Star Trek IV | The Voyage Home ‘ | 122 minutes | Writers: Harve Bennett, Peter Krikes, Steve Meerson, Nicholas Meyer | Director: Leonard Nimoy | Music: Leonard Rosenman | Starring: James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, George Takei
The former crew of the Enterprise are preparing to end their short exile on Vulcan and face the consequences back on Earth after the events of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, where they rescued their miraculously revived crewmate, Spock. Their voyage home is disrupted by a mysterious probe that has shut down the Solar System and now has Earth at its mercy. Aboard their captured Bird of Prey, the core crew deduce that the probe is seeking to communicate with an Earth species long driven to extinction and hatch an ingenious and risky plan to head back in time to 1986 to undo one of man’s deadliest mistakes…
On Star Trek’s 60th anniversary, what could be better than watching the space saga at its finest? The fourth Star Trek film, which uncoincidentally celebrates its 40th birthday this year and is re-releasing in cinemas this month, is perhaps the franchise’s perfect mix of concept, action, humour, message, and humanity.
What a joy to step back in time 40 years, when Trek was just, well, simpler. Twenty years in, the franchise was lean and elite. Aside from the extended universe (comics and books, a few skits), the franchise comprised the three seasons of the Original Series, two seasons of the Animated Series and three films. After a worthy, if stuttering, start with 1979’s The Motion Picture, the trilogy formed by the second, third, and fourth films represented Star Trek’s most successful period to date—some would say it still does.
The continuity then was simple to understand; the timeline could be mapped out on a beer mat. Everything hinged on what we now know as the original crew. And Star Trek IV, under the auspices of Leonard Nimoy (Spock) as returning director and franchise mastermind, producer Harve Bennet, knew how to use them. It helped that they brought back Nicholas Meyer, the man responsible for the space saga’s cinematic success, to polish the story and script.
While Meyer’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan set a new precedent for the franchise and established a popular militaristic side that would return to later series and films again and again, Star Trek IV brought a big sci-fi concept and, importantly, a humour-first remit. The jokes consistently land well–particularly the fish-out-of-school-out-of-water that is Nimoy’s Spock.
Everything in The Voyage Home feels familiar, despite so many things being unfamiliar. The Enterprise was destroyed in the previous film, and the Bridge crew is restricted to a Klingon Bird of Prey. Most of the film is set in the past, our ‘present’, leaving them adrift as they improvise one of the greatest kidnappings in cinema.
But it’s like being with family; The Voyage Home stands as the greatest use of the complete bridge crew, with classic split missions handing everyone a moment. Chekov even gets near brain surgery.
Although many jokes land, there are quibbles in the comedy–it irks that Kirk is the first to fall foul of the fish-out-of-water schtick (“Double dumb ass on you!”), but this is a joyful example of kicking back with a bucket of popcorn and letting it wash over you. In fact, almost everything in the film is designed to do that–just look how easy it all is. Yes, the Enterprise crew had time-travelled before–Tomorrow is Yesterday is the nineteenth episode of the show’s first season and where this film’s idea of slingshot time travel originates–but this is refreshingly free of paradox worries. It’s joyously unabashed at brushing away the complexity of it all–Kirk just proclaims at Spock’s logical interpretation of the problem, “Start your computations for time warp.” Later–or earlier– a brilliant side quest that pairs McCoy and Scotty has them trade future tech for some parts. “How do we know he didn’t invent the thing!” irresistibly reasons Scotty when McCoy thinks things through. And that’s that.
Star Trek’s power to let the human overcome the technobabble would last throughout The Next Generation (which premiered the following year). But the loose approach to the tech and bootstrap paradox remains refreshing, especially as it lets the human drama drive everything, and that’s so Star Trek. Yes, it’s not all that sophisticated… The emotional turmoil and ease with which Catherine Hicks’ Dr Gillian Taylor helps the crew fulfil their transport of two Humpback whales couldn’t be simpler. But it all rollicks along with a good injection of goodwill and threat (although by modern standards you might expect another line or two of that threat to wind the jeopardy a bit tighter).
Another win for the fourth Star Trek film is having a story that still resonates. Environmental concerns are much wider now than in the mid-1980s; the climate crisis in the 21st century has broadened the idea of extinction to our own species. But Kirk and crew’s summation of the people of the 20th century, as throwaway and jokey as it sounds on first listen, has a very real and lasting edge. Just because extinction has been phased into a bigger problem doesn’t mean people listened.
This is Star Trek doing what it really does best: contemporary issues.
The Voyage Home cemented the idea that even-numbered Star Trek films were the gold spine of the franchise. After the strangely small, destructive and nihilistic part 3 (you gain a Spock, but lose an Enterprise), part 4 hit the happy button, and it continues to pay off brilliantly. Between the Meyer-penned volumes (he’s one of four writers credited here), the U-boat suspense of the second film and the political whodunit of the sixth film, the original film series franchise can bask in the joyous time-travel fun at its centre. There really are few better ways to spend a legend’s birthday. Now, do you like Italian?
0 Comments