If TMP had kept going

[Pauln6]

There is no reason that future TMP stories would have needed to be identical in tone to TMP, but I agree that early TNG gives us an idea of what we would have been looking at - a good foundation for what was to come but largely mediocre, although a higher movie budget and Devil's Due could have been an interesting romp.

I would have liked to see more of Decker and Ilia actually, if their encounter with V'Ger had been hard-baked into their characters instead of using a reset button, similar to Picard's encounter with the Borg. It could have added a really interesting dimension to them - are they just modified probes transmitting data back to V'Ger? Maybe I'm just projecting Boomer from NuBSG...

 

[Kor]

It would have been like TNG seasons 1 and 2.

Kor

 

[Vger23]

To be clear there are aspects of TMP that I like (the FX and production values are great, for instance). It's other aspects that sink the film for me, and if I'm forced to make a blanket call on continuing as-is, then I'm forced to say "I think that would be a bad idea".

Bash the Star Wars prequel films all you like, but if AotC and RotS had continued the relatively juvenile tone of TPM then I imagine the criticisms would be much, much worse. Ironically in retrospect, I referred to TPM as "Disney does Star Wars".

Now, further missions with the refit as a new vessel and the characterization we'd see in later films (or TOS)? That I could enjoy.

Amazingly (and amazingly off-topic, admittedly)...I've come to find TPM to be my favorite of the 3 prequel films. The others are just so unbelievably muddled and shitty, I can barely watch (and I'm one of the most forgiving consumers of pop sci-fi in the history of humanity).

 

[Pauln6]

Amazingly (and amazingly off-topic, admittedly)...I've come to find TPM to be my favorite of the 3 prequel films. The others are just so unbelievably muddled and shitty, I can barely watch (and I'm one of the most forgiving consumers of pop sci-fi in the history of humanity).

I do find that, while enjoyable, the flaws and plot holes in the latter movies become more noticeable over time. Considering its troubled genesis, TMP stands up pretty well if you have the attention span to put up with its pacing.

I sometimes wonder, with Deepfake technology, what could be added using dialogue from the series and subsequent movies (or even actors' appearances in other shows) to spice it up a bit. Maybe a few lines could be thrown in during those many close up shots!

If Rand could be added with McCoy and Chapel when Spock first comes aboard, I'd love to add Rand's line from the Man Trap, "Suppose he's going space happy or something?" after he exits the bridge. Kind of like how Janis in the Muppets is often saying something inappropriate when everyone else stops talking.

I bet there are some other zingers we could add to liven things up. ;-p .Maybe I should start a thread...

 

[Vger23]

I do find that, while enjoyable, the flaws and plot holes in the latter movies become more noticeable over time. Considering its troubled genesis, TMP stands up pretty well if you have the attention span to put up with its pacing.

I sometimes wonder, with Deepfake technology, what could be added using dialogue from the series and subsequent movies (or even actors' appearances in other shows) to spice it up a bit. Maybe a few lines could be thrown in during those many close up shots!

If Rand could be added with McCoy and Chapel when Spock first comes aboard, I'd love to add Rand's line from the Man Trap, "Suppose he's going space happy or something?" after he exits the bridge. Kind of like how Janis in the Muppets is often saying something inappropriate when everyone else stops talking.

I bet there are some other zingers we could add to liven things up. ;-p .Maybe I should start a thread...

I don't want to be misunderstood. I was referring to The Phantom Menace (TPM) and not The Motion Picture (TMP).

 

[Pauln6]

I don't want to be misunderstood. I was referring to The Phantom Menace (TPM) and not The Motion Picture (TMP).

Oh ha ha yeah. I prefer the fan edits of the prequels to be honest. Minimise Ja Ja, the droids are just standard droids have no lengthy scenes of their own, and most importantly for me, Darth Vader is never named, Anakin is left burning in the volcano, and Padme doesn't die.

 

[Galileo7]

.....
This has been the true disappointment in the entire Star Trek movie world; I've never seen an on point, true Star Trek movie. Exploration and adventure, not a revenge wannabe Hornblower battle fest or destroying the Enterprise because they've run out of ideas, or finding God or a melodrama piece where the murder mystery could only predictably lead to 1 suspect... a vulcan woman. Lets see this Constitution Class ship in full service, it will never be as beautiful, sleek, and futuristic as it's Starship Class counterpart from TOS. Expand on the neat costume ideas done on TMP, I hated the color scheme but the designs were very Star Trek, start with the metal object on the uniforms and make improvements of their props like phasers, tricorder, and other stuff. ....

I think that TMP is the only ST film about exploration [ of V'ger ].

