How was TMP received at the time?

[bolak]

Sadly I haven't yet had the opportunity to see TMP on a big screen. I first watched it on UK TV back in the early 1980s ( a Boxing Day showing, if I recall correctly ) and was mesmerised. The points that have stuck with me for 30 years:

1. The cold, hostile vastness of space. Few films seem able to convey this and it's not something at which Trek was good at either, but they nailed it here.

2. The alien-ness of V'Ger. Not just a guy with a bumpy nose but something quite incomprehensible. Almost impossible to 'root' for V'Ger yet not an entity I could 'hate' either.

3. The slow re-bonding of the crew after a long parting. Though I always remember Decker being the better man than Kirk; able to transcend his Starfleet 'programming'.

4. The combination of the visuals and the score. Still awesome today.

It's the only Trek film I own on disk and every Christmas I pull it out and watch again.

 

[PCz911]

I recall seeing it on its theatrical release and being.... Disappointed.

The only star trek movie that played well on the big screen was the wrath of khan....and perhaps the voyage home.

The uniforms were the best that the original crew had (not the band uniforms that came after)

The music was brilliant

The acting: wooden

I hadnt thought of the pacing parallel with 2001 before, but what a great point. Both are slow and plodding. After star wars, you couldn't have that pace again. So tmp suffered accordinly. And now you have such a frantic pace - as seen with JJ (and just about every other action movie currently made) that TMP looks like paint drying.

With all that being said (with loving sarcasm )... It's still my favorite star trek movie.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I was seven when TMP came out, and I found it pretty boring. I think I might have even fell asleep during it.

In fact, when TWOK rolled around 10 years later, I actually thought, "Well, the first one wasn't any good, why should the second one be any better?"

It wasn't until I saw TSFS with some friends in junior high that my interest in Trek was re-ignited. I later got TWOK on videotape as a Christmas gift (Yes, I first saw it after I saw TSFS). To this day TWOK is the only Trek film I've never seen on the big screen.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I was seven when TMP came out, and I found it pretty boring. I think I might have even fell asleep during it.

In fact, when TWOK rolled around 10 years later, I actually thought, "Well, the first one wasn't any good, why should the second one be any better?"

It wasn't until I saw TSFS with some friends in junior high that my interest in Trek was re-ignited. I later got TWOK on videotape as a Christmas gift (Yes, I first saw it after I saw TSFS). To this day TWOK is the only Trek film I've never seen on the big screen.

TWOK came out in 1982, three years after TMP. TSFS came out in 1989.

 

[NewHorizon]

TWOK came out in 1982, three years after TMP. TSFS came out in 1989.

What? No it didn't. TSFS came out in 84. Followed by TVH in 86 and FF in 89.

 

[Nerys Myk]

TWOK came out in 1982, three years after TMP. TSFS came out in 1989.

What? No it didn't. TSFS came out in 84. Followed by TVH in 86 and FF in 89.

I meant TFF.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I was seven when TMP came out, and I found it pretty boring. I think I might have even fell asleep during it.

In fact, when TWOK rolled around 10 years later, I actually thought, "Well, the first one wasn't any good, why should the second one be any better?"

TWOK came out in 1982, three years after TMP. TSFS came out in 1989.

Sorry, I meant to write that it came out three years later when I was 10. My typing fingers weren't following my brain.

 

[Khan 2.0]

35th today! lets all celebrate with reading the new Return to Tomorrow tome!!...oh wait we cant yet

 

[Galileo7]

35th today! lets all celebrate with reading the new Return to Tomorrow tome!!...oh wait we cant yet

Thirty-five years since Friday December 7th 1979! I still remember the awe of seeing the refit 1701 in the theater that night. I was a boy and it was pure magic on the big screen.