The 14 Dumbest Things In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

14. The Cameraman Can

So, just how exactly did the Federation and perhaps also the Klingons get their hands on the very dramatic, multiple viewpoint footage from inside the Enterprise bridge during its Star Trek III self destruct? And just who filmed the exterior of the ship going kaboom from several different angles, only one one of which could have been from the Klingon Bird of Prey?

This is, of course, an old movie and TV gimmick, and had happened in previous Star Trek movies, notably when the Enterprise receives an impossible closeup of the Klingon battlecruiser Amar being digitized, and then receiving video of the V’ger cloud after transmitting Epsilon Nine is annihilates.

The reality is: it’s a money saving gimmick. Why shoot another variation on a shot you already have? Would penny-pinching Paramount approve re-blowing up the Enterprise just to get the point of view from the Klingon ship?

It’s understandable, but in-story?

Dumb.