Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Remastered) [Blu-ray]

Having restored Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) life via the Genesis planet and a return to the planet Vulcan during the third film, the crew of the lost U.S.S. Enterprise now waits on Vulcan for repairs on their captured Klingon scout-class ship, as well as for Spock to retrain his mind, before returning to Earth to face various charges for having disobeyed orders. The crew includes Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Commander Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott (James Doohan), Commader Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Commander Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). The Klingons are also very angry with Kirk as expressed by the Klingon Ambassador (John Schuck) to the Federation President (Robert Ellenstein) in front of the full Federation Council, but the cool logic of Vulcan Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) prevails. While on Vulcan, Spock gets to spend time with his human mother, Amanda (Jane Wyatt, who once played his mother in the 1967 "Star Trek" television series episode "Journey to Babel"). Also, a brief appearance is made by Lt. Saavic (Robin Curtis), who unfortunately never returns in any other "Star Trek" film. With their Klingon ship ready for departure, Spock and his Enterprise shipmates begin their voyage to Earth; but unknown to them, a bizarre space probe also en route for Earth has been wreaking havoc on any ship that approaches it. Arriving at Earth first, the probe turns Earth's atmosphere into chaos as it waits for a signal that the Federation cannot discern. Receiving a planetary distress call from Earth, Spock identifies what the probe wants: communication with long extinct whales. To save Earth, Kirk makes the decision for them to travel back in time to bring back whales to the present.

"Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" has more memorable scenes than could be mentioned here, but some of the best include: McCoy's conversations with Spock, the crew on the streets of twentieth-century San Francisco, Uhura and Chekov looking for nuclear vessels, McCoy and Scotty visiting the production facility, Kirk & Spock on a city bus, Kirk & Spock's conversations with Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), Kirk's dinner with Gillian, and McCoy with Kirk & Gillian at the city hospital. Everyone's acting (including Shatner) was very good for this film, but what makes this film stand out from the rest is the emphasis on all of the original crew members. Each of the crew members have time on screen, contribute to the story and have a reasonable amount of dialog. Other familiar "Star Trek" characters have cameos in the film: Dr. Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett) and Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). Another cast member in this film who later plays a pivotal role in the sixth "Star Trek" film is Admiral Cartwright (Brock Peters).

Overall, my rating of for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" is a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. This film, along with the 1982 film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" and the later 1996 film "Star Trek VIII: First Contact", are the three best films ever made of the franchise; but this film will always stand out as being the most humorous, having the best & most memorable dialog and having the greatest spirit of the three. I highly recommend it to everyone who, in any form, has liked "Star Trek".


One of the best of the original six!   September 4, 2002
K. Wyatt (St. Louis, MO United States)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Star Trek IV The Voyage Home, in my opinion, is clearly one of the best out of the TOS six. Although not as high in the suspense aspect, like Leonard Nimoy says, it was good to lighten up a bit and have a good time with Star Trek. While other reviewers might feel the humurous aspects of this film wearout after repeated viewings. I understand that statement, but don't feel the same. I can still get a laugh out of these scenes even though I've seen them more times than I can remember. I especially love the scene with Scotty being handed a mouse and him trying to talk to it. Again, one of the best Star Trek films out of the original six. If you're one of the few people who've not seen this or are new to the genre, I definitely suggest you add this DVD to your collection.


EXCELLENT!   March 28, 2003
Axel Law (Derby, KS, USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

After the often overshadowed Star Trek III, producer Harve Bennett and returning director Leonard Nimoy wanted to make a light-hearted adventure with no deaths. That was understandable because III had the destruction of the Enterprise, the death of Kirk's son, and an overall serious revival adventure for Mr. Spock. After a script by Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes (with Eddie Murphy originally supposed to have a role because he was a big Trek fan), Harve Bennett needed a rewrite. The man chosen: Nicholas Meyer, writer and director of Star Trek II.

What we have here is one of the magnum efforts in the series. Not only does it deliver solid laughs from start (ok, more so middle) to finish, it is also a grand adventure that Roddenberry probably loved. The relationships between the characters are fully exploited here and Nicholas Meyer even takes advantage of Spock's rebirth as humor. The laughs? Filled with classics like Scotty's "Hello computer" scene or the hospital chase scene, this film perfectly blends urban realities with the world of Star Trek in a similar way to Beverly Hills Cop's blending of action and comedy.

The only thing that flaws this film is Leonard Rosenman's somewhat lackluster score. The film manages to blend (or hide, depending on if you like the score or not) the music enough that you really don't notice it. I still would've preferred James Horner or Jerry Goldsmith, but I'm not complaining.

