Star Trek: The Motion Picture
It's time for the annual rewatch. Plus, good Star Trek podcasts to check out.
I’ve picked up a lot of new readers with my musings on the podcast industry, and don’t want to scare anyone off….but I did promise myself NO RULES when I started this substack, and today is one of my favorite days of the year.
The best of the Star Trek Podcasts is hands sown Inglorious Treksperts. Even though their cover art game leaves a lot to be desired, these are Trek fans of a certain age (mine) and one of them (Daren Dochterman) even worked on the 2022 definitive release of the film. Start at the beginning, and ignore them when they lose their way and think Season 3 of Picard was good. It wasn’t, it just was less horrendous than any of the other modern Star Trek. I digress…
The other one I used to really like is Mission Log. The first 700 or so episodes rewatching TOS, TAS and TNG are on point. Then I lost interest when one of the original hosts tapped out and they started talking about DS9 and then got caught up in being friendly with the KurtzmanTrek folks who are ruining Star Trek. But those first 700 episodes got me through a LOT of marathon training.
On to the main feature, but first I’d like you to sit here for three minutes without reading further. You will learn why once you resume scrolling.
OVERTURE
Every December 7th, and I mean EVERY December 7th, I watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which came out on Stardate 7912.07 (December 7th, 1979 to you Earthers). This movie means the world to me, and every time I watch it I see something new.
If you're of a certain age, and a Star Trek fan, you were raised on 6pm reruns on Channel 11 in New York. With just 79 episodes, you had about 4 months until the cycle started over. You became VERY familiar with these episodes. Then, we got word that there might be a new Star Trek Movie. This was 1979 folks. Shows didn't come back from the dead or get rebooted. Star Trek, back???????
There was no internet back then, so you got what info you could from Starlog. There were rumors. Spock has long hair! Scotty has a mustache! McCoy has a beard…and he’s a veterinarian!
Here's the thing about Star Trek: The Motion Picture - younger fans don't understand this movie. You don't understand how amazing it was that it came back. You don't understand the anticipation. You don't understand what it was to see Star Trek back on a big screen - and I don't mean the screen at the local 12 screen multiplex, I mean the OLD PALACES, in my case the RKO Keith in Flushing - the old giant screen theaters that had balconies.
If you’ve never seen the film…it’s 2.5 years after Star Trek The Original Series (even though it’s actually ten years later and everyone looks it). Kirk has been promoted and is miserable (something that I have always factored into my own career. I like making shows. I like the center seat, not the Admiral’s desk.) An emergency happens and its time to get the gang back together etc etc.
One scene that gets critiqued by those who grew up on ADD Marvel flicks and who watch off youtube on their phones, is the Enterprise fly-around. YOU DON'T GET IT.
That scene isn't Kirk ogling the Enterprise, that scene is US.
The E looks better than ever, on a giant screen. You were used to seeing the TV version on - maybe if you were lucky - a 13 inch color set (in the days where your TV may not have been color) with over the air service that may have had snow or static. That majestic fly around as the Enterprise is slowly revealed, along with that great Jerry Goldsmith score... oh man.
Let's talk about that score. The Motion Picture starts with something almost unheard of in modern movies - an Overture. Three minutes of sitting in a dark theater as Goldsmith's main theme washes over you. It sets the tone perfectly - this isn't going to be a fast-paced action movie. This is capital-S Science Fiction. No phasers, no space battles, just big ideas and bigger questions about humanity's place in the cosmos.
The 2022 Director's Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is nothing short of miraculous. Producer David C. Fein and Visual Effects Supervisor Daren Dochterman didn't just clean up the original film - they finally finished it. Working from Robert Wise's original notes and plans, they completed effects sequences that had to be rushed for the 1979 theatrical release. The result is stunning in 4K.
Some scenes that never quite worked now sing. The Enterprise in drydock looks even more stunning. V'Ger's presence feels more alien and threatening. The bridge sound effects are more in line with the original series. It's like seeing the movie as it was always meant to be seen.
The Enterprise looks even more majestic in drydock. V'Ger's presence feels more alien and threatening. Even simple things like the way the wormhole sequence plays out make more sense now. Dochterman and his team managed to enhance the effects while staying true to the original 1979 aesthetic - this isn't some George Lucas-style reinvention, it's more like restoration work on a classic painting.
I had the novelization. I had the making-of book. I had the Marvel comics. I had the sticker book. (I still have all of them.) I had teh action figures (oops, made a mistake in 1982 to raise some money to buy a Colecovision, which at least I still have.)
Eventually we got the home VHS, then the DVD, then the Blu-Ray.
If you want to perform a stage version of this script, you can drop me into any role and I'll do it from memory RIGHT NOW as long as the other actors know their lines. You want me to play Sonak and give you a "report to YOU, sir?" I can do that. About twice a week I will say to myself "the new screens held." (usually promoted by a windy rainstorm and my umbrella not breaking.)
"You personally are assuming command?" Decker is right, you know. Kirk doesn’t know this Enterprise a tenth as well as he does.
Very under-appreciated in this film is Shatner.
In the first third of the film we see a Kirk that's off his game. He's a bit of a jerk face. He is condescending to Transporter Chief Rand, telling her the accident wasn't her fault. Yeah no kidding, you're the one that pushed her out of the way and took control Admiral. He has no idea where Turboshaft 8 is. (It's back that way, sir.)
Then Spock shows up to fix things, everyone is back where they belong (plus or minus the bridge stations moving around) and Kirk throws Chekov a wink. Suddenly Shatner is 1966 Kirk, calm, cool and collected....with puffy hair.
I love this film. It's not meant to be Star Wars, it is more like 2001. And if you start telling me it's just a remake of another Trek episode The ChangelLALALALALALAL I Can't hear you.
The Human Adventure is just beginning. The only question is how many times my wife interrupts my screening with a laundry basket.