I visited the aquarium just to see the spots where they filmed the movie. I thought there’d be a plaque on the wall but there was nothing. Even the employees had no idea Star Trek had been filmed there. I was shocked. But I was pretty excited to walk down the same stairs and stand near the same “water tank” that Shatner and Nimoy did!
you probably wont believe this but I visited Chi Omega Sorority House , the place were Ted Bundy committed one of his most known grizzly and savage attacks and murder sprees and the people living or working in the building had absolutely no idea what had taken place all those years ago. I know its NOT exactly something people want to remember and its best forgotten but time and new generations of people seems to wipe the pages of history clean sometimes
It happens, sometime when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s (when Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was more well known), some older people told me there was a lesser known Steven Spielberg movie with Goldie Hawn filmed in parts of town where I live called "The SugarLand Express", I'm sure they all thought I was a young punk with my blank stare and "huh?". I would have easily known Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T. or another famous Spielberg movie, but not Sugar Land Express. So I get it that current kids or younger generations don't know or care about a movie from the 80s, over 35 years ago, when I didn't care about a movie over 15-20 years ago when I was a teenager/early 20s.
I watched The Voyage Home on VHS as a child. The one scene that I always remembered was Kirk and Spock walking near the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a distinctive shot in a specific location, and I knew that someday I'd see it in person. A couple of decades later, I spent my days off hiking, photographing, and wandering around San Francisco. I eventually sought out that precise location and took one of my best photos. And I never would've known about that location had not seen this movie.
I know this probably sounds like a dumb question but was there anything there like a statue or something mentioning Star Trek? I know countless movies get filmed and they can't put up little notices on every location
My favourite scene is the Scotty and Bones one in the glass factory. Scotty talking into the mouse like a microphone and then when he's forced to use the keyboard he says "how quaint". Then when Bones questions the ethics of giving the manager the formula for transparent aluminium and Scotty says "how do you know he didn't invent it" and Bones facial expression. Superb comic timing and performances from everyone.
My brothers and I went to watch this downtown. I was a few months shy of six years old, and very frightened by the opening sequence, but when the Probe tilted downwards, my eldest brother leaned over to my ear and whispered: "It's a giant turd!" After that, I wasn't afraid. I recall very fondly how the audience was a riot of laughter. The intensity of the slingshot around the sun was thrilling. The heads coming out of the clouds was very surreal. Spock swimming in the whale tank really stuck with me, and the candles in the restaurant scene reminded me of a chicken restaurant my family would eat at from time to time. I've not watched this one in about 10 years, so I guess it's time for a rewatch.
Voyage Home was great that they didn't need an Enterprise for the story so the Klingon ship was a natural continuation and it appearing above the whale ship is one of my favourite shots of the film.
It wasn't a question of needing one or having one they sort of blow it up in the previous movie. Don't know if it was carefully planned as 2, 3 and 4 are sort of one big story ( they have an arc anyway) or if the writers wrote themselves into a corner. But I thought it worked out so much better with the Bird of Prey . It must have been carefully planned because if they had the Enterprise they wouldn't have been able to cloak or land on. earth which was all needed
@@laurarules3642 It was never planned as a trilogy, it just happened that way, possibly due to Spock's death in Khan as the driving force behind the third film, and the destruction of the Enterprise an effort be another big event with the same impact as Spock's death. Come 4 all that was left was the Bird of Prey, so they had written themselves into a corner, but they used that to their advantage.
Probably my favorite Star Trek movie (tied with Wrath of Kahn). Loved the Christmas music theme, loved the overall pace and the message. I remember going to San Francisco back in 2019 and watched the movie the night before my flight. I also packed my Monster Maroon and wore it all around the city. I even cosplayed as the "Puck on the Bus", too. In some ways, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was the launching pad for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I even loved the small orbital space tugs; some of my favorite ships in the franchise. As someone who just graduated from film school and a fan of making model spaceships, boats, and airplanes, I was immediately in love the miniatures and models they used for the sets. It's sad that we don't do models anymore.
Imagine if the probe came to Earth in the current world situations we are experiencing. It probably would say, "Nope - I'm outa here!1 You people are too out of control!! See ya!!".
I remember watching this in the theatre...at the end when the Enterprise-A was revealed the crowd lost it, people standing and cheering, grown men brought to tears. Star Trek is a special phenomenon.
1986 I was 4 years old and my dad took me to go see this in the theater. Thus began my love for space and of course Star Trek (we shall not speak of current trek). As the late great Jack Horkheimer would say, “Keep looking up.” 🖖🗽
I love these for all the interplay that it shines light on, wouldve never known about the eddie murphy angle and that him refusing a part lead to him being in the golden child :D Glad it worked out that way, wouldnt want to miss that gem
For a film that's 36 years old it holds up pretty well. That quote by Oliver got me thinking. When we watch films like Body Heat (1981), The Maltese Falcon, Gone With the Wind, The Women (1939) or Auntie Mame we never use statements like the Oliver quote. Why? Because those films don't rely on PEOPLE. The performers (talented, and convincing), the writing (engaging and taut), and directing. Sure, lighting and set design, costumes and so many other film aspects count, but it the first 3 that really mark these films out as classics. These days we rely so heavily on cgi that in 10 more years people will be looking at the Infinity Saga and focusing on the cgi--does it hold up?--instead of on the talent of the performers, the writing and directors. I think we lost something.
I have to say that in my taste the score works really well, very uplifting, without it we may had a very different movie. Nothing memorable, but fresh, simple and perfect for this particular adventure.
