Welcome to our review of the Star Trek film series. We will be taking a look at every Star Trek
movie and let you know what we think. Is it really true that the odd-numbered movies are bad
and the even-numbered movies are good? Stay tuned to Drake Brothers Film Reviews to find
out.
The first Star Trek movie we will be reviewing is Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). The best
way I can describe Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a ‘flawed masterpiece.’ The Motion Picture
is a really good science-fiction movie but falls a little short of being a great Star Trek movie.
Let’s start at the beginning: why was The Motion Picture made ten years after the original show
ended?
Star Trek, indeed science-fiction in general, owes a great debt to Star Wars: Episode IV
- A New Hope (1977). After Star Wars was a rousing success, every major movie studio was
trying to make their own science-fiction films. Science-fiction was cool again, and very profitable
too! When Paramount began to discuss what kind of science-fiction film to make, it dawned on
them that they already had the perfect science-fiction franchise to make a movie out of - Star
Trek! As much as they would hate to admit it, die-hard Star Trek fans owe a debt of gratitude to
Star Wars for revitalizing the public’s interest in science-fiction films.
However, don’t let these comments mislead you. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is not a copy of
Star Wars. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a noticeably slower-paced film than Star Wars.
While most Star Wars movies follow the same basic structure of adventure, lightsaber fights,
ship battles, and mystic philosophy, Star Trek is a little different. Sure, some Star Trek
episodes/movies have stunning ship battles, but that is not the point of Star Trek.
Star Trek is ultimately about exploration: both the universe and of the human experience. Star Trek doesn’t take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It takes place a couple of centuries in our future. And like real life, sometimes our own adventures are lighthearted, and sometimes they are dark as hell. Some moments in life move at a fast pace to where you can barely catch your breath, and sometimes life can be slower moving, with plenty of time to take in the sights and think. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the latter. If this doesn’t sound interesting to you, hopefully, I can convince you otherwise by the end of this review.
The basic plot is basic enough. A mysterious, powerful alien cloud known as V'Ger approaches Earth, destroying everything in its path, and it is on its way to planet Earth! Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) assumes command of the recently refitted Starship USS Enterprise, to lead it on a mission to save the world and determine V'Ger's origins. Many of the original crew from the show returned, including obscure fan favorites, such as Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand, and Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel. You don’t have to have seen the show to follow the movie, but it does make this movie better if you have.
The Flaws
Before we get any further in this review, let’s address the elephant in the room: the flaws of the
movie. Many of the actors, including DeForest Kelly (Dr. McCoy), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock),
and Shatner, did not like how the movie was more about the plot and the visuals than the
characters. However, in my opinion, the original series has always lacked character
development outside of the main three characters: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Although Uhura
(Nichelle Nichols), Sulu (George Takei), Chekov (Walter Koenig), and Scotty (James Doohan)
are iconic, they (except Scotty towards the end of the show) never got much character
development. This is because anytime the writers tried to write clever dialogue or scenes for the
other characters, William Shatner would get jealous and pitch a fit until the writers rewrote the
script to favor his character, James T. Kirk. William Shatner’s unprofessional attitude is what hurt
the original Star Trek movies and show the most.
Imagine how much better it could’ve been if Shatner learned how to share his screen time with others. After all, it is called Star Trek, not Kirk. Whether it is due to Shatner’s shenanigans or something else, the two new characters, William Decker (Stephen Collins) and Ilia (Persis Khambatta) do not have much to do. This being said, I thought that they did a really good job with what they were given. I especially wish that Ilia had more screen time because this is the only Star Trek franchise so far that her alien race, Deltan, appears. It would be cool to see another Deltan in a future Star Trek project. The best part of Stephen Collins’ Decker is the tension he has with Kirk. Of course, without going into spoiler territory, it makes sense as to why this is his only movie.
The Masterpiece
Now let’s get to what makes Star Trek: The Motion Picture a good movie. Until the release of
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the only way to see the starship Enterprise was on the original
series, and the animated series. The model used for the show is iconic to be sure, but most
episodes used the same exact footage of the model. This means that you only ever got to see the Enterprise do a few different things on-screen. However, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the
best the Enterprise has ever looked on-screen. And yes, I am even including the Kelvin timeline
Star Trek movies (Chris Pine films). The six-minute scene of Kirk and Scotty seeing the Enterprise for the first time after all these years is the best scene in the movie (watch it below). It is a beautiful scene that is worth the ‘price of admission alone, as it were.
The W I D E S C R E E N format, along with the film’s large casting budget, shows off just how big the Enterprise crew is. It is neat to be able to see everyone that works on the Enterprise in a single frame, instead of just seeing random crew members walk around in the background like on the original show. The senior staff may be the main characters, but there are at least 100 people that work on the enterprise, according to the book Star Trek: Spaceflight Chronology. Director Robert Wise did a great job on making the Enterprise’s first full-length outing look truly cinematic.
The sets are equally as impressive. James Doohan mentioned in his autobiography how much
he loved the engineering set. While iconic, the original Enterprise set always felt like a set to
me. However, in this movie, you forget that it is a set, and you feel as if you are actually on a
real spaceship. If the Enterprise were a real spaceship, I imagine that this is what it would look
like.
The finale, in which Spock goes into the cloud, is also a fantastic sequence. Never before or
since have I seen such a trippy scene in a Star Trek film. Let’s just say that Spock truly goes
where no man has gone before. If you liked 2001: A Space Odyssey, you’ll love this scene.
You probably could’ve made this plot as a television episode, but it wouldn’t have been as
impressive. I like how we can take our time, and admire the Enterprise in all her glory. I like how
we see more of how the crew runs the ship. If it were made for the original show, most of the
episode would’ve been dialogue-heavy. Since the movie had a much bigger budget, it is neat to
see what a Star Trek episode would’ve been like if it was told primarily through the visuals rather
than the dialogue. Perhaps more than any other Star Trek film, this is a ‘show, don’t tell’ kind of
movie.
And for that, it is a masterpiece. Did the movie fix the problem from the show by giving the
senior staff more to do and develop their characters? No. And that is why it is a flawed masterpiece. If Star Trek: The Motion Picture developed the characters more, I think it would be a more popular movie. As a science-fiction film, it is visual storytelling at its finest. As a Star Trek film, it failed to live up to fans' expectations of developing the characters.
All in all, I definitely recommend that you watch this movie. If you are new to Star Trek, I’d recommend that you watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or the Kelvin timeline Star Trek movies first, as they have more character development and action. You do not need to see The Motion Picture in order to understand them. Star Trek: The Motion Picture may be slower-paced than the others Star Trek films, but the Enterprise has never looked better. If you ever wondered what it would be like to actually be on the starship Enterprise, then this is the movie for you.
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