Which Star Trek film features the whale probe as its main extraterrestrial threat?
Answer
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Answer
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home features the whale probe as its main extraterrestrial threat.
The probe arrives near Earth and emits a powerful signal that disrupts the planet’s atmosphere and disables starships. Spock determines that the signal resembles the songs of humpback whales, a species that is extinct in the film’s future. Kirk and his crew therefore travel to 20th-century Earth to obtain two whales and return them to the future.
The film combines a science-fiction crisis with environmental themes and a fish-out-of-water comedy. Its modern-Earth scenes take place mainly in San Francisco, where the crew searches for marine biologist Gillian Taylor and the whales George and Gracie. The probe’s identity and origin are never fully explained.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026