The '80s were full of memorable big-screen punk-rockers, from the pissed-off pissants of Repo Man to the sullen squatters of Suburbia. But for lovers of gently comedic, sci-fi adventures, the Reagan-era rebel who looms largest is the mohawk-sporting punk who makes a cameo in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Though he's on the screen for less than two minutes, the orange-haired rapscallion, played by Kirk Thatcher, made a big impression upon the Enterprise crew (and audience members) by giving Captain Kirk the finger, only to find himself on the receiving end of a Vulcan nerve pinch. It's a knowingly goofy moment in what's easily the most free-spirited Trek movie ever made—which may be why, 30 years later, Thatcher's pissed-off urchin remains a fan favorite among punkers and Trekkers alike.
If you haven't seen the movie in a while (and you should, it's still really delightful), here's a quick rundown of how Mr. Spock happened to come face-to-face with a boombox-blasting, never-named ne'er-do-well: At the beginning of Voyage Home, an exiled Kirk (William Shatner) and crew travel through time to circa-1986 San Francisco in an attempt to bring humpback whales back to the future, so their whale song can be used to communicate with a threatening alien presence (note we said "delightful," not "wholly logical").
While the Enterprise gang wanders the city, Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) wind up on a bus across from "Punk on the Bus," played by then-23-year-old Kirk Thatcher, a former Industrial Light & Magic employee who'd been hired on the film to assist Nimoy, who was also serving as the movie's director. Blasting a bratty number called "I Hate You" on his boombox—sample lyric: "Let's just push the button/we'd be better off dead!"—Thatcher's punk gives Kirk the bird when the admiral asks him to turn the music down. The result? A Vulcan nerve pinch from Spock that knocks out the punker, and elicits applause from the fellow passengers.
The role was an appropriate one for Thatcher, who'd played in bands as teenager before finding himself working in the creature department at ILM, helping out on films like Return of the Jedi, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and Gremlins (he also collaborated with future Oscar nominee David Fincher on the Rick Springfield video "Bop 'Til You Drop," in which Thatcher played a demonic-looking alien). It was while he was attending UCLA, where he was studying computer animation, that he found out Nimoy was looking for an FX-savvy assistant for The Voyage Home. "He said, 'I want to hire somebody who knows this world,'" Thatcher remembers.
As it turned out, Thatcher wasn't just an effects nerd—he was a devoted Trek-head, a guy who'd kept a Spock and Kirk poster over his bed as a kid, and who'd even worked on the gnarly ear-critter from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And while he served as a sort of creative consigliere to Nimoy during production, he wound up playing a variety of roles on set: He helped write Vulcan dialogue, assisted in curating some of the alien creatures spotted early on in the film, and provided the high-speed voice of the Spock-quizzing computer.
But portraying "Punk on the Bus" would turn out to be Thatcher's most lasting contribution to The Voyage Home. He and Nimoy had grown chummy during filming, so when the filmmakers were looking to cast the punk, Thatcher lobbied the director to get the role. "I told him, 'Look, I used to have a mohawk, and I'll dress the part—you won't recognize me,'" Thatcher says. "Leonard said, 'Huh, really,' in that deep, basso profondo way. I couldn’t tell if he thought it was a stupid idea."
Nimoy kept Thatcher waiting for more than a week before giving him the go-ahead, prompting Thatcher to dye his hair orange, shave the sides of his head, and go shopping for punk gear in clothing stores on Melrose Avenue and in North Hollywood. When he finally showed up to the set in costume—complete with dog collar, fake nose piercings, and leopard-print Converse sneakers—one of the first people he bumped into was Trek costar DeForest Kelley. "He looks me up and down real slowly, and with that kind of southern laconic drawl, he just says, 'Nice shoes,'" Thatcher remembers.
Filming the scene wound up requiring two takes, thanks to a slight wardrobe-related malfunction. "I was wearing a cheap leather jacket, and it was very very stiff," Thatcher says. "So when Leonard gave me the pinch [the first time], I couldn’t feel it. His hand was around my neck, but I was just kind of looking over, like, 'What are you doing?'"
The song itself came later. Paramount Pictures had a music-licensing deal that gave it to access to songs by new-wave artists like Duran Duran, but none of those bands seemed like a good fit for Thatcher's snarling character. "I said, 'Leonard, that’s not punk. I could write you a punk song and it will cost you nothing. I’ll do it for [a few hundred dollars],'" says Thatcher. He wrote out the nihilistic lyrics, which he brought to his friend (and future Mad Max: Fury Road Oscar winner) Mark Mangini, a sound editor who came up with the song's snotty, simple guitar riff. Thatcher himself sang vocals, and the whole tune was recorded on a weekend night, in a hallway that would provide the necessarily shitty sound.
"My idea of punk at the time was the Dead Kennedys, Germs, Black Flag—real West Coast hardcore punk, that real raw sound," Thatcher says. "I also wanted a Sex Pistols 'God Save the Queen' vibe, which is why I did the British accent."
As for Nimoy's response? "He came by, heard it, and said, 'OK. That’s very punk.'"
Though Thatcher's character is clearly a somewhat exaggerated take on '80s punk culture, the song's screw-it-we're-doomed lyrics fit into the movie's bigger message about ecology and Earth's survival. "The end of the 20th century wasn't a Mad Max dystopia, but it was headed in that direction," he says. "Global war was still hanging over you, and you knew it could all end tomorrow because of some A-hole politician. So that existential angst or nihilism was not forced."
Thankfully, mankind—and The Voyage Home—made it to the 21st century, where Thatcher still gets requests from modern-day bands to cover "I Hate You" (a few years ago, the song was finally remastered and given an official release). "It's nice to be remembered," says Thatcher. "I could win the Nobel Peace Prize, and my gravestone would still stay, 'Star Trek IV: Punk on the Bus.'"
In truth, Thatcher's post-Trek accomplishments are extensive: He's worked for decades with the Jim Henson Company, writing feature films like Muppet Treasure Island, and directing TV movies like Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow (he also earned an Emmy for his writing on the short-lived '90s series Muppets Tonight). In 2009, he directed the Muppets' much-beloved, oft-forwarded "Bohemian Rhapsody" video, proving once again that he knows a thing or two about manic characters with spiky orange hair.
He also stayed in touch with Nimoy off and on for years after Voyage Home wrapped, eventually reuniting with the Trek star just a few years before Nimoy's death in 2015.
"He was like an uncle to me," Thatcher says now. "He was a very calming presence. He had his big office overlooking Paramount, and at the end of the day [after filming Voyage Home], he’d pour himself a big gin-and-tonic with a lot of ice, and we’d sit there and chat. It was one of the highlights of my life and career."
