Growing up this was always my favorite Trek film. I know everybody always talks about Wrath being the greatest, but for me it was all about the whales. It doesn't hurt that I grew up in the bay area in the 80's so this one always felt a lot more personal than all the others. Seeing the Winchell's Donuts sign brings me right back. But watching it today feels like a different experience. It is a voyage back quite a few years into the past not just for those from the 23rd century. A few of the cultural references seem dated, but some like the yellow pages being the place to look for things are more relevant now than at the time since no one uses such reference books any more. It does look like whales will survive humanity at this point, but when filmed it was a lot less clear. Also damn they did some things to the space time continuum.
The movie begins with a Federation vessel encountering and being neutralized by the alien probe. Back on earth the Klingon ambassador is calling for Kirk to be charged with the death of the Klingons killed in the destruction of the Enterprise. We join our crew on Vulcan preparing to return and face charges. Spock is coming with them, but he hardly seems all there. They begin flying home, but before they arrive we cut back to earth. The probe has arrived and in addition to knocking out all spacecraft and stations it is destroying the atmosphere and oceans of the planet. Uhura receives the planetary distress signal and they all watch in horror. Kirk has Uhura put the alien signal on speakers and Spock correctly guesses it is aimed at the earths oceans. After modifying the conditions to match being underwater Spock figures out at the signal is intended for humpbacked whales which are extinct. The only solution is to fly back in time and find some whales! Spock does the math and Sulu punches it towards the sun!
After a trippy traveling through time montage they find themselves over the coast of California. Kirk has Sulu set the ship down in Golden gate park, but they have a problem, the Dilithium is decrystallized. The only solution is to get some high energy particles from a working nuclear reactor. They also have to find some whales and modify the ship to carry them. And of course they can't just put them in a metal bulkhead like would make sense, we have to be able to see them since this is a movie! Spock and Kirk go looking for whales while Sulu, Scotty and McCoy look for materials to modify the ship. Chekov and Uhura go looking for a nuclear reactor. Kirk and Spock quickly find two captive humpback whales in Monterey I mean Sausalito. Spock causes a ruckus by diving in and mindmelding with one of the whales while on a tour. The whale biologist leading the tour is pissed, but offers them a ride home when she sees them walking back. Spock acts like Spock and Kirk asks her out to dinner. During dinner he is forced to reveal his communicator when Uhura and Chekov ask permission to beam aboard the USS Enterprise to steal photons from the reactor or something. Kirk explains what they are really doing but the biologist doesn't believe him.
Over on the aircraft carrier Enterprise Chekov and Uhura manage to get the photons but Scotty can only beam them back one at a time. Uhura makes it back with the collector device, but Chekov is captured and badly injured trying to escape. Scotty has managed to trade knowledge of the future for some plexiglass panels for the whale tank and they are ready to go other than missing a crewman. The biologist learns the whales have been released at sea without her knowledge and runs to the park where she dropped off Kirk in time to see the plexiglass being dropped off into the invisible Klingon ship. Kirk beams her aboard and she helps them get Chekov out of the hospital. There is a lot of hijinks but them make it out safe. Just as she is about to be left behind the biologist jumps on Kirk and is beamed aboard as well. They make for the sea and beam the whales up just as they are about to be shot by evil whalers. Spock has to wing the math but of course they make it back exactly when they left and release the whales and save the planet. Kirk is demoted back to Captain as a reward/punishment and they fly off in the brand new Enterprise-A.
Review: This one isn't as serious a film as Wrath despite the threat to the entire population of earth and pretty much all of Starfleet as well. It is a very personal film that uses all of the cast to make this a true ensemble piece. Time travel movies where a thing in the 80's and by travelling to the current time rather than recreating some other time this film succeeds at what it was going for very well.
10 out of 10
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