Becoming increasingly fond of TMP as I get older...

[GeneHunt]

As the title says im growing fonder of The Motion Picture as I get older, now whether this is because:

It's the directors edition is what im watching now and thats just better.?

It's a more mature movie? - seems to be.

It's the only one I havent watched to death.

Does anyone else find themselves growing fonder of TMP as they get older? and do you think it has anything to do with the above theories or do you have your own?

 

[lurok]

While acknowledging all its faults, these are things I really appreciate about it, especially when compared to current sci-fi cinema:

* pacing - doesn't feel like its been made by a director with ADHD.
* vfx - doesn't look like it's been made on a Mac
* score - majestic, moving, eerie, great leitmotifs: all the things a sci-fi score should have.
* good character moments - McCoy's grumpiness; Kirk's "I need you...badly" ; Decker and Ilia playing that game and the recall it brings; Spock in sickbay when returns from V'ger.
* classic sci-fi resolution

 

[SchwEnt]

It wasn't such a big deal back then, but now after so many ST movies (and SF movies in general) one aspect of TMP I really enjoy--

No obligatory Bad Guy Evil Villain and mandatory Big Spaceship Battle Climax.

Sure, TWOK had that and it was so great. And it can be good. But it sure is nice when ST doesn't fall back on the LCD of "Evil Villain/Big Spaceship Battle" just because it's a SF movie. There ARE other things in SF.

There's much MUCH more I love about TMP, but that's all I'm saying for now.

 

[sonak]

It's still my least favorite Trek film, due to it just being very slow, ripping the premise off "the changeling" a little bit, and for getting what makes Trek great so WRONG.


However, it's got some good points too. I like Spock's character arc for the movie, I like the ending resoultion, the effects look great, the music is very good.

 

[Brian]

While acknowledging all its faults, these are things I really appreciate about it, especially when compared to current sci-fi cinema:

* pacing - doesn't feel like its been made by a director with ADHD.
* vfx - doesn't look like it's been made on a Mac
* score - majestic, moving, eerie, great leitmotifs: all the things a sci-fi score should have.
* good character moments - McCoy's grumpiness; Kirk's "I need you...badly" ; Decker and Ilia playing that game and the recall it brings; Spock in sickbay when returns from V'ger.
* classic sci-fi resolution

^ This.

 

[beamMe]

* pacing - doesn't feel like its been made by a director with ADHD.
* vfx - doesn't look like it's been made on a Mac

Yes, TMP has awful pacing-problems, some of the VFX-shots look really bad (the shots of Earth, the saucer-matte-painting, the close-up of V'ger's surface, the dry-dock that is partially covered by the Enterprise-miniature's support arm, the shoddy way the probe is integrated into the frame on the bridge...).

 

[iguana_tonante]

As the title says im growing fonder of The Motion Picture as I get older, now whether this is because:

Arteriosclerosis. You just forget about the dullness.

 

[lurok]

* pacing - doesn't feel like its been made by a director with ADHD.
* vfx - doesn't look like it's been made on a Mac

Yes, TMP has awful pacing-problems, some of the VFX-shots look really bad (the shots of Earth, the saucer-matte-painting, the close-up of V'ger's surface, the dry-dock that is partially covered by the Enterprise-miniature's support arm, the shoddy way the probe is integrated into the frame on the bridge...).

Puhleeze Already said acknowleged its faults and you're stating the obvious. And I think you've missed the point of the thread. Don't be contentious just for contention's sake. This is a thread about how/why one has come to appreciate TMP with time, not an open call for nitpickers...

 

[indranee]

I love the first half and endure the last.

 

[indranee]

It's still my least favorite Trek film

So you're saying you like Insurrection better than TMP?

huh.

 

[beamMe]

* pacing - doesn't feel like its been made by a director with ADHD.
* vfx - doesn't look like it's been made on a Mac

Yes, TMP has awful pacing-problems, some of the VFX-shots look really bad (the shots of Earth, the saucer-matte-painting, the close-up of V'ger's surface, the dry-dock that is partially covered by the Enterprise-miniature's support arm, the shoddy way the probe is integrated into the frame on the bridge...).

