Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

The Trek film series continued its winning streak with probably the most lighthearted entry in the series.

The success of Star Trek III naturally led to a 4th entry getting the green light. Nimoy was once again signed on to direct and given more creative leeway this time around. He and producer Harve Bennett decided to make this entry more upbeat compared to the previous two films in the series. The film, which came out for Trek's 20th anniversary, was dedicated to the crew of the Challenger, who perished earlier that year.

It's been three months since the end of the previous film and our heroes decide to leave Vulcan and return to Earth to face the music for their crimes in the previous film. At the same time, Spock is attempting to basically reintegrate himself into society.

On Earth, the Klingon ambassador is demanding that the Federation President extradite Kirk for the killing of Kruge and his crew and stealing their vessel. Sarek arrives to vouch for Kirk and company and the President informs the Klingon ambassador that Kirk is facing charges. But the ambassador is unsatisfied and storms off.

Soon afterward, a giant probe, which has already neutralized the U.S.S. Saratoga, among other vessels, is approaching Earth. As Kirk and company bid Saavik farewell and take off in their new ship, the probe neutralizes all of Earth's systems. But, at Sarek's behest, the President is able to send a distress signal, which is intercepted by our heroes. Kirk asks Uhura to produce the probe's transmission. Spock analyzes it and eventually deduces that the signal is the song of humpback whales, a species extinct in 23rd Century.

With no other option available, Kirk gives orders to prep their ship for time travel in order to find humpbacks that they can bring to their own time and hopefully stop to probe's rampage, although Bones is skeptical (not surprising). He manages to partially get a transmission of his plans through to Starfleet before the probe knocks out communications.

Spock informs Kirk the ship is ready and they set course for the late 20th Century. The time traveling practically rips the bird of prey apart but the attempt is successful, although Scotty reports that the crystals in the Klingon engine core are now useless, meaning they must find some other way to time warp back to their own time. Spock suggests safely harnessing nuclear power, which was widely used in this time. After cloaking to ensure the orbiting satellites don't detect them, the ship lands in Golden Gate Park, scaring the crap out of two garbagemen.

Our heroes disembark and head toward downtown San Francisco, where Uhura has detected whale songs. Realizing they need money to get around, Kirk pawns off the glasses McCoy gave him two movies earlier and, after making sure everyone now has cash, he and Spock head off to find the source of the whale songs, while Uhura and Chekov attempt to obtain that needed nuclear power, and Scotty, McCoy, and Sulu attempt to build a tank large enough to accomodate the whales. As Spock attempts to narrow exact coordinates on a nearby map, Kirk sees a city bus with an ad at a nearby institute which has two humpback whales currently as their guests. He and Spock eventually get on board the bus after somehow getting the needed exact change for transport.

Scotty tells Sulu and McCoy that transparent aluminum would do the trick to make the needed tank. The only problem is that that substance doesn't exist in this time, so they keep looking. Uhura and Chekov find a location which houses nuclear power, but, when they ask for directions, they keep getting confused stares, thanks to Chekov's now-famous "nuclear wessels" line. After nerve-pinching an obnoxious punk rocker, Spock and Kirk arrive at the Institute. They soon meet the whales, George and Gracie, on the tour given by their caretake, Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks). But Spock ends up making things tough when he clandestinely dives into the tank in order to mind-meld with one of the whales. This leads to Taylor kicking him and Kirk out. Uhura and Chekov contact Kirk after locating the source of the nuclear power, the naval ship Enterprise. They plan to beam in that evening, collect the photons and leave. That's when Taylor catches up with Kirk and Spock, she offers them a ride back to San Francisco. Kirk does his best to dance around her questions about their hijinks at the institute, but Spock makes it even harder when he reveals Gracie is pregnant. Kirk soon manages to get Taylor to accept that they mean the whales no harm and even gets her to go to dinner with him.

At a nearby engineering facilty, Scotty and McCoy meet up with the plant's manager and basically sweet talk him into giving them the materials they need for the tank in exchange for the formula for transparent aluminum. At the same time, Sulu manages to obtain a chopper to transport the materials.

After a confused Taylor drops Spock off at the park (where is transports back to the ship without her seeing), she and Kirk are soon dining at a nearby restaurant. His attempts to sweet talk her are briefly interrupted when Scotty contacts him (remember cell phones weren't the norm yet). This prompts Kirk to tell her that he's from the future, although she's obviously not buying that. Taylor, however, still informs him that George and Gracie are set to leave the Institute and go to Alaska the very next day. Kirk quickly hussels them both out.

