Star Trek: The Motion Picture

[bobws]

But you had to be there in 1979, when there was no new Trek since the 1975 cartoon episodes and no new live action Trek for a decade.
The theater erupted when each ofthe stars names came on screen and then again as each character showed up, it was amazing and fun.
Of Course when we left the theater we realized it was basically 3 episodes of the Originalseries thrown together, But Star Trek was BACK!

[Werewolf]

The Good: The effects and music were great. The redesign of the Enterprise was gorgeous.

The Bad: Way too many shots of the crew staring in confusion and awe. Boring. More 2001 than Trek.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I think a novel tied the Borg to V'ger. At the very least, the planet of living machines Voyager landed on could have been the Borg homeworld.

Spock even says something about "resistance is futile" in regards to V'ger!

Chris

[Hedji]

Oh, and it happen to love Trek V. Always did.

[Hedji]

The beginning is awesome. The music was glorious. The marketing was fun. I have uber nostalgia for this, even though I know it's got serious problems.

I always thought they should have tied the Borg back to the merging of V'Ger with Decker and Ilia. Learn All That Is Learnable could have easily been corrupted into the Borg Modus Operandi of assimilate everything. And the fusion of machine and human parts is basically the ending of this film. It would've fit quite naturally. Imagine getting to the center of the Borg Cube or home world and finding Decker and Ilia all pastily preserved and wired up.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I watched this today for the first time in YEARS. Probably over a decade since I'd seen it, despite having "The Director's Edition" for several years. I was just turning 5 when this came out, so I wasn't a Trekker yet. I didn't see this until after I'd seen III in the theater (my first Trek film) and then II on television. As a kid, I thought it was boring. Way too many drawn out reaction shots, laborous effect shots, and little of the character that makes me love Trek.

Over the years that opinion didn't change much. It has always been my least favorite classic crew film, yes, even under V, which despite bargain basement special effects and a rambling plot, does have some great character moments with Kirk, Spock and Bones.

So I watched the Director's Edition today, and you know what...my opinion really hasn't changed. I enjoyed watching it, but almost as more of a curiosity than a Trek film. I've been re-reading Shatner's Star Trek Memories books, and the account of this movie presented through his POV and others (including director Robert Wise) is fascinating (pardon the pun). Despite being in gestation in one form or another as a TV film, low-budget theatrical film, TV series pilot, and finally major motion picture, you would think they'd have thought this one out better.

It's certainly a handsome film. It's Robert Wise, so of course it's beautiful. The scale and scope of the Enterprise never felt larger and more majestic, but I'd have traded that for some true emoting on Shatner. Kirk seems to be sedated through this film. Bones has some good lines, and brings some much needed levity and just plain ol' humanity, since Kirk is not his usual overly-passionate self. Spock's arc is interesting, and Nimoy does a good job of subtly portraying Spock as a near-robot at the movie's beginning, slowly turning back into the Spock we know as the story unfolds.

But it's just missing that spark that TOS had, and that Have Bennet and Nick Meyer re-injected into the franchise in Wrath of Khan. This is definitely Roddenberry's NEW vision, or perhaps his original Cage-like vision before NBC insisted on more action and less pondering. You can definitely follow this feeling into Next Gen. Of course they do share the same theme, and the music is another thing that makes this movie that much more enjoyable. Without Goldsmith's excellent score, those long drawn-out shots could have been nigh unbearable.

Again, despite all this, I enjoyed it. It has some great moments, but you have to wade through a lot of dullness to get there. I still put this behind V. Technically better, but viscerally lacking.

Chris