Passes the Bechdel test
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1986. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, written by Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes and Harve Bennett.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 160. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
The most acclaimed Star Trek adventure of all time with an important message. It is the 23rd century, and a mysterious alien probe is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. In their frantic attempt to save mankind, Admiral Kirk and his crew must time travel back to 1986 San Francisco where they find a world of punk, pizza and exact-change buses that are as alien to them as anything they have ever encountered in the far-off reaches of the galaxy. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy return as Kirk and Spock, along with the entire Star Trek crew.
- Released
- 26 Nov 1986
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 71 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 4 Oscars. 4 wins & 20 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Kirk 272 lines, man
- Gillian 113 lines, woman
- Spock 106 lines, man
- Bones 72 lines, man
- Scotty 60 lines, man
- Sulu 36 lines, man
- Chekov 34 lines, man
- Uhura 29 lines, woman
- Nichols 17 lines, man
- Sarek 15 lines, man
Full cast, 55 people
- William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk
- Leonard Nimoy as Captain Spock
- DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy
- James Doohan as Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott
- George Takei as Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu
- Walter Koenig as Cmdr. Pavel Chekov
- Nichelle Nichols as Cmdr. Uhura
- Mark Lenard as Sarek
- Jane Wyatt as Amanda
- Majel Barrett as Commander Chapel
- Robert Ellenstein as Federation Council President
- John Schuck as Klingon Ambassador
- Brock Peters as Admiral Cartwright
- Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik
- Catherine Hicks as Gillian
- Michael Snyder as Starfleet Communications Officer
- Michael Berryman as Starfleet Display Officer
- Mike Brislane as Saratoga Science Officer
- Grace Lee Whitney as Commander Rand
- Jane Wiedlin as Alien Communications Officer
- Vijay Amritraj as Starship Captain
- Nick Ramus as Saratoga Helmsman
- Thaddeus Golas as Controller #1
- Marty Pistone as Controller #2
- Scott Devenney as Bob Briggs
- Viola Kates Stimpson as Lady in Tour
- Phil Rubenstein as 1st Garbageman
- John Miranda as 2nd Garbageman
- Joe Knowland as Antique Store Owner
- Bob Sarlatte as Waiter
- Everett Lee as Cafe Owner
- Richard Harder as Joe
- Alex Henteloff as Nichols
- Tony Edwards as Pilot
- Eve Smith as Elderly Patient
- Tom Mustin as Intern #1
- Greg Karas as Intern #2
- Raymond Singer as Young Doctor
- David Ellenstein as Doctor #1
- Judy Levitt as Doctor #2
- Teresa E. Victor as Usher
- James Menges as Jogger
- Kirk R. Thatcher as Punk on Bus
- Jeff Lester as FBI Agent
- Joe Lando as Shore Patrolman
- Newell Tarrant as CDO
- Mike Timoney as Electronic Technician
- Jeff Martin as Electronic Technician
- Joseph Naradzay as Marine Sargent
- Donald W. Zautcke as Marine Lieutenant
- Monique DeSart as Madelaine (uncredited)
- Madge Sinclair as Saratoga Captain (uncredited)
- Kimberly L. Ryusaki as Tourist (uncredited)
- Philip Weyland as Tourist (uncredited)
- Layla Sarakalo as Passerby (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 160
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 5 to 8 | 2 | 21 |
| 9 to 12 | 10 | 20 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 8 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 8 |
| 21 to 24 | 2 | 16 |
| 25 to 28 | 5 | 36 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 45 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 13 |
| 41 to 44 | 2 | 19 |
| 45 to 48 | 1 | 25 |
| 49 to 52 | 1 | 21 |
| 53 to 56 | 2 | 26 |
| 57 to 60 | 13 | 6 |
| 61 to 64 | 9 | 24 |
| 65 to 68 | 30 | 42 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 49 |
| 73 to 76 | 28 | 30 |
| 77 to 80 | 6 | 6 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 39 |
| 85 to 88 | 1 | 9 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 2 |
| 93 to 96 | 2 | 3 |
| 97 to 100 | 14 | 27 |
| 101 to 104 | 1 | 33 |
| 105 to 108 | 6 | 6 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 14 |
| 113 to 116 | 9 | 25 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 5 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 23 |
| 129 to 132 | 3 | 21 |
| 133 to 136 | 1 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 11 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 1 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 2 |
| 153 to 156 | 4 | 20 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 8 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
GILLIAN: That's it! That's it! UHURA: Affirmative. Contact with the whales.
GILLIAN: How can you do that?! It's radio! UHURA: Image translation on screen!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 19 are women's.
160 lines from women, 696 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 39 men in the cast. 6 women and 30 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 24 of 927.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 91 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (1,925), men 78% (6,902). Women have 19% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
4
Two men
81
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 15 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 9% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Leonard Nimoy (man)
- Written by
- Steve Meerson (man), Nicholas Meyer (man), Harve Bennett (man), Peter Krikes (man)
- Story by
- Harve Bennett (man), Leonard Nimoy (man)
- Produced by
- Harve Bennett (man)
- Shot by
- Donald Peterman (man)
- Edited by
- Peter E. Berger (man)
- Music by
- Leonard Rosenman (man)
- Production design by
- Peter Landsdown Smith (man), Jack T. Collis (man)
- Costumes by
- Robert Fletcher (man)
- Cast by
- Amanda Mackey (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 10 men
-
Sound
0 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 7 men
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 7 men
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 61 on average. Men: 58 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Nichelle Nichols 53, Majel Barrett 54, Jane Wyatt 76
Men
George Takei 49, Walter Koenig 50, William Shatner 55, Leonard Nimoy 55, Mark Lenard 62, DeForest Kelley 66, James Doohan 66
Exhibit H: the money
It made 6.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $21 million
- Box office
- $133 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 160 scenes and 927 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