 

[Jedman67]

Oh ha ha yeah. I prefer the fan edits of the prequels to be honest. Minimise Ja Ja, the droids are just standard droids have have no lengthy scenes of their own, and most importantly for me, Darth Vader is never named, Anakin is left burning in the volcano, and Padme doesn't die.

I tried watching a fan edit once. It doesn't do anything for lousy acting, lousy dialog and lousy plot, except give you less of it.

 

[Pauln6]

I tried watching a fan edit once. It doesn't do anything for lousy acting, lousy dialog and lousy plot, except give you less of it.

Sometimes less is more. ;-) The fan edits are up to 30 minutes shorter.

I never watched it but there was a fan edit of TMP designed as a two-parter of TOS. I think they might have even used TOS music and a cliffhanger at the end of part 1.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Kirk & Spock running around Dallas 1963 in their blue pyjamas

 

[mos6507]

It was kind of a shame that Decker and Ilia were sacrificed at the end of TMP considering their potential and yet that's what gives the film its poignance.

 

[XCV330]

Amazingly (and amazingly off-topic, admittedly)...I've come to find TPM to be my favorite of the 3 prequel films. The others are just so unbelievably muddled and shitty, I can barely watch (and I'm one of the most forgiving consumers of pop sci-fi in the history of humanity).

I actually like TPM too, apart from Jar Jar, and I just sort of blot him out and try to ignore the gungans. I actually think TMP is visually extraordinary. They created this beautiful steamrline-moderne look to make a break with the visual continuity we had seen before, and it works. The music is awesome, the acting is suprisingly not-awful. The dialogue is.. well its far from the worst done under Lucas, and we're talking Lucas. People at some point began to be told they needed to hate TPM. It's a fun movie. It's not Oscar quality, but it wasn't meant to be.

 

[Jedman67]

I actually like TPM too, apart from Jar Jar, and I just sort of blot him out and try to ignore the gungans. I actually think TMP is visually extraordinary. They created this beautiful steamrline-moderne look to make a break with the visual continuity we had seen before, and it works. The music is awesome, the acting is suprisingly not-awful. The dialogue is.. well its far from the worst done under Lucas, and we're talking Lucas. People at some point began to be told they needed to hate TPM. It's a fun movie. It's not Oscar quality, but it wasn't meant to be.

This. Anakins angst in the 2nd and 3rd movies, and Portmans wooden dialog just killed it for me. 3 was better overall than 2

 

[uniderth]

I actually like TPM too, apart from Jar Jar, and I just sort of blot him out and try to ignore the gungans. I actually think TMP is visually extraordinary. They created this beautiful steamrline-moderne look to make a break with the visual continuity we had seen before, and it works. The music is awesome, the acting is suprisingly not-awful. The dialogue is.. well its far from the worst done under Lucas, and we're talking Lucas. People at some point began to be told they needed to hate TPM. It's a fun movie. It's not Oscar quality, but it wasn't meant to be.

Sorry. The only good thing to come from the prequels was Jango Fett. Everything else can get thrown in the dustbin of history.

 

[J.T.B.]

People at some point began to be told they needed to hate TPM.

Yes. My brain told me as I was leaving the theater.

 

[Khan 2.0]

remember some discussion of a TMP II, III etc here:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/what-if-st-tmp-ii-iii.273589/

 

[WarpFactorZ]

I stumbled across this a while back:

http://www.roddenberry.com/media/vault/ST4-Outline.pdf

Roddenberry's treatment for Star Trek IV, in lieu of TVH. Seems like he wanted to erase the events of TWOK and TSFS by resetting the franchise back to TMP style.

 

[arch101]

I stumbled across this a while back:

http://www.roddenberry.com/media/vault/ST4-Outline.pdf

Roddenberry's treatment for Star Trek IV, in lieu of TVH. Seems like he wanted to erase the events of TWOK and TSFS by resetting the franchise back to TMP style.

That is downright bizarre. It’s like reading Roddenberry meets Asimov or something. Still, like a good train wreck, I couldn’t stop reading to the end.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I was skimming it by by page 10. It was way too caught up in being BIG, COSMIC AND IMPORTANT and didn't have any interesting character stuff in there. Hard pass.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I think that TMP is the only ST film about exploration [ of V'ger ].

You're right, and it was bold but somewhere in the narrative the filmmaker was trying to make me dislike Kirk, and Spock; although I understand Wise was breaking our heroes down to build them back up, but I thought TWOK (Kirk) & TVH (Spock) did that a lot better. I still would love to read the ideas or story plot for Planet of the Titans, and maybe adapt it as a sequel to TMP in comic book form.