Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Dir. Robert Wise

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture which itself marked the return of the live action version of Star Trek. In the interim between the show’s cancellation and the first Star Trek film there was a short lived animation version which is generally considered apocryphal in series canon. The level of excitement for the new Star Trek series must have been palpable because many probably believed that new Star Trek of any kind of would unlikely. Yet Star Trek: The Motion Picture sparked a return of Star Trek that has lasted to this day albeit with some varying degrees of quality. With the eleventh Star Trek film due to be released in May, it seems as a good a time as any to revisit the film that started that Star Trek film franchise.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture has always had a spotty reputation among the ten current Star Trek films and generally ranks toward the bottom when they are ranked. Watching it again but for first time in its “Director’s Cut” version on DVD, I concur with the nickname it has earned: the “slow motion picture.” But I am also more impressed than I have been before.

In writing about Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it is too easy to focus on the obvious problem: it is boring. Why is it boring? Not because what happens is not that interesting, but because not that much happens. Here’s a quick synopsis of the film: A mysterious cloud is on a collision course with Earth and disintegrates everything in its path including a squadron of Klingon warships and a Federation space station. Because the only starship capable of intercepting this cloud is the newly refit U.S.S. Enterprise, now Admiral Kirk takes command of his favorite starship from its new captain Will Decker, much to Decker’s annoyance. The ship is later joined by Spock who feels drawn to cloud. The U.S.S. Enterprise enters the cloud which zaps the ship's bald helmsman Lt. Ilia who had a fling with Decker in the past. This cloud, called V’Ger, then returns Ilia to the ship as a herald. Kirk, McCoy, Spock, and Decker race to solve the V’Ger mystery before it zaps everyone on Earth. They all venture to V’Ger’s core which turns out to be an old NASA probe “Voyager 6.” V’Ger wants to unite with its creator and Decker volunteers for the job as a way to reunite with his former flame. V’Ger disappears, evidently evolving into a higher form of life, and the U.S.S. Enterprise warps off into space.

Now, that description makes it seems like a lot goes on, but it takes the movie forever to reach its conclusion. The U.S.S. Enterprise does not even get under full steam until forty-five minutes into the movie. Long stretches of the film are devoted to admiring the Enterprise and the mysterious V’Ger cloud. This film is in love with its own special effects.

I think Star Trek: The Motion Picture needs be viewed differently from the other Star Trek films that followed. This is mainly due to its ambitious nature. While Star Wars allowed STTMP to be made, the filmmakers did not want this film to be a Star Wars rip-off. Star Trek always tried to be more cerebral and tried to explore big ideas rather than purely being swashbuckling in space. This first Star Trek film instead went the 2001: A Space Odyssey route and attempted to be a cerebral Sci-fi film. This is evident in the fact that there are no space battles and long stretches of the film are silent except for the score. The Starship Enterprise goes “where no man has gone before” in its V’Ger adventure. And just like Dave Bowman, Decker turns into a sort of “star-child.” Spock even has a sort of “star gate” like trip inside V’Ger. On second thought, this film really should have been called Star Trek: A Space Odyssey.

I mentioned the special effects before and how this film is love with them, but they are excellent special effects. The shots of the U.S.S. Enterprise in space dock as magnificent and I especially enjoyed the shots of the Enterprise relative to massive scope of V’Ger. They did marvelous work in 1979 and it still shows almost thirty years later.

The “Director’s Cut” version of the film added some special effects and trimmed some of the film to give it better pacing, but I didn’t notice that much of a difference watching it this time. Perhaps this is due to the fact that not much has changed or I haven’t seen the film enough to notice. A few new special effects shots were noticeably too modern for 1979 but these additions are peripheral and add value rather than being too anachronistic. In one impressive addition, colossus sized statues pepper the Vulcan landscape during the scene where Spock fails his Kohlinar test. But on a whole, the Director’s Cut version seemed largely the same as I remembered it.

Some other thoughts I had while watching the film: The uniforms for Star Trek: The Motion Picture were dreadful and without a doubt the worst in the series. Why they thought those pastel pajamas were attractive is beyond me. McCoy and Chapel looked like they stepped out of Love Boat with the medical garb they are wearing. Although I did like Kirk’s admiral uniform. The Enterprise seems very anti-septic flurescent and I’m glad this is improved later in the film series. The transporter accident that kills two crewmembers is very scary and I don’t recall anything before or after this as being as gruesome a death in Star Trek. I liked the little cameo Janice Rand and Nurse Chapel being promoted to Doctor Chapel. I loved McCoy’s first appearance where he beams aboard with a full beard and gold chains. I'm glad gold chains make a comeback in the 23rd century. Awesome.

I was surprised watching this film again that Lt. Ilia is not in it that much. I always thought it was odd she was featured alongside Kirk and Spock on the stupid rainbow colored poster art that is on the DVD box and this latest viewing confirms it. Although she’s important to the plot and its conclusion, she doesn’t have much dialogue and screen time.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a flawed film without argument and is rightly considered a bore, but it is an ambitious effort made by people not quite sure how Star Trek could work on the big screen. It differentiates itself from other Trek efforts by perhaps being the most cinematic. Maybe this was due to its big budget and direction by Hollywood legend Robert Wise. Everything seems bigger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture which is something that is lost in some later Star Trek films which often feel like overgrown TV episodes. This should not be forgotten when remembering this first attempt at Star Trek on the big screen.