A Very Quotable "Voyage Home" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Admiral Kirk

This is said as the remaining crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, namely Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov, are leaving the U.S.S. Botany Bay, which they have landed in the Golden Gate Park of 1986 San Fransisco.

The crew is on their way to split into groups to accomplish 3 different missions: Kirk and Spock to find humpback whales to bring into the future; Sulu, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy to find materials to build a tank to transport the whales in; and Uhura and Chekov to find nuclear power to repair their ship.

Answer: Scotty

Scotty and Dr. McCoy, posing as an engineer and his assistant, have paid a visit to the Plexicorp company, where they hope to get the materials to build a tank for the whales. Scotty, eager to show Dr. Nichols, Plexicorp's engineer, how to manufacture plexiglass that is thinner but stronger, sits down at Nichols' computer to demonstrate the formula.

Unfortunately, Scotty is used to 23rd-century voice-controlled computers, and begins speaking to it. He even goes as far as to try speaking into the mouse like a microphone before Nichols suggests he use the keyboard!

Answer: Spock

The full quote is "Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so... I will make a guess." Kirk's cheeky response is "A guess? You, Spock? That's extraordinary!"

This quote comes near the end of the film, when the USS Bounty with the crew, Dr. Gillian Taylor, and the whales aboard, are about to head back to the 23rd century. Unsure how to arrive at the exact right time point in that century, Spock decides to rely on a guess, which is unlike him.

Answer: Dr. McCoy

This quote comes as McCoy and Spock are discussing events that occurred in the last film, "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", in which a technically-dead Spock comes to life again. Spock had died following radiation exposure in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", but before he died, he had implanted his memories in McCoy.

In "Star Trek III", Spock's memories were returned to his body. When McCoy wants to philosophically discuss Spock's death and reincarnation experience, Spock's response provokes this irritable quip from McCoy.

Answer: Admiral Kirk

Kirk says this to Dr. Gillian Taylor at a pizza restaurant, where he reveals to her the truth of his mission. Although she doesn't believe him at first, she later agrees to help him, especially when she realizes that the two whales at the Maritime Cetacean Institute are about to be released into the wild, where they will be at danger from whalers.

Kirk's childhood is not much discussed in the series, so it is interesting to gain a glimpse into where he grew up. It is revealed in "Star Trek: The Original Series" that Kirk also had a brother, who later died.

Answer: Admiral Kirk

Kirk uses this garbled reasoning to explain Spock's strangeness to Dr. Gillian Taylor. Kirk explains that Spock was a hippie in the 1960s, and means to say "he did a little too much LSD" and used drugs too much at the time, thus forever changing his metal abilities.

Instead, he mixes up his acronyms and says "LDS", the initials for Latter Day Saints, another term for the church of the Mormons. Gillian is understandably confused!

Answer: Dr. McCoy

This line is spoken by Dr. McCoy near the beginning of the film, as he tries to tell Spock how glad he is that Spock is back, and share experiences about having carried Spock's soul. This happened during the events of "The Wrath of Khan" and "The Search for Spock".

Spock, however, being Vulcan, of course takes McCoy literally, and wonders aloud what shoes have to do with the situation!

Answer: Scotty

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu are flying the USS Bounty, a Klingon Bird of Prey that they took from their Klingon foes in "The Wrath of Khan". Apparently, though, Scotty decided to sample to Klingon's onboard rations, hence this quote near the beginning of the film. He apparently also regretted doing so!

Scotty is speaking to Kirk for this quote.

Answer: Spock

Spock swam into the whales George and Gracie's tank in San Fransisco and, after performing a mind meld with Gracie, returns to the surface--but not before he was spotted in the tank by Gillian. She and Kirk race to meet Spock; in the midst of Gillian berating him, Spock says this classic quote. It surprises them all, especially Gillian, who is amazed Spock knows.

Answer: Spock

Spock goes on to add, "It is currently laced with, ...shall I say, ...more colourful metaphors." This comes after Kirk suddenly begins to swear nearly every sentence after their arrival in 1986. Kirk's response, also a part of this quiz, prompts Spock to give swearing a try himself...with humorous results.

As a Vulcan, he is unable to quite grasp the correct application of swear words!

Answer: Dr. McCoy

McCoy says this as he, Kirk, and Gillian are trying to make their way through the hospital in San Fransisco so that McCoy can operate on Chekov, who was checked in with a head injury. To get into the top-security ward that Chekov is held in, McCoy and Kirk dress as medical staff while Gillian pretends to be a patient with a serious problem--immediate post-prandial upper abdominal distension, in fact.

The ploy works and they get in to Chekov, though McCoy reveals that immediate post-prandial upper abdominal distension is merely a fancy term for cramps.

Answer: Scotty

Scotty quips this line near the beginning of the film, while the crew of the USS Bounty are still on Vulcan. The Bird-of-Prey needs repairs after the events of the last film, "The Search for Spock", and it's up to the resourceful Scotty to do the needed work.

Unfortunately, his grasp of Klingon is less than his knowledge of engineering! Still, he promises to have the repairs done in one more day.

Answer: Admiral Kirk

This line from Kirk is in response to Spock's question, also a part of this quiz, that "Your use of language has altered since our arrival. It is currently laced with, ...shall I say, ...more colourful metaphors." Kirk replies, "You mean profanity. That's simply the way they talk here. Nobody pays any attention to you if you don't swear every other word. You'll find it in all the literature of the period."

Spock then goes on to swear himself, though Kirk later asks him not to, since he doesn't have a good grasp of them.

Answer: Spock

This quote, spoken at the end of the film, hearkens back to the beginning of it, when Spock takes a computer test to see if he has retained all of his knowledge from before his death. There is only one question that he is unable to answer: "How do you feel?". This disturbs his mother, Amanda, who argues that since Spock is half human, he should know how he feels.

At the end of the film Spock finally knows the answer to the question, and charges his father Sarek to tell his mother that he feels fine.

Answer: Admiral Kirk

The full quote is "On behalf of all of us, Mr. President, I am authorized to plead guilty." This is one of the climactic moments of the film, near the end when the crew of the USS Enterprise are on trial for stealing the ship to rescue Spock in "The Search for Spock".

All of the crew are pardoned but Kirk, whose sole punishment is to be demoted to Captain. He couldn't be happier, especially when he is given a new USS Enterprise ship to captain!