Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Dir. Leonard Nimoy
Star Trek II, III and IV are a connected trilogy, with each film telling its own story but equally one part of a longer three-part journey. Among other things, the end section explores the dangers of shortsightedness, while highlighting mankind's follies and the consequences of actions.
During a return voyage to face the music after stealing the Federation's flagship, the close-knit group find themselves in temporal trouble.
Previously they were fighting against time to help their friend. This time they're traversing time itself in order to help the whole of Earth, which is under threat from a powerful probe of unknown origin.
The Voyage Home has its detractors, like all things inevitably have, but I'm a big fan of it.
There's something absurdly entertaining in seeing the ship's crew wander around San Francisco like a retirement home science club on a field trip.
The comedy isn't targeted specifically at fans of the franchise, but I do think that they'll get more out of that side of it than a casual viewer will, given that many of the jokes are character-based.
I can understand the grievances that some folks have, it's a sci-fi movie with very little actual sci-fi, but it has real heart, which for me is an even greater and more rewarding ingredient.
In the interests of balance, depending on your disposition you can think of it as a Trek movie with an important ecological message to the fore, or an ecological message movie with some Trek adventuring throughout. Both viewpoints work and both are equally as effective, imo.
During a return voyage to face the music after stealing the Federation's flagship, the close-knit group find themselves in temporal trouble.
Previously they were fighting against time to help their friend. This time they're traversing time itself in order to help the whole of Earth, which is under threat from a powerful probe of unknown origin.
The Voyage Home has its detractors, like all things inevitably have, but I'm a big fan of it.
There's something absurdly entertaining in seeing the ship's crew wander around San Francisco like a retirement home science club on a field trip.
The comedy isn't targeted specifically at fans of the franchise, but I do think that they'll get more out of that side of it than a casual viewer will, given that many of the jokes are character-based.
I can understand the grievances that some folks have, it's a sci-fi movie with very little actual sci-fi, but it has real heart, which for me is an even greater and more rewarding ingredient.
In the interests of balance, depending on your disposition you can think of it as a Trek movie with an important ecological message to the fore, or an ecological message movie with some Trek adventuring throughout. Both viewpoints work and both are equally as effective, imo.
Note: The Voyage Home contains stock footage of hunters catching and killing some innocent creatures of the sea. I have a policy on The 7th of not giving attention to anything that uses animal cruelty as entertainment, but I don’t feel the scene in question is of that nature. Rather, its intent is the opposite: it shows the horror of what goes on in order to educate and illuminate. Without crossing over into preachy territory, it manages to point a finger and say such acts are deplorable and unpardonable. It's limited to one scene, but it's direct and it pulls no punches.
- Alfred Bester successfully poses as Pavel Chekov. -
No comments:
Post a Comment