Gracie (Star Trek)

Gracie was a introduced in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. 
Born in the late 20th century, she and another humpback whale who would be named George swam into San Francisco Bay as calves and became trapped. Unable to leave they were rescued and placed in the care of the Cetacean Institute, an aquatic facility dedicated to the study of whales. 
Taking George as her mate the pair conceived a calf that Gracie was pregnant with in 1986. As they were becoming adults the institute decided to release them into the ocean as it cost too much to continue feeding them and to give the calf the best chance at survival possible.
Shortly before they were released Gracie and George met a strange individual named Spock who jumped into the tank with them and initiated a mind meld with them. The two whales communicated their unhappiness about how humans were murdering so many of their fellow humpback whales. However, when Spock explained the situation and proposed to bring them into the 23rd century they both agreed to help Spock and the Enterprise crew save the planet from the whale probe.
A short time later George and Gracie were flown up to Alaska and released into the open ocean. The pair were tracked by Admiral James T. Kirk's captured Klingon bird of prey and beamed aboard before a group of whalers could kill them. Brought forward in time to the 23rd century the pair was released into the ocean where both Gracie and George were released into the ocean. While ordinarily only male humpbacks would sing, Gracie also sang to the whale probe, convincing it to depart Earth and cease transmitting the energy waves that were draining all the energy sources and causing extreme storms to blanket the planet.
She and George were later relocated to the New Cetacean Institute near the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. Gracie soon gave birth to their calf, which was named Harpo. Spock later traveled to the institute for further mind melds with George and Gracie - which Doctor Leonard McCoy termed a meeting of the minds - to see if either of the whales had more information on the probe. Neither Gracie or George had further information on the probe but were both under the impression the probe dispatched Kirk and his crew to retrieve them and bring them to the 23rd century.
When Gracie and George became ill Gillian Taylor and the Enterprise studied the illness and found that both whales needed a small amount of the pollutants that had been present in 20th century ocean water, which they put into the water, healing both of them. While they were undergoing treatment, Montgomery Scott played the to Gracie and George to help them feel better, something that prompted both of them to start singing. 
==The Autobiography of James T. Kirk==
In the novel The Autobiography of James T. Kirk Gracie had died in 2293, something Spock sensed due to his mind meld with her seven years earlier. 
==Trivia==
* Both Gracie and George were largely portrayed by small scale animatronic models that were so realistic looking that US government officials criticized movie producers for shooting footage so closely around living humpback whales before being informed the whales were only models. Some footage of the whales jumping out of the water was of actual humpback whales near Maui. 
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