|
Advertisement |
Overall Rating
  Awesome: 18.33%
Worth A Look: 13.33%
Average: 21.67%
Pretty Bad: 15%
Total Crap: 31.67%
2 reviews, 48 user ratings
|
|
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture |
by Justin Helmer
"Edit you bastards! EDIT!!"
|
I might as well get the confession right out of the way; I have been a fan of the Star Trek movies and television shows since I was a kid. In terms of intensity I would say I walk pretty nearly down the middle. (I have attended two conventions, I know probably more details than most, though I have never, NEVER worn a uniform.) I don't think I will have too much trouble remaining objective, but you may notice from time to time my freak flag flying. I will do my best to keep it in check.Star Trek: The Motion Picture-even the name sounds grandiose. Having become ridiculously popular in the time following its cancellation, in the late 1970's the creative team behind the TV show decided that it was time to make the jump to the big screen. Everything about this movie screams "Im a movie, not a TV show!" There is obviously much more money lying around to throw at special effects, and fancy (for the time) light shows. Everything is bigger: consequently of all of the movies to date, this one feels the least like an expanded TV adventure.
Which is not to say that all is hunky-dory here. We have one of the most serious cases of editorial laziness that I have ever seen. It is all well and good to give us a sense of scale, it should be bigger, otherwise why bother taking it off the television screen? But you can almost hear Gene Roddenberry in the background screaming; "Get me more footage of the ship!"¯ As an example take the first reveal of the newly re-designed starship Enterprise, why does the shuttle need to fly almost twice around the length of the ship? Yeah it looks cool, but for pity's sake, we've got lives to lead. The version that I watched to write this ran two hours and twenty-three minutes, and made it a point to mention the fact that there were twelve extra minutes of footage. We could easily loose all twelve extra minutes along with twenty or so of their brothers and sisters without any damage being done.
The story concerns a massive alien that is slowly making it's way towards earth, destroying everything that gets in its way. Kirk, Spock and the whole fam-damily are dispatched to find out what's going on and whether they can stop it. Much footage of the Enterprise traveling through space ensues; I mean a whole bunch. It feels like the special effects department is just whacking off at times. When the crew finally reaches the alien they spend a further few minutes journeying toward it's center. My question here; did they really have to show the process in real time? Oh, more fucking pictures of the Enterprise moving¦ great just what I needed.
The themes are some of Roddenberry's favorites, the ever-continuing quest for god. Or if not that, at least the quest for some sort of meaning. There certainly isn't any shortage of ideas in this script. But they are as dry as any philosophy syllabus.
The performances are uniformly serviceable from the crew. Persis Khambatta turns up as a glorified red-shirt. (Damn it there's that freak flag. "Red-shirt" in this case refers to someone whose purpose is to allow for death without endangering any of the core crew.) Funny how her performance doesn't change after she is made into a robot, it's a little uncanny.There's a curious amount of restraint at play here. Well, restraint in everything except the editing at any rate. It feels like the movie is begging for the audience to take it seriously, like somebody in the art department went back and watched 2001. Much of the humor is missing, and the entire color palette is whites and pastels. It makes the whole thing slide through the memory without really connecting to anything.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=2439&reviewer=315
originally posted: 01/18/03 20:04:46
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
TV to Screen: For more in the TV to Screen series, click here.
Trilogy Starters: For more in the Trilogy Starters series, click here.
|
 |
USA
06-Dec-1979 (PG)
UK
N/A
Australia
N/A
|
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed
![[AllPosters.com]](/images/icon/ap.gif){kind=icon}
