"We started with an idea which had to do with 'coming back to the 20^th century' And then we started looking for a reason. Talking to various people, friends of mine, scientists and so forth. I thought: Wouldn't it be marvellous if we needed to ply a couple of whales out of the 20^th century?"   

Some will feel that ST IV is the closest to the Original series. That could be due to director Leonard Nimoy's emphasis on the characters and their humour.           

LN: "The three pictures before this one were kind of 'good, better, better' but kind of .. very serious stuff. It was time to lighten up a little bit... it was a hopeful show about the future. There was a kind of escape, caper feeling about it."