Star Trek Movie Rankings and Other Thoughts

Since I am way too busy this weekend to actually see the Star Trek movie reboot, I decided I’d still do up an article summarizing some of my thoughts on the Star Trek movie franchise as a bonus Trek Tuesday post. I also thought it would be a good time to re-rank the movies and compare my ranking now to my pre-Countdown ranking. I had completely forgotten about the movie ranking that I put together way back when the Countdown to Trek was just beginning. It wasn’t until I was recently sorting out the mess on my desk that I came across the envelope and remembered making the list and sealing it all up.

Rankings

So, here is how they all stack up . . .

#10 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Pre-Countdown rank: 8th fell 2 spots

I ended up liking this movie more than I thought I would, but I also ended up liking a couple of other movies more than I thought I would, and this one, just doesn’t fit with the excitement of the other Star Trek movies. I almost think that the plot is such that it could be any Sci-Fi movie, instead of feeling like a Star Trek movie.

#9 – Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Pre-Countdown rank: 9th no change

This movie was pretty much how I remembered it. It felt like an extended epilogue for Star Trek II and is one of the movies that I don’t feel like I’d ever watch all on its own.

#8 – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Pre-Countdown rank: 10th rose 2 spots

This was definitely one of the big surprise moves amongst my ranks. I think my pre-countdown ranking was based more on the opinions of others than on the movie itself. I thought the movie got back to Star Trek’s exploration roots and also had some interesting choices with the direction. Then there was just the right amount of cheesiness that reminded me of some of the original series episodes.

#7 – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Pre-Countdown rank: 7th no change

I think everyone should watch this movie at least a few times during their lives just to appreciate Kirk’s classic “KHAAAAAAAN!!!” moment, not to mention to appreciate the wonderful acting of Ricardo Montalban.

#6 – Star Trek IX: Insurrection

Pre-Countdown rank: 3rd fell 3 spots

Another rather surprising outcome. I think it’s probably I enjoyed so many of the movies that came before this one, and watching them in order was reminded of that. It felt a lot like a Star Trek episode, except I felt that they moved away from the grand feel of the Star Trek universe a bit too much for me.

#5 – Star Trek VII: Generations

Pre-Countdown rank: 5th no change

I think the movie was pretty good but could have been more about The Next Generation crew instead of the Original Series crew. A few cringe moments as they enjoyed the freedoms of a movie vs.. a tv episode, but they were stretching their wings a bit with this one.

#4 – Star Trek X: Nemesis

Pre-Countdown rank: 2nd fell 2 spots

Don’t get me wrong, I still like this movie. I was just reminded of how much more I like some of the other movies. This movie was darker too. While I do like it when they give the Star Trek universe depth, I think Shannon was ultimately right when she said that this one didn’t have the same hopeful Star Trek feel.

#3 – Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Pre-Countdown rank: 4th rose 1 spot

Part of the ranking for this one is pure nostalgia. Watched it a lot when I was younger. There are so many moments that still make me laugh, it gets a lot of points for re-watchability. Plus, I also find it a ‘feel good’ kind of movie.

#2 – Star Trek XIII: First Contact

Pre-Countdown rank: 1st fell 1 spot

This is my favourite movie with The Next Generation crew. It does so many things right and I felt like all the plot lines really meshed together well. It has enough plot material from the series that the hard core Star Trek fan can really appreciate the issues that they deal with, but is also its own complete story so that a newcomer could also jump in without feeling as though they are missing out.

#1 – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Pre-Countdown rank: 6th rose 5 spots

Biggest mover on the list was this one. I think it has the best supporting cast of all the films and definitely has a grand feel to it. Despite the relative smoothness of their heads, the Klingons are given a great deal of the depth in how they are portrayed in this movie.

Other Thoughts

One of the things that I kept noticing as I watched the movies was how they were continually changing to reflect the movie era that they were being filmed in. The movie franchise starts out at a time when Sci Fi movies were much more philosophical than action packed which sharply contrasts with the way the more recent Star Trek movies have to pack in the explosions and fight scenes in order to keep up with their competition.

