Star Trek IV: The Voyage Homewas the last time Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise saved Earth by bringing two humpback whales to the 23rd century. Directed by Leonard Nimoy,Star Trek IVconcluded what has become known as the ‘Genesis Trilogy,’ which began withStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khanand continued inStar Trek III: The Search for Spock. A mainstream crowdpleaser,Star Trek IVearned $109 million in 1986 and was thehighest-grossingStar Trekmovieuntil J.J. Abrams’Star Trekreboot in 2009.
The firstStar Trekmovie to feature time travel,Star Trek IVsends Admiral Kirk and his former Enterprise crew back to 1986 San Francisco to enact an insane scheme. As a mysterious probe threatens to destroy Earth in the 23rd century, Kirk and friends must transport humpback whales to the future in the hopes that they can communicate with and stop the probe. Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) enlist the help ofmarine biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), who cares for humpback whales named George and Gracie at the Cetacean Institute.
Meanwhile, the rest of the USS Enterprise’s crew has to construct a tank aboard their hijacked Klingon Bird-of-Prey that can hold the whales. Simultaneously, the time-tossed Starfleet heroes have to find a nuclear power source to ignite the dilithium crystals of their starship’s warp drive.Star Trek IVis a wildly entertaining rompand is the onlyStar Trekmovie where no one dies. Here’s how Kirk and his friends saved the future with their time-traveling whales, and what happened next.
Admiral Kirk & His Crew Solved 3 Problems At The End Of Star Trek IV
Chekov & The Whales Needed Rescue & How To Get Back To The 23rd Century
Before they could return to the 23rd century, Admiral Kirk had to rescueCommander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), who was sent to a San Francisco hospital with severe injuries.Chekov was badly hurt while trying to escape the USS Enterprise aircraft carrierafter securing the necessary nuclear power to time travel to the future. Kirk, Gillian, and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) infiltrated the hospital and smuggled Chekov out, and Bones even used 23rd-century medicine to heal an elderly woman’s kidneys.
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The next problem Kirk and friends faced wasrescuing the humpback whales, which were released into the wildby the Cetacean Institute without Gillian’s knowledge. Dr. Taylor beamed aboardAdmiral Kirk’s Klingon Bird-of-Prey, and they located George and Gracie at sea as they were attacked by a whaling ship. When the Bird-of-Prey decloaked, shocking the poachers, Kirk had the whales beamed aboard securely.
Unfortunately, a subplot where Mr. Sulu (George Takei) would meet his 20th-century ancestor in San Francisco had to be cut.
Spock coped with the final dilemma ofStar Trek IV’s ending:The Vulcan had to calculate time warp back to the 23rd centurywhile compensating for the added weight of the whales and water on the ship. Encouraged byKirk and Bones, Spock made his best guess, and it was on the money. Kirk’s starship successfully returned to the 23rd century, but the engines failed, and they crash-landed in San Francisco Bay.
An idea to show dialogue between the humpback whales and the probe was wisely omitted by director Leonard Nimoy in order to preserve the"mystery."
Releasing George and Gracie into the sea,the humpback whales were able to communicate with the Whale Probe. Satisfied, the alien vessel returned from whence it came. Earth was saved, thanks to Admiral Kirk, the former crew of the USS Enterprise, Dr. Gillian Taylor, and their humpback whales.
Admiral Kirk Is Demoted Back To Captain Of The Enterprise
“My Friends, We’ve Come Home”
After saving Earth, Admiral Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise are called to a hearing by the United Federation Council to face charges for the manycrimes Kirk and they committedinStar Trek III: The Search for Spockto rescue Spock from the Genesis Planet. This includes Kirk’s willful destruction of the Starship Enterprise to keep it from falling into Klingon hands. In gratitude for their heroism in saving Earth,all charges were dropped except one directed at Admiral Kirk: disobeying a superior officer.
