Funny / Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

There's too much funny moments to list in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Pretty much safe to say that Kirk striding around hoping that he's got 1986 nailed is one long howl of laughter. Amazon Prime Video lists the film as a comedy for that reason.

• The entire premise of the film is one of these: they go back in time to steal whales!
  • And it's McCoy who puts it explicitly out there:
    McCoy: I prefer a dose of common sense. You're proposing that we go backwards in time, find humpback whales, then bring them forward in time, drop 'em off and hope the hell they tell this probe what to go do with itself!
    Kirk: That's the general idea.
    McCoy: Well, that's crazy!
    Kirk: You have a better idea, now's the time.
  • Here's how Roger Ebert puts it:
    It's at about this point that the script conferences must have really taken off. See if you can follow this: The Enterprise crew determines that the probe is zeroing in on Earth, and that if no humpback songs are picked up in response, the planet may well be destroyed. Therefore, the crew's mission becomes clear: Because humpback whales are extinct in the 23rd century, they must journey back through time to the 20th century, obtain some humpback whales, and return with them to the future - thus saving Earth. After they thought up this notion, I hope the writers lit up cigars.
  • Before they settle on their plan to get some whales from the past, Spock has to shoot down one of Kirk's easier, but poorly thought out plans.
    Kirk: Spock .... could the humpbacks' answer to this call be simulated?
    Spock: The sounds, but not the language. We would be responding in gibberish.
    • Or possibly responding in the humpback whale equivalent of profanity.
• "YOU POMPOUS ASS!"
• Fridge Funny: When the Probe shuts down Spacedock, you can see the Excelsior in the hangar. That's right Starfleet, your shiny new ubership just conked out on you.... again.
  • Or maybe they simply haven't fixed it yet, given that the events of Star Trek III happened only three months ago.
    • Of course, this implies that either their shiny new ship's design is a bit... underwhelming if it can be taken out of commission for 3+ months by removing a couple of pieces (implied in the last movie with "The more they over think the plumbing, the easier it is to break."), or... Scotty is as dangerous as an alien probe. Take your pick.
    • Speaking of the Excelsior, Scotty's sabotage naturally gets brought up during their trial. When the specific charge is finally read, look at Scotty's facial reaction. It's subtle, but it's really not hard to imagine that internally, he's smirking with pride and satisfaction (both for his own engineering skills and for humiliating the NX-2000).
• Kirk brings up the fact that the inhabitants of 20th century Earth will have never seen an extra-terrestrial before. Cue pointed looks at Spock's eyebrows and pointed ears. Spock, never changing expression, tears off a strip of his robe and wraps it around his head to hide said eyebrows and ears, with an 'Any further objections?' air. Bones' bemused smile and headshake seals it.
• The two garbage men, after witnessing the Bounty's landing in the park.
  Garbage man A: Did you see that?
  Garbage man B: No, and neither did you, so shut up.
  • Then seconds later:
    Kirk: Everybody, remember where we parked.
• Spock meets punk. Punk politely declines to turn down boombox. Spock nerve-pinches punk. Everyone - the bus passengers, the audience in the theater, aliens watching this broadcast on satellite TV from 500 light years away - cheers.^note Apparently this happened in Real Life to Leonard Nimoy, to where he wanted to get his revenge on the punk with a Vulcan Nerve Pinch, and did so by proxy.
  • And then Spock continues his conversation with Kirk as if he's still trying to speak over the punk's music, with Kirk's expression just screaming 'On top of everything else, I just don't have the energy to tell you that you don't need to shout anymore.'
  • Let's not forget when they first tried to get onto a bus. They walked up the steps, there's a pause, and then they climb off again. The entire structure of the scene just makes the moment:
    Spock: What does it mean, "exact change"?
    Kirk: ("Hell if I know" gesture.)
  • The song being played by the punk ("I Hate You" by Edge of Etiquette) itself qualifies as a funny moment to an extent thanks to its ridiculously obnoxious and misanthropic lyrics:
    "Just where is the future?
    The things we've done and said!
    Let's just push the button,
    we'd be better off dead!
    Cause I hate you!
    And I berate you!
    And I can't wait
    to get to you!
    
    The sins of all our fathers,
    being dumped on us, the sons!
    The only choice we're given
    is how many megatons!
    And I eschew you!
    And I say, "screw you!"