In terms of the crew, their is a huge difference between The Original Series and The Next Generation. In movies that feature The Original Series, the crew really doesn’t show much progress in terms of their skills and development. We see that they are getting promoted and are definitely wiser in comparison to the tv show, but they all fall back to the same traditional roles that they had in the tv show*1. In the movies that feature The Next Generation crew, by the end of their run of movies, I felt as though most of crew members were ready to move on to roles that were more challenging. They were really ready to all be more independent from one another. The movies even catered to that since the course of action in The Next Generation movies often required the crew members to be demonstrating their skills instead of being interdependent on one another. The only crew member who really gets that kind of attention in the first six movies is Kirk, but that’s the way it’s always traditionally been.

If there were one thing I would change about the movies . . . without a doubt . . . I would stop the Enterprise from getting beat up all the time! I know it was kind of necessary for the plots, and I know they needed new ship designs (and I wouldn’t want them to take those parts out), but I felt almost as though they were beating up one of the crew members every time the ship got beat up.

*1 The only exception to that might be Sulu’s character, who seems to be comfortable stepping up and being a fellow Captain to Kirk in Star Trek VI.

WordPress Tags: Trek, Movie, Countdown

Star Trek: Nemesis

I think that this movie is the darkest of all the Star Trek movies that we've seen to date. It deals with ruthless and grim circumstances even more so than Insurrection did. Also, in Insurrection's favour, it offered a counterbalance to the darkness of the film. Nemesis has very little light to offset the grim circumstances.

I liked that this film was more overtly symbolic than some of the previous ones were. We see lots of examples of mirror images throughout the movie. Though the mirror image is always distorted in some way. We can see it on a very grand scale of entire species and civilizations, looking at the Romulans and the Remans, right down to the individual comparison of Picard and Shinzon as well as Data and B-4. Mirror images is something that Star Trek has always liked to play with in all the alternate reality episodes that they did. Though that wasn't used so much in the Next Generation, it was in the Original Series and in Deep Space Nine too.

As usual, some of the best commentary about the nature of humanity surrounds Data. Though in this film he somehow seems to finally understand some of the nature of humanity even more than Picard does. I felt the discussion between these two actors about these issues could have been explored more fully than it was.

I love the fact that this movie gets back to the Romulan culture. Throughout Star Trek the Romulans have been shrouded in mystery. The Next Generation began some cultural exploration during the series and it felt good to get back to some of their idiosyncracies, politics, and history. I also thought that Dina Meyer did a fantastic job playing the Romulan Commander (though her skill commanding a war bird left something to be desired.) I love how all the portrayals of Romulan women show that they are highly intelligent, brave, and just as capable as their male counterparts in leadership roles.

There were a few discrepancies in the film that made me cringe a bit. Like, why aren't all tactical officers Betazoids? I thought that Picard had hair in his youth when they mentioned it during the series. And, why didn't they make any effort whatsoever to blend in when they went down to the planet on their new dune buggy? But the casual fan probably wouldn't notice most of these little details.

They did stick to what seems to have become the formula for The Next Generation movies:

• Shinzon is a pretty damn good villain. He even gets more scary-looking as the move progresses. Also, he's a villain with the potential to unnerve Picard. Though, I gotta say, when they are on screen together, Patrick Stewart's acting presence is much stronger than Tom Hardy's.
• The Earth is facing a very grave threat. It's the heart of the Federation and home to most of the crew (not to mention the audience) so it makes the crisis very personal.
• The Enterprise gets seriously beat up, if not destroyed.

Now, on to the Cool Science/Tech! (The tech-geek side of me really loved the movie for all the nifty new shiny stuff!)

• A modern dune buggy - The Argo! I know a lot of people found it rather gimicky, but after seeing Firefly I think it actually does make sense that they have a vehicle capable of land travel on board a space ship.
• We finally get to see another Android that is similar to, but not quite the same as Data.
• The Reman warship - highly armed and capable of cloaking. Very cool ship design (though we'll ignore how it was built in secret by what was essentially a race of slaves) that reflects the war that they had just been through.
• Successful cloning.
• Holographic communication device. I believe it first arrives in Deep Space Nine, but it still deserves a mention here.