My favorite Star Trek movie. I still use the whale dream during my meditations. Maybe folks that are younger than me have forgotten save the whales and how stressed it was during growing up in the 80s.
Few people actually saw the Challenger disaster live on television. The flight occurred during the early years of cable news, and although CNN was indeed carrying the launch when the shuttle was destroyed, all major broadcast stations had cut away - only to quickly return with taped relays. With Christa McAuliffe set to be the first teacher in space, NASA had arranged a satellite broadcast of the full mission into television sets in many schools, but the general public did not have access to this unless they were one of the then-few people with satellite dishes. What most people recall as a "live broadcast" was actually the taped replay broadcast soon after the event.
17:50 this is my personal favorite star trek theme. if i were to put one of my startrek ideas to series, this would be the theme i would use like rodenberry did with james horner's ST:TMP theme.
This was the first Star Trek movie I saw in the theater. I remember that widescreen VHS release with Nimoy explaining the letterboxing and that's how I learned about pan & scan and that I was missing part of the movie when that process was employed.
My son and I are loving the look, production and trivia in your retrospectives! All the extra footage and behind-the -scenes I’ve seen and just like your “Commando” retrospective , you manage to offer information I hadn’t seen. Love the work! Very entertaining!!!
Releasing this on Nimoy's Birthday . . . . nice ;) As always, great production and words as always sir! From across the pond - Plymouth, MA! Also the Oscars are Sunday...while I do not care for the politics, I tune in for the folks that win for sfx, audio, costume and so on but most of all the Montages....your's are always top-notch!
I was stationed at Ft Ord California during filming...Ft Ord was an Army Base just north of Monterey. I remember the Monterey Bay Aquarium had just been built in 1984 when I arrived there and they used the aquarium as the filming location for the fictitional "Cetacean Institute" in the Voyage Home. I have always been a big trek fan and so I tried to get down to the aquarium during filming but it was closed to the public and pretty much impossible to sneak into with all the film crew and security around... Lol. I too enjoyed this movie greatly. It's Tied for 🥇 first on my list with Wrath of Khan. And Nimoy was a far greater director and actor than he got credit for. There is a one man performance titled Vincent, where Nimoy plays VanGogh's brother and recounts letters between he and his brother. It's about 90 minutes long but is IMO the best acting performance any man on earth has ever given. Worth watching if you have the time.
@@zacharyjochumsen9677 I started as a PFC in the US army. Attack helicopter crew chief. (AH-1S, Cobra). When I left there to go to Korea in 1987 I was a Sergeant (E-5). We operated out of Fritzche Army Airfield which had since been turned into the Marina Airport. They shut down Fort Ord in the early 90s when Clinton was president.
@@zacharyjochumsen9677 when I left the Army in 1992 I was a staff sergeant stationed at Fort Eustis Virginia..I was an instructor at the U.S Army aviation logistics school. (USAALS) and taught the new helicopter mechanics when they got out of basic training. Fort ord was my favorite assignment though. Beautiful area. We would go down to Carmel on the weekends, hang out at the beach... Or up to Santa Cruz... Sometimes go cruise main street in Salina... Lol
Oliver, as ever thank you for what you do... this one is especially great, as I'm a huge Trek fan. I was at the Paramount lots and they showed me where they filmed the last scene in the 'ocean', which is a concave parking lot, where they also filmed 'Ten Commandments'. Great film.
Oliver, I love this movie and can’t tell you how much I enjoyed your retrospective of it! Really informative and nicely put together, as always, while being a nice love letter to the film too. Thanks!
I saw this on it's first showing whilst stationed in the UK, loved the movie (as it featured my home city) and loved the different theater experience than what was normal in the USA..
Wow, Oliver, another great review and documentary. BTW, between this, Starman and Commando that makes it 3 you've done in the span of about a month! I don't recall you doing so many in that little time! Great job!
Such a fantastic review, Harper! It’s amazing how similar our experience with Voyage Home is as well as our overall ranking of it against the original series of films. Like you, as a kid I wasn’t that thrilled with IV and greatly preferred the edgier villain leaning entries. In my older teenage years I found myself delighted by the humor and the character interactions. Again, similarly, I still can’t get behind the music. I always felt it sounded like a fantasy comedy soundtrack. The movie itself may not be my favorite but it’s in the upper echelon of the series and I loved your look back!
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a film you will never see now because of the studios and executive suits inability to take risks. It is a film and director allowed to do what he wants and the results across the board are rewarding to the audience. Another point people over look is 1986 would've been the 20th anniversary of the original series. Not the first pilot because that was 1964. So, the film perfectly echoed the past and moved the story forward. From the results of this you can see how great part 5 would've been if it weren't for the writer's strike preventing final touches to the script and ILM doing effects. I had always thought they filmed the whales for real but YET AGAIN I discover that movie magic has completely worked a sleight of hand over my film goer's eye. Amazing. Thank you for the review.
>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a film you will never see now because of the studios and executive suits inability to take risks. It is a film and director allowed to do what he wants and the results across the board are rewarding to the audience. In the studio's defense, I wouldn't trust any of today's hack writers and directors to take risks with my money either.
@@vcdonovan5943 On a different note, I've just heard that Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters has passed away at 50. Your comment gave me a much needed chuckle because it means that you can't win these days. Studios hire the hacks. Hollywood is all MTV like production and nothing that connects on a human level. No one wants to slowly build tension, evolve the characters and their relationship with each other. One of the GOLDEN rules: If the audience doesn't care about the characters then they're not going to care about anything they go through or the world they're in. What makes it odd? Writers, directors and all the other creatives would keep it simple to a point. Now? It's over complicated. Suits interfering. What's the point of hiring ANY creative people if you're going to over rule them? Taylor Hawkins RIP Another flame of music who has drummed his last beat way too early.
