Rating: 
Summary: The Best Star Trek Ever! NOT!!!
Review: I was amazed to read the glowing reviews of this stinker. The plot is utterly absurd. The movie was obviously planned backwards, probably as follows: "Hey, let's do a Star Trek movie that makes a sociological statement!"
"Yeah, great idea! Maybe one that supports the environment..."
"How about saving the whales?"
"That's ridiculous! What do whales have to do with the 23rd century? Besides, they'll probably be extinct by then."
"Hmmm. Maybe a disaster might happen that only the whales could solve, and they'll be extinct."
"Whales are unintelligent, what problems could THEY solve?"
"Yeah. Hmmm. Maybe the disaster could be averted by using whale blubber or something."
"No, dufus, now you're beginning to sound like a capitalist pig who wants to slaughter whales for their blubber."
<They break for a latte and a scone.>
"Maybe some powerful environmentally enlightened aliens descended from the ancestors of whales show up and want to make sure their 'brothers' on Earth are being treated well."
"Yeah, then they find out the whales are extinct and then in a fit of rage blast the Earth into smithereens!!!"
"No way. Then the movie would be over in what, 20 minutes? And then any sequel would have to have the Federation fighting a bunch of alien whale-oids. Ugh."
"OK, how about this. The spacecraft could be unoccupied. Like a probe..." You see my point. The movie does have its funny moments, but they are spoiled by the borderline-psychotic and thoroughly annoying character played by Catherine Hicks. The low point of the movie for me happens when, after she is told by a co-worker that a whale has been moved, she snaps and viciously slaps him across the face.
Ugh. IMHO, here are the six Star Trek's in order of merit: VI
II
III
V
IV
I
Rating: 
Summary: A socially conscious Trek movie
Review: On the fourth installment in the Star Trek movie series, Kirk and company are flying their captured Klingon vessel back to Earth to face the punishment for their misdeeds. On the way though, fate intervenes in the form of an alien probe wreaking destruction upon Earth's oceans. With quick thinking, the crew figures out that it is attempting to speak to an extinct species of Whale, so they slingshot their crummy "Klingon fleatrap" around the sun and travel back in time to San Francisco circa 1986 to save the future. The time travel cliche is done very well by the Star Trek crew, and although the movie is incredibly dated, it's still a very humerous film that takes a pressing social issue (mainly ecological conservation) and wraps it into an enjoyable sci-fi plot. One of the biggest strengths of the Star Trek series has always been its social conscious, and they deliver yet again with "The Voyage Home". I'd like to stress again that this is a very lighthearted and humerous film that is saved by the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously. If nothing else, where else do you get to watch Spock develop a penchant for profanity? Add to that the usual interplay between him, Kirk, and McCoy, and you've got a winning movie that hard core Trek fans and casual moviegoers can enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: The voyage where?
Review: Everyone else seems to love this movie. For me, it was alright. The classic fish-out-of-water tale gets the Star Trek treatment as the intrepid crew heads to 20th century San Francisco so that they can look silly. Director Leonard Nimoy, who also helped develop the story, spares no one in his none-to-subtle "save the whales" movie. Star Trek has always been great when they take social issues of today and transform them into a science fiction realm. This one translates the science fiction into the social issue of today, with mixed results. Everyone is given something to do, unfortunately, that helps to point up the lack of ability many of the original crew possess acting wise. A good movie, witty but not subtle. The Special Edition adds considerable "making of" type fodder, but doesn't add as much as I'd like to the enjoyment of the movie itself. It is, however, a well produced set.
Rating: 
Summary: Star Trek III part II
Review: If you watch Star Trek II you have to know what happened to Spock, and if you watch Star Trek III you have to watch The Voyage Home so you don't stay dissapointed about the Star Trek experience. Star Trek IV feels like a comeback but it is more an entertaining sunday afternoon movie than a Star Trek adventure. It is a satire made by an overthehill cast. Even so, I love it. It has to go in the colection. It is a great tribute to a legendary cast that reminds you not to take Sci-Fi so seriously. It has great topics and a good finale to the trilogy. I'd classify this movie in 6th place in the 10 movie series.