    And I hope you're blue, too!
    
    We're all bloody worthless-"
  • And then there's the guy who plays the punk (Kirk Thatcher, BTW) who muses that no matter what else he does in his life, this will be the one thing he's known for.
  • On a meta level, this scene could also be viewed as Star Trek (which has always held an optimistic vision of humanity's future) issuing a Take That! to the then-burgeoning cyberpunk genre (and its nihilistic cynicism).
• Kirk's extended reaction when he sees Spock in the aquarium tank - mind-melding with the whales - is priceless. First he glances at where he thinks Spock is, repeatedly looks around the tour group wondering what the hell happened to him, his Jaw Drop and Face Palm when he sees Spock in the tank itself (clearly thinking "Spock, are you out of your Vulcan mind!?"◊), to his 'Oh, just what we needed' look at the tour woman who finally points this out to Gillian.
  • The whole time, Gillian is listing off all sorts of theories for the whalesong, concluding that we just can't really know for sure, oblivious to Spock in the tank as she has her back to it, and not noticing Kirk's freak-out. Then the old lady simply says, "Maybe they're singing to that man."
  • For bonus points, Gillian, upon turning around and seeing Spock in the tank, exclaims "What the hell?" right in front of a nun. The nun, for her part, is nonplussed.
• Any time Spock tries to use "colorful metaphors" (swear).
  Spock: They like you very much, but they are not the hell your whales.
  Gillian: I suppose they told you that, huh?
  Spock: The hell they did.
  • Or when Kirk tries to remind Spock that he used to lie (i.e. exaggerate). Spock's response to being asked if he remembers? "The hell I can't."
  • He seems to get the hang of it by the end.
    Kirk: Spock, where the hell's the power you promised?
    Spock: One damn minute, Admiral.
  • Spock does it the most frequently, but Kirk did it first:
    Angry Driver: "Hey, why don't you watch where you're going, you dumbass?!"
    Kirk: "...Well, double dumbass on you!"
  • The Comic-Book Adaptation ends up modifying a line to create a Brick Joke out of this with the "exact change" scene: as Kirk and Spock board the bus, then promptly un-board it:
    Spock: Admiral, is the term "exact change" another form of profanity?
• "He did a little too much LDS."
  • Word of God was that Shatner actually messed the line up, but it fit so well with the situation it became a Throw It In!.
  • And afterwards, Gillian tries to make smalltalk with the two.
    Gillian: (to Spock) So, you were at Berkeley?
    Spock: I was not.
    Kirk: Memory problems, too.
• "No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space."
  • "Oh, well, I was close. I mean, I knew outer space was gonna come into this sooner or later."
• Captain Kirk has read Jacqueline Susann. And Harold Robbins.
  • So has Spock. Who considers them 'the giants' of 20th Century American literature.
  • Or he was in Sarcasm Mode.
  • Or possibly a commentary on how history sometimes works. Shakespeare's works, for instance, was aimed far more "low class" than people realize. Considering that Spock was almost incapable of sarcasm at this point in his recovery, they may have saying those authors ARE considered giants in the 23rd century, which is also funny.
  • Considering Susann and Robbins aren't considered giants in the 21st century...
  • Or maybe he was referring to the San Francisco Giants.
• Much of Kirk's interaction with Dr. Taylor.
  Dr. Gillian Taylor: Do you guys like Italian?
  Spock: No.
  Kirk: Yes.
  Spock: No.
  Kirk: Yes.
  Spock: No.
  Kirk: Yes. I love Italian. (pointed glare at Spock) And so do you.
  Spock: (Beat) Yes.
• Kirk: You're not exactly catching us at our best.
  Spock: That much is certain.
• Scotty and the (classic) Macintosh. *talks into mouse like it's a microphone* "Hello, computer!" And Sulu and the helicopter. And poor Chekov having to cope with the commie-haters.
  • Even funnier is that Scotty uses two-finger hunt-and-peck... at trucker speed.
• "Ve are lookink for nuclear wessels. Can you direct us to the naval base in Alameda?"
  • "Noo-klee-ar wessels."
  • "Ooh, I don't know if I know the answer to that. I think it's across the Bay. In Alameda."
    • Doubly funny since that actress was an extra who signed up because her car got towed (she didn't know they were making a movie when she parked it) and she figured her day was shot anyways, so she might as well make something of it. She didn't know that she wasn't supposed to interact with anybody. Watch their faces when she does. The scene was so brilliant that it was left in.
