'Go behind the scenes of one of the most beloved entries in the Star Trek saga with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – The Making of the Classic Film. This definitive companion takes fans deep into the heart of the 1986 production that brought humor, heart, and humpback whales to the final frontier.
'Packed with exclusive interviews, rare photographs, and untold stories from cast and crew, this book reveals how director Leonard Nimoy and the creative team crafted a legendary time-travel adventure. From the challenges of shooting on location in San Francisco, to ground-breaking special effects needed to create the animatronic whales, to the environmental message that still resonates today, this insider account celebrates the risks and rewards of boldly going in a new direction. Whether you’re a lifelong Trek fan or a film history enthusiast, discover the artistry and camaraderie behind a film that helped redefine what a Star Trek movie could be.'
I've enjoyed Star Trek for most of my life, having grown up watching several of the season air on BBC in the evenings and trying my best to follow along week to week at a time when if you missed an episode it would be years before you could see it again. Despite my love of the franchise I have to admit I never really cared for the Original Series as much. The bright colours, the campiness, and the stories never really grabbed me as much as the 90's shows; especially Deep Space Nine. That being said, I did enjoy the films that came out of the crew of the original Enterprise, and despite everyone saying The Wrath of Khan is the best one I've always preferred The Voyage Home. And now as the film reaches it's 40th anniversary I'm more than happy to get the chance to dive into Titan Book's gorgeous new making of book, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - The Making of the Classic Film.
Perhaps the most fun of the Original Series films, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is the one that people will immediately remember because of the whales. The simple concept of 'Earth needs whales' that then sees a rogue Enterprise crew taking their stolen Klingon Bird of Prey back in time to 1980's San Francisco to steal a couple of whales, is a large part of the success of this film compared to the three that came before it. The first was incredibly dull, the second was great but left some viewers feeling a bit left behind as it was a sequel to a specific episode, and the third was dealing with the fallout of the second. Then along some the fourth film, one that asked a very simple but important question, 'what if we just had fun?'. That sense of joy, those memorable moments of the crew interacting with a new time period, and the jokes throughout the movie helped cement The Voyage Home as one of the best films the franchise had to offer.
Taking a look back at a film made forty years ago, however, presents a few problems; especially as so many of the original cast, and even the behind-the-scenes crew, are sadly no longer with us. With so many important figures in the creation of the film gone the Tenuto duo make the choice to focus on one person in particular, Kirk Thatcher, who worked as associate producer off-screen, and was the iconic bus punk Spock knocks unconscious on-screen. Having worked so closely with Leonard Nimoy during the production, Thatcher is able to give an astonishing amount of insight into the movie, providing details and stories that would otherwise be lost to time. A few of the surviving cast and crew do add their voices to the book, including actors George Takei and Robin Curtis, and effects artists and graphic designers Ken Ralston and Michael Okuda.
The opening chapter for the book deals with the pre-production aspects of the film, discussing the various drafts, scripting issues, and even casting changes that the film went through. I'd heard that Eddie Murphy had been intended to be in the movie, and would have filled the role that Catherine Hicks would go on to play; however, it's not until reading through this book that I found out that whilst Murphy was indeed intended to be involved, it was in a very different version of the film. The early versions of The Voyage Home are quite different, and the more I learned about it here the more glad I was that Murphy did eventually drop out and the script went in a different direction as what we ended up with definitely1 sounds like a more coherent and cohesive idea.
After we learn about the genesis of the film we move onto characters, though not the main cast. This chapter opens with the more important characters, introducing us to new character Gillian Taylor, who would play a pivotal role in the saving of Earth, before focusing a little bit on some returning characters such as Saavik, Janice Rand, Nurse Chapel, and Sarek. From here we get a whole host of supporting characters, and a look at some of the special make-up effects, and puppets, that would be used to flesh out the world of Federation HQ. As someone who loves being able to take a proper look at what is essentially background elements in the movie this part of the book was absolutely fantastic, and I adored getting to actually take the time to appreciate the hard work the effects team put into bringing these various alien species to life.
The rest of the book covers what you'd expect from a making of, dealing with concept art, the creation of sets and props, location shooting and the issues that would arise from doing so, and costuming. There's a significant part of the book given over to the whales, two of the most important characters in the film. I never knew that the footage of the whales used during the majority of the film were not of actual animals, but creations of ILM, and seeing how these puppets were created, and the effort that went into filming them underwater in such a way that they apparently even fooled whale experts, is honestly quite astonishing to see and will change how I look at these scenes in future re-watches of the film.
My favourite parts of the book are the small asides that are included. These small snippets, often presented in their own box to show that they're an additional insight rather than part of the main text, tend to give us tiny stories that make the film feel a little bit more personal, or give us a view of things that could have been. A couple of my favourites are Thatcher reminiscing on how Nimoy loved both acting in and directing the film, but how much of a toll it took on him, as well as talk about a scene that would have had Sulu briefly meet one of his ancestors in the form of a small boy, but the scene fell apart due to the child actor being unable to perform on the day. These are the kind of insights that give the whole project more depth and charm, and I loved them for that.
One of the things that is reiterated throughout the book is how much that Nimoy wanted the film to matter. He didn't want just another Star Trek adventure, but something that discussed important things in the world. The environmental message of The Voyage Home was what he landed on, and is one that was not only important at the time, but is oh so much more vital today. It's sad that the simple message of 'protect the Earth now to save it for the future' that this film wrapped up in it's packaging of sci-fi adventure and humour was so lost on people that it didn't make much of a difference; but despite that it still makes the movie feel relevant now, and because of that I can't help but feel that The Voyage Home will continue to connect with audiences in ways that the other Original Series films don't.
Whether or not The Voyage Home is your favourite of the series or not, and if not odds are that it'd be your second favourite behind The Wrath of Khan (unless you've a real outlier), this behind the scenes book offers a ton of reasons to give it a read. The deeper look at the production of the film, and the personal stories provided by cast and crew make this an engaging and entertaining read, and the print quality of the book makes this a fantastic coffee table tome that would look great on anyone's shelf.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Making of the Classic Film is out now from Titan Books for £39.99.
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