"Admiral Kirk, Captain Spock. The charges against you are, among others,"
- "Agreeing to appear in Star Trek XI,"
- "And directing Star Trek V."
"How do you plead?"
"Are you sure now is not the time for a colourful metaphor?"
"OoOoOOOoOooooOooOoOoOOOOooOoOOOoOOOOOooooooO!"
STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME
Everyone and their mother likes this movie. So what can I say about it? I can say that it's always bothered me that the Bird-of-Prey bridge is entirely different from what we saw in Star Trek III. But then, the Star Trek III set sucked anyway. I can say that the score from Leonard Rosenman sounds like every generic 80s comedy. But then, this is an 80s comedy. I could say that the whole probe thing is a repeat of Star Trek I's plot. But then, the probe in this case is merely an excuse for a fun adventure, not the focus in and of itself.
So can I really think of a legitimate complaint for this movie?
No.
The team of Harve Bennett, Leonard Nimoy and Nick Meyer really did a great job here creating a movie that's entertaining, light-hearted, intelligent, funny, and has a strong message behind it. It's no wonder why this was the Star Trek with the most crossover appeal. Once again, Nimoy used his Mission Impossible experience to give everyone in the cast something fun to do -- I think this is the last Star Trek movie to give a genuine role to the entire cast until Star Trek XI.
One of my favourite elements of this movie is the resolution of Spock's character arc -- having gone through Kolinahr and V'ger and death and rebirth, Spock finally reconciles and comes to terms with both halves of his heritage. His final scene with Sarek is just fantastic.
But despite Spock getting a good arc, and Nimoy being the director, this film really belongs to Kirk. William Shatner has always had a great sense of humour and he does a fine job of carrying this picture.
What more can I say? From the great ILM effects job for the whales, to the wise decision to keep Eddie Murphy out of the picture, Star Trek IV is just plain enjoyable -- and years ahead of its time with its environmentalist theme. With no shots fired in anger, little to no violence, and the problem solved by communication instead of destruction, TVH also demonstrates some of the best qualities of Star Trek.
It's fun, but it's intelligent fun, and it has a meaning.
We grok.
8/10
1. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN
2. STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME
3. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE
4. STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK
5. STAR TREK
Up Next -- William Shatner writes AND directs? How can this possibly go wrong?
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