After arriving on the Enterprise, Uhura and Chekov sneak around the best they can before locating the area where the ship's nuclear reactor is located. As they begin to collect its energy, Taylor drops off Kirk back at the park. He once again tells her that he needs George and Gracie but time is short and that she can find him in the park if she needs him. Her confusion increases as she hears the transporter and no Kirk after turning around.

Uhura and Chekov's activities are soon picked up by the crew on the Enterprise bridge. They quickly send security to their location and capture Chekov after Uhura beams up with the collector (Scotty states that the power shortage only allows him to take one person at a time). The Enterprise crew interrogate Chekov but quickly get pissed by his answers. After his phaser fails to stun an officer, Chekov attempts to escape but, following a brief chase, is knocked out and taken to a nearby hospital.

The next morning, Taylor is shocked to find the whales gone ahead of schedule. She quickly goes to Golden Gate Park and shouts for Kirk. That's when she sees Sulu and Scotty transporting the tank materials into the still-cloaked bird of prey. They see her and Kirk quickly beams her aboard, which convinces her of his story. She also informs him that the whales are now gone, which adds a headache as Chekov is still unaccounted for. Uhura then informs Kirk that she's located the hospital Chekov was sent to. At McCoy's urging, he, Kirk and Taylor head there to heal Chekov's injuries and bring him back, although their activities catch the attention of the doctors and police who briefly chase them down the halls before Kirk beams everyone away to safety.

Taylor wants to go with them, but Kirk says no. After giving him the frequency to track the whales, Taylor surprises him by jumping on him as he's beamed up. Kirk simply shrugs his shoulders and the ship heads for Alaska. They soon locate George and Gracie, as well as a whaling ship that's closing in on them. Fortunately, they scare the whalers off by decloaking in front of them. Scotty then uses all available power to beam up the whales and enough water for them in the now completed tank.

After briefly checking on the whales, Kirk tells Taylor to stay with Scotty as the ship attempts to head back to the 23rd Century. The attempt is successful, but the probe quickly makes short work of the bird of prey, forcing our heroes to make an emergency landing into San Francisco Bay. As everyone abandons ship, Kirk heads to the whale tank and manually unlocks it, allowing George and Gracie to swim out. Kirk soon joins the others outside the sinking bird of prey and, after a moment, the whales start communicating with the probe. Soon, the probe departs and power is restored everywhere as a shuttle arrives to pick up our heroes.

Later, Kirk and company, including Spock, are standing before the President who reads the charges against them. But he adds that recent events have led to all but one of the charges being dismissed. The remaining charge, disobeying orders of a superior officer, leads to Kirk being demoted to Captain-and given command of a starship! As everyone, including Taylor, cheers this verdict, she and Kirk bid each other farewell as she heads to the science vessel she's now assigned to. Spock and Sarek have a nice moment where the latter admits he was wrong to initially question Spock's choice to join Starfleet.

The film ends with our seven heroes heading to their new ship: the Enterprise NCC-1701-A!

Unlike the next film in the series, The Voyage Home has nice laughs that never take away from the story itself. It wraps up things nicely, and kept ensuring Trek's longevity. Indeed, Star Trek: The Next Generation would premiere the following year.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

This is probably the most underrated of the Trek movies.

The success of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan made a 3rd Trek film obvious. Naturally, some fans wondered how such a film would go without the beloved Spock. But the ending of the previous film certainly suggested the possibility that Spock could return. Hence, Paramount asked Nimoy, whose love for the character and Trek was essentially renewed during the filming of Wrath of Khan to return. Nimoy agreed on one condition: he would be allowed to direct the 3rd movie. Paramount agreed, although Nimoy said they dragged their feet on the issue before an agreement was offically made. With that, and a script by returning producer Harve Bennett, Nimoy directed his 1st feature film(he previously directed television, including an episode of Shatner's series T.J. Hooker). The film itself starts with a recap of the ending of the previous one (curiously, this is how the first few sequels to Paramount's Friday the 13th series also started). After the opening credits, Kirk states in his log that the Enterprise is heading back to Earth, while David and Saavik (now played by Robin Curtis) are exploring the newly created Genesis planet.

Elsewhere, a small vessel is awaiting a rendezvous with what turns out to be a Klingon Bird of Prey. The Klingon ship's captain, Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) is obtaining info on Genesis which his contact/lover Valkris (Catherine Schirriff) has obtained for him. When she reveals that she has seen the data for herself, Kruge subsequently destroys the ship she is on and orders his ship toward Federation space.

