Happy Birthday TFF
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And it's been 22 years that devoted Trek fans have been wracking their brains trying to find redeeming things in this movie. Or spinning elaborate explanations for it to be "good."
I remember when TFF came out. It was 1989, and I was graduating high school. Being a "Trekkie" was rough. TVH had been a huge, popular success. It still wasn't "cool" to be a Trekkie, but at least we had that.
Then this movie came out. And it made me embarrassed to be a Trek fan.
I remember when TFF came out. It was 1989, and I was graduating high school. Being a "Trekkie" was rough. TVH had been a huge, popular success. It still wasn't "cool" to be a Trekkie, but at least we had that.
Then this movie came out. And it made me embarrassed to be a Trek fan.
Seeing Spock flying around with Jetsons rocket boots made me hang my head in shame.
It was an interesting time for ST.
TNG had just started two years prior and very much had to prove itself. It wasn't very much welcomed as new ST is today. A LOT of rebuff from fans, many saying "no Kirk no Spock no Star Trek".
Anyway, TVH came out and was a huge hit, even amongst the regular folks. Then TNG came out and wasn't a huge hit, even amongst the fans.
Then it switched.
TFF came out and wasn't a huge hit, even amongst the fans. And TNG was hitting 2nd/3rd season and then it became the "good" Trek, after the TFF debacle.
It was an interesting time.
It was an interesting time for ST.
TNG had just started two years prior and very much had to prove itself. It wasn't very much welcomed as new ST is today. A LOT of rebuff from fans, many saying "no Kirk no Spock no Star Trek".
Anyway, TVH came out and was a huge hit, even amongst the regular folks. Then TNG came out and wasn't a huge hit, even amongst the fans.
Then it switched.
TFF came out and wasn't a huge hit, even amongst the fans. And TNG was hitting 2nd/3rd season and then it became the "good" Trek, after the TFF debacle.
It was an interesting time.
A
Amaris
Guest
I love this movie, but I don't have to wrack my brain. I already know, and knew then, why I liked it.
I thought it was okay-ish, maybe if I was still that four-year-old kid who ate Doritos and soda pop like bread and water, and wanted to be "totally radical" it would be enjoyable. It's a pretty fun film, if you view it as a more camp experience. Although the epic cover art with a bunch of men on black horses had me anticipating something crazy (and Sybok was really the only one that rode a horse in the entire film...)
As far as I’m concerned, this movie has more redeeming things than the four TNG films put together.
Happy birthday, TFF!
A
Amaris
Guest
^ Same here! 
Ah, there is a silver lining.As far as I’m concerned, this movie has more redeeming things than the four TNG films put together.
Happy birthday, TFF!
It may have had quite a few
moments, but it wasn't boring. That said there are some things in it I like, but sadly just not enough of them.
The movie came out around the same time as STNG's "Q, Who". STNG was so much better than STV and STVI at this time, that it was obvious the TOS crew would be replaced. It wasnt for another year or two that STNG hit its popularity peak, and it was ALMOST cool to like Trek. STV nearly killed the whole thing.
One of the 3 people I saw it with was a big SW fan...now this whimpering effort by STV really was unfortunate, I didn't hear the end of it for weeks.
RAMA
One of the 3 people I saw it with was a big SW fan...now this whimpering effort by STV really was unfortunate, I didn't hear the end of it for weeks.
RAMA
Ditto. I was amazed at how well Shatner knew Star Trek - and knew these characters!
So what exactly did that have to do with celebrating the date? Are TNG fans that insecure about their shows place in Star Trek lore that they have to bash the original every chance they get?
It's funny, Shatner and Nimoy show more life today than Stewart and company showed in 2003 with Nemesis.
Gotta agree with Rama on this.
In 1989... TNG was finding its legs, and showing that, yes, Trek can be done without Kirk-Spock-McCoy.
TVH had been a big hit.
TFF flopped and flopped hard. It did nearly kill the franchise. I really don't see how that can be argued.
How or why TUC got made, I dunno. <shrug> TNG was doing well, they wanted to give the original cast a proper sendoff because TFF had stunk so bad... those reasons, and/or others...
Yeah, I can watch TFF. There are things I can enjoy and like about it. But back then, it really hurt.
Maybe also because it was coming after the "trilogy" of Khan, Search and Voyage Home. They were all one big, continuing, unified story. So with TFF we were like, OK, what now?
And the broken-down Enterprise didn't help. Especially when those of use who shed tears in the theaters when the original blew up were eagerly looking forward to the lady's return.
In 1989... TNG was finding its legs, and showing that, yes, Trek can be done without Kirk-Spock-McCoy.
TVH had been a big hit.
TFF flopped and flopped hard. It did nearly kill the franchise. I really don't see how that can be argued.
How or why TUC got made, I dunno. <shrug> TNG was doing well, they wanted to give the original cast a proper sendoff because TFF had stunk so bad... those reasons, and/or others...
Yeah, I can watch TFF. There are things I can enjoy and like about it. But back then, it really hurt.
Maybe also because it was coming after the "trilogy" of Khan, Search and Voyage Home. They were all one big, continuing, unified story. So with TFF we were like, OK, what now?
And the broken-down Enterprise didn't help. Especially when those of use who shed tears in the theaters when the original blew up were eagerly looking forward to the lady's return.
So did Nemesis/Enterprise but I don't use it in arguments to prop up TOS. Which led to my original question about what did the Next Gen comments have to do with celebrating the anniversary of The Final Frontier?
According to IMDB, TFF grossed $70,210,000 worldwide on a budget of $27,800,000. That doesn't sound like a franchise killer to me.
I still recall seeing TFF in the theater - unfortunately. I had hoped that Shatner & Co. would make a real effort to create a decent standalone script, since they couldn't continue the trilogy story any further - but in the end, the headline of the review in City Pages (Minneapolis) said it best:
"Dammit, Jim"
"Dammit, Jim"
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