  • With that motorcycle cop just glaring at Chekov the whole time he's asking everybody where the nuclear wessels are. That was a real cop with no idea he was in a movie, by the way.
• Chekov's interrogation is a classic!
  FBI Agent: Let's start from the top.
  Chekov: The top of what?
  FBI Agent: Name.
  Chekov: My name?
  FBI Agent No, my name.
  Chekov: I do not know your name!
  FBI Agent: You play games with me, mister, and you're through!
  Chekov: I am? (Beat) May I go now?
  • Followed up by this exchange, between two interrogators who have been listening to Chekov's Just a Stupid Accent for who-knows-how-long:
    FBI Agent 1: What do you think?
    FBI Agent 2: He's a Ruskie.
    FBI Agent 1: That's the Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard in my life!
  • And the cherry on the sundae would be Chekov's attempt to shoot them with his Klingon phaser.
    Chekov: Don't move!
    FBI Agent: All right, make nice, give us the ray gun.
    Chekov: I warn you, if you don't lie on the floor, I will have to stun you.
    FBI Agent: Go ahead. Stun me.
    Chekov: Wery sorry, but... (pulls the trigger, and the phaser sputters and goes dead)
    FBI Agent: (utterly unimpressed look)
    Chekov: ("Oh, Crap!" Smile) Must be the radiation. (runs)
  • And as Chekov books it, he throws the phaser at the FBI agent, who catches it with a grimace. He didn't know what it was, for all he knew, it was a hand grenade or something. Perhaps a subtle Call-Back to "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," and Kirk trying not to react as his military interrogator plays Artistic License – Gun Safety with Kirk's phaser?
• Gillian Taylor, much like Edith Keeler, is not your typical 20th century human. Her facial expressions across the movie show she's not really buying what Kirk and Spock are trying to tell her, and she suspects something is up with them. The funniness come when later, she's told the truth of things by Kirk (who knew she might not believe anyway), she was completely unsurprised (and unimpressed). And when she sees the invisible Mr. Scott helping the vanishing materials, bumps headfirst into the invisible Bird-of-Prey, she's completely dumbfounded by all this, but recovers quickly. The actress's acting is what sells it.
• The entire scene where they spring Chekov from the hospital is funny. From McCoy's disdain for 20th-century medicine, to the elderly woman who grows a new kidney, to Chekov's cheeky promotion of himself to admiral, to the way they get into Chekov's room in the first place...
  • Early on in the sequence at the hospital, McCoy comes across a woman in a bed receiving kidney dialysis. He remarks on the 'dark ages' of medicine he's in, then gives her a pill to take. Later, during their escape, a group of the hospital staff are standing around the woman - now in a wheelchair and looking quite lively - utterly baffled at her recovery, while she animatedly motions to everyone she can see.
    Woman: The doctor gave me a pill and I grew a new kidney!
  • If you look closely, you can see her waving to McCoy and he smiles back.
  • Shortly after when they are knocking over patients and doctors, including one with a broken leg, Bones stops to help them too, only for Kirk to pull him back.
  • Easy to miss joke, but the hospital PA pages a "Dr. Ben Dover." Say it out-loud.
• McCoy's in top Deadpan Snarker form here as well:
  Scotty: ... Are ye plannin' to take a swim?
  McCoy: Off the deep end, Mr. Scott.
• Expospeak Gag and Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, where restating it in Layman's Terms shows it was nothing at all:
  McCoy: "This woman has immediate, post-prandial, upper abdominal distention!!"
  Kirk: "What did you say she had?"
  McCoy: "Cramps."
  • And then, as they're leaving:
    Guard: How's your patient?
    Kirk: He's going to make it.
    Guard: He? You went in with a she!
    Kirk: One little mistake...
  • Even funnier? The officers don't notice they're leaving with THREE doctors, instead of TWO.
• The scene with the whalers, full stop. The harpoon goes 'DONG!' off the invisible Bird-of-Prey's hull, the whalers go WTF?, suddenly this huge massive ship decloaks right in front of them, and they absolutely freak out. The simple shot of the Bird-of-Prey hovering over the fleeing whaler ship is what sells it.
  • The helmsman is spinning the ship's wheel as rapidly as he can, and the captain is trying to spin it as well!
