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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

A huge cylindrical alien probe moves through space, radiating incredible power. The starships that encounter it, the Shepard and the Yorktown, are completely disabled by the power field. They manage to report that the probe is heading for Earth.

In the council chambers of the United Federation of Planets in San Francisco, the Klingon ambassador demands that James T. Kirk be brought to trial for his part in the creation of the Genesis device. Kirk is defended by Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, but the Federation Council decides that Kirk must return to Earth and stand trial.

On Vulcan, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, and Saavik are repairing their new ship, the captured Klingon Bird of Prey (christened the Bounty by Dr. McCoy). Spock is nearby, undergoing intensive mind training after the fal-tor-pan (the refusion of mind to body). The computer asks him a series of complex science and math problems, which he answers easily. But he does not know how to respond to the question "How do you feel?" Spock's mother, Amanda, comes in and reminds him that he is still half human, and the computer knows that. She says "You may not understand feelings. But as my son, you have them."

The alien probe reaches Earth, with more ships being disabled on the way. A ball-like antenna is lowered from the body, and strange transmissions begin bombarding the planet. The signal is so strong that it blocks out all other signals, neutralizes power systems, and causes massive weather disruptions. The planet clouds over completely and is running on reserve power only. As the storms increase in strength and coastal evacuation plans are finalized, Ambassador Sarek advises the Federation President to issue a planetary distress call, warning all ships away from Earth while they still have some power left.

Meanwhile, Kirk and his crew decide that they must return to Earth to face charges for stealing the decommissioned Enterprise and destroying it. Since Lt. Saavik was not involved in any of these events, she decides not to go with them. At the last minute, Spock arrives to accompany his crewmates to Earth.

The Bounty flies toward Earth, but everyone is puzzled by the lack of escort - no one has even answered their requests for approach rights. Finally, Uhura manages to pick up the President's planetary distress call, warning all ships away from Earth. She also picks up the probe's transmissions, which are being beamed at Earth's oceans, not toward the cities. Upon analyzing the signals, and compensating for transmission into sea water, Spock determines that the signals are humpback whale songs. But all whales went extinct on Earth in the 21st century, and there are no other whale species in the Federation. Realizing that there is no way that they can answer the probe, Kirk decides to attempt to travel into the past and bring some humpback whales to 23rd century Earth - to answer the probe before all life on the planet is destroyed.

Using the warp engines of their captured Klingon ship to slingshot them around Earth's Sun, they travel back in time to the 20th century. They use the cloaking device to mask their presence from planetary radar systems. But the time trip has caused the ship's dilithium crystals to start breaking down. If a way isn't found to stop it, the ship will be powerless and the crew stranded in the past. Scotty determines that high-energy photons can be used to recrystalize the dilithium, but the only 20th century source he can think of for these photons is a nuclear power plant.

Uhura is successful in detecting humpback whale songs, but is intrigued to find that they are coming from the city of San Francisco. Sulu lands the cloaked ship in Golden Gate Park, leaving the cloaking device on. The crew walks into the city, where Kirk sells his reading glasses in an antique shop (they are from the 18th century) for money. Then the crew splits up into teams, each with a mission - Kirk and Spock must find the whales; McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu must devise a way to get the whales inside the ship; Uhura and Chekov go in search of nuclear-powered navy ships to gather the high-energy photons they need to get home.

Spotting a bus billboard, Spock finds out that the captive whales are at the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito. While riding on the bus, he asks Kirk about his altered use of language, all of the excess profanity that Kirk is using ("Double dumb ass on you!" he shouted at a taxi driver). Kirk defends his new mode of speech ("colorful metaphors" as Spock calls them), saying that it is the way people of this day talk, as shown in the novels of Jacqueline Susann and others. "Ah, the Giants..." Spock says, recognizing the names.

They arrive at the Cetacean Institute and discover that there are two humpback whales in captivity there - a mated pair named George and Gracie. While taking the public tour, they meet assistant director Dr. Gillian Taylor. She is in charge of the whales, and is very fond of them as well. While Kirk and the tour group watch through a below-water window, Spock swims into the whale tank and Mind Melds with Gracie to inform her of their plans and ask the whales' permission. Spock is seen and Dr. Taylor has them thrown out of the Institute, forcing them to walk back toward the park.

McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu walk along the streets of the city, trying to think of a way to transport the whales. Completely clueless, they stop and stare at a huge wall painted with the slogan "Can't Find It? Try the Yellow Pages." They end up at a company called Plexicorp, manufacturers of plexiglass. Scotty poses as "Professor Scott" from Edinburgh, with McCoy as his American liaison. They manage to get the head scientist, Dr. Nichols, to give them a tour. He tells them about their strongest plexiglass - which could easily hold the amount of water they ask him about in a "hypothetical" problem of a whale tank. Scotty offers Dr. Nichols an enticing proposal - the plexiglass they need for the formula for Transparent Aluminum (the "glass" in starship windows). McCoy questions Scotty about the offer while Nichols considers it, warning him about changing the time stream. "How do we know he didn't invent it?" Scotty asks McCoy, stumping the Doctor. Nichols agrees to the deal, and the pair get their plexiglass. Outside the plant, Sulu talks with a helicopter pilot about his craft, pointers on flying it, and it's weight capacity. The pilot offers to show him some flying tricks first hand.

Asking people on the streets of the city for the "nuclear wessels", Chekov and Uhura finally find the naval base in Alameda, where the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise is docked. They inform Kirk of their find and plan a secret entry that evening.