Fun Stuff:

• A cameo appearance by Kate Mulgrew as Admiral Janeway. She's a Star Trek Captain who actually seems to have been happy to accept a promotion. Now she outranks Picard, which is also kind of cool.
• Geordie's implants are back. Too bad that the effects of the last movie weren't lasting!

Next week I'm going to do a post reflecting back on the Star Trek movies that I've watched and give some general observations about the differences between original Trek and The Next Generation. I'm also going to rank the movies in order of how much I like them, and see how that compares to the original ranking I did way back at the beginning of the Countdown to Trek. I won't be seeing the new movie next weekend when it comes out because my schedule is just too full. However, I should be seeing it the week after that, and I'll try to put together one final Trek Tuesday post about that too (I'll really try to keep it spoiler free!)

Star Trek: Insurrection

This was the first Trek movie where my first impression of it was fonder than upon revisiting it. I'm not sure why, but I just didn't click with this movie like I thought I would. The really confusing part, is that I can only come up with reasons why I should like it more than I do. Not that it's bad, but it just isn't as great as I initially thought it would be. When I think about what the movie was about and everything it had in it, I really should have loved it.

What I think was detracting me:

First difference that I noticed with this movie is that they don't start out in the Star Trek universe. They start out on the alien planet. They even have serene and pastoral music at this point to match the pastoral setting. I guess it's done to help establish some pathos (or ethos? it's some kind of *thos) for the people and their plight and to juxtapose with the action sequence that they jump into. But I think this is the only Trek movie that didn't have a grand Trek intro.

The movie is full of a nostalgic feeling. We get lots of glimpses into Picard's, Riker's, and Troi's past. Not just with the crew, but with the entire situation that they face, it feels a bit like we're looking behind us at the past instead of traveling forward to something new and exciting.

They did look a bit at the differet cultural values of the other races but I would have liked a more in depth look at how their society runs. The Baku (sp?) seem to be a very highly evolved, peaceful, spiritual people but we don't get much of a sense of their political organization and how decisions are made.

There were a number of bits that felt contrived or hokey: Worf reuniting with the crew for this mission, the kid and his animated pet, it seemed to take too long to wrap things up at the end, and some of the dialogue was just too cheesey for me.

Things that make me want to love it:

I thought they did a very good job portraying a realistic post-war role for the Enterprise and her crew. They waste no time reminding us of where we are in the Trek universe and all the upheaval that has been going on through the galaxy. The crew seems to be in a bit of a state of shock after all the high adventure to return to diplomacy, talks, paperwork, etc.

The theme of the movie deals with a lot of ethics and the spirit of the Prime Directive. Thematically, I should have loved the movie, but it wasn't quite enough for me to get past the other points. They are dealing with forced relocation and trying to define the balance between the needs of the many and the needs of the few.

There's also a bit of a political message going on that is applicable to any day and age as they explore the consequences of making an alliance with a political entity that has quite different values than they do. In a sense they are making a deal with a devil 'for the greater good' but gambling on whether they will be able to control the devil further down the road.

The entire way that the villains were handled here was also great. The decisions about how they look lends a certain poetry to it all. Their exterior physical state really mirrored their inner moral decay.

Cool Science/Tech:

• genetic manipulations to preserve youth
• metaphasic energy
• they actually used the ramscoop!
  

Fun Stuff:

• Picard kind of gets a girlfriend but Beverly doesn't really seem to care. Perhaps the invigorating experience has her considering aiming her sights at someone younger than the Captain?
• Geordie's eyes heal! And I can't remember if it's permanent or not. Guess I'll find out next week when I watch the next movie.
• They had a good villain with a clear goal, motivation, and conflict (appealed to the writer in me) and he has a really awesome scream when he realizes his plans get foiled!
• Riker really gets a chance to display that he is very ready for the Captain's chair now.
• It's kind of nice to know that futuristic military organizations still let people bank their vacation/shore-leave days.
  
