Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Plot

Returning to Earth from Vulcan with Spock in the Klingon Bird of Prey the crew receives a general distress call from Earth indicating a probe is causing massive power drains on all ships, stations and Earth itself. Everyone is ordered to stay away. They discover that the probe is sending a message to Earth's oceans, specifically to hump back whales that went extinct centuries ago.

The HMS Bounty, the name they gave to the Bird of Prey slingshots around the sun to go back in time to the 1980s where they find some hump back whales in a facility in Sausalito. They meet a marine biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor. With some convincing, mainly telling her about their mission to bring whales to the future to save the Earth, she decides to help them get the whales.

Commentary

This is probably my favorite Star Trek movie watching it dozens of time as a child. I grew up in Ontario Canada and all I knew of California I learned from watching TV. When I turned 26, I moved to Los Angeles and 7 years later to the San Francisco bay area. Living in San Jose, I get to visit places that distinctly remind me of this movie. The Sausalito aquarium where the whales George and Gracie were kept is actually the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The humor and chemistry that they actors had in this movie finally felt like the original series again. From Kirk telling everyone to disperse on the streets of San Francisco to Spock saying cursing. The movie is probably the most quotable. "Everybody remember where we parked".

Quotes

"Damage control is easy. Reading Klingon, that's hard!" - Scotty

"You really have gone where no man has gone before. Can't you tell me what it felt like?" - McCoy
"It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference." - Spock
"You're joking!" - McCoy
"A joke is a story with a humorous climax." - Spock
"You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?" - McCoy

"Everybody remember where we parked!" - Kirk

"To hunt a species to extinction is not logical." - Spock
"Whoever said the human race was logical?" - Gillian

"Admiral, if we were to assume that these whales were ours to do with as we pleased, we'd be as guilty as those who caused their extinction." - Spock

"S-sure you won't change your mind?" - Gillian
"Is there something wrong with the one I have?" - Spock

"Don't tell me! You're from outer space!" - Gillian
"No I'm from Iowa, I only work in outer space." - Kirk

"What's wrong with you?" - McCoy
"Kidney dialysis" - Patient
"My god, what is this, the Dark Ages?" - McCoy

"My God man, drilling holes in his head's not the answer. The artery must be repaired. Now put away your butcher knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!" - McCoy