Disappointment with TOS films?

[Warped9]

Okay, cast your memories back to 1979 and through the '80s. We had all been waiting anxiously for Star Trek to get to the big screen and for each additional installment. But is there anyone here who was generally (or specifically) disappointed with the direction the films took? And if so then what would you prefer to have seen them try to do?

Yes, TMP was flawed, but I still admired what they tried to do. On some level I liked that they were going for that classic sense-of-wonder and facing something unknown. After that, though, it seemed as if the Trek universe got smaller and smaller and comprised primarily of the TOS crew and the Klingons. TFF appeared to be an attempt to get back to more exploratory (of human nature mostly), but its execution was flawed...really flawed. It was also hurt by them trying too hard to be funny.

For me that also hurt TVH. When it came to time travel I had hoped to see something more like "The City On The Edge Of Forever" or "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" or "Assignment: Earth" rather than the overdone humour we got.

Anyone else?

 

[BDJ]

Not really. I too enjoyed TMP. Especially the directors cut.
TWOK was awesome. TSFS was tops. TVH got it right.

TFF I didn't mind the direction, I didn't care for the execution. The story was flawed and the comedy bits now feel like swipes at the characters.

TUC was great as well.

I even believe that Generations lost it's magic when the TOS story was finished. It felt like we went from a "movie" to a "television show". KnowhutImean??

 

[BillJ]

I enjoy all six of The Original Series films to varying degrees.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

I enjoy all six of The Original Series films to varying degrees.

Agreed. I found the humor in TVH to be perfect in tone and execution. The humor in TFF, for the most part, is forced and doesn't flow from the story naturally. TFF's execution in general was disapointing, but the basic idea was great.

 

[Captrek]

Disappointed? No way. Five of the six TOS films are way better than any film based on a 60’s TV show has any right to be. Even TFF is better than most of the films on that list.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

On first viewing, I found TMP very disappointing. But, frankly, the anticipation of "new Star Trek on the big screen!" was so high I suspect I would have been disappointed no matter what they had put up there.

 

[Warped9]

On first viewing, I found TMP very disappointing. But, frankly, the anticipation of "new Star Trek on the big screen!" was so high I suspect I would have been disappointed no matter what they had put up there.

I empathize with that. I must also say initially I was critical of the new uniforms and the lack of colour compared with what we had on TOS. But over the years the look has grown on me. I still think they could have done better, but the uniforms do lend the film more of a far future look than what we got later.

 

[Dukhat]

I've always had a thing for TMP. I loved the plot about Voyager being rebuilt into this huge living ship, and the fact that you only saw the ship in parts, and until TMP: Director's Cut, you never actually saw the ship whole. I know people have reservations about the pacing, the special effects cuts, etc., but honestly going from '60's sets and effects to what we saw in TMP, it was truly grand. Just the Vulcan scenes alone were fantastic.

Star Treks II, III, and IV are a trilogy of films in their own right. The characters are creatively at their best, and Star Trek finally became "fun," which is probably why these films are considered the most successful and popular Trek movies of the time. I truly believe everyone was going to see these movies, not just Star Trek fans.

Alas, after that things went south. It is my belief that Star Trek IV should have been the last time we ever saw the TOS crew. IV ended on such a good point (Earth saved, Spock's reconciliation with Sarek, Kirk and crew exonerated, a new Enterprise, etc.), and the fact that TNG was soon to premiere, there simply was no need for the original crew to continue. They should have went out on the high note of IV, but instead we got V.

Now at least they got VI, which somewhat reconciled things. But V should never have been made, or at least a lot of real time should have elapsed between TVH and TUC. TFF simply wasn't needed.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is far better in many respects to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. And Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country has too much outright bigotry from our heroes and a Scooby Doo ending "rips of Rubber mask -- why, it's Old Man Smithers, er, Colonel West!" to be considered great.

But the greated TOS film disappointment was and continues to be Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Like so many others, I was elated by the movie. It wasn't until the end, I realized, "Oh, God, they just revised 'The Changeling.'"

 

[BillJ]

And Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country has too much outright bigotry from our heroes and a Scooby Doo ending "rips of Rubber mask -- why, it's Old Man Smithers, er, Colonel West!" to be considered great.

I think the bigotry stems from the fact that these people were taught all their lives that the Klingons were the enemy. Plus Kirk and Chekov had personal beefs with them.

As far as the 'Scooby Doo' ending... check out the theatrical cut that is available on Blu-Ray.

