DVD, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) film

Controversially this is one of my least favourite Trek films, somewhere around 'The Motion Picture', 'Star Trek Nemesis' and 'Star Trek XI'. All the Trek films have flaws, show me a film that doesn't, but it seems to me this one has more than most. In fact, the eleventh film, famous for going against the established tone of the series, and being extremely popular with the general film-going public, could have used this film as its template. And if they were going out there to make films that appealed to the lowest common denominator, and make a huge profit, which is pretty much what film-making is all about, then they succeeded. For these two were the most successful (give or take 'First Contact'), critically and commercially of all the films. But what's not to like? In my case, quite a lot.

From the start I found the whole prologue sequence, not very good. It tells you lots and fills in the blanks, but was it necessary? It doesn't provide the film with an exciting start, and in fact it takes a long time to get going. It may be nitpicking, but I found the titles a bit lacklustre too, with their static starfield and names fading in and out, one by one. It was not dynmaic, and after we've seen three-dimensional starfields in the previous films, or, even in the original TV series, stars that fly by, it seems like a step backward. The title beaming in was very good, however.

Early on I began to notice things that simply didn't make sense. They've been on Vulcan three months, waiting as the ship is repaired. Why didn't Starfleet send a ship, any kind would have done, to bring these renegades home for trial? In the spacedock we see ships that aren't doing anything. It surely wouldn't take too long to nip over to Vulcan. And do the Vulcans not have ships of their own? Of course they do. Then why weren't they able to spare a single one, yet were happy to have a crew of Vulcans repair the Klingon ship. The Federation wants Kirk and crew back, and the Vulcans are part of that Federation so it seems bizarre that a simple trip to Earth could not be arranged.

I will say that the Klingon ship looks great from the outside, as they seem to walk around a full-size creation. Impressive. What's less impressive is that the inside looks quite different to what we saw in 'Star Trek III', the bridge especially looking more like the bridge of the Enterprise. Would the Vulcans and Scotty really spend so much time on the aethetics or would they make haste on repairs to the engines, etc. You can always come up with an explanation to explain it away, but it doesn't make sense, and there are a lot of moments like that in the film. Take their funny mishaps on Earth, 1980s. Some of it is really very funny, some of it makes the Starfleet people seem like idiots.

Chekov isn't so stupid to think that he wouldn't get arrested for asking about 'Nuclear Wessels'. Incidentally, why didn't he get arrested? It's funnier when you know that the people they asked were genuine people, as they filmed the scene from a distance for real reactions! But Scotty not knowing that Edinburgh was thousands of miles from San Francisco, saying millions instead, having fun with the timeline by giving that guy the formula for transparent aluminium (which again makes no sense - Gillian says the whales will be flown out by 747, so if they can build a container for the whales in the 20th century why do they need to give that formula away, except for comedic value).

They've always made it clear that the timeline should not be interfered with in any meaningful way, such as when Kirk let Edith Keeler die in the original series episode, yet now they can do whatever they like, as long as it's funny! It appeals to the masses, but it doesn't make much sense if you've watched the series, and it's frustrating. I sound like a killjoy that takes it all too seriously, but when you consider that the series is well known for creating these rules and sticking to them, it seems like a betrayal of the coherence and continuity.

On the other side of the coin, yes, I think it was still a good film, and it is charming and funny, but they never followed up with what the probe actually was/wanted/etc, or whether Kirk met Gillian again, or what consequences for her now nonexistent descendants there would be. It's annoying not to be given some kind of explanation. Are they saying that whales were once clever enough to build a space probe? Or that aliens made contact? It's all a bit crazy. I also didn't like some of the directing choices Nimoy made this time. The time travel sequence was fine, I can understand the heads, but did they really need the dummy that sploshes into some water? Lose the dummy.

I have to mention the score, which also loses the amazing and mysterious James Horner score from the previous two films, and the exciting, adventure-filled turn from the first, by Jerry Goldsmith. Instead we have Leonard Rosenmann having a bash, and it sounds like any old American family film, and is much more comedic with brass bands and silliness. Which feels odd for Trek, but not for the film. It's always fun to see the characters again, and as much as there are things I don't like, there are lots that I do. I just like it less than most 'Star Trek' films, that's all.

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