Star Trek The Motion Picture: If You Could Remake It

I love the TOS and TMP uniforms.

I loathe the Dudley Do-Right suits used from TWOK onward.

Kor

 

Kirk's TMP uniform is my favorite of the franchise. I think something like that with the classic department colors as accents would be perfect for everyone.

 

The uniform Kirk is wearing when he arrives at Starfleet HQ San Francisco in TMP that J.J. made Pike wear a similar uniform in ST2009 ?

 

I'd give Kirk a fleet with Enterprise as his flagship in the true sense of the term; where tackling V-Ger becomes a war of attrition as various starships are destroyed in various schemes to deter V-Ger. I'd put in more scenes highlighting the panic on earth. Maybe go in that direction.

 

Yes.

 

Yes, I absolutely agree that Kirk uniform in TMP should have been the design.
Kirk looked excellent in it and the crew should have been in that design.

 

I had no problem with the 1701 being refit in TMP, but does anyone think it should have just been stated as being a whole new prototype starship instead of refit? I guess then it would have been designated 1701-A too.

 

I wouldn't remake it. It's a classic. It maybe needs some additional editing and a good optical clean-up.

 

I'd put' em all in TWOK uniforms.

Have Kirk take command of a task force of at least three starships and use the Enterprise as his flagship, instead of taking her away from Capt. Decker. That would also do away with the "temporary grade reduction" silliness.

Speed it up. That is one slow-moving story.

and of course:
Give Spock a goatee!

 

I'd finish the script before shooting started.

I'd give the script a good rewrite, making our heroes active rather than reactive, add some of the trademark TOS humor and action, and give it a decent climax. I'd make sure that the crew leaves the ship before the ending. I'd try to give Kirk and Spock better character arcs that didn't leave them unappealing shadows of their TOS selves for most of the runtime. I'd likely ax the character of Ilia altogether.

And yes, better uniforms are a must.

 

I'd take my cues from some of the earlier drafts, and probably jettison the whole 'refiting and relaunching the Enterprise' thing in favor of just starting with our crew already out there on regular patrol when they receive the distress message from the Klingons.

Maybe I'd spice things up by adding a little extra drama: make Kirk decide between responding to the distress call by crossing the border into Klingon space, or staying on this side and trying to determine what's going on without breaking regs (of course, ultimately he'd have to cross the border, and face the potential wrath of a Klingon ambush).

The finish this off, I'd add the alternative ending that is sometimes talked about: its revealed that the three Klingon ships were, like Enterprise, simply 'swallowed' by V'ger, and when the cloud is dispersed the Enterprise has to contend with the angry Klingons. Kirk elects to conducting a saucer-sepper to even the odds a little, and a climactic battle ensues.

(Maybe the opposing Klingons could even be introduced earlier, during the 'trek' through the bowels of V'Ger?)

So yeah, I'd tell the same story, but tighten it up a bit and add a few more ship-to-ship combat sequences to keep things a little bit more interesting and add tension to the script. My view of TMP has always been that while V'Ger poses a threat to the crew and to Earth, it's far too broad for the audience to really go along with it. Something a bit more visceral and "real", like dealing with some angry Klingon bastards, might help create some energy.

But ultimately, I think that TMP is just fine as it is.

 

When they realised it was quite slow, dull, not 'TOS' enough etc they shouldve followed the structure of TOS episodes and filmed a no expense spared 5 minute pre title action sequence (Bond/Indy style. also see STID) of Kirk & Spock (in slightly more advanced versions of their gold/blue TOS uniforms like STB. & Kirk with more TOS season 3 style hair) carrying some object while running and locked in a phaser fight (more advanced versions of TOS phasers like the Trek III ones) with a TOS looking hostile alien humanoid race (not Klingons or romulans) on an exotic alien planet (recreating the look of TOS planet sets but with a huge budget/matte painting vistas). Aliens jump Kirk/Spock. hand to hand (Kirk Fu/ripped shirt/Neck pinches) Kirk grabs the strange object he was carrying, shouts into his communicator (more expensive Trek III style) 'we've got the *whatever* Beam us up Scottie!' cut to Mr Scott as he beams them aboard the more advanced looking TOS transporter room. we follow them in one seamless shot as they run corridors/turbolifts until they step out onto the more advanced looking TOS bridge with Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, Bones. Cut to outside TOS Enterprise battling with 2 aliens ships phasers/photons etc (Star Wars worthy FX). Scottie on speaker moaning to kirk the ship cant take much more. Kirk pulls some impossible move then warps away just as an armada of alien ships arrive on the scene. we find out what the object was and why they were taking it (another Federation starship had accidently left it there so it could've been a Prime Directive hazard) Bones and Spock banter as Kirk sits back in the chair and lols

Cue Courage TOS theme. Titles. TOS theme morphs into the Goldsmith TMP theme

Black. "10 years later" card. Klingons approach vger

 

So you would have turned it into an Abrams movie!

 

Decker and Ilia's joining with V'Ger goes horribly wrong, and we end up with a giant deformed machine with Decker's head sticking out of one side, floating around the universe aimlessly, crying out "Help me! Help me!"

Kor

 

Spock graduates as valedictorian of the Kolinar class, Earth is destroyed by V'Ger.

The End !

Fixed that for you...

 

Can you transport with a single transporter, yes. However we saw dual transporters in The Trouble with Tribbles. Cloudminders suggested a receiving platform on the surface.


.

 

There'd be no Scotty being pulled through a transparent tube nor cadet to captain in one week in my film, boyo.

 

They also traveled to the center of the galaxy in a few hours in The Final Frontier.

The original Enterprise also traveled nearly a thousand lights years in twelve hours in "That Which Survives".

Spock also intercepts the Enterprise, from Vulcan, in a few hours in a shuttle in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

So what's the problem? Warp speeds have always been inconsistent in Trek. That is why "speed of plot" is so commonly associated with it.