I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th...

[CorporalClegg]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

I love the FX sequences in TMP. It's about the only time in all the films (outside of TFF, I suppose) where the intrepid Enterprise and its crew are actively exploring the unknown. It's one of the few moments in all of Star Trek, where the whole thing is so literally about the journey.

And I find the awe and wonder shown in the crew's faces (Khambatta especially) to be very visceral.

I wonder why they were so adamant to delay it at least another week or two. Was there any big blockbuster coming out they had to avoid? I imagine TMP would have been the biggest film of the year after Alien.

Well, both The Jerk and 1941 came out the following week. The former was fairly successful in and of itself, and I suspect Hollywood was excepting the latter to be much more successful than it actually was.

And I don't think it was all that common to release big films so close to Christmas, back then.

So then they're moving on into 1980. January-early March has always been a movie dead zone. And, given how release cycles were back then, had they pushed it too far up into spring, suddenly they would have found themselves competing with that other space movie thingy.

If I've heard correctly, The Director's Edition is more like what we should have seen. Might check that out whenever I come around to watching this again.

Outside of the novelty, it doesn't really add much and, frankly, takes a bit away.

**And, oh yes, TMP's score is simply amazing. While, all the films' scores have their moments (Save for The Voyage Home, maybe. ) , none achieve the same level of awesomeness. It really is a masterpiece, and the jewel of Goldsmith's career, IMO.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Wise spoke at my college not long after TMP came out. He lamented that there had been no time to have any test screenings before the movie was rushed to the theaters--and that a good chunk of the movie's budget had already been spent before he even signed on as director.

Apparently, it was much like jumping aboard a moving train . . . .

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Definitely nice to see that the virtues of TOS aren't lost on younger viewers.

TMP is an acquired taste. It stands out as the most cinematic of the classic Trek films despite its flaws. My interest in Trek goes back to an era when the first few films were the most recent Trek available, so I watched them over and over. I found that the DE did improve the pacing somewhat, but it still had the same movie to work with.

Going into TNG, keep in mind that fans typically find Season 1 to be spotty, and consider Season 3 to be when the show really hits its stride.

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Going into TNG, keep in mind that fans typically find Season 1 to be spotty, and consider Season 3 to be when the show really hits its stride.

Regarding TNG . . . yeah, hold on to until "The Measure of a Man." That's when the show started to get consistently good.

 

[scotpens]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

. . . The script felt too much like the pilot of Phase II stretched an extra hour long than an actual feature film, the director was out-of-touch, the producer was out-of-touch, the production design was in a shambles giving the main cast pajamas to wear and making everything a dull beige/grey colour, and even the cinematography was dodgy with some very weird out-of-focus/blurry shots throughout the film.

You're probably thinking of the split-diopter shots (a way of faking deep focus) that were used extensively throughout Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Going into TNG, keep in mind that fans typically find Season 1 to be spotty, and consider Season 3 to be when the show really hits its stride.

Regarding TNG . . . yeah, hold on to until "The Measure of a Man." That's when the show started to get consistently good.

That is...if one is a TNG fan.

Not all of us care for the show, especially after the third season, even though there are some episodes (post seasons 1 and 2) that that are interesting.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

TOS season 3 and TNG season 1 are basically the same show.

And, yeah, I've probably seen EAF two dozen times, and "Almost as bad" still makes me laugh.

Also, you may want to consider skipping "Code of Honor." Not only is it really that bad, it's also kind of offensive.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

TOS season 3 and TNG season 1 are basically the same show.

And, yeah, I've probably seen EAF two dozen times, and "Almost as bad" still makes me laugh.

Also, you may want to consider skipping "Code of Honor." Not only is it really that bad, it's also kind of offensive.

"Code of Honor" is one of my faves of the 1st season, and it's only major offense for some is that it has too many black people and it wasn't strongly written or acted (an issue that plagues a few early TNG episodes). Other than that, it's definitely an episode that has what 'Star Trek' is about (i.e. there are different shades of people in the universe, and not all planets have aliens that look like human Caucasians). Alas, we won't ever see that many black people in one episode ever again in the franchise...unless Lee Daniels takes over the Trek franchise while he's working on Empire.

Other notable changes:

*While Geordi takes command and seems like a strong character in 1st season episodes like "Arsenal of Freedom," he becomes 'neutered' in later seasons and can't get a date...unless it's with a black woman (e.g Aquiel). Non-black women that he wants to hook up with onscreen only want to be friends.

On the other hand:

*Asian female characters (at least the leads or recurring characters such as Keiko and Ogawa) tend to only be paired with white male characters, with no controversy or scrutinization. Never do we see them paired with non-white male characters.

