Film

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Name: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure
Released: 1986
Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei

The Star Trek movie for people who don't like Star Trek: no phasers, no space battles, just Kirk and his crew stealing a ship, time-jumping to 1986 San Francisco, and trying to talk to whales to save the future. It's goofy, warm, quietly earnest about conservation, and funnier than any other entry in the series. A perfect way in, or a breather between darker chapters.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan1982

The film Voyage Home is emotionally recovering from — sacrifice, grief, and the friendship between Kirk and Spock at its rawest. Watch it first and the sequel's silliness lands as earned relief rather than random whimsy.

But It's a tense, mournful space opera with none of the comedy — real tonal whiplash if you came expecting whales and jokes.

Galaxy Quest1999

A loving, note-perfect send-up of exactly this kind of earnest ensemble sci-fi, with washed-up actors mistaken for real astronauts. It gets the Trek spirit — camaraderie, gadget problem-solving, sincere corniness — better than most tributes.

But It's parody first. If you want the real thing rather than an affectionate joke about it, this might grate a little.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure1989

Same engine as Voyage Home: amiable heroes loose in an era not their own, solving a serious problem through cheerful incompetence and dumb luck. Pure fish-out-of-water time-travel comfort food.

But It's broader, dumber, and aimed squarely at teenagers — no whales, no gravitas, just vibes and phone booths.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court1949no page yet

Same premise, decades earlier: a modern man is flung into a past he doesn't belong in and uses future knowledge, and a lot of bluffing, to survive it. Voyage Home just reversed the direction of travel.

Bing Crosby singing his way through Camelot while trying to out-think medieval society is the direct ancestor of Kirk bluffing his way through 1986 San Francisco — funnier and stranger than you'd expect from 1949.

But It's a studio-era musical comedy with dated effects and pacing — charming if you meet it on its own terms, creaky if you don't.

Back to the Future1985

The defining time-travel comedy of the era, sharing the same delight in fish-out-of-water culture shock and a plot that turns on saving something precious before it's gone for good.

But It's about family and causality loops, not crews or oceans — the decade and the delight match, but the DNA is different.

Ghostbusters1984

Another ensemble of wisecracking specialists using questionable science to save a city, shot through with the same effortless '80s charm and deadpan teamwork Voyage Home runs on.

But Supernatural comedy, not science fiction — the register is close, but the subject matter has nothing to do with space or whales.

Men in Black1997

Earthbound alien comedy with the same brisk, confident humour — a mismatched pair improvising through bureaucracy and public chaos while the planet's fate quietly hangs in the balance.

But It's a duo film, not an ensemble one, and the humour is drier and more '90s-cool than Trek's genial warmth.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy2005no page yet

For when you want the comedy dialled further up — absurdist British sci-fi that treats the end of the world, and the universe, as material for dry, delighted jokes.

But Its humour is stranger and more whimsical than Trek's, and the plot wanders by design instead of building to a rescue.

Innerspace1987

A contemporary of Voyage Home with the same playful, low-stakes-feeling sci-fi comedy energy — a miniaturised pilot navigating a human body instead of a crew navigating 1986.

But It's slighter and more slapstick, with a shrinking-technology gimmick that hasn't aged nearly as gracefully as whales have.

Free Willy1993

If the whale conservation message actually got to you, this is the straightforward version — a kid and an orca, no time travel required, just old-fashioned advocacy dressed as family drama.

But It's a kids' film with none of Trek's wit, and the sincerity is played completely straight rather than through comedy.

The Cove2009

Voyage Home treats whale extinction as a plot device solved in two hours. This is the real version of that crisis — an actual, ongoing slaughter, and what it costs to expose it.

A tense, genuinely undercover documentary about a hidden dolphin hunt in Japan — as gripping as a thriller, and it will make the fictional film's stakes feel a lot less quaint.

But It's distressing and unresolved in a way no Star Trek film would ever be — this is activism, not entertainment, and it doesn't let you off easy.

Local Hero1983

A gentle Scottish comedy-drama built on the same unlikely hinge as Voyage Home: the fate of a whale swimming into a small community's business, and how far people will bend their plans to protect it.

A quiet, funny, faintly magical film about an oil executive negotiating with a Scottish village — and a whale that keeps getting in the way of everyone's plans. Warmer and stranger than it sounds.

But There's no spaceship, no crew, no adventure plot — just slow-burn charm, which is a big swing away from Trek's brisk energy.