Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home (1986)
85%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 4 Oscars
4 wins & 19 nominations total
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is perhaps the lightest and most purely enjoyable entry of the long-running series, emphasizing the eccentricities of the Enterprise’s crew
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” is a hilarious and heartwarming addition to the franchise. The crew’s fish-out-of-water experience in 20th-century San Francisco is a delight to watch, and the film’s environmental message is still relevant today. Plus, who doesn’t love seeing Spock try to blend in with the locals? It’s a must-watch for any Star Trek fan, and even non-fans will find themselves laughing along with the crew’s antics. Just be warned, you may find yourself wanting to adopt a pet whale after watching.
Production Company(ies)
Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Monterey Bay Aquarium – 886 Cannery Row, Monterey, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1986
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Surround 7.1
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 58m
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Language(s):English, Finnish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 26, 1986 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 3, 2003
Genre(s)
Adventure
Keyword(s)
starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, directed by Leonard Nimoy, written by Leonard Nimoy, Harve Bennett, Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Harve Bennett, Nicholas Meyer, Adventure, PG, box office performance, $104.7M, reviewed by David Stratton, Michael Wilmington, Variety Staff, Pat Graham, Stephen Garrett, Steven D Greydanus, starring Admiral, Captain James T Kirk, Captain Spock, Dr Gillian Taylor, Commander Leonard H McCoy, M.D., Commander Hikaru Sulu, produced by Harve Bennett, Paramount Pictures, Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Surround, Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR, Scope (2.35:1), Star Trek
Worldwide gross: $109,713,132
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $303,980,884
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 498
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 33,149,497
US/Canada gross: $109,713,132
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $303,980,884
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 185
US/Canada opening weekend: $16,881,888
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $46,774,449
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 260
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $25,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $69,267,206
Production budget ranking: 605
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $37,300,390
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $197,413,288
ROI to date (est.): 185%
ROI ranking: 666
Leonard Nimoy – Captain Spock
Catherine Hicks – Dr. Gillian Taylor
DeForest Kelley – Commander Leonard H. McCoy, M.D.
James Doohan – Captain Montgomery Scott
George Takei – Commander Hikaru Sulu
Director(s)
Leonard Nimoy
Writer(s)
Leonard Nimoy, Harve Bennett, Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Harve Bennett, Nicholas Meyer
Producer(s)
Harve Bennett
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 4 Oscars
4 wins & 19 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (8)
Much of the fun to be found in the quite witty screenplay involves the bemused citizens of the future trying to cope with 20th-century life.
May 27, 2021
David Stratton
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
If most movies today are doomed to be sure-fire, presold properties–with ideas leached from our recent TV or cinematic past–let’s hope they’re all as good at the game as “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”
September 7, 2016
Michael Wilmington
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Latest excursion is warmer, wittier, more socially relevant and truer to its TV origins than prior odysseys.
May 19, 2008
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
I suspect the unconverted will want to be beamed up pronto.
June 6, 2007
Pat Graham
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Kirk & Co return to present-day San Francisco to save the whales in the most enjoyable film of the series so far, also returning to the simplistic morality-play format that gave the original TV series its strength.
January 26, 2006
Stephen Garrett
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
The most successful and widely appealing of the Star Trek films, The Voyage Home is also the most idiosyncratic… some of the most humorous and humane moments in the Trek canon.
June 24, 2003 | Rating: A
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films
TOP CRITIC
Offered quite a bit more levity than the previous films- or at least, as much as is possible for a movie that features the possible end of life on Earth.
December 1, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Stephen Silver
Tilt Magazine
The comedy in this entry is so broad that the movie often doesn’t even feel like a Star Trek project (which of course explains its wide popularity).
September 10, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Time travel is a new concept for this series, and having the crew visit a familiar version of Earth is certainly an amusing idea; but why did it have to involve whales?
September 8, 2020 | Rating: 4/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
As much a passionate, heavy-handed environmental screed as it is a flighty space opera, The Voyage Home can’t ever quite reconcile its disparate moods and ideas into a holistic experience.
May 31, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/5
Shaun Munro
Flickering Myth
The marching orders here were for a romp, and a romp they produced.
April 8, 2019 | Rating: B+
Zaki Hasan
Zaki’s Corner
A bit flimsy to be legitimately counted as “great” Star Trek, but aware enough of its characters and their attachments to each other and the audience that it’s “fun” Star Trek.
May 23, 2013 | Rating: 8/10
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy…
Plot
The most acclaimed Star Trek adventure of all time with an important message. It is the 23rd century, and a mysterious alien probe is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. In their frantic attempt to save mankind, Admiral Kirk and his crew must time travel back to 1986 San Francisco where they find a world of punk, pizza and exact-change buses that are as alien to them as anything they have ever encountered in the far-off reaches of the galaxy. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy return as Kirk and Spock, along with the entire Star Trek crew.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny comment about the film in the Fresh Kernels database.
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