the photons and beam out before anyone can ever know they were there. Kirk approves the plan and tells them to keep him informed.

"I love Italian… and so do you."

Just then Taylor approaches in her truck and agrees to give Kirk and Spock a ride back to San Francisco. Taylor asks Kirk where he's from and he says Iowa . Then asking what Spock meant about the whales' extinction, Kirk says he meant if things go as they are, the humpbacks will disappear forever, but Taylor recounts what Spock said exactly, including referring to the whales as already extinct. Kirk promises that they have nothing to do with the military teaching whales to retrieve torpedoes or "dip shit stuff" like that. Spock then blurts out the fact that Gracie is pregnant , which causes Taylor to slam on her brakes, stopping the truck in amazement because this is something nobody outside the institute knows. She demands to know how Spock knows this. Kirk says he can't say but if she gives them a chance, he'll promise they're not in the military and have no harmful intentions toward the whales. He then says that they may be able to help them in ways she can't imagine. Taylor figures she probably won't believe it either. Kirk and Spock manage to agree that she's not catching them at their best. Kirk then suggests that they all go out to dinner and discuss this further. Taylor asks if they like Italian food and Kirk and Spock banter back and forth for a moment before Kirk can get out that he loves Italian and he tells Spock he does too.

"Professor Scott" and his assistant

In the meantime, Scott and his team have managed to find a manufacturer of large plexiglass walls – Plexicorp – and he and McCoy masquerade as scientists from Edinburgh who are to tour the plant – unbeknownst to the plant's head, Dr. Nichols . Scott makes a scene, but is given a tour of the plant by Nichols and Scott, playing the role, asks if McCoy (his "assistant") can accompany. Nichols says he can and as he commandeers a forklift for them to ride on, McCoy tells Scott " Don't bury yourself in the part! "

Sulu approaches a helicopter pilot and begins speaking to him about the old Huey 204 helicopter on which the pilot is working. The pilot asks Sulu if he's flown any and Sulu says he's flown "here and there." Sulu then tells the pilot that he flew something similar during his Academy days, and the pilot recognizes that the helicopter must be old to him which Sulu admits, but says it's still interesting. He then asks if he can ask a few questions and the pilot agrees to answer them.

Altering the future or preserving history?

Meanwhile, at Plexicorp, after the tour, Scott tells Nichols that they have a very fine plant here and Nichols compliments Scott's impressive knowledge of engineering skill. Scott then says he sees Nichols still working with polymers . Nichols asks what else he'd be using. Scott asks how big a piece of the plexiglass need to be at the measurements they'll need for the Bounty 's cargo bay , holding the pressure of the water that will be inside. Nichols says that a six inch piece would do it. Scott then supposes he shows Nichols a way to make a wall that would do the same thing but only be one inch thick. At first Nichols thinks Scott is joking but McCoy suggest Scott make use of Nichols' computer and he obliges. Although Scott mistakes the old computer for one he can talk to, when Nichols finally tells him to just use the keyboard , Scott does so and quickly comes up with the formula for transparent aluminum. Nichols says it'd take years to work out the dynamics of the matrix, but McCoy tells him he'll be richer than he can dream. When Nichols asks what Scott wants, McCoy excuses them and they go over to the corner. McCoy tells Scott that if they give Nichols the formula, they alter the future . Scott then asks how it is they know Nichols didn't invent transparent aluminum? McCoy agrees to Scott's logic and they go off to make the deal.

Out to dinner

Kirk and Taylor bring Spock back to Golden Gate Park. She asks if Spock won't change his mind about dinner and Spock wonders if there's a problem with the one he has. Kirk says that's a little joke and then tells Spock goodbye. Taylor asks how Spock knew that Gracie is pregnant when nobody knows that. Spock says that Gracie knows she's pregnant and he'll be here in the park. Taylor asks Kirk if Spock is going to just hang out around the bushes and Kirk just shrugs and says it's his way. As Gillian and Kirk drive away, Spock is beamed back aboard the Bounty . Kirk and Taylor are at a pizza restaurant and Kirk allows Gillian to order for them. He then asks how she ended up as a cetacean biologist. She says she is just lucky and a sucker for hard luck cases, mentioning that while she'll never see the whales again after they're released, they'll be tagged with radio transmitters so they can keep track of them. She then asks why Kirk hangs around with " that ditzy guy who knows that Gracie's pregnant and calls you admiral. " Just then, Kirk's Klingon communicator beeps. He tries to ignore it, but it keeps beeping and Taylor notices, calling his communicator a pocket pager and then asks Kirk if he's a doctor. Kirk finally answers it and feigns irritation, saying he said not to call him. Scott is the one calling, he apologizes for the interruption but he thought Kirk would want to know he's beaming Chekov and Uhura in now. Kirk says to tell them to set their phasers on stun and wishes them good luck. He then kills the transmission. Taylor asks for an explanation, Kirk asks when the whales are leaving. Gillian asks who he is, he asks who she thinks he is. Taylor then speculates he's from outer space. Kirk reiterates he's from Iowa, but that he works in outer space. Taylor says she was sure outer space would play a role sooner or later. Kirk then decides to tell her the truth to try and gain Taylor's cooperation in getting the whales. Kirk reveals that he is, by her calendar, from the late 23rd century and he's come back in time to bring two humpback whales with him so they can repopulate the species in his century. Taylor is enthusiastic about getting the details (while not believing a word of it). Kirk asks again when the whales are leaving. Taylor decides to go ahead and tell Kirk that Gracie is indeed very pregnant and that at noon the next day, the whales will be shipped out. At that point, Kirk jumps up and tells Taylor they have to leave just as the pizza arrives. Gillian asks if they can have it to go and then asks Kirk if they use money in the 23rd century and Kirk confirms they don't.

Sneaking aboard

At the same time, aboard the Enterprise , Chekov and Uhura hide briefly from a guard and his dog. They then finish their way to the reactor and Chekov attaches the collector to the reactor. When Uhura asks how long this is going to take, Chekov says it will depend on how much shielding there is between them and the actual reactor.

Back at Golden Gate Park, Taylor tells Kirk that was the briefest dinner she's ever had and the makes it clear she doesn't believe Kirk's story at all. Kirk asks what the whale's radio transmitter's frequency is, but Taylor refuses to tell him, citing that it's classified information. Kirk then tells Taylor that he is here to take two humpbacks to the 23rd century and if he has to do so, he will go to the open sea to get them but he'd much rather have hers as it'd be better for him, for Taylor, and for the whales. Gillian once again implores Kirk to tell her who he really is, but he ignores the question and asks her to think about this but not to take too much time and if Gillian changes her mind about helping them, he'll be right there in the park. As Taylor drives off, Kirk walks toward where the Bounty is parked and Taylor hears the transporter beam taking Kirk aboard and sees the light in the corner of her eye. She looks back and sees Kirk gone and drives on, puzzled.

Aboard the Bounty , Kirk asks for an update. Spock says the tank will be finished by morning and there has been no word yet from Chekov and Uhura since beam-in. Kirk grows frustrated that they are so close with two whales that will work great for them if they don't let them slip from their grasp. Spock says there is a possibility then their mission will fail. Kirk reminds Spock he's talking about the future of everyone on Earth and as he walks away angrily ask Spock that as he's half-Human does he not have any feelings about that? McCoy and Scott look at Spock but he does not answer and simply stands there contemplating Kirk's words.

Wrong place, wrong time

Chekov and Uhura continue to collect the photons. On the Enterprise bridge, their attempts have been noticed in the form of a power drain evidently coming from somewhere aboard and the Enterprise crew begins investigating. Meanwhile, in the reactor area, Chekov and Uhura have gained enough photons and Uhura calls for transport but the signal is very weak. At that same time, the Enterprise crew confirms the power drain and the duty officer calls the commanding officer and reports intruders aboard. Uhura finally makes contact with Scott but as power is down to minimum, he'll have to transport them out one at a time. Chekov sends Uhura first with the collector. Uhura transports out safely with the collector, but due to radiation, Chekov's beam-out fails, and as soldiers converge on the reactor area, Chekov continues to try to contact Scott but his signal fails and he is discovered and taken prisoner. Chekov is held for interrogation. Chekov kept his Starfleet ID with him which is discovered by the investigator. He asks Chekov why he is on the Enterprise and what the communicator and phaser are for. Chekov simply reiterates the truth about being a commander in Starfleet and gives his rank and serial number. The investigator and his aide see that he's obviously Russian but the main investigator says about Chekov " …of course he's a Russkie, but he's a retard or something! " While they're distracted, Chekov picks up the phaser and tries to hold the investigators saying if they don't lie on the floor he'll have to stun them. The investigator tells him to go ahead and do so. Chekov apologizes and tries, but the radiation has disabled his phaser. He attempts to escape captivity but just before he can get off the Enterprise , he falls off a ledge landing in the ships elevator shafts and is injured. The Marines who were chasing Chekov call for a corpsman.

On the Bounty Uhura is desperately searching for any sign of Chekov. Kirk comes on the bridge and asks if she's found anything and Uhura says she should never have left Chekov behind, but Kirk tells her to keep looking and that she did what was necessary. He then contacts Scott and asks for a progress report on the recrystallization. Scott says it'll be well into the next day but Kirk says that's not going to be good enough and he needs to speed it up. Scott acknowledges and mutters to Spock how Kirk is in "a wee bit of a snit." Spock agrees and offers that Kirk is a man of deep feelings and Scott wonders what else is new.

That same day, Taylor arrives at the Institute and lets herself in. She then heads back to the aquarium where she is shocked to see the whales gone. She runs back inside, horrified, only to be intercepted by Briggs who tells her that to avoid a mob scene with the press they were taken away the night before and they felt it would be easier for her. In tears and anger, Taylor slaps Briggs hard across the face and calls him " You son of a bitch! " before storming out of the Institute, getting back in her truck and speeding back to the park in hopes of finding Kirk.

Desperately seeking Kirk

" Hello Alice. Welcome to Wonderland. "

Sulu meanwhile, has the helicopter he was speaking to the pilot about earlier and is using it to transport the large pieces of plexiglass to Golden Gate Park to be installed aboard the Bounty . Just then, Taylor arrives in the park and begins yelling for Kirk, when she sees the helicopter lower itself down and then she sees a man seemingly appear waist up out of thin air. After being stunned for a brief moment, Taylor begins running toward that spot still screaming for Kirk when she bumps into something invisible. She stands and feels along the cloaked Bounty 's landing gear, screaming for Kirk still and saying she needs his help as the whales are gone. Scott notices her and yells down at Kirk that they have a problem. Kirk sees Taylor screaming for him on a monitor and then transports her aboard. When Taylor materializes in the transporter chamber Kirk tells her " Hello Alice , welcome to Wonderland . " Taylor is amazed then that what Kirk had told her before was true. Kirk shows her the whale tank and she tells him that the whales were taken the night before without her knowledge. She says that while they're in Alaska by this point, they're tagged, as she said, so they can track them. Kirk says that they can't go anywhere just yet. When Taylor wonders what kind of a ship this is, Kirk says it's a ship with a missing man. Just then Spock appears to tell Kirk full power has been restored. He then greets Gillian and welcomes her aboard and Taylor can only nod back at Spock, seeing him without the headband for the first time and his ears and eyebrows are exposed to her. Just then an upset Uhura calls Kirk and says she's found Chekov in Mercy Hospital . Chekov is going into emergency surgery and he is not expected to survive. McCoy comes up and tells Kirk he's got to be able to go to the hospital and begs Kirk not to leave Chekov in the hands of 20th century medicine. Spock comes up and tells Kirk he believes McCoy to be correct and they must help Chekov. Upon questioning from Kirk, Spock concedes that it is not the logical thing to do, but it is the Human thing to do. Kirk asks if Gillian can help them. She asks how and McCoy says they'll have to look like physicians.

Unexpected guests

In the hospital, McCoy, Kirk, and Dr. Taylor begin their search for Chekov. While McCoy walks down a hall he passes by an elderly woman who is in serious pain. He stops and asks what's wrong with her and she says it's kidney dialysis . McCoy mutters to himself about this being the Dark Ages . He reaches into his bag, gives the woman a pill and tells her to swallow it and if there's any problem for her to call him, then very kindly touches her face. She takes the pill and he walks away. Kirk and Taylor finally locate Chekov and after meeting up with McCoy, the three grab a stretcher, put Gillian on it, cover her up, and run for the elevator. They reach the next floor and when they try to go into the operating room where Chekov is in, they're stopped by hospital security. Taylor screams as if in pain and McCoy tells the police guards that the woman has " Immediate postprandial upper abdominal distention! " The guards let them in, Kirk asks McCoy what he said she had and he says cramps. Just then, McCoy steps up to the operating table before the attending surgeon can start drilling on Chekov's head. The surgeon demands to know who they are and then what sort of device McCoy is using. McCoy diagnoses Chekov's problem as tearing of the middle meningeal artery. The surgeon asks if McCoy's degree is in dentistry. McCoy gets angry and asks how the surgeon would explain a slow respiratory rate and pulse with coma and he says fundoscopic examination , which McCoy argues is useless in this case. The surgeon says the pressure can be relieved by a simple evacuation of the expanding epidural hematoma. McCoy passionately tells the surgeon that the artery must be repaired and you can't do that by drilling holes into the patient's head. He then asks the surgeon to " put away [his] butcher knives, " and let him save Chekov before it is too late. The surgeon threatens to have the new arrivals removed, but Kirk takes his phaser out and moves the surgeon and the nurses into a small room where he melts the lock. McCoy heals Chekov's injury with a cortical stimulator . When Chekov comes to, Kirk asks him his name and rank. Chekov recites his name and gives his rank after looking at Kirk as admiral.

McCoy, Kirk, and Taylor come out with Chekov on the stretcher. The guards ask how the patient is doing and Kirk says he'll make it. But the guards realize they came in with a woman, to which Kirk simply mutters " One little mistake! " The guards run in, see the surgeon and others are trapped, and are informed the patient has escaped.

"Surprise!"

Realizing their cover has been blown, the three start running the gurney down the hospital corridors with the police guards after them. They run around several corners and pass the elderly woman to whom McCoy gave the pill, who is happily telling everyone that a doctor gave her a pill and she grew a new kidney, which has all the hospital doctors and nurses stunned. They continue running and when Chekov tries to look up, Kirk puts his head back down on the gurney. They finally run into an elevator and the police officers run down the stairs intending to catch them at the next level but the four have disappeared from the hospital and have been beamed to safety while the elevator was in motion. When Kirk asks where the whales might be, Gillian says she can show them if there's a chart on board. But all Kirk wants is the radio frequency. Taylor wants to go with Kirk but Kirk says their next stop is the 23rd century but Taylor, saying she has no one there, insists on helping the whales but Kirk won't hear of it. He then asks her again for the radio frequency and Taylor tells Kirk it's 401 megahertz . Kirk thanks her for everything and then orders himself beamed up but Taylor jumps into his arms just as he's being beamed aboard.

On a whale hunt of their own

On the Bounty , Kirk and Taylor come on the bridge just as Scott calls Spock to tell him that he's ready. Sulu is taking a few moments to readjust to the Bounty 's helm console as he got used to the Huey. Kirk accuses Taylor of tricking him but Taylor says Kirk will need her. He tells Taylor to sit down and orders Sulu and Chekov to take off. The Bounty , still cloaked, lifts off from Golden Gate Park just as a couple of joggers are running by and they get blown over by the dust and wind. The Bounty lifts up into the skies above San Francisco and head toward Alaska. As power settles in and stabilizes, Kirk orders Uhura to start scanning for the whales on the frequency Gillian gave him. When they reach the proper altitude, Kirk orders full impulse power which Sulu estimates should get them to the Bering Sea in twelve minutes. Scotty reports the whale tanks are secured but this will be the first time he's ever beamed up four hundred tons before. When Kirk asks why it's that much, Scotty reminds Kirk they're having to beam aboard not just the whales, but the water around them as well. Kirk then checks with Uhura but the whales haven't been located yet.

