Could they make a film like TMP again?
- Thread starter tim0122
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Maybe. If we count the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY series with its endless empty room shots.
Some people have said they took a nice refreshing nap in the theater while the movie was playing, so even in 1979 one has to concede there were sufficient structural problems for some.
That aspect was cool. The story is a partial rehash of "The Changeling" and one or two others from TOS/TAS, but the galaxy has plenty of unknowns and using something other than pew-pew fighting to figure it out was a plus.
Nope. It needs more action, more incidental music that gets louder and more bombastic than the spoken voice as that's exciting -- and keeping it fast-paced means the audience won't as likely pick up on plot holes or other problems as quickly, or at all, at least on initial viewing. And, no worries, plot problems were in old tv as well and were just as grating. I remember this season 3 episode of "The Bionic Woman", which ramped up the action action action and big big spectacle, but forgot a teensy thing called "plot consistency" as the episode revolving around spectacle of a... UFO kidnapping people turned out to be... a caper by some baddies who installed holographic projectors on a small helicopter and there was zero explanation for two people disappearing in plain sight by 50 people gawking at them. Plus, some flight scenes clearly show the shadow of the helicopter used to take the flying footage with, oops. If only they explained the teleportation element, then the story would have held together better as the time taken to explain the projecting of a UFO was believable within the confines of the episode, high-concept or not. It's worth watching, at least once. But season 3 did waver in story quality - still had a good opener and finale, though!
Movies, then or now, always had a more epic scale and feel that TV did not match. One reason for big movies not being as popular is because more and more TV is also giving out the big epic feels.
That, and how many times has Trek done the usual "baddie is out for revenge" trope? It worked for Khan for obvious reasons, but the trope does get reused quite often. Still, the exploration, intrigue and mystery -- those days are seemingly gone from the genre. IMHO, YMMV, EIEIO, ETC.
TMP’s story and scale were pretty damn epic, certainly compared to any previous TV episode. A lot of the negative/“bored” reactions, I think, came from people in 1979 wanting Star Wars starring the Enterprise crew — even Young Me, though I matured and got better later.
Twenty year old me found it boring, padded and poorly constructed. Sixty-five year old me agrees.
To each their own; I found and find it extremely well structured, with pretty much nothing in it that doesn’t add something. (Even the length of the “Enterprise Porn Flyaround” is about Kirk’s feelings about that ship, and being there; it isn’t excess.)
Yeah. I can escape the slowness and sheer excess over the Enterprise flyby or VGer journey.
Kirk as a character is horribly out of character and does a disservice to the idea of advancing in leadership.
Yeah, I just have to disagree — or rather, I find the changes in Kirk (as with Spock) to be a specific plot point. They’ve been changed, and not for the better, by having been away, separated, and caught up in other hierarchies: Starfleet Operations, the Kohlinahr Masters. This movie is about everybody (even arguably V’Ger) getting back to what they ought to be; compare the coldness of the early Enterprise scenes with the familiar warmth of the final bridge scene, where the band is back and who they’re supposed to be again. No, I can understand your dislike for the film, but to me it’ll always be the most essentially Trek at its core.
My dislike has nothing to do with the Trekiness of the film.
It basically says "stay the same. Don't be promoted, don't become more, don't separate from your friends.,"
That's not a good message. It's probably unintentional, and the exploration aspect is good. But, it kills a lot of people in the name of me life.
It's hard to square that with TOS.
While I’d agree that in particular isn’t a great message, it’s hard to see how that doesn’t square with TOS of all things, whose films went on to keep most of them together (or bring them back together whenever they separated) for another twelve years.
The series, in which the characters stayed together for all three seasons? A not uncommon element of TV shows?
Agreed. So don't separate them.
It's bs how Kirk is handled. It's worse yet when the next film repeats the same theme. You should never grow.
As the first film as seeing the series the disappointment still resides in such poor messaging about leadership.
Well, I don’t think that’s what the film wanted to be about, but I can hear what you’re saying. It’s entirely true that “the fiction wants them to stay together so that’s that” is a common trope across a lot of series.
Yes
And series have done it far better. If Kirk is better as a captain don't make him a dick admiral to show that point. Even SNW did the split crew as the opening better.
I never cared for the original film. 75% of it was beauty passes of the Enterprise, which got old very quick, and the rest was so slow I kept wanting to fall asleep. Quite frankly, I'm surprised Paramount gave Roddenberry another shot after that, since The Motion Picture only made twice its budget in profit, assuming said budget didn't include marketing costs.
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