In honor of Leonard Nimoy’ s 82nd birthday today, I thought I would do something special for him. Leonard is another Star Trek genius who I’ve always admired and respected. He is also multi-talented. He’s not just an actor, he is also a screenwriter, author, musician, singer, etc.

Star Trek IV: “The Voyage Home”, is probably the best Star Trek film of the original franchise. I love it so much. This film was written and directed by, Leonard himself. It tells the story where if left off from Star Trek III: “The Search For Spock”. The star fleet crew are branded as fugitives, ’cause they were being punished by using the USS Enterprise to rescue Spock from the third movie. They learn that Earth is being ravaged by a space probe demanding a response from a lifeform that no longer exists. So since the starfleet crew couldn’t use the USS Enterprise for their mission, they instead, use a Klingon warship that they stole. Spock discovers, that in order to save Earth in their time, they had to go back in time to the 20th Century (in our current time), to get sounds from two humpback whales who are the only Earth beings who can respond to the space probe.

Many Star Trek movies and TV shows were taken place in futuristic times, but Leonard wanted to take this movie in a different direction and make this movie take place in our time, which  is cool, and different. Everything about this movie is so perfect. This is the best acting by the original cast too, they all did a great job. Leonard wanted this Star Trek movie to be more of a positive and family friendly movie, since the first three Star Trek movies were so dark and violent. This one is more of a comedy, honestly. There’s plenty of funny one liners, most notably, “Double dumbass on you”, and many others. Leonard wanted this movie to be more enjoyable for children, so that could explain why the humpback whales were a part of this movie. I think the most important part of this movie, is that I think Leonard’s goal with the film was to bring awareness of how humpback whales are extinct. He wanted to help bring that to people’s attention.

What made this movie work, is that each cast member of the original Star Trek crew got their major moment. They all had their own chance of getting screen time. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, etc. This movie also showed a softer side of Captain Kirk. This is a very entertaining movie, all the way through. It’s one of those Trek films, I’ll never get tired of watching. It was such a beautiful film, and Leonard did a great job.

They don’t make Star Trek movies like this anymore. Happy Birthday, Leonard! I’m sure he’s having a good one with his family.

Kev