Arriving at the Spacedock station orbiting Earth, the Enterprise docks and the crew eyes the new U.S.S. Excelsior. That's when Chekov informs Kirk that someone has broken into Spock's quarters. Kirk goes to investigate and, upon entering, hears Spock's voice coming from a shadowed figure in a corner. Kirk quickly grabs the figure, which turns out to be McCoy, who says he wants to go home, although Bones is referring to Vulcan in this case. After McCoy collapses, Kirk orders a medical team to Spock's quarters.

Admiral Morrow (Robert Hooks) is later seen evaluating Kirk and company with high praise, although he informs Scotty that his new assignment will be as Captain of Engineering for the Excelsior and that the Enterprise is set to be retired. Morrow also informs Kirk that Genesis has become a rather controversial subject of late and that Starfleet has declared it off limits.

On his Bird of Prey, Kruge and his officers Torg and Maltz are reviewing the Genesis info, as explained by Kirk. The trio express their awe of what Genesis is capable of. After ordering Maltz away, Kruge confides in Torg that they are going to Genesis to attempt to get the secret of the device, which would potentially benefit the Klingon Empire.

We next see the U.S.S. Grissom arriving on Genesis. Aboard are David and Saavik, who begin scanning the planet and discover Spock's casket on the surface, along with a life form. This astonishes everyone as the device was not designed to create anything other than plant life. But Saavik and David convince Captain Esteban (Philip R. Allen) to let them beam down to investigate.

Kirk is at his apartment with Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura discussing recent events. The Enterprise is set to be decommissioned and McCoy is at home sedated. That's when they get an unexpected visit from Spock's father Sarek (Mark Lenard), who requests to speak to Kirk. After Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu leave, Sarek quickly cuts off Kirk's overtures to express his dismay at leaving Spock's body on Genesis. Kirk states that he didn't know what else to do, which leads to Sarek mind melding with him. Sarek is disappointed as the meld reveals that Spock did not mind meld with Kirk, as Sarek thought he had. That's when Kirk thinks that Spock may have potentially done so with someone else.

Looking at records from the previous film, they discover that Spock mind melded with McCoy before he went into the radiation chamber. Sarek says that this means McCoy now possesses Spock's katra, his spirit, and must be brought to Vulcan with Spock's body in order for McCoy's madness to stop. Kirk vows to do so. Saavik and David beam down and find Spock's casket, which is empty, save for Spock's burial robe. They also find small, wormlike creatures surrounding the casket. But they are startled by a small tremor accompanied by what sounds like a cry.

At Spacedock, Morrow denies Kirk's request to go to Genesis and implores him to not pursue the matter further. Meeting up with Sulu and Chekov, Kirk says he's going anyway and they give him their full support. Elsewhere, McCoy is at a bar, where he meets an alien, whom McCoy is trying to get to take him to Genesis. But the alien freaks out when Bones tells him of his destination, prompting a nearby security officer to take McCoy into custody.

Kirk arrives to visit McCoy at his cell, which is a prelude to a break out, which Sulu quickly assists with after arriving himself. They meet up with Uhura who, after forcing a dorky officer manning the transporter with her into a nearby closet, says she'll keep him occupied and meet up with them at Vulcan before beaming the trio to the Enterprise. There, they meet up with Scotty and Chekov. Kirk says that they can still change their minds as he and McCoy are the ones who must do this, but they defiantly stand with Kirk. With that, they get the ship ready to depart. The Excelsior's captain Styles (James B. Sikking) is informed of this and powers his ship up to pursue. After getting the Spacedock doors open, the Enterprise quickly warps away. The Excelsior attempts to follow suit, only to realize their warp engines won't activate and the ship is left adrift.

Scotty informs everyone that he disabled the Excelsior's engines before arriving on the Enterprise, which Kirk quickly orders to Genesis. David and Saavik, now in a snow covered desert, soon find the other life form, a mute Vulcan child Saavik realizes is Spock. David says Genesis regenerated Spock to give him this youthful appearance. Saavik calls the Grissom and requests that they beam up. But Esteban decides to call Starfleet first. However, his message is jammed as Kruge's ship arrives. He orders his gunner to disable the Grissom, and kills the gunner when the torpedo fired ends up destroying the ship instead. But Torg informs Kruge that there are people on the planet who could be useful.

