“Everybody remember where we parked!”, the Shuttle Pod crew goes to find a “nuclear wessel” as they look back at the success and general all around love Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home gets from fans and the movie going public alike.
Subscribe to Shuttle Pod: The TrekMovie.com Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music and Pocket Casts! Like what you hear? Please feel free to leave us a glowing review on iTunes.
Listen in as Brian, Jared, Kayla, and Matt discuss their memories of the movie, how it holds up today, and how the success of The Voyage Home helped sow the seeds for the return of Trek on TV with Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Shuttle Pod 46: A look back at ‘The Voyage Home’
|
The movie also had some memorable guest stars including John Schuck’s theatrical Klingon Ambassador (who would reappear in Star Trek VI), Dr. Nichols (and his “I Quit Smoking” badge) who gets the gift of transparent aluminum from Scotty, and the brief but amusing and quirky appearance of Dr. Nichols’ secretary, Madelaine.
Scotty tries talking to a Macintosh computer, about 30 years too soon for Siri
Not now Madelaine!
Never cared much for it. Cool poster, though.
I’ve always considered it the worst Trek movie ever. It was a tired retread of a story. The jokes mostly fell flat. And too many characters acted very different from themselves for no reason whatsoever. For me, the less said about this film the better. Funny how the bad Treks (think Voyage Home and Into Darkness) seem to resonate with the general public….
You’ll have to do better than that. The “worst Trek movie ever”? Even if that possibility were true, you’d better bring your A-Game. Trash one of the best Trek movies ever and then conveniently say “the less said, the better”?
Own it. “Retread…”? Of???? Jokes landed “flat”? For you … and who else?
Or are we just fishing for readers these days?
STIV was a conscious response and counterbalance to the heavy handed intensity of II and III (also great films). In short, a film made by those with a long term devotion to the franchise. How is there any similarity here to STiD?
Holden… Yes. It’s a retread. Time travel had been done to death in Trek. The jokes didn’t work. The evidence being that there were no laughs. Just groans. And it’s not the actors fault. Shatner has shown he had great comic timing in The Trouble with Tribbles and from his time on Boston Legal. TwT was a light Trek that WORKED. I get that they wanted a lighter tone after two more serious flicks. That makes sense. But it sure would be nice of the lighter tone, you know… Worked. That movie was filled with groans, plot holes, the worst writing of all the films and really bad acting from a cast that normally know their parts very very well. (granted it was more the material they had to work with) The similarity to Darkness is that of the Kelvin films, it made the most money (meaning it resonated with the most non Trek fan movie goers) and was the worst of the three. Of the Prime timeline films, VH made the most money (meaning it resonated with the most non-Trek fan movie goers) and was the worst Trek movie of the bunch. I thought that point was rather clear when I mentioned that those two films seemed to resonate with the general public.
If Star Trek IV had not been so commercially successful, it’s doubtful the studio would have green-lit further Trek projects (like TNG or additional movies). Like it or not, it re-energized the series.
I sorta thought WOK did that.
Yeah, this one broke the (then) huge 100 million barrier, and received great reviews. The second movie made less than the first, but this one knocked it out of the park. It was a big hit among “casual” Trek fans, too.
” It was a big hit among “casual” Trek fans, too.”
So was Into Darkness.
I love Italian… and so do you.
I couldn’t stand the movie growing up. But it’s grown on me. Solid middle-half on the good-to-bad scale of all Star Trek movies.
It was and remains my favorite Trek movie. It’s fun and there’s palpable caring between the characters. Sci-fi stuff is only okay without characters I truly care about. I’ve loved these characters for decades.
I thought this was a great movie, light-hearted. I enjoyed it a lot. took a break from the drama of the other movies.
We wore this VHS tape out in college, loved the movie, still do. So many quotable moments, and the chemistry amongst the original crew was palpable. I’m sure I’m dating myself in saying this, but one of my favorites.
Laughed when I saw the title of the article.
Good film.
Of the TOS films, VI is my favorite.
Just wanted to say, taking a jab at Superhero films was unnecessary.
The 80s were not the start of the Superhero film.
It started in 2000 With X-Men.
Why X-Men? You mean the modern revival, right? Because it all started in a big way in ’78 with Superman.
Yes, the modern revival.
I should have qualified that.
It’s a hilarious moment, when Madelein innocently walks in on Stuart Pankin being given the secret of transparent aluminum, which could make him “rich beyond dreams of avarice.” This movie is chock full of great, quotable lines like that. It’s THE BIG LEBOWSKI of the Star Trek franchise in that respect.
I saw this in the theater when I was 12 and didn’t much care for it. The witty humor was lost on me, there wasn’t much action, hardly any space adventure, and it just seemed lame to my 12-year-old sensibilities——a movie about whales? I wanted something like TWOK or even TSFS, and this movie was Milquetoast.
As an adult, however, I have always loved this movie, for all of the reasons covered in the podcast. And I’ll add that the “retard” line is one of the funniest in the movie. As Jerry Seinfeld says, political correctness is the enemy of comedy. As Kayla suggested, if you need to, you can just think of the character who says that line as being a bit ignorant or whatever and not up on the latest medical lingo for mental conditions that were generally referred to for many years non-disparagingly as “mental retardation.” He’s a frustrated guy trying to do his job and getting nowhere. We’ve all been there at some point. I’ve never felt it necessary to judge him.
Wonderful Star Trek film, brought much respect from non Star Trek people.
Leonard Nimoy loved making this movie. When he did a convention in London in 2004 he brought his outtake video with him, was very proud of it.
The one with the Whales.
“Trek IV” is still the best film of the series. Its a great compelling story and it features all of the beloved characters that we know and love. If you don’t like this film, I’d say your not a Trek fan.
“Trek II” and “Trek VI” are more Trek-centric and not as pleasing to the general public. I agree with the earlier poster who mentioned that the great box office of Trek IV definitely helped to keep the franchise alive.
“If you don’t like this film, I’d say your not a Trek fan.”
Funny… I’d say if you loved this film then you really don’t know much about Trek.
Or…you can just let people talk about what they like or dislike without characterizing their view as not being that of a “real fan”. That’s real gatekeeper crap.
Make you wonder – how are they going to save the planet in the Kelvin timeline? The series of events that led to our intrepid crew being in the right place at the right time, in a Klingon ship equipped with a cloak, with a resurrected Spock, are not going to happen in this alternate universe.
One of my favorite Trek movies event though there are less spaceships in it. I remember being a student at UC Santa Cruz and how excited everyone was that they were filming a Star Trek movie just over at the new Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was also one of the first movies that you could buy on VHS at a grocery store. I went out right away and bought it. It’s got some flat acting and some tired jokes but it also has great warmth humor and the problems are solved without violence. I loved how they used the Bird of Prey to do a GreenPeace type intervention between the Russian whaleboat and the whales.
Side note: The whalers in the movie were actually Finnish, not Russian
Doh, I thought Russian didn’t sound quite right. Thanks!