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Star Trek 4: The Journey Home, continues the
story of Star Trek 3, where the crew of the enterprise go against
orders and rescues Spock (Nimoy), returning him to Vulcan, where
he is put back together, with his contra from McCoy. The spirits
of the crew at the beginning of Star Trek 4, are glum, as they
vote to return to earth to face charges, in a Klingon Bird of
Prey, as their ship was destroyed. As they approach Earth, they
receive an emergency broadcast, warning them to stay away, as
this 23rd century Earth was being assaulted by savage storms,
apparently as a result of a strange object orbiting the Earth.
Spock analyzes the sounds coming from this unknown space probe,
and determines that in order to cope with the crisis, Kirk (Shatner)
and company must undertake a dangerous time voyage back to 2Oth
century Earth, in search of humpback whales. They find themselves
back in 1986 San Francisco, and land in Golden Gate Park, invisible
because of the cloaking device.
Upon arrival, however, Scotty (James Doohan)
discovers that the Klingon engine is in need of atomic energy
to rebuild the engine's energy crystals, or their Bird of Prey
will become dead and visible to all. Kirk divides the crew into
three teams. One team was to gather materials to make a whale
tank aboard ship, one team was to sneak aboard a nuclear sub and
get the atomic energy, and one team (Spock & Kirk), was to
find some humpback whales to beam aboard the ship. Of course,
things go wrong, but the crew and the marine biologist, Dr. Gillian
Taylor (Catherine Hicks), work together to accomplish their mission,
after some twists and turns, and surprises.
Star Trek Four has a lot of clever humor, witty dialog skillfully
written into the screenplay. The crew has to face challenges,
as they always had to do in alien worlds; such as exact fare buses,
money, and cultural phenomena, such as bad language, and pizza.
The scenes of the Classic "Trek" gang in 1986 San Francisco
are great fun. Check out the obnoxious punk on the bus: that's
former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son. Also amusing is
Spoack's attempts to completely recover, and fit in with the Star
Trek crew, relearning social / working relationships.
If you are a fan of marine animals, particularly
whales, than "Star Trek 4" will be your cup of Saurian
brandy. Some of the whales are real, some are robotic, and all
are fun to watch.
Catharine Hicks is quite likable as a concerned marine biologist,
Dr. Gillian Taylor. She has great chemistry with Shatner. Hicks
can currently be seen in the television series "Seventh Heaven."
Interestingly, her co-star, Stephen Collins, appeared in "Star
Trek--The Motion Picture" (1979).
Favorite scenes include:
1) Spock jumps into the whale tank, much to
the consternation of the marine biologist giving a tour of the
marine museum. The sight of Nimoy giving the ol' Vulcan mind
meld to the great sea mammal is much fun.
2) Chekov's adventures, (Walter Koenig) on
the nuclear aircraft carrier... Enterprise
3) Hospital rescue of Chekov
4) Saving the whales from hunters
5) The uplifting ending.
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