Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Scene 11 Summary

  • Inside the ship, the crew wakes in a daze. They must have passed out while traveling through time.
  • The crew members look through the viewfinder and see Earth. So far, so good.
  • By analyzing the pollution content of the atmosphere, Spock determines that they "have arrived at the latter half of the 20th century." Score.
  • The crew members cloak the ship and head toward the West Coast. As they approach, they receive whale songs over the radio. And they're coming from San Francisco.
  • Scotty, the ship's chief engineer, asks Kirk to come down to the engine room. He has bad news: time travel has drained the "crystal" they use to power the ship. They only have 24 hours to stay cloaked, and they'll have no way to break out of Earth's atmosphere afterward.
  • Spock has an idea. Nuclear power was used in this era (and abandoned soon after), so they can use photons from a nuclear reactor to charge up the crystal. He suggests that they'll be able to find one in a naval vessel.
  • Kirk orders Sulu, the pilot, to land the ship in Golden Gate Park, which is totally the most incognito place to hide a spacecraft.
  • Kirk breaks the crew up into teams: Uhura and Chekov will take care of the "uranium problem"; McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu will work on the whale tank; and Kirk and Spock will find themselves some whales.
  • Kirk warns the crew to be wary: the customs here will be strange and unfamiliar. Also, these people haven't ever seen aliens before.
  • In response, Spock rips off a piece of his robe and fashions it into a headband, which he uses to cover his pointy ears and eyebrows. Amazing.
  • The cloaked ship lands beside two bickering garbage men who are nearly bowled over by the resulting surge of air pressure. The ship's hatch opens, which to them seems to be appearing out of thin air. They run away as fast as they can.
  • The crew emerges. This is totally subtle, guys.