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01 September 2014

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)


If you don't want to read it all:
Score: 7/10
Verdict: The Voyage Home is something very different and it is a lot of fun!



In the last Star Trek review, I said that The Search for Spock is the best Star Trek so far (well, out of 3). That is no longer true a The Voyage Home surpasses it by far. And it's really unique in this whole Star Trek universe as it feels almost like a comedy, more than a sci-fi film.


The story is typical - a huge probe of unknown origin is on course to Earth and is threatening to destroy our dear planet. It is emitting a strange sound and is blocking all communications to and from the planet. Meanwhile, Kirk and his merry men are on their way back home, riding a Klingon Bird of Prey they captured in the previous movie. Typically, they reach Earth right on time to determine the probe's mission - it needs to find out what happened with humpback whales and why are they not responding to hails?! Well, the whales are extinct and they cannot respond so... Spock suggests going back in time to late 20th century in order to capture and transport a few whales and let them communicate with the probe. Fortunately, Bird of Prey is capable of a "slingshot effect" (extremely high warp factor speed towards a massive body such as our Sun) so off they go to 1986.

The whole movie feels really strange, but in a good way. It wasn't boring at all, it features familiar settings since most of it is happening in 1986 New York and gives some new insight on many characters. It was particularly entertaining to see Spock on Earth that is unknown to him and his behavior that scares humans who have no idea about his nature. Not to mention his inability to lie...

Overall, I really liked The Voyage Home despite it's silly idea. Actually, the whale part is okay, it kind of makes you wonder about the whole whale song thing, but the concept of indestructible, incredibly powerful space-something that threatens Earth is kind of annoying. It simply happens to often!

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