Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35048 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-02
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 117 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The most popular movie in the "classic Trek" series of feature films, Star Trek IV was a box-office smash that satisfied mainstream audiences and hard-core fans alike. The Voyage Home returns to one of the favourite themes of the original TV series--time travel--to bring Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov from the 23rd century to present-day (i.e., mid-1980s) San Francisco. In their own time, the Starfleet heroes encounter an alien probe emitting a mysterious message--a message delivered in the song of the now-extinct Earth species of humpback whales. Failure to respond to the probe will result in Earth's destruction, so Kirk and company time-travel to 20th-century Earth--in their captured Klingon starship--to transport a humpback whale to the future in an effort to communicate peacefully with the alien probe. The plot sounds somewhat absurd in description, but as executed by returning director Leonard Nimoy, this turned out to be a crowd-pleasing adventure, filled with a great deal of humour derived from the clash of future heroes and contemporary urban realities, and much lively interaction among the favourite Trek characters. Catherine Hicks plays the 20th-century whale expert who is finally convinced of Kirk's and Spock's benevolent intentions. --Jeff Shannon

Special Features
English
Region 2
Commentary By Leonard Nimoy And William Shatner
Text Commentary By Michael Okuda And Denise Okuda
The Star Trek Universe
Production Featurettes
Visual Effects Featurettes
Tributes
Original Interviews
Archives
Theatrical Trailer

Synopsis
A contemporary marine biologist becomes involved with Kirk and crew as they undertake a vital mission into Earth's past to save a species whose extinction poses a threat to the very existence of the planet. Forced to travel back to the San Francisco of 1986, the crew encounter a world as strange to them as any on their previous adventures.

Customer Reviews

Near Perfect Trek-Movie on near Perfect Discs!
What more can be said about Star Trek 4 than that which has already been mentioned by countless beaming (no pun intended) reviews over the past 15 years. It is a classic melding of Science Fiction and comedy, amusing without resorting to insulting spoofs and remaining respectful towards the spirit of the original series.

Perhaps usually remembered simply as "The one with the whales" it details the fugitive crew of the USS Enterprises voyage back through time to rescue two humpback whales (long extinct in the 23rd century) which may hold the key to mankinds salvation. Replete with good-hearted ecology messages and bursting with 80's period flavour it tells its story without drifting into preachy morals or sickly sweet nostalgia.

The presentation here is almost uniformly superb, the range of extras available (from full length commentary by Shatner and Nimoy to over 6 hours of behind the scenes retrospectives) is in keeping with earlier releases in Paramounts revisitations of the Trek movies and as such proves utterly fascinating and informative, menus are fully animated, sound quality is strong throughout and the selection of subtitles available is astounding.

Only one aspect brings a slight quibble, picture quality is acceptable, the movie certainly looks as good as any home cinema release so far, but it lacks the remasterinbg afforded to the Wrath of Khan release. A few scenes feel slightly grainy and there is a loss of colour depth on occasion. Minor problems however in such a commendable and well-priced package.

Not only one of the best trek-discs out there, but one of the best DVD's in general. Bravo Paramount!

The only real negative is that its Star Trek 5 next...God help us all!

Whales...
You can view this film on two levels.
Firstly the central premise of the plot in the film sends a strong environmental message. That is that if we keep messing the planet up, we could be in serious trouble down the line. Almost 20 years after this film was made, this seems to be truer now than it ever was.
However, don't let the above put you off (whatever your view on environmental issues) because secondly as a piece of entertainment this a great film. Kirk, Spock, Bones and the other main characters all get ample opportunity to show why Star Trek became so successful. Theres a lot of humour in this film which works really well:
Kirk having no understanding of exact change only on a bus. Spock when asked if he's sure he won't change his mind replies "is there something wrong with the one I have".

So effectively its a classic episode of the original series, given a big budget, better special effects (although starting to look dated now) with a classy script. It is certainly worth buying as this is a film that supports repeated viewings.
There are a lot of extras on the special edition (6 hours +) that make this much preferable to the standard release.

To Boldy Come Back to Where We Are!
Star Trek 4 is simply one of the best star trek movies ever made and a must have for any trek fan. But this is movies isn't just for 'trekkies', its good humour and awesome storyline appeals to people who would usually turn away at the sight of 'Star Trek'.

A Paramount executive once said to Leonard Nimoy, 'We'd even make this film if it wasn't star trek.'

Just image Kirk and the crew getting run over by a taxi in downtown San Francisco. This film must be seen to be appreciated, an essential DVD for your collection, and don't forget this is two disk! After you've finished being addicted to star trek by disk 1, throw in disk 2 and the hours of interviews, documentaries, tributes will teach you about star trek culture and actually keep you entertained unlike many second disks in many other films.

Well worth 114 minutes of your time!