Three out of five are from the same film!
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 35th Anniversary REMASTERED
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Three out of five are from the same film!
Axlotl
Master Member
My favorites are Wrath of Khan and The Motion Picture, in that order.
Wrath of Khan is just kind of a perfect movie, and I like the pacing and atmosphere of the Motion Picture. It has a kind of 2001: A Space Odyssey vibe. To me, at least.
4 was fun, but I detest The Search For Spock. Even as a kid I thought it was dumb to resurrect him. The rest are so forgettable I've forgotten them.
I do consider myself a Star Trek fan, but first and foremost I'm a good story fan. I don't have a problem with chucking the stuff I don't like in the bin. I don't have to like everything Star Trek to love Star Trek.
Wrath of Khan is just kind of a perfect movie, and I like the pacing and atmosphere of the Motion Picture. It has a kind of 2001: A Space Odyssey vibe. To me, at least.
4 was fun, but I detest The Search For Spock. Even as a kid I thought it was dumb to resurrect him. The rest are so forgettable I've forgotten them.
I do consider myself a Star Trek fan, but first and foremost I'm a good story fan. I don't have a problem with chucking the stuff I don't like in the bin. I don't have to like everything Star Trek to love Star Trek.
The amazing thing about TWOK is that it shouldn’t work. The entire plot is built on one coincidence and contrivance after another. Chekov just so happens to find Khan by accident, and Khan just so happens to have mind-controlling creatures which allow him to steal the Reliant, and then Khan goes after Genesis, which just so happens to be the creation of Kirk’s ex-girlfriend and son, and then Khan goes after Kirk, who just so happens to be taking the Enterprise on a training cruise at the exact time when Khan escapes from exile.
Yet, the characters work, the action and suspense work, the themes work, and the “emotional logic” works. So…yeah. Perfect movie.
Whereas TMP has a solid (albeit “The Changeling”, rehashed) plot, but widely misses the mark on “emotional logic”, because it feels so cold and out-of-character.
I’ll also strongly defend TSFS. Yes, the plot is thin, contrived, and full of issues. Yes, the movie is basically connective tissue between II and IV, with the primary goal (for good or ill) being the resurrection of Spock. But, man, when it works, it works really, really well. Like TWOK before it, it really plays up the passage of time and the characters’ relationships. Kirk stealing and destroying the Enterprise to help his friends is something which capitalizes on 20 years’ worth of history, and would not work without the weight of all those years behind it. The “emotional logic” works, even when the plot doesn’t. That final, intimate scene between Kirk and Spock (“Jim. Your name…is Jim.”) has more weight and resonance than anything in TMP.
I think that there are two kinds of TOS fans: Gene Roddenberry fans and Gene Coon fans. Roddenberry fans love the sci-fi procedural aspects, technology, and utopian ideals, whereas Coon fans love the characters, the interplay/banter between them, the personal drama, and the humor. Early TNG, when Roddenberry was in charge, is basically in line with “The Cage” and TMP: Less personal, more procedural and high-concept.
TMP is smarter, cooler, and more Roddenberry. TWOK/TSFS/TVH is much warmer, funnier, more personal, and more Coon.
TMP is the one classic Trek film that truly is “cinematic” in scope and was treated as an “event” film.
Every clasic Trek that came after TMP, whether good or not, were really glorified “TV Productions” that were given a theatrical release. The one that made this limitation most apparent was The Undiscovered Country with wholly recycled costumes and props from the previous films and especially painfully obvious redressed sets from the TNG TV series (10 Forward as the Federation President’s Office was the worst). Most of the relatively meager budgets for these films went to visual effects, limited sets, limited location shooting, and actor compensation.
Think of what they could have done with those films if given the equivelant budgets lavished on the Bad Robot films…
Every clasic Trek that came after TMP, whether good or not, were really glorified “TV Productions” that were given a theatrical release. The one that made this limitation most apparent was The Undiscovered Country with wholly recycled costumes and props from the previous films and especially painfully obvious redressed sets from the TNG TV series (10 Forward as the Federation President’s Office was the worst). Most of the relatively meager budgets for these films went to visual effects, limited sets, limited location shooting, and actor compensation.