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Kirk’s punishment (or reward) was a reduction in rank back to Captain. Later, Kirk and his crew learn that they were assigned thenewly commissioned USS Enterprise-A,returning Kirk to his first and best destiny as Captain of the Enterprise.Kirk was an Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Operations sinceStar Trek: The Motion Picture,but Jim yearned to be in command of a starship. The Federation gave Kirk his heart’s desire.
Kirk was still ranked Captain when he appeared inStar Trek Generations.
Kirk would command the USS Enterprise-A inStar Trek V: The Final FrontierandStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Countrybefore the Enterprise-A was decommissioned.
Spock Is Finally Back To His Normal Vulcan Self At The End Of Star Trek IV
He Feels Fine After Being Resurrected
The ending ofStar Trek IV: The Voyage Homealso completed Spock’s return to his normal self. Captain Spock sacrificed his life to save the Starship Enterprise at theend ofStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Spock’s corpse, however, was sent to the newly formed Genesis Planet, where its strange energies resurrected the Vulcan from infancy. InStar Trek III: The Search for Spock, Spock’s father, Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard), ordered Admiral Kirk toreunite Spock’s body with hiskatra, or Vulcan soul, which was placed in the mind of Dr. McCoy.
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After Spock’skatraand body were unified, the Vulcan hero still needed months to regain his mental acuity. Further, Spock’s human mother, Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt), urged him not to ignore his feelings. ThroughoutStar Trek IV, Spock silently wrestled with his Vulcan logic and his resurgent humanity. It was successfully"guessing"the correct equation for warp travel back to the 23rd century that restored Spock’s full confidence so that he was himself again.Hence,Spock asked Sarek to tell his mother,“I feel fine.“For the rest of hisStar Trekappearances, Spock would indeed be fine.
What Happened To Dr. Gillian Taylor & Her Humpback Whales
Star Trek: Prodigy Gives An Update On Gillian’s Whales
Dr. Gillian Taylor permanently left the 20th century and traveled to the 23rd century with Admiral Kirk and his crew. As Taylor told Kirk, she is a whale biologist in an era when humpback whales were extinct before they brought George and Gracie to the future. Gillian joined a research ship to keep tabs on her whales and any future whales that will be born. Unfortunately, despite her promise to"find"Kirk,Dr. Gillian Taylor isn’t seen inStar Trekagain.
Star Trek: Prodigyseason 2 revealed that in the Mirror Universe, the whales in Cetacean Ops are as evil as Terrans.
However,Dr. Gillian Taylor’s work with whales benefited Starfleet.In the 24th century, starships like the USS Enterprise-D inStar Trek: The Next Generationand the USS Cerritos inStar Trek: Lower Decksuse dolphins and Beluga whales in Cetacean Ops for starship navigation.Star Trek: Prodigy’s USS Voyager-A also has Cetacean Ops that houses ahumpback whale named Gillian, named forStar TrekIV’s heroine.
Star Trek IV Made Starship Captain History
Leonard Nimoy’s Movie Introduced Star Trek’s First Female Captain
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Homemade history by introducing thefirst female starship captainseen on-screen, 20 years afterStar Trek: The Original Seriespremiered. Early inStar Trek IV,Madge Sinclair appears as the unnamed Captain of the USS Saratoga.Sinclair’s Captain preceded Kate Mulgrew’s debut as Captain Kathryn Janeway onStar Trek: Voyagerby nine years, although Mulgrew is the first female Captain to lead aStar TrekTV series.
Madge Sinclair is also the first African-American female Captain inStar Trek,preceding Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) becoming Captain inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 3 by 35 years.
Another notable cast member ofStar Trek IV: The Voyage Homeis Brock Peters, who plays Admiral Cartwright. InStar Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Cartwright is revealed as a xenophobe and a traitor conspiring to prevent peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.Brock Peters then joinedStar Trek: Deep Space Nineas Joseph Sisko, the father of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks).Star Trek IV: The Voyage Homeimpressively has far-reaching implications that makeStar Trekbetter.
