106. Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeFORMULA: The Search for Spock + Tomorrow Is Yesterday + The Motion Picture + The Trouble with Tribbles
WHY WE LIKE IT: The humor really works. The entire crew is put to good use. The absence of the Enterprise doesn't stall the movie. Great final scenes wrapping up the last 3 movies' storyline.
WHY WE DON'T: That's not really the Spock we know and love, is it? Catherine Hicks can be annoying as Dr. Gillian. The message is a bit heavy-handed.
REVIEW: Seems like this story had a number of things going against it - there's no Enterprise, there's no villain - but it manages to turn into a rollicking good time that's light-hearted without sacrificing the more serious scenes that bookend the trip through time. Star Trek's forays into comedy have been uneven, but the fish out of water aspect is always amusing, and it generally works (Jacqueline Suzanne jokes aside).
And while there's no villain, there is danger, both for Earth and for our heroes. One of the best things about The Voyage Home, in fact, is that the crew must split up to solve several problems. The ship is out of power, they need to find some whale (and later save the whales they found), they need to build an aquarium, they need to pass themselves off as locals, etc. And various set pieces are built around each of those dilemmas: Saving Chekov from 20th century "butchers", finding the carrier Enterprise (nice touch), "inventing" transparent aluminium, finagling a helicopter, selling Kirk's glasses (again, nicely done), befriending Gillian, etc. Lots of stuff, giving each crew member his or her chance to be useful.
Against this plays the re-education of Spock, not quite himself yet, which provides some humor, but is also sad to see. I was very happy to see both of Spock's parents return (Jane Wyatt at the start, Mark Lenard at the end) as they provide some good moments for him. Amanda reminds Spock of his human heritage, but he doesn't get it - great scene. It's the end-moment with Sarek that always gets me though, seeing Sarek's total discomfort when Spock shows the simple emotion of friendship.
No Enterprise? She's hardly missed, as she's replaced by the very cool Klingon bird-of-prey. It's a nice change of pace and look, and besides, we see a new Enterprise at the end, nicely bringing the story arc to a close. Reset button? Yeah, a little, but if you want the franchise to continue, you need to do it, I think. The best part of the reset is that Kirk is bumped down to Captain, as it was a mistake to ever make him an admiral in the first place. I'm less enamoured of the final fate of Gillian. Did she need to come to the future if it was only to be swept aside? Bah.
She's a problematic character for me. Lively and a fair match for Kirk, but a little too aggressive for my tastes, bordering on annoying. She gets rather strident in her defense of the whales, especially during the educational film showing whales being cut up by poachers. Feels like a non-issue in our part of the world, I guess, and I really didn't need to be made aware of this situation via exposition. A bit preachy, I guess. This is a small flaw, however, in a generally fun movie.
LESSON: Save the whales. SAVE THE WHALES!!!!!!
REWATCHABILITY - High: The 1986 setting and comedic aspects of The Voyage Home no doubt contributed to its mass appeal, making it, I think, the most commercially successful Star Trek movie up to that point. More accessible? Perhaps, but that doesn't mean it's not every bit as fun for Trekkies.
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