Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei

Back when the first Star Trek feature was released in December 1979, the Trek franchise was still relatively modest, consisting of the original TV series, an animated cartoon series from 1973-74, and ...( read more  read more... )a burgeoning fan network around the world. Series creator Gene Roddenberry had conceived a second TV series, but after the success of Star Wars the project was upgraded into this lavish feature film, which reunited the original series cast aboard a beautifully redesigned starship U.S.S. Enterprise. Under the direction of Robert Wise (best known for West Side Story), the film proved to be a mixed blessing for Trek fans, who heatedly debated its merits; but it was, of course, a phenomenal hit. Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) leads his crew into the vast structures surrounding V'Ger, an all-powerful being that is cutting a destructive course through Starfleet space. With his new First Officer (Stephen Collins), the bald and beautiful Lieutenant Ilia (played by the late Persis Khambatta) and his returning veteran crew, Kirk must decipher the secret of V'Ger's true purpose and restore the safety of the galaxy. The story is rather overblown and derivative of plots from the original series, and avid Trekkies greeted the film's bland costumes with derisive laughter. But as a feast for the eyes, this is an adventure worthy of big-screen trekkin'. Douglas Trumbull's visual effects are astonishing, and Jerry Goldmith's score is regarded as one of the prolific composer's very best (with its main theme later used for Star Trek: The Next Generation). And, fortunately for Star Trek fans, the expanded 143-minute version (originally shown for the film's network TV premiere) is generally considered an improvement over the original theatrical release. --Jeff Shannon

Id: 10901986

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture Recent Reviews
  • SirPant
    September 21, 2009
    SirPant
    Robert Wise was an interesting choice of director for the re-launch, in film, of the popular 60?s sci-fi TV series that had already reached cult status. His CV matched Star Treks intense sci-fi themes and so the first and most original of the films was born. Wise?s classic is one...( read more) long psychedelic dream sequence with brilliant lines like ?V-ger is a child?. It?s got a 2001: A space odyssey feel about it, that I?m sure was intentional and yet, exceeds it in many ways and really stands alone in its bizarre but beautiful structure. This really was boldly going where Star Trek had never been before and it was brilliant! A classic that I never tire of but I guess it helps if your already a trekkie! :o)
  • puffchunk
    May 21, 2009
    puffchunk
    Okay. I wish there was more with the hot bald robot chick.
  • sononothing
    April 19, 2009
    sononothing
    After a decade in space dock the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise return in their first movie about an alien cloud that vaporizes everything heading straight for earth. What is it and why is it coming is a mystery for the crew to solve.

    I don't remember seeing this in its theatrica...( read more)l form. The directors cut suffers from one thing: self important effects shots. Obviously the producers wanted to squeeze every penny out of its effects footage, so we get a ten minute shuttle run to the Enterprise. That damn ride lasted longer than an episode of the TV series. The effects are good, but to just show them off for the sake of showing them off is ridiculous. I know this was the post Star Wars world, but let's be serious. Give us some action. Cutting some of these scenes could have made the film forty minutes shorter and a tighter film instead of this trodding trek through space. The cast is typical with Shatner hamming it up as Shatner and the rest settling into the roles that they'll be stuck with until their dead and gone. The central premise is interesting once we get past the standard Star trek plot of something unknown destroying the universe. Once again, the pacing kills it. The film takes its time getting to the final resolution and wraps that up in a fraction of time. Disappointing.

    But it is an enjoyable, too long film that opened the flood gates for the superior sequel that was scaled down and played tighter causing it to benefit. This film gets the shaft and deservedly so. It plays out more like a competition for the Hollywood space race after Star Wars. Every studio wanted to cash in and this was a great opportunity to dust off Star Trek. Thankfully the race died quick and producers went back to focusing a little bit on stories and not plastic models and lights.
  • stopitgoaway
    October 29, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    This DVD version has improved and restored and made Star Trek: TMP a pleasure to watch rather than a chore. You're less inclined to hit fast-forward in those lengthy scenes. This movie will resonate well with mature-age viewers because the story is not what you would expect from ...( read more)today's action packed cinema. I appreciated the movie more as I got older. Bob Wise explains on the DVD that production was extremely rushed and had no time to preview the film with an audience that would now after 20 years, tell him to tighten the opticals and emphasize characters. This is precisely what he has done in the DVD version and its magnificent.

    Aesthetically, the DVD version shows you the best Star Trek: The Motion Picture can possibly look. Film is sharper; color is dead on however there is still a lot of film grain present unfortunately. My guess is they cleaned the original negative up as much as they could but it had deteriorated so much in storage, or was badly preserved. Certainly looks better than my bad pan/scanned VHS copy.

    The DVD truly shines with its brand new sound mix. This isn't your standard stereo to 5.1 DVD conversions like they are doing for movies pre 5.1; they have gutted it up and added new stuff. The original release was so rushed that very little in terms of ambient sound and special effects audio elements were done on the sound mix amongst other production elements. For this DVD they went back to the original audiotapes and remixed them digitally.

