Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a massive success for the franchise, but it did briefly raise the ire of animal rights activists and fishing authorities over its use of whales. After a mysterious alien probe threatens to destroy all life on Earth, Kirk and crew determine the probe is trying to contact humpback whales, which were seemingly an alien species seeded on Earth millions of years ago. Humpback whales were extinct by the 23rd century, so Kirk and friends time travel to the late 20th century in an effort to acquire a pair of whales to communicate with the probe and save Earth.
The Voyage Home was the biggest box office hit in all of Star Trek until the 2009 J.J. Abrams Kelvin timeline reboot. The light, funny time travel yarn was popular not only with Star Trek fans, but with audiences who didn't always connect with the tales of the final frontier. The film's success was the final push Paramount needed to start developing the spinoff TV series that would eventually become Star Trek: The Next Generation. The film was marred by one minor controversy, however, regarding its depiction of the whales themselves.
Why Star Trek IV Angered Animal Rights Activists
The Voyage Home features several scenes of very real looking humpback whales, including one where Spock mind melds with one of the whales in an aquarium tank. Some animal rights activists and fishing authorities were alarmed at the apparent treatment of the animals, particularly the fact that humans were physically interacting with them and that they were being housed in such small compartments like the makeshift tank on Kirk's stolen Klingon Bird Of Prey.
These concerns turned out to be moot, as the whales weren't real, except for the footage of them at sea near the film's conclusion. The vast majority of the whale scenes utilized four-foot animatronic models. Director Leonard Nimoy was delighted that the models were mistaken for real whales, and even took a group of activists on a set tour to demonstrate how the models worked.
How Picard Season 2 Homaged Star Trek IV
In many ways, Star Trek: Picard season 2 is an homage to The Voyage Home. After the omnipotent Q meddles with the timeline to create a dark, fascistic version of the 25th century, Admiral Picard and his La Sirena crew travel back to the 21st century to prevent the shift in the timeline. Picard's time travel mechanics were far more convoluted than The Voyage Home's, but the film's influence is evident.
One Picard season 2 scene in particular is a direct callback. In The Voyage Home, Kirk and Spock are annoyed by a young punk rock enthusiast blasting his boombox at high volume on a bus. After Kirk's polite protestations are met with vulgarity, Spock nerve pinches the young man, silencing the boombox and garnering a round of applause from the bus passengers.
In Picard, Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker find themselves on a bus with the very same man, 30 years older but still a fan of loud punk music. Seven rather forcefully asks the man to turn his music down, which he quickly does, clearly remembering his encounter with Spock years earlier. It's a fun moment, and one that proves Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is an enduring piece of the franchise's overall legacy.