We’re eating both sides of the whale this week as we dive into the most unique entry in the Trek film franchise: “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”!
Comedian and podcaster Asterios Kokkinos returns to the show to discuss the Trek film that lets the TOS show their comedic chops. Kirk and his mutinous crew return to Earth to face judgment only to find the planet under siege from a mysterious and powerful probe. To save humanity, they’ll have to travel back to our civilization’s darkest and most savage era: the 1980s!
Being a film about time-travelling astronauts looking for whales and plexiglass, Star Trek IV is absurd on its face. But Trek manages to communicate a deeper and more relevant environmental message as the crew of the Enterprise stumbles through the San Francisco of their past, and only the veteran talents of the Original Series cast could make their journey so funny and relatable. On this episode, we talk about the daring decision to make a Trek comedy, the classic ’80s sci-fi films of the decade, finding humor beyond the “fish out of water”, the sure hand of Nimoy and Bennett, the renewed importance of the film’s conservationist message, the film’s canny special effects, pop environmentalism, why Kelvin 4 HAS to be funny, and whether or not modern Trek goes far enough to challenge its audience.
We also discuss hiding behind your laptop during a pandemic, delicious crypto tears, ham fighting, getting killed by a space tiger, the tears of a Neelix, having Paramount over a barrel, the “Captain Kirk weight”, Rotten Tomatoes (hold the Tomatoes), safe mode Spock, Hitler II, summoning Michael Dorn, keeping the whales happy, the opposite of SantaCon, and the world’s prettiest screensaver!
Gotta catch ’em one!
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Listen to “Season 7, Episode 4 “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” with Asterios Kokkinos” on Spreaker.