Star Trek III

[Ssosmcin]

Charlie X rocked. Still does.

I can't stomach it. There's a lot I don't like about it, but the apex of my torture is the rec room singing scene. Ugh. Not one awful song, but two.

However, it's not the fact that the songs exist, just their overall crapulence in Charlie X. When Nichelle sang "Beyond Antares" in Conscience of the King, I loved it.

 

[Ssosmcin]

How could they approve that poster?

Funny, I didn't make the connection when I saw the movie opening night, because I loved the film when I first saw it (I still like it a a lot). It wasn't until some wag put the "keep people from leaving" in a letter to Starlog that summer that I realized maybe they shouldn't have gone in that direction without knowing the response.

Sometimes I think the powers that be decided deliberately to let Trek V go completely pear shaped under Shatner. Just my crazy conspiracy theory, but I could imagine people being rubbed the wrong way by Shatner's intensity/ego/pig headedness and eventually shrugging their shoulders and letting Bill take the heat for the disaster, particularly if he refused to budge on the script when he was told the ending was as disappointing as a vacation on Nimbus 3

I can't imagine Paramount deliberately shooting their own cash cow simply to "Stick it to Shatner." Actaully, it seems to me they were kind of afraid of him, or at least afraid of pissing him off. Otherwise, why wouldn't they tell him something like "look Bill, we agreed to let you direct, but not write the story. We're bringing in someone with some real talent in that area." Instead, Shatner's story, wrong-headed from the