So I watched “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” for the first time in a little over two years and wanted to share some thoughts and realizations I had about it. I think the main problem I have with it is the same complaint I’ve made about Star Trek VI - inconsistency. I’ve complained many times that I think Star Trek VI begins and ends strongly, but gets sidetracked in the middle with prison sequences that tend to drag the movie down. In Star Trek IV, I see the same problem, but in a different order - some very limp opening and closing scenes bookending an absolutely perfect middle. In an interview on the DVD, Harve Bennett explains that he wrote all the space stuff at the beginning and end, and Nicholas Meyer wrote all the stuff in San Francisco. I think this explains exactly why the movie is better in parts than as a whole for me.
I have a lot of respect for Bennett’s influence over the creative and budgetary decisions made for the first few Star Trek movies, but I think his writing was a little too dry. He’s good at exposition, but what appeals to me most in writing is good dialogue and character interaction. I think Nicholas Meyer brought that to “Star Trek IV” more than Bennett. When Nicholas Meyer takes over writing duties with Spock’s brilliantly funny line about the pollution content, that’s when the movie really takes off.
After watching both The Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home again, what I’m most delighted to realize is how effectively they show us the maturity of all the characters, and how generously their scripts provide many of the characters the opportunity to display their personalities more than the show ever did. I think the absence of these two elements is a big reason why the TNG movies didn’t work so well.
Those movies were made right after the series ended, so the actors hadn’t aged much before making the transition to movies. As for giving the characters more room to breathe, TNG is actually the opposite in that it did more for them on the show than it did in the movies! Consider the fact that Worf, Troi, Geordi, and even Dr. Crusher got entire episodes devoted to them, but were reduced to just a few lines in most of the movies.
In the case of the original series, the actors were ten years older before they started doing the features. As a result, their aging was reflected both in the way they played the characters and (in a smart move by writers of the movies) in the way the characters were written too. Star Trek II and IV are great examples of that. In Star Trek IV, we are able to see Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a new light both because the actors play them as older, and because they’re put in situations unlike any we’ve ever seen them in.
Kirk, who was so confident, aggressive, and even full of himself sometimes on the show is suddenly depicted as befuddled, gentle, and square. And this isn’t done in a mocking way…it just feels natural. It’s not out of character or disrespectful to the character - it’s endearing and organic to the story. Of course he’s going to be out of it and come across as unhip…he has mellowed in his old age and is now faced with a culture he can’t possibly fit in with or understand the way someone born into it could. He feels just like many people feel when they get older and lose touch with their rapidly changing society’s customs, trends, etc.
It’s ingenious the way the time travel in the movie is like a metaphor for the struggle of the middle-aged person in the young person’s world. The metaphor is even more pronounced with Spock as he had trouble relating to humans in his own time period. Thrown into the past, he’s twice as out of place, making the comedic possibilities in his interactions with them twice as rich.
McCoy has always had a bit of a superiority complex in his arguments with Spock and Kirk, and being able to bring his knowledge of the future to the past, he’s allowed to act more superior to everyone else than ever, because he undeniably is. His scolding of the “primitive” doctors in the hospital is the ultimate “doctor knows best” McCoy moment. And this leads to the other point I was making - how the other great thing about the movie is that it gives almost every member of the cast their own great scene or moment that they were never able to have on the show, to either highlight what we already knew and liked most about their characters, or tell us a little more about them.
We get Chekov’s quirky social awkwardness and delusions of grandeur exposed and played to maximum possible comedic effect with his wonderful interrogation, chase, and recovery in the hospital. Scotty’s passion for his work and joy at being appreciated for it comes across in his charade at the factory, and Sulu’s love of piloting is showcased in his brief, but sweet helicopter scene. The only character who gets just as overlooked in the movie as she was on the show is Uhura unfortunately, but at least the rest of the cast is given a chance to shine.
The other excellent accomplishment of the San Francisco scenes is to show us how insular the Star Trek world is. We’re so used to seeing these characters in their own world where the way they talk and think is accepted and respected by everyone that we forget out how strange and off-putting it would be to most people. It also serves as a clever metaphor for Star Trek fans. For us it feels natural to talk about this stuff, but for the uninitiated, a lot of what we say would sound like some weird other language.
While I did say that I felt beginning and ending parts of the movie were a little dull as they lacked the entertaining adventure and dialogue of the middle section, but I believe the actual final scenes were about as good an ending as this series could have. The parts at the start and end of the movie that bore me are those just tying up loose ends from Star Trek III (and the landing in the water, which goes on way too long) but I must applaud Bennett for Kirk’s goodbye to the Gillian Taylor, and Spock’s conversation with his father shortly after.
