Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

• Year: 1979
• Released: 08 Dec 1979
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 4 wins & 20 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Star_Trek_The_Motion_Picture
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/star-trek-the-motion-picture
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English, Klingon
• MPA Rating: G
• Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 132 min
• Writer: Gene Roddenberry, Harold Livingston, Alan Dean Foster
• Director: Robert Wise
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
• Keywords: san francisco, california, spacecraft, artificial intelligence, space opera, self sacrifice,

	6.4/10
	48/100
	49% – Critics
	42% – Audience

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Storyline

The dazzling, refurbished USS Enterprise soars proudly once again in this ultimate space adventure. When a massive alien spacecraft destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly-transformed USS Enterprise to take command. William Shatner is joined by Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and the cast from the acclaimed “Star Trek” television series. The alien spacecraft of enormous power enters Federation space and neutralizes everything in its path. The entire crew mobilizes at warp speed to stop the alien intruder from its relentless flight toward Earth.

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture Movie Reviews

A different kind of Star Trek

I recently watched this movie for the first time in ten or fifteen years. When I was younger I thought this one was even worse than Star Trek V, because as bad as “The Final Frontier” was, at least it had some action and colour.

The version I just saw wasn’t the new Director’s Edition, just the old video, but I was still completely surprised by just about everything — partly because I hadn’t seen it in so long, and partly because it’s so totally different from all the following Trek movies. I even kinda liked the silly space pajamas everyone wears.

After this, the movie series turned to action-oriented stories, a more militaristic look and feel, and infinitely less challenging concepts. True, the pacing of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” drags in parts, and the behavior of its stars is a little cold and stiff. But instead of treating us with space battles and phaser shootouts, it gives us long, loving shots of the newly revamped starship Enterprise, and instead of rather tawdry plots grounded in mundane reality, it takes us on a metaphysical voyage into an unknown, bizarre, and palpably huge alien device. The relationship of the three main characters has changed a little after several years apart, and they’re each getting used to things all over again: Kirk has to deal with the unfamiliar new ship; Spock, after trying to purge his emotions, must confront his human half; and McCoy is “shanghaied” out of retirement for the trip. Decker and Ilia, the new characters, provide enough interest that they were virtually resurrected as Riker and Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The sense of scale is important. The cloud surrounding V’Ger is gigantic, and the ship at the heart of the cloud is a whole world to itself. The Enterprise must fly into the cloud and communicate with the ship, and it’s the only time in any of the ten movies that the heroes actually confront something new and unknown. This was a staple of the original show, and some of the best episodes of the spin-off series. The subsequent films were content with setting their battles and chases in space, but “Star Trek I” actually wants to explore that space. The question at the centre of the film, posed by Spock, is “Is this all we are? Is there nothing more?” Kirk, Spock, and V’Ger are all searching for an answer to that question.

However, the thing that definitely drags the film down is the sound. The red alert blares every other minute, and mechanical computer voice-overs announce just about everything they possibly can. In the process of updating the ship, they’ve emphasized the computers and mechanics of the vessel in a way they never had before or since, and the effect is jarring and interesting at the same time. The Enterprise is much more of a physical ship traveling in space, and less of a device to facilitate storytelling.

The visual effects are amazing enough to warrant some digital cleaning, and the movie should be seen in widescreen, preferably on a large television.

It’s too bad that this movie wasn’t more of a success, because I would like to see more Star Trek in this style. After many years and many TV shows, I admit I’ve gotten a little tired of space battles.

UPDATE: I recently watched the Director’s Edition DVD. The sound effects are fixed, and the film has been re-edited to tighten the pace ever so slightly. The changes made are not on the level of the Star Wars special editions, but they do make the movie more watchable. It’s a little more coherent now, and I like it even more.

What were they thinking?!

I happen to be a total geek. It must be true, as when this movie debuted I stood in line for HOURS to get in to see it with my friends on opening night at the midnight showing!! Now THAT’S geeky! So, it’s safe to assume I am a Star Trek fan. Anyways, we had been anticipating the movie like the rest of American for years. I remember all through the 70s there were many different rumors about either the show coming back to TV or else a Star Trek movie. And, if this first film hadn’t been such a bitter disappointment, I really think the series would have made even more money in subsequent films.

