Star Trek IV, of all the Classic films, has aged the worst of the series…from the horrible soundtrack that sounds like it was patched together from commercial bumpers performed by the house band from Saturday Night Live, circa 1984…to the bland and flat cinematography…to the dramatically dated 1986 setting.
Of all the classic films, Trek IV gets about one viewing every 8-10 years, by me.
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…the cinematography which was nominated for an Oscar, by the way.
And I’ll contend that the score itself isn’t horrible, but rather than it’s just too tonally inconsistent with TREK and the films surrounding it. As an 80s comedy score, it’s fine. But I would have preferred that Horner finish the trilogy. As it stands, Nimoy wanted Rosenman for TSFS, but didn’t have enough clout, so we should be thankful we got Horner’s score for that film, at least.
And my current preference order for the films would be:
TWOK
TSFS
TMP
TUC
TVH
TFF
I’ve really had a “come to God” experience with TMP, in recent years. I’m actively a fan of it, now, and have truly come to appreciate and obsess over it. The best-made of all of them, and arguably the most TREK of them all, although some of the later films better capture the feel and the characters.
The others have all lost a wee bit of luster, due to their more modest budgets and their flaws, but I still enjoy all six greatly.