-First word that comes to mind: AWKWARD. The plot is clunky and hard to follow. A lot of things - how did Jim end up with a ground job? why did Bones and Spock leave?- are never explained. The Enterprise is shown from all angles for long minutes before Kirk's shuttle finally docks, but the getting-together-again of the crew is expedited in a short scene on the bridge before the ship speeds off. The chemistry and ease between the characters has disappeared, making the interactions appear stilted and unnatural. The few moments of emotion - Spock crying, the sickbay scene - were not well integrated into the script and only made evrything feel more awkward and clunky, a rusty mechanism. No, not a very triumphant return.
-Kirk. His attitude with Decker and his lack of explanation makes him apppear pushy and unsympathetic. A simple scene in private with Bones where he amditted how miserable he'd been feeling the last 2 years behind a desk would have done a lot for making him look better. He was also on edge for the entire first half of the movie and kept making stupid mistakes and taking wild guesses,which made him look out of his depth. Thank God things smoothed out a little later.
-Kirk and Spock: if I hadn't seen the K/S scenes separately before (and numerous times), I would probably have overlooked them in the movie as a whole; they are much slashier taken out of context, because within the movie, there is no lead-on, and emotion feels curiously absent. Even the famed sickbay scene failed to move me, even if Kirk's smile was suitably warm and the handclasp tight and long.
-Nimoy: what the hell happened to his voice? Instead of a low, clear, sexy baritone, his voice here sounds broken and hoarse. Did his alcoolism take his toll? And where did that scar on his right cheek come from?
-Janice Rand is back? Holy cow. I know she left the series mid 1st season, I never thought she would be coming back, ever. I did a triple-take after Kirk adressed her as "Rand" before I recognized Whitney. And by the way, Chapel looks very different with brown hair.
-The transporter incident at the beginning: I thought Lori Ciani, Kirk's short-term wife, was supposed to be one of the victims, but the movie never mentionned it. Did I hallucinate that? I confess I don't see the use of that incident at all, as it was fixed immediately after with none of the characters mentionning it again and everyone using it as usual and even Bones accepting to beam up (he *can't* have known about it or he would never have left Earth other than in a shuttle).
-The uniforms are horrible. Horrible. And SCREAMNING 70s. The reason I love the TOS uniforms is because their very simplicity allowed them to cross the ages: plain red, yellow and blue, long-sleeved and round-necked could perfectly be uniforms today. The TMP uniforms, though, one-piece with collared V-necks, are thoroughly of their time and therefore date the movie a lot. Plus, the original colors showed the actors to their best advantage. Kirk looked great in gold, he looks bland in nondescript grey. Spock gets away with it best because the grey is close to his original blue. And thank God, he was spared the V neck; Spock with an opened collar would have killed me.
And speaking of uniforms, anyone noticed Uhura is finally allowed pants? Hip hip hip hurrah for feminism!
-The jumbo V'ger machine somehow vaporizes at the end. The Enterprise, which was 17 km INSIDE the bowels of the thing, emerges unscathed. How the fuck did that work? Plus, the last shot shows the Enterprise "sailing away" on Kirk's order. Er, where does he thinks he's going? His orders are carried out, logically he should have headed back to Earth. "Thataway" makes for a fun ending but it's not very realistic.
-Not crazy about the music. I like the original or the reboot's better. Or maybe it's the fact the same air was repeated way too often.
-I'd been told the movie was long and static. They were right. Changeling offered a much more interesting version of this story, and it had much more to offer
Still, I did get a thrill at seeing the characters in a movie format, and having the pieces I had of the TMP puzzle finally coming together.
4 comments:
Mary, this movie was wonderful to see for us Trekkies when it came out way back when. But yes, it was quite the disappointment in many ways.
Too much time spent shooting the darn ship, too many plot holes. The chemistry was definitely not there... the whole thing felt cold. I definitely think that the movies get better (with one exception) as they go along and the actors work together again.
Have you seen the other movies?
I watched Wrath of Khan friday night. And oh yeah, HUGE improvement over TMP. The chemistry was operating there and the spirit of the Original Series was there as well. I knew Spock died at the end, I'd seen the damn scene dozens of times in Youtube fanvids, yet it couldn't stop me from crying at the end. I wasn't quite blown away by Khan as a villain as much as everyone seems to have been, though. As an action movie, actually, it sort of made me want to watch the reboot movie again. *sheepish*
Can I guess that your exception to the "movies-getting-better" rule is Shatner's 5th installment, Final Frontier? ;) Everyone says that one is really bad.
'm glad you watch Wrath of Khan, I really enjoyed that one too and at the time was SHOCKED when Spock died at the end -- devasted, actually.
Final Frontier.. hmm.. you'll have to watch that one and decide for yourself. I definitely was not impressed by it all, although of course I recommend you watch it because it added to the ongoing storyline as a whole. :)
I should watch these again, it's been a very long time. I remember going to see them on opening day, lol!
On opening day? Lol. You really were a Trekkie, then :-D So you were shocked when Spock died? I thought all the fans knew of it beforehand. Or was everyone hoping it wasn't true or that the producers would ultimately have chickened out?
I'm absolutely going to watch FF anyway...if only for the homey firecamp scene with Kirk Spock and McCoy in the beginning :). It seems that for all its flaws, this film showcases the relationship of the three friends really well. Plus, I'm curious to see how Shatner's take on directing makes this film different from the others.
The one movie I might skip, though, is Generations. I don't think I can stand seeing Kirk die permanently.
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