1. The Motion Picture
2. Generations
3. The Wrath of Khan
4. The Undiscovered Country
5. Insurrection
6. The Voyage Home
7. First Contact
8. Search for Spock
9. Final Frontier
10. Nemesis
Rating:
Summary: The most universal Trek film, and the best DVD so far
Review: This is one of those rare instances where I've elevated my rating of the film (4 stars) based on the quality and enjoyability of the extras. First - the film. This is not the best Trek film (I like both II and VI better), but it is the most universal and therefore more enjoyable to people who are only passingly familiar with the series. Even though it's the 3rd in the "Death of Spock" trilogy, there is little flashback information and you don't need to be familiar with the previous 2 films to find this one entertaining because most of the story is stand-alone. The plot: a probe threatens the Earth, only Humpback Whales can correctly answer the probe, so Kirk and company must travel back in time to get some, since they are extinct in the 23rd century. This kind of environmental message is familiar to Trek fans - the Original Series tells us of other species extinct by the 23rd century (e.g. American Bison), and the time travel trick is standard from the series. Once back in time - the 1980's - our heroes split up to (a) find whales (Kirk/Spock), (b) fabricate a whale tank (Scotty/McCoy/Sulu), and (c) repair the ship's dilithium crystals, damaged in the trip (Uhura/Chekov). Because each crew member has a mission, there is ample screen time for all, and we see more interpersonal interactions than in most of the films. There is ample fish-out-of-water humour as the crewmembers try to navigate the streets of San Fransisco, come to terms with hard currency, and master public transit. Subtle social commentary is injected throughout, again in the fine tradition of Star Trek. This DVD edition looks and sounds great. The effects stand up well, although the overall film seems to have aged poorly relative to other Trek films (probably because it was 1980's topical). There are lots of extras, and they are mostly enjoyable - interviews with Gene Roddenbury's son and Mark Lenard's daughters give a neat behind-the-scenes feel for some of the creative talent behind the film. The commentary with both Shatner and Nimoy is fun, and the text commentary by the Okudas is again fascinating and fun. For whatever reason, I enjoyed these extras much more than on the previous three Trek "Special Edition" DVD's.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite!
Review: This is by far the best Star Trek to date. It's hilariously funny (especially Spock), and really cute and creative too. It takes a serious thing, like whale poaching, and shows how important it could be to our futures. I also loved the ending. This is a great movie in every sense of the word - it's funny, action-packed, and has a great moral.
Rating:
Summary: A fine effort
Review: This is a fine effort, even with some obvious scientific flaws such as capturing photons from a ship's reactor. The previous reviewer's comments about the music are totally wrong. This score of Leonard Rosenman was nominated for an Academy Award, and the film has very, very inventive music throughout--everything from technopop (YellowJackets in the San Francisco scene) to contemporary art composers such as Pendereski.
Rating:
Summary: Captain, there be whales!
Review: Star Trek movie rank 3rd of 10. Captain, there be whales!
Coming off a poorly done movie The Search for Spock, Nimoy also directed Voyage Home. When I first saw it I was disappointed. I imaged the producers and writers saying: Lets see, Nimoy has a makeup problem. He has to direct and get those pointed ears put on. Lets have our heros go through time to present day earth and Spook can wear a stocking cap over his ears avoiding the need to sit through makeup. Plus we save money on sets!
This movie was also made shortly after the final disasterous episode of Battlestar Galactica. After two week of hype that the crew of BG was finally coming home to earth, they arrive and the nazi's had won WWII. Not only did they not have expense of of the cool sci fi sets, the script was so stupid that the showed died. Well, all this was in play in my initial reaction to STIV the voyage home. But over the years it had become my second favorite ST movie, dropping to 3rd with the release of First Contact. This was a movie of action and humor that has become one of my favorite movie period. This is also a star trek movie that the whole family likes. So, even though Mr Nimoy gave us a turkey in ST3, they gave him a second chance and he delivered BIG. Way to go Leonard, may I call you Leonard?
