Cast
Kirk: William Shatner
Spock: Leonard Nimoy
McCoy: DeForest Kelley
Scotty: James Doohan
Uhura: Nichelle Nichols
Chekov: Walter Koenig
Sulu: George Takei
Sarek: Mark Lenard
Gillian Taylor: Catherine Hicks
Admiral Cartwright: Brock Peters
Saavik: Robin Curtis
Amanda: Jayne Wyatt.
Directed by: Leonard Nimoy; Story by: Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennet;
Screenplay by:Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Harve Bennet and Nicholas Meyer
Released: November 26, 1986. Domestic Gross: $110 million
My Rating: ****
The Plot
In a direct sequel to Star Trek III, the Enterprise crew return home in
the Klingon Bird Of Prey to face trial. What they find is Earth beseiged by an alien probe.
The probe neutralizes ships, and is causing huge rains on the planet.
Spock analyzes the probe's call, and ascertains that it the modified call
of the extinct humpback whale.
This prompts Kirk to take the ship back in time to get a pair of humpbacks.
Once there, they meet Dr. Gillian Taylor, who just happens to be very attatched
to a pair of whales. Hijinks ensue as the crew try to adapt to the 20th century.
But in the end, Kirk and crew prevail and manage to bring the whales, along with
Dr. Taylor, into the future.
In the end, Kirk is reduced in rank to Captain, the result of disobeying orders
in Star Trek III. There were other charges to be faced, but do to the fact that they
saved the Earth, they were dropped. Big surprise.
My Comments
This is one of the best. Despite being light on action, the humor just glimpsed at
in STIII carries the movie. Leonard Nimoy once again directs a masterpiece of a
film.
This is one movie where not only the 'main three' shine. The supporting characters,
Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov, who up till now were bit players, have bigger parts.
Kirk and Spock still carry the movie, but McCoy (almost relegated to a bit part) and
Scotty manage to hold their own while getting transparent aluminum. Even Chekov gets a
laugh, asking where the 'nuclear wessels' are.
It is the time travel and the 'fish-out-of-water' angles which hold the movie together.
No major space battles, no evil Klingons, just the need to save the earth from an
ecological disaster. This could be looked upon as Star Trek's beginning of the 'New Age'
storytelling, continued in STV and IX.
This is the most recent of the Collector's Edition releases, in 2003. I am so impressed by the extras and how much it makes this movie better. It was probably my least favorite of the 'good' movies, simply because there isn't a lot of interplay between good and bad in this movie. But, I appreciate it more now that that I have a broader perspective on it. Now, lets see if they can make magic with the release of STV later in 2003.
