I'm with Rich Evans. ST:TMP is the best Star Trek movie. Here's my brief review.

[FredH]

TMP was absolutely a different beast from the more fist-fighty TOS, but to me that was a feature. Even at the age of ten, it felt more “grown-up” — and unlike most of the other ten-year-olds around me who saw it, I liked that.

(And I still feel the “Director’s Cut” is only cosmetically different, and only slightly so at that; the overall feel is unchanged.)

 

[Saul]

I've definitely re-evaluated TMP. I wouldn't say it's the best but I would say it's the most Star Treky film of the bunch. It's basically the closest to what TOS was.

he must be a heavy drinker or a masochist.

The poor man is a teetotaller.

 

[Mach5]

I still remember seeing it for the first time as a kid, I couldn't have been more than 8 and obviously I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I do remember thoroughly enjoying the visuals and being freaked the fucked out by the bald lady with a weird glowy thing on her throat.

It's a great film, for all its flaws.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Not the Richard Evans who appeared in "Patterns of Force" then.

Richard Evans

Richard Evans (23 January 1935–2 October 2021; age 86) was the actor who played Isak in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "Patterns of Force". He filmed his scenes between Wednesday 29 November 1967 and Tuesday 5 December 1967 at Desilu Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11 and on...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

 

[Qonundrum]

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[Sgt. Sacrament]

I don't know that I'd say ST:TMP is the best, but it is absolutely my favorite ST film. Especially the recent 4K Director's Edition. I've heard it said that "the film is a turd, but I love that turd." I could put it in right now and just watch the whole thing again and thoroughly enjoy it. Not enough time tonight, but I think I will at lunch tomorrow. And Goldsmith's score is my favorite film score of all time, I never tire of listening to it, I always feel like I hear new things.

ST:TMP is also the only one that IMO truly feels like a big-time, serious, wanna-be-epic, actual motion picture or film, something that is truly 'cinematic.'

Rich Evans is amazing.

The episode of RLM from a few years ago where Mike explains that he's been a huge geeky Star Trek fan all of his life, but feels that modern Trek has left him behind and has so mangled the legacy of Star Trek that it's no longer Trek, and he realizes that he has to just bid it farewell was heartbreaking. Producers can make whatever they want, that's their job, I just wish they could watch that video and realize what they have done to some long time fans, the kind of fans who kept Star Trek alive for decades, the kind who kept it alive for modern Trek to even come along at all.

 

[fireproof78]

, I just wish they could watch that video and realize what they have done to some long time fans, the kind of fans who kept Star Trek alive for decades, the kind who kept it alive for modern Trek to even come along at all.

I think fans and producers do well to not treat things as sacred. This TOS fan has found enjoyment in newer Trek, as well as older Trek.

Fans hated TNG at first but now it's a classic. TWOK had death threats sent to Bennett and Meyer yet now it's considered the top most film on many lists.

There's a huge variety of fans and holding to one way is very quick way to stagnate and not gain new viewers. And that's as important as pleasing the older viewers.

 

[Set Harth]

TWOK had death threats sent to Bennett and Meyer

That's nuts. What were they mad about, Spock?

 

[fireproof78]

That's nuts. What were they mad about, Spock?

Yes. Something to the effect of, "you kill Spock; we kill you." Supposedly the leak of Spock's death was by Roddenberry.

 

[FredH]

The episode of RLM from a few years ago where Mike explains that he's been a huge geeky Star Trek fan all of his life, but feels that modern Trek has left him behind and has so mangled the legacy of Star Trek that it's no longer Trek, and he realizes that he has to just bid it farewell was heartbreaking. Producers can make whatever they want, that's their job, I just wish they could watch that video and realize what they have done to some long time fans, the kind of fans who kept Star Trek alive for decades, the kind who kept it alive for modern Trek to even come along at all.

See, I love TMP for all the reasons you stated— and I love DISCO and PIC, which I see as very much continuing the tradition, and see no contradiction. (Not S31 and Scouts, of course, but I see those as outliers.).

 

[Set Harth]

Something to the effect of, "you kill Spock; we kill you."

...really?

 

[mb22]

I don't know about death threats. I know there were threats of boycotts, which of course didn't materialize.