Puhleeze Already said acknowleged its faults and you're stating the obvious. And I think you've missed the point of the thread. Don't be contentious just for contention's sake. This is a thread about how/why one has come to appreciate TMP with time, not an open call for nitpickers...

Nitpicking - it's what Trekkers do...

Besides, the two points I quoted from your list, you didn't really write those to praise TMP but rather to bash modern films, didn't you.

TMP is a snorefest. If it weren't a Trek-film I wouldn't watch it again. And the older I get the less I like that movie.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Takin' this Internet thing a little seriously, eh?

 

[lurok]

Nitpicking - it's what Trekkers do...

Sadly possibly been guilty myself but try to avoid...

Besides, the two points I quoted from your list, you didn't really write those to praise TMP but rather to bash modern films, didn't you.

Ummm...no. And I did. But 'nuff said

 

[beamMe]

Takin' this Internet thing a little seriously, eh?

It IS serious business, isn't it?

 

[sonak]

It's still my least favorite Trek film

So you're saying you like Insurrection better than TMP?

huh.

How did you know Insurrection was way down on my list? At any rate, INS, while one of the poorer ones, gets the nod over TMP for its greater watchability.


I mean really, when you look at the second part of TMP, it's basically watching the crew watching special effects on a viewscreen.


It's a struggle for me to get through TMP in one sitting.


(Oh, and before the ADD references start up, I usually love more cerebral less action-packed sci-fi, like "Donnie Darko," "Bladerunner," "Gattaca," etc. So it has nothing to do with the lack of "kewl" space battles. )

It's just a slow, tedious, heavily padded film.

 

[SchwEnt]

I get the point about overlong endless FX visuals.

But I suppose the thing of it is...
V'ger and the cloud are bigger than our entire solar system. We cannot visualize that scale at once in our heads, and V'ger is BEYOND that.
A scope and power and immensity that goes beyond superlatives, correct?

And never mind our feeble 20th century minds.
V'ger is enough to make even the jaded and well-experienced Enterprise crew say "WTF?" and they've seen some stuff.

So, how do you convey all this in a film?

Use FX technology to attempt to bring this mind-wobbling awesome to life, rather than just "say" it's really incredible?

Or use the characters themselves to convey V'ger's epic existence, by their reactions and thoughts?

I'm no filmmaker, I have no skills or techniques in the trade. But how else does one film an entity like V'ger that is literally off the scale of human experience?

If you go big with visuals, it's derided as endless FX.
If you go minimalist, like 2001, and with human faces and such, it's deemed tedious, boring.
It's damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I don't know.
I got no problem with TMP. One of my faves.

 

[RyanKCR]

When I first saw TMP I was about 8 and I remember I loved it. This was during the time of my Star Wars fascination (still like it but.....) and always remember that really neat and serious Sci-Fi, if I could only remember what it was...... Years later I saw Star Trek II and liked it but still liked that other Sci-Fi movie better. I had seen TMP on TV but didn't really start to watch it until later and realised that was the movie that I barely remembered that I loved. It wasn't until about the time between TWOK and TSFS that I put together that TWOK and TSFS were part of a TV show and TMP was part of it too. But I began hearing about how bad TMP was so I followed suit and said TWOK was my favorite but as the years went by and would catch TMP on TV I remembered why I liked it and since then it has always been my favorite.

 

[RyuRoots]

It's still my least favorite Trek film

So you're saying you like Insurrection better than TMP?

huh.

I sure as hell do. Insurrection may be juvenile and full of plot holes, but at least it doesn't put me to sleep. A thoroughly boring movie is worse than just a bad one.

 

[indranee]

Yeah, but I say to both you and Sonak -- TMP wins IMO because the good stuff in that first half trumps the steaming turd that is the whole of Insurrection.

Besides, I can go to the bathroom, catch up on my naptime AND reading while it's on in the background