The movie, after all that anticipation, turned out to be incredibly slow and ponderous. While the movie was about three hours long, it seemed like nine! Mostly because they wanted to show off all the expensive special effects by showing the Enterprise SLOWLY flying through an enormous space cloud–again, and again, and again!!! Oh, the agony! It got so bad that the die-hard Trekkies (yes, I will not call myself a “Trekker”–“Trekkies” was first and suits me just fine) began yelling funny comments during the movie. After a while, it was like a live version of “Mystery Science Theatre 2000”! And while that was enjoyable fun, that WASN’T why we waited in line! So, what else did I find dull about the film? Well, first, instead of focusing on the “Big Three” (Spock, Kirk and McCoy), the film brought in new and amazingly dull characters to spice things up! Steven Collins was the commanding officer on the Enterprise when the movie started, though Kirk basically threw him aside to command this mission. If ONLY he’d left him back on Earth or on a star base instead of letting this mannequin come along,… And then there was the even less animated Persis Khambatta–an Indian beauty queen with all the magnetism of a can of Draino! These two “nothings” literally were given predominance over most all the other actors! Whose idiotic idea was this?! Then, there was the brilliant idea of the “new and improved uniforms”. Everyone on board now sported light gray or white polyester uniforms and this uniformity of blandness just made the movie worse! About the only one who looked good in this drab getup was Nichelle Nichols. I remember when she first appeared in the film, all the guys began making comments about how she had,…um,…matured well since the last film. And, as long as the Enterprise now sported bleached out characters, the Enterprise itself looked nothing like the TV one and was white and gray throughout. And, to further heighten the look, the film was given a completely dead and uninvolving script. It was a variation on a TV episode (THE CHANGELING–the one with “James Roykirk” and the sterilizing probe) and was about an old Earth probe being returned to after taking a long trip across the galaxy. The only memorable things about the writing at all where the transported mishap (it was yucky but cool) and McCoy’s very colorful language. His repeated cursing seemed to mirror the way most of the die-hards there that night felt! As for Shatner, Nimoy and the others–they were about as bland and uninteresting as you’ll ever see them. The only Star Trek movie that even comes close to this one in badness is STAR TREK V (where they go to have a pow-wow with God).

One shining note about the movie is the music. The music was simply wonderful–too bad the rest of the film was such a letdown.

Not as bad as its reputation, could have been much better too

Having been one of the shows that was part of my childhood and growing up, the original ‘Star Trek’ still holds up as great and ground-breaking, even if not perfect.

The first ‘Star Trek’ endeavour, ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’, was and still is heavily criticised by critics and the opinions on fans is a mixed bag of passionate defence and extreme hate. Personally belong in neither extreme. ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ is not as bad as its reputation, but it is a deeply flawed (even for the first ‘Star Trek’ film and everything has to start somewhere) and paved the way for better ‘Star Trek’ films, apart from the critically derided ‘The Final Frontier’.

Starting with ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s’ flaws, the pace definitely could have been tightened with the first half being particularly ponderous and aside from the visuals uneventful. This part could easily have been trimmed down and considerably shorter rather than being an effort to disguise that there was not enough story to justify the overlong length.

Casting is uneven, with subtlety once again eluding William Shatner and very little done with the Enterprise team. Stephen Collins seems out of his depth as Decker in a role that didn’t seem that difficult, instead seeming underwritten. Persis Khambatta spends much of her screen time looking awestruck. Some of the script is too patchwork and talky.

However, ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ looks amazing, a big improvement over the production values of the show. Whereas the production values were one of the original series’ few faults, the production values are where this film most excels. It is beautifully and atmospherically photographed, with a ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (which is quite a compliment) influence and awe-inspiring special effects. The music by Jerry Goldsmith adds hugely, it’s rousing stuff and the main theme is iconic. The sound effects have a suitable eeriness.

Much of the script is intelligent and thought-provoking, while the more plot oriented and character-driven second half has the delightful interaction, conflicts and development that made me a fan of ‘Star Trek’ in the first place, this element was always one of the original series’ biggest strengths. There is a thrown in and underwritten subplot, but there is an astonishingly clever and shocking subplot and a suspenseful climax There is a ‘2001’ grandeur to Robert Wise’s directing.

While the Enterprise crew disappoint and Shatner refuses to reign in, the rest of the original ‘Star Trek’ crew are on top form and their interaction a delight. Can never get enough of Leonard Nimoy or Spock.

In summary, could have been better and the criticisms are valid but there are a lot of things to admire that makes the film much better than its reputation. 6/10 Bethany Cox