The Bounty over the whalers

At that same time, McCoy checks on Spock who appears to be concerned. Spock says that he has tried to use the calculations he used to get them to the 20th century as a reference when calculating to return to the exact moment they left the 23rd unfortunately there are some issues with the calculations that just aren't working out. McCoy says Spock will have to take his best guess. Spock says guessing isn't in his nature and McCoy says that no one is perfect. Just then, Taylor recognizes the whales' signal and Uhura confirms. She detects another signal, which is determined to be a whaling ship. Kirk orders the Bounty into a full power descent and they arrive over the whales just in time to prevent the whaler's harpoon from hitting one of them. When the harpoon bounces off seemingly nothing the whalers are confused. Then the Bounty decloaks over the whaling ship causing the whalers to panic and turn away from the whales in terror. Scotty asks for ten seconds to redirect power from all over the ship to the transporter. Scotty then beams the whales and the surrounding water into the whale tank. The tank creaks, but holds the whales and water securely. Scotty tells Kirk they have full power and as the Bounty leaves Earth behind and enters warp, Kirk takes Taylor to see the whales. But first, he stops and asks Spock about his time calculations and because Scotty couldn't give Spock exact figures he will have to make a guess. This statement surprises Kirk, who calls it extraordinary. When he and Gillian leave, Spock thinks Kirk is confused but McCoy tells him that means Kirk feels better about Spock's guesses than he would most anyone else's facts. Spock then understands it as a compliment and endeavors to make the best guess he can.

"There be whales here!"

At the whale tank, Kirk quotes a line from "Whales Weep Not," which Taylor recognizes. Kirk then notes the irony of how in the past when men were killing the whales, they were destroying their own future. Scotty notes the whales seem happy to see Gillian and hopes she likes the tank. She calls it a miracle but Scotty says that's still to come and Kirk explains that their chances of getting home aren't great and she might have been better off staying where she belonged. Taylor says she belongs with the whales as she is a whale biologist. And suppose they do make it to the 23rd century, who there knows anything about humpback whales? Kirk admits her point there. Just then the ship shudders and Scotty reports a power fall-off. Kirk tells Gillian to stay with the whales and heads to the bridge.

Altering the trajectory

The ship is at high warp approaching the sun and Scott reports that warp 7.9 is the best he can do. Spock reports that not only can they not make breakaway speed, they might not even escape the sun's gravity so he shall try to compensate by altering their trajectory. Spock then requests thruster control which Kirk grants. At the right moment, Spock orders the thrusters fired and the Bounty again disappears behind the Sun.

Abandoning ship

Everyone wakes up again and Kirk asks if the thrusters fired. Spock reports they did and Kirk wonders where they are. Just then, he hears the drone of the probe as the Bounty begins to lose power. As the ship's systems shut down, the Bounty plunges through the Earth's atmosphere and when McCoy wonders where they might be Kirk can only tell him " Out of control and blind as a bat. " At Starfleet Command, the original transmission from Kirk to Starfleet fades. Cartwright calls for it to be restored just as the window shatters as it did before. This time Sarek points at something which is revealed to be the Bounty , and Cartwright notes it's heading right for the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bounty sails under the bridge and crash lands in San Francisco Bay . Kirk orders the hatch blown . He looks outside, sees it's the right place and now the task at hand is to get the whales out before the Bounty sinks. Kirk orders everyone to abandon ship. When he can't reach Scott, Kirk runs toward engineering after telling Spock to ensure the safety of everyone else. Kirk runs down toward the whale tank and manages to force the door open, and pulls Scott and Taylor out of the tank area which is almost completely submerged. Taylor notes the whales are trapped and if they're not freed, they'll drown. Scott says the bay doors have no power and that the explosive override is underwater. Kirk sends them out through the bridge hatch and he swims underwater to the explosive override and pulls it open, knocking the hull of the Bounty open and allowing Kirk and the whales to swim out of the ship. Kirk reaches the surface just in time and is pulled up to safety by Spock and Taylor. After a few moments the whales are seen swimming. Meanwhile, the probe keeps calling for the whales and everyone at Starfleet just watches and waits as the power completely fails.

Whale songs

Having oriented himself pointing straight downward, George begins to sing back to the probe, to which it also orients itself downward to a vertical position before replying. After a few minutes of communication with the whales the probe deactivates its scanner and the weather on Earth begins to calm. Power begins to be restored all around the planet and as the probe leaves the way it came, it passes Spacedock and power is restored aboard the station. As the skies clear over Earth, the Enterprise crew and Gillian celebrate at the Bounty 's crash site.

Vulcan overboard

Kirk pulls Taylor in the water and everyone else except Spock jumps in. Kirk gets up on the ship and manages to toss Spock in, going with him as well. The crew celebrates the end of the crisis in the water as a Starfleet shuttle heads toward them to pick them up. Having saved the Earth, George and Gracie head towards the Golden Gate Bridge for open water to explore the new world they've entered, free from the threat of Human hunters.

Standing trial

However, Kirk and crew still have to face court martial. In the Federation Council Chambers, the President calls the trial to order. Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura are brought in from where they were being held, only to be joined by Spock, who was sitting in the Council with his father. The president reminds Spock that he does not stand accused, but Spock intends to stand with his shipmates and the president accepts. He then lists the charges and specifications against the Enterprise crew: conspiracy (which is directed at Bones), assault on Federation officers (which is directed at all of them), theft of Federation property (the starship Enterprise ) (which is directed at Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Sulu, and Chekov), sabotage of the USS Excelsior (which is directed at Scotty), willful destruction of Federation property (again, the USS Enterprise ) (which is directed at Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov), and disobeying direct orders of the Starfleet commander (which is directed at Kirk). The president asks Kirk for his plea, and on behalf of all the officers, Kirk announces he is authorized to plead guilty. The president then says that because of "certain mitigating circumstances," though, all charges are dropped, except for one, and that charge: disobeying a superior officer, is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. The president asks Kirk if he recognizes the need for keeping discipline in any chain of command and Kirk tells the president he does. The president announces that Kirk's punishment is that he will be reduced in rank to captain, and as a consequence of that rank, he is given the duty for which he has demonstrated unswerving ability: the command of a starship. The council chamber begins to cheer until the President silences them and he then tells Kirk that he and his crew have saved Earth from its own short-sightedness and the people of Earth are forever in their debt. At that point, the council chambers breaks into cheering and applause, with people coming down to congratulate the Enterprise crew.

"See ya around the galaxy."

Kirk sees Taylor and she says how happy she is for him and thanks Kirk before starting to leave. Kirk stops her and asks where she's going. Taylor says since she's got three hundred years of catchup learning to do, she's going on board a science vessel. Kirk asks if this means goodbye, especially as one might say back in the 20th century, he doesn't even have Gillian's telephone number and asks how he'll find her. Taylor says she'll find him and kisses him goodbye. " See you around the galaxy, " she says just before departing.

Father and son

Meanwhile Spock has caught up with Sarek and as his father is planning to return to Vulcan, he wants to take his leave of Spock. Spock thanks Sarek for the effort he put out for them, Sarek says there was no effort as Spock is his son and in any case, he was very impressed with Spock's performance during the crisis. Sarek then recalls how he initially opposed Spock's entrance into Starfleet, saying that his judgment may have been incorrect. Sarek says that Spock's associates are people of good character. Spock tells Sarek they are his friends. Sarek accepts that and then asks if Spock has a message for his mother. Spock says he does, and to tell Amanda that he feels fine. He raises his hand in the Vulcan salute and tells his father to " Live long and prosper, " and Sarek reciprocates. Then Spock turns from Sarek, who starts to leave Council chambers en route to Vulcan, and Spock rejoins Kirk and they walk out of the chambers themselves.

"My friends…we've come home."

Flying through spacedock in a travel pod , following an orbit shuttle leading them, the crew heads toward their new assignment. McCoy, saying the bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe, expects they will get a freighter, while Sulu hopes for Excelsior . When Scott asks why Sulu would want "that bucket of bolts " Kirk simply tells Scott that " A ship is a ship ," to which Scott begrudgingly agrees.

" Let's see what she's got. "

From the forward window, the crew notes the Excelsior come into view, but, rather than docking with it, the travel pod continues over it revealing their true destination – a Constitution II -class starship, USS Enterprise , with the primary hull proudly displaying its Starfleet registry : NCC-1701-A. The crew beams as Kirk joyfully announces " My friends… we've come home. " As the new Enterprise departs the Spacedock, the crew takes up their familiar positions on the bridge. With eager anticipation, Sulu informs the captain that the helm is ready. As Kirk takes the center seat, he gives the order: " Let's see what she's got! " With a flash, the Enterprise engages her warp drive, ready to once again boldly go where no man has gone before.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Behold the quintessential devil in these matters! James T. Kirk, renegade and terrorist! Not only is he responsible for the murder of a Klingon crew, or the theft of a Klingon vessel! See now the real plot and intentions. Even as this Federation was negotiating a peace treaty with us, Kirk was secretly developing the Genesis torpedo, conceived by Kirk's son and test-detonated by the Admiral himself! And the result of this awesome energy was euphemistically called the Genesis planet, a secret base from which to launch the annihilation of the Klingon people!! "

" We demand the extradition of Kirk! We demand justice! " " Klingon justice is a unique point of view, Mr. President. Genesis was perfectly named the creation of life, not death. The Klingons shed the first blood while attempting to possess its secrets. " " Vulcans are well known as the intellectual puppets of this Federation! "

" Your vessel did destroy USS Grissom . Your men did kill Kirk's son . Do you deny these events? " " We deny nothing. We have the right to preserve our race! " " Do you have the right to commit murder? "

" Mr. Ambassador, with all respect, the Council's deliberations are over. " " Then Kirk goes unpunished? " " Admiral Kirk has been charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations. " " Starfleet regulations?! That's outrageous!! Remember this well. There shall be no peace as long as Kirk lives! "

"You pompous ass!"

" You'd think they could at least send us a ship. It's bad enough to be court-martialed and to have to spend the rest of our lives mining borite, but to have to go home in this Klingon flea trap? " " We could learn a thing or two about this flea trap. It's got a cloaking device that cost us a lot. " " I just wish we could cloak the stench! "

" Emergency channel 0130. Code red. It has been three hours since our contact with the alien probe. All attempts at regaining power have failed. " " It's using forms of energy we do not understand. " " Can you protect us? " " We are launching everything we have. " " Our systems engineers are trying to deploy a makeshift solar-sail. We have high hopes that this will, if successful, generate power to keep us alive. "

" Cloaking device now available on all flight modes. " " I'm impressed! That's a lot of work for a short voyage. " " We are in an enemy wessel, sir. I did not wish to be shot down on the way to our own funeral. " " Good thinking. "

" …and Admiral, I have replaced the Klingon food packs. They were giving me a sour stomach. " " Oh, is that what that was? "

" Saavik… this is goodbye. Thank you. " " Sir, I have not had the opportunity to tell you about your son. David died most bravely. He saved Spock. He saved us all. I thought you should know. " (to Spock) " Good day, Captain Spock. May your journey be free of incident. " " Live long and prosper, Lieutenant. "

" I don't know if you've got the whole picture, but he isn't exactly working on all thrusters. " " It'll come back to him. "

" I may have carried your soul but I sure couldn't fill your shoes. " " My shoes? " " ...Forget it. "

" Come on, Spock. It's me, McCoy! You really have gone where no man has gone before! "

" You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death? " " Forgive me, Doctor. I am receiving a number of distress calls. " " I don't doubt it! "

" There are other forms of intelligence on Earth, Doctor. Only Human arrogance would assume the message must be meant for man. "

" Are you planning to take a swim? " " Off the deep end, Mister Scott. "

" You're proposing that we go back in time, find humpback whales, then bring them forward in time, drop 'em off, and hope to hell they tell this probe what to go do with itself?! " " That's the general idea. " " Well, that's crazy! " " Got a better idea? Now's the time. "

" Angels and ministers of grace, defend us. "

" May fortune favor the foolish. "

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

" Everybody remember where we parked! "

" Why don't you watch where you're going, you dumb-ass! " " Well, a double dumb-ass on you! "

" It's a miracle these people ever got out of the twentieth century. "

" The rest of you, break up. You look like a cadet review. "

" Weren't those a present from Doctor McCoy? " " And they will be again. That's the beauty of it. "

" I'll give you one hundred dollars. " " Is that a lot? "

" What does it mean, exact change? "

" Excuse me, sir. Can you direct me to the naval base in Alameda? It's where they keep the nuclear wessels . " (no response) " Nu-cle-ar wes-sels. "

" Ooh, I don't know if I know the answer to that. I think it's across the bay. In Alameda." " That's what I said, Alameda. I know that. " " But where is Alameda!? "

" Excuse me! Excuse me! Would you mind stopping that noise? (punk rocker turns up boombox louder) EXCUSE ME! WOULD YOU MIND STOPPING THAT DAMN NOISE?! (punk rocker flips Kirk off) "

" Your use of language has altered since we arrived, Admiral. It is currently laced with... shall we say, more colorful metaphors." " You mean the profanity. " " Yes. " " Well, that's simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays any attention to you unless you swear every other word. You'll find it in all the literature of the period. " " Such as? " " The collective works of Jacqueline Susann. The novels of Harold Robbins. " " Ah. The giants. "

" To hunt a species to extinction is not logical. " " Whoever said the Human race was logical? "

" They like you very much, but they are not the hell your whales. " " I … I suppose they told you that, huh? " " The hell they did. " " Right. "

" If we play our cards right, we may be able to find out when those whales are leaving. " " How will playing cards help? "

" Very little point in my trying to explain. " " Yeah, I'll buy that. What about him? " " Him? He's harmless. Back in the sixties he was part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. I think he had a little too much LDS . " " LDS? "

" I have a photographic memory. I see words. "

" Are you sure it isn't the time for a colorful metaphor? "

" You're aren't one of those guys from the military, are you, trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes, or some dipshit stuff like that? " " No, ma'am. No dipshit. "

" Gracie is pregnant. " (Gillian suddenly stops her truck) " Alright, who are you, and don't jerk me around anymore. I wanna know how you know that? "

" You're not exactly catching us at our best. " " That much is certain. "

" I love Italian. " (Kirk looks at Spock) " And so do you. " " Yes. "

" I find it hard to believe that I've come millions of miles! " " Thousands! Thousands! " " Thousands of miles on an invited tour of inspection! "

" Don't bury yourself in the part! "

" Hello, computer. "

" NOT NOW, MADELINE!!! "

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

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

" Wait a minute! How did you know Gracie's pregnant? Nobody knows that. " " Gracie does. "

" Don't tell me. You're from outer space. " " No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space. "

" Okay, the truth. I am from, what on your calendar, would be the 23rd Century. I have come back in time to retrieve a pair of humpback whales in an attempt to... repopulate the species. " " Well, why didn't you just say so? Why all the coy disguises? "

" You play games with me, mister, and you're through! " " I am? May I go now? "

" All right, make nice. Give us the ray gun. " " I warn you, I will have to stun you. " " Go ahead. Stun me. " " I'm very sorry, but... " (Chekov uses the phaser but it doesn't work, making only a weak noise) " Must be the radiation. "

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

" Hello, Alice. Welcome to Wonderland. "

" Is that the logical thing to do, Spock? " " No, but it is the Human thing to do. "

" Well, what's wrong with you? " " Kidney dialysis. " " "Dialysis"? What is this, the Dark Ages? (McCoy gives her a pill out of his bag) Now you swallow that. And if you have any more problems, just call me. "

" This woman has immediate post-prandial upper abdominal distension! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! " " What did you say she's got? " " Cramps. "

" Tearing of the middle meningeal artery. " " What's your degree in, dentistry? " " How do you explain slowing pulse, low respiratory rate and coma? " " Fundoscopic examination... " " Fundoscopic examination is unrevealing in these cases! " " A simple evacuation of the expanding epidural hematoma will relieve the pressure. " " Good God, man! Drilling holes in his head's not the answer! The artery must be repaired! Now put away your butcher knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!"