@@paulheap1982 The very very few exceptions hardly make up for the difference. Unless your bar for what constitutes talent and creativity is set extremely low. Now, the problem isn't that there aren't talented and creative people around. The problem is that these "creative" industries (music, movies, publishing, games, etc.) wouldn't know actual creative talent if it walked up and slapped them in the face. While it does happen, not as much executive meddling takes place as people believe. Most of the reason why things suck is because of the directors, the writers, the performers... All the executives do is promote untalented hacks with a loose understanding of creativity at best.
I love this movie! I used to live in Marin County in 1965-66, and have visited San Francisco many times. I love the footage in the alleyway in Chinatown. The music was incredible!!!
I was lucky enough to watch it on the big screen in a town called Nuneaton in the U.K. It was the tiniest cinema i’d ever been in but gorgeous. I’m so happy i watched it as I’d seen all of them up to that point at the pictures.
We watched this and 'A View to a Kill' a lot growing up. I got to visit San Francisco on a business trip a few years back and ended up going to all the filming locations of these movies. good times!!
Excellent review. Saw this on opening night and remember the entire audience applauding at the dedication to the Challenger astronauts at the beginning. Viewing this film was more like an experience than going to see a film. Trek fans, including myself, were just so engaged in the film it was more like a night out with your family rather than watching a film with strangers. The entire audience reacted to the laughs, gags, surprises, and even more dramatic moments in concert. Total strangers were talking like old friends when the film ended. As a nice bookend, revealing the new Enterprise at the end initiated another round of applause. It's a pity Star Trek V was a disappointment, but at the moment seeing that film on opening night was a memorable and valued moment in my life. Thanks for bringing back a good memory.
Star Trek II-IV, the best trilogy that isn't Lord of the Rings. Star Trek V NEEDS a director's cut. They need to sort those special FX. Shatner's vision looks fantastic but the effects, man. It's a shame they were screwed over.
I recall seeing this in the theatres when I was a teenager. Light-hearted fun, while I thoroughly enjoyed and still is one of my favourite Star Trek movies.
8:29 somebody else by now must've mentioned it, but just in case. in the new Picard series S02E04 they travel back in time to I think our present. they take a bus in SF I believe. the guy that played the loud music punk reprised his roll. it was a fun callback scene.
Love this Retrospective/review of star trek 4 the Voyage home I'm hoping that you will do the next generation films and the kelvin timeline movies next.
I bought the Star Trek 25th anniversary box set in VHS widescreen so I was an early adopter. It did take some getting used to with my TV at the time which meant very big black bars, but it was still the best way to watch them.
My favorite of the original movies. I grew up in Monterey County, and when they were filming this as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, my grandmother went and met Nimoy and Shatner.
The whale effects in this movie are so good I didn't even realize they weren't actually whales until I watched this video. I feel dumb now, because duh, there are no captive whales, but you don't think about those sorts of things when you're watching a movie
The music isn't bad at all. It might not fit the world of Star Trek, but it fits this film perfectly. And the music during the hospital escape was incredible. I remember the theater was cheering at the end of that sequence.
I attended the screening of the film last summer at my local Regal theater. It was one of three 1986 films alongside Labyrinth and Transformers: The Movie I got to experienced in the theater.
Excellent as always. I think I caught parts of this movie whenever it was TV, however I never took any time to watch this installment in its entirety. I did see a review by James Rolfe, and he seemed to like it too. Even though I barely seen the old TV series and mostly seen the JJ Abrams movies, this does look like a fun installment. I'll probably check this movie out, along with "Wrath of Kahn" and "Search for Spock", as I've heard those were the most memorable of the original cast.
It never fails to shock me just how goddam OLD (or dead) all the stars of my favourite childhood movies are now. And it never fails to bring my mortality home to me: I am maybe 20-25 years younger then these people. I think I should stop watching these, but great video anyway, Oliver!
I always called the segment of the Star Trek film series composed by II to IV the "Fall of the Enterprise trilogy", and for me IV was the perfect "breather episode" conclusion after two films in which the characters go through so much emotional distress.
You can tell those humpback whale effects were realistic if it grabs the attention of PETA. Plus, it's great to see all of the crew get their moments to shine in the story.
Not a single phaser or torpedo was fired, and yet this is still heralded as one of the greatest Trek stories of all time. This should be required viewing for filmmakers today. Absolute masterpiece of a film. 👏🏾👍🏾
Another little fun fact: The model for the probe was based off of an attempted Rendezvous with Rama movie. They've been trying to make a film adaptation of the book for years at that point and when that attempt fell through they just re-used it for Star Trek 4. Just another cool little fact about Sci-Fi cinema from the time. :)
I was born August 2, 1979. As a kid I was more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan. But my favorite movie of the Star Trek movies has always been Star Trek 4. It's the one Star Trek movie that I would watch all the time. And even now I find myself watching that one more than the others. I just enjoy the fun light hearted aspect of it
Two Star Trek fun facts: - The part Eddie Murphy was to play was reused for Sarah Silverman's Star Trek Voyager character in the two part ep, Future's End. - The same actor who played the Punk with the radio in this movie would reprise his role this year in Star Trek Picard's second season.
