I just watched this again, for the first time since it came out (1979). Mostly because I was curious how accurate my memory of it was. The rest is, there was nothing else on I wanted to watch. It was on a commercial cable channel, so a 2:12 movie took three hours.
It was just as I remembered. The acting was horrible. The special effects were horrible, even for the time (I think). The concept was something they repeated from an actual TOS episode (maybe they thought a 12-year gap would erase everyone’s memory of all the TOS episodes) and was unoriginal the first time. The setup was interminable, and the ending was laughable (and not in a good way). In short, this film had almost nothing to recommend it. It’s a blot on the careers of everyone in it, including Robert Wise and Douglas Trumbull. 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, so I’m clearly not alone in this opinion.
There are at least two versions of it. The non-theatrical release was actually little better. Still not good, but absolutely less sucky and boring.
This is probably what I’m talking about:
In 2001, Wise oversaw a director’s cut for a special DVD release of the film, with remastered audio, tightened and added scenes, and new computer-generated effects.
At the time, I remember people saying the effects were amazing. And I suppose they were pretty good. But the movie itself is a boring, confused mess. It’s amazing they got a green light for Star Trek II, which is the movie that actually saved the franchise.
I’m honestly not sure how anyone can say the effects sucked.
The Klingon/VGer battle was very well done, especially the reverse rotation fly by.
The (interminably long) flyby of the Enterprise in drydock looked awesome, even if you could go out for a smoke, a piss and buy a bag of popcorn before it finished.
The rest of the effects were fine. It was the movie they were in service to that sucked. The acting by all involved was horrible, with incredibly BAD line readings by even the principles. De Kelly was worse than the Shat!. I don’t know why the actors in the Epsilon Nine array were hired, except because they were related to the producers.
What was the quote from The Making of Star Trek? Something about “no matter how it is described, the uniform of the future always looks like long underwear”? Well, I give you:
I got this movie on DVD (or maybe VHS. I can’t remember) for like the first ten minutes it’s just a star scape. No credits, no nothing. Just music and stars.
Don’t know what the hell that was about.
I like the movie well enough, but it’s definitely not my fave. My least fave would probably be “The search for Spock”.
Nice pic ! We will not have pockets in the future (warning: TVTropes link), but we’ll still have a convenient way to carry our smartphones. Or perhaps those are urine teleporters.
'The Changeling" was an episode about a lost probe from early in Earth’s space age that encountered weird phenomena that gave it sapience and vast powers, and which returned to human space and threatened all organic life it encountered.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a movie about a lost probe from early in Earth’s space age that encountered weird phenomena that gave it sapience and vast powers, and which returned to human space and threatened all organic life it encountered.
In the Nomad episode (The Changeling), Nomad is a fictional probe sent out from Earth in the early 21st century, it has mutated and advanced, and is now attacking Federation planets. It allows itself to be beamed aboard the Enterprise where it regards Kirk as The Creator. Hijinks ensue.
In the movie, the attacking entity is called Vger, which turns out to be the probe Voyager 6 (also fictional) launched from earth. It has mutated and advanced somehow, and now has enormous knowledge and power, and it is coming back to earth looking for the Creator. Sound familiar? Not identical, but close enough for fans to notice (and groan).
I guess I only noticed the ones that did suck, like Spock and Kirk in their space suits near the end, or that warp drive snafu in the early middle, or large parts of the Enterprise inside Vger sequence. Some of them were okay as effects (some not), some were just conceptually derivative. To be fair, they were all better than the original TV show.
It had the same concept as the TOS episode The Changeling in which a space probe which has been lost for approximately 265 years returns with programming that causes it to destroy anything that doesn’t meet its artificial standards of perfection.
That’s the Overture. “Road show” films used to have overtures. My first VHS copy has it, but it got damaged, and my replacement didn’t have it. The boxes were identical.
