Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) is a Christian movie review of this Star Trek film. The review deals with communication and creation care.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) finishes the Star Trek trilogy which is composed of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. In this film, the crew of the USS Enterprise 1701 return to face charges stemming from the events in Star Trek III. As they make their way back to Earth, a cylindrical probe comes to communicate with humpback whales (who do not exist in the twenty-third century.) In order to solve this problem, the crew travels back in time to 1986 to pick up whales and return them to the twenty-third century. While searching for the whales, the crew encounters life in modern life in San Francisco. A comedy of errors follow. After finding the whales and packing them in the ship, the crew return to their own century just in time. The ship crashes in San Francisco Bay, the whales are released, and the probe makes contact with the whales. After this contact, Earth is saved. The crew is then judged in a council for the events that transpired in the previous film. The crew, who expect to receive a freighter, are surprised to be assigned a new ship: USS Enterprise 1701-A.

Creation Care

Watching Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home made me think that it was a very long commercial for Greenpeace. The crew of the Enterprise go back in time (using a Klingon Bird of Prey) to save whales because they are the species with the alien probe wants to reach. Along the way, Kirk develops a romantic relationship with Mr. Gillian Taylor of the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito, California.

The film highlights the importance of all creation. Humanity encounters a danger that could have been avoided if humpback whales did not become extinct. The film highlights the need for humanity to live in harmony with creation.

The Bible teaches that humanity was meant to rule creation. We were not meant to destroy God’s creation, but to live over them. Genesis 1:28, Genesis 9:2, Psalm 8:6-8, James 3:7.

QUESTION: In the movie speaking to Admiral Kirk, Spock stated: “Admiral, if we are to assume that can do with these whales as we please, we will be just as guilty as those who caused their extinction.” How does this statement about human activity compare with what the Bible teaches about how God wants humans to live with the animal world? As humans, how can we do a better job with “ruling over creation” yet live in harmony with it?

Communication

The film uses humor to address the challenge of communication. The film shows that sometimes it is hard to communicate. For example, when the crew leave Vulcan, they receive a distress signal from Earth stating that an alien life form has threatened Earth’s atmosphere and made ships inoperable. As Admiral Kirk and crew investigate, they discover that the alien is trying to communicate with humpback whales.

As the crew travel back in time to the twentieth century, they discover challenges in communication. Uhura and Checkov try to find “nuclear wessels.” Scotty has trouble trying to communicate with a Macintosh computer using voice commands. Spock learns about “colorful metaphors.”

Kirk tells Spock that the people of Earth during this time period use “colorful metaphors.” These are actually inappropriate words which people use to speak to one another. People use them to tear other people down, as Kirk and Spock find out.

The Bible teaches that the words we use should lift one another up, not tear one another down (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 3:8, Proverbs 13:3, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 21:23).

QUESTION: The crew of the USS Enterprise are shocked at the way people talk to one another in the twentieth century. The world is just as shocked when Christians talk using “colorful metaphors.” Christians are expected to encourage one another and be careful with their words. How can I use words to help others and not tear them down? What are the “colorful metaphors” that the Bible would consider “corrupting talk” that Christians should be avoiding today?