The plot is strangely imbalanced. There's this gigantic threat to Earth. And it's the Enterprise's crew time to shine. Now, after we have learned more fascinating stuff about Half-Vulcans, the band of brothers is back and I really like the comradeship that was lacking in movie III due to the "absence" of Captain Spock. It's really a nice idea that the crew is only consisting of the core crew of the "late" Enterprise.


Then the imbalance starts: it's all getting a bit too non-scientific and too comedy like. Why not travel to the past? Easy right? I hated this in *Assignment: Earth* and I hate it now. How does this work? The rest can only be described as a comedy.


Still, as a comedy, I like this movie. It created many memorable scenes. Spock diving! It also explores some of the core ideas of Sci-Fi: how would people react when confronted with future versions of mankind (and vice versa) and how far did future humankind really evolve? We have seen very similar stories in other installments of the franchise, like when the Voyager crew visited Sarah Silverman. I recently watched *Crocodile Dundee*. The vibe is the same: people unaccustomed to contemporary city life try to fit in. And that's a lot of fun. Even the eco-stance seems to be as relevant today as it was back then when the movie was released.

The last part is a bit more serious again. Again, I hate that there's no explanation for the time travel. Plus, I think it's very strange that they don't care to explain what this alien probe really was.