I watched “Journey to Babel” before the movie, and I highly recommend doing the same to all of you before the next time you watch the movie again. It gives that final conversation a beautiful poignancy. I think having Spock’s father finally make peace with him and accept his career path after so many years of disapproving disappointment towards Spock’s decision to join Starfleet is a superbly touching choice for an ending.
The Voyage Home is hampered by fairly routine opening and closing scenes, but because of the love it shows the cast in the middle section (other than Uhura) and the fantastic dual goodbyes that it ends with, I think overall it drew attention to the best qualities of Rodenberry’s characters better than any of the other movies. For that reason, I think it could have made a lovely swan song. Think about it. The crew finally got home after all the ordeals of the previous films. They received a new Enterprise. They are clearly shown to be older, wiser, and ready to embark on new adventures with knowledge and experience they hadn’t been able to bring to their original mission. I can’t think of a better way to have sent them off.
Additional assorted observations and questions about the movie…
* I love their actual words to each other in their goodbye…but what was with the kiss between Kirk and Gillian Taylor? I guess it was supposed to be gentle rather than passionate since they had more of a casual flirtation than a full-fledged romance, but to me it just looked like an actress trying really hard to kiss someone as little as possible. It’s like she knew she had to kiss him, but didn’t really want to. Did anyone else see it that way?
* Why do the rest of the characters get to wander around sunny San Francisco in casual wear while poor Uhura is stuck wearing her bulky, conspicuous uniform? I felt bad for her having to run around in that thing while everyone else was most likely much more comfortable. Did she forget to pack her off-duty clothes?
* Does anyone else think maybe the landing in San Francisco bay was allowed to go on way too long just so the cast could goof off in the water longer? It seems to be dragged out to an unnecessary length just so after countless takes Shatner can finally pull Nimoy into the water! It was funny watching Nimoy try to avoid breaking character by doing his best to make his obvious smiles look like grimaces as he takes in the absurdity of being drenched with water while wearing his Vulcan robe.
* If McCoy was the comedic MVP of “Star Trek II”, Chekhov was clearly the inheritor of that role in “Star Trek IV”. In addition to his famous “Nuclear Wessels” lines, he does some absolutely hysterical acting both verbally and physically with his giddy expression after announcing to Kirk that the vessel they’ve found is called “The Enterprise,” the aforementioned pitifully hilarious interrogation scene blunders, and his smile and self-promotion when he regains consciousness in the hospital.
I have a lot of respect for Bennett’s influence over the creative and budgetary decisions made for the first few Star Trek movies, but I think his writing was a little too dry. He’s good at exposition, but what appeals to me most in writing is good dialogue and character interaction. I think Nicholas Meyer brought that to “Star Trek IV” more than Bennett. When Nicholas Meyer takes over writing duties with Spock’s brilliantly funny line about the pollution content, that’s when the movie really takes off.
After watching both The Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home again, what I’m most delighted to realize is how effectively they show us the maturity of all the characters, and how generously their scripts provide many of the characters the opportunity to display their personalities more than the show ever did. I think the absence of these two elements is a big reason why the TNG movies didn’t work so well.
Those movies were made right after the series ended, so the actors hadn’t aged much before making the transition to movies. As for giving the characters more room to breathe, TNG is actually the opposite in that it did more for them on the show than it did in the movies! Consider the fact that Worf, Troi, Geordi, and even Dr. Crusher got entire episodes devoted to them, but were reduced to just a few lines in most of the movies.
In the case of the original series, the actors were ten years older before they started doing the features. As a result, their aging was reflected both in the way they played the characters and (in a smart move by writers of the movies) in the way the characters were written too. Star Trek II and IV are great examples of that. In Star Trek IV, we are able to see Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a new light both because the actors play them as older, and because they’re put in situations unlike any we’ve ever seen them in.
Kirk, who was so confident, aggressive, and even full of himself sometimes on the show is suddenly depicted as befuddled, gentle, and square. And this isn’t done in a mocking way…it just feels natural. It’s not out of character or disrespectful to the character - it’s endearing and organic to the story. Of course he’s going to be out of it and come across as unhip…he has mellowed in his old age and is now faced with a culture he can’t possibly fit in with or understand the way someone born into it could. He feels just like many people feel when they get older and lose touch with their rapidly changing society’s customs, trends, etc.