 

[Captrek]

I think the bigotry stems from the fact that these people were taught all their lives that the Klingons were the enemy. Plus Kirk and Chekov had personal beefs with them.

Why Chekov? Still upset about his nonexistent brother Piotr?

 

[Bishop76]

And Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country has too much outright bigotry from our heroes and a Scooby Doo ending "rips of Rubber mask -- why, it's Old Man Smithers, er, Colonel West!" to be considered great.

I think the bigotry stems from the fact that these people were taught all their lives that the Klingons were the enemy. Plus Kirk and Chekov had personal beefs with them.

As far as the 'Scooby Doo' ending... check out the theatrical cut that is available on Blu-Ray.

Yeah, the Scooby Doo ending was never shown in theaters and was only added for the DVD - don't remember if it was on the VHS tape or not. I think it was... Anyway, watch the blu-ray.

Oh, and all of the TOS movies were masterpieces compared to the TNG films. Well, maybe not TFF, but the rest of them were.

 

[BillJ]

I think the bigotry stems from the fact that these people were taught all their lives that the Klingons were the enemy. Plus Kirk and Chekov had personal beefs with them.

Why Chekov? Still upset about his nonexistent brother Piotr?

The fact that the Klingons tortured with an agonizer in The Day of the Dove.

 

[Doug Otte]

I enjoyed all six of the original cast films. Having said that, I was also a little bit disappointed as each one was released. Being feature films, it was felt that the plot had to be bombastic, where our heroes had a climactic struggle w/ an enemy (or enemies). I often wished that the films had an atmosphere similar to some of the best episodes of the series, where they were exploring and discovering something new and wonderous. Surely, in a two-hour film, there would be time for the fisticuffs to be framed by exploration of some other fresh experience. Other than TMP, we never really had that feeling in the features. Instead, we had familiar foes such as Khan or the Klingons.

Doug

 

[Sky]

Being feature films, it was felt that the plot had to be bombastic, where our heroes had a climactic struggle w/ an enemy (or enemies). I often wished that the films had an atmosphere similar to some of the best episodes of the series, where they were exploring and discovering something new and wonderous.

Yes, this. I would've loved to see something more complex than the epic fight against the villain of the hour. Still, I liked almost all of the TOS films (TFF and TVH a bit less, but anyway).

 

[Captrek]

I think the bigotry stems from the fact that these people were taught all their lives that the Klingons were the enemy. Plus Kirk and Chekov had personal beefs with them.

Why Chekov? Still upset about his nonexistent brother Piotr?

The fact that the Klingons tortured with an agonizer in The Day of the Dove.

The agonizer? Come on. They were all under the influence of an alien entity. Chekov tried to kill Klingons for racial vengeance of a nonexistent wrong. If he forgives himself for his own behavior under the influence of the entity, he pretty much has to forgive the Klingons for theirs.

Besides, a few seconds of the agonizer, no matter how painful it may have been, is surely insignificant compared to the cold-blooded murder of a son or brother. It’s not the kind of thing that should reasonably have Chekov hating the whole race 26 years later.

 

[number6]

I was somewhat disappointed with TMP, but it gets a pass for being the first one and giving long time fans a chance to see the crew back together again after all the rumours and anticipation. TFF was profoundly disappointing, especially after three really fun, successful films in a row. TFF still had a lot of heart, but boy was it dumb. TFF is still a lot of fun to watch stoned, though. TFF would have even been a bigger letdown if they weren't allowed to do a sixth film.

 

[Captrek]

TFF would have even been a bigger letdown if they weren't allowed to do a sixth film.

Ugh. K/S/M sitting around a campfire singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat would have been a horrible way to bring the curtain down on the TOS franchise. The end of TUC provides much better closure.

 

[number6]

TFF would have been the TATV for the film franchise.. Could you imagine all the TFF Suxxxx threads there would be in this forum???

 

[Basil]

TWOK and TUC were the only ones that really felt worthy of repeat viewings, with the first half of TMP somewhat so. The rest were rather bland. I was especially disappointed with TSFS, which seemed such a cheesy, one-dimensional follow-up to what was as close to literature as any Trek film ever got. None of them ever really recaptured the spirit of the TV show, in part because the plastic fantastic 80s had moved far away from the aesthetic and partly because the films didn't really tackle issues as well as the TV show did in half the time. Still, I'm glad we got them rather than nothing at all . . . at the very least, it was good to see the characters once again in action.