    Goldsmith's score sounded fantastic when it originally came out now sounds even better on the DVD version. It's tremendous, you will hear what your suppose to hear now with the added advantage of 5.1 surround sound. Goldsmith score truly has a chance to soar now by stretching into a clean high fidelity 5.1 environment rather than being squeezed onto a mono or stereo track. Bass kicks in often especially on big musical cues. You'll hear nifty panning and those surrounds and subwoofer will definitely get a workout. In instances they isolate different parts of the orchestra through different speakers, mainly the bass and percussion.

    Most onstage dialog was re-recorded afterwards because of onstage noise due to mechanical devices etc; this is now common practice in the industry. The result is cleaner dialog that comes prominently out of your center speaker. The dialog audio is good, but on occasion it shows a mild muffled and tinny quality probably due to age of material or analog technology of the time, nevertheless I guarantee you, the average viewer will like it, I'm just being picky. In short the movie will sound almost as good as if the movie was made recently.

    Not only having rebuilt the original audio they have put in more surround elements, like ambient bridge noises and computer voices. Not sure why they changed the `Intruder Alert' voice, I don't mind but I guess it was because they rushed the sound mix in the 70's and chose that voice as a last minute thing. There are other elements that have been changed, for the better I would say.

    The DVD contents have been remastered with Wise's overseeing. There are too many subtleties to comment on so shall briefly discuss a few. Before opening credits you are treated to Goldsmiths V'ger/Love theme, a nice touch. Then you hear the bombastic Star Trek Theme. Newly done credits over moving starfield.

    First main new special effect is the Vulcan landscape, tilting from sky to the surface. Then cuts to a new matte painting of the beautiful orange sky. Originally Spock shields his eyes and in the reversal, not only is there no sun there is little sky visible. The new matte painting now fits in nicely.

    San Francisco sequence has been redone, 3 new matte paintings that better show the futurized city, Golden Gate Bridge and a bigger shuttlebay.

    When they get into V'Ger they encounter a weapon heading towards them that is suppose to dissipate, in the original it simply disappears instantly, now we see a new visual that shows it dissipating just before it hits the ship.

    Later we see a probe heading towards the ship on the viewscreen and then through some hokey editing it appears on the bridge. This has been replaced with an improved FX shot showing the approach of the entity on an exterior shot.

    A new 'Wing Walk' sequence. Breathtaking new CGI's that show the away-team walk from the hull to the V'Ger stage, some using the original live action shots. New FXs for the most part are based on original storyboards. They didn't go overboard with the effects which is good, Bob tells us that they made FX that they could only do in the 1970's, unlike Star Wars whom George Lucas went overkill on new FX when he redid his in the 1990's.

    There are trims, some rearrangements of shots for the better. E.g. Ilia/Deckers exchange of looks, Kirk's `Oh My God', his second `Viewer Off.' I suspect they had to edit within Jerry's score, or have to also edit Jerry's score to accommodate the new editing, if so they have done it very well, I couldn't notice. Some lengthy scenes remain in its entirety, e.g. flying up to the enterprise, I don't blame them for not trimming them, some are sentimental.

    The 2 DVD's come with a plethora of information. Audio commentaries by the director, 2 special effect's guys, an actor and the composer guide you through the director's edition. Text commentary by Okuda gives even more scene specific info. Disc 2 gives you most of the trims, deleted scenes from the TV and Theatrical release not used in the DVD version and an outtake of an abandoned visual effect. Plus 3 documentaries about the abandoned TV series ST:Phase II, Directors edition DVD and the movie itself. Plus advertisements/trailers plus storyboards.

    A MUST BUY FOR FANS! You'll Love It!
  • organgrinder136
    August 4, 2008
    organgrinder136
    the first of the star trek motion pictures. not the best film or episode i've seen but the idea of a machine with a conciousness was a really interesting one. nice to see all the old characters/actors together including william shatner (the legend he is). some really gorgeous cin...( read more)ematography/special effects too
  • acknowledge101
    December 23, 2009
    acknowledge101
    effects are nice. or were nice, then. just wasn't impressed with this one. it's just a prettied-up longer episode.
  • filmfanatic1982
    December 22, 2009
    filmfanatic1982
    Wonderful adventure. Can be a bit boring at times, but overall, satisfying.
  • VirVeritatis
    December 21, 2009
    VirVeritatis
    The new one is so good, not really interested in the old ones.
  • blacksheepboy
    December 20, 2009
    blacksheepboy
    Not at all original, as it looks like a stretched TV episode, and it tries too hard to be 2001, dragging endlessly in long, contemplative scenes that seem to exist only to show the higher budget.
  • eryri
    December 19, 2009
    eryri
    A good and interesting story for the 1st Trek movie but it's way too slow for my liking.
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