ST IV: The Voyage Home

The Voyage Home is nothing more than a romp. Despite the fact that Kirk and company just destroyed the Enterprise, and a seemingly hostile probe is threatening to destroy earth, this movie maintains a rather upbeat tone. It begins somewhat seriously, with Spock retraining his mind. Kirk and his crew decide to return to Starfleet command to face consequences of rescuing Captain Spock. On top of all that, a probe is trying to destroy the earth with a bunch of really bad weather, which induces Kirk and company to spring into action once again, slingshotting around the sun in an old Klingon bird of prey to find some humpback whales. This sequence starts out well, but then degenerates into a sequence of shots that were probably intended to be a dream sequence, but in reality make no sense. It would have been best if the producers had just left these shots out of the movie altogether. However, once the movie passes its initial bumps, the fun begins. As the crew of the “late Starship Enterprise” sets down in Golden Gate Park, disembarks and tries to make sense of the strange new world they set out into. Throughout the movie the antics of a very Vulcan Spock, attempting to understand everything from the 20th century vernacular to the basic social graces, are very entertaining. Kirk’s reactions set new standards for bad overacting, especially his reaction to Spock’s mind-melding with Gracie, a humpback whale. Other highlights include Gillian Taylor’s blatant patronizing confusion towards Kirk, Checkov and Uhura’s improvised scenes in which they are looking for “nuclear wessels” and Scotty’s showing a plexiglass plant manager the molecular formula for transparent aluminum via a 20th century computer. Also memorable is the entire hospital sequence in which Kirk and McCoy rescue Checkov from the hand of 20th century medicine. After that, the Klingon BOP USS Bounty takes off with a new passenger to find George and Gracie, and ends up rescuing them from Russian whale hunters before going back to the century in which they belong, in one of the biggest continuity errors of the Star Trek movies. Sulu engages the warp drive while still in the atmosphere, an action that should have torn the ship apart, but mysteriously doesn’t. Once back into the 23rd century, they quickly save the planet Earth, causing the charges against them to be, for the most part, dropped. And, in another great Trek moment, earning them a new starship Enterprise! Star Trek The Voyage Home was an all-around great and entertaining movie, it is even my second favorite Star Trek movie ever made.