" We're dealing with medievalism here! Chemotherapy! Fundoscopic examinations! "

" Pavel, talk to me. Name! Rank! " " Chekov, Pavel. Rank, admiral! "

" He's gonna make it! " " He? You went in with a she! " " One little mistake. "

" Doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney! The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney! "

" Where would the whales be by now? " " At sea. If you have a chart on board, I'll show you. " " No, no, no. All I need is the radio frequency to track them. " " What are you talking about? I'm coming with you. " " You can't. Our next stop is the twenty-third century. " " Well, I don't care! I've got nobody here. I have got to help those whales!! " " I have no time to argue with you, or even tell you how much you've meant to us. The radio frequency, please. " " The frequency's 401 megahertz. " " Thank you, for everything. Scotty, beam me up! " " Surprise! "

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

" Guessing is not in my nature, Doctor. " " Well, nobody's perfect. "

" Admiral! There be whales here! "

" He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts. "

" They say the sea is cold but the sea contains the hottest blood of all. "

" My God, Jim. Where are we? " Out of control and blind as a bat."

" Captain Spock, you do not stand accused. " " Mr. President, I stand with my shipmates. "

" The charges and specifications are: conspiracy, assault on Federation officers, theft of Federation property, namely the starship Enterprise , sabotage of the USS Excelsior , willful destruction of Federation property, specifically the aforementioned USS Enterprise , and finally, disobeying the direct orders of the Starfleet Commander. Admiral Kirk, how do you plead? " " On behalf of all of us, Mr. President, I'm authorized to plead guilty. " " So entered. Because of certain mitigating circumstances, all charges but one are summarily dismissed. The remaining charge, disobeying the orders of a superior officer, is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. "

" James T. Kirk, it is the judgment of this council that you be reduced in rank to Captain, and that as a consequence of your new rank, you be given the responsibility for which you have repeatedly demonstrated unswerving ability: the command of a starship. "

" I'm so happy for you I can't tell you! Thank you so much. " " Wait a minute! Where are you going? " " You're going to your ship, I'm going to mine. Science vessel. I've got 300 years of catch-up learning to do. " " You mean, this is goodbye? " " Why does it have to be goodbye? " " Well... like they say in your century, I don't even have your telephone number. (they laugh) How will I find you? " " Don't worry. I'll find you. (kisses Kirk) See you around the galaxy. "

" I am returning to Vulcan within the hour. I would like to take my leave of you. " " It was most kind of you to make this effort. " " It was no effort. You are my son. Besides, I am most impressed with your performance in this crisis. " " Most kind. " " As I recall, I opposed your enlistment in Starfleet. It is possible that judgment was incorrect. Your associates are people of good character. " " They are my friends. " " Yes, of course. Do you have a message for your mother? " " Yes. Tell her... I feel fine. "

" The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe. We'll get a freighter. " " With all due respect, Doctor, I'm counting on Excelsior . " "Excelsior? Why in God's name would you want that bucket of bolts? " A ship is a ship, Mr. Scott. " " Whatever you say, Sir. Thy will be done. "

" My friends. We've come home. "

" All right, Mr. Sulu, let's see what she's got. "

Background information [ ]

The dedication displayed at the beginning of the film

Australian poster for The Voyage Home

• The film is dedicated " to the men and women of the spaceship Challenger ", which exploded shortly after liftoff on 28 January 1986 , almost ten months before the release of Star Trek IV .
• Prior to the release of the 2009 film Star Trek (which as of October, 2009, grossed over $384.9 million), The Voyage Home was the highest-grossing Star Trek film, making $109.7 million in the United States. Due to the success of this film, Paramount decided to make the second Star Trek TV series a reality (after the unsuccessful attempt of Star Trek: Phase II ). That series eventually became Star Trek: The Next Generation , which premiered the next fall. The first US VHS tape release of the movie contained a small promo clip for The Next Generation , briefly introducing the new Enterprise and characters.
• Outside of North America, the film's title was changed to The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV (see UK trailer below), and references to the Star Trek brand were consciously avoided. This was done largely because Star Trek III: The Search for Spock had suffered badly from competition with Ghostbusters outside of North America and only grossed just over ten million dollars. A special prologue (see Trivia section below), in the form of a captain's log was created to detail the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock to aid newcomers, narrated by William Shatner himself. [1] (X) While the tactic was somewhat successful, the rest-of-the-world gross of around $24 million was still less than a fifth of the film's overall total, and so Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was marketed as normal worldwide ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was not theatrically released in most countries). Although the early VHS releases also carried the inverted title, when the film was eventually released on DVD, its title reverted to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home worldwide.
• The Voyage Home was released in the United Kingdom on 10 April 1987 . It launched at the top of the box office and stayed there for two weeks. It earned £2,697,776 overall. [2]
• The Voyage Home is ranked #2 out of the #11 Star Trek-based films according to Box Office Mojo, not adjusting for inflation, which makes it the most successful film until the 2009's Star Trek . [3]

Creation and production [ ]

• This film marked the start of Michael Okuda 's nineteen year relationship with the Star Trek franchise, both movies and television. For this film, he designed the computer displays as well as introducing the "touch screen" computer consoles, seen in the rest of the Star Trek films and television shows (except for Star Trek: Enterprise ).
• According to several issues of the DC Star Trek comics letters page, the film was originally scheduled for release in the summer of 1986, but was delayed due to William Shatner still filming episodes of TJ Hooker and they had to wait until its shooting season was completed before Shatner could join the project.
• The letters page of at least one issue (26) of the DC Star Trek comic also refers to the film by its apparent working title, Star Trek IV: The Adventure Continues .
• 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. Mike Okuda 's DVD text commentary, as well as William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories , indicate that Murphy, as a fan of Star Trek, had approached Nimoy and Bennett about a role in the film, but later he decided to appear in The Golden Child instead (a decision he admits later was a big mistake), and Catherine Hicks won the rewritten and revised role. Nicholas Meyer later stated that when he came in to write the 20th century section of the film, he realized the earlier drafts were written with Murphy in mind.
• An early draft of the script had Sulu meeting a young child on the streets of San Francisco who was his distant ancestor . According to William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories , the scene was an idea pitched to Harve Bennett by George Takei, who was delighted when he discovered the scene was to be shot. However, when it came time to film the scene, the child they hired to play the role of Sulu's great-great-great grandfather was not a professional actor, and his mother was on set, causing the child to be extremely nervous. Consequently, they couldn't get anything done with the boy and eventually they had to move on. The scene was scrapped, much to the heartbreak of Takei. The scene survives in Vonda McIntyre 's novelization . In the novel, while Sulu, McCoy and Scotty are walking the streets of San Francisco, a young Japanese boy walks up to Sulu, thinking him a relative and begins speaking to Sulu in Japanese and Sulu would find out the boy's name was Akira Sulu. After the boy leaves, McCoy asks who that was and Sulu tells him that the boy was in fact, his great-great-great grandfather.
• 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, implying that he had sex with Saavik on the Genesis Planet .
• The scene where Kirk says "LDS" instead of "LSD" originally called for Gillian Taylor to ask if he was dyslexic on top of everything else.
• 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 filmmakers reportedly said that they enjoyed telling those same authorities that except for the live shots toward the end of the film, the whale scenes weren't real. The scenes involving these whales were shot in a swimming pool in a Los Angeles area high school. 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 same spot was previously seen as a part of planet Vulcan in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . 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 crew of the USS Enterprise in San Francisco, 1986

• Some of the Bird-of-Prey footage is reused from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .
• A shot of the Bird-of-Prey heading to the Sun at warp speed was reused, with added disruptor fire in TNG : " Redemption II ".
• The aircraft carrier sequences were actually filmed aboard the conventionally-powered Forrestal -class carrier USS Ranger (CV 61) . Ranger can be distinguished 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 and marines were played by Ranger personnel (in certain scenes, freeze-frame reveals sailors wearing Ranger ball caps rather than Enterprise ones).
• Dr. Taylor orders Michelob beer over dinner, one of the few instances where an actual product is named in Star Trek . While the beer's label was never shown, another company managed to have a rare Trek moment of product placement . The computer used by Scotty at the Plexicorp factory is clearly a period-appropriate Macintosh Plus , and Apple Computer Company – as it was then known – receives a credit at the end of the film. Pacific Bell advertising is also prominently visible. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier offers one of the few other instances of product placement in the franchise's history, when Kirk, Spock and McCoy go camping wearing Levi's jeans. Another instance of this was in the opening sequence of Star Trek Generations , when a bottle of Dom Perignon was smashed on the hull of the Enterprise -B at the ship's christening. In Star Trek , a young Kirk uses an integrated Nokia mobile car phone, while Uhura is seen ordering Budweisers in an Iowa bar .
• The Voyage Home is the first Star Trek production to be directed by a member of the main cast. While Leonard Nimoy had also directed the previous film, he was not a member of the main cast, only appearing at the end.

Continuity [ ]

• This film establishes that Hikaru Sulu was born in San Francisco.
• This marks Majel Barrett 's final performance as Christine Chapel .
• The slingshot effect used by the Bounty to travel into the past was previously used in " Tomorrow is Yesterday " and " Assignment: Earth ". Kirk directly references these events when he says " We've done it before ", referring to the slingshot maneuver. In Assignment: Earth and this movie, the Enterprise travels back exactly three hundred years, a fact perhaps explained by Spock's comment that he had to program some of the variables from memory.
• The film marks the last on-screen appearance of a Starfleet commodore , seen as a non-speaking extra in the Federation Council chambers, until the Star Trek: Enterprise episode " First Flight ". It remained the chronologically-latest sighting of the rank in-universe prior to the appearance of Commodore Oh in Star Trek: Picard .
• The city of San Francisco would be visited by time-traveling Star Trek characters again, in the episodes TNG : " Time's Arrow " and TNG : " Time's Arrow, Part II ", and DS9 : " Past Tense, Part I " and DS9 : " Past Tense, Part II ".
• Brock Peters, who plays Admiral Cartwright in this film (and later in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ), also played the father of Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .
• This film establishes that Kirk is from Iowa. However, Kirk doesn't specifically say he was born in Iowa but was from there. According to Roberto Orci , one of the writers of Star Trek , the USS Kelvin was headed to Earth where James T. Kirk was eventually going to be born in Iowa and not on the Kelvin or Medical shuttle 37 in the alternate reality created by the Narada 's arrival in 2233 .
• During the final courtroom scene, one shot of the crew filing in has the entire main TOS cast in it: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu are entering the room, and Rand and Chapel are visible in the audience behind them. This is the only shot in the entire franchise in which all of these characters are on screen at the same time.
• A copy of the San Francisco Register seen in the film dates the 20th century part of the film to Thursday, 18 December , 1986 . This is consistent with marketing for the film, which used the phrase "Stardate: 1986". Leonard Nimoy, in an interview about the film's release on "Good Morning America" in November 1986, mentions that the crew journeys back in time "300 years to now," which strongly suggests 1986 as the destination year and, perhaps less strongly, suggests the crew's own time is 2286.
• The headlines and text in the newspaper are fictional, and can't be straightforwardly linked to real events. Notably, however, one headline mentions that a "Geneva summit [is] in doubt". This is in the context of "nuclear arms talks". Two Geneva summits have been held between the US and other nuclear powers; one in 1955 and one in 1985.
• Kirk states in his Captain's log near the opening of the film that he and his crew are in "our third month of our Vulcan exile", following the final events of Star Trek III . The date of the events of Star Trek III however are not entirely clear . Upon traveling to the 23rd century , Gillian mentions that she has "three hundred years of catch-up learning to do" after being transported to the future, though may have been casually approximating the time difference. StarTrek.com , Star Trek Chronology and Star Trek Encyclopedia  (3rd ed., p. 691) use this the line from Gillian to date the film to 2286. Memory Alpha also uses this year.
• Kirk makes a reference to the HMS Bounty mutiny having occurred five hundred years ago (from his own time). Since that event took place in 1789, it suggests his own time is 2289, though he, too, may have been casually approximating.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium , used as the setting for the Cetacean Institute . The top picture shows how the aquarium looks in real life, and the bottom is how it was adapted for the film

• The lighted table in Starfleet Command eventually became the famous "pool table" located in main engineering of the USS Enterprise -D .
• The USS Saratoga seen in early scenes was actually a slightly modified shooting model of the USS Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .
• The bridge set for the aforementioned USS Saratoga was a simple redress set of the bridge of the Grissom from Star Trek III (which itself was a redress of the Enterprise bridge from the first three films). The camera angles used for scenes aboard the Saratoga do not make clear whether modifications seen to the bridge set at the end of the film had yet been made. The shot of the Captain from the Yorktown , which sent a transmission to Starfleet HQ, was also filmed on this set.
• The Bridge of the HMS Bounty was different from its appearance in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .
• This film has a sense of historical irony regarding ship names. The film depicts the USS Saratoga and mentions the USS Yorktown (which Roddenberry claimed became the Enterprise -A) while featuring the aircraft carrier Enterprise (which was actually portrayed by the real life USS Ranger ). During the period before World War II, the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise , USS Saratoga , USS Yorktown , and USS Ranger , were four of the seven fleet carriers in United States Navy service. The other three were Saratoga 's sister-ship, Lexington , the unique Wasp , and Enterprise 's sister, USS Hornet . All seven of these ships served in the Pacific. Only Enterprise, Ranger, and Saratoga survived the conflict, and were decommissioned shortly after its conclusion.
• The clothes worn by Leonard Nimoy as Spock during his swim in the whale tank were auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction . [5]
• During Spock's retraining, an original configuration Constitution -class ship appears on the monitor.
• The whaling ship used in the film was a World War II minesweeper called Golden Gate . [6]
• The whale hunters speak Finnish , even though the script called for a crew of famous humpback hunters like the Norwegians, Icelanders or Russians to be used. [7] Finland has never had any sort of whale hunting industry. However, Norway, a prominent whaling country, has a minority of Kvens, who speak a dialect of the Finnish language.
• Director Nimoy mentioned in the film's DVD commentary that in the scene where Gillian Taylor slaps Bob Briggs for letting the whales leave without letting her say goodbye to them that Catherine Hicks really did slap Scott DeVenney rather hard, and that while DeVenney was neither expecting it nor very happy about it, he took it and was a good sport about it later.
• Since the producers decided not to use subtitles for the Finnish dialogue or the probe/whale song sequence (although Paramount at one point did want subtitles for the film's climax), this is the only film of the first six Star Trek movies to not have any subtitles – not even to establish location or timeframe.
• Due to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock being released direct-to-video in some European and South American territories, a prologue recapping the events of The Search for Spock , narrated by Shatner, was added to release prints of this film in the territories listed above. The UK home video masters were also used for the Australian video release. Some of these releases omitted the Challenger dedication in order to make room for this prologue, but some releases kept both the prologue and the dedication.
• Though he had been distinctly unimpressed by Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , US President Ronald Reagan viewed this film, at the White House , on 20 December 1986 . ( Star Trek Magazine  issue 160 , p. 53)
• Several costumes, props, and items from this movie were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including a puppet which stood in as an alien ambassador. [8]
• The Voyage Home and Star Trek Beyond are the only two Star Trek films to not feature a starship Enterprise as the primary setting of the film. In both cases, it is due to the destruction of the Enterprise , and its replacement, the Enterprise -A, is seen at the end of the film.
• The Saratoga is popularly assumed to have been harmlessly disabled by the probe even though it's not seen again. And it is generally surmised that the probe just made a big mess on Earth for everyone to clean up. The overall light, comedic nature of this film tends to lead credence to the widely popularized sentiment of Star Trek IV being the only film in the series in which absolutely no one dies.
• This is the only film where none of Star Trek 's signature weapons (phasers, photons, and disruptors) are fired at a ship or individual with the intent to neutralize, kill or destroy. Only two attempts at using a handheld weapon are made; once by Chekov aboard the Enterprise , which fails, and once by Kirk, in which he melts the lock on the door to the room where the surgical staff is confined adjunct to Chekov's operating room at Mercy Hospital.
• Due to the events of the movie, DC Comics' first set of comics had to change course with their stories to accommodate the events of the movie. To this end, they had Spock's mind ravaged by a virus, forcing Kirk and his crew to take the HMS Bounty , which was docked within the Excelsior , and return to Vulcan. Thus, Kirk and his crew were fugitives again, this time for abandoning the Excelsior .
• This is the last Star Trek film to use the 1975-1986 Paramount Pictures logo.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 's network television premiere occurred on the March 4, 1990 edition of The ABC Sunday Night Movie , the fourth consecutive and last such TV broadcast debut of a Star Trek film on the American Broadcasting Company until the 1999 TV premiere of 1996's Star Trek: First Contact .
• For the occasion of the film's 35th anniversary , Fathom Events organized a limited theatrical release on 19 and 22 August 2021 in select North American cities of the 4K Ultra HD version of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , whose remastering to such had just been completed. Aside from the film itself, the 2009 The Three Picture Saga special feature was also shown. [9] [10] [11]

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• US Betamax release: 1987

Merchandise gallery [ ]

Awards and honors [ ]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home received the following awards and honors.