• The crew literally gets re-invigorated for one last movie after this one *sniff, sniff*

Star Trek: First Contact

Another Trek Tuesday post.  I’m a bit late, but I’ve been wrapping up the final assignment for a course I’ve been taking.  I’m very happy to have finished the course.  Now, on to Trek!

I think the movie did a great job juggling all the different things that were going on in the episode.  You had the race against time going on with the planet and the ship, Picard working out his inner demons, and then the conflict between Data and the Borg queen.  I don’t think there was any one part that got too much or too little screen time, they were all pretty evenly balanced and satisfying.

I got to thinking of the even-numbered-Trek-movie continuum of awesomeness* as I was watching this one, since it is technically Star Trek VIII, and started drawing some parallels between this one and the other even numbered films that come before it.  Here’s what I came up with.  As in Star Trek II, you have the return of a formidable villain.  The new twist is the villain is an entire race that is now given a figurehead.  As in Star Trek IV, we had to deal with time travel in order to save humanity from an alien species wiping out Earth.  They still worry about polluting the time line and have all the hilarity that ensues when the crew from the future have to interact and get by in the past (Deanna’s introduction to tequila).  However, in this one, they don’t actually make any changes to history and they just restore what has already happened.  And, as in Star Trek VI, the movie commemorates the beginning of a new relationship between humanity and an alien culture and the end of war and conflict.  But, in this movie, it’s humanity that has brought itself to its knees and is just ready to begin rebuilding a bright new future for itself.

The other major reflection that I had was how incredibly Westernized the Star Trek philosophy is.  The Star Trek universe is sort of based on the continued betterment of the individual.  The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.  So it stands to reason that the great menace is the Borg, who espouse the extreme opposite of that philosophy and embrace the complete erasure of the individuality in favour of the collective.  However, I wonder if other cultures that emphasize the group over the individual would characterize the two philosophies as ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ the same way as Star Trek did?

The movie had some very solid supporting cast that fit very nicely within the established chemistry of the Next Generation crew.  I liked the smooth reintroduction of Commander Worf, as he was technically reassigned to Deep Space Nine at this point in the Star Trek timeline.

The spacesuit scene I thought was a bit gimmicky and overdone.  Though I suppose it kind of replaces the gratuitous ship scenes that many of the earlier movies had.  Another interesting tidbit, I think this might have been the first time that the starship Enterprise makes use of escape pods.  Before I guess they would just have the option of separating the saucer section if they were going to self-destruct.

Ok, enough ramblings . . .

Cool Tech:

• Geordie’s new eyes!  I could have done with fewer of the close-ups, since they had the cool factor right from the very beginning.  But, I guess they had to play it up.
• The entire ship!  Another new Enterprise.  Much more warlike to match the galactic tension between the Federation and the Gamma Quadrant.
• Emergency Medical Holographic program

Fun Stuff:

• Another really great intro theme.  I thought the opening credits were really well done too!
• The EMH program is a guest star from Star Trek: Voyager, of course.  His few lines were characteristic of his dry wit.
• Another Voyager guest star – unnamed host at the holodeck restaurant was played by Neelix!

For more Trek Tuesday awesomeness, go visit Shannon the Movie Moxie.

*Yeah, I like making up words and phrases like that.

Star Trek VII: Generations

This is the seventh in a series of Trek Tuesday posts counting down to the next Star Trek movie set to be released this May. Be sure to check out Shannon, the Movie Moxie, for her posts (she started the countdown) and feel free to jump in and play along or leave some comments.

This was the first Star Trek movie that I ever saw in theatres. It’s the first Star Trek movie with the cast and crew of The Next Generation and I really enjoyed re-watching it.

