Star Trek IV

reviewed by Dave

Seventeen years ago, the fourth Star Trek movie was released to theaters. If you haven't seen this movie already, you probably won't now. If you have, you already have an opinion of it, I'm sure.

That said, there seems like little reason to review this flick. However, a new 2-disc collector's edition DVD was just released this month, so here's a little walk down memory lane, with 17 years of perspective thrown in.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home solidly carves out its place in the long line of Star Trek films. This is the "funny" movie. An alien probe comes to earth about 300 years in the future (when Star Trek is set) and it's looking for some whales to talk to. When it doesn't find any (because in the Star Trek world they became extinct in the 21st century), it gets pissed and starts vaporizing the oceans and threatening life on earth.

Our heroes, meanwhile, are on their way back to Earth after a long, convoluted path that has them facing a huge list of criminal charges, including grand theft spaceship (my terminology, not theirs) and mutiny.

Star Trek IV is book-ended by this return-to-earth storyline, but only a small percentage of this movie has anything to do with past events. The main bulk of the movie takes place in 1986. The crew time-warps back to Reagan-era San Francisco to locate a pair of humpback whales and rig up their dilapidated ship to transport the whales back to the future. The story is lighthearted, though perhaps a bit heavy-handed with its "save the whales" theme. Most of the comedy produces at least a grin, but there's really only one scene that still makes me laugh out loud.

In some ways, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movies form a trilogy, but the 4 th only ties up a few loose ends. As such, it's one of the easiest movies to watch if you're new to the series and want to check it out. It also, however, is the film most unlike the others. There are probably more laughs in this movie than in the other nine combined. Don't go thinking this movie is indicative of what the rest of the films are like.

But will the uninitiated get the humor? There certainly is something to be said for knowing these characters. The first three movies coupled with the original series give you a much greater sense of who these people are, and why some of the situations and behaviors are humorous. That said though, Star Trek IV's story is almost entirely self-contained, and the humor is largely fish-out-of-water comedy that anyone can understand.

I have only forced Jaime to watch one Star Trek film with me (First Contact, which she reluctantly admitted was a decent movie), and I don't think she'll be watching Star Trek IV anytime soon. It's good, and it's the only film in the series that really effectively uses humor, but I think as a movie it falls short of some of the others. I simply prefer the dramas.

A note about the DVD

If you have any appreciation for this movie, you'll definitely want the 2-disc collector's edition DVD. The second disc contains a lot of featurettes, some quite good, but the best part of the set is on disc one. There are places where this print of The Voyage Home looks incredible (keep in mind it's 17 years old) - it's like watching a different movie when compared with the old VHS version. But the best part of the package is the commentary track with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I enjoyed listening to this track more than just watching the movie by itself. You get a lot of great stories, some insight into the production, and these two really come off as good friends. This is one of my favorite commentary tracks.