Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
This is probably only the third time I watch this. First time when I bought on VHS, then later on DVD and now on Blu-ray. I am the type of Star Trek fan that basically think everything Star Trek is better than no Star Trek, but I do tend to prefer the tv series over the movies. I remembered this, like many others do, as the slow one that tries to mimic 2001.
Watching it again was a very mixed experience. No denying everything looks great and it is understandable that they wanted to show the audience so much of the Enterprise and the higher production value they had compared to the tv show, but the first half of the movie really really dragged. I don’t mind slow movies, but the problem here is that it felt more like it was a need to show off their set designs and effects and less because it added to the movie as a whole. And 2001 simply did that better.
The second half is much better and really felt like a good episode. I do prefer the movies that are more like extended episodes, like Insurrection, over the more action oriented stories - and with the whole revelation of the true nature of V’Ger it touched upon the more philosophical themes without an evil antagonist that made the original show special. It taps into the Star Trek ideal of search for knowledge as well as the debate between logic and emotions. Seeing the revelation of what V’Ger actually was didn’t quite have the impact as the first time, but it still gets me.
The main problem is still the first half which only has the transporter incident scene as something that really stand out. And that was one of the most chilling scenes in all of Star Trek ever.
I am probably at like 2 stars for the first half and 5 starts for the second. This could have been up there with the absolute best actual science fiction movies and not just another “battles in space”, but it still is miles behind the greats like 2001 or Contact that I think has similar ambitions and themes.
Rating: 4