Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Revealing mistake: When Chekhov falls on the aircraft carrier a cloud of dust flies up as if he's landed on a mat or soft cargo. When we see him on the floor it's concrete.

Revealing mistake: When the whales first swim past the now submerged Klingon Bird of Prey, if you look to the right where the water is supposed to meet the distant horizon, you can see an exposed edge to the 'horizon' as the water moves up and down. This is the edge of the pool they are in, and the exposed edge is the bottom of the painting of the sky behind them. (01:46:30)

GalahadFairlight

Revealing mistake: When the ship crash lands in the water, and they open the hatch you will see a wall, looks like some piping. When they show the outside of the ship no such wall exists.

ckstaats

Revealing mistake: When Kirk and crew flee the hospital McCoy bumps a man with his leg in a plaster cast. Look closely at the cast - it is fitted over his PJ's leg like a boot, plaster casts are never fitted over clothing.

Continuity mistake: The Bird of Prey is the one captured by Kirk's crew in ST III. That ship's bridge showed Klingon Cmdr Kruge in his elevated command chair with his helmsmen arrayed circularly below him, and nothing else. ST IV has this same ship; however, the bridge now resembles The Enterprise layout with Kirk's command chair behind Sulu and Chekov at their rectangular helm, with Spock, Scotty, and Uhura at their usual positions.

tedloveslisa

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: According to the captain's log at the beginning, they have been on Vulcan for 3 months. As they prepare to depart, we see several Vulcan technicians moving equipment in and around the ship. It's quite conceivable that the bridge was reconfigured according to the crew's specifications to facilitate their use of the ship. This may seem a bit excessive, as the remodel includes the door onto the bridge, and the frame of the door, and possibly most of the rest of the ship. But it's not outside the realm of possibility. The real mistake, though, is why they would go to the effort of installing new workstations on the Klingon bridge and marking them with Klingon labels, instead of standard Federation text. Interestingly, though, the "Starfleet" style bridge layout of the Klingon ship is being used by the Klingons on the Bird of Prey in Star Trek V.

Vader47000

More mistakes in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Kirk: Mr. Spock, have you accounted for the variable mass of whales and water in your time re-entry program?
Spock: Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so... I will make a guess.
Kirk: A guess? You, Spock? That's extraordinary.
Spock: [to Dr. McCoy] I don't think he understands.
McCoy: No, Spock. He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts.
Spock: Then you're saying... It is a compliment?
McCoy: It is.
Spock: Ah. Then, I will try to make the best guess I can.
McCoy: Please do.

More quotes from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home trivia picture

Trivia: Kirk Thatcher, an associate producer of the film, played the punk on the bus, and also wrote the song ("I Hate You") the punk is listening to on his boombox. (00:43:45)

wizard_of_gore

More trivia for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Question: In a few scenes in the film, the characters mention how people of the 20th century still use money. Key word: still. How is the process of currency different in the 23rd century compared to the present?

Answer: The United Federation of Planets uses the credit. Its a purely electronic form of money. Necessities and luxuries both are simple and cheap to produce with the Federation's advanced technology, and humanity has matured to the point that accumulating wealth is considered vulgar. Furthering the common good or the advancement of humanity is the real status symbol in the 23rd and 24th century. These conditions result in a society with very little need for money. Citizens are paid, but since the technology built into a place of business (or starship) or home supplies all basic needs for free, most people spend money only on exotic products that aren't commonly manufactured, like art or handmade foods.

Grumpy Scot

More questions & answers from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.