Story: Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Written By: Harold Livingston
Series: The Original Cast Films
Year: 1979
In 1969 Star Trek got canceled. In the decade that followed the cancellation there was off and on plans to revive it. The Animated series was the closest it had to returning. Then the syndication of the original show made the popularity grow and become more present, and with conventions beginning with hundreds if not thousands of people in attendance…Star Trek was ready for a comeback.
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The first plan was a new series “Star Trek: Phase II”. The show pretty much was going to be more of the same, with a few new characters and a few missing. Spock wasn’t returning, Nimoy had moved on. So some new Vulcan character was being developed to replace him. Also added were Decker and Ilia. Decker’s character was created in part to take over in case Shatner wanted to leave.
After some casting, set builds, and screen tests, the plan fell apart. Everything shifted gears after the success of "Star Wars", sci-fi on the big screen was where it was at. So the gears were shifted to film. So begins the journey of the Original Cast Films.
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is the ultimate in style over substance. The plot is wafer thin, and would seem somewhat intelligent if it wasn’t just a bit of Star Trek cliché. Machine becomes somewhat sentient and is wreaking some havoc on humans. Still there are things I really like about this film, and if some of the reaction shots of the cast were trimmed it might really be excellent. The Director's Cut Paramount released a few years back was actually quite the improvement.
The special effects are tremendous, and they would be even more impressive if we didn’t have to spend two hours watching the whole damn cast look as impressed as we are. For once the scale of the Enterprise is really seen, even if that sequence drags on a bit. Even more impressive is V'Ger, which after establishing the size and wonderment of the Enterprise, trumps over our ship in scale 100 times over.
The movie isn’t great, but it also isn’t the worst of the series. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" did its job though, it successfully brought back Trek, it proved it could have scale and be financially successful. Sure the film can drag in many a place and the sense of humor the show always had feels weird and off (some of the lighter moments feel forced or out of place, and the cast feels a little too stiff all around)...but I have mellowed in my view of the first film over the years. I still see it has problems, but being a total Trek nerd has me finding things I just can't help but and enjoy.
NEXT TIME: Revenge
Written By: Harold Livingston
Series: The Original Cast Films
Year: 1979
In 1969 Star Trek got canceled. In the decade that followed the cancellation there was off and on plans to revive it. The Animated series was the closest it had to returning. Then the syndication of the original show made the popularity grow and become more present, and with conventions beginning with hundreds if not thousands of people in attendance…Star Trek was ready for a comeback.
+2.jpg)
After some casting, set builds, and screen tests, the plan fell apart. Everything shifted gears after the success of "Star Wars", sci-fi on the big screen was where it was at. So the gears were shifted to film. So begins the journey of the Original Cast Films.
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is the ultimate in style over substance. The plot is wafer thin, and would seem somewhat intelligent if it wasn’t just a bit of Star Trek cliché. Machine becomes somewhat sentient and is wreaking some havoc on humans. Still there are things I really like about this film, and if some of the reaction shots of the cast were trimmed it might really be excellent. The Director's Cut Paramount released a few years back was actually quite the improvement.
The movie isn’t great, but it also isn’t the worst of the series. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" did its job though, it successfully brought back Trek, it proved it could have scale and be financially successful. Sure the film can drag in many a place and the sense of humor the show always had feels weird and off (some of the lighter moments feel forced or out of place, and the cast feels a little too stiff all around)...but I have mellowed in my view of the first film over the years. I still see it has problems, but being a total Trek nerd has me finding things I just can't help but and enjoy.
NEXT TIME: Revenge