Star Trek: The Motion Picture
At some point, I will very much try to get into the “Star Trek” TV shows. It’s no secret that I’ve always been more of a “Star Wars” person, but not because I dislike Gene Roddenberry’s creation. I love its optimism and focus on science adventure as a way of making peace with other beings. The movies I watched when I was younger I really enjoyed, and I think it’s made for a fascinating counterpoint to “Star Wars” over the decades. After appearing on the Star Trek: The Undiscovered Podcast to discuss the notorious “Star Trek V,” I realized it was finally time to start doing a true watch through of the films, including all of the “Next Generation” ones, as well. It’s possible I watched 1979’s “The Motion Picture” when I was a kid, but for all intents and purposes, I am treating this as my first viewing.
This review is based on the theatrical version of Robert Wise’s film. Yes, I know he did a director’s edition for the 2001 DVD release, but I wanted to watch the theatrical for my first viewing to get an idea of what audiences saw when it was released. I’ll be honest- if I watched this as a child, I probably would have hated it. As an adult that is just short of 49, I think I kind of love it. I would not put it above “Wrath of Khan” when it comes to the original series cast films, but it’s a visual feast, interested in ideas, and wrapped in not only remarkable visual effects by the legendary Douglas Trumbull, but also a wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith. No wonder he became a franchise staple after this (other than him being Jerry freaking Goldsmith).
The first thing we see in “The Motion Picture” is, a black screen. It’s hard to imagine a mainstream movie having an Overture in 1979 (when it’s name was not “Apocalypse Now”), but that is how Wise frames the film, and I get it. We next see several Klingon warships approaching a mysterious cloud in space. They get engulfed by it, and we learn that the cloud is headed towards Earth. We also see Spock (Leonard Nimoy) on Vulcan, going through a ritual to purge himself of emotion. In Starfleet, the Enterprise- which has been undergoing a major refit- is to be dispatched to intercept the cloud, which has a lot of energy in it. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) has been promoted to Admiral, and cites his experience to take control of the Enterprise for the mission. This is at odds with its current Captain, Willard Decker (Stephen Collins), whom he keeps on as First Officer because he knows how the Enterprise currently is. Spock and the rest of the Original Series crew returns, and we also get another new character in Ilia (Persis Khambatta), a navigation officer who will be crucial when the Enterprise meets up with the cloud.
I love that the producers brought in Robert Wise to direct this film. A director whose career spans just about every genre, the predecessor for his work in “The Motion Picture” is definitely his 1951 sci-fi classic, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Yes, in plot the two could not be further from one another, but ultimately, the films feel like a fine pair in that we get alien beings bringing messages to humanity to keep in mind. In the case of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” it’s a message from Earth’s past. That the film’s writers- screenwriter Harold Livingston and story developer Alan Dean Foster- decided to bring a part of actual human history into the narrative is a great touch, and helps bring a more tangible aspect to the science fiction aspect of the story that I really enjoyed.
The performances from the Original Series cast members are all solid- even a decade after the show was off the air, it is like none of them ever left- but it’s the “guest stars” of the movie in Collins and Khambatta that leave the stronger impressions, which is important given the dynamics at play between the characters. This film is probably a greater spectacle than it needed to play- definitely a film in the wake of “Star Wars’s” success- but Trumbull’s visual effects are nothing short of spectacular. And they are matched by a score by Goldsmith that is classic Goldsmith in its musical texture and bombast. With this film as an opening salvo to the franchise’s film legacy, I think I’m ready to finally catch up with the ones I have not seen before.