As Kirk and Spock walk along Fisherman's Wharf, Dr. Taylor rolls by in her truck and picks them up, curious about the strange pair. Kirk tries to excuse Spock (who is wearing a headband to cover his ears) by claiming he was at Berkeley in the 60's and "did a little too much LDS". Further intrigued, Dr. Taylor invites them both to dinner, which Spock refuses, but Kirk accepts. They drop him in the park and head to an Italian restaurant. There, Kirk finds out from an upset Dr. Taylor that the whales are to be released in 2 days, once again to be at the mercy of whale hunters. Kirk says he can take the whales to a place where they will be safe from hunters, but Gillian is sceptical. She finally wrings the story out of him, that he is from the 23rd century and has come there to bring back whales but can offer no proof. She scoffs at his story, and refuses to give him the frequency that the whales' radio transmitters will be set to. She drops him in the park as well - he says that if she changes her mind that "this is where I'll be."

Chekov and Uhura beam into the lower deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise. They find the reactor room and attach a photon collector that Scotty jury rigged to the shielding. Just as Chekov and Uhura finish, the crew of the carrier detects a power drop and someone is sent to investigate. Due to low power on the Bounty and the proximity of the nuclear reactor, Scotty can only beam one of them off at a time. Uhura is transported to safety with the photon collector, but before Chekov can be brought out, Navy security spots him and arrests him. After a brief interrogation, Chekov manages to escape, but falls off a deck and is badly injured.

Using the high-energy photons that Uhura delivered, Scotty begins to recrystalize the dilithium. He is confident that the process will be done by the next day.

The next morning, Gillian heads to the Cetacean Institute, but finds the huge whale pool empty. In order to avoid a publicity frenzy, her boss released the whales a day early. She races to Golden Gate Park, where she sees Sulu piloting a helicopter, lowering huge sheets of plexiglass into "nowhere". She begins calling for Admiral Kirk, yelling as loudly as she can. Suddenly, she is engulfed in a Transporter beam and materializes onboard the Klingon ship, where Kirk and Spock (without his headband - showing his ears) greet her. She is startled by the reality of Kirk's "far-out" story, and tells him about the whales' early release. Just then, Uhura picks up a police broadcast telling about Chekov, his head injuries, his location under guard in Mercy Hospital, and his prognosis - he is not expected to live.

Gillian guides Kirk and McCoy to the hospital, where (dressed as doctors themselves) they interrupt the surgeon just before he starts operating on Chekov's brain. They confine the staff in a nearby room while McCoy attaches some medical gear to Chekov's head. In a minute, Chekov opens his eyes. "What is your name?" McCoy asks him. "Pavel Chekov" "What is your rank?" he is also asked. "Admiral," Chekov says dreamily. They wheel his gurney out into the corridor and are spotted by hospital security. They race through the halls of the hospital, finally getting to the elevator. Security is alerted on the floors below, but the doors open to reveal an empty elevator - they all beamed off during the ride down.

Gillian gives Kirk the radio frequency for the whales' transmitters but balks at being left behind, arguing that they wouldn't have the whales without her, and there is no one to care for them in the 23rd century. With time critical, Kirk agrees to bring her along, and the Bounty takes off from Golden Gate Park and begins tracking the whales. They spot them out to sea, being chased by a small whaling ship. They hover over the whales, deflecting a harpoon with the invisible hull, then the Bird of Prey decloaks right in front of the ship, scaring the whalers away. Scotty beams the two whales and the surrounding seawater into the huge tank constructed in the hold of the Bounty. "Captain, there be whales here," he announces with pride.

The Bounty rockets out of Earth's gravity, heading for the Sun. They repeat their slingshot maneuver, based on Spock's "best guess" for all the new unknown weight involved. They come out of the temporal vortex in the right time (just minutes after they left) but too close to the probe in orbit around Earth. The ship is disabled by the probe's signals and starts descending rapidly. Sulu manages to make a crash landing into a stormy San Francisco Bay, narrowly avoiding the Golden Gate Bridge. The crew gets out allright, but the whales are trapped and the ship is sinking (they will drown without air). Kirk swims back into the hold and manages to manually trigger the explosive bolts that release the cargo doors, freeing the whales. They swim out into the bay and start hearing the probe's call. George drops his head, raises his tail, and begins singing a response.

Upon hearing a response to its call, the probe retracts it's ball-like antenna and leaves Earth orbit, heading out of Federation space by the same route it entered. The weather on Earth slowly calms and complete cloud cover begins to break. Freed from the overpowering call of the probe, electronics begin to function again.

Later, Kirk and his crew (in uniforms again) stand before the Federation Council. Sarek stops Spock, saying that there are no charges against him, but Spock insists on standing with his shipmates. The President announces the decision of the Council - Kirk and his crewmates are exonerated of all charges because of their service in saving Earth. Kirk himself still faces one charge, which he is found guilty of - disobeying the order of a superior officer. He is demoted to the rank of Captain and given a duty "for which he has repeatedly demonstrated unswerving ability - the command of a starship." The Council breaks out into cheers.

Afterward, Sarek tells his son that he has altered his opinion, and now approves of Spock's career in Starfleet, and of his choice of friends. Spock asks Sarek to relay a message to his mother - "Tell her... I feel fine." Gillian talks with Kirk, saying that she is now a civilian researcher in charge of the whales, and is off to board a science ship. Just before she leaves, she gives him a big kiss.

Several days later on a small shuttle, Kirk and the crew fly slowly through Spacedock toward their new ship. Scotty complains that they probably will get some broken-down freighter, but as they round the Excelsior, they see another ship just like their old one, the name reading "U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A."

Plot Synopsis : Copyright 1994 David R. Landis. All rights reserved.
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