I think the movie does an excellent job of passing the torch to the new generation of Star Trek actors, while still following the premise set up by the previous Star Trek movies. The sentimentality surrounding the ship itself is there. The movie is framed with an Enterprise being launched and an Enterprise being destroyed. There is a nice mix of humour and the camaraderie and sense of family among the crew is definitely there as well.

This particular movie appropriately focuses on time. Not only are they dealing with a temporal anomaly, but Picard is having to deal with the passage of time and its affects on his family line.* A familiar theme for Kirk in all of the movies is dealing with the march of time leading to his own obsolescence. When each of them is given the chance to create their own perfect world, regardless of time, each of them chooses reality over the fiction.

The villain is pretty decent as far as Star Trek villains go. Though, you don’t really get a sense that he is battling the Star Trek crew, so I found that the conflict was a bit indirect. Dr. Soran uses the metaphor of time as a predator, stalking you until it’s too late. He makes a good foil for Picard’s character, who characterizes time as a companion, reminding you to cherish each moment.

I also took from it that you need to let go of the past, or you will simply get stuck in it. It’s an appropriate theme for a movie that is saying goodbye to so many things, and transitioning to the new. I thought the sub-plot with Commander Data highlighted the fact that true growth often comes with some element of risk. Progress may come at the price of never being able to return to the past.

Cool Science/Tech:

• Trilithium is mentioned and briefly explained.

Fun Facts:

• Tim Russ is one of the crew on Enterprise B. He later plays Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager.
• We get to see Picard and Kirk show off their equestrian skills.

Side Notes:

• I love the theme song that goes with this movie. It ranks right up with Deep Space Nine’s second theme song, for the best Star Trek theme music. I played a segment of it in a Star Trek medley back in high school band. Boy that flute part was a bitch!
• The end of the movie got me feeling kind of sad and mushy and now I’m really looking forward to re-watching the next movie.
• When I was in New York, I went to Pylones, which is a store that carries a very brightly coloured and funky array of merchandise. I managed to buy the most banal coloured object in the entire store: a silver book-light. I used it for the first time tonight watching the movie and I LOVE it! I'm hoping it'll make it easier to watch Star Trek movies and episodes and take notes at the same time. You see, our main tv set up is a projector. It projects the images directly on our wall and functions best in the dark, making note-taking a bit difficult. The book-light solves that little issue wonderfully!
  

*I find it a bit ironic that Picard gets this way since the beginning of The Next Generation clearly establishes that he isn’t comfortable with children. Guess it just goes to show how much his character really progressed over the years.**

**In case you’re wondering, these are end notes, which are distinctly different than the above side notes.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

This is the fifth in a series of Trek Tuesday posts counting down to the next Star Trek movie set to be released this May.  Be sure to check out Shannon, the Movie Moxie, for her posts (she started the countdown) and feel free to jump in and play along or leave some comments.

Like my last Trek Tuesday post, this one is also a bit late in coming.  Not for any particularly good reason, though I did just spend an hour reading some more of The Watchmen, getting ready for its release this weekend.

I’m so surprised that I couldn’t remember the main plot of this movie.  I was fairly certain I had seen it at some point in the past, but when I tried to recall it, the only scene that I could conjure into my imagination was Kirk mountain climbing, which is hardly pivotal to the plot.  However, as I began watching, the memories of the plot started flooding back to me.

I have to say, I enjoyed this movie much more than I expected to.  I think it’s one of the Star Trek movies that often gets overlooked.  Part of the familiarity that I felt from watching it may have been from the fact that it was filmed at the same time as Star Trek: The Next Generation.  The plot was more action-oriented and had a more 1980’s vibe to it all. 

The movie does its best to remind us of the sea-faring exploration roots that are at the heart of the Star Trek universe.  We are also reminded that exploration is all about pushing past boundaries to try to find out what is beyond everything that we already know.  It’s stretched beyond physical exploration to the exploration of our minds, psychological boundaries of pain and fear.  Using our minds to create psychological peace and also to create the reality around us.

