# Was Star Trek - The Motion Picture a bad movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-star-trek-the-motion-picture-a-bad-movie/347911 "2006-03-11T05:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-star-trek-the-motion-picture-a-bad-movie/347911/61 "2006-03-14T19:45:40Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > In the scene in the nebula, Spock notices that Khan is employing two dimensional strategy. Kirk takes advantage of this mistake and rips Khan a new one. What I find particularly sigfnificant about this scene is that intelligence alone proved insufficient, and this wasn’t compensated for by “heart” or emotion or anything crappy. Kirk was the more experienced commander (Khan shouldn’t have even been able to navigate the _Reliant_ in the first place, but no matter) and this won the day. Compare that to interminable episodes involving Wesley Crusher, who can casually save the day when older, more experienced personnel are helpless, or even the first film when a human’s ability to “leap beyond logic” saves the day. Blech. You win battles by killing the other guy, not just outsmarting him or empathizing with him. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-star-trek-the-motion-picture-a-bad-movie/347911/62 "2006-03-14T21:49:45Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > (Khan shouldn’t have even been able to navigate the _Reliant_ in the first place, but no matter) I agree with your entire post except for this. But let me explain why… In _Space Seed_, Khan had access to the computer files and used these to learn about the ship’s (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C, or D) systems. He put this book knowledge to practical use in actually taking over the ship. In TWOK, he had Chekov and Paul Winfield available to him to fill in any gaps from the last 20 or so years and no doubt he` set to reading the ship’s manuels again. No, not on screen, I’ll grant that. But the canon precedent from the TOS ep works by implication here. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-star-trek-the-motion-picture-a-bad-movie/347911/63 "2006-03-14T23:18:11Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I agree with your entire post except for this. But let me explain why… > > In _Space Seed_, Khan had access to the computer files and used these to learn about the ship’s (NCC-1701, no bloody A, B, C, or D) systems. He put this book knowledge to practical use in actually taking over the ship. But as you’ll recall, he didn’t actually take the _Enterprise_ anywhere. He tried various means of encouraging the crew (including killing Kirk) to join in with his gang because he needed their specialized training. And one assumes the _Reliant_ is a far more advanced ship. The novelization of TWOK, I’ll admit, makes the matter clearer, with “the engine company” remaining aboard the _Reliant_, subjugated by Ceti eels. Most of the 300 crew was marooned on Ceti Alpha V, only ten were killed. In general, the improbable ease with which unfamiliar technology is mastered is a common theme. Notable cases included the Kazon landing a hijacked _Voyager_ flawlessly, something its own crew had done only once. It’s not something I’d fret about in an otherwise amazing film, but I remain glad that intelligence alone got clobbered by intelligence plus experience. Incidentally, this is just reminding me of how I wished the “augment” episodes of _Enterprise_ had ended… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-star-trek-the-motion-picture-a-bad-movie/347911.md?page=3)