Star Trek, le film

Cult Cuts Volume 24

#2/4: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

(7/10): Let me open this review by saying that I grew up watching Star Wars and not Star Trek, I never was a Trekkie, that being said I do want to see more of the series.

Being that this is my first viewing of any of the original series films other than bits and pieces, I liked it but didn't love it, however, from what I hear aside from number five the original is the weakest of the original films.

I'll start with the positives. For late Seventies it's got some fantastic visuals and some great production value. The wormhole sequence was very trippy and the overall feel of the unknown spacecraft, once on it looks surreal and futuristic, even more futuristic than the Enterprise.

It's got a great Cast, but it's also a continuation from the Show, anyways we have William Shatner, George Takai, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan and the one that steals the show, Leonard Nimoy as Spock.

It's also got a great score by Jerry Goldsmith who I remember as the composer for the Gremlin Rag. His score is very Large Scale and Grandiose with a sense of exploration to it.

The Dialogue is also pretty great at times, along with the acting, mainly from Nimoy as he didn't become iconic in the role of Spock for no reason, he's very intellectual, logical (as all Vulcans are) and stiff with a hint of humanity to him.

Now comes the part where I say what I didn't like.

The main complaint I have with the film is that it's slow paced and at just over two hours it begins to drag, especially in the third act before the last maybe fifteen to twenty minutes kicks in, then it gets more engaging again. However I found it somewhat difficult to pay attention to once they reach their destination and right before they realize exactly what they're dealing with, the span of time between those two points just became a bit of a slog.

That being said that was really my only major problem with the film, but it's a bit of a big deal cause if it can't hold your attention and stay engaging, you might lose your audience unless they are really invested or have a better level of patience than what modern films have been catering towards.

It's a decent start to a legacy film franchise that I heard gets way better by the very next film, so I can't wait to dig into Khan further down the line.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture has its unique place in cinema history as probably the first television series to get a big screen motion picture. Completely due to its special fan base, the like of which has never been seen before or since.

In order to keep the phenomenon going Gene Roddenberry knew he had to have something special to offer and he did. The continuity from the television series was accomplished effortlessly, in fact one of the new characters Commander William Decker is the son of William Windom who was another starship captain in an episode. More I can't say less I give the plot away.

In fact Decker played by Stephen Collins would be commanding the newly fitted Enterprise if it were on a routine mission. But with the threat of an immense alien being on a direct path to earth now Admiral James T. Kirk takes command of the starship himself and with Decker reunites all the old crew from the TV series to meet the threat.

Fans of the original series will also see the similarities in plot between another episode involving the Enterprise meeting up with an old space probe that now has taken on some new functions. The same idea forms the basis of this film's story although in every way it has been expanded and a new ending conceived. Here's a hint, a budding relationship between Collins and new ship's lieutenant Persis Khambatta is what ultimately saves the earth.

Just as you remember them William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, and Walter Koenig are all back and completely in character as you remember them. The new people Collins, Khambatta and the rest are integrated nicely into the story.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture received three Academy Award nominations, for Best Art&Set Direction, Best Visual Effects, and Best Musical Score. The special effects never overwhelm the telling of a good story which is the primary mission and best asset of the original television series and its successors.

If you're not a Trekkie before seeing this film, you may be come one upon viewing.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was Paramount Studio's attempt at cashing in on the Star Wars craze that was sweeping through the late seventies. However, instead of getting a fast-paced action romp, they got something more in tune with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Therefore, the first big screen Star Trek outing was always left in Star Wars' shadow. This, of course, was slightly rectified by the sequel (and darker and more action-orientated) The Wrath of Khan, but that's another story.

It's easy to see why Star Trek: The Motion Picture never set the box office alight, it's slow, very talky-talky, with lingering shots of things that you don't really know what they are and absolutely no action. However, that said, it's actually quite good (but only if you're in the mood).

If you're looking for something fast-paced then you should probably ignore most of the Star Trek saga and skip straight to the 2009 reboot. Whereas if you are a fan of slow-burning (and dare I say it?) 'intellectual' science fiction then you might get something out of this.

Avatar it is not. Interesting it is. Although, it should probably have an 'Eighteen Certificate' slapped on it - not because the content is particularly 'adult' in nature, but simply because there's no way anyone under eighteen would ever appreciate it and have the patience to sit through it.

May the old crew live long and prosper.

Of course the number one most memorable thing about The Motion Picture is the visual effects. The movie manages to show (for long sequences of time) how good the film looks with its budget and it is just incredible to watch. It also helps with the soundtrack being as good as it is. However, although the film has a beautiful look and a great soundtrack, the essential film itself does tend to drag. There are long (and I mean long) periods of time where nothing is happening. It seems like the director and writer were going for a different feel then the normal Star Trek feel. So overall while it does drag, Star Trek The Motion Picture still has some enjoyment to it.

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 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!