Apocrypha [ ]

• The novel The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume One established that Chekov's Klingon phaser and communicator, which he threw at the investigators on the Enterprise in order to make his escape attempt, were sent to Area 51 and then subsequently recovered by Roberta Lincoln (who was sent by Gary Seven ) before they could be analyzed and potentially alter history.
• In the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , during the court martial, when the president tells Spock that he's not accused, Spock tells the president " Mr. President, I stand with my shipmates. Their fate shall be mine. "
• The novelization also expands on McCoy and Scotty's discussion on whether or not they should give Dr. Nichols the formula for transparent aluminum. In the novel, Scotty knows for certain that Nichols did indeed invent transparent aluminum and so it is OK for them to give him the formula and it may well be essential that they do so .
• The unfilmed scene between Sulu and his great-great-great grandfather (see above) was also featured in the novelization .
• In the novelization Kirk recaps the tragic events of " The City on the Edge of Forever " while discussing a possible time travel with Spock and McCoy.
• After her initial shock, Gillian begins to like the transporter and is actually quite surprised when she finds out Doctor McCoy dislikes and distrusts it.

Links and references [ ]

Credits [ ], opening credits [ ].

• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• James Doohan
• George Takei
• Walter Koenig
• Nichelle Nichols
• Mark Lenard as Sarek
• Jane Wyatt as Amanda
• Majel Barrett as Commander Chapel
• Robert Ellenstein as the Council President
• John Schuck as the Klingon Ambassador
• Brock Peters as Admiral Cartwright
• Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik
• Catherine Hicks as Gillian
• Gene Roddenberry
• Leonard Rosenman
• Peter E. Berger
• Jack T. Collis
• Don Peterman , ASC
• Ralph Winter
• Leonard Nimoy & Harve Bennett
• Steve Meerson & Peter Krikes
• Harve Bennett & Nicholas Meyer
• Harve Bennett

Closing credits [ ]

• Kirk – William Shatner
• Spock – Leonard Nimoy
• McCoy – DeForest Kelley
• Scotty – James Doohan
• Sulu – George Takei
• Chekov – Walter Koenig
• Uhura – Nichelle Nichols
• Amanda – Jane Wyatt
• Gillian – Catherine Hicks
• Sarek – Mark Lenard
• Lt. Saavik – Robin Curtis
• Federation Council President – Robert Ellenstein
• Klingon Ambassador – John Schuck
• Admiral Cartwright – Brock Peters
• Starfleet Communications Officer – Michael Snyder
• Starfleet Display Officer – Michael Berryman
• Saratoga Science Officer – Mike Brislane
• Commander Rand – Grace Lee Whitney
• Alien Communications Officer – Jane Wiedlin
• Starship Captain – Vijay Amritraj
• Commander Chapel – Majel Barrett
• Saratoga Helmsman – Nick Ramus
• Controller #1 – Thaddeus Golas
• Controller #2 – Martin Pistone
• Bob Briggs – Scott DeVenney
• Lady in Tour – Viola Stimpson
• 1st Garbageman – Phil Rubenstein
• 2nd Garbageman – John Miranda
• Antique Store Owner – Joe Knowland
• Waiter – Bob Sarlatte
• Cafe Owner – Everett Lee
• Joe – Richard Harder ( deleted scene )
• Nichols – Alex Henteloff
• Pilot – Tony Edwards
• Elderly Patient – Eve Smith
• Intern #1 – Tom Mustin
• Intern #2 – Greg Karas
• Young Doctor – Raymond Singer
• Doctor #1 – David Ellenstein
• Doctor #2 – Judy Levitt
• Usher – Theresa E. Victor
• Jogger – James Menges
• Punk on Bus – Kirk Thatcher
• FBI Agent – Jeff Lester
• Shore Patrolman – Joe Lando
• CDO – Newell Tarrant
• Mike Timoney ( Electronics Technician #1 )
• Jeffrey Martin ( Electronics Technician #2 )
• Marine Sergeant – 1st Sgt Joseph Naradzay , USMC
• Marine Lieutenant – 1st Lt Donald W. Zautcke , USMC
• R.A. Rondell
• Gregory Barnett (also Starfleet technician )
• Steve M. Davison
• Clifford T. Fleming (Stunt helicopter pilot)
• Eddie Hice ( Mercy Hospital patient )
• Bennie E. Moore, Jr. ( Starfleet technician )
• Charles Picerni, Jr.
• Sharon Schaffer ( Mercy Hospital nurse )
• Spike Silver ( Stunt double for Walter Koenig )
• Patrick Kehoe
• Douglas E. Wise
• Frank Capra III
• Ken Ralston
• Brooke Breton
• Kirk Thatcher
• Amanda Mackey
• Bill Shepard
• Keith Peterman
• Kenneth Nishino
• Jay Peterman
• Gene S. Cantamessa , CAS
• Steven G. Cantamessa
• Mark Jennings
• Michael Lantieri
• Clay Pinney
• Brian Tipton
• Don Elliott
• Robert Spurlock
• Robert Fletcher
• Eric Harrison
• Joseph Markham
• Dan Bronson
• Mary Etta Lang
• James L. McCoy
• Silvia Abascal
• Carol O'Connell
• Monique DeSart
• Lily LaCava
• Kal Manning
• Lloyd Gowdy
• Frank McKane
• Calvin Sterry
• Waverly Smothers
• Mike Brooker
• Richard Dow
• Ron Greenwood
• Bart Susman
• Charles Sertin
• Dick Bayard
• John H. Matheson
• Ed Charnock
• Jerry Gadette
• Joe Hubbard
• James Bayliss
• Richard Berger
• Michael Mann
• Michael Meehan
• Stu Statterfield
• Ray McLaughlin
• Andrew Lipshultz
• Bruce Birmelin
• George Villaseñor
• Thomas Bryant
• Reel People, Inc.
• Harry Moreau
• Mark Mangini
• David Stone , MPSE
• Michael J. Benavente
• Warren Hamilton , MPSE
• Stephen Flick , MPSE
• John Pospisil
• Alan Howarth
• George Budd
• Solange Schwalbe
• Tim Mangini
• Dan O'Connell
• Ellen Heuer
• Destiny Borden
• Christopher Flick
• Doug Hemphill
• Else Blangsted
• David Marshall
• Leonard Rosenman and The Yellowjackets
• Ralph Ferraro
• Record Plant Scoring
• Terry Porter
• Dave Hudson
• Mel Metcalfe
• Jack Cooperman , ASC
• Gina Neilson
• Robert Cecil Thorson
• John R. Craig
• Joe Adamson
• Barbara Harris
• Sylvia Rubinstein
• Brigette Roux-Lough
• Rebeca R. Brookshire
• Susan Sackett
• Susan Smith
• Kevin F. Barry
• Industrial Light & Magic , Marin County, CA
• Ralph Gordon
• Mike Gleason
• Chris Evans
• Ellen Lichtwardt
• Warren Franklin
• Erik Jensen
• Selwyn Eddy III
• John V. Fante
• Peter Daulton
• Toby Heindel
• Pat Sweeney
• Ray Gilberti
• Pete Kozachic
• Marty Rosenberg
• Jim Hagedorn
• Bruce Vecchitto
• Lori J. Nelson
• Tim Geideman
• Todd Heindel
• Rick Anderson
• Tony Hudson
• Mark Miller
• Pete Romano
• Craig Barron
• Frank Ordaz
• Caroleen Green
• Randy Johnson
• Eric Christensen
• Bruce Walters
• Ellen Ferguson
• Ralph McQuarrie
• Bob Finley, Jr.
• Brad Jerrell
• Mike Olague
• ILM Computer Graphics
• Craig Caton
• Allen Feuerstein
• Shannon Shea
• Nancy Nimoy
• Richard Hollander
• Mark Peterson
• Michael Okuda
• Hal Landaker
• Alan Landaker
• Donald Hansard, Sr.
• Music by Alexander Courage
• Craig Huxley
• Written by Kirk Thatcher
• Arranged by Mark Mangini
• Performed by Edge of Etiquette
• MCA Records and Tapes
• Monterey Bay Aquarium , Monterey, California
• Humpback Whale Sounds, Courtesy of Roger Payne and New York Zoological Society
• Mark Ferrari and Debbie Glockner-Ferrari of the Humpback Whale Fund
• Howard Weinstein
• Apple Computer Company
• Roy Danchick
• RAdm Charles Reynolds McGrail
• Capt. Walter Davis
• Lt. Sandra Stairs
• Lt. Lee Saunders
• Mr. John Horton
• Marine Detachment, USS Ranger
• US Coast Guard , Long Beach
• US Coast Guard, San Francisco
• Westheimer Company
• Todd-AO/Glen Glenn Studios
• Technicolor
• Industrial Light & Magic

Uncredited [ ]

Performers [ ].

• Joe Adamson as Mercy Hospital doctor
• Cynthia Brian as street passerby
• Michelle Chateau as nun
• Ron Cragg as Federation Council guard
• Jay Crimp as Vulcan electrician
• Monique DeSart as Madelaine
• Michael DiMente as Deltan ambassador
• Paul Giebner as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Brooks Gulledge as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Christine Hansen as nun
• Robert Jack as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Stephen Liska as Torg (archive footage)
• Joel Marston as Starfleet Admiral
• Genevieve Martin as Vulcan noblewoman
• Mary Mascari as Mercy Hospital patient
• Nanci Meek as mental patient
• Ralph Moratz as Mercy Hospital visitor
• Leonard Nimoy as Mercy Hospital visitor
• Ken Peacock as Enterprise (CVN-65) sailor
• Trainee Enterprise crewmember
• Layla Sarakalo as street passerby
• Louise Schulze as Female cafe employee
• Melanie Shatner as Female jogger
• Madge Sinclair as Saratoga captain
• Teresa E. Victor as Aamaarazan councilor
• Philip Weyland as tourist
• Rhoda Williams as alien vocals
• Aamaarazan councilor
• Andorian admiral
• Andorian commodore
• Arcadian delegate
• Arcadian councilors
• Ariolo councilor
• Caitian officer (brown)
• Caitian officer (black)
• Civilian FBI agent
• Three Deltan ambassadors
• Mercy Hospital nurse 1
• Mercy Hospital nurse 2
• Mercy Hospital OP nurse 1
• Mercy Hospital OP nurse 2
• Mercy Hospital PA announcer
• Eleven Mercy Hospital staffers
• Nine Mercy Hospital visitors
• Five street passersby
• Aquarium tourists
• Bus passengers
• Plexicorp workers
• Restaurant cooks
• Restaurant patrons
• Street passersby
• Whale hunters
• Kasheeta councilor
• Purple-skinned alien councilor
• SFPD officer
• Saratoga navigator
• Saratoga bridge crewman and woman
• Tellarite dignitaries
• Vulcan Federation councilor 1
• Vulcan Federation councilor 2
• Vulcan female delegate
• Vulcan delegate
• Xelatian councilors
• Animatronic puppet – Bzzit Khaht councilor

Stunt performers [ ]

• Vince Cadiente
• R.A. Rondell as taxi driver
• Unknown stunt performers as two Starfleet technicians

Production staff [ ]

• Gregory Barnett – Assistant Stunt Coordinator
• Jim Bissell – Technical Advisor: Opening Sequence
• Tom Boyd – Musician: Oboe
• Al Fleming – Makeup Artist
• Pieter Folkens – Advisor, Designer, and Sculptor: Humpback whales mechanics
• Casey Simpson – Lighting Technician
• Rick Stratton – Makeup Artist

References [ ]