In the early 90s, my sister was obsessed with whales. A friend of my parents brought this movie over for her, and it ended up launching my Trek fandom.
EXCELLENT job on your video,Oliver,as usual. I watched this film at the cinema when it came out,people cheered when Spock did the vulcan neck pinch on the rocker. LOL. 130 million box-office take ??? WOW. This film is sooo GOOD,the producers were right to change the tone of this movie,it stands out from any other Star Trek film. LIVE LONG and PROSPER-OLIVER HARPER.
I saw this at about age 17, with a boisterous Trekkie audience who roared with laughter and delight. Couldn't believe how funny and enjoyable it was for a Trek film about whales.
I had this VHS as a kid and watched it countless times. I don’t live far from San Francisco so it was cool to see a place I knew in the movie. It was also funny to me as I had been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (the stand in for the place with the whales) many times too and knew that it was actually like 2 hours away from SF in Monterey.
Did you see the latest episode of Picard? Absolutely loved and appreciated the callback to Voyage Home in the first few mins! Not spoiling it just in case some haven’t seen it yet!
Star Trek IV was actually my introduction to the entire franchise as a kid. My Dad practically dragged me to see it in the theater. Since this was pre TNG the only vague knowledge I had of ST was the original series, which I was aware of but it just existed in my mind as "cheesy old sci fi show that is crap compared to Star Wars". I loved this movie even though I had absolutely no knowledge of Star Trek lore, or the previous movies, so my Dad had to explain a lot of things to me. Really great memory and from then on I was a ST fan.
![COLOMBIA vs. CHILE [4-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TDjN4W3yy1k/mqdefault.jpg)
I visited the aquarium just to see the spots where they filmed the movie. I thought there’d be a plaque on the wall but there was nothing. Even the employees had no idea Star Trek had been filmed there. I was shocked. But I was pretty excited to walk down the same stairs and stand near the same “water tank” that Shatner and Nimoy did!
you probably wont believe this but I visited Chi Omega Sorority House , the place were Ted Bundy committed one of his most known grizzly and savage attacks and murder sprees and the people living or working in the building had absolutely no idea what had taken place all those years ago. I know its NOT exactly something people want to remember and its best forgotten but time and new generations of people seems to wipe the pages of history clean sometimes
They have mentioned it a few times on social media, but it seems the last time was in 2017. (Search for "Monterey Bay Aquarium" and "Star Trek")
@@laurarules3642 I can see why they wouldn't brag about the Ted Bundy thing. The location where a movie was filmed my attract more visitors, though.
Yeah. I visited there in 2015. I had no idea what they actually used and I knew it was from Star Trek as soon as I was outside. It was pretty cool.
It happens, sometime when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s (when Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was more well known), some older people told me there was a lesser known Steven Spielberg movie with Goldie Hawn filmed in parts of town where I live called "The SugarLand Express", I'm sure they all thought I was a young punk with my blank stare and "huh?". I would have easily known Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T. or another famous Spielberg movie, but not Sugar Land Express. So I get it that current kids or younger generations don't know or care about a movie from the 80s, over 35 years ago, when I didn't care about a movie over 15-20 years ago when I was a teenager/early 20s.
I watched The Voyage Home on VHS as a child. The one scene that I always remembered was Kirk and Spock walking near the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a distinctive shot in a specific location, and I knew that someday I'd see it in person. A couple of decades later, I spent my days off hiking, photographing, and wandering around San Francisco. I eventually sought out that precise location and took one of my best photos. And I never would've known about that location had not seen this movie.
I know this probably sounds like a dumb question but was there anything there like a statue or something mentioning Star Trek? I know countless movies get filmed and they can't put up little notices on every location
Plaques ?
@@laurarules3642 None that I saw, but I was focusing more on the view!
Same. This movie on VHS was my introduction to Star Trek. I wouldn't be the fan I was today without my fond memories of it.
I watched it on Beta.
My favourite scene is the Scotty and Bones one in the glass factory. Scotty talking into the mouse like a microphone and then when he's forced to use the keyboard he says "how quaint". Then when Bones questions the ethics of giving the manager the formula for transparent aluminium and Scotty says "how do you know he didn't invent it" and Bones facial expression. Superb comic timing and performances from everyone.
👨🖱"Hello, computer."
@@dnasty312 Just use the keyboard
I just hate that they basically had Scotty mashing the keyboard for comedic effect. Nobody types like that.
@@RedHeadKevin Alcoholic Scotsman do
NOT NOW MADELINE!!
My brothers and I went to watch this downtown. I was a few months shy of six years old, and very frightened by the opening sequence, but when the Probe tilted downwards, my eldest brother leaned over to my ear and whispered: "It's a giant turd!"
After that, I wasn't afraid.
I recall very fondly how the audience was a riot of laughter. The intensity of the slingshot around the sun was thrilling. The heads coming out of the clouds was very surreal. Spock swimming in the whale tank really stuck with me, and the candles in the restaurant scene reminded me of a chicken restaurant my family would eat at from time to time.
I've not watched this one in about 10 years, so I guess it's time for a rewatch.
Voyage Home was great that they didn't need an Enterprise for the story so the Klingon ship was a natural continuation and it appearing above the whale ship is one of my favourite shots of the film.
