Review of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) by Bob S — 16 May 2009
Ah, it was the mid-80s, a distant time when the anxieties of middle-class white America needed to be assuaged more than ever in popular cinema. Where "Back To The Future" seemed to reassure America that not only is yuppie assholedom good, but more importantly, attainable, "Star Trek IV" instead rather clumsily informs us that we are damaging the environment, the Cold War is bad, and that (black) street thugs are a menace to public transportation.
Mr. Spock presents a New Age alternative to Bernhard Goetz, neck-pinching ruffians with their loud boom-boxes, while poor Chekhov is harassed for being a Russian. On an American aircraft carrier. In the 80s. Can't we all just get along?
The moral of "The Voyage Home", conveyed in all its Brobdingnagian subtlety, is that humanity must stop hunting species to extinction, because you never know when a whale might be needed to communicate with an Earth-threatening alien entity from the future. Or something.
It could have been worse: "The Voyage Home" could have claimed that white people invented rock 'n roll. So, there's that, at least.
This review of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) was written by Bob S on 16 May 2009.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has generally received positive reviews.
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