A review by Brooks Rich
Welcome to Star Trek Sunday. Every Sunday until we run out of movies, we will be reviewing a Star Trek film, starting today with 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The original series had been cancelled for ten years by the time the first cinematic adventure was released. The series had never been very successful in it's original run but during syndication it became a hit, prompting the green light of this film. I am a huge trekkie and love almost everything about the Star Trek universe. While I'm probably more versed with Star Trek: The Next Generation, I do love the original series and cast and know it's cinema history is the richest in the Star Trek verse. Arguably the best of all the films comes from the original cast. But first we have to get through the Motion Picture. Yeah, get through. This is not one of the best.
A strange entity is on a direct course towards Earth after mysteriously destroying three Klingon vessels. James T. Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise, reuniting with his old crew, in an attempt to intercept and stop the entity. The main problem with this film is it's a great premise for an episode stretched out to feature length. Anything with the entity is cool and classic Star Trek. When the entity is being menacing, it feels big and the stakes feel real. But the film is so slow and ponderous at times. There's a good three to four minutes of just looking at the Enterprise or traveling into the entity. It's crippled by the pace of usual seventies sci-fi films but doesn't have the artistic feel those did. I'll take a wordless montage of the ship in a film like Silent Running. That film has an atmosphere to it. It feels cheap and dull in this film. Star Trek was never high octane action, at least not at this point, but the big establishing shots of the alien vessels and worlds took less than a minute. The sequence where the Enterprise enters the unknown entity is ridiculous. It takes a good ten minutes or so. Shots inside the entity, reaction from crew, rinse, repeat, my God this film is so dull.
I do not like this film as a whole. There is a common held belief that every odd number Star Trek is bad. That mostly holds up. Mostly. It's a shame at the start of this new feature that I start on such a negative but I can't help if this is the first film. It's so bad and the story can't save the film from it's dull moments. There are some good things about it. It's great to see the crew again and I will fight anyone who doesn't like Shatner as Kirk. I also like what the entity turns out to be. The solution to defeat it though is kind of lame.
I don't want to focus on this one anymore. I'm a little glad this one was first because if this film came later in the series I'd be dreading it. It's so lifeless and I have very little to say about it. This is probably my least favorite Star Trek film. At least Final Frontier is so fucking out of it's mind it's entertaining. But arguably the worst sin a movie can commit is be boring. Motion Picture commits that sin time and time again. Moving on from Motion Picture. Besides there's a much better film waiting next week. By much better of course I mean one of the greatest science fiction adventure films ever made. The Motion Picture, which I've heard call the Motionless Picture and agree with that sentiment, is important because it showed what does and doesn't work about Star Trek on the big screen. Some changes would have to be made. In 1982 those changes would all come together. But as far as the Motionless Picture goes, prepare to snooze. God it's so dull.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
Welcome to Star Trek Sunday. Every Sunday until we run out of movies, we will be reviewing a Star Trek film, starting today with 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The original series had been cancelled for ten years by the time the first cinematic adventure was released. The series had never been very successful in it's original run but during syndication it became a hit, prompting the green light of this film. I am a huge trekkie and love almost everything about the Star Trek universe. While I'm probably more versed with Star Trek: The Next Generation, I do love the original series and cast and know it's cinema history is the richest in the Star Trek verse. Arguably the best of all the films comes from the original cast. But first we have to get through the Motion Picture. Yeah, get through. This is not one of the best.
A strange entity is on a direct course towards Earth after mysteriously destroying three Klingon vessels. James T. Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise, reuniting with his old crew, in an attempt to intercept and stop the entity. The main problem with this film is it's a great premise for an episode stretched out to feature length. Anything with the entity is cool and classic Star Trek. When the entity is being menacing, it feels big and the stakes feel real. But the film is so slow and ponderous at times. There's a good three to four minutes of just looking at the Enterprise or traveling into the entity. It's crippled by the pace of usual seventies sci-fi films but doesn't have the artistic feel those did. I'll take a wordless montage of the ship in a film like Silent Running. That film has an atmosphere to it. It feels cheap and dull in this film. Star Trek was never high octane action, at least not at this point, but the big establishing shots of the alien vessels and worlds took less than a minute. The sequence where the Enterprise enters the unknown entity is ridiculous. It takes a good ten minutes or so. Shots inside the entity, reaction from crew, rinse, repeat, my God this film is so dull.
I do not like this film as a whole. There is a common held belief that every odd number Star Trek is bad. That mostly holds up. Mostly. It's a shame at the start of this new feature that I start on such a negative but I can't help if this is the first film. It's so bad and the story can't save the film from it's dull moments. There are some good things about it. It's great to see the crew again and I will fight anyone who doesn't like Shatner as Kirk. I also like what the entity turns out to be. The solution to defeat it though is kind of lame.
I don't want to focus on this one anymore. I'm a little glad this one was first because if this film came later in the series I'd be dreading it. It's so lifeless and I have very little to say about it. This is probably my least favorite Star Trek film. At least Final Frontier is so fucking out of it's mind it's entertaining. But arguably the worst sin a movie can commit is be boring. Motion Picture commits that sin time and time again. Moving on from Motion Picture. Besides there's a much better film waiting next week. By much better of course I mean one of the greatest science fiction adventure films ever made. The Motion Picture, which I've heard call the Motionless Picture and agree with that sentiment, is important because it showed what does and doesn't work about Star Trek on the big screen. Some changes would have to be made. In 1982 those changes would all come together. But as far as the Motionless Picture goes, prepare to snooze. God it's so dull.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
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