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Rating: The fourth chapter of the cinematic saga derived from the eponymous television series, "The Voyage Home" (1986, original title "The Voyage Home"), directed by Leonard Nimoy - who takes on the role of actor-director for the second time, following the previous "The Search for Spock" - under the aegis of Paramount, stands out primarily for an actual change of course in terms of setting, themes, plot, and humorous approach, compared to the earlier works.
If the previous feature film concludes with the explosive destruction of a "newborn" planet, this one begins with the need to save a moderately ancient one, ours: a probe of unknown origin with monolithic features, in the presumed attempt - thanks to an intuition of the scientific officer Spock - to communicate with humpback whales (one of the oldest animal species on the globe, now extinct by the 23rd century, the temporal setting of the saga), reaches Earth, indirectly - that is, as an unintended consequence of its search - sowing destruction on its path, seriously risking compromising the survival of the Earth itself. The historic crew of the federal ship Enterprise, finding themselves aboard a Klingon ship (aliens always hostile to the Federation) after various vicissitudes while attempting to save Spock - an event taking place in "The Search for Spock" - in a space sector distant from the planet, becomes aware of the situation and decides, in the person of Admiral/Captain J.T. Kirk (William Shatner), to attempt a time travel aimed at retrieving some specimens of humpback whales from the past Earth (late twentieth century), hoping that this expedient might provide an adequate response to the probe's communication attempts and consequently save humanity. Thus, the science fiction of astral travel, interstellar conflict, and direct contact with new forms of life, quickly gives way to something much more concrete, earthly, "terrestrial": the contemporary world and the contradictions (often in an ironic and highly enjoyable way) arising from the interaction between individuals coming from the future. And in the contact with and among different types of reality, some daily contradictions emerge more easily.
This is the case with Logic, personified in Spock, who declares it inadmissible, thus illogical, to "hunt a species - humpback whales in this specific case - on the brink of extinction," under penalty of disastrous future consequences (but humanity, as we know, has rarely been "logical"). Nimoy's environmentally themed thesis is that, by carelessly disposing of natural resources, including animal species, man can artificially intervene in a millennia-old cycle, removing a keystone that causes a chain decay of the entire structure. Interesting in this regard is the choice of the whale, a mammal like humans but of much larger dimensions and with a far longer history, whose fascinating "communicative" song remains an unresolved mystery for us to this day, as the lead species. The visual representation of the alien probe, devoid, almost colorless, metaphysical, an incomprehensible logos as enigmatic as the aforementioned song but with a decisive, "vital" impact, was an apt choice. Too busy with internal wars and (it goes without saying that the film was shot with the two "blocks" still firmly active) global thermonuclear threats, man believes he depends solely on himself, failing to understand that by eliminating the surrounding environment, he seriously risks determining his extinction.
Despite some hitches and unforeseen events - Commander Chekov (Walter Koenig) ending up in the clumsy and "primitive" hands of modern medicine from our perspective; the invaluable help of a marine biologist (Catherine Hicks), who leaves her time behind to accompany the crew into theirs and so forth - Kirk will complete the mission.
On the level of character dynamics, in the encounter-clash between human passions and "Vulcan" detachment - Vulcan being Spock's home planet, although he has a human mother - the alien with pointed ears, unable to answer the question "How do you feel?" at the beginning of the film - since the issue goes beyond a logical approach - will succeed, thanks primarily to the support of Kirk and McCoy (ship's doctor, DeForest Kelley), who rely more on his "doubts - on a logical probabilistic reasoning of someone who has just experienced something beyond logic itself, thus "perfect", complete, accomplished - than on the certainties of many others", in completing his rebirth, in finally giving a complete sense to the question, in providing and, at the same time, giving himself the answer. And the answer - in a broad sense - that Nimoy tries to convey is paradoxically simple: it is often here, on Earth, often there's no need to travel in stellar and otherworldly spaces, but to observe ourselves more introspectively, to understand and possibly resolve. Overall, not a masterpiece (certainly for non-enthusiasts), but in the opinion of the writer, one of the high points of the saga.
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