Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986)

Featured Audience Ratings

• AJ V

  
  My favourite Star Trek picture, this one has the crew going back in time (as they sometimes did on the show) to get a bunch of whales so they can save the future. I love this movie, it's very funny and it has a message too.

• Richard C

  
  B+

• Carlos M

  
  The voyage home is the return to the status quo, now that Spock is back to the crew where he belongs. This is the lightest entry of the Star Trek films, a delightful incursion into comedy featuring some hilarious dialogues and a very welcome ecological story, even if not so original.

• Chris W

  
  This is the final part in the so-called "Trek Trilogy", and it's a really good film. Not as good as Wrath of Khan, but better than Search for Spock, this films is quite funny, and I like the fact that they did something different with it, like putting the Kirk and Co… More
  This is the final part in the so-called "Trek Trilogy", and it's a really good film. Not as good as Wrath of Khan, but better than Search for Spock, this films is quite funny, and I like the fact that they did something different with it, like putting the Kirk and Co out of their element as they try to save the world in an environmentalist way. Like the previous two films, this one has a great theme and recurring motifs throughout. To paraphrase James Rolfe, TWOK was about death, Search for Spock was about life, and The Voyage Home is about communication, or lackthereof. I like it when movies do stuff like this, especially science fiction. There are basically two type of sci-fi films-those with shooting and battles, and those without. Both have their own merits, but the latter kind, like this one, have an importance which cannot be stressed enough. They are entertaining AND thought provoking. Enough rambling. The acting is great, the pacing is good, hilarity is everywhere, and the happy ending makes one feeel all warm and fuzzy inside. Nimoy is a good director, and it's a shame he didn't end up directing any more of these films. I think he should go back and give it another try. Oh yeah, one more thing. The plot, like the specifics, ispretty weird, and I kinda onder what kind of drugs Nimoy was on when he came up with this stuff. Not that I'm complaining, but seriously, wtf man.

• Tim S

  
  Even though it takes place mostly on Earth, it is very much entertaining.

• Anthony L

  
  ?And a double dumb ass on you?! I saw this in the cinema with my Gran and I?ve loved it ever since!

• Jason O

  
  "Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home" isn't like you'd expect it to be if you're familiar with the original series and the other Star Trek movies. It has a lot more comedy to it when you compare it to the previous Star Trek shows. Admiral Kirk and the crew… More
  "Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home" isn't like you'd expect it to be if you're familiar with the original series and the other Star Trek movies. It has a lot more comedy to it when you compare it to the previous Star Trek shows. Admiral Kirk and the crew discover a signal in humpback whales' language that earth will be destroyed unless they can discover a way to find two humpback whales from the 20th century and transport them to the 23rd century. If you like the other Star Trek movies, you will probably like "The Voyage Home." Unlike the other movies in the classic series, it is just as much of a comedy movie as it is an adventure. I thought a lot of the movie was funny, especially the part where the crew pretends to be doctors in a hospital and are chased by the police. "The Voyage Home" isn't my favorite Star Trek movie, but it is a great movie and one of the best. NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2000. This one packed in more of a comedic touch and I'd rank it 3rd out of the first 4 movies.

• Curtis L

  
  If I dare say so, I actually liked this movie a lot. Shatner's qurkey jokes and robot spock combined with a joyus propoganda ploy to stop whale hunting made for a great 2 hours.

• Sarah G

  
  I'd forgotton what a great Star Trek film this was after watching it today. Very funny a times when we see the team arrive in San Francisco and expecially Spock's one-liners after getting confused. "<i>You must be out of your mind?" "Is there something… More
  I'd forgotton what a great Star Trek film this was after watching it today. Very funny a times when we see the team arrive in San Francisco and expecially Spock's one-liners after getting confused. "<i>You must be out of your mind?" "Is there something wrong with the one I've got?</i> Really this is the perfect film for all trekie fans, myself included. Highly recomend!

• Red L

  
  This is pretty good for a sequel. The Star Trek with the whales. Still has all the old characters - Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhuru, Sulu, Chekov, etc.