It’s ingenious the way the time travel in the movie is like a metaphor for the struggle of the middle-aged person in the young person’s world. The metaphor is even more pronounced with Spock as he had trouble relating to humans in his own time period. Thrown into the past, he’s twice as out of place, making the comedic possibilities in his interactions with them twice as rich.
McCoy has always had a bit of a superiority complex in his arguments with Spock and Kirk, and being able to bring his knowledge of the future to the past, he’s allowed to act more superior to everyone else than ever, because he undeniably is. His scolding of the “primitive” doctors in the hospital is the ultimate “doctor knows best” McCoy moment. And this leads to the other point I was making - how the other great thing about the movie is that it gives almost every member of the cast their own great scene or moment that they were never able to have on the show, to either highlight what we already knew and liked most about their characters, or tell us a little more about them.
We get Chekov’s quirky social awkwardness and delusions of grandeur exposed and played to maximum possible comedic effect with his wonderful interrogation, chase, and recovery in the hospital. Scotty’s passion for his work and joy at being appreciated for it comes across in his charade at the factory, and Sulu’s love of piloting is showcased in his brief, but sweet helicopter scene. The only character who gets just as overlooked in the movie as she was on the show is Uhura unfortunately, but at least the rest of the cast is given a chance to shine.
The other excellent accomplishment of the San Francisco scenes is to show us how insular the Star Trek world is. We’re so used to seeing these characters in their own world where the way they talk and think is accepted and respected by everyone that we forget out how strange and off-putting it would be to most people. It also serves as a clever metaphor for Star Trek fans. For us it feels natural to talk about this stuff, but for the uninitiated, a lot of what we say would sound like some weird other language.
While I did say that I felt beginning and ending parts of the movie were a little dull as they lacked the entertaining adventure and dialogue of the middle section, but I believe the actual final scenes were about as good an ending as this series could have. The parts at the start and end of the movie that bore me are those just tying up loose ends from Star Trek III (and the landing in the water, which goes on way too long) but I must applaud Bennett for Kirk’s goodbye to the Gillian Taylor, and Spock’s conversation with his father shortly after.
I watched “Journey to Babel” before the movie, and I highly recommend doing the same to all of you before the next time you watch the movie again. It gives that final conversation a beautiful poignancy. I think having Spock’s father finally make peace with him and accept his career path after so many years of disapproving disappointment towards Spock’s decision to join Starfleet is a superbly touching choice for an ending.
The Voyage Home is hampered by fairly routine opening and closing scenes, but because of the love it shows the cast in the middle section (other than Uhura) and the fantastic dual goodbyes that it ends with, I think overall it drew attention to the best qualities of Rodenberry’s characters better than any of the other movies. For that reason, I think it could have made a lovely swan song. Think about it. The crew finally got home after all the ordeals of the previous films. They received a new Enterprise. They are clearly shown to be older, wiser, and ready to embark on new adventures with knowledge and experience they hadn’t been able to bring to their original mission. I can’t think of a better way to have sent them off.
Additional assorted observations and questions about the movie…
* I love their actual words to each other in their goodbye…but what was with the kiss between Kirk and Gillian Taylor? I guess it was supposed to be gentle rather than passionate since they had more of a casual flirtation than a full-fledged romance, but to me it just looked like an actress trying really hard to kiss someone as little as possible. It’s like she knew she had to kiss him, but didn’t really want to. Did anyone else see it that way?
* Why do the rest of the characters get to wander around sunny San Francisco in casual wear while poor Uhura is stuck wearing her bulky, conspicuous uniform? I felt bad for her having to run around in that thing while everyone else was most likely much more comfortable. Did she forget to pack her off-duty clothes?
* Does anyone else think maybe the landing in San Francisco bay was allowed to go on way too long just so the cast could goof off in the water longer? It seems to be dragged out to an unnecessary length just so after countless takes Shatner can finally pull Nimoy into the water! It was funny watching Nimoy try to avoid breaking character by doing his best to make his obvious smiles look like grimaces as he takes in the absurdity of being drenched with water while wearing his Vulcan robe.
* If McCoy was the comedic MVP of “Star Trek II”, Chekhov was clearly the inheritor of that role in “Star Trek IV”. In addition to his famous “Nuclear Wessels” lines, he does some absolutely hysterical acting both verbally and physically with his giddy expression after announcing to Kirk that the vessel they’ve found is called “The Enterprise,” the aforementioned pitifully hilarious interrogation scene blunders, and his smile and self-promotion when he regains consciousness in the hospital.
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