They even named her, _Bounty_
It wasn't a question of needing one or having one they sort of blow it up in the previous movie. Don't know if it was carefully planned as 2, 3 and 4 are sort of one big story ( they have an arc anyway) or if the writers wrote themselves into a corner. But I thought it worked out so much better with the Bird of Prey . It must have been carefully planned because if they had the Enterprise they wouldn't have been able to cloak or land on. earth which was all needed
@@laurarules3642 It was never planned as a trilogy, it just happened that way, possibly due to Spock's death in Khan as the driving force behind the third film, and the destruction of the Enterprise an effort be another big event with the same impact as Spock's death.
Come 4 all that was left was the Bird of Prey, so they had written themselves into a corner, but they used that to their advantage.
Me too, hell this movie was the reason I started to like the Bird of Prey ship, it has such a cool design.
I still adore Kirk's reaction to seeing Spock in the whale tank.
My grandparents and I went to go see this when it came out, and it was so much fun. To this day I'll always remember The Voyage Home because of that.
I actually enjoy Kirk in this iteration. He acts more human, like a Dad.
This one is so special to me, I loved it as a kid, and still revisit it. And it still works, the plot is bananas, but it works. I love it.
agree it is very funny.,
Me too.
Comparing "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986) to the current "ST:D" and "Picard" series is like comparing Cecil B. DeMille to Ed Wood, sigh.:(
So true.
Ed Wood was a master filmmaker compared to those making "ST:D" and other contemporary Trek series.
Ed Wood was a heavy drinker making B-movies on a shoestring budget. There are no such excuses for how bad the current series are.
STD is definitely what it is.
I took penicillin.
It was effective.
I enjoy the movie and those TV shows.
Probably my favorite Star Trek movie (tied with Wrath of Kahn). Loved the Christmas music theme, loved the overall pace and the message. I remember going to San Francisco back in 2019 and watched the movie the night before my flight. I also packed my Monster Maroon and wore it all around the city. I even cosplayed as the "Puck on the Bus", too. In some ways, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was the launching pad for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I even loved the small orbital space tugs; some of my favorite ships in the franchise. As someone who just graduated from film school and a fan of making model spaceships, boats, and airplanes, I was immediately in love the miniatures and models they used for the sets. It's sad that we don't do models anymore.
Best Star Trek movie ever made!
Love it how Spock can't swear properly with colorful metaphors.
Lol!!
"I suppose next you'll say you're from outer space."
"No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space."
"Well, double dumb ass on you !!"
Admiral James T. Kirk 1986
Perfect as always. Oliver’s voice, research, presentation and everything else. Better than anything else.
I agree. This is one of the best RUclips channels in my opinion.
Imagine what this film would have been like if the probe wanted to communicate with Tyrannosauruses instead of whales.
Surely they would be aware of the dinosaur ancestors from Voyager episode Distant Origin.
Imagine what this film would have been if the probe wanted to communicate with the Dodo bird. LOL
Imagine if the probe came to Earth in the current world situations we are experiencing. It probably would say, "Nope - I'm outa here!1 You people are too out of control!! See ya!!".
They'd have had to land at Isla Nublar.
I remember watching this in the theatre...at the end when the Enterprise-A was revealed the crowd lost it, people standing and cheering, grown men brought to tears. Star Trek is a special phenomenon.
That event sadly I missed. Fortunately I've experienced an event like that in the previous film after Spock goes "Jim. Your name is Jim."
@@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx The search for spock is very good in its self, very entertaining.
The the A should have been an Excelsior class.
I was in my early teens when I first saw The Voyage Home. It is still one of my favourites in the franchise.
Gunnar my mom saw this in thetres with my grndpa and my uncle when ther wre in Hawaii
I have to strongly disagree with the criticism of the music. This soundtrack is amazing and fits the movie PERFECTLY.
Agreed. It fits the light and fun tone of the story.
Maybe, but it’s easily the weakest score of any of the original crew movies.
No. But agree to disagree
I love this film but I must say, the soundtrack is terrible. Alan Silvestri should have scored the film instead.
I wonder why James Horner didn’t score this movie?
I think his music sounded better!
1986 I was 4 years old and my dad took me to go see this in the theater. Thus began my love for space and of course Star Trek (we shall not speak of current trek).
As the late great Jack Horkheimer would say, “Keep looking up.”
🖖🗽
I love these for all the interplay that it shines light on, wouldve never known about the eddie murphy angle and that him refusing a part lead to him being in the golden child :D
Glad it worked out that way, wouldnt want to miss that gem
For a film that's 36 years old it holds up pretty well. That quote by Oliver got me thinking. When we watch films like Body Heat (1981), The Maltese Falcon, Gone With the Wind, The Women (1939) or Auntie Mame we never use statements like the Oliver quote. Why? Because those films don't rely on PEOPLE. The performers (talented, and convincing), the writing (engaging and taut), and directing. Sure, lighting and set design, costumes and so many other film aspects count, but it the first 3 that really mark these films out as classics. These days we rely so heavily on cgi that in 10 more years people will be looking at the Infinity Saga and focusing on the cgi--does it hold up?--instead of on the talent of the performers, the writing and directors. I think we lost something.
A great time to have lived. To have Nimoy, Mark Lenard, and Jane Wyatt together again in a classic Star Trek story
I have to say that in my taste the score works really well, very uplifting, without it we may had a very different movie. Nothing memorable, but fresh, simple and perfect for this particular adventure.
I love this film! The original cast is my personal favorite cast and they hold up the best. Great video!
My favorite Star Trek movie. I still use the whale dream during my meditations. Maybe folks that are younger than me have forgotten save the whales and how stressed it was during growing up in the 80s.
After all these years, still loving your channel! Keep up the excellent work, man!
