That was well done. I also still get chills from seeing the attack by the revamped D-7’s with the musical score for it. Heck, Thinking about the score right now and that scene gives me chills.
I actually had a Canon FTBn in the theater. It had 400 ASA film in it. I got some great pics. Unfortunately they are just pictures and I can’t share them here.
You could always photograph them with your phone if you don’t have a scanner!
If I can find them. I have a metric shit ton of pictures from back then.
I feel like someone needs to start a Groovy 70s Pics thread!
Yes, that freaked me the hell out as a kid. Even with the whole “The Enemy Within” business I had never really thought about teleporters as being an inherently risky proposition. After that, woo boy.
Maybe send a few tribbles through first. Not like you’ll run out.
Watched this last night.
I love this movie, warts and all. I can understand why many don’t.
But for me, this goes right back to my 9 year-old self. I was obsessed with Star Trek and would tune in nearly every weekday at 4:00 for my syndicated fix. So the notion that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest would be there on the big screen was a dream come true. I mean, Star Wars had shown us what cinematic sci-fi could be. And I loved it. But Star Trek was oh so dear to my heart.
So on opening weekend, my cousin and I (with adult chaperone in tow) ventured to the movie theater, stopping only to fuel up with a Star Trek: The Motion Picture Happy Meal from McDonalds. For 2 hours and change I was transfixed. My cousin was transfixed. The adult chaperone was bored.
As I said, I get it. This is a long, methodical movie. The only thing the Enterprise shoots at is a rock. There’s a lot of the crew just staring at the viewscreen. And despite being a film that feels like it couldn’t quite figure out what it wanted to be, I still think this is perhaps the most “Trekian” of the Trek movies.
No need to go over the details, we all know how this movies goes and I’m sure many of you are familiar with the problems that plagued the production. Instead, allow me to share my observations from this most recent viewing:
The Overture. Dear god I love this. 3 mintues of music and a starfield. I remember this moment vividly when I saw this in the theater. It was just a wonderful was to transport the audience. In my living room, I dimmed the lights as it began. My wife (who agreed to watch it with me, even through she really doesn’t like this one) had no memory of the overture and I wonder if some theaters just cut it out.
The Music. It’s a brilliant score by Jerry Goldsmith. I don’t have anything else to say about it.
The Shitty Matte Paintings. Yikes! I know they ran out of time, but what the hell?
The Length. Yeah, it’s long, but I can help but feel this was done in part to give all of us thirsting for more Star Trek a chance to drink up all the things we remember and love from TOS. So that super long Enterprise fly-by? Yes Please! That eerie voyage through the cloud? Don’t mind if I do! My wife even remarked at the end that she felt it actually moved along at a decent clip.
Kirk’s Character Growth. This is something that I guess I hadn’t picked up on before. For half the movie, Kirk is a really shitty captain. And more importantly, he knew he was going to be. When he drafts McCoy and he says, “Dammit Bones, I need you… badly,” it’s not just because he wants his old friend by his side. It’s because he knows McCoy will offer up the advice he needs. I just love the scene where Kirk is telling Scotty to get the warp engines online, and McCoy leans in to say, “Jim. You’re pushing.” In fact, any scene where Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are talking it out just puts a big smile on my face. That’s the Star Trek I know and love.
Captain, I mean, Commander Decker. I used to think that Decker was a jerk. Why can’t he see just how awesome Kirk is? But he was right. Kirk stole the ship. He’s in over his head. And he might just get everyone killed (cue the wormhole). But Decker is solid Starfleet material. He offers options, pull his weight, and any complaints he has about Kirk are warranted.
Good Movie. I think it holds up.
Oh yeah. And fuck that malfunctioning transporter scene. Scarred me for life. Rated G, my ass.
As little regard as I have for TMP, there’s no impugning the score. It’s absolutely brilliant.
That’s probably a good thing. It will prevent you from getting murdered if anyone actually comes up with transporter technology during your lifetime.
My thoughts after watching the first 50+ minutes so far.
I have to admit that back when I first saw this move around 1992, I wasn’t familiar much with these characters, and this movie is not a good introduction. This movie pretty much assumes from the word go that you’re already familiar with the cast.
And now that I’ve re-watched the series from the beginning, and I’m familiar as I can possibly be with the crew and with the Original Series and the Animated Series, I have to admit, I really enjoyed this movie this time around.
The special effects do look a little cheesy. I just have to kind of ignore the imperfections and just view with my mind’s eye what they were going for, and I didn’t have too much trouble doing that.
First of all though, yikes, what’s with these new Star Fleet uniforms? It’s funny that I went back to see the original Series in the 2010s, and this is the first time, with the Motion Picture, that I finally think the uniforms look a little silly. Like the ones worn by the Federation outpost that’s in the way of the anomaly? It’s like a silky comfortable robe that everyone’s wearing, and it’s all some kind of shade of white and off-white.