Think of what they could have done with those films if given the equivelant budgets lavished on the Bad Robot films…
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Absolutely. TMP was a lavish production with incredible money and resources thrown at it. And it ended up missing the mark, resulting in Roddenberry being kicked upstairs to a toothless "Executive Consultant" role, and the money being scaled way, way back for that tentative first sequel.
Of course, TWOK ended up being one of the all-time great examples of creativity thriving on restrictions. The other films are a mix of great effects, cheap sets, terrible effects, etc.
It's a crime that TMP's resources were never again given to a TREK production until Abrams came along, and those films were a waste of money and resources, since it was thrown at terrible scripts. While it would be nice to see a truly epic and authentic STAR TREK film, I do tend to think that it seems to work best under restrictions, not unlike TOS itself.
After all, superior ability--and unlimited money--breeds superior ambition rather than a proper focus on story and characters, as in TOS, TWOK, etc.
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For most of my life watching Star Trek, I would've told you The Wrath of Khan was easily my favorite and it still is a favorite to be sure but I've come to really love the methodical approach of TMP. Watching Kirk and McCoy struggle to connect with an emotionless Spock only for him to later realize after the mind meld with V'ger that it was only through his own emotion that he could understand V'ger's intentions. How Kirk subtly shows his desire to captain the Enterprise again. Great stuff. Alley mentioned the cinematic quality of the movie... Some find it boring but I adore the shuttle ride to the Enterprise sequence and the accompanying motif. Beauty shots galore. There's also some nice beauty shots in TWOK and TSFS to be fair. God you just don't get those slower moments in movies anymore. The exploration of philosophical themes. For the story TMP was telling, the coldness and "2001 look" I believe lent itself to the mechanical meaningless existence of V'ger, though the warmer aesthetic of II and III were welcomed and certainly enhanced their character driven stories. I don't know, ask me again in a few years and TWOK may very well return to the #1 spot for me 
. That's what's amazing about Star Trek. You can go from classic philosophical Sci-Fi themes to political drama to personal stories of friendship and revenge and it works.
It took me a little while to warm up to the Next Gen crew precisely because it lacked that Gene Coon colorfulness. Picard was so stuffy compared to the suave Kirk and the rest of the new crew were just a bunch of squares. Ironically that's what I grew to appreciate about them and about Captain Picard. Even more so now when you see how juvenile the characters of the current "Trek" shows act.
Sigh, I miss the times when adults were in charge of things.
. That's what's amazing about Star Trek. You can go from classic philosophical Sci-Fi themes to political drama to personal stories of friendship and revenge and it works.It took me a little while to warm up to the Next Gen crew precisely because it lacked that Gene Coon colorfulness. Picard was so stuffy compared to the suave Kirk and the rest of the new crew were just a bunch of squares. Ironically that's what I grew to appreciate about them and about Captain Picard. Even more so now when you see how juvenile the characters of the current "Trek" shows act.
Sigh, I miss the times when adults were in charge of things.
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For most of my life watching Star Trek, I would've told you The Wrath of Khan was easily my favorite and it still is a favorite to be sure but I've come to really love the methodical approach of TMP. Watching Kirk and McCoy struggle to connect with an emotionless Spock only for him to later realize after the mind meld with V'ger that it was only through his own emotion that he could understand V'ger's intentions. How Kirk subtly shows his desire to captain the Enterprise again. Great stuff. Alley mentioned the cinematic quality of the movie... Some find it boring but I adore the shuttle ride to the Enterprise and the accompanying motif. Beauty shots galore. There's also some nice beauty shots in TWOK and TSFS to be fair. God you just don't get those slower moments in movies anymore. The exploration of philosophical themes. For the story TMP was telling, the coldness and "2001 look" I believe lent itself to the mechanical meaningless existence of V'ger, though the warmer aesthetic of II and III were welcomed and certainly enhanced their character driven stories. I don't know, ask me again in a few years and TWOK may very well return to the #1 spot for me
It took me a little while to warm up to the Next Gen crew precisely because it lacked that Gene Coon colorfulness. Picard was so stuffy compared to the suave Kirk and the rest of the new crew were just a bunch of squares. Ironically that's what I grew to appreciate about them and about Captain Picard. Even more so now when you see how juvenile the characters of the current "Trek" shows act.
Sigh, I miss the times when adults were in charge of things.