 

[Tracy Trek]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

In the finale, although it would be considered an alternate reality, wasn't Geordi:

Spoiler: [Geordi]

Married to Leah Brahams?

I put that in spoilers because the original poster has not watched that yet.

Some good season 1 & 2 episodes are:

Where No One Has Gone Before
The Measure of a Man
Contagion

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Tracy Trek:

Yeah, it's hinted....but, then again, it was an alternate reality. And it could have been someone else named Leah (or Leia) since we didn't see Susan Gibney onscreen.

It's like the alternate reality where Geordi is commander of the USS Challenger: While awesome, it was just one 'other' reality, an alternate from what we consider the 'prime' universe.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

I'm glad that I decided to hold off from watching V and VI until the time of their release in this show's run, it's nice knowing I'll still be able to dive back into their world for a couple hours in future (no matter how bad I hear V is ).

If nothing else, STV should make you appreciate TNG Season 3 all the more.

It just doesn't feel re-watchable at all though. Even if it is an acquired taste, I don't know if I ever wanna taste it again Too slow, dull, I found II, III and IV to all be much better as films and Trek.

That's part of what I was trying to get at....Back in the day, I acquired that taste because there was a lot less Trek to watch, and that was one of a small handful of modern installments. Nowadays, with hundreds of hours of Trek to browse through, much of it both better-realized and more recent, you'd have little incentive to watch TMP multiple times if you didn't like it the first time.

I've heard a lot about that. Is Season 1 as bad as Season 3 of TOS? It'll be tough going through something like that again...

Offhand, I'd rather watch TOS Season 3, and I'm a TNG fan in general. Not to discourage you from soldiering on and forming your own opinion.

 

[Maurice]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

I wonder why they were so adamant to delay it at least another week or two. Was there any big blockbuster coming out they had to avoid? I imagine TMP would have been the biggest film of the year after Alien..

The actual answer is that Paramount COULD NOT alter the release date. Paramount had pre-booked it with theater chains (known as block booking), meaning they were contractually bound to release it by Dec. 7, 1979, and under implied threat of a class-action lawsuit by the theater chains if the film didn't materialize. Now, had things gone as planned this should not have been a problem, but basically nothing went right in production and post-production, and the Producers fumbled badly in dealing with these production problems in an effective manner. (They could easily have whacked 40% of the effects shots and saved time and money and probably ended up with a better film.)

 

[Tracy Trek]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

In the finale, although it would be considered an alternate reality, wasn't Geordi:

Spoiler: [Geordi]

Married to Leah Brahams?

I put that in spoilers because the original poster has not watched that yet.

Some good season 1 & 2 episodes are:

Where No One Has Gone Before
The Measure of a Man
Contagion

Yay, I was literally just about to watch this episode!

First four haven't been the most impressive, but I have patience. I'm sure it'll get better.

You're already on the last episode ever of TNG? I thought you just started the first season. I didn't mean the season 1 finale.

Once you get to season 5, I really recommend an episode called The Inner Light and the one after that called Times Arrow.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

I think Shal was referring to WNOHGB, hence the bolding added to the quote.

 

[Tracy Trek]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Oh, OK. Did you like it?

 

[Kor]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Welcome to Trek fandom.

Thanks for giving TOS a fair chance. I realize it's not to everyone's taste.

Personally, I rejected most of the Trek spinoffs some years ago. These days the only Trek I tend to watch is TOS, the first couple of TOS movies, and the Abrams movies.

Kor

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

It gets a lot better than Season 1. If you're enjoying things so much already, you're in for a treat.

 

[ItIsGreen]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Loving your enthusiasm! It's making me remember when I first got into Trek, when I was a little younger than you back in the early 90s. Hope you continue to enjoy discovering it, and as others have said take a break from it every now and again - there's a lot of material to get through and you don't want to burn out. Have fun!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Season 2 tends to get a bad rep for the show not quite being all there yet, but it's a big improvement over 1. It really starts realizing that potential that you mention in Season 3.

 

[Forbin]

Re: I officially began my journey through all Star Trek on October 9th

Let us know what you think of the excess of technobabble when it gets going. It's already there in season 1, for sure, but in later seasons there are entire episodes driven by some nonsense technical thing coming up, and resolved by someone coming up with another nonsense technical term. It practically replaced storytelling at some points. Also, the "particle of the week" got fairly tiresome.

But when TNG hit the mark, brother, it really hit it out of the park. Measure of a Man, The Inner Light, Best of Both Worlds, Family...