• Chris G

  
  When going over the Star Trek films part four is always summed up with one sentence: This is the one with the whales. Star Trek IV continues the work of the previous two and starts off where three leaves off. The crew is preparing to leave Vulcan in their Klingon vessel, but while… More
  When going over the Star Trek films part four is always summed up with one sentence: This is the one with the whales. Star Trek IV continues the work of the previous two and starts off where three leaves off. The crew is preparing to leave Vulcan in their Klingon vessel, but while they're gone a mysterious probe has come to earth and is disrupting electronics and weather on the planet all while sending an odd sounding message that Spock (Leonard Nimoy) figures out is whale songs. All they need is whales to return the message right? Wrong. Whales were killed to extinction in the 21st century. The only answer now is to time warp back to the era of Reagan and bring back some whales. As you can tell Star Trek IV is going to be a fish out of water film akin to Back to the Future only a little more pronounced. Every other scene entails some member of the crew facing 20th century culture in the weirdest way. That's to be expected, but it does get old after awhile. It's also rather telling that the plot is basically taken from the first film just jumbled up a bit. Another mysterious probe threatens earth. Jesus, why is everyone so pissed off at us. Nimoy returns to direct again and does so adequately. There's no real flash and as I said in the other reviews the actors are the same as they had been for twenty years. Overall Star Trek IV is an average film that plays to much on the fish out of water. It's a preachy film and with that comes the responsibility to allow the viewer to understand that something is a problem without slamming it down your throat and not sacrificing the story. This film fails on both fronts.

• Cassandra M

  
  Still on the Vulcan planet awaiting repairs to their captured Klingon ship, Kirk and his crew are summoned to earth by the Federation to stand trial for making Star Trek 3 so very dull. However a deep space probe is approaching earth sending out a communication signal that is… More
  Still on the Vulcan planet awaiting repairs to their captured Klingon ship, Kirk and his crew are summoned to earth by the Federation to stand trial for making Star Trek 3 so very dull. However a deep space probe is approaching earth sending out a communication signal that is disrupting power and damaging the whole planet. When they find that the signal relates to the now extinct humpback whale, Kirk decides to travel back in time to the 1980's to recover and bring back a whale. Part 2 of the series is easily my favourite to this day of the Star Trek movies, so part 3 was a major problem, being so very dull and heavy, but part 4 was an improvement simply because it was so much more light hearted and fun. The plot is potentially very silly and a barely hidden ecological subtext that threatens to sink the film, but it is delivered with tongue in cheek and it is that saves it. The mocking humour is gentle and really carries the film as fish-out-of-water gags abound and the contrast between the crew and their surroundings is used well. While the plot is nonsense, the cast all enjoy themselves in whatever roles the script gives them. Shatner has the biggest role of course but has the least fun as he has to carry the unlikely love interest. Nimoy is good fun despite having a follow on from the last film that is a little heavy and he does a steady job as director. The rest of the crew have small roles but each is funny - whether it's Chekov appearing to be a communist spy, McCoy berating modern doctors as the Spanish inquisition and Sulu happily flying helicopters for some reason. Overall this is not the best Star Trek film as it lacks any real action, excitement or tension, but what it lacks in this area it makes up for in terms of gentle laughs. Looking at it alone it is only reasonable but after watching the dull `Search for Spock' this is a fun relief.

• Jason S

  
  This is the funny one. I think they needed to make one of the movies on a way smaller budget and this is what we got. The crew time travels to the present day (at the time of filming anyway) and they interact in everyday time with the people of the past. A lot of what we see is… More
  This is the funny one. I think they needed to make one of the movies on a way smaller budget and this is what we got. The crew time travels to the present day (at the time of filming anyway) and they interact in everyday time with the people of the past. A lot of what we see is played out for jokes and the rest of what we see is preaching to the viewers about the plights of the humpback whale. All that aside, it is a fun adventure and once you push aside the preaching you can see that the actors had a lot of fun making this flick. Also, the music is great.

• Dean !

  
  One of the better Star Trek films with a decent story line.

• Lenny M

  
  Second best Shat led Star Trek film.

