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Welcome back my fellow out of this world cinephiles!

Space movies: the final silver screen frontier. These are the cinematic voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its thirty five-year anniversary mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before.

They say home is where the heart is. I believe this is an accurate statement for most humans. As I grow older, I recollect past happenings and come to realize that the good memories outweigh the bad. Family and true friends are connected to my fondest memories that I replay when I am awarded a chance to reflect and enjoy the playground of nostalgia.  Some of my treasured memories are films shared with loved ones, Today’s feature meets that intent. I didn’t realize it at the time of viewing as a kid, but as an adult, I get it. This is one of the films that my Dad and I rented when it was nothing more than a movie to me. It’s been five years this month since my Dad has passed. This film has reminded me as to what is important, relationships and time shared with loved ones. Fathom Events and I share with you for your enjoyment with the sci-fi flick, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986).

It’s 2286, the former crew of the USS Enterprise, William “Admiral Kirk” Shatner; Leonard “Spock” Nimoy; James “Scotty” Doohan; George “Sulu” Takei; Walter “Chekov” Koenig; Deforest “Bones” Kelley; and Nichelle “Uhura” Nichols must return home to face trial for their actions in the previous entry, “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984). The crew steal a Klingon starship leaving their exile planet Vulcan behind to find planet Earth’s atmosphere in grave danger by a mysterious alien probe which has disabled global power and evaporating the oceans while attempting to contact now extinct humpback whales. Who’s got time for Space Court? Now Kirk and his crew, as they time travel to 1986 San Francisco to save the planet from this dastardly space force. The crew have a whale of a time to so save the Earth. Take that Captain Planet.

 “Voyage Home” was directed by Leonard Nimoy who also is credited with a story by based off the popular Gene Roddenberry TV series, “Star Trek” (1966-1969). It is the fourth installment in the “Star Trek” cinematic franchise following “Star Trek III” and completes some unfinished business introduced in the franchise fan favorite “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982). “Voyage Home” stands out from the rest of the franchise due in part of its strong environmental message peppered with enough humor and sentiment throughout its two hour runtime, that die-hard Trekkies can fall in love with the characters all over again and new viewers can enjoy the feature as if it was a stand-alone feature. 

“Voyage” was shot primarily on location in and around the San Francisco area and due to it being a production of sci-fi relying on state-of-the-art special effects, George “Star Wars” Lucas’s top notch Industrial Light & Magic crew were up to the task to pulling it off without missing a beat as they still stand out to this day, as pioneers in the world of special effects/post production mastery.

Upon its release “Voyage Home” was a blockbuster success becoming a top-grossing film earning $133 million worldwide off a $20 million budget (not too shabby) being lauded by critics and viewers alike. The film’s humor, unconventional story for the crew, and camaraderie of the returning time travelling thespians make this intergalactic vehicle fly which did not go unnoticed by the Academy as “Voyage Home” was nominated for Oscars for its excellence in cinematography and sound. At the end of the day, this feature stands alone as you can tell the cast and crew had fun in making this film and that they played it with heart, self-aware tongue in cheek humor of themselves, their surroundings, and the long history they had up until that time which is even stronger today as years pass.

“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” will be screening to celebrate its 35th Anniversary in all its Remastered glory at the Regal in Hamburg and Cinemark at Fayette Mall on 08/22 with showtimes 3 & 7 PM. 

Live long and prosper by having a film-tastic day!