Few people actually saw the Challenger disaster live on television. The flight occurred during the early years of cable news, and although CNN was indeed carrying the launch when the shuttle was destroyed, all major broadcast stations had cut away - only to quickly return with taped relays. With Christa McAuliffe set to be the first teacher in space, NASA had arranged a satellite broadcast of the full mission into television sets in many schools, but the general public did not have access to this unless they were one of the then-few people with satellite dishes. What most people recall as a "live broadcast" was actually the taped replay broadcast soon after the event.
17:50 this is my personal favorite star trek theme. if i were to put one of my startrek ideas to series, this would be the theme i would use like rodenberry did with james horner's ST:TMP theme.
This was the first Star Trek movie I saw in the theater. I remember that widescreen VHS release with Nimoy explaining the letterboxing and that's how I learned about pan & scan and that I was missing part of the movie when that process was employed.
I watched once in the theater and dozens of times on VHS and on DVD. I love this film. Star Trek is part of my live.
24:36 I wish we got to see more of this bridge. Clean white with all the touch panel okudagrams! They even had the old TOS sensor sound too
I just watched this again this afternoon. Thank you for covering it on here.
My son and I are loving the look, production and trivia in your retrospectives! All the extra footage and behind-the -scenes I’ve seen and just like your “Commando” retrospective , you manage to offer information I hadn’t seen. Love the work! Very entertaining!!!
Thanks very much, Larry!
I remember the theater shook as the probe approached. You could feel it.
Wrath of Khan maybe the better movie, but I always felt Voyage Home was the better Star Trek movie. By far my favorite entry in the series.
Having Eddie Murphy in this would've been like having Richard Pryor in Superman 3...
Releasing this on Nimoy's Birthday . . . . nice ;) As always, great production and words as always sir! From across the pond - Plymouth, MA! Also the Oscars are Sunday...while I do not care for the politics, I tune in for the folks that win for sfx, audio, costume and so on but most of all the Montages....your's are always top-notch!
I was stationed at Ft Ord California during filming...Ft Ord was an Army Base just north of Monterey. I remember the Monterey Bay Aquarium had just been built in 1984 when I arrived there and they used the aquarium as the filming location for the fictitional "Cetacean Institute" in the Voyage Home. I have always been a big trek fan and so I tried to get down to the aquarium during filming but it was closed to the public and pretty much impossible to sneak into with all the film crew and security around... Lol. I too enjoyed this movie greatly. It's Tied for 🥇 first on my list with Wrath of Khan. And Nimoy was a far greater director and actor than he got credit for. There is a one man performance titled Vincent, where Nimoy plays VanGogh's brother and recounts letters between he and his brother. It's about 90 minutes long but is IMO the best acting performance any man on earth has ever given. Worth watching if you have the time.
Falcon films so wre you jat a cadet atb ft ord
@@zacharyjochumsen9677 I started as a PFC in the US army. Attack helicopter crew chief. (AH-1S, Cobra). When I left there to go to Korea in 1987 I was a Sergeant (E-5). We operated out of Fritzche Army Airfield which had since been turned into the Marina Airport. They shut down Fort Ord in the early 90s when Clinton was president.
@@ColdWarAviator yeh did you ever got the area starflet acdemy is beucse its techinly an acthual building that's bernnoither things beyond star trek
@@zacharyjochumsen9677 when I left the Army in 1992 I was a staff sergeant stationed at Fort Eustis Virginia..I was an instructor at the U.S Army aviation logistics school. (USAALS) and taught the new helicopter mechanics when they got out of basic training. Fort ord was my favorite assignment though. Beautiful area. We would go down to Carmel on the weekends, hang out at the beach... Or up to Santa Cruz... Sometimes go cruise main street in Salina... Lol
@@ColdWarAviator yeh fun fact djd you know this film was t one pint to unvvoleve JFK time travel plot at one point
Loved this movie and I’m very excited to check your review sir. Have a good Saturday
Oliver, as ever thank you for what you do... this one is especially great, as I'm a huge Trek fan. I was at the Paramount lots and they showed me where they filmed the last scene in the 'ocean', which is a concave parking lot, where they also filmed 'Ten Commandments'. Great film.
Oliver, I love this movie and can’t tell you how much I enjoyed your retrospective of it! Really informative and nicely put together, as always, while being a nice love letter to the film too. Thanks!
I saw this on it's first showing whilst stationed in the UK, loved the movie (as it featured my home city) and loved the different theater experience than what was normal in the USA..
Wow, Oliver, another great review and documentary. BTW, between this, Starman and Commando that makes it 3 you've done in the span of about a month! I don't recall you doing so many in that little time! Great job!
Such a fantastic review, Harper! It’s amazing how similar our experience with Voyage Home is as well as our overall ranking of it against the original series of films. Like you, as a kid I wasn’t that thrilled with IV and greatly preferred the edgier villain leaning entries. In my older teenage years I found myself delighted by the humor and the character interactions. Again, similarly, I still can’t get behind the music. I always felt it sounded like a fantasy comedy soundtrack. The movie itself may not be my favorite but it’s in the upper echelon of the series and I loved your look back!
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a film you will never see now because of the studios and executive suits inability to take risks. It is a film and director allowed to do what he wants and the results across the board are rewarding to the audience.
Another point people over look is 1986 would've been the 20th anniversary of the original series. Not the first pilot because that was 1964.
So, the film perfectly echoed the past and moved the story forward.
From the results of this you can see how great part 5 would've been if it weren't for the writer's strike preventing final touches to the script and ILM doing effects.