 

[fireproof78]

I don't know about death threats. I know there were threats of boycotts, which of course didn't materialize.

It was reported by a couple of production team members. Here's a link to a Star Trek magazine article. The section titled "A dangerous story" has him discussing the death threat.

https://www.brooklineconnection.com/history/Personalities/images/StarTrekMag.pdf

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I don't know. As a first-generation fan, who grew up watching TOS during its original run on NBC and later in syndication, I wasn't comparing it to later Trek shows and movies back in the 1979, since all of those had yet to exist. And I still thought TMP, for all its virtues, felt more like "2001" and "Close Encounters" than the show I devoured back in the sixties and seventies. (For the record, I was in college when TMP debuted.)

And let's be honest here. There was plenty of action and adventure back in the classic original series; heck, Captain Kirk got into a bare-knuckled fistfight every third episode and there was no shortage of colorful space-opera coolness: a lizard monster, a salt vampire, Apollo's giant green hand, and so on, along with the morality plays, topical allegories, and frequently thought-provoking SF notions.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying TOS was just fun and excitement, but let's not pretend that it was a purely "cerebral" enterprise that never, ever indulged in good, old-fashioned thrills, chills, full-blooded, emotion, conflict, and drama. The TOS I remember was brash and bold and, yes, even melodramatic at times. Not coolly philosophical

I respect TMP's ambition, but am no hurry to watch it again. Give me Khan or the whales instead.

(Let it noted, however, that I am a big fan of many of Robert Wise's other movies. Not just The Day The Earth Stood Still, but also The Andromeda Strain, The Haunting, The Body Snatcher (with Karloff and Lugosi), Curse of the Cat People, and, of course, West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Actually met Wise back in the day. Still have his autograph.)

You nailed it again, Greg, and I agree with you; I'm also getting tired of all the blasting the Kelvinverse movies get for actually being like the original show. I saw this movie as a boy in 1979 (I'd been a Star Trek fan for a few years) and I loved it then because it was Star Trek and it was back, but time and growing up have shown me how slow and boring it can be trying to be like 2001: A Space Odyssey when it isn't that and never will be (Roddenberry and company should've stuck to making Planet of the Titans instead.)

 

[SatrianiRules]

ST TMP is good on it's own and definitely appeals to the core fans. I suspect where it ran into problems was in theatrical release because the (general) public was in Star Wars mode..which has a far different timbre, of course....
and in 1979 there was much hype and anticipation for Empire Strikes Back which came out a year later..

So I think casual fans were expecting more Phasers and photon torpedoes and Klingon ships getting blown up, but they got a cerebral film about space, exploration and the potential consequences of it.

 

[Tallguy]

and in 1979 there was much hype and anticipation for Empire Strikes Back which came out a year later..

Less than six months.

 

[Troi]

TMP is my favorite Star Trek movie.

 

[Ceridwen]

ST TMP is good on it's own and definitely appeals to the core fans. I suspect where it ran into problems was in theatrical release because the (general) public was in Star Wars mode..which has a far different timbre, of course....
and in 1979 there was much hype and anticipation for Empire Strikes Back which came out a year later..

So I think casual fans were expecting more Phasers and photon torpedoes and Klingon ships getting blown up, but they got a cerebral film about space, exploration and the potential consequences of it.

It didn't stop them from buying tickets. Adjusting the box office for inflation shows it's the second most popular Star Trek film in the entire series (after Into Darkness and before '09, interestingly enough).

 

[BillJ]

I’ve been saying it is a great movie for forty years.

 

[SatrianiRules]

It didn't stop them from buying tickets. Adjusting the box office for inflation shows it's the second most popular Star Trek film in the entire series (after Into Darkness and before '09, interestingly enough).

Yeah that doesn't surprise me. It was a different time wherein entertainment options were far more limited than they are today and you didn't have the internet to get instant feedback, of course. You might see a review in a Newspaper or Magazine, but it was mostly word of mouth...

I suspect that if it came out today, it might be different.

I find myself watching it on occasion and still enjoy it because I am a lifelong fan, but my GF who does not typically like Sci-Fi would not be able to sit through it...in fact there are only a couple of Sci-Fi movies she has seen that she liked, (though I KEEP trying )