As the Enterprise continues toward Genesis, David admits to Saavik that the reason Genesis is being so wacky like this is because he put to bad mojo into the device in order to cut a few scientific corners. She berates him n her Vulcan way for doing so. Kruge and two of his men come across Spock's casket and see that the worms have grown. Kruge shows off his Klingon strength by killing one of them. That night, Saavik notes that Spock's rapid aging is leading to Pon Farr. That's when they realize they are being followed and David volunteers to see who it is. The Enterprise arrives at Genesis, with our heroes puzzled that the Grissom isn't responding to Starfleet's hails. Kruge soon captures Saavik, David and Spock but, before he can do anything, is informed that the Enterprise is approaching. With his ship still cloaked, Kruge returns and attempts to disable the Enterprise. But Kirk and Sulu realize that there is a cloaked ship nearby and prep for battle themselves. As Kruge's ship decloaks, the Enterprise disables it, killing Kruge's vicious looking dog. But Kruge manages to return fire and, with the shields disabled, the Enterprise takes its own direct hit. Kruge is surprised that the ship is now disabled. Kirk subsequently hails him asking why he's in Federation space. Kruge replies that he has hostages connected with Genesis and will kill them if Kirk doesn't surrender. Kirk manages to talk to Saavik, who informs him that Spock is among them, and David, who admits that he is the reason Genesis is now destablizing and will soon destroy itself. Kruge then proves his serious by ordering one of the prisoners killed. One Klingon takes out a huge knife and moves toward Saavik before David intervenes and, after a brief struggle is killed.

A devestated Kirk agrees to surrender, while Kruge orders his men to prepare to board the Enterprise. Kirk orders Sulu and McCoy to the transporter room while he, Scotty, and Chekov arm the ship's auto-destruct. The five beams down mere seconds before Kruge's men arrive. Reaching the bridge, Torg informs Kruge that the ship is empty and allows his captain to listen to the computer he hears on the bridge. Recognizing it's a countdown, Kruge unsuccessfully orders his men back before the ship blows up.

Watching the destruction of their beloved ship from the surface of Genesis, Bones reassures Kirk that he's, once again, turned death into a fighting chance to live. Sulu points the way to life forms and our heroes soon take out one Klingon upon reaching them while Spock, now deeper in Pon Farr, previously took out the other. After briefly mourning David's nearby body, Saavik informs Kirk that the only way to help Spock, whom McCoy has now sedated, is to get him off the planet. Seeing a Klingon communicator, Kirk contacts a devastated Kruge and says, if he wants Genesis, he has to beam everyone up to his ship. But Kruge beams down himself, where he disarms Kirk and has everyone else except Spock beamed to his ship. Kruge demands Genesis, but Kirk states that they must work together as the planet is destroying itself. This leads to a fight with Kirk ultimately triumphing. He goes to Spock's body and, after realizing he looks like Nimoy again, imitates Kruge's voice in order to be beamed up.

Quickly subduing Maltz (John Larroquette), who is last of Kruge's men, the crew manage to take the Klingon ship to Vulcan. En route, there is a touching scene with McCoy telling Spock that he missed him and wouldn't want to lose him again. Arriving at Vulcan, they meet up with Uhura and Sarek, who takes everyone to the Vulcan priestess T'Lar (Dame Judith Anderson). Sarek requests the ancient ritual known as Fal Tor Pan, to put Spock's consciousness back into his body. T'Lar informs him that the ritual is simply a legend and is potentially dangerous, both to Spock and McCoy, who amusing agrees to submit to it. The crew wait throughout the subsequent evening as T'Lar simultaneously melds with Spock and McCoy.

At dawn, McCoy informs Kirk that he's fine, but Sarek says that they must wait regarding Spock. He thanks Kirk and expresses sadness that this effort has essentially cost Kirk both his son and his ship. But Kirk says he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he hadn't at least tried. Spock is quietly brought out and quietly looks at each of his comrades before stopping finally at Kirk. He asks why Kirk would do this for him, and the film ends with Spock slowly but surely recognizing him and everyone else.

Nimoy being signed on as director of the film pretty much told everyone that Spock would return. While on the one hand, this may have diminished some of the power of Wrath of Khan, this film still managed to surprise me. Unlike the previous year's Return of the Jedi, The Search for Spock, like Wrath of Khan, has a bittersweet ending, even though our heroes have accomplished their objective of getting their pal back, essentially repaying him for saving them at the end of the previous film. Indeed, sacrifice plays a part in this film, too. Kirk and company's decision to throw their careers away to restore Spock to life ends up costing Kirk both his son and even his ship. Hence, for the next two years, while I suspected our heroes would get a new ship in the inevitable Star Trek IV, I also knew that there were some issues that needed to be addresed before they could enjoy their new home!