TMP absolutely has the most gorgeous effects of any of the films, and the movie Enterprise never looked better. I love the work that ILM did in the later films, but Trumbull's stuff is top-tier, no question.
The inherent problem with TMP is that people went in expecting STAR TREK- THE MOVIE, and instead got a story about the characters only slowly finding themselves again over the course of the film after being separated for a few years. The last scene on the Bridge feels like TOS, with the characters all now back where they belong, but, for people wanting an entire movie like that, it was too little, too late.
That being said, TMP is 1,000,000 times better at "subverting expectations" than the dreck we see from beloved franchises, now. Unlike modern reboots and counterfeit sequels to classics, TMP was an honest attempt at continuing the story of STAR TREK. It wasn't a cash-grab or an exercise in deliberately NOT giving fans what they wanted. It did not destroy the characters or try to reinvent the wheel. It brought some actual growth to the franchise without fundamentally altering it.
Modern Hollywood could learn a few lessons from this approach.
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By the way, I saw THE VOYAGE HOME in the theater on Thursday. It was a good time. The new 4K transfer looks quite lovely, and lacked the excessive DNR and other image quality issues of the old Blu-Ray.
Setting aside the general lack of attendance at the theater, there were 20 or so people were at the screening, which was impressive for a mid-week screening of an old film. Most of whom looked to be viable candidates for AARP membership, which speaks to STAR TREK as a whole slowly aging out, thanks to the dreadful Abrams/Kurtzman stuff utterly failing to capture the minds and hearts of the young. There were two college-age girls, there, though. One was wearing a science-division face mask, which was pretty effing hot.
Setting aside the general lack of attendance at the theater, there were 20 or so people were at the screening, which was impressive for a mid-week screening of an old film. Most of whom looked to be viable candidates for AARP membership, which speaks to STAR TREK as a whole slowly aging out, thanks to the dreadful Abrams/Kurtzman stuff utterly failing to capture the minds and hearts of the young. There were two college-age girls, there, though. One was wearing a science-division face mask, which was pretty effing hot.
JiminSTLouis
Sr Member
robn1
Master Member
This reminds me of a con I attended in the mid 90's. Walter Koenig was the star speaker, and I was sitting in the hall waiting for him. There were two teenage girls sitting in front of me, they couldn't have been more than fourteen. They were going through all the stuff they bought in the merch room, pictures, books and mags, etc., all of Kirk/Shatner. Yes, two teen girls in the mid 90's fawning over William Shatner, even recent for the time pics. While Walter was giving his talk he told stories about making TOS, and referred to Shatner as Bill, Bill said this, Bill did that etc. And every time he mentioned Bill these two girls would look at each other and squee "Bill!!!"
robn1
Master Member
That's about the number of people that were in the theater when I saw Solo.
JiminSTLouis
Sr Member
There were nine people in the theater (including my son and me) on a Thursday afternoon showing.
Location is a factor, of course. Setting aside Disney’s murder of STAR WARS and Abrams/Kurtzman’s murder of STAR TREK, these revival screenings have tended to draw smallish crowds in my area, traditionally.
I left the suburbs and made the pilgrimage to a big city in order to see a (non-Fathom Events) screening of BLADE RUNNER at an art-house theater, two months ago, and that had a HUGE crowd. Probably a hundred people, at least. It was a great time.
I left the suburbs and made the pilgrimage to a big city in order to see a (non-Fathom Events) screening of BLADE RUNNER at an art-house theater, two months ago, and that had a HUGE crowd. Probably a hundred people, at least. It was a great time.
I have TONS of Walter stories, while I was not at that particular Con, I love the one Walter told me when he was waiting for a ride outside of the hotel a lady checking in handed him her bags AND tipped him mistaken him for the bell hop,I asked him what did he do and he told me carried her bags, five buck is five bucks!
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Yeah I read one article that suggested they were going to release three box sets with The Wrath of Khan, Undiscovered Country, and First Contact being the 'premiere' movies to base each set around. Seems like you would simply do a TOS I-VI and Next Gen set but hey what do I know. Why sell two sets when you can sell three I guess.
The history of STAR TREK on home media has been a shameful parade of greed and shoddy remasters, by and large.
I was one of those people who bought all 40 two-episode volumes of TOS on DVD, only for Paramount to turn right around and release season sets (at $130 a pop) with bonus features, two years later.
