Star Trek: The Motion Picture

In December of 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was released, continuing the story of the crew of the Enterprise ten years after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series. With Academy Award winning director Robert Wise at the helm, and a huge, for the time, budget of $45 million, it would launch a series that would continue for ten more films, and thirty years. The only thing is, that it really wasn't that great of a film.

As with many Star Trek stories, The Motion Picture tells the story of Earth being threatened by an alien presence. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) returns to the Enterprise after two and a half years away to lead the mission to stop it. Which isn't exactly the best thing that's ever happened to the ship's current captain, Willard Decker (Stephen Collins), who has to suffer the indignity of a demotion. Kirk proceeds to supplement the members of the crew that are already on board, including Scotty (James Doohan), Sulu (George Takei), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), with those that have left, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) plus the ship's new navigator Lt. Illia (Persis Khambatta). And if you thought that list of characters was long, imagine that it took about 45 minutes, and you'd have an an idea of the beginning of the film. It takes forever to get to the heart of the story, bogging completely down in character intros and moments that pander to the fans. The essence of the story, investigating an unknown alien probe, has some interesting ideas, but isn't explored enough to justify the film's running time.

Which gets at the heart of the film's problem.Its story was developed out of the the pilot script for a proposed television continuationof Star Trek, called Phase II. The television pilot had the same basic plot of an earth probe encountering a civilization of advanced machines, sent back, and the Enterprise having to investigate it. It'd make a great film, if they hadn't just stretched out a shorter story to make it fit. The plot never feels like it's advancing fast enough, because there isn't enough plot.

There are some great moments, and great effects in the film. The introduction of the refit Enterprise is spectacular. The ship itself, both inside and out, is wonderful. It retains a similar feel to the original, but updates it, and makes it more cinematic. Jerry Goldsmith's score is fantastic, setting the perfect tone for the sweeping visual style.

I don't really enjoy Star Trek: The Motion Picture very much, I'm more of a fan of the style, and the films, that came after this, but can see the difficult task that making this first film presented. They had to make a film that would both appeal to new audience members, and cater to those who were originally fans. If they erred a little too much on the fans side, I can't really blame them. But I do wish the film had been better.

Grade: C