Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 12:53 am
Well, why not have threads for the movies? The TV shows shouldn't get all the attention. 
Through the years, this has remained my favorite Trek feature film. It really is too bad that most people (whether Trek fans or general movie fans) have a low opinion of ST: TMP. The artistic brilliance of this film is as clear as day to me. Some scattered thoughts:
1) Jerry Goldsmith's original score
The first and best Trek movie soundtrack. The bold Main Theme is an ideal musical representation of Star Trek's forward-looking, optimistic philosophy. The music for the opening battle gives a great sense of Klingons on the hunt. They should feel honored to have such fabulous music driving them on. The stretch of music accompanying Kirk and Scotty's shuttle trip to the refurbished Enterprise is a majestic orchestral suite in its own right, worthy of a great starship. Ilia's Theme is wistful and poignant without becoming cloying. But Goldsmith really lets loose in the music for the V'ger sequences: it remains some of the most evocative and haunting movie music I've ever heard. All in all, a classic score for a classy movie.
2) Decker & Ilia
This isn't just the Kirk, Spock and McCoy show. I find the relationship between Decker and Ilia plausible and interesting, and it's great that the two of them end up as the catalysts for V'ger's transformation. They aren't just bit players. So, whereas Matt Decker died in vain against the Doomsday Machine in the original TV series, his son Will successfully sacrifices himself to stop another doomsday machine in V'ger. Persis Khambatta: it was gutsy of her to allow her head to be completely shaved for the role of Ilia. I was saddened when she passed away.
3) Life, the universe, and everything
This is the most philosophically deep Trek movie. "Is this all there is? Is there nothing more?" Critics deride ST:TMP for lacking warmth and humor, but there is nothing wrong with taking a serious approach. ST:TMP tries to elevate us higher, to make us think larger questions. The later Trek films have pulled us back down, substituting generic action and one-liners for meaningful sci-fi. (Gee, let's have Scotty do another wide-eyed double-take. Let's do another gag involving Data and his emotion chip...)
4) All the pretty lights
For a film that was made before the advent of CGI, its visual effects remain stunning. The entire look of ST:TMP is breathtaking, a glittering cinematic diamond. For instance, when the Enterprise blasts into warp speed in this film, we get a sense of the power involved, a sense of how the ship is truly warping space around itself. It's a dazzling light show that puts to shame the warp sequences in later Trek films. In TNG, all we see is the Enterprise do some unexciting relativistic stretching of its shape, and then, poof, it's gone. With all the wonders of modern CGI, that's all we get. Faster-than-light travel ought to be visually represented as a special event, not a ho-hum thing. No wonder I don't admire the new CG versions of the Enterprise.
The DVD
Aside from some niggly things, I'm okay with the Director's Cut of the film. The original visuals were already strong in my view, but the new scene enhancements are fine, too. I didn't like the rearrangement and deletion of a few scenes, but then, I'm someone who actually preferred the special longer VHS version to the theatrical version. At least they included all the deleted scenes on the supplementary disc.
One thing I couldn't sit through was the audio commentary. Robert Wise's voice was so faint and fragile that it was difficult for me to make out what he was saying. And when you have a large group commentary, there is the problem of it sometimes turning into incoherent babble. (Peter Jackson and company remain the standard for clear, intelligent group commentary with LOTR.)
Through the years, this has remained my favorite Trek feature film. It really is too bad that most people (whether Trek fans or general movie fans) have a low opinion of ST: TMP. The artistic brilliance of this film is as clear as day to me. Some scattered thoughts:
1) Jerry Goldsmith's original score
The first and best Trek movie soundtrack. The bold Main Theme is an ideal musical representation of Star Trek's forward-looking, optimistic philosophy. The music for the opening battle gives a great sense of Klingons on the hunt. They should feel honored to have such fabulous music driving them on. The stretch of music accompanying Kirk and Scotty's shuttle trip to the refurbished Enterprise is a majestic orchestral suite in its own right, worthy of a great starship. Ilia's Theme is wistful and poignant without becoming cloying. But Goldsmith really lets loose in the music for the V'ger sequences: it remains some of the most evocative and haunting movie music I've ever heard. All in all, a classic score for a classy movie.
2) Decker & Ilia
This isn't just the Kirk, Spock and McCoy show. I find the relationship between Decker and Ilia plausible and interesting, and it's great that the two of them end up as the catalysts for V'ger's transformation. They aren't just bit players. So, whereas Matt Decker died in vain against the Doomsday Machine in the original TV series, his son Will successfully sacrifices himself to stop another doomsday machine in V'ger. Persis Khambatta: it was gutsy of her to allow her head to be completely shaved for the role of Ilia. I was saddened when she passed away.
3) Life, the universe, and everything
This is the most philosophically deep Trek movie. "Is this all there is? Is there nothing more?" Critics deride ST:TMP for lacking warmth and humor, but there is nothing wrong with taking a serious approach. ST:TMP tries to elevate us higher, to make us think larger questions. The later Trek films have pulled us back down, substituting generic action and one-liners for meaningful sci-fi. (Gee, let's have Scotty do another wide-eyed double-take. Let's do another gag involving Data and his emotion chip...)
4) All the pretty lights
For a film that was made before the advent of CGI, its visual effects remain stunning. The entire look of ST:TMP is breathtaking, a glittering cinematic diamond. For instance, when the Enterprise blasts into warp speed in this film, we get a sense of the power involved, a sense of how the ship is truly warping space around itself. It's a dazzling light show that puts to shame the warp sequences in later Trek films. In TNG, all we see is the Enterprise do some unexciting relativistic stretching of its shape, and then, poof, it's gone. With all the wonders of modern CGI, that's all we get. Faster-than-light travel ought to be visually represented as a special event, not a ho-hum thing. No wonder I don't admire the new CG versions of the Enterprise.
The DVD
Aside from some niggly things, I'm okay with the Director's Cut of the film. The original visuals were already strong in my view, but the new scene enhancements are fine, too. I didn't like the rearrangement and deletion of a few scenes, but then, I'm someone who actually preferred the special longer VHS version to the theatrical version. At least they included all the deleted scenes on the supplementary disc.
One thing I couldn't sit through was the audio commentary. Robert Wise's voice was so faint and fragile that it was difficult for me to make out what he was saying. And when you have a large group commentary, there is the problem of it sometimes turning into incoherent babble. (Peter Jackson and company remain the standard for clear, intelligent group commentary with LOTR.)
Sheol, that's an amazing alternate ending! I had never heard of it! It would have made for an ironic twist to the lovey-dovey with Ilia and Decker and V'ger. It's like, after all the peace and harmony of V'ger's transformation, it's business as usual: Klingons and the Federation beating the crap out of each other! 
(which is arguably questionable) are always moderated to account for the fact that the early movies of the franchise are 70s-80s generation productions.