Rating:
Summary: A Whale of a Tale...Star Trek IV Soars
Review: Star Trek IV Review With the success of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, writer-producer Harve Bennett and director Leonard Nimoy were given the green light by Paramount to wrap up the storyline that began with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. There were several plot strands left to tie up, after all, what with Spock having to be re-educated and Kirk and his crew facing a court-martial for the actions they took in the rescue of their half-Vulcan comrade. Set barely three months after the events of the third film, Star Trek IV opens with a mysterious alien probe cruising toward the Terran system. Its passage immobilizes any starship it passes as it inexorably makes its way to Earth. Meanwhile, on Vulcan, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) hurriedly undergoes retraining of his mind. In a wonderfully written scene, the former Enterprise science officer breezes through the quizzes a computer tosses at him until he is stumped by the question "How do you feel?" Spock's human mother, Amanda (Jane Wyatt, reprising her role from The Original Series' "Journey to Babel") hears the computer repeating the question over and over and sidles over to her son. "What's wrong?" "I do not understand the question, Mother," says a puzzled Spock. Amanda explains that the retraining of Spock's mind has been in the Vulcan way, but that the computer knows that Spock is half-human, and that his feelings will surface. Spock is skeptical about the concept of having human emotions (since in the series he strived to be more Vulcan-than-thou), but his mother explains that he is alive at that moment because his friends acted out of their emotional nature, disregarding the "logic" of simply obeying Starfleet orders and refraining from fetching Spock from the Genesis planet. On Earth, the Klingon ambassador (John Schuck) warns the Federation that there will be no peace while Kirk remains alive and unpunished for stealing the Klingon Bird-of-Prey and defeating its crew (preventing Cmdr. Kruge from obtaining the secrets of Genesis). The Federation president promises there will be a court martial, but the Klingons scoff at this. Even as the Enterprise crew - aboard their stolen Klingon vessel - races home to face the consequences of their actions, the alien probe arrives. Sending a signal to Earth's ocean, it disrupts the planet's climate, causing chaos and world-wide disasters. The Voyage Home had a tortuous development. At first, the original screenplay by Peter Krikes and Steve Meerson focused on a time travel story tailor-made for guest star Eddie Murphy. Fans heard about this and - as with the death of Spock and the destruction of the Enterprise - protested. Paramount also resisted the idea of mixing two of the studio's franchises, so Murphy and Star Trek never did mix. There was also some nasty behind-the-scenes wrangling about the screenplay, because the Krikes-Meerson version was heavily rewritten by Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett - an incident overlooked in the documentaries and commentaries. Eventually the original writers won shared credit for the screenplay, and The Voyage Home was released in the summer of 1986. Notably, this more light-hearted film had major crossover appeal, charming not only Star Trek fans, but also wider audiences. With its clever script and wonderful mix of sci-fi adventure, social commentary, comedy, romance, and drama, Star Trek IV became the most popular entry of the 10 movies made between 1979 and 2002. This Collector's Edition offers one disc with the theatrical cut of the movie, enhanced with a new menu, Dolby surround sound, a commentary track by director Leonard Nimoy and actor William Shatner, plus a text commentary by Star Trek Encyclopedia authors Mike and Denise Okuda. The second disc comes with the usual documentaries, interviews, and the theatrical trailer.
Rating:
Summary: The only Trek film that Gene Roddenberry liked.....
Review: Well Gene Roddenberry was involved in the production of Star Trek through 79 Live Action Shows, 22 Animated Shows, and Star Trek; The Motion Picture. So when they started really doing these movies in the early 80's. Gene turned it over to other film makers saying "Here it is and go do things with it." They have now made about ten Star Trek movies, but not all of them have maintained Gene's vision of a bright/possitive future. Some have turned out to be darker films with more space battles going on in them, and it's really something that goes against Star Trek as defined by Gene's work on the original series. So the Star Trek films have never actually been as successful as they could be. But the one that has, Star Trek IV; The Voyage Home, is today the most successful of all the movies, because it was 100% faithful to Gene's vision of a bright/possitive future. We see diversity in this film. We see the Federation Council, we see Starfleet Command in a much larger way, we even see a few starships outside of the Enterprise that have a crew from different planets all working together. This is also extented to the Humpback Whales, and we see that intelligent life forms can take on many different shapes and sizes. This was what Gene Roddenberry had in mind for Star Trek, and we see it so much in this movie, more so then any other film that they did before or since. I really wish they would do another Star Trek film like this. That endeavors to show the Star Trek universe in a way that it's creator had always seen it as.
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