Star Trek I: The Motion Picture

With the success of Star Wars and Close Encounters, it was inevitable that Gene Roddenberry would take his successful ‘tongue-in-cheek’ Star Trek series and catapult it onto the big screen. Once Robert Wise was introduced to the mix (director of The Sound of Music) the whole project seemed to be doomed. Why would paramount take a director (obviously a skilled one) who had no knowledge of the genre and give him potentially one of the largest blockbusters of modern times is a mystery, and perhaps doomed the movie from the outset; what promised to be a superlative introduction for many into the world of Star Trek, with powerful characters and a visionary stance, turned into a showcase of Hollywood’s art department.

What you end up with is a magnificent movie, that looks stunning and real, has some pretty amazing cinematography (the open scenes where we first see the Enterprise are visually stunning) but seems to lack a lot of the camaraderie that has made the Star Trek franchise so successful. The monster that was created was an artistic masterpiece, with a stunning score, that somehow has lost its heart.

To understand what went wrong you perhaps have to understand what made the original series so successful. It was a combination of clever short stories, a stellar cast and an often ‘foolhardy’ attempt to shatter all modern day prejudices. As an example, we have a Russian, a Chinese man and a black woman all in positions of command on a flagship ‘space ship’. We also see episodes which directly tackle prejudice – one particularly comes to mind – where one part of the population is white on one half and black on the other, and the other is black on one half and white on the other – this clever commentary on many aspects of racism highlights what Rodenberry was trying to achieve with Star Trek.

As we begin to watch the movie (note – it takes a good 20 to 30 minutes before we even begin to see any plot) the plot is very contrite and doesn’t seem to hold any of the qualities that Rodenberry is famous for. As you hear about an alien vessel that is moving towards Earth destroying all in its path, you somehow feel that the movie is going to be less ‘human’ than the series and perhaps a lot more abstract. Of course, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is the Captain of the trusty Enterprise, and his mission should he choose to accept it (What? That’s a different sci-fi series?!) is to intercept the alien ship and try and stop it before it gets to Earth – it’s obviously a very simplistic plot and this highlights the fact that the director seems more intent on highlighting his skills with scenery and special effects rather than his skills at film-making.

One thing that really surprised me about this movie was the pace. A snail would have been bored by it – it inches along – as mentioned before the opening sequences that introduce the new Enterprise are over 20 to 30 minutes – this was a vast amount of time without any plot and really diminishes the movie – for me, the movie should have been full of explosions, fisty cuffs and romance – this wasn’t the case.

Also, perhaps due to having a poor script, or no plot to work with, the cast really doesn’t shine. While all your favorites are here, there simply isn’t any charisma (while I am not a huge fan of the original series, it did contain some very good characters, and the interplay between the characters was fun and real - especially with Spock, Kirk and Doctor McCoy.). The whole movie, including the dialogue just seemed too forced and wooden – with the actors going through the motions rather than playing a part (perhaps this is why it is called ‘The Motion Picture’.

Perhaps what is lacking most is humor – William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy have a natural comedic talent that normally shines through when they act together – this was not evident at all. Shatner always seems to play characters that are fun, full of energy and perhaps a little mischievous – this is very evident in the original series – but this is not visible at all in the movie.

Leonard Nimoy as the trusty science officer Spock, a very logical Vulcan, had fun in the original series, balancing the lack of ‘emotions’ that Vulcan’s have with subtle ‘eye brow’ movements and a glint in the eye that spoke volumes – again this was not evident in the movie – however despite this, Nimoy is perhaps about the closest to actually having a little character.
Doctor McCoy (DeForest Kelley) also disappoints – some of his one-liners in the series were very funny – while there were a couple in this movie, they weren’t quite delivered with the same aplomb. My favorite character from the series Scotty, is affable as ever, but yet again is a little wooden.

So overall is this a good movie? From a purely artistic point of view it is stunning to watch and listen to. It has a similar quality to 2001 where you find yourself almost watching an event happen rather than being embroiled in an adventure movie. You could almost believe this was a documentary on Space Travel, as aspects of the movie have an almost ‘museum’ like quality.

It’s a shame in a way, if the same attention to detail with the artistic side of the movie had been applied to the screen writing and the character development then you would have had a very good movie. As it is, the movie is mediocre at best – the stunning looks cannot mask the poor script, plot and acting. The overall feel of the ‘movie’ is of a B-Movie that has undergone an overhaul to make it look nice.

For pure enthusiasts I am sure it will provide some measure of satisfaction, but new viewers will not appreciate the movie and perhaps will be put off the whole Star Trek franchise.

For more of my movie opinions click here.