Which movie is most like a TOS episode?

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Minuet wrote:

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Yeah, yeah, I know, those are all the basic complaints that everyone throws at The Motion Picture. The film has so much more than most people give it credit for. It's the film where Spock explicitly proclaims his deep bond for Kirk, his th'hy'la. You have to admit it's a powerful scene. There's gobs of character development and emotion between Kirk and Spock in that movie, to the extent that I can't even imagine why anyone would completely dismiss the film outright.

But, that's an argument for another topic (and it's an argument that's been argued to death). I think I just have to agree to disagree with the majority of fandom who explicitly dislikes TMP.

Chalk me up as a comrade in arms, Minuet! TMP is a magnificent cinematic achievement and remains my favourite of the eleven Star Trek movies. To this day, I still love firing up my home cinema system and immersing myself in the staggering visuals and incredible soundtrack - soaking up the wonderful atmosphere of the whole experience.

[sonak]

LOKAI of CHERON wrote:

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Chalk me up as a comrade in arms, Minuet! TMP is a magnificent cinematic achievement and remains my favourite of the eleven Star Trek movies. To this day, I still love firing up my home cinema system and immersing myself in the staggering visuals and incredible soundtrack - soaking up the wonderful atmosphere of the whole experience.

why not just listen to the soundtrack while watching one of those abstract art screensavers? You'd get the same effect.

[milo bloom]

Have to agree with the others, The Final Frontier and The Motion Picture may be considered the least of the movies but they are the most like the original series. I've even considered for a while the idea that TMP works better as a "series finale" for TOS, than it does as the first movie (TWOK does that spectacularly).

Coming after the more cinematic Genesis trilogy, TFF is a tonal shift (lurch?), but viewed within the gestalt of the franchise, it does indeed feel most like a TOS episode.

[Gojira]

I found the TSFS and TFF to be the most like the TV show. Both underrated movies IMHO and a lot of fun to watch. Both had great character arcs and development.

[LOKAI of CHERON]

sonak wrote:

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why not just listen to the soundtrack while watching one of those abstract art screensavers? You'd get the same effect.

YAWN. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Galileo7]

Harvey wrote:

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Star Trek V: The Final Frontier has always felt the most like an episode of the series. It's very episodic, and despite the big themes, is mostly focused on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Doesn't make it a great movie.

KingDaniel wrote:

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Definitely the underrated STV. It had that warm crew = family vibe the TV series had.

Agree, TFF.

[Minuet]

TFF really is underrated. Sybok is one of my favorite Trek villains of all time, probably second only to Khan, because he was ambiguous and fundamentally different than any other villain or even most villains of Sci-Fi. He was actually likeable. And Laurence Luckinbill is one hell of an actor.

[Nerys Myk]

The later half of TWOK reminds me of Balance of Terror.

[BillJ]

I'm going with The Search for Spock.

Thematic similarities with Amok Time about friendship and sacrifice plus I think Christopher Lloyd is my third favorite Klingon behind Kang and Kor, an absolute scene-chewer in the best TOS tradition.

[jayrath]

I like TOS best when it offered strong morality tales. Yes, it often went over the top, but so many of the films never even bothered to try. (Anyone care to suss out a moral for NEM?) And so TVH and TUC, to me, are most like TOS.

TMP's moral was invented on the soundstage, tacked on to finish the script. WoK makes a good try at creating a message, though. I fear it was lost on me when I first saw it, in high school; in many ways, it's a film for those in mid-life and older.

[Andymator]

jayrath wrote:

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I like TOS best when it offered strong morality tales. Yes, it often went over the top, but so many of the films never even bothered to try. (Anyone care to suss out a moral for NEM?) And so TVH and TUC, to me, are most like TOS.

Huh? Nemesis is probably the most blatant one out of all the films; What makes you who you are, nature or nurture? And then it tries to answer that question with "neither", that's it's our choices that define us.

Whether you like the film or not, it definitely had a moral.

[jayrath]

You are right and I am wrong. Really.

[RAMA]

STTMP: Not much like TOS. Different look, a more mature outlook to AI, but also a less warm feel.

STII: Closer to the feel of TOS: Still, a "villain" centered story, there weren't too many villains in TOS..and in this case Khan was underwritten in the movie, but redeemed by a great performance. Space Seed was better written for Khan. It was more military and had more battles.

STIII: Nothing but "family", the crew is even more close at this point. The Klingons dont feel much like the 60s Klingons, but there is something of a tv episode intimacy in this movie.

STIV: A lack of a central villain, a slingshot around the sun, lots of humor like several popular episodes, and a message. This feels a lot like a big budget TOS episode!

STV: SHatner kept this one from feeling like a TOS episode. Illogical characters, humor at the characters expense, bad writing, poor planning...about the only thing that feels like TOS is the FX.

STVI: Meyer made this feel like his own, there are things Roddenberry never would have put in this movie.

RAMA

[The Overlord]

milo bloom wrote:

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Have to agree with the others, The Final Frontier and The Motion Picture may be considered the least of the movies but they are the most like the original series. I've even considered for a while the idea that TMP works better as a "series finale" for TOS, than it does as the first movie (TWOK does that spectacularly).

Coming after the more cinematic Genesis trilogy, TFF is a tonal shift (lurch?), but viewed within the gestalt of the franchise, it does indeed feel most like a TOS episode.

But there is a reason why a movie is a movie and a TV show is a TV show. A Star Trek movie shouldn't feel like an episode of TOS or TNG, it should feel like a movie, it should have a more grandiose plot then a TV episode. That was one of the criticisms of Star Trek Insurrection it felt like a an episode rather then a movie.

If TMP and TFF are similar to TOS episodes, they are similar to the bad episodes, not the good ones.

[Lord Garth]

RAMA wrote:

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STTMP: Not much like TOS. Different look, a more mature outlook to AI, but also a less warm feel.

STII: Closer to the feel of TOS: Still, a "villain" centered story, there weren't too many villains in TOS..and in this case Khan was underwritten in the movie, but redeemed by a great performance. Space Seed was better written for Khan. It was more military and had more battles.

STIII: Nothing but "family", the crew is even more close at this point. The Klingons dont feel much like the 60s Klingons, but there is something of a tv episode intimacy in this movie.

STIV: A lack of a central villain, a slingshot around the sun, lots of humor like several popular episodes, and a message. This feels a lot like a big budget TOS episode!

STV: SHatner kept this one from feeling like a TOS episode. Illogical characters, humor at the characters expense, bad writing, poor planning...about the only thing that feels like TOS is the FX.

STVI: Meyer made this feel like his own, there are things Roddenberry never would have put in this movie.

RAMA

You know what? I'll go with this.

I never thought about it that way. Traditionally, I'd always gone with TFF by default because it has the status quo of the series and nothing changes. TVH does work better even if Spock's not himself.