Save the Whales

 A lot of people who aren't into Star Trek are aware of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Mention it to someone, and you'll likely get a mild look of recognition, followed by a nod of the head and, "Oh yeah, the one with the whales, right?" It was a pretty popular film in its day -- its total box office was $139 million, which comes to $331 million in 2021 dollars. Tonight, I'm going to watch it again, at theater, for a special 35th anniversary screening. I am shivering with anticipation.

The premise of Star Trek IV is pretty engaging: a mysterious probe has arrived at Earth. It is sending a signal, directed at Earth's oceans, which is disrupting both the power and eco-systems of the planet. Kirk, Spock and crew are away while this is happening, and deduce that the sounds emanating from the probe are directed at humpback whales. Apparently, this alien life form used to communicate with those mammals, centuries ago, across the stars, but humans eventually hunted the whales to extinction. Our intrepid heroes decide to travel back in time to collect some humpback whales, and bring them to the "present" (for Star Trek), so they can respond to the probe.

The original series of Star Trek had been my gateway into the franchise. Our local CBS station used to air reruns of it on Sunday nights after the news, and mom, dad and I would stay up and watch the episodes. They weren't even twenty-years-old at the time. The Next Generation debuted in 1987, and I absolutely loved that show. My maternal grandmother wasn't much of a fan -- she preferred the original series. One year, for her birthday (or was it Christmas?), I got her a poster that was a photograph of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Uhura from the 1960s. It held a place of pride on one of her walls for years until she died.

November of 1986 came along, and the fourth Star Trek movie was released. The Voyage Home (or, "the one with the whales") opened in our town and was playing at the historic Virginia Theatre. I saw it there with my mom, dad and maternal grandmother. We were a Star Trek family, and enjoyed the film immensely. It was fun, had a great plot that carried with it a timely message, and featured deft direction by Leonard Nimoy (the second of two Star Trek features that he helmed).

There was also a 1-900 number available at the time of the movie's release. You could call it, and there be random messages from different members of the Enteprise crew. You were encouraged to call multiple times, in order to hear the different messages. Of course, this all cost money. I may have, ahem, called the 1-900 number a few too many times, as I remember receiving a stern talking-to from my mom when the phone bill came. Oh well. I regret nothing.

The movie was scored by Leonard Rosenman. It's actually quite good. That's no slight against Rosenman, it's just that Jerry Goldsmith (who happens to be favorite film composer) did the music for so many other entries in the Star Trek filmography, that Rosenman's work sometimes gets overshadowed. Much of the score is happy and jaunty, though there are some deeper, more ominous-sounding moments. A couple of tracks were composed by a jazz fusion quartet known as The Yellowjackets, and they're quite good. In particular, Market Street is well worth a listen. I wore down my cassette tape of the soundtrack listening to that, and all the other tracks.

I've watched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home many times over the years, though this will be the first occasion of viewing it on the big screen in over thirty years. It won't be quite the same, of course, but should still be a nice experience. I'll be with friends, and a partner, enjoying a well-made movie that comes from my childhood, and is part of a decades-old franchise that has meant so much to me over time. Hard to go wrong there.