Cool Science/Tech:

• Rocket boots

Fun Facts:

• Cameo by producer Harve Bennet
• I think that the character of J’onn looked A LOT like the movie portrayal of Voldemort.  But, that’s just my opinion.
• The atmosphere of Nimbus III reminded me of the feel that Joss Whedon created in Serenity/Firefly.

Ok, so 2 of the 3 fun facts are really just my own opinion/thoughts, but they fit better here than in the discussion of the larger film.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

This is the fourth in a series of Trek Tuesday posts counting down to the next Star Trek movie set to be released this May.  Be sure to check out Shannon, the Movie Moxie, for her posts (she started the countdown) and feel free to jump in and play along or leave some comments.

This post sure is late, but it’s still Tuesday, so it counts.  Let me start by saying that this was one of my favourite trek movies so I was really looking forward to re-watching it.  The plot of the movie really just feels like an extended episode.  No big ship battles or action sequences, just a problem that only the crew of the Enterprise can solve!  Its a good thing this problem cropped up, because the crew sure needed to do something to redeem them after all the stuff from the second and third movies!

The episode also picks up on one of the things that Star Trek does best – commenting on the human condition and social problems.  In this case it is pointed out by a recovering Spock that it is illogical to hunt a species to its extinction. 

Some of the best scenes in this episode are from the crew experiencing Earth of the past and trying to figure out how to do things correctly.  Things like figuring out directions to get to the nuclear vessels or navigating a public transit system are a welcome bit of comic relief in what would otherwise be a fairly dire situation.

Cool Science/Tech:

• Clear aluminum
• Time warp

Fun Stuff:

• Thanks to watching the text commentary, I discovered that Eddie Murphy had originally been considered for the part of the marine biologist!  I think it worked out rather well for everyone that he did Golden Child instead and they cast Catherine Hicks.
• We’re starting to see some pretty good cameo appearances too.  (Guest stars and former cast members of TOS, a singer from the Go-Go’s, and a world class tennis player).

P.S. I have watched a bunch more episodes of The Next Generation, but have been too busy lately to blog them.  I’ve got high hopes that the upcoming weekend will afford me some ‘catch up’ time.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

This is the third in a series of Star Trek Movie Marathon review posts.  I’m playing along with Shannon the Movie Moxie and we’re counting down to the release of the newest Star Trek film, due out in May 2009.  Here’s a link to the Countdown post in case any of you want to play along too.  I’m paying particular attention to doing my reflection spoiler free, like Shannon does.  Like my TV episode reviews, I’m going to focus on what I find fun and inspiring about Star Trek.

This film followed very close on the heels of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and I think they did a very good job continuing the story and keeping a good pace throughout this film. 

The film continues on with the themes of loyalty and the sense of family among the crew of the Enterprise.  The counterbalance to Spock’s philosophy is pursued as the crew puts it all on the line to save Spock – the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.

The film also explored more of the Vulcan mysticism, culture, and language.  And, on the opposite end of the cultural spectrum, the Klingons also get a chance to demonstrate some of their unique cultural beliefs and traditions.

In case the condemnation of pursuing science for its own sake wasn’t clear enough, this movie reinforces that and tacks on a reprimand against scientists using unstable substances in the pursuit of science.

This film has some very cool special effects.  But, since the film comes right after the previous movie, there is little chance for there to be many new technological developments.  This doesn’t stop Star Trek though, they just use some technology from a different race.

Cool Science:

• Klingon cloaking device
• Klingon Bird of Prey vessel

Fun Stuff:

• This was Leonard Nimoy’s directorial debut.

Next Trek movie review: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home on February 17th.  It’s one of my all-time favourites!

Trek Tuesday – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

In case you can’t get enough of Star Trek, I think that Shannon did an excellent job reviewing Star Trek II.  Go check out her post here.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

This is the second in a series of Star Trek Movie Marathon review posts. I’m playing along with Shannon the Movie Moxie and we’re counting down the release of the newest Star Trek film, due out in May 2009. Here’s the link to the Countdown post in case any of you want to play along too. I’m paying particular attention to doing my reflections spoiler free, like Shannon does. Like my TV episode reviews, I’m going to focus on what I find fun and inspiring about Star Trek.