Hate Star Trek? Watch this film. Even if you hate Star Trek, this will keep you entertained. An excellent film in every sense of the word with great humor abounds. Some people may claim II or VI as the best, but this one's got its share of moments. If you're looking for great humor and a decent story (ok, it's corny... "save the whales", so what?), this one's for you.


Star Trek IV Special Edition is a Home Run   March 4, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

First of all, I want to set the record strait. Reviewer stinky-but-nice said 9 minutes were cut out. Maybe someone somewhere made a running time mistake, but I just bought and watched this DVD, and it is, minute for minute, scene for scene, the ORIGINAL movie. Nothing was cut out (I've seen this movie MANY times.)

That being said, WOW. Great stuff. Nimoy and Shatner's commentary was a bit personal, and sometimes off subject, but never boring. The 6 hours of bonus footage comes mostly in the form of well produced featurettes, some of which were downright educational in a Science Channel kind of way. But it's all on topic, and GOOD. I enjoyed it all immensely.

On a final, bit more personal note: Most DVD's I buy or rent that have added features lack something very important to me: subtitles on the featurettes. I am hearing impaired, and often have trouble understanding all the stuff being said. To date, all the Star Trek special editions have full subtitles for the hearing impaired on their featurettes. With over 6 hours of added features on Star Trek IV, this obviously enhances my experience of the DVD greatly.

If you are a Star Trek fan, or just someone who saw this movie and loved it, this will be a great addition to your library.


A Whale of a Tale...Star Trek IV Soars   June 14, 2003
Alex Diaz-Granados (Miami, FL United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Star Trek IV Review

With the success of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, writer-producer Harve Bennett and director Leonard Nimoy were given the green light by Paramount to wrap up the storyline that began with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. There were several plot strands left to tie up, after all, what with Spock having to be re-educated and Kirk and his crew facing a court-martial for the actions they took in the rescue of their half-Vulcan comrade.

Set barely three months after the events of the third film, Star Trek IV opens with a mysterious alien probe cruising toward the Terran system. Its passage immobilizes any starship it passes as it inexorably makes its way to Earth.

Meanwhile, on Vulcan, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) hurriedly undergoes retraining of his mind. In a wonderfully written scene, the former Enterprise science officer breezes through the quizzes a computer tosses at him until he is stumped by the question "How do you feel?"

Spock's human mother, Amanda (Jane Wyatt, reprising her role from The Original Series' "Journey to Babel") hears the computer repeating the question over and over and sidles over to her son. "What's wrong?"

"I do not understand the question, Mother," says a puzzled Spock.

Amanda explains that the retraining of Spock's mind has been in the Vulcan way, but that the computer knows that Spock is half-human, and that his feelings will surface. Spock is skeptical about the concept of having human emotions (since in the series he strived to be more Vulcan-than-thou), but his mother explains that he is alive at that moment because his friends acted out of their emotional nature, disregarding the "logic" of simply obeying Starfleet orders and refraining from fetching Spock from the Genesis planet.

On Earth, the Klingon ambassador (John Schuck) warns the Federation that there will be no peace while Kirk remains alive and unpunished for stealing the Klingon Bird-of-Prey and defeating its crew (preventing Cmdr. Kruge from obtaining the secrets of Genesis). The Federation president promises there will be a court martial, but the Klingons scoff at this.

Even as the Enterprise crew - aboard their stolen Klingon vessel - races home to face the consequences of their actions, the alien probe arrives. Sending a signal to Earth's ocean, it disrupts the planet's climate, causing chaos and world-wide disasters.

The Voyage Home had a tortuous development. At first, the original screenplay by Peter Krikes and Steve Meerson focused on a time travel story tailor-made for guest star Eddie Murphy. Fans heard about this and - as with the death of Spock and the destruction of the Enterprise - protested. Paramount also resisted the idea of mixing two of the studio's franchises, so Murphy and Star Trek never did mix. There was also some nasty behind-the-scenes wrangling about the screenplay, because the Krikes-Meerson version was heavily rewritten by Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett - an incident overlooked in the documentaries and commentaries. Eventually the original writers won shared credit for the screenplay, and The Voyage Home was released in the summer of 1986. Notably, this more light-hearted film had major crossover appeal, charming not only Star Trek fans, but also wider audiences.

With its clever script and wonderful mix of sci-fi adventure, social commentary, comedy, romance, and drama, Star Trek IV became the most popular entry of the 10 movies made between 1979 and 2002.

This Collector's Edition offers one disc with the theatrical cut of the movie, enhanced with a new menu, Dolby surround sound, a commentary track by director Leonard Nimoy and actor William Shatner, plus a text commentary by Star Trek Encyclopedia authors Mike and Denise Okuda. The second disc comes with the usual documentaries, interviews, and the theatrical trailer.