• Everyone in the water laughing as Spock flails about...
• When played in Moscow, McCoy's line "The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." got the whole audience laughing right up to the end credits.
• The Hilarious Outtakes. Shatner blowing his line is the best:
  Shatner: On behalf of all of us, Mister President, I have been authorized to plead not guilty. (Pause as he realizes the mistake) On the other hand, they have also authorized me to plead guilty. Now I am confused.
  Nimoy: (laughing) That's good, keep rolling! Keep rolling. Ask him the question again, I like that. That was a good answer, Bill.
  • Then, a few seconds later, as they try to reset the take:
    Shatner: Hang on a second, let me recapture my mood, will you?
    Nimoy: (laughing again) No. No, that was great, do it again.
    Crew Member: (off camera) All right, grim it up!
    Shatner: "Grim it up." I'm trying.
  • The improv where Nimoy and Shatner stretch out the "What does it mean, exact change?" bit after a blown take is also hilarious. And there was that random scream, too.
    • "TAXI!"
  • "Ready to engage computer, Admiral. *cough*" "...Ready to engage voice?"
  • "Admiral, I am receiving hail storms!"
  • "Angels of ministers and mercy...God help us all...to get this scene."
  • "Get your hand off my leg."
  • The Humpback Nails.
  • "Well, nobody's perfect." "...Oh yeah?"
    • What makes this one even better is Nimoy holding the moment just long enough to keep the take potentially useable before dropping that last. Since he was the one directing the film, he finished a lot of takes by cracking a joke instead of just shouting "CUT!"
• At Plexicorp Scotty has asked if his "assistant" (McCoy) can join him on the tour. He assumes an amused smug expression so Bones tries to deflate him by saying "Don't bury yourself in the part!" Scotty's smile doesn't waver one iota.
  • The following scene where Scotty uses the Apple Macintosh.
  Scotty: Hello, Computer!
  • "NOT NOW, MADELYN!"
• After arriving in the past, Kirk realizes that they need money. He takes his antique glasses (Bones' gift from Star Trek II) to a dealer, and is told that with the lenses broken, he can get $100. Cue Kirk's reaction: "Is that a lot?" The dealer's response is a shrug and a smile.
  Spock: Weren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy?
  Kirk: And they will be again. That's the beauty of it.
  • Incidentally, $100 in 1986 is roughly worth $200+ in 2016. For seven people spending a day in a major American city, that is a fair amount of money.
• The answer to "What was the principal event of the year 1987?" is apparently "Computers are cloned from carrots on Earth." (The film was released in 1986.)
• "Gracie is pregnant." What sells it is how casual, matter-of-fact, and out-of-the-blue Spock is when he says it, followed by Gillian stomping on the brakes. What's really funny is that Gillian demands how in the world Spock knows she's pregnant, since no one outside of the aquarium knows. Spock replies matter-of-factly, "Gracie knows."
• "The rest of you stay here." Kirk then turns around and sees everyone else just standing there, and amends it to "The rest of you break up. You look like a cadet review." The others...just kinda move around a bit, prompting a "Just forget it" reaction from Kirk.
  • Everyone save Scotty, who laughs.
• The Federation President describing the Enterprise crew saving the planet and everyone on it merely as "certain mitigating circumstances." Understatement of the century.
• Kirk's dinner with Gillian. At one point, it's kinda tear-jerky, with Gillian worrying about the fate of the whales...until Kirk's "pocket pager" starts beeping. When he's forced to answer it and Gillian hears Scotty on the other end calling him "Admiral", she gets a clear "You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!" look on her face as she wonders what the hell she's gotten involved in.
  • Kirk sticks her with the bill AND keeps the pizza!
  • Beforehand, when they drop off Spock at the park, we're treated to the mental image of Spock just kind of awkwardly lurking around while Gillian and Kirk have supper.
    Gillian: He's just gonna hang around the bushes while we eat?
    Kirk: [shrugs] It's his way.
• Chekhov's capture may elicit a chuckle from you. After Uhura beams out, his communicator's power fails and he desperately tries to make contact with Scotty, while hearing Marines shouting and getting closer. He finally says "Scotty, now would be a good time." Then a Marine pops up behind him, puts a gun to his head, and says "Freeze!"
• At a meta level, searching for "the one with the whales" on Wikipedia brings up the article on the film. Ditto for Google.

---