It’s easy to see why this movie is one of the highlights of the Star Trek movie franchise.  The film has one of the best villain roles of all times!  The episode that featured Khan was one of the classic Star Trek episodes and the movie brings us right back to that moment.  I think the role of Khan is very well acted and his character is really willing to do anything to achieve his goal, which is what makes him such a great villain.  His egomania is a good foil to the philosophy that Spock gives voice to: the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

The crew of the Enterprise really captures the old charisma and luckily the second movie has more action and less gratuitous shots of the Enterprise.  Even though this one had less action than some of the newer installments, they really manage to make it more interesting with a cat and mouse suspense element to it, proving that you don’t need warp speed to have people on the edge of their seats.

There was also a bit of philosophical exploration to do with the science element going on in the show.  Dr. McCoy points out that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.  And there’s the reminder that science only does good if it is in the hands of those who would use it that way.

Cool Science:

• Rapid terraforming of planets.
• Retina Scans for security.

A bit of fun stuff:

• This was the film that introduced Kirstie Alley as a motion picture actress.
• New uniforms!  I’m so glad they didn’t keep the uniforms from The Motion Picture!
• Klingon Proverb: Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Need to catch up?  Here’s a link to my post on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

This is the first in a series of Star Trek Movie Marathon review posts. I’m playing along with Shannon the Movie Moxie. Here’s the link to the Countdown post in case any of you want to play along too. I’m paying particular attention to doing my reflections spoiler free, like Shannon does. Like my TV episode reviews, I’m going to focus on what I find fun and inspiring about Star Trek.

My Adventure Finding the Movie

First of all, a huge shoutout to L, my wonderful and supportive husband, who took me out looking for the movie on several occasions. The first stop at the used video store resulted in no success. Then we went to go to our usual rental place, which has closed! We found their second location and drove over there the next day, only to find that they only had the newer Trek films. Then a stop at Best Buy resulted in successfully locating it. But, they didn’t have the fifth movie, which is the only other one missing from our collection. But, I’ve got until March to track it down (and will possibly order it from Amazon). Don’t worry about L, he’s a Trek fan too. And, I bought him Chinese food and popcorn as a thank you treat.

My Reflection the Movie (Spoiler Free)

One of the things that I think has helped Trek span the ages is that it always reflects the society that helped create it. If you’re a fan of 70’s era films, particularly sci-fi, this one will probably not disappoint as it has a lot of those elements in it.

Partly because of the era and partly because it was a return to Star Trek after quite a break, there are a lot of scenes showing off the new shiny ship. In terms of ship technology, the movies do appear to really bridge the gap between the original Trek and the Next Generation.

The movie is different from the later movies, in that, it’s quite light on the action side. Definitely more philosophical than action packed. Not to say that they didn’t have their fair share of 70’s grade special effects, because they definitely threw those in.

It goes into the basic questions of existence. What is it all really about? Why am I here?

I enjoyed the bit of Vulcan mysticism they showed, but I’m a sucker for cultural explorations and sociology. I would have enjoyed even further exploration into this kind of thing.

I’m not a huge fan of movies from the 1970’s (much to the disappointment of my husband, the 70’s dystopia fan). However, I did enjoy this one more than I thought I would. I have seen it before, but I remember it being more boring than I thought it was this time. Plus, the DVD I got has some commentary features that I might actually take a look at. Generally speaking I’m not one to watch a movie with the commentary on, but I might make an exception to watch it with Michael Okuda’s text commentary. You read that right – TEXT commentary. I’m intrigued to say the least. We’ll see what happens though. I’ve got a lot of movies to watch and not a lot of time to watch them in.

Race Intro: The Deltans (actually, they may be introduced in the Original Series because everyone seemed to know all about them and their Oath of Celibacy and why that’s important)

Fun stuff from the film:

• Isaac Asimov was a special science consultant. There is definitely a connection between the author and some aspects of the film!