1984 - STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME, the whale one, the funny one, the one for good Sunday liberals

Another original cast film.  This was the one where the crew goes back in time to save the Earth from some mysterious space probe that wants to talk to the whales like Dr. Doolittle.  This was also the film where they decided to go for a lighter touch with some mild humor and lots of "going back in time" jokes. 

To keep Leonard Nimoy happy, Paramount studios let him direct and take a screenwriting credit.  To keep William Shatner happy they paid him off with 2 million dollars.  The rest of the original cast probably wasn't getting a lot of other job offers since they were so closely associated with the TV series so they signed up for film number IV. 

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, is a bad film.  Leonard Nimoy's direction is really pedestrian.  He manages to keep the cast from bumping into the furniture which is about the best thing you can say about it.  This is TV style staging with lots of closeups and medium shots.  The acting is about what you would expect from the original cast, borderline hammy but enjoyable. 

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, predictable, safe and boring.  What I found particularly tiresome about this film was the whole "save the whales" thing.   Leave it to a bunch of over privileged white liberals to exploit that issue with a sappy science fiction movie.

119 minutes.