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Star Trek Sunday: The Voyage Home

A review by Brooks Rich

It's the one with the whales. I like this one. It's not the best Star Trek film but it's hardly the worst. It's just a good time.  Like I said in one of the earlier reviews, the even numbered Star Trek films are considered the best where the odd numbered ones are less than good. The Voyage Home is very different from the two previous films, bringing a conclusion to the story started in The Wrath of Khan.

The Enterprise crew is returning to Earth to face the consequences of their actions from the previous film. While they are away from Earth, an alien probe approaches Earth and begins to send out a signal no one can understand and that also causes havoc on Earth. Kirk and his crew analyze the signal and realize they need a humpback whale to respond to the probe. Unfortunately humpback whales have been extinct since the 21st century. So it's back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to find humpback whales and bring them to 2286.

This is the most lighthearted of the six original Star Trek films. Well if you consider the train wreck of Final Frontier to be hilarious then maybe that is. There is no real villain in Voyage Home, unlike Khan in Wrath of Khan and Kruge in Search for Spock. It's really a character piece for the Enterprise crew, a more lighthearted adventure in contrast to what they just experienced with the Genesis Device.

Nimoy is back in the director's chair and he does a good job here. It's not as well shot as Search for Spock but he has a good visual eye. I really like the chemistry between Shatner and Nimoy in this film. There's always been talk of Shatner having difficulty with his Star Trek co-stars but when he's onscreen that doesn't come across as well. Well ok, he and George Takei even in Voyage Home seem to be iffy with each other. Apparently Shatner was not that accepting of Takei's lifestyle.

In the film Kirk's love interest, played by Catherine Hicks, is a marine biologist with an expertise in whales. Originally in the planning phase the character was going to be an astrophysicist played by Eddie Murphy, which would have made Voyage Home a very broad comedy. That's a very different movie.

This is a fun film. Yeah it's not the best but it's hardly the worst. It's a good movie. It's the one with the whales. It's the best film of all time if you compare to next weeks film. Oh God, Final Frontier next week. Buckle up. Shatner's in the directors chair.

Rating: 4/5


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