• David L

  
  Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek 'family' fully expected that Paramount would 'pull the plug' and end their series of films after STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. After all, Spock had died and been reborn, Kirk and the crew were fugitives from the… More
  Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek 'family' fully expected that Paramount would 'pull the plug' and end their series of films after STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. After all, Spock had died and been reborn, Kirk and the crew were fugitives from the Federation, and the Enterprise itself had been destroyed, with the cast, now the proud owners of a Klingon 'Bird of Prey', staying with Spock's parents, Sarek and Amanda, on Vulcan. Pretty heady stuff for a franchise considered past it's prime, and as the studio seemed to be focusing it's attention on the at the time upcoming 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' television series, which would introduce a younger cast, there was a general feeling that the aging veterans of the first series, now all in their fifties and sixties (with the exception of George Takei, a 'kid' of 46) were overdue to be 'put out to pasture'. But producer Harve Bennett and Leonard Nimoy had an idea for a 'Trek' film that would be 'hip', lighter-hearted, could 'tie up' the loose ends of the series, and, as the film would be set largely in the 20th century, be both inexpensive to make, and 'audience friendly'. "Inexpensive" was always the key word for Paramount's 'brass', particularly concerning 'Star Trek', and after Bennett and Nimoy made the rounds pitching their script outline, and Nimoy agreed to direct, the project was green-lighted. The story is simple and straightforward; returning to Earth in the 'Bird of Prey' to face charges for hijacking the Enterprise, and destroying it, Kirk and crew discover that the planet is 'under attack' from a gigantic probe, emitting weird sounds and laser-like beams that are playing havoc on the weather, world-wide. Spock determines that the sounds are the language of humpback whales, a species extinct in the 23rd century, so our heroes slingshot the spaceship back in time to the 20th century, in an attempt to capture a pair of the whales, and bring them 'back to the future'. As the Klingon ship has a cloaking device that can render it invisible (a wonderful invention that helped keep the FX budget down!), it is easy to 'hide' the spacecraft in a park in mid-eighties San Francisco, and the crew, after a funny sequence strolling the streets of the city, are divided into teams, with Kirk and Spock to procure the whales, McCoy and Scotty to build a tank to house them, Sulu to find a means of getting the tank to the ship, and Uhura and Chekov to siphon off some nuclear fuel (from the U.S.S. Enterprise, no less!) to help power the ship back to the 23rd century. Each team has their own mini-adventure (Kirk and Spock meet whale expert Dr. Gillian Taylor, played by Catherine Hicks, who, eventually, insists on accompanying the whales to the future, while sweetly shrugging off Kirk's passes; Scotty has to 'invent' the glass for the tank, potentially rewriting the future; Sulu is like a kid, flying an antique helicopter; and Chekov gets captured, then injured...Chekov is ALWAYS getting injured in the 'Trek' films!...providing McCoy a chance to perform some 'miracles' and criticize 20th century medicine). These vignettes are wonderful, and remind one of what terrific actors the original crew of the Enterprise were. The Earth is, of course, saved, Kirk is busted from Admiral back to Captain (the rank he was best suited for), Dr. Taylor informs him she's too busy to date (Kirk strikes out???), and the crew is assigned to a new starship...named Enterprise, naturally! STAR TREK IV is the most popular and successful 'Trek' movie made. Its alot of fun for Trek and non Trek fans.

• Lafe F

  
  Star Trek IV is a success! It's got comedy and adventure, plus a great time travel story with the crew of the Enterprise needing to travel to 1986 to retrieve a hunchback whale to interpret an alien warning message in their present. It's a fun runaround, and each crewmember… More
  Star Trek IV is a success! It's got comedy and adventure, plus a great time travel story with the crew of the Enterprise needing to travel to 1986 to retrieve a hunchback whale to interpret an alien warning message in their present. It's a fun runaround, and each crewmember gets their own chance to shine.

• Dean M

  
  Really boring sci-fi.

• xGary X

  
  Basically Star Trek played for laughs with a tacked on eco-message. Fans of the series will love it.

• Dann M

  
  The voyage continues as the Enterprise crew time-travels to Earth's past in search of an answer to a crisis that threatens to destroy the Federation. Voyage Home brings the fun back to Star Trek and dials back the heavy dramatic themes that dominated the previous films. Using a… More
  The voyage continues as the Enterprise crew time-travels to Earth's past in search of an answer to a crisis that threatens to destroy the Federation. Voyage Home brings the fun back to Star Trek and dials back the heavy dramatic themes that dominated the previous films. Using a lighthearted and comedic tone, the film explores the culture shock of Kirk and his crew trying to get along in 1980s San Francisco. However, the film gets bogged down by its preachiness and moralizing; there's absolutely no subtlety to its environmentalist messages. Still, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home manages to deliver a solidly entertaining adventure that's a lot of fun.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings