Rating: 
Summary: The only Trek flick with an aura of cinematic awe
Review: Star Trek fans have long made jokes about this first film in the series, calling it "Star Trek: The Slow-Motion Picture" (HA, HA). The pic seems to be a bit of a hit & miss affair amongst devotees. Common criticisms are: A story that's not compelling enough (i.e. fails to sustain interest), an overlong scene near the beginning intoducing the Enterprise as Kirk & Scotty "space-jet" around it, lack of substantial character interplay, and colorless costumes & sets. Common praises are: Excellent score, a serious vibe of cinematic awe a la "2001: A Space Odyssey," a cool bald chick in a mini-skirted white robe and high heels (Kirk dresses her -- naturally), and outstanding sets -- far removed from the cheesy sets of the original TV series). My personal estimation: Although there's validity to all the above criticisms (especially the fact that it lacks the drive that most of the TV episodes have), I feel the positives strongly overshadow them. What I am most impressed with is the serious tone of cinematic awe that it possesses. The filmmakers REALLY took the subject seriously and attempted to give us a quite cerebral Trek adventure. Not to mention the flick is a visual feast for the eyes in regards to both sets and special effects (F/X).
After just recently seeing it again (the DVD Director's Edition) it dawned on me how Star Trek: The Motion Picture (ST:TMP) is essentially an amalgam of some the TV episodes. Most people rightly point out how ST:TMP is basically a re-make of "The Changeling." This is the well-known episode with "Nomad" the omnipotent-but-very-small space probe that was originally sent from Earth hundereds of years before, but somehow merged with an alien space probe and consequently set out to "sterilize imperfections." ST:TMP has the same basic plot, but, other than this, it doesn't much remind me of this segment. Here are a few other episodes that creators obviously borrowed from (though maybe not intentionally): "The Corbomite Maneuver." This is the one wherein the Enterprise crew encounters a colossal alien spaceship in an unkown sector of space. The alien ship at first threatens to destroy the Enterprise for invading its territory and then takes it captive. ST:TMP has a similar vibe to this episode: There's not much action, the Enterprise comes face to face with the unknown (in both cases a gigantic alien space vessel) and the crew have to put their heads together to prevail. The way crewman Dave Baily willingly decides to leave the Enterprise and go off with the alien ship brings to mind the way Decker decides to leave the Enterprise and merge with V-Ger in ST:TMP. "The Doomsday Machine." This is the very popular episode in which the Enterprise takes on a gargantuan-and-grotesque planet destroying machine gone amok. This episode has a tragic character, Capt. Matthew Decker, who loses his whole starship to the planet-killer. Decker understandably develops a death-wish (for surviving when his crew didn't) and indeed dramatically dies in the episode. ST:TMP has the son of Matthew Decker on board the Enterprise -- Capt. William Decker. He also ultimately "dies" (to all intents & purposes) in the story. The main reason this episode comes to mind when viewing ST:TMP is that both involve a humongous alien THING freely traversing the galaxy destroying vessels and planets. ST:TMP of course lacks the suspense and drive of this grand outing (but it definitely looks better). "Metamorphosis." This is the reletively unknown segment wherein Kirk/Spock/McCoy come across a dude (Cochrane) isolated from humanity on some remote planet where he encounters a cloud-creature ("The Companion") that falls in love with him (!!). There's not much action in this episode; this explains why I innitially didn't really like this outing. Now (being older), I'm more impressed with it. It's a very good, mature serious Trek story wherein our beloved Trek characters again encounter the unknown in space and have to deal with it. ST:TMP often has the exact same vibe. Also, the way Cochrane communes with The Companion brings to mind the way Decker ultimately merges with V-Ger. Like "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "Metamorphosis" ST:TMP is a mature, cerebral type story. Most kids and young adults won't like it or "get" it. My suggestions for anyone wanting to check out this awe-inspiring flick is to put on a pot of coffee, kick back & relax and let the movie give you a good time. Contrary to what some say, there IS a lot of interplay between the characters, especially as the story proceeds. I enjoy seeing Kirk/Spock/McCoy and others dialoguing back and forth trying to figure out how to "defeat" V-Ger. I think it's important to note that ST:TMP is the only Trek movie that possesses an epic-type cinematic awe along the lines of "2001:A Space Odyssey." The filmmakers were obviously highly influenced by this one-of-a-kind flick. Yet I enjoy ST:TMP much better than "2001" because it has much more of a story to it (not to mention our beloved characters). About the Director's Edition DVD: It is essentially the same movie with a few minutes of the redundant F/X sequences removed and a couple non-essential scenes added. Plus they fixed up some of the F/X. One scene supposedly added is outstanding: it shows Spock shedding a tear (!!) for V-Ger. He tells why, and it just helps explain the story better. Anyway, the DVD picture quality is outstanding -- buy it! I guess I'm in the minority here, but I like ST:TMP much more than the okay-but-completely-overrated Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Rating: 
Summary: An Improvement, But Still No Classic
Review: The 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition' DVD set makes a valiant attempt at restoring the first Trek film to its intended format. In part, it succeeds, due to the evident passion for the movie displayed by director Nicholas Meyer and others who worked on the film.
The "director's cut" seen on this set is a combination of the original theatrical release and the television cut (previously available on VHS for many years) and I feel it works better than both prior versions. However, it's still no classic.
The pace and tone of 'Star Trek: The Slow-Motion Picture' (as I like to call it) are alternately mind-boggling and as dull as watching paint dry, while the dialogue and acting are stiff and uninvolving. Even some of the new additions to this film are off-putting, such as over-the-top digital panoramas on Vulcan that practically scream, "Look at me! I'm making this movie better!" The special effects as a whole are great for the time, although the movie's focus on SFX over plot and character is a fatal flaw.
So, all in all, I'd still rate this one as the next-to-worst of the Trek feature films, with only 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' coming out worse. It's a blessing for the Star Trek franchise that the film to follow, 'Wrath Of Khan', was so infinitely better in all respects and helped set the groundwork for all the adventures to follow.
Rating:
Summary: Okay Movie, GREAT DVD (SPOILER ALERT!)
Review: First of all, let me say that even as a long-time (20+ years) Star Trek fan, I have never been terribly impressed by the series' feature-film debut. It's rather slow-paced, but I never really had a problem with that - to me, the pace of film gives it room to breathe - gives (as is noted in the audio commentary on the DVD) the special effects guys and composer Jerry Goldsmith room to really show their stuff. The main issue I have with the film is this (not my observation originally, by the way - I think it was speculative fiction author Harlan Ellison who first pointed this out)(***SPOILER ALERT!***): the Voyager probe is taken in by this race of near-divine mechanical beings, right? This race of beings is all-but-omnipotent/omniscient... and they can't figure out that all they need to do is wipe off a little carbon scoring in order to discern Voyager's full name? Come ON. Okay, so much for the film. The DVD presentation of it is EXCELLENT. A very nice widescreen transfer onto disc, excellent 5.1 surround sound, really kewl interactive menus, audio commentary by director Robert Wise, special effects supervisors Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra, Jerry Goldsmith, and Stephen Collins (Capt. Decker), text commentary by Star Trek Encyclopedia co-author Michael Okuda - not to mention the Director's Edition itself, which does a nice job of tightening up some of the excessively slow parts of the original film while adding some really nice, unobtrusive CGI shots. And that's just the first disc! So, in conclusion - if you're a fan of this film, you're DEFINTELY gonna want to own this DVD. Even if you're not, it's probably worthwhile for you to at least rent it or check it out from your local library just to see all the wonderful extras. Final rating (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars):
Film: 2 1/2 stars
DVD: 5 stars
Average: 3 3/4 stars
Rating: 
Summary: Dazzling redo of a vastly underrated movie
Review: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". Say those words and you're bound to get heated, passionate responses from fans, who debate its merits to this day. The detractors (who outweigh the supporters) point to the derivative plot, the pajama-like costumes, the neverending special effects sequences, and the overall boredom and pretentiousness the film evokes. Its supporters counteract by citing the incredible musical score, the amazing quality of the aforementioned effects sequences (which are the best and most creative of any Star Trek film), the intelligence (not pretentious) of its themes--and I would add that contrary to popular opinion, this debut film has plenty of character development, especially for its two main characters Kirk and Spock. The longer TV/VHS edition added many deleted scenes which enhanced those character revelations (including the all-essential moment when Spock is moved to tears at V'Ger's plight, and some humorous moments with Sulu and Uhura). Now, along comes this new Director's edition, which is now the definitive version of the film. It must be noted that many of the film's weaknesses can be attributed to its rush-release, which meant that not only was it not screened in front of a preview audience, but that edits were done on a fly-by-night basis literally days before the film premiered. Wise has stated over the years that it was the only film he ever did which was incomplete, and now over twenty years later he has a chance to complete it. Thus, the upgraded SFX (including sequences which were storyboarded but not included due to time and/or budget restraints), new edits which include many of the added character-driven scenes from the VHS version, and tighter action in other areas. The sound has been reprocessed and the picture (in spite of a few unfortunate blotches here and there, which I suppose could not be corrected) is as crystal clear as it will ever be. The upgraded SFX are *perfectly* matched with the film's original look, and for the first time we get to see what V'Ger looks like without its protective cloud covering. The colors in the DVD are better saturated, making it seem less all-white monochrome; blues, reds, oranges and greens now pop out at the viewer (and I never had a problem with the costumes, which I thought looked rather comfortable!). The film's plot may be derived from TOS' "The Changeling", but its themes are far more complex and epic; the parallel between Spock's journey and V'Ger's comes to a climax and the change seen here in Spock is THE pivotal moment for his character. Shatner's acting skills as the troubled, obsessive Kirk, are among his most subtle and serious, and his gradual maturation is also a pleasure to behold. Ilia is a graceful and exotic new character who would have made an interesting addition to the Star Trek Phase II series which had been proposed before it turned into this film. I still have several quibbles with the director's edition of the film; a couple of important scenes from the VHS version are still left out (although they are included in the second disc as deleted scenes) and the two main SFX sequences--Kirk's shuttle journey to the Enterprise and the Enterprise's journey into V'Ger--remain overlong (Wise attempts to defend his decision not to cut these in his commentary, which is interesting although not *entirely* convincing). However, I do not see how some reviewers below can say that this edition is a waste of time--with all the care that went into the improved picture, sound, SFX, and in creating an edit which would make the movie flow quicker, it is clear that this is now a highly underrated film that must be looked at a second time. The other features are all first-rate, including a look at the abandoned Phase II series that was going to be Star Trek's return to television (one may also read the fascinating book on the same subject, put out by Paramount). In comparison to the original theatrical release, this Director's Edition flattens it, hands down. Compared to the long VHS version, it contains nearly all the essential added scenes, and also includes improved SFX, sound and edits, which also makes it superior. If only five minutes more or so had been cut from the two main effects sequences, I think this new edition of the movie would no longer be considered boring at all by the fans, and it's strengths--the awesome score, incredible visuals, complex themes and character development--would be appreciated to their fullest. Apparently, Shatner considered the V'Ger plotline interesting enough to make it a major element of his best-selling Star Trek novel "The Return", in which we learn that V'Ger's home planet is also the home planet of the Borg. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" remains one of my very favorite Star Trek films--now at last being given a chance to be seen as it was intended, with most of its potential now fulfilled--a movie that cannot be viewed with a short attention span but if given enough patience, will reveal itself as an epic sci-fi masterpiece. Kirk seen through the glass of his cabin door; Ilia healing Chekov's wound; the agitated, psychedelic color streaks of the wormhole effect; Spock racing down the V'Ger corrider and revealing its secrets; Spock in tears; Ilia and Decker joining as one in an explosion of light and sound; these compelling images remain with you long after the film has ended, and for me along with "The Search For Spock" it breaks the "odds/evens" rule of Star Trek films.
Rating:
Summary: Slowly going where no man has gone before...
Review: Originally dubbed the 'Slow Motion Picture' by even die hard Trekkies, the first Star Trek movie was a ponderous, plodding and protracted affair rushed into cinemas as a post-Star Wars special effects showcase. The plot was made even worse by the 1983 re-edit, which added 11 minutes to it's already interminable running time. Now director Robert Wise has re-edited the film, tightening the pace, re-inserted key scenes, enhancing effects and supervising a Dolby 5.1 sound mix. And the result? Well, it's still ponderous, plodding and only slightly less protracted. But there are good points though; the principal actors, (Especially William Shatner) are good in their roles, and Jerry Goldsmith's fantastic memorable score helps events, but it's still a so-so movie, that would thankfully be redeemed by the excellent Star Trek II. Not trying to push the point too far, but I fell asleep the first time I watched this lacklustre entry into the Star Trek cannon. The extra material on the DVD bumps up the rating though, with 3 retrospective documentaries with cast and crew interviews, trailers, 8 television commercials, 11 deleted scenes and additional scenes. Also included are storyboard archives and a new Star Trek series Enterprise promo spot.
Impressive extras but it's for hard-core Star Trek fans only.
Rating:
Summary: definitely not the worst trek film
Review: Okay, I admit that I love this movie because it was the first. The director's edtion is definitely an improvement. It is still long and slow, but now it is a little tighter. Not as tedious. This is a good cerebral story. Unlike Final Frontier, Generations, and Insurrection. It really explores ideas that are out there. That said, it would still have made a better t.v. episode than a movie, but at the time there was not series. As I understand it, it was to be the pilot of a new series. This is demonstrated by the t.v. type story. It is still better that Trek V or any of the TNG movies. If you haven't seen the director's cut you are missing out. If you never liked the movie give this version a try. If you just thought it meandered too much, give this version a try. I think you will enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Must have for Trek colletors, otherwise...
Review: Not much to be said about this film, use it for a sleep aid replacement. This or 2001:A Space Oddesy.
The film is made longer, but not much so, (Even more BORING!)
The Special Features are excellent, and much more exciting than the movie
Rating: 
Summary: Star Trek - The Motion Pictor
Review: This is the WORST Star Trek movie EVER made. Don't waste your time or money on this!
Rating:
Summary: Star Trek, The Motion Picture
Review: Good movie for the year of production, only a little to long.
Rating:
Summary: The Beginning of The Trek Movies...
Review: Some people regard STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE as a boring, and rather dull feature film. However, I feel that this is a great film, and the pacing may be slower than other Trek movies, but this has all the ingredients for a potentially great Trek movie. The only thing missing from this particular movie is more action (meaning, more ship-to-ship battles). But otherwise, this slow-burner is imaginative, intelligent, and remarkable in the visual effects department. And, more so in this updated version, the special effects are even better. Plus, you've got the thoroughly enjoyable cast from the original series and some newcomers aboard. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE is a good movie, as long as you are willing to have patience to watch it, carefully, and to realize that in the end, you can easily see why now 9 other movies have followed in the steps of the one that started it all.
|