I had always thought they filmed the whales for real but YET AGAIN I discover that movie magic has completely worked a sleight of hand over my film goer's eye.
Amazing. Thank you for the review.
>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a film you will never see now because of the studios and executive suits inability to take risks. It is a film and director allowed to do what he wants and the results across the board are rewarding to the audience.
In the studio's defense, I wouldn't trust any of today's hack writers and directors to take risks with my money either.
You say that, but it's not entirely true though.
@@vcdonovan5943 On a different note,
I've just heard that Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters has passed away at 50.
Your comment gave me a much needed chuckle because it means that you can't win these days.
Studios hire the hacks. Hollywood is all MTV like production and nothing that connects on a human level.
No one wants to slowly build tension, evolve the characters and their relationship with each other.
One of the GOLDEN rules: If the audience doesn't care about the characters then they're not going to care about anything they go through or the world they're in.
What makes it odd? Writers, directors and all the other creatives would keep it simple to a point.
Now? It's over complicated. Suits interfering.
What's the point of hiring ANY creative people if you're going to over rule them?
Taylor Hawkins RIP Another flame of music who has drummed his last beat way too early.
@@paulheap1982 I don't care. My opinion isn't changing because you don't agree.
And if you can't cope with that go and hide in your safe space.
@@paulheap1982 The very very few exceptions hardly make up for the difference.
Unless your bar for what constitutes talent and creativity is set extremely low.
Now, the problem isn't that there aren't talented and creative people around. The problem is that these "creative" industries (music, movies, publishing, games, etc.) wouldn't know actual creative talent if it walked up and slapped them in the face.
While it does happen, not as much executive meddling takes place as people believe. Most of the reason why things suck is because of the directors, the writers, the performers...
All the executives do is promote untalented hacks with a loose understanding of creativity at best.
I love this movie! I used to live in Marin County in 1965-66, and have visited San Francisco many times. I love the footage in the alleyway in Chinatown. The music was incredible!!!
Always happy to board the USS RETROSPECTIVE to hear more indepth reviews from Captain Oliver Harper.
You are so underrated! That's good stuff and you're consequent. Afford and love for the material (film/movie) is palpable.
Great video as always Oliver. This was my go to Star Trek film as a kid.
I was lucky enough to watch it on the big screen in a town called Nuneaton in the U.K. It was the tiniest cinema i’d ever been in but gorgeous. I’m so happy i watched it as I’d seen all of them up to that point at the pictures.
We watched this and 'A View to a Kill' a lot growing up. I got to visit San Francisco on a business trip a few years back and ended up going to all the filming locations of these movies. good times!!
Excellent review. Saw this on opening night and remember the entire audience applauding at the dedication to the Challenger astronauts at the beginning.
Viewing this film was more like an experience than going to see a film. Trek fans, including myself, were just so engaged in the film it was more like a night out with your family rather than watching a film with strangers. The entire audience reacted to the laughs, gags, surprises, and even more dramatic moments in concert. Total strangers were talking like old friends when the film ended.
As a nice bookend, revealing the new Enterprise at the end initiated another round of applause.
It's a pity Star Trek V was a disappointment, but at the moment seeing that film on opening night was a memorable and valued moment in my life.
Thanks for bringing back a good memory.
Star Trek II-IV, the best trilogy that isn't Lord of the Rings. Star Trek V NEEDS a director's cut. They need to sort those special FX. Shatner's vision looks fantastic but the effects, man. It's a shame they were screwed over.
Agreed on Star Trek but was never a fan of Lord of the Rings.
I recall seeing this in the theatres when I was a teenager. Light-hearted fun, while I thoroughly enjoyed and still is one of my favourite Star Trek movies.
8:29 somebody else by now must've mentioned it, but just in case. in the new Picard series S02E04 they travel back in time to I think our present. they take a bus in SF I believe. the guy that played the loud
music punk reprised his roll. it was a fun callback scene.
Love this Retrospective/review of star trek 4 the Voyage home I'm hoping that you will do the next generation films and the kelvin timeline movies next.
You know William Shatner's reaction to Spock swimming with the Wales is just, Columbo.
It’s the first thing that came to my mind too. Columbo was and is still brilliant.
@@i4wood yeah Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner starred in episodes of Columbo so must be some kind of Easter egg, a winking a nod.
I bought the Star Trek 25th anniversary box set in VHS widescreen so I was an early adopter. It did take some getting used to with my TV at the time which meant very big black bars, but it was still the best way to watch them.
Can't wait for Oliver to review the TNG films, Star Trek First Contact is my second favorite film in the series.
I still get hit hard whenever I hear "the late Leonard Nimoy".
Yea poor time keeping hits me hard too
@@yesillhaveanother2278 lol. I never understood how "late" came to mean dead.
I had to read that three times to realize you weren't getting hard
My favorite of the original movies. I grew up in Monterey County, and when they were filming this as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, my grandmother went and met Nimoy and Shatner.
It always amazes me the kind of work filmmakers in the '80s had to do to get convincing visual effects.
The whale effects in this movie are so good I didn't even realize they weren't actually whales until I watched this video. I feel dumb now, because duh, there are no captive whales, but you don't think about those sorts of things when you're watching a movie
The accidental extra is actually actress Madolyn Smith who played Chevy Chase's wife in Funny Farm. Research it
The music isn't bad at all. It might not fit the world of Star Trek, but it fits this film perfectly. And the music during the hospital escape was incredible. I remember the theater was cheering at the end of that sequence.