18th century ; 19th century ; 20th century ; 1960s ; 21st century ; 40 Eridani A ; .45 automatic ; 747 ; Aamaarazan ; " abandon ship "; ability ; acceleration ; acceleration curve ; acceleration thruster ; act ; act of war ; accusation ; accused ; ailing patient ; aircraft carrier ; Alameda ; Alameda Naval Base ; Alaska ; Alice ; " all ears " ( ear ); " all hands "; " all the tea in China " ( tea , China ); alternative ; AMC Hornet ; American ; amplification wave ; Andorian ; anesthesia ; angel ; annihilation ; answer ; appointment ; aquarium ; Arcadian ; Ariolo ; Arkenite ; arm ; arrival ; arrogance ; arson ; assault ; assistant ; assistant director ; associate ; Atlanta Falcons ; atmosphere ( air ); Atomic Energy Commission ; attention ; attire ; aux power ; axiom ; band ; bathroom ; base ; bearing ; beer ; behavior ; Bering Sea ; " between a rock and a hard place "; binoculars ; bio-sterilization capsule ; birthday present ; " blind as a bat " ( blind , bat ); " bloody "; " blow the hatch "; blue whale ; BMR ; BMW 2002 ; bolt ; " Bones "; borite ; Bounty , HMS ; bowhead whale ; brain ; braking thruster ; breadstick ; breakaway speed ; brochure ; bucket ; Buick LeSabre ; Buick Riviera ; bumper sticker ; bureaucratic ; " bury yourself in the part "; bus ; bus stop ; Busch Gardens ; bush ; buster ; butcher knife ; button badge ; Bzzit Khaht ; Cab Co. ; cable car ; cadet review ; Caitian ; calendar ; calf ; California ; California State Assembly ; camera ; candy striper ; cannula ; Canon ; Captain Video ; captivity ; cargo bay ; cargo bay door ; Carlton ; case ; Cernan, Eugene ; cetacean ; cetacean biologist ( whale biologist ); Cetacean Institute ; chain of command ; chance ; charge ; chemotherapy ; Chevrolet ; Chevrolet C 30 Step Van ; Chevrolet Caprice Classic ; Chevrolet Chevette ; Chevrolet Townsman ; Chevrolet truck ; China ; choice ; CIC ; City Council ; Chrysler LeBaron ; classified ; climax ; cloaking device ; closing speed ; cloud ; cloud cover ; clue ; Coca-Cola ; Code Red ; coefficient ; coffee ; coffeemaker ; coin operated laundry ; Coit Tower ; collector ; colorful metaphor ( profanity ); Columbus Avenue ; coma ; combat information center ( CIC ); command duty officer ; commanding officer ( commander ); common sense ; communicator ; comm channel ; communications ; communications officer ; communications system ; compassion ; compliment ; computation ; computer ; comrade ; conclusion ; condition report ; conspiracy ; constant ; Constitution IIi -class ( unnamed 1 and 2 ); contact ; coordinates ; Copernicus , USS ; court martial ; contact ; corpsman ; country ; cops ; crab ; cramps ; creature ; credit card ; crisis ; critical condition ; crop top ; Crown ; crutch ; crystalline restructure ; cubic foot ; culture ; custom ; damage ; damage control ; damage report ; Dark Ages ; data ; Datsun ; Datsun 510 ; Datsun Truck ; day ; " dead in the water "; death ; degree (academic); degree (angle); deliberation ; demotion ; density ; dentistry ; departure ; deposition ; destruction ; device ; devil ; DeSoto Cab ; dialysis ; Diet Coke ; Diet Pepsi ; dilithium chamber ; dilithium crystal ; dilithium sequencer ; dinner ; discipline ; distance ; distress call ; Doctor ( physician ); Dodge 600 ; Dodge Lancer ; dollar ; Do not enter sign ; door ; Earth ; Edinburgh ; Efrosian ; elapsed time ; electrical power ; electronics technician ; Embarcadero ; emergency ; emergency channel ; emergency channel 0130 ; emergency light ; emergency reserve ; emergency surgery ; emergency system ; emergency thruster ; enemy ; energy ; energy reserve ; engineering ; Enterprise , USS (CVN-65); Enterprise , USS (NCC-1701); Enterprise , USS (NCC-1701-A); epidural hematoma ; escape hatch ; escape route ; estimated time of arrival (ETA); estimating ; Excelsior , USS ; exile ; exit sign ; explosive override ; extinction ; extradition ; extraterrestrial ; E-Z Scrub ; fact ; Fairground Hotel ; false killer whale ; farm boy ; Federal Bureau of Investigation ; Federation ; Federation Council ; Federation President ; feeling ; Feinberg's Loan and Pawn ; Fiat 124 Sport Spider ; Fiat X1/9 ; figure ; " fill your shoes "; fin whale ; finger, the ; Finnish ; fire alarm ; fireman ; fish ; fishing ; " fish story "; Fisherman's Wharf ; flea trap ; floor ; floor plan ; Flyer Industries E800 ; fog ; foot ; Ford Escort ; forklift ; formula ; frame of reference ; Free Speech Movement ; freighter ; frequency ; Friar Tuck ; friend ; friendship ; fuel component ; fundascopic examination ; funeral ; fusion era ; gangway ; garbage can ; garbage truck ; garbageman's significant other ; Genesis ; Genesis Device ; Genesis Torpedo ; Geneva ; genocide ; George and Gracie ; ghetto blaster ; giraffe ; glasses ; GM New Look ; God ; " God damn "; Gold Dust ; Golden Gate Bridge ; Golden Gate Park ; Gottlieb ; Gramalkin ; gravity ; gray whale ; Great Northern Railway ; Grissom , USS ; ground cushion ; Grumman LLV ; guest ; guidance system ; guide ; guilt ; gumball machine ; gums ; gun ; habit ; Hamlet ; Handi-Wrap II ; hangar deck ; harm ; harpoon ; harpoon gun ; hatch ; hate ; head ; headline ; heat shield ; helicopter ; hello ; high school ; " hit the deck "; home ; Honda Accord ; Honda Civic ; horoscope ; hostility ; hospital bracelet ; hospital gown ; hour ; Huey 204 ; Human ; humpback whale ; hundred ; hunting ; Hyster ; " I Hate You "; ice cream sandwich ; idea ; identification card ; " If we play our cards right "; image therapy ; impulse power ; inch ; infrared ; insight ; intelligence ; intention ; International Harvester Scout ; intruder ; Iowa ; irony ; Italian food ; job ; jogger ; joke ; judgment ; judo ; Juneau ; Junior Mints ; justice ; juxtapose ; Karmann Ghia ; Kasheeta ; katra ; Kearny Street ; kelp forest ; keyboard ; kilometer ; kidney ; kidney pill ; killer whale ; Klingon ; Klingon crew ; Klingon food pack ; Klingon language ; Klingon vessels lost to Whale Probe ; Knott's Berry Farm ; knowledge ; " kook "; L.A. International Airport ; landing pad ; landing procedure ; landlubber ; language ; Latin language ; Lawrence, D.H. ; lay-away ; Lay or Bust Poultry Feeds ; LDS ; " learn a thing or two "; learning ; leave ; Leningrad ; lens ; lie ; life ( lifeform ); lightbox ; lighthouse ; light year ; Lincoln Continental Mark VII ; lion ; literature ; location ; lock ; logic ; luck ; M16 rifle ; M203 grenade launcher ; macho ; Macintosh ; Magic Mountain ; magnetostatics ; mains ; main power ; mammal ; manufacturing ; manual control ; Marcus, David ; MARDET ; marine theater ; Market Street ; mass ; master chief petty officer ; mating ritual ; maximum speed ; Mazda ; Mazda B-Series ; mean sea level (MSL); media circus ; medievalism ; medical degree ; medical tricorder ; medicine ; megahertz ; megaton ; memory : memory bank ; memory test ; mentality ; Mercury Capri ; medical system ; Mercy Hospital ; message ; metaphor ; MG B ; Michelob ; microphone ; middle meningeal artery ; mind meld ; mile ; military ; milk ; million ; mind ; mining ; minke whale ; minute ; miracle ; miracle worker ; Miranda -class ( unnamed ); mission ; Mission District ; mistake ; mitigating circumstance ; MMR ; Moby Dick ; money ; monitoring station ; morning ; mouse ; Movieland Wax Museum ; M Series Walkie Stacker ; multiphasic transmission ; murder ; museum ; mushroom ; Mustang ; mutineer ; name ; name tag ; nautical mile ; naval vessel ; navigational signal ; negotiation ; news machine ; Neutral Zone ; night ; Nissan 280ZX ; noise ; noon ; North America ; nose ring ; novel ; nuclear fusion ; nuclear fission ; nuclear fission reactor ; nuclear power ; nuclear vessel ; nun ; nurses station ; nurse's cap ; Oberth -class ; ocean ; officer ; " off the deep end "; Oldsmobile Ciera ; Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais ; Olvera Street ; OMNI ; " on course "; onion ; open sea ; operating room ; opinion ; orbital shuttle ( unnamed 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ); Orbital shuttle 5 ; Orbital shuttle 7 ; order ; OrthoLav ; outer space ; owner ; Pacific Bell ; Pacific Basin ; pager ; Palace of Fine Arts ; paper towel ; paper towel dispenser ; parking ; past tense ; patient ; peace ; peace treaty ; pedestrian crossing sign ; pepperoni ; percent ; performance ; permission ; phaser ; photographic memory ; photon ; picnic table ; piercing ; pill ; pirate ; pizza ; place ; plan ; planet ; planet distress signal ; Planetary Reserve ; plant ; plant manager ; plastic wrap ; playing card ; " play our cards right "; plea ; Plexicorp ; plexiglass ; Plymouth Reliant ; plot ; poker ; police ; pollution ; polymer ; Pontiac Fiero ; Pontiac Firebird ; Pope Olive Oil ; Portola Brand Sardines ; pound ; Powell & Mason ; Powell Street ; power ; power drain ; power source ; pregnancy ; press ; pressure ; priority 1 ; probability ; probe ; problem ; professor ; property ; pulse ; puppet ; pygmy sperm whale ; quadrant ; question ; Queen Mary, The ; radiation ; radio frequency ; radio silence ; radio transmitter ; range ; rank ; rank insignia ; ray gun ; red alert ; reentry ; reference ; renegade ; rescue ; reserve bank ; reserve power ; respiratory rate ; result ; " rich beyond the dreams of avarice "; right ; Robbins, Harold ; Robin Hood ; " Roger "; room ; Russian language ; Russkie ; rust bucket ; sabotage ; St. Paul Hotel ; salinity ; Saloon, The ; Sam ; San Diego Zoo ; San Francisco ; San Francisco Bay ; San Francisco City Hall ; San Francisco Chronicle ; San Francisco Department of Sanitation ; San Francisco Ferry Building ; San Francisco Municipal Railway ; San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge ; San Francisco Police Department ; San Francisco Register ; Saran Wrap ; Saratoga , USS ; Sausalito ; scene ; Scots language ; screen ; scrubs ; Seaboard Air Line Railroad ; seal ; sea otter ; seat ; seawater ; SeaWorld ; secret ; Sector 5 ; security corridor ; service number ; Shepard , USS ; shield ; shipmate ; shoes ; short-sightedness ; shrimp ; shorts ; side effect ; signal ; silence ; singing ; slaughter ; slingshot effect ; Slits, The ; Smith & Wesson Model 15 ; smoking ; solar flare ; solar sail ; SONAR ; " son of a bitch "; Sony ; soul ; sound ; " sour stomach "; Spacedock One ; spacedock door (aka space door ); Spanish Inquisition ; speaker ; species ; specimen ; speed ; stairs ; " stand by "; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet Commander ; Starfleet regulations ; Starfleet uniform ; starship ; status report ; stench ; storage tank ; story ; street ; Stryker ; subject ; subbscription ; sucker ; summit ; Sun ; superior officer ; surgical mask ; surprise ; Susann, Jacqueline ; suspicion ; swim ; system map ; systems report ; " tango ; Taylor's science vessel ( science vessel ); teaching ; team ; team leader ; Team 2 ; teeth ; Telegraph Hill ; telephone ; telephone booth ; telephone number ; temperature ; terminator ; terra incognita ; Terran solar system ; terrorist ; testimony ; test program ; " that's the ticket "; theater ; theft ; theory ; thing ; thousand ; three smaller ships neutralized by Whale Probe ; thruster ; thruster control ; time ; time continuum ; time re-entry program ; time travel ; time warp ; tire iron ; tissue ; toast ; toaster oven ; Tokyo ; ton ; torpedo ; tour ; tour of inspection ; tracking device ; trajectory ; Transamerica Pyramid ; transmission ; transparent aluminum ; transporter ; transporter beam ; transporter power ; trash can ; travel pod ; travel pod 05 ; tricorder ; tricycle ; truth ; toucan ; Toyota Corolla ; unicorn ; universal constant ; underground storage system ; United States Government ; United States Marine Corps ; United States Navy ; United States of America ; Universal Peace and Hello ; universe ; University of California, Berkeley ; Universal Studios ; uranium ; Valvoline ; value ; variable ; violation ; visit ; visor ; Volkswagen Beetle ; Volkswagen Rabbit ; vote ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet); Vulcan language ; Vulcan nerve pinch ; Vulcan salute ; walker ; wall ; warm-blooded ; warp drive regulator ; warp speed ; Washington, DC ; water ; weapons system ; " wee "; Weintraub ; Wendy's ; west ; West Coast ; whale ; whale hunter ; whale song ; " Whales Weep Not! "; whale tank ; whaling ; whaling ship ; whiteboard ; White Rose ; White GMC Xpeditor ; Winchell's Donut House ; Winchester Model 1200 ; Wonderful World of Whales, The ; Wonderland ; word ; year ; yellow alert ; Yellow Pages ; Yerba Buena Island ; Yorktown , USS ; Yorktown chief engineer ; zebra ; Zober, Sandi

Other references [ ]

Memory test: 1987 ; anti-graviton ; anti-neutron ; bioengineering ; Cambridge ; carrot ; checkmate ; Constitution -class ; electron configuration ; gadolinium ; Kiri-kin-tha ; Kiri-kin-tha's First Law of Metaphysics ; Klendth ; Klingon mummification glyph ; knight ; Loonkerian outpost ; New York Times ; magazine ; magnetic envelope ; Massachusetts ; matron ; metaphysics ; molecular formula ; object ; pawn ; queen ; rook ; sensor ; sine wave ; three-dimensional chess ; toroidal space-time distortion ; T'Plana-Hath ; universal atmospheric element compensator ; Vulcan philosophy ; white ; yominum sulfide

Phylum search mode : Alopex lagopus ; amphibian ; armadillo ; Beardius baerdi ; Cancer productus ; cattle ; Cervus elaphus ; Chama arcana ; chameleon ; Ciona intestinal ; Coleonyx brevis ; Crisia occidental ; crocodile ; Dasypus novem ; feline ; flatworm ; insect ; kangaroo ; lamprey ; lion ; Martes pennanti ; Megaptera novaeangliae ; moth ; Myotis volans ; nautilus ; Orcinus orca ; Ovis dalli ; Physeter macro ; Plethodon dunni ; Podiceps auritus ; Sciurus griseus ; Sebastes mustinus ; trilobite ; Tursiops tancts ; virus ; Vulpes velox ; Ziphius cavitro

MUNI system map : Albany ; Alcatraz ; Angel Island ; Bay Farm Island ; Belmont ; Berkeley ; Brisbane ; Brooks Island ; Burlingame ; Daly City ; East Richmond ; El Cerrito ; Foster City ; Hillsborough ; Kensington ; Millbrae ; Oakland ; Oakland Army Base ; Oakland Supply Depot ; Piedmont ; Richmond ; Richmond-San Rafael Bridge ; San Bruno ; San Francisco State Fish and Game Refuge ; San Mateo ; Tiburon

San Francisco locations : 101 California Street ; 123 Mission Street ; 30-Stockton ; 345 California Center ; 44 Montgomery ; 50 Fremont Center ; 580 California Street ; 601 California Street ; 650 California Street ; Baker Beach ; Bank of America Center ; Bathhouse Building ; Bay Street ; Embarcadero Center ; Fort Mason ; Fort Point ; Gateway, The ; Greenwich Street ; Holiday Inn Chinatown ; Hoyt Street ; Hyatt Regency San Francisco ; Marina Green ; Mason Street ; Mount Davidson ; Mount Sutro ; One Maritime Plaza ; One Market Plaza ; One Sansome Street ; Sentinel Building ; Stockton Street ; Sutro Tower ; Treasure Island ; Twin Peaks ; Van Ness Avenue ; Yerba Buena Island

Unreferenced material [ ]

A-13 ; Adams ; Argus ; Bandit V ; bio-sterilization capsule ; Clampett ; Com Sat 4 ; Com Sat 12 ; Delta V ; dirt bike ; dyslexia ; Engineering Control ; four dimensional time gate ; great flood ; hiber-sedative ; Intrepid , USS ; Jesus ; Joe ; K-12 ; Leaning Tower, The ; Lee ; maternity leave ; Mona Lisa ; Noah's Ark ; parallex matter echo ; Pleadian Quadrant 5 ; Pleadian Quadrant 7 ; Quadrant 12-340 ; Reon VII ; rescue shuttle ; Rigel ; Rigel IV ; Rigel V ; San Francisco Bay Area ; Sector 15 ; Seron, Ralph ; shore patrol ; Shres ; Sphinx, The ; Sulu, Akira ; Vegan D virus ; warp drive regulator ; Zanxthkolt Dynasty

Related topics [ ]

alternate timeline ; Riverside ; Starfleet ranks ; time travel

External links [ ]

• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at StarTrek.com
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at Wikipedia
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home screenplay  at Star Trek Minutiae
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home screenplay at CCDump.org
• Filming locations at FilmInAmerica.com
• " Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Using a Klingon ship, the crew of the Enterprise returns to 1980s Earth to retrieve two whales that may save the planet from destruction in their own era.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, star trek iv: the voyage home.

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When they finished writing the script for "Star Trek IV," they must have had a lot of silly grins on their faces. This is easily the most absurd of the " Star Trek " stories - and yet, oddly enough, it is also the best, the funniest and the most enjoyable in simple human terms. I'm relieved that nothing like restraint or common sense stood in their way.

