Review of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) by Petri H — 07 May 2009

Despite Star Trek IV's quirky nature, there's something inherently charming about it. The crew of the Enterprise tickle our funny bone as they fumble around in current day San Francisco and, despite ourselves, we can't help but chuckle.

Nimoy's ever-stoic, ever-literal Spock steals the show thanks to spot on comedic timing between him and Kirk, who comes in a close second. Apart from the sheer entertainment value of The Voyage Home, there's also a great premise that isn't completely unbelievable.

What an interesting idea to ponder on alien visitors communicating with Earth life, before mankind's existence. Still more interesting is the idea of man's survival being linked to creatures in ways not immediately obvious.

There's plenty of talk of how the extinction of species will affect us but it's usually done in a more biologically direct way, and never quite like this. Having said that, the slingshot around the sun (twice!) and transporting two whales into future waters of which the elemental compounds must be very different to what they're suited to, is asking a lot of the viewer to accept.

But this is all forgivable when taking into account the important (albeit on the nose) environmental message, as well as the efforts being made to keep the franchise feeling fresh.