Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: Star Trek The Motion Picture 1979
Yea, ... It's not Tuesday, it's Friday. Considering that I'm taking a little vacation I didn't have that much time to write up the Tuesday feature, however, I finally found an hour and here it is below. Enjoy and get ready for the premiere of Star Trek!
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the first film in a series of films based off of the 1960s television series, if you didn't know which I'm sure you did. Did you know, however, that it wasn't what was originally planned? Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, intended to continue the original series years later after it's cancellation - a series called Star Trek: Phase II, which is a stupid subtitle, if I may say so. However, with the release of Star Wars the folks at Paramount figured it might be a good time to create an epic space adventure starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
In less than six weeks a new film continuing the voyages of the starship Enterprise will hit the big screen and we're all excited about it. For the next several weeks I'm going to re-watch the Star Trek films featuring the original crew of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy.
A couple of nights ago I threw in the special edition of TMP, watched it on my 52 inch HD television - and was amazed. It should be noted that it was the first time I watched a Star Trek movie on such a modern television - it's clarity blew me away and seeing the Enterprise like that was epic. I can only imagine what the new film on BluRay will look like but that's a long way off.
"When a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'ger approaches Earth, destroying everything in its path, Admiral James T. Kirk assumes command of his old starship—the USS Enterprise—on a mission to save the planet and determine V'ger's origins." [Wiki] TMP reunites William Shatner as James Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, Deforest Kelly as Dr. McCoy, James Doohan as Scotty, George Takei as Sulu, Walter Koenig as Chekov and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura. Also, returning is Majel Barret as Christine Chapel and Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand. TMP also introduces Stephen Collins as Will Decker and Persis Khambatta as Ilia.
Star Trek TMP seems to get a bad rap - people say that the plot is too thin for the length of the film, pacing is really slow, the special effects overshadow the rest of the film, it resembles the TOS episode "The Changeling" too closely; I understand all of the criticisms and I can't say I'd argue with them but I personally love this film. TMP is a total character based film, which is what Star Trek is all about. It's not about big action and big special effects - it's the characters. Granted, TMP makes a huge impact in special effects but that only adds to the epic nature of the film. I love the notion that the crew really hasn't seen each other in a couple of years, people have moved on, etc., which is gives the feeling of change from TOS to this film. Kirk, Spock and McCoy are back together but each are a little different, older, and possibly not ready to continue the voyages of the starship Enterprise - as McCoy says, "how can we be sure about any of us?" However, it's the threat from V'ger that brings about the characteristics that makes them the finest crew in Starfleet history.
I love the beginning of this film - the Klingon attack. It's also the first time we see the Klingon people, as contemporary Klingon's. It was also the introduction of the Klingon theme composed by Jerry Goldsmith, which is a totally awesome theme. I think it was a fantastic way to re-open the franchise and a great way to start the ST film franchise, but some may argue that.
The Klingon's, however, isn't the main baddie - Nomad is, ... opps, I mean V'ger or Voyager 6 - a NASA probe. I loved, to this day, the concept of V'ger because it's not your typical villain. V'ger's mythos is what Star Trek is all about - "to seek out new life" and without a doubt, V'ger is a new life. It's the unknown that makes this film exciting. It makes me want to explore and see more along with the characters who are investigating. The cloud design is pretty damn amazing, especially for the time, but the ship itself that carries the probe is one glorious ship. The visuals are insane and when you watch it on a 52 inch HD television, upgraded with a Blu-Ray player, it's sick. I felt like I could touch V'ger, ... "to touch the creator". The same feeling goes for seeing the Enterprise on an HD television. Back to V'ger - despite how people feel about the villain, I for one loved the concept of the character. Also, the resolution of the character and the overall film is what also makes TMP an epic space opera. After V'ger combines with Decker then "evolves" (maybe), exploding - seeing the the legendary Enterprise appear from the light with what becomes The Next Generation theme, .... AWESOME! Epic!
Out of all the Star Trek films, the addition of both characters Captain Decker and Ilia was my favorite. Sure, I love the character of Saavik but the love story of Decker and Ilia was something that I found very satisfying. Decker, if you didn't know, is the son of Commodore Matt Decker from "The Doomsday Machine" or apparently he is. That isn't all that important but I like the character a lot because he reminded me of Commander Riker. When I was younger, I became a fan of Star Trek through The Next Generation - then eventually fell in love with the original series. Since TNG was the first dose of Trek in my life, Riker was obviously a character I became familiar with. His similarities with Decker was something that I like because it was a kind of new character molded into the TOS crew that we were already very familiar with. As for Ilia, as far as I know, we don't know all that much about the Deltan people, but the performance, physical appearance and voice of Persis Khambatta is so exotic it really fit her character. I love how V'Ger used her likeness to investigate the Enterprise and the "carbon units" that "infested" her.
I understand that a lot of the film, mainly everything from the ending of the opening Klingon attack to the beginning of the overall film ending, is pretty long with a lot of talking, long reactions, and just visual wonderment. That is something that will probably bore the general audience to tears but for any Star Trek fan or science fiction enthusiast, all of that in the middle of the film is beautifully told character development backed up with a total visual wonder of the Enterprise refit, the V'ger cloud, and the massive ship that carried V'ger to Earth.
Lastly, the most beautiful scene in this film was the introduction to the Enterprise refit, which you can actually watch just below. This is one of my most favorite scenes not only in the Star Trek franchise but science fiction overall. JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek film coming out May 8th, has also said before that he loves this scene as well - he's also said that he's going to try and give that same feeling in his new film. Hopefully he means he'll have a scene that will introduce the Enterprise in an equally epic tone. We'll find out soon enough.
Next time I'm going to talk a little about the next film in the TOS franchise called The Wrath of Khan. Overall, I loved Star Trek: The Motion Picture - probably more than others. I found it's wonderment, character driven story to be really Roddenberry, if you understand my meaning. If your trying to get into Trek, I honestly wouldn't recommend it - I'd see one of the later films, like the next film in the franchise, but if your a hardcore SF fan - go for it! You'll probably really enjoy it, or at least I think you will.
-Phil
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