Featured articleStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on December 28, 2014.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
November 5, 2010Good article nomineeListed
November 20, 2010Peer reviewReviewed
December 27, 2010Featured article candidatePromoted
Current status: Featured article

Resources to use

[edit]
British Film Institute
Film Literature Index

"is a casual reader going to get bogged down trying to figure out what dilithium is"

[edit]

I think they won't. Dilithium crystals are not an obscure titbit of Star Trek lore, but an inherent part of the Star Trek franchise and entrenched in society to the same degree as using the force or big brother is watching you. Moreover - and importantly - the existing text is wrong, as I stated in the edit summary. The high energy photons collected by Uhura and Chekov are not to power the craft. This is clearly explained in the film so there's no reason to include incorrect and misleading details when accurate details are provided at the expense of a single word count increase. Chaheel Riens (talk) 19:14, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would suggest that if dilithium crystals are as known in pop culture as The Force in Star Wars, it should be easy to demonstrate that with sources. Beyond that, it's unnecessary for the plot, so the point remains—you lose nothing in terms of accuracy by removing it, and in fact remove an unnecessary detail someone might not know. It's not misleading at all: the ship needs power, they get the power for the ship. "Well, actually, they were charging the crystals which then charge the ship" is just pedantry. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs talk 20:19, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well, it's notable enough to have its own article. I would also think it a reasonable challenge to find a google result from "Dilithium" that refers to the real element, rather than the fictional. Is it not also reasonable to consider that the casual reader may wonder how the Enterprise aircraft carrier can recharge a Klingon bird of prey? This clarifies that point. I disagree that it's pedantry, it's the plot - and quite an important part at that. Chaheel Riens (talk) 21:15, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]