The movie opens with some leftover business from the previous movie, including the Klingon ambassador's protests before the Federation Council. These scenes have very little to do with the rest of the movie, and yet they provide a certain reassurance (like James Bond's ritual flirtation with Miss Moneypenny) that the series remembers it has a history.

The crew of the Starship Enterprise is still marooned on a faraway planet with the Klingon starship they commandeered in " Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ." They vote to return home aboard the alien vessel, but on the way they encounter a strange deep-space probe. It is sending out signals in an unknown language which, when deciphered, turns out to be the song of the humpback whale.

It's at about this point that the script conferences must have really taken off. See if you can follow this: The Enterprise crew determines that the probe is zeroing in on Earth, and that if no humpback songs are picked up in response, the planet may well be destroyed. Therefore, the crew's mission becomes clear: Because humpback whales are extinct in the 23rd century, they must journey back through time to the 20th century, obtain some humpback whales, and return with them to the future - thus saving Earth. After they thought up this notion, I hope the writers lit up cigars.

No matter how unlikely the story is, it supplies what is probably the best of the "Star Trek" movies so far, directed with calm professionalism by Leonard Nimoy . What happens is that the Enterprise crew land their Klingon starship in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, surround it with an invisibility shield, and fan out through the Bay area looking for humpback whales and a ready source of cheap nuclear power.

What makes their search entertaining is that we already know the crew members so well. The cast's easy interaction is unique among movies, because it hasn't been learned in a few weeks of rehearsal or shooting; this is the 20th anniversary of "Star Trek," and most of these actors have been working together for most of their professional lives. These characters know one another.

An example: Captain Kirk ( William Shatner ) and Mr. Spock (Nimoy) visit a Sea World-type operation, where two humpback whales are held in captivity. Catherine Hicks , as the marine biologist in charge, plans to release the whales, and the Enterprise crew need to learn her plans so they can recapture the whales and transport them into the future.

Naturally, this requires the two men to ask Hicks out to dinner.

She asks if they like Italian food, and Kirk and Spock do a delightful little verbal ballet based on the running gag that Spock, as a Vulcan, cannot tell a lie. Find another space opera in which verbal counterpoint creates humor.

The plots of the previous "Star Trek" movies have centered around dramatic villains, such as Khan, the dreaded genius played by Ricardo Montalban in " Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ." This time, the villains are faceless: the international hunters who continue to pursue and massacre whales despite clear indications they will drive these noble mammals from the Earth. "To hunt a race to extinction is not logical," Spock calmly observes, but we see shocking footage of whalers doing just that.

Instead of providing a single human villain as counterpoint, "Star Trek IV" provides a heroine, in Hicks. She obviously is moved by the plight of the whales, and although at first she understandably doubts Kirk's story that he comes from the 23rd century, eventually she enlists in the cause and even insists on returning to the future with them, because of course, without humpback whales, the 23rd century also lacks humpback whale experts.

There are some major action sequences in the movie, but they aren't the high points; the "Star Trek" saga has always depended more on human interaction and thoughtful, cause-oriented plots. What happens in San Francisco is much more interesting than what happens in outer space, and this movie, which might seem to have an unlikely and ungainly plot, is actually the most elegant and satisfying "Star Trek" film so far.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

119 minutes

William Shatner as Adm. Kirk

Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock

Deforest Kelley as McCoy

Brock Peters as Federation President Robt. Ellenstein Cartwright

Catherine Hicks as Gillian Taylor

John Schuck as Klingon Ambassador

Jane Wyatt as Spock's Mother

Screenplay by

• Peter Krikes
• Steve Meerson
• Nicholas Meyer

Photographed by

• Don Peterman

Produced by

• Harve Bennett
• Leonard Rosenman

Directed by

• Leonard Nimoy

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, A Fan’s Film Review

As with the previous film, my first impression of it began with my dad’s description over the phone. (He was still stationed at Tydall AFB in Florida. My brother and I were at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho for what would be my step-dads last assignment before retiring from the Air Force.) His description didn’t mention anything about humpback whales, only that our heroes become stranded in 1986 San Francisco in their commandeered Klingon Bird of Prey, which our heroes have dubbed the H.M.S. Bounty (a homage to our heroes’ similarities to the crew on Mutiny on the Bounty) The Bounty’s power levels are dropping and the only way our heroes can get back to their own time is to steal nuclear power photons from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise.

Sounded pretty cool to me. Of course, like everyone else, I was wondering what would become of the former Enterprise crew in the wake of The Search for Spock . Would they be exonerated somehow?

Fortunately, writers Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer (who didn’t want to be involved in Spock’s resurrection but obviously didn’t mind returning to the Star Trek fold once Spock was back) and director Leonard Nimoy were thinking not only of this, but also of providing Star Trek fans with a broader spectrum of colors and tones to the Star Trek movies in general. The last two films were filled with wonderful operatic action, drama, and themes, but Nimoy was foresighted enough to realize that to continue on with more of the same a third time would be pushing it. Fortunately, Nimoy had a much more free reign this time. Michael Eisner, Paramount’s studio head, was immensely pleased with the performance of The Search for Spock and told Nimoy, “Leonard, the training wheels are off! We want YOUR Star Trek! Give us your vision!”

Needless to say, this was music to Nimoy’s unpointed human ears. He along with Bennett and Associate Producer Ralph Winter mandated that a lighthearted adventure without a villain would be the way to go this time. Nimoy really wanted to do a theme about the earth’s ecology where the crew would return home to discover that Earth was facing a problem due to humanity’s short-sightedness in the past. For a while, he was thinking that there might be a plant that would be extinct in the 23rd Century that could be found in our present, but they could not come up with a satisfactory adventure with that.

When someone brought to Nimoy’s attention the plight of the whales, particularly humpbacks, they had found their niche. Kirk and company would travel through time utilizing the same time speed breakaway slingshot manoeuvre they had used in “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” and bring two humpback whales back with them to communicate with an alien probe whose communication would be (inadvertently) dangerous to humans but with whom the whales could communicate.

The story presented all kinds of great opportunities: humor that flowed naturally from the characters in their ‘fish out of water’ situation (Kirk’s “Double dumb ass on you” line still makes me chuckle to this day), a new love interest for Kirk in the person of Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), the entire cast once again being brilliantly utilized to where no one’s role in uncritical to the mission, and the wonderfully inspired Greenpeace scene where the whaling ship’s harpoon bounces off of the cloaked Bounty. When the ship de-cloaks (coincidentally, our heroes just happen to be flying in a green-coloured ship), the whalers tuck tail between their legs and run. It’s a wonderful climax that had audiences, fan and non-fan alike, cheering. But for those of us who are fans, it is our crew’s exoneration, Kirk’s demotion back to Captain (having realized his mistake in accepting promotion before) and the unveiling of the new U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A that is the real payoff. Upon seeing her, Kirk then tells his smiling crew, “My friends…we’ve come home.” Just as the previous film gave us Spock back, this film gives us back the greatest spaceship of all time.

Although the studio was no longer breathing down Nimoy’s neck, making The Voyage Home would still not be an easy task. The ante had been increased both with a story that demanded weeks of location shooting in San Francisco (the first Star Trek film to have any significant outdoor location shooting) and the fact that Nimoy would have to simultaneously deal with a logistically more difficult shoot than TSFS and act full time as Spock. In the interview/documentary “Mind-Meld” , Nimoy described to William Shatner (and us) that this was a very painful time for him.

Although it was quite rewarding in the end, Nimoy had apparently taken some of his frustrations during this period on both the cast and Harve Bennett, straining his relationship with Bennett to the point where Shatner would have to give him a good verbal shoulder-rub to get him to agree to line produce Star Trek V later down the road. How much this had to do with why Nimoy didn’t direct another major feature after Three Men and a Baby is anyone’s guess, but we are glad that he was able to stick it out and give us a feel-good film that brought the “Genesis Trilogy” started in The Wrath of Khan to a tremendous and uplifting conclusion.

While the mainstream appeal of The Voyage Home cannot be denied, I ironically find myself actually watching this film the least of all of them. Perhaps this is because of the lack of spaceship action, the fact that it takes place in contemporary American society (which we normally watch Star Trek escape from), or James Horner’s absence in the music (although Leonard Rosenman’s score would work just fine thanks to the addition of Alexander Courage’s fanfare). Every time I do watch it though, I always find myself smiling and remembering how good it is. It may not be the spectacle for me that The Search for Spock was, but it stands out as proof that ILM does not need the black backdrop of space to make a spaceship look real.

I give Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home an 8 on the 1-to-10 scale. It is certainly a great Star Trek film, but regardless of what the box-office numbers say, I feel that there are better ones.

Star Trek IV would be the last entry in the movie-only era of the 1980’s. Ten months later, its success would lead to the triumphant return of Star Trek to television with Star Trek: The Next Generation , boldly taking the franchise into the next 18 years.

» Video media: YouTube (Videos link directly to sources) Images: CBS/Paramount, “Special Thanks” to David Klawitter, (Featured Image and Poster Art are shown under exclusive rights granted by the artist)

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Cast & crew.

William Shatner

Admiral/Captain James T. Kirk

Catherine Hicks

Dr. Gillian Taylor

Leonard Nimoy

Captain Spock

DeForest Kelley

Commander Leonard H. McCoy, M.D.

James Doohan

Buoyant, farcical time-travel Enterprise escapade.

• Average 7.1

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Trailer 1

Where to watch star trek iv: the voyage home.

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Den of Geek

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – revisiting the movie

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy lead the Star Trek crew on a quest to rescue some whales. Yep, it's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home...

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Star Trek IV remains the oddity of the Trek films. There’s no real villain for large swathes of the film, there’s no Enterprise, and the emphasis is squarely on comedy. Yes, a Star Trek comedy. Three words that ordinarily send shivers down the spine of any Trek fan and conjure up images of Ferengis in drag and sodding Neelix getting everyone killed. But let us not forget that this is William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy we’re talking about here. Nimoy in particular played Spock as deadpan, rather than stoic, so perhaps a fish out of water comedy is the right way to go.

That’s not why everyone remembers it though. No, The Voyage Home will forever be the one where they go to the 80s to get some whales.

The story conception began in the same vein as all the even numbered films – the producers, writers and director (in this case a returning Leonard Nimoy) gathered around a table and decided to distill the successful elements of the previous films and shed the baggage.

See also: Looking back at Star Trek: The Motion Picture Looking back at Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Looking back at Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

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In a remarkable display of movie making common sense, Paramount not only asked Nimoy back for another crack of the megaphone, but even said to him ‘we want your vision’, and allowed him to oversee this distillation free of meddling. This meant that the pervading gloom of  Star Trek III was out the window immediately, but the focus on character from  Star Trek II and  Star Trek III remained. The heavy sci-fi themes of life, death and revenge across time were gone, to be replaced with a gentle environmental theme that was considered to be ‘on message’.

Naturally, this resulted in a story where the Enterprise has to travel back in time because everyone in the 23rd Century is dying of an ebola like disease. It’s a light-hearted movie that effectively begins with trillions of people coughing up their own pancreas.

Eventual rewrites steered the story towards something more familiar, with modern day (well, 80s) San Francisco being the main hub of the film, and a pair of humpback whales being the target. Nimoy felt their song added mystery, which remained in the final film as the whales’ way of telling a cylinder to stop boiling the oceans in the future. I realise that by putting it that way I’m making the film sound weirder than it actually is. Although since the moral of this story happens to be ‘don’t needlessly kill animals because one day it might turn out angry aliens put them here deliberately and they’ll make it rain on you’, maybe I’m not giving the writers enough credit. 

With Nicholas Meyer on board to actually make something saleable, Nimoy on board to get the best from the characters, and even Paramount on board to not needlessly meddle, the only thing left was the cast.

William Shatner in particular had pay demands that made some at Paramount consider continuing Trek as a TV show again rather than a film series. In the end Shatner (and Nimoy) agreed a new deal worth a comparatively low $2.5 million, but that figure was enough for Paramount to go for the cheap option, and so work began on a new series featuring new and cheaper actors. Thus, The Voyage Home accidentally created Star Trek: The Next Generation . The other bridge crew were of course on board, but the 1986 San Francisco setting meant there was an opportunity to bring on board a big star name to promote the film to a wider audience. This tied nicely in with Shatner’s (alleged) demands that he be given a love interest to seduce and “teach about this Earth thing you call making love”, like in [insert any original Trek episode here].

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Paramount’s first choice for Kirk’s love interest was Eddie Murphy. However, Murphy wasn’t interested in playing an expy of himself and wanted to play a starfleet officer or an alien, and turned down the role. And to think that in 1986 we could have seen Trek ’s first interracial gay time travelling sex scene. Ah well, we can only hope. Interesting note: Eddie Murphy also turned down Ghostbusters . Just think, we could have had a Ghostbusters / Trek crossover. Anyway, the part was rewritten for Catherine Hicks, meaning her two most famous roles have been alongside captains of the Enterprise.

The last step was to bridge the film to the wider Star Trek storyline. After III the crew were trapped on Vulcan, fugitives for stealing (and then blowing up) the Enterprise, but going back to Earth would require facing punishment. Harve Bennett wrote the first and final sections dealing with this to form something of a trilogy, and also to provide a framing device for the time travel story which makes up the meat of the film. It’s actually quite surprising how quickly the dangling threads from Wrath and Search are dealt with, yet it never comes across as a cheat. The Klingons want Kirk because of Genesis, Starfleet wants him to stand trial for stealing the Enterprise, and Kirk is quite willing to hand himself in and face the music. Starfleet tells the Klingons to Klingoff (setting up the events of Star Trek VI ), and then give Kirk a slap on the wrist demotion and issue him with another Enterprise. This is the civilised 23rd century after all, no eye for an eye here.

Of course, if I were in charge of starfleet I would have ordered him to be burned at the stake, but this is The Voyage Home we’re talking about, where there the rule was ‘no dying, no fighting, no shooting, no photon torpedoes, no phaser blasts, no stereotypical bad guy’.

There is one oft-cited criticism in all this though, and it is one that would be levelled at other even numbered films – The Voyage Home is Trek- lite. This was deliberate, and even played up in the marketing – in this country, the official title is The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV , designed to give a wider audience. As such, much of the philosophy that defines Trek is absent. The one big question posed, when McCoy asks Spock to describe death, is brushed off with a glib (although unnervingly deep) remark that there is no frame of reference that could make the conversation make sense. I have to admit, this lack of a big idea is what put me off the film for a long time, although my opinion has softened over the years. I’m as conflicted as the film is about its message.

I get that the theme is supposed to be ‘be careful with nature because you won’t know how valuable it is until it’s gone’, but by having the whole time travelling whale probe thing, you could easily interpret the theme as ‘don’t worry about the environment, because sufficiently advanced technology can overcome anything’. After all, the probe didn’t seem to particularly care about keeping the whales alive, just in making sure it had enough technology to punish anyone who killed them. And in the end it didn’t even matter, because a bunch of criminals in a stolen spaceship just used that technology to make everything better. Is that really the message we’re supposed to take away? No. The fact that I do take this away means that, as philosophical Trek goes, this one has problems. There’s only so far you can water down a message.

I do have another beef with this film, and much bigger than any philosophical worries (after all, no one watches an 80s time travel comedy because the library was out of Kant) – I think a lot of 80s comedies were crap. Not all comedies, but the broad appeal, PG rated comedies generally starring Steve Guttenberg. The kind that didn’t really have any jokes in but were somehow supposed to be funny.

Star Trek IV  is a film that pretty much has no jokes. There’s setup, there’s characters playing off each other, but there’s no payoff. Just situations that might make you smile, and the occasional Spock one liner. Nimoy would go on to direct Three Men And A Baby , a film I’m certainly ambivalent about. It’s funny because they don’t know how to take care of a baby! I think there was a moustache involved. The point is, I can’t remember much about it, because it’s so insubstantial. And I don’t enjoy those films. Unless there’s some sort of edge, some interesting hook, I can’t get excited.

