Shayne-Michael.COMedy

Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country of Comedy - by Shayne Michael

"Behold... The quintessential devil in these matters. Admiral James T. Kirk. Renegade and terrorist." Sometimes the opening line of a comedy is built on contrast.

This essay will explore why Star Trek IV earned a reputation as the funniest of the Star Trek films. It will ask why Leonard Nimoy chose to make Star Trek IV a comedy.

It will analyze how he accomplished it and how young film-makers can use Star Trek IV as an example of how to incorporate comedy into a series of films, that aren't normally considered a comedy.

Why Was Star Trek IV A Comedy?

Nimoy wanted make film IV lighter in tone because of the dark tones of films II and III. In Star Trek II Spock himself is killed. In a way, it was genius to kill off a main character. The speculation of "Will Spock really die?" brought a lot of people to see the film who otherwise would have never gone.

On the other hand, Spock was the most popular character behind Kirk. Killing him off was a big blow to fans who watched Star Trek just to see Spock.

Of course Paramount had this covered. In Star Trek III Spock would return. Everyone saw it coming. He died on the planet Genesis. Genesis means rebirth. However, the minute we got Spock back we lose the Enterprise itself. As good as Star Trek II and III were, they were both somewhat depressing.

That's why Nimoy chose to make Star Trek IV a lighter film. He also decided the cast would fight no villain, just work against unfavorable circumstances. The next question to answer was how do you create a Star Trek film that's light enough in tone to be a comedy yet maintain the essence and believability of the Star Trek film series? The answer was time travel.

Why Time Travel?

Star Trek IV brings the cast back to San Francisco in 1986. This made Star Trek IV a comedy, but why? After all, First Contact is also time travel story yet it was dark and devoid of humor.

First, in First Contact, the crew fought a concrete villain, the Borg. Second, in First Contact the emphasis wasn't on the interaction between the cultures of the 21st and the 23rd century. What made Star Trek IV a comedy was characters dealing with a culture that led to their existence yet was so primitive it boggled their minds to deal with them.

Making Star Trek IV Believable

We often refer to this type of story as a fish-out-of-water story. However, these type of comedies, where characters cope with unfamiliar settings often feel forced. Yet Star Trek IV flows well despite an incredibly far-fetched plot. Why?

Any switch in setting had to be accounted for in the underlying plot. Like any joke, there needs to be a believable set-up. That set up begins as the film opens. We see a huge probe pass by orbiting space ships rendering each ship it passes completely powerless. When the probe reaches Earth it lifts the oceans into the clouds and covers the Earth in darkness. These circumstances force the crew of the late Enterprise to travel back in time to find a species of animal capable of telling the probe, "Hey, buzz off".

In all, Star Trek IV spends 38 minutes justifying traveling back in time before it becomes a comedy. It foreshadows the humor with comments like, "Are you sure it's a good idea to put Spock back at his post? After all, he's not exactly working on all thrusters."

Even with the foreshadowing, that's like a stand-up comic doing a 38 minute set-up followed by one long punchline. Why did it work?

In this case, the first 38 minutes set-up justified the trip back in time. Almost every punchline that follows the time travel sequence fits into two categories: Either the cast and crew is reacting to the culture shock of experiencing a culture 200 years before their time; or the civilians of 1986 are reacting to the culture shock of experiencing aliens from the 23rd century. Both are characters thrust into unfamiliar settings.

The first 38 minutes were needed to justify the setting change. It creates a believable connection to previous films. It also creates a real connection to the year 1986. Had the opening scene simply thrust the Enterprise into 1986 to solve the unexplained lack of whales in the 23rd century, who would have believed the plot?

Had film-makers forced too much humor into the first 38 minutes without the culture separation to justify it, the film would have had a slapstick overtone; inconsistent with the Star Trek film series.

Everyone Remember Where We Parked

There are literally 100s of types of jokes. There are puns, there a metaphorical jokes, there are visuals, there are sight gags. Yet Star Trek IV is about culture clashes alone. Nearly all the humor after that 38-minute set-up is about someone in an unusual setting dealing with that setting in their usual way. The person laughing at the joke, is laughing at the crew's misinterpretation of how to act in 1986.

