Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Man and the Natural World Quotes

Before we go swimming with the whales, let's note that the big disaster facing Earth is ecological in nature. In fact, it almost sounds like climate change. In our view, this episode is a subtle way of driving home the film's environmental message.

Here's Spock dropping a logic bomb, as usual. This line makes us think about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In that novel, dolphins are revealed to be the smartest creatures on Earth when they evacuate the planet just before it's destroyed. Both of these ideas make light of our innate human-centric worldview.

Whales are already bigger than us—why do they get to be smarter, too? They even have cooler intergalactic friends. It's just not fair. Jokes aside, this idea completely changes our understanding of the probe hanging around Earth. It's not an evil alien invader: it's a loyal BFF checking up on a buddy who hasn't posted to Instagram in a while.

Mankind has done horrendous things to whalekind. Whale hunting symbolizes humans' innate tendencies toward greed and violence. Kirk and his compatriots may have moved past this shallow way of thinking, but it's very much alive in this world—our world.

It's a bird, it's a plane, no—it's a logic bomb. To hunt something until it goes extinct is like ordering a plate of bacon, throwing it away, and then complaining that you're hungry.

Spock can directly communicate with animals, a skill that places him in an elite pantheon of animal-whispering literary characters, along with Dr. Dolittle and the cast of Animorphs. (That's cooler than the real Pantheon, if you ask us.)

Gillian's humpbacks are in a tough predicament: they're too big to stay in captivity, but they're too domesticated to survive in the wild. Sadly, this is a quandary faced by many who work in wildlife preservation. There's no easy solution.

Gillian loves all whales, of course, but George and Gracie are like her children. She can't imagine life without them. After all, remember how badly she freaked when they were released into the wild? She was like a mom whose sons just went off to war.

If you've ever cried while watching an animal rights documentary on YouTube, this should be a satisfying power fantasy. Will it have an impact on the future of the whaling industry? Probably not. But does it feel as good as eating an entire sleeve of Oreos? You'd better believe it.

Look at Kirk with the deep thoughts, y'all. Although he's obviously referring to the crew's specific situation, his words can be applied to humanity's destruction of the environment in general.