I didn’t remember the transporter scene at all. You guys are right, that is absolutely chilling. It really impresses upon the viewer right away that this Enterprise re-fit might make it look more impressive than the one views saw 10 years ago, but everything that the crew just took for granted back then is broken when Kirk comes on board to basically steal the Enterprise to take it to the anomaly. The transporter, and then the warp engine. They kill their own crew with the transporter and they almost destroy the ship just trying to get to Warp 1.
It’s interesting that at the length of a regular episode of Star Trek, about 50+ minutes into the movie, we’ve seen the enemy, we’ve seen Spock on Vulcan, we’ve seen Kirk take command of a damaged Enterprise, and we’ve seen fight with his own crew, and he gets a talking-to from Bones. We don’t even have Spock on board yet, the Enterprise is falling apart, and I have to admit, this is completely riveting. It’s at once like the original Series, but at once it feels so much more desperate because Kirk can’t even rely on his ship, or even possibly his own judgment. And they’re headed in this condition to face a seemingly unbeatable threat.
A great setup. It’s definitely a slower pace than what we see in the Original Series episodes, but I really like it. It feels appropriate somehow. Even the introduction of the Enterprise feels more appropriate to me now because they’re showing us the retro-fitted ship, and we’ve already established that it’s not ready to fly yet, so there’s no hurry in getting it going. Slowly taking the ship out of stardock was a nice touch, that again, you don’t have time for in the TV series, but feels appropriate here. It also adds to the feeling of this being a motion picture that’s different from Star Trek the TV series, both in terms of budget, and having the time to actually show us things because of the additional length of time that a movie affords.
Part 2
A few random things that stick out in my head about this movie. There’s a scramble scene where everyone is getting ready and into position on the Enterprise. And a giant door is closing, and a guy gets into the door right as it’s closing. Wait a minute! That’s not how Door AI works on the Enterprise! That’s how you know this new retro-fit is really incomplete! They don’t even have Door AI fully functional yet!
Illia comes on board and Kirk asks her a question, I think if she knows Captain/Commander Decker. She answers that her full celebacy is on Star Fleet records? What?
Blink and you’ll miss her: One of my favorite characters from the first season of Star Trek. The transporter chief on the new Enterprise is Janice Rand! Holy shit. So in 10 years, she went from Yeoman to transporter chief, maybe? Good for her. But now she was at the helm when this horrific transporter accident happened. Will Rand be scarred for life?
In the Super Long version I saw back in the early 90s, the travelling through the cloud and throw inner V’Ger scenes were super duper long. I have to admit the cut down scenes for this theatrical cut were much, much better. And Jerry Goldsmith’s score really carries these scenes. Honestly, even this many years later, I was mostly just trying to figure out what I was seeing. At least in the scenes where Spock goes throw the inner aperture, he’s narrating what he’s seeing for us, so we can make more sense of it. In the outer layer, it’s just us and the music, and reaction shots of the crew gazing at the viewscreen.
I’ve only been able to watch the first half so far myself, but I’ll chime in with thoughts to at least the point where Spock comes aboard.
This movie will always have a place in my heart, as I’m very nearly certain it was my first real experience with Trek and Kirk and the gang. I am pretty sure I knew about them, probably had even seen some of the Trek episodes since they would have been in syndication when I was a kid. But I don’t think I really paid much attention until I saw The Motion Picture. It still grabs me, too. I can kind of imagine how the old school trekkies must have felt, seeing the redesigned Enterprise, the redesigned Klingons, the return of so many old friends. It is kind of cool seeing these guys, obviously older and a bit more established.
One thing that I never picked up on until much later in life is that, as @GregB notes, Kirk is an asshole. He is guilty of all the things he’s accused of by Decker and McCoy, he totally strong-armed his way back into command of the Enterprise by taking advantage of a crisis situation. I like that when he arrives at Starfleet, he tells his new science officer that his meeting with the admiral will take three minutes, at the end of which he expects to be in command of the Enterprise. He knows what he wants and he doesn’t care who he steamrolls to get it. I respect that, like the original series, Kirk is shown to be a flawed character. Very good at what he does - and he probably does believe he’s better qualified than Decker to get this mission done - and ambitious as all hell.
But for all that, Kirk is self aware enough to realize his flaws and listen to the advice of others. He knows he needs Bones (I like that he extends his arm to McCoy and, when he isn’t quick enough taking it, thrusts his hand out a second time) because he can’t do it alone. He bristles that Decker knows his ship better than he does, but he accepts his advice and even belaying an inappropriate order. He’s always fun to watch.
And holy crap, that transporter malfunction is still hard to watch though I’m a bit surprised in retrospect how quickly it’s all over and how little is actually seen. Still though, it makes an impression - those people died horribly. Died screaming. I know lots of folks get squicked out by the ear worms in Wrath of Khan, but this scene was much more impressionable to me. Still is.