Take Short Circuit . First film, Steve Guttenberg teaches a robot to tell bad jokes. Hmmm. The second? Childlike robot gets involved with a criminal gang and a con artist, and then gets brutally hacked to death. That kind of stuff gets my interest. I think I might need help.

Point is, I was never the biggest fan of  Star Trek IV – a favourite amongst the series for many – but that’s mostly because I don’t like this sub genre. Yet if this weren’t a Trek film, I’d probably think much better of it. I need to explain that otherwise you’ll wonder why I’m being such a double dumbass.

Onto the film in more detail, then.

It begins with a bombastic transporter effect as the title beams in, and then descends into quite possibly Trek ’s worst theme tune (and I’m including Faith Of The Heart in that). To be fair, it does sound like a rejected score for a 70s sitcom. It also sounds like someone’s getting married. Stop toying with me, film, I already know that Shatner and Murphy don’t get it on. It doesn’t even sound like any of the other films, even in a series with little musical continuity. It also liberally borrows from Rosenman’s other works, including Ralph Bakshi’s Lord Of The Rings . And to think, only two films ago people were borrowing Star Trek music, not the other way around. Probably should say something nice. Okay, I like the font.

The opening itself, however, is much more effective. For all I’m not the fan many are of the comedy bits, the sci-fi stuff is great. The Cetacean probe is a damn odd piece of design – a giant, screaming pipe armed with a testicle that turns the lights off. There are also the Klingons. While the whole trial thing is a way of tying up Star Trek III ’s loose ends, it also provides a neat backdrop for non-fans. Klingons hate Kirk because of stealing their ship, Kirk hates Klingons because they murdered his son, Vulcans are emotionless, and there’s no Enterprise because that maniac Kirk blew it up (as shown by Star Trek III itself being played to the jury).

Finally, there’s Spock. He doesn’t feel emotions, but he’s half human so he should. We are told this at great length, presumably because otherwise the non-Trekkies would get confused about the pointy eared dude in a dressing gown. 

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So there’s the setup. Bad things are happening on Earth, Kirk et al are conveniently the only ones who can help because they start the film on Vulcan, and Spock isn’t quite right in the head yet having spent much of the last few months stuck in the head of a guy who hates him. It’s good: the setup is quite clever in bringing all the pieces together. The meat of the film though? Let’s see…

Good: That time travel sequence makes me wonder if Nimoy really did do a little too much LDS. It makes the stargate sequence from 2001 seem accessible.

Bad: Learning to swear like only a Trekkie can. Don’t try and fool me into thinking Kirk doesn’t know how to use colourful metaphors. Get him in bed and I bet he swears like a ginned up 50 year old dock worker.

Good: The crew are endearingly awkward.

Bad: The heavy handed ‘killing whales is bad’ bit. Look, I know killing whales is bad, which is why I have only eaten whale a few times. Tastes like rabbit.

Good: Kirk creates a time paradox to make money. Screw you universe.

Bad: Kirk is still dressed as a bad lampshade

Good: Spock is the hell mentally ill.

Bad: Chekov doesn’t realise he nearly starts World War III, idiot. I don’t care if he can’t say ‘nuclear vessels’, he can’t even say ‘diplomatic incident’. The whole subplot is daft. They need to rekerfooble the dilithium crystals and the solution is “high energy photons”. In other words, x-rays and gamma rays. Just hold the thing up to the sun!

Good: The glue on Shatner’s toupee is incredible. Just look at it ‘naturally’ blowing in the wind.

Bad: Transparent aluminium can hold a whale tank but can’t withstand rain? The future is an idiot. And if Scotty can make the tank with acrylic, why doesn’t he just use that? Why does he take the formula for transparent aluminium to a plastics manufacturer? Surely somewhere that actually deals with aluminium would be better? 80s comedies – sacrificing plausibility for laughs, then not bothering with the laughs.

Good: Sulu seduces a pilot. No one can resist that man.

After these hijinks, it’s time to go back to the future. Whales released, everyone a bit damp, probe sods off (and is never mentioned ever again), Kirk is given a slap on the wrist demotion and he gets another Enterprise to blow up. Which is a bit of a shame, because as a trilogy, the end is a let down. After all the crew have been through, you’d expect they’d be in a different place at the end. That there would be some sort of growth. But no, by the end they’re back on the Enterprise, back exploring the galaxy, and not a single one has changed. In fact the only character development in The Voyage Home is Spock, and all that serves is to turn him back into the Spock we know. Ultimately, it’s a bit of fluff, where nothing really matters and nothing really changes.

Entertaining fluff? Sure. But fluff? Yes.

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Alex Carter

Screen Rant

Star trek’s origin movie could be the second to break tradition.

The upcoming Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie could be the next to break a Star Trek movie tradition that only one other film has broken.

• Paramount confirmed Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie by director Toby Haynes will release in 2025.
• The film may not focus on Starship Enterprise as it's set decades before J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009).
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the only Star Trek movie that isn't set aboard the USS Enterprise.

The upcoming Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie could do something only one other Star Trek movie has done. At Cinema Con 2024, Paramount Studios confirmed the Star Trek origin film that had previously been rumored, and revealed that it was slated for a 2025 release. Not to be confused with Star Trek 4 , the presumed sequel to 2016's Star Trek Beyond , the Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie will take place decades before J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek film . Toby Haynes, who directed Black Mirror's Star Trek- inspired episode, "USS Callister," will direct the film, based on a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith.

J.J. Abrams will reportedly be a producer on Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie , and the story will be set within the alternate Kelvin timeline established in Abrams' prior Star Trek films. Almost no information has been revealed about the plot or cast of the movie, or exactly where it will fit within the Star Trek timeline. With the resurgence of Star Trek television on Paramount+, the studio seems ready to bring the franchise back to the big screen. One thing nearly every Star Trek film has had in common is that they focus on the adventures of the Starship Enterprise, but Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie could be about another ship entirely.

Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

Star trek’s origin movie may not be about the starship enterprise, star trek iv: the voyage home is the only other trek movie not set on the uss enterprise..

Star Trek 2009 established the alternate Kelvin timeline branched off from Star Trek's Prime timeline in 2233 when the Romulan mining ship Narada emerged from the future. The Captain of the Narada, Nero (Eric Bana), blamed the destruction of Romulus on the Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the United Federation of Planets. When Nero destroyed the USS Kelvin, whose First Officer was Lt. George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) , this event altered the future, as well as the life of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), and created a new timeline. The USS Enterprise that would become Captain Kirk's was not launched until 2258 in this timeline, meaning the Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie might not feature the iconic Starship Enterprise at all.

Noah Hawley's canceled Star Trek movie was reportedly also to feature a different crew and ship besides the USS Enterprise.

Currently, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the only Star Trek film that does not heavily feature the USS Enterprise, as it had been destroyed in the previous film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew use a commandeered Klingon Bird-of-Prey dubbed the HMS Bounty to travel back in time in The Voyage Home , but the new USS Enterprise-A is commissioned at the end of the film. At this point, the Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie could feature any number of ships that have been referenced in various Star Trek projects, or it could feature a completely new ship and crew. Then again, the next Star Trek theatrical feature film could end up featuring a starship named Enterprise, after all.

Could Captain Archer’s NX-01 Enterprise Appear In Star Trek’s Origin Movie?

How far back in time will the untitled star trek origin movie go.

The success of Star Trek: Picard season 3 made it clear that many viewers love to see returning characters and callbacks to previous Star Trek projects, which could influence the Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie. If the film goes far enough back in the timeline, it could depict the original Enterprise NX-01 commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula). The NX-01 launched in 2151, paving the way for what would become the United Federation of Planets. It's unclear (and perhaps even unlikely) that the Star Trek origin film would go this far back in time, but with time travel, flashbacks, and alternate timelines, anything is possible.

Admiral Archer and callbacks to Star Trek: Enterprise have been referenced in J.J. Abrams ' Star Trek movies.

Paramount recently revealed that Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Section 31 film will be set in Star Trek's "lost era" before Star Trek: The Next Generation , and the studio might want to explore other eras within the Trek timeline that have yet to be heavily featured. The Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie could depict the time just before or after Nero arrived from the future, or it could shift its focus to an era that has not even been considered. Either way, it remains to be seen if the Star Trek origin movie will become only the second Trek film that's not about the Starship Enterprise.

Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, & Star Trek Beyond are available to stream on Paramount+.

William Shatner is beaming in to see the 2024 total solar eclipse from Indiana (video)

Captain Kirk got philosophical when speaking about the upcoming solar eclipse, saying it's not worth worrying about clouds.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Of the many cities and small towns along the April 8 solar eclipse's path of totality, Capt. Kirk is only beaming down to one. Bloomington, Indiana, will play host to the original "Star Trek" captain, William Shatner.

Indiana University (IU) is marking the April 8 solar eclipse with the Hoosier Cosmic Celebration, a performance-packed event at IU's Memorial Stadium where some of the expected 300,000 visitors to Bloomington will watch the highly anticipated celestial alignment.

Shatner will be joined on the afternoon of April 8 by performers from IU's musical theatre and dance programs, as well as an appearance by retired NASA astronaut Mae Jemison and a concert by Janelle Monáe. As star-studded as the Cosmic Celebration is, Shatner is playing a critical role in the big day. The 93-year-old " Star Trek " actor and philanthropist will be performing a spoken word piece as part of the celebration's program, with his last words ending just as totality is beginning.

Related: Why I’m staying home for the April 8 solar eclipse

He spoke with Space.com and other local Indiana media ahead of his upcoming Indiana trip, and he noted the possibility of rain or clouds getting in the way of experiencing something wonderful.

What if the weather clouds out your solar eclipse?

William Shatner: It's the Sword of Damocles . It's the animal outside the door. And nobody talks about it because it's perfectly probable that there will be an enormous thunderstorm the instant the sun is eclipsed. It's also perfectly possible that it will be a clear, bright, lovely, warm spring day, and we will all enjoy the benefits of the Hoosier weather. What happens if it's cloudy? I don't know. It's like looking into the pit of a volcano saying, "What do we do about that thing?" And it's nothing can be done. There's nothing can be done."

Shatner spoke at length about the wonders of getting to see something as special as a total solar eclipse. It is, after all, a complete coincidence that the sun and moon appear relatively the same size in the sky.

That's not the case on many other worlds. For instance, scientists have witnessed Mars' tiny moon Phobos transiting the sun , as seen by the Curiosity rover from the surface of the planet, but the relative size of the moon and sun in the Martian sky don't create the same totality phenomenon seen during solar eclipses on Earth.

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What does this solar eclipse mean to you?

Shatner: One of the curses, and one of the benefits of humanity is our curiosity. And we'll never overcome that curiosity. "What's there? Why is it hiding?" I mean, even this eclipse, "How did it happen? Oh, you mean a great big piece of debris...brushed up against Earth, causing it to scoop out an amount of Earth to make the moon?" How do we know that, and how do we do that? How did we see it? I mean, the mystery of the beauty of our existence — to examine that is a voyage we all have to take...

To me, the magic of the eclipse, the extraordinary events it all took in the heavenly bodies to cause this eclipse, should make us ponder the mystery of existence, of our own existence, of the existence of everything else and how unified everything is...

The eclipse should bring about all of us thinking about the mystery of existence. And the beauty of the fact that we live and are able to observe it from this little rocky outpost called Earth, and how valuable that is to keep alive, to keep healthy, because that's why we are alive. So this event, the eclipse, should bring about a whole manifestation of the mystery of everything...

It's going to be so much fun-filled, with some of the answers to the mysteries and some of the mysteries posed as questions. You'll have a great time.

—  Total solar eclipse April 8, 2024: What you'll see if you're outside the path of totality

—  These 15 solar eclipse beers were brewed to sip in the path of totality

—  What time is the total solar eclipse on April 8?

The total solar eclipse on April 8 will sweep across the United States from Texas to Maine, passing through Indiana around 3 p.m. EDT, with Bloomington experiencing 4 minutes and 2 seconds of totality between 3:04:50 p.m. EDT and 3:08:53 p.m. EDT. The forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies in Bloomington on April 8, but, like the captain said, "There's nothing can be done."

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Josh Dinner is Space.com's Content Manager. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016. Josh has covered the evolution of NASA's commercial spaceflight partnerships, from early Dragon and Cygnus cargo missions to the ongoing development and launches of crewed missions from the Space Coast, as well as NASA science missions and more. He also enjoys building 1:144 scale models of rockets and human-flown spacecraft. Find some of Josh's launch photography on Instagram and his website , and follow him on Twitter , where he mostly posts in haiku.

No, you didn't see a solar flare during the total eclipse — but you may have seen something just as special

My formal 2024 solar eclipse apology

ULA chronicles the rise of Vulcan rocket in new employee-drawn comic book

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Star Trek Blu-Ray Box Sets Receive Steep Discounts, Come With Free Comic Books

By Grabthar's Hammer, what a savings.

By Darryn Bonthuys on April 12, 2024 at 7:08AM PDT

With decades of stories, series, and movies under its belt, it's never a bad time to check out the Star Trek franchise. Especially when you can build a sizable collection thanks to these Amazon deals! Whether you're interested in the original series starring William Shatner as James T. Kirk or you want to explore more recent shows like the Picard spin-off, there's plenty to look at here. As an added bonus, spending $25 or more on these deals will earn you three free Star Trek digital comics to read.

• Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection -- $76 ($ 126 )
• Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete Series - Steelbook Blu-ray -- $45 ($ 70 )
• Star Trek: Picard - The Complete Series -- $48 ($ 70 )
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Complete Series -- $111 ($ 161 )
• Star Trek: Enterprise: The Complete Series -- $58 ($ 91 )
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Series -- $60 ($ 112 )
• Star Trek: Voyager: The Complete Series (DVD) -- $63 ($ 112 )

Kicking things off is Star Trek: The Original Series . This fancy steelbook collection contains almost 69 hours of Star Trek episodes featuring Shatner and the rest of his crew--Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig, George Takei, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, and James Doohan--as they explored the cosmos, and it's still a charming showcase of classic sci-fi.

The original TV series was followed by several movies. The quality might drastically differ between films, but overall, these are still some fantastic pieces of cinema with more highs than lows. They've all been bundled together into a sharp six-movie bundle on Blu-ray , remastered in 4K, and stacked with an impressive amount of extra behind-the-scenes content. From The Wrath of Khan to The Voyage Home, this is a must-have for Star Trek fans.

Moving forward, the '80s and '90s saw a Star Trek renaissance with the release of shows like The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager . Each Star Trek show ran for multiple seasons and took the franchise in bold new directions under the command of their respective captains. Star Trek: Enterprise is the black sheep of the family, as this series chronicled the voyages of the first Enterprise starship across four seasons. It's not as bad as it's made out to be, and if you can ignore the wildly out-of-place country and western opening theme for each episode, it's a surprising prequel series with plenty of enjoyable stories to tell.

Lastly, you can catch up with Jean-Luc Picard in his self-titled spin-off series . Set many years after Star Trek: The Next Generation, this show follows the former Starfleet admiral as he foils plots threatening the stability of the galaxy, explores a dark future timeline thanks to the machinations of Q, and crosses paths with an old foe in the final season. Like other recent Star Trek series, Picard is a high-budget sci-fi show full of surprise cameos and top-notch special effects.

Amazon also has deals on several other Star Trek shows , like the delightfully funny Lower Decks, TNG movies, and Discovery.

In case you were wondering about Grabthar's Hammer, the phrase comes from Galaxy Quest , the 1999 parody flick with a star-studded cast that has achieved cult status over the years.

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Tv review: 'star trek: discovery' ends its disappointing voyage.

I have a soft spot for the original "Star Trek" series and believe "The Wrath of Khan" is a genuine classic. "Strange New Worlds," which debuted in 2022, is one of the best adventures in the franchise's history. But I'm no Trekkie. My attempts at a Vulcan salute would probably be interpreted as a gang sign.