I attended the screening of the film last summer at my local Regal theater. It was one of three 1986 films alongside Labyrinth and Transformers: The Movie I got to experienced in the theater.
The end credits freeze frame with the symphonic score is so very endearing. It’s so spectacularly 80s. Shatner was great in this film.
#3: The search for Spock was good, with the planet Genesis. But this one looks a lot fun, I gotta recap on this.
I saw this movie in a theatre in Montgomery Alabama when I was 10 years old. I loved it. I still love it.
Certainly one of my favorites, I really enjoy their adventures in the "current day". It's like a timecapsule of the 80's.
Excellent as always. I think I caught parts of this movie whenever it was TV, however I never took any time to watch this installment in its entirety. I did see a review by James Rolfe, and he seemed to like it too. Even though I barely seen the old TV series and mostly seen the JJ Abrams movies, this does look like a fun installment. I'll probably check this movie out, along with "Wrath of Kahn" and "Search for Spock", as I've heard those were the most memorable of the original cast.
Yes and Star Trek VI (Undiscovered Country) is really good too
I was in high school and had same misgivings as you did lol. Until of course I watched it and absolutely adored it.
7:19
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
7:24
The Golden Child (1986)
It never fails to shock me just how goddam OLD (or dead) all the stars of my favourite childhood movies are now. And it never fails to bring my mortality home to me: I am maybe 20-25 years younger then these people. I think I should stop watching these, but great video anyway, Oliver!
i grew up in the Bay Area, man i do miss old San Francisco. I wish i could time travel.
I always called the segment of the Star Trek film series composed by II to IV the "Fall of the Enterprise trilogy", and for me IV was the perfect "breather episode" conclusion after two films in which the characters go through so much emotional distress.
If the TOS theme had appeared, Roddenberry would have gotten royalties for having written the lyrics. Seriously.
Leonard Rosenman's score grew on me. Really love his work on the Apes films and Fantastic Voyage, and this sounds a lot like that.
You can tell those humpback whale effects were realistic if it grabs the attention of PETA.
Plus, it's great to see all of the crew get their moments to shine in the story.
PETA complains about Mario wearing animal themed costumes in video games, though.
Major props to the filmmakers for making the Monterey Bay Aquarium look like it's across the bay from San Francisco. I wish it was that close to here
I won tickets to the premiere in London for this. Best experience ever! 🖖🏼
Not a single phaser or torpedo was fired, and yet this is still heralded as one of the greatest Trek stories of all time.
This should be required viewing for filmmakers today. Absolute masterpiece of a film. 👏🏾👍🏾
This is a fantastic video...i would say this is the best one you have done.
Another little fun fact: The model for the probe was based off of an attempted Rendezvous with Rama movie. They've been trying to make a film adaptation of the book for years at that point and when that attempt fell through they just re-used it for Star Trek 4. Just another cool little fact about Sci-Fi cinema from the time. :)
This is still my favourite Star Trek film.
I was born August 2, 1979. As a kid I was more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan. But my favorite movie of the Star Trek movies has always been Star Trek 4. It's the one Star Trek movie that I would watch all the time. And even now I find myself watching that one more than the others. I just enjoy the fun light hearted aspect of it
As a teenager at the time of this film's release, this one was actually my 2nd favourite Star Trek film for the longest time!
Two Star Trek fun facts:
- The part Eddie Murphy was to play was reused for Sarah Silverman's Star Trek Voyager character in the two part ep, Future's End.
- The same actor who played the Punk with the radio in this movie would reprise his role this year in Star Trek Picard's second season.
In the early 90s, my sister was obsessed with whales. A friend of my parents brought this movie over for her, and it ended up launching my Trek fandom.
EXCELLENT job on your video,Oliver,as usual. I watched this film at the cinema when it came out,people cheered when Spock did the vulcan neck pinch on the rocker. LOL. 130 million box-office take ??? WOW. This film is sooo GOOD,the producers were right to change the tone of this movie,it stands out from any other Star Trek film. LIVE LONG and PROSPER-OLIVER HARPER.
I saw this at about age 17, with a boisterous Trekkie audience who roared with laughter and delight. Couldn't believe how funny and enjoyable it was for a Trek film about whales.
Nimoy, Meyer, Bennett, really the saviours of Star Trek 👊
Love your reviews, sir!
Shane Black asking "can't we go back to what [he] grew up with" when he was responsible for the atrocity that was The Predator is some peak irony 🤣
I had this VHS as a kid and watched it countless times. I don’t live far from San Francisco so it was cool to see a place I knew in the movie. It was also funny to me as I had been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (the stand in for the place with the whales) many times too and knew that it was actually like 2 hours away from SF in Monterey.
Did you see the latest episode of Picard? Absolutely loved and appreciated the callback to Voyage Home in the first few mins! Not spoiling it just in case some haven’t seen it yet!
Love your stuff! Where's my Time Bandits Retrospective?!
I love this movie! One of my all time favorites
Star Trek IV was actually my introduction to the entire franchise as a kid. My Dad practically dragged me to see it in the theater. Since this was pre TNG the only vague knowledge I had of ST was the original series, which I was aware of but it just existed in my mind as "cheesy old sci fi show that is crap compared to Star Wars". I loved this movie even though I had absolutely no knowledge of Star Trek lore, or the previous movies, so my Dad had to explain a lot of things to me. Really great memory and from then on I was a ST fan.
I cannot believe this movie is 36 years old, I was 13 when this came out and saw it in theatre as if it was yesterday! Magical 80s!