Now seems as good a time as any to watch it, so...tonight on #wenchwatches
This film was of course famous as "the one with the whales". And it's been a divisive one throughout Star Trek fandom. Many loved this film, many loathed it. As a kid, I was in the latter camp. I would dread a rewatch of 4, but you needed it to complete the three film arc. As I grew up, I discovered many who said this was their favorite of the Star Trek films at the time. This let me to reconsider my childhood opinion.
Let's watch!
I've warmed on this film considerably over the years. It was famously put that after the Enterprise crew had experienced "Life and Death and Life again, it was time to lighten up a little." This was one of the first films that reminded me those who create these films are people, just as human as you or me. We've seen examples of this sort of "production team catharsis" before in other more famous projects.
The anime FLCL was very much a way to the production team behind Evangelion to net a much needed reset. The less known series NieA_7 was similar for the team behind Serial Experiments Lain. In that way, Star Trek 4 is in good company.
Star Trek 1 was a tempestuous production that nearly didn't happen at all. Star Trek 2 bloody and cold and paid for in the "series dearest blood." 3 a much, much needed rejoining despite further death. Time to lighten up indeed.
There's a number of firsts in this film that go by in just the first act alone without much comment. This may be the first time we've seen any sizable portion of the Federation Council on camera. We've seen select members in previous films and The Original Series, but never more than a handful of actors.
This rolls right into the next reveal. One of the first Klingons see on camera who is *not* a warrior in the conventional sense.
Instead of the typical rubber, black fur, metal, and spikes, the Klingon Ambassador's outfit is soft and a kind of cornflower blue. It feels very much like a ceremonial purposes, a culturally specific demarcation. It's more than that, however, as we quickly learn from John Shuck's performance.
Here we have the first klingon which *feels* klingon. There's a powerful, almost Shakespearean presence to the man.
This contrasts heavily with the more villainous presentations from TOS. You can clearly see where they built the entirety of The Next Generation's version of klingons from just this opening scene.
The final first is more subtle. Star Trek 3 *feels* like a modern film. It feels sharper, the depth of field better, and a clarity of color the previous three films lacked. While ILM did return on this film, something in their technical toolkit changed to render it so.
Much of the first act is establishing. Reminder, this was released in 1986, and while consumer video wasn't unheard of, it was no where near as popular as it was in the 90s. Audiences would need to be reminded of what had happened in the previous film. To it's profound credit, Star Trek 4 does an excellent job in this regard.
Through the Ambassador's presentation to the Federation Council, we're given the highlights of The Search for Spock. as well as the current sociopolitical circumstances. It goes by quickly enough that we barely notice the exposition. The use of it as "evidence" allows such a brief replay without breaking the audience's immersion.
@socketwench - Meanwhile, in Europe, they got this in their movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VkCW7Xdpsc