I liked what I saw of it so far (made it up through the end of the “wormhole” scene). It has been a long time. It may not be a good movie, but it has an incredibly endearing timbre. The soundtrack is great. Story by Alan Dean Foster is worth the splash.
My brain must have suppressed the transporter scene in childhood because I forgot that was from this film.
Things I do remember: “V-ger”, Spock excusing former captain science guy from his seat, and former captain science guy becoming the Star Man, because that’s what he wants.
Oh yeah, and “what does God want with a spaceship”?
Thoroughly enjoyed it so far.
I think this is a reference to Kirk being a bit of a womanizer. Illia comes on board, and Kirk’s all like, hey baby, welcome to the Bridge of my starship. And she’s just shuts that shit down.
Another power move I loved was Kirk tells Captain Decker that he’s no longer in Command of the Enterprise, and that he’s now Commander, and then he leaves the bridge and tells Sulu he has command. Hahah! Take that Decker. I don’t even trust you to run the bridge in drydock while I’m not here.
Chekov: Poor Chekov was the only one not on the Enterprise during the Animated Series years. And now that he’s back on the Enterprise, he’s been assigned a really weird station on the bridge off to the side, off on its own. I don’t remember seeing any station like it on any of the bridges on any Star Trek show. And we find out later in the movie that this station is really dangerous! Maybe it’s more directly connected to some power conduits so when things overload, Chekov gets hit. It’s clearly the most isolated and most dangerous station on the bridge. Maybe that’s why Starfleet got rid of this station in future designs. I’m curious to see if this station is still there in the rest of the Star Trek motion pictures.
That dude sure took his lumps in the movies.
It’s so funny: I decided to show my kids this on a whim this weekend, then just happened to see this thread on the main page because I haven’t been in the Movies forum in years. Kismet.
My history with ST:TMP has been a bit of a roller coaster. When I was a kid and saw it in the theater, I was very disappointed. For years after, I got lots of laffs with my nerd friends with my impression of the movie as “[special effects, special effects] [crew member with really intense stare] [special effects, special effects] [different crew member in different position with really intense stare]” and so on. Watching the director’s cut this weekend, I have to admit, my impression was pretty spot on.
Granted, that’s only the entering V’Ger section, and it’s even longer in the director’s cut than the theatrical version I original saw. But the pacing was just murder when I was young. My ten year olds would agree. They’ve watched some of TOS and know the characters and actors fairly well, so that kept them somewhat interested. But this would be the worst introduction for someone new to the franchise.
Which, I realized in my later viewings, was the point. TMP made the bold(ly) choice to have the characters grow and change in somewhat drastic ways, taking them to their logical conclusions. Of course a hugely successful captain would become an admiral in a desk job. Of course the alien who always struggled with his emotions would seek to purge them entirely. Of course the cranky old country doctor would…become a hairy hippie who would wander on and off the bridge for no real reason?
Here begins the meditations on age and purpose that would continue into the sequel. No wonder it wasn’t clicking with me as a pre-pubescent. It was made for those who had loved the original series and had grown up themselves. Wise knew these folks might be up for his slow burn style as they reorient themselves to the new Star Trek universe. He knew that the (to me) interminable dry dock fly by would be eaten up by fans who hadn’t seen the Enterprise for a decade.
Unsurprisingly, when I first revisited the film in my thirties, I found it much more enjoyable than I remembered. But watching it with my kids this weekend put both perspectives side by side, and I found I was a little less forgiving when seeing it through their eyes, even as I could still appreciate most of the adult touches of the film.
So I have to agree with what appears to be the consensus of fans, judging by some of the reviews I sought out: Flawed but worthwhile.
MISC
- My kids upon seeing the Klingon ships at the opening: “Oooooh, stop motion!”
- “My oath of celibacy…” Yeah. The '70s.
- The transporter scene: A rite of passage in which I was scarred, and now I scar my kids. That sound design. [shiver]
- The dry dock scene: Okay, even I get chills when the main theme kicks in when the front of the ship is revealed. Jerry Goldsmith’s work was amazing in this film. Highly recommend the special feature discussing the score if it’s available to you.
A bit of both, actually. Like I said, they had enough familiarity with TOS to be interested in seeing the original actors reprise their roles. But they’re not what I would call huge Star Trek fans (I’m working on it), so that only kept them going for so long. They thought the model work was…quaint (see “stop motion” comment above). And the lengthier visual montages (the star field overture, the Klingon attack at the beginning, the dry dock fly by, entering V’Ger’s cloud and the 500 meter tour) were full of distracted chit chat ("Is this a movie about stars? What’s wrong with Spock? Why are all those spacesuits floating around the Enterprise? So what happened to the people in the transporter? What were they saying in the wormhole? Man, Kirk is a huge jerk in this movie!). But all the chit chat was about the film, so I call that a victory.
I knew the pacing was going to make it a tough one for them to sit through, but they stuck with it pretty well, even though the ending had next to no resonance with them (“What? Is that name supposed to mean something?”). I think they’re really going to like Khan.