So maybe a die-hard fan could explain to me why "Star Trek: Discovery" was such a hit. The series, which starts streaming its fifth and final season Thursday on Paramount+, never tries to wrestle the moral dilemmas with the same gusto that its predecessors did. Capt. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) takes her cues from James Bond instead of James Kirk, never missing an opportunity to deliver a quip. There's more onboard romance on a "Love Boat" cruise. And the plot in the final episodes seems like a rip-off from "The Avengers," with the rather bland crew racing across the galaxy to locate puzzle pieces.

There are some clever references to past series during these last 10 episodes, but they're reminders that "Discovery" was never in their league. Let's hope the next "Trek" mission is a little more enterprising.

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Neal Justin covers the entertainment world, primarily TV and radio. He also reviews stand-up comedy. Justin is the founder of JCamp, a non-profit program for high-school journalists, and works on many fronts to further diversity in newsrooms.

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How Star Trek: Discovery's Trill Story Connects to Dax on Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Discovery returned to the Trill home world in Season 5 for a mission with a symbiont host that connects to Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine.

• Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 deepens connections through Trill lore and rituals, forging ties with past series like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• The zhian'tara ritual was introduced in Deep Space Nine, which allows interactions between host personalities and adds layers to character development.
• Adira's unique bonding experience with a Trill symbiont showcases new ways of connection, expanding the Trill's lore in Discovery.

The following contains spoilers from Star Trek: Discovery , Season 5, Episode 3, "Jinaal," now streaming on Paramount+ .

When Star Trek: Discovery first started its mission to bring Gene Roddenberry's universe back to television, producers made sure the series stood apart from the previous series. However, by Season 5, Discovery is embracing its Star Trek roots more than ever before. The third episode of the final season brings the USS Discovery crew to the Trill home world for a ritual that was first introduced on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . In Season 3, the USS Discovery jumped forward in time (nearly a thousand years), and they discovered a galaxy that was almost unrecognizable to them. Decimated by "the Burn," warp drive travel was all but a thing of the past.

Starfleet officers and vessels were flung across the galaxy and separated from each other by millions of billions of miles. The spore drive -- the USS Discovery's unique propulsion method -- changed all that. Along the way, they picked up Adira Tal, a human who was bonded with a Trill symbiont after their partner, Gray, died. This reintroduced the symbiotic species into Star Trek and made the Trill home world and its unique brand of sci-fi mysticism a big part of the series. As Captain Michael Burnham hunts for clues to the mysterious and powerful technology sought by Starfleet, she and Dr. Hugh Culber have to participate in a ritual created for Deep Space Nine : the zhian'tara.

Discovery Has Always Been Steeped in Star Trek History and Connections

Star trek: discovery's alex kurtzman & michelle paradise talk final season.

When Discovery debuted, it departed from Star Trek staples of design and characterization. The crew of the USS Discovery were not the paragons of Starfleet virtue audiences expected from their Star Trek series. Yet, from the appearance of Harcourt Fenton Mudd to the Federation-Klingon War itself, the show was never too far from the franchise's past. When Season 2 introduced Captain Christopher Pike, Number One and, of course, Spock, the distance between Discovery and the rest of the Star Trek universe closed.

Since then, there have been countless references to past stories in the Star Trek universe. In fact, Season 3's “Unification III” made a trilogy out of the pair of episodes where Spock began to unify Romulans with Vulcans . There is a six-decade history of stories for Discovery writers to draw from, and they do it to serve the series' story more so than just collect Easter eggs for longtime fans . The reintroduction of the Trill is just one of many ways producers pull off this generational magic trick.

Discovery Season 5 ties to The Next Generation and one of its biggest open mysteries: that the majority of sentient, sapient life in the galaxy was born from a single race billions of years ago. However, Adira's very existence is a nod to the first episode to introduce the Trill, Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 23, “The Host.” Will Riker has to take on the Odan symbiont when the Trill host is killed. Similarly, when the Trill Guardians helped Dr. Culber give Gray a new body, they used the zhian'tara method to transfer his consciousness .

The Zhian'tara Ritual Was First Introduced for Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine

Star trek: discovery actors doug jones & david ajala prepare for their last adventure.

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Season 3, Episode 25, "Facets," storytellers introduced a strange and powerful Trill ability in the zhian'tara. While the Trill hosts share the memories of their predecessors with their symbionts, it's all a jumble in their minds . A Trill Guardian, using a bit of natural telepathic abilities and a ritual, is able to take each individual host personality and place into another's body. This allows each Trill host to meet and talk with their predecessors in a more direct way.

Jadzia Dax was a Trill who'd previously been "washed out" of the program that chose host candidates. Not only that, it was her predecessor, Curzon Dax, who was responsible for it. Thus, she'd been putting off her zhian'tara, As each host's personality was put into her friends' bodies, Jadzia was able to learn things about them despite having all their memories . She learned about tics she picked up from each of them, as well as specific skills. She was even able to discover why Curzon washed her out of the program, even though she should have had his memories of the event.

While the host's consciousness was inside their bodies, the other Deep Space Nine characters were supposed to be able to resume control on a whim. However, murderer Joran Dax was able to keep Captain Sisko subdued until Jadzia hit him. Similarly, because of Odo's unique physiology as a Changeling, he and Curzon bonded on a more significant level. In fact, Curzon wanted to not return his consciousness to the Dax symbiont and continue to live in Odo. Jadzia convinced him to return, but it was revealed that the zhian'tara process was not temporary. This is how Guardian Xi was able to use it to put Gray's consciousness inside the synthetic body he now occupies.

How Jinaal Uses Zhian'tara to Advance Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Star trek: discovery's sonequa martin-green embarks on one final voyage.

After finding a clue in the form of a poem , the USS Discovery arrives at the Trill homeworld, and Captain Burnham first has to answer a riddle posed by Guardian Xi. When she does, he tells her the symbiont they wish to speak to is still alive, currently in Kalzara Bix. However, the host who left the clue to the Progenitors' technology, is Jinaal Bix. He's been dead for 800 years, but Kalzara refuses to simply tell the away team where the clue is from his memories .

Instead, Guardian Xi initiates a zhian'tara to bring Jindaal back to life inside the body of Dr. Hugh Culber. While Jinaal says he only has "a few hours," given what Deep Space Nine revealed this is a self-imposed time limit. This turned out to be a good thing, since Jinaal's hike into the mountains was an elaborate test to see if Burnham was worthy of the clue that pointed them to the next piece of the puzzle . It also gave Jinaal a chance to once again "take a nice long walk."

Later, in Red's lounge on the starship, Culber talks about the experience, saying "I was there, but I wasn't. How does that even work?" It continues Discovery's theme in Season 5 of the various ways different species can connect to each other while also looking forward to the "big" questions of existence. Still, while the use of zhian'tara connects Discovery to Deep Space Nine , the quest on Trill continues to build on fans' understanding of this unique Star Trek species, and it's not the first time.

How Star Trek: Discovery Expands the Trill Beyond What DS9 Laid Out

Star trek: discovery's mary wiseman, wilson cruz and blu del barrio hype finale.

Adira is not like other symbiont hosts viewers have seen in Star Trek , and this is by design. As a human being, they are the first of that species to bond this way. In fact, at first, Adira couldn't access the previous Tal host's memories, nor could they access their own. In Season 3, Episode 4, "Forget Me Not," Adira is taken to the Trill home world in the hopes of sorting out the problem. While they met with resistance, Guardian Xi was willing to help them, even without permission. Just as Jadzia Dax was able to access her suppressed former host, Joran Dax, through a ritual in the symbiont pools. In Season 7, Episode 13, Ezri Dax was able to perform the Rite of Emergence and interact with Joran much in the way Adira was able to interact with Gray after their visit to Trill.

Adira never had a proper zhian'tara depicted onscreen, but instead was able to experience the hosts in a new way . While trying to connect fully with the Tal symbiont, both Adira and Michael Burnham traveled to a kind of astral plane. There Adira reconnected with their memories of Gray, including his death. Yet, they were also able to meet with the separated consciousnesses of the other hosts and be welcomed "to the circle." This was a unique occurrence other Trill weren't able to perform, it seems. While this was going on, Guardian Xi said this was something he'd never seen before.

Lastly, the zhian'tara was used by Guardian Xi to transfer Gray's consciousness from Adira into a new Picard -style synthetic body . However, this process was dangerous and took much longer than normal because there wasn't a host mind to "guide" Gray. Still, while it took a while, Gray eventually awoke in his new body and resumed his Guardian training on Trill. The way Star Trek: Discovery built on the foundation laid by Deep Space Nine has led to fresh stories that expand fans' understanding of the Trill while providing excellent drama.

Star Trek: Discovery debuts new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+ .

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery follows Michael Burnham on her journey from a mutineer in the 23rd Century to Starfleet captain in the 32nd. With its one-of-a-kind spore drive, the USS Discovery is a ship unlike any other, with a crew to match.

• April 12, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Renewed For Season 4; ‘Lower Decks’ To End With Season 5
• April 12, 2024 | Interview: Wilson Cruz On How “Jinaal” Sets Up The Rest Of The Season For Culber On ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
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• April 11, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Tries Too Many Connections In “Jinaal”

Japan’s Prime Minister Invokes Star Trek In White House State Dinner Toast

| April 11, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 2 comments so far

Just a month after Star Trek made a surprise appearance at a major NATO ceremony , the franchise is once again finding itself on the world stage. This time it was due to the Prime Minister of Japan, who used Star Trek as part of his toast at a state dinner in his honor.

Japan’s PM boldly goes there

On Wednesday night, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was President Biden’s honored guest at a state dinner at the White House. Both leaders shared toasts as per diplomatic custom but Kishida surprised the crowd by taking them on a trip to the final frontier. He concluded his speech with:

“We are now standing at a turning point in history, embarking on a new frontier, and elevate this unshakable Japan-US relationship to even greater heights and hand it to the next generation. Finally, let me be conclude with a line from Star Trek, which you all know: To boldly go where no one has gone before.”

The Prime Minister then offered his toast:

“Mr. President, Dr. Biden, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to propose a toast to our voyage to the frontier of the Japan-US relationship with this word: Boldly go.”

You can watch the moment below in a video from Forbes.

Kishida’s speech had mentioned that many Japanese immigrants came to the United States from Hiroshima and after he mentioned Star Trek, he noted “By the way, George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman of the USS Enterprise, also has roots in Hiroshima.”

The Japanese Prime Minister’s comments made big news around the world with headlines like AP’s “ Kishida cracks jokes and invokes ‘Star Trek’ as he and Biden toast US-Japan alliance at state dinner ,” the UK’s Daily Mail with “ To boldly Joe! Japan’s prime minister quotes Star Trek as he hails Tokyo’s alliance with the US during glamorous, star-studded White House state dinner ,” and “‘ Boldly go’: Prime Minister Kishida quotes Star Trek in a toast to US-Japan alliance ” in the Times of India.

Presidential Trek

This is not President Biden’s first brush with Star Trek. During the 2020 election, his campaign hosted a “Trek the Vote” fundraiser featuring several Trek celebrities. And in 2022 the White House issued a statement from the president on the passing of Nichelle Nichols which noted her “groundbreaking portrayal of Lt. Uhura in the original Star Trek .” Nichols had visited the White House when Joe Biden was Vice President to meet with President Obama in 2012. Obama is an avowed Trek fan who screened the 2009 Star Trek movie at the White House.

Nichelle Nichols with President Obama in 2012.

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It’s a pleasure to see leaders invoking Trek in a warm and optimistic way.

That dude is so wasted. 🤣

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Star Trek: Lower Decks to End With Season 5 on Paramount+

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Star Trek: Lower Decks will boldly go… where many shows have gone before it. The Paramount+ series will conclude with its previously announced fifth season, TVLine has learned. The final season is expected to be released sometime this fall, though an exact date remains TBD.

Their statement continues: “Finally, thank you for always being so creative and joyful, for filling convention halls and chanting ‘LOWER DECKS!’ We remain hopeful that even beyond season five, Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford and the whole Cerritos crew will live on with new adventures.”

“It has been incredibly rewarding to continue to build the  Star Trek  universe, and we’re so grateful to Secret Hideout and our immensely talented casts and producers,” adds Jeff Grossman, Paramount+’s Executive Vice President of Programming. “ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  has found the perfect blend of action, adventure and humor, and we’re elated to announce another season ahead of our season three premiere. Similarly, Star Trek: Lower Decks has brought the laughs with an ample amount of heart to the franchise across its four seasons. We can’t wait for audiences to see what is in store for the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos   in this final season.”

Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew serving on “one of Starfleet’s least important ships.” The animated series boasts a voice cast that includes Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore and Gillian Vigman.

Are you disappointed that your voyage with Star Trek: Lower Decks is coming to an end? Drop a comment with your thoughts on the animated gem below.

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24 comments.

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I was hoping LD would make it to 2383/2384 chronologically so we could get a crossover with Prodigy.

Lower Decks is one of the best shows currently on TV. I will miss it when it’s gone but will definitely binge it at ever opportunity in the future. Somewhere, the great Gene Roddenberry is smiling, and is probably amazed at the impact he has had on pop culture in TV and films. “Live long and prosper.”

Noooooooo!!! This has been my favourite animated show in recent years. Was hoping it would go on for years like Fox’s animated series.

Sad to hear. I’m not certain of the time line, but hopefully we’ll get to see something of the destruction of Romulus/Remus

This is horrible news. This is one of the best shows on TV. Some of my friends are thinking on not supporting P+ anymore.

I’m disappointed at this since this is such a great show. And comedies need lots of episodes. But the show at least has been moving towards a natural conclusion creatively. I just hope there will be more Trek shows like this to come.

Great show, why only 5 seasons????

Because not every show should last as long as The Big Bang Theory or Two And A Half Men. And the crew probably knew that.

No. The showrunner asked fans to champion this series, when Prodigy was canceled.

Well, then they failed, or the showrunner realized five was enough anyway.

lol and you thought those simple words was enough to keep it running for more than five seasons? Shame

“No.” lmao

That is all.

But… why? The crossover episode with SNW really made me like this show, when they referenced “and everyone talks so quietly” because everyone on this show is ALWAYS SHOUTING!

This is a huge bummer.

I’m always glad when there is Star Trek on the air, and I am happy for all he fans that like this show, but it was definitely not for me. It is just so loud and frenzied.

LD was a Christmas / birthday / anniversary gift to the hard-core fans of Trek. The Deep Dives each episode took – from Giant Spock, to the call back to the Movies every year, to the classic “REMEMBER ME” / “Riker” moments in SNW… The show checked all the boxes for the fans.

I wish it could have had a few more seasons – so we could see their takes on “Why does God Need A Starship” and “Only Nixon can go to China”

I am not a hard core Trek guy…I have seen and know enough to get many references but sometimes find myself searching references… but it still became one of my favorite series of the last few years. And having also turned in for Picard S3 and SNW S2, last year including S4 was simply an amazing year of Trek that did make me want to watch more. Will definitely miss this one!

Lower Decks! Lower Decks! Lower Decks!

Of course they’re gonna cancel it 😠 its a great show!!! Funny and has heart and great storylines. Plus it’s Star Trek!! Netflix please pick up this fabulous creative show for a 6th season!!!

Taylor Sheridan (contract & shows cost P+ 500m a year, He’s deal goes to 2028) is single-handedly killing Star Trek on TV

Good riddance to bad rubbish. The POS is long overdue for the sh**ter. It won’t be missed.

You won’t be missed.

This makes me so sad. Lower Decks is such an amazing show. It deserved 10 seasons.

You guys keep canceling the good shows with Star Trek it’s kind of sad

Absolutely gutted by this news. I found the show a bit overwhelming at first but have grown to love this crew, and all the deep cuts.

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