Rewatched TMP last night
- Thread starter JRoss
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Commentary on alternate edits of TMP are still on track. I'm not someone who has a problem with the pacing in TMP generally but I do enjoy the earlier scenes more when there seem to be more character moments for the wider cast. I watched the Director's cut and didn't notice any significant improvement in my overall enjoyment but I did notice that I missed those character scenes. However, other people rave about the edit vastly improving their enjoyment so it must be contributing something. Ergo, I'm interested in seeing a further edit that mixes the Directors Cut with scenes from SLE. I'm very tempted to watch a fan edit but... I'd really miss Janice in either of these. I actually clapped when I saw she was back...
Plus I rather like that transporters are not 100% safe.
It's really hard to fathom, isn't it.
No. Fan edits that skirt the line of legality aren't what I'm in the Star Trek Movies I-X forum to discuss. A fan edit of one of these films is, by definition, none of them.
I friggin love TMP! Give me those uniforms and blue photon torpedoes any day! 
It has a feel that is both different from the show, and from the later TOS movies. It's unique. The crew was fine. Very professional. Kirk-Decker was a great combo.
I loved Decker and Ilia. They were Riker and Troi, but better. The new sets were perfect. Loved engineering, sick bay, the bridge, shuttlebay and even the rec deck.
The refit Enterprise is one of the best ship models and designs ever created for film or TV, and the palpable sense of dread, fear, wonder and uncertainty is captured perfectly.
I did think it was long and slow when I saw it in the theater in '79. It needs some editing, and the writing in some scenes could be tightened up. I liked the uniforms, but they could have straightened out some of the logic of them and who wears what colors a little better. But overall I would not trade TMP for any of the other Trek films. It's a Star Trek epic.
It has a feel that is both different from the show, and from the later TOS movies. It's unique. The crew was fine. Very professional. Kirk-Decker was a great combo.I loved Decker and Ilia. They were Riker and Troi, but better. The new sets were perfect. Loved engineering, sick bay, the bridge, shuttlebay and even the rec deck.
The refit Enterprise is one of the best ship models and designs ever created for film or TV, and the palpable sense of dread, fear, wonder and uncertainty is captured perfectly.
I did think it was long and slow when I saw it in the theater in '79. It needs some editing, and the writing in some scenes could be tightened up. I liked the uniforms, but they could have straightened out some of the logic of them and who wears what colors a little better. But overall I would not trade TMP for any of the other Trek films. It's a Star Trek epic.
Possibly true but I have tried to move the conversation back on to what I liked and disliked about existing official releases of TMP (and as it happens, no fan edit that covers all of these seems to exist). Whether you approve of the existing fan edits or not, that doesn't change the reasons why people wanted to make those edits, i.e. perceived flaws in the originals, and those flaws, plus ways to rectify them, should still be up for discussion.
Discussing fan edits is fine, guys. Just don't post links or directions to download or access things, okay?
I think Star Trek: The Motion Picture is Star Trek's imperfect masterpiece. It asks big questions (within a TV/film context), has great characterizations, moves the universe forward in a meaningful way (until the reset button at the end) but is plagued by pacing issues.
I never enjoyed it as a kid. I thought it was to slow and dull. Fortunately, I grew to appreciate as the most "Star Trek" of any of the films. Also, having recently seen the TOS films on blu - ray for the first time, felt it was the most visually impressive too. The Enterprise sets in particular looked great in HD.
This. The major beats are excellent (and in fact enhanced by many of the the Special Longer Version additions), but you lose two major things trying to get the pacing under control:
1) The SFX, particularly of V'ger's interior
2) The music.
True. However, I browsed the phase II script for In Thy Image. It had nowhere near the scope of TMP but had a lot more dialogue that looked right on the page. I wish the two could have been fused a bit more successfully.
I hope they try something similar in the future. They seem to be getting pacing so right in movies now.
The pacing is perhaps too frenetic now and the content is a bit flippant and dumbed down. The movies were so successful, they won't change that much but I do wish they would at least get in a scientific consultant so that the real world science isn't so obviously wrong that an 8-year old boy can spot them.
So for the first time in Star Trek's history?
Captain Janeway, Lieutenant Paris and their offspring would like a word.
Personally I find TMP fairly juvenile but incredibly spectacular. I don't find it "deep" at all.
Very much agree! I so miss the thoughtfulness of Trek at its best -- not just in terms of scientific laws or concepts, but the physical environments as well. Some examples: the "belt buckles" integrated into the costumes were bio-monitors that continuously kept tabs on the health of the crew. Or, the colored dots that blink on the monitors built into the ceilings of the hallways are supposed to indicate which divisions have staff present in that section of the hallway. Who's doing this kind of attention to detail any more? These two examples (of MANY) are never explained in the film, yet the makers took the time to consider how this future universe might work. Despite the lack of explanation, it permeates the film and gives it a level of reality that (for me) is missing in newer Trek.
Cool! Bear in mind though that the 8-year old who was pointing out that super novas and black holes 'don't work like that' also asked why they made sentinels out of plastic instead of non-ferrous metal in the X-men.
But is that really necessary for the plot? TFF starts with Enterprise being glitchy, but that feeds into not being able to beam to Nimbus III or the God Planet. It's been a while, but I don't recall the technical problems of Enterprise feeding into the V'Ger encounter at all.
The Enterprise readiness is a subplot of the movie. The warp drive intermix formula issues delay their encounter with V'ger. The new shields are mentioned as saving the ship from the first attack.
It ramps up the feeling that V'ger isn't the only enemy in the movie.
My husband warned me that TMP was one of the worst of the films and was horribly boring before I watched it. I had pretty low expectations and was consequently surprised. I thought it was enjoyable overall and the scenes depicting V'ger were breathtaking especially given when the film was shot.
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