Rating of
3/4
A fun "Trek" in time
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/08
It has been a few months since members of the late "Starship Enterprise" had gone to the "Genesis Planet" to bring the reanimated body of "Spock" (Leonard Nimoy, who also directed the film) back to "Vulcan" so it could be reunited to its' "katra", the "Vulcan" living spirit. Now they are refurbishing the captured "Klingon" vessel so the crew can face charges brought against them after they went to the restricted planet despite being ordered not to go.
Meanwhile, in another part of the "United Federation of Planets" territory, a huge probe of unknown origin is playing havoc with the systems on "UFP" ships in its path. The probe eventually reaches Earth, and causes even more havoc as the transmissions from it are focused on the oceans.
Back on the "Klingon" ship now manned by the "Enterprise" crew is listening to the multiple distress signals caused by the probe, followed by by the probe signal, which "Spock" studies and discovers that, in the right condition, the transmissions resemble the songs of whales -- specifically the songs sung by the long extinct humpback whale. "Spock" then hypothesizes that only the humpback can respond to the probe.
"Admiral James Kirk" (William Shatner) then makes the decision to go back in time to the 20th century to get a humpback whale and bring it back in hopes that a humpback from the past can give the right response to stop the probe from inadvertently destroying the planet.
Unlike the previous films, as well as the ones after it, this one is more lighthearted. Even though the plot is pretty serious in nature, the movie is a bit on the comical side. The reason for this is because of what are suppose to be unintentionally humorous moments the famed crew of the "Enterprise," which was destroyed in the immediately previous movie.
The cast, like the film, are less serious on this one. With the lines and situations they are in, it's just fun to watch them. The two that really stand out are Nimoy and Shatner. Other cast members also have their moments. One memorable scene that was real humorous featured "Uhura" (Nichelle Nichols) and "Chekov" (Walter Koenig) where they are asking people how to get to the naval base in Alameda. What makes this particular scene humorous is that the two are in character as they ask for direction to unsuspecting people on the street as they are filmed by a hidden camera. Other jokes are pretty dated only thanks to advances in technology since this film was released.
One thing that stands out is the special effects, some of which barely stand up to the years. Guess what? "George" and "Gracie" are not real humpbacks. They are actually four-foot long motorized models put into scenes onto blue screens during post-production. However, there are shots of real humpbacks to help with the illusion that they are real whales.
The costumes are a little dated as well, mostly because of the scenes in the "past." The costumes the main cast wear are somewhat dated only because the fans are now use to seeing the costumes used since "Star Trek: The Next Generation" began. There are also some great makeup effects with many of the background characters in the scenes in the "present". Although the masks look a bit cheaper than those seen today, they are still really good and quite impressive in many instances.
One touching moment in the movie is at the very beginning, when the cast and crew pay tribute to the crew of the NASA shuttle Challenger, which blew up during launch only 10 months before this film was released to theaters. This is basically the only serious moment in the entire movie.
There is one big continuity error during the scene of "Kirk's" dream as they are traveling back in time. During this sequence, we hear various lines from the movie -- and some of them are heard much later on in the film.
Non-fans will probably enjoy this film, but not as much as the fans of the franchise. The only real references to previous versions of "Trek" is to the movie just prior to this one. So, I would recommend it to both, but to non-fans to a lesser degree.