For example, who would be dumb enough to use logic to solve problems on Earth in 1986? We're not a society built on logic. Yet Spock uses logic to solve every problem he encounters. Even his decision to swear is based on the logical premise, "I'm an alien, I'd best talk like everyone else to fit in." Little does Spock realize believable swearing requires some emotional commitment.

"Excuse me sir, can you tell me where the nuclear wessels are?"

Why was it funny to have a Russian in the middle of San Francisco ask for directions to a nuclear war ship? For one thing 1986 was the hight of the Cold War. We laughed in part because of the mispronunciation of vessel, but mostly because his actions while appropriate in the 23rd century were completely inappropriate when everyone was saying, "Better dead than red."

With culture shock, the joke is on the character who doesn't understand how to act within the culture they're dealing with. The joke is on Scotty who doesn't realize computers in 1986 don't respond to voice-commands, even when you talk into the mouse. The joke is on McCoy who doesn't care it's not appropriate to give a lady with Kidney Dialysis a pill that will allow her to grow a new kidney.

Each example is a main character solving a problem in 1986 the same way they would solve that problem in the 23rd century. The solutions tend to work, but the create new problems that allow us to laugh as the crew adapts to the new culture they're not meant to be a part of.

When Are Other Types of Humor are Inevitable

When Scotty tricks the inventor of Transparent Aluminum into inventing it early for him we see some humor unrelated to culture shock. Although this is not an example of culture shock it was a direct result of the problem Scotty was trying to solve. It also helped answer the question everyone asks when a film-maker creates a time travel film, "Wouldn't that disrupt the time-line and create an alternate future making it so they couldn't go back in time in the first place?"

Making the humor a result of the problem prevented it from feeling forced. Making it related to one of the key questions of the genre made the scene critical to the film.

The same is true with McCoy's conversations with Spock about dying before the time travel sequence. They were not examples of people acting apart from their cultural frame of reference. However, they did show two people from the same culture discussing an issue where they had no common frame of reference.

"You mean I have to die to discuss you're insights on death?" asks McCoy.

Of course that's ridiculous. Yet, at the same time it does an effective job of foreshadowing two entities (AKA cultures) that don't understand each other.

Doctor Gave Me A Pill And I Grew A New Kidney

It should be obvious to comics a character from 1986 meeting aliens from the 23rd century would also create opportunities for comedy. One example of this type of humor occurs when doctors on an elevator try to impress McCoy with their knowledge of the pinnacle of medical research in 1986. McCoy responds by comparing visual therapy to the "Spanish Inquisition."

At the beginning of the film you see that type of humor illustrated as two garbage men see the front door to an invisible Bird of Prey open and five aliens walk off the invisible ship.

"Did you see that?" one says.

"No and neither did you," answers the first.

It's consistent with the story line and the plot. And, it's as funny as any time Kirk, Spock or Bones react inappropriately to experiencing 1986, maybe more so. So why not do it more often?

In all likelihood it's because Dr. Gillian is the only character from that culture that is a major part of the film. She's also poorly defined in the film and her relationship with Jim Kirk was never fully developed.

This type of humor is simply less prevalent because those minor characters are less prevalent in the film. Furthermore, they only get a place in the film when the plot warrants them. They're never placed in the film for the sake of the joke.

What Where The Risks And Rewards?

Was it worth it? Star Trek IV is often referred to as "The one with the whales". It was popular among both Star Trek and non Star Trek fans. But, by bringing the light tone into the film, Nimoy took a huge risk. He risked alienating Star Trek fanatics as they pointed out "Spock shouldn't be swearing, that's not his character." And that would have happened, if the humor hadn't been a direct result of the plot and carefully set up in the first 38 minutes of the film.

The humor wasn't consistent with the characters in their time. But it was consistent with these characters accomplishing their mission in 1986. After all wouldn't Spock rather swear poorly than be revealed as an extraterrestrial? In 1986 if the government found ET they wouldn't asking how he got there, they would dissect him on the spot.

The reward was people who never watch Star Trek became instant fans. The reward was a film that insured two sequels instead of one, V was bad enough to end the series. And, there is a lot film-makers can learn from breaking Star Trek IV apart. The seven underlying lessons are listed below.

Seven Rules of Bringing

Comedy into New Frontiers Prewriting Tip