Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (4 Stars)

The plot of this film is undoubtedly the most ridiculous of all the Star Trek films. It's so unfeasible that it sounds like a parody.

The Earth is being destroyed by an unmanned alien vessel. Spock deduces that the only way to save the Earth is to travel back to the 20th Century to find whales able to talk to the vessel.

Did Nichelle Nichols ever dream she would have to deliver a line like that? No wonder her face looks so horrified.

But let me go out on a limb. However ridiculous the plot sounds, it works. I've watched this film a few times, and the plot never bothers me. Within the parameters of the Star Trek universe it's credible. It's a lot better than any of the films made since the franchise was rebooted with new actors in 2009. I could imagine this story having been made as an episode of the original series 20 years earlier. That's the highest compliment I can give it.

Nevertheless, I can't help wondering how the story was sold to the studio bosses who probably weren't Star Trek fans. Didn't the plot outline make them throw their arms in the air in dismay? Maybe the story was acceptable as a conservationist epic. In 1986 humpback whales were in danger of becoming extinct. The film assumes that by the 23rd Century they will already be extinct. This is short-sighted, because only humpback whales can save humanity. Save the whales! That's a slogan the screenwriters had to keep chanting to drown out the complaints from the studio bosses.

Somehow I always feel sad when I see Leonard Nimoy in a Star Trek film. He's not the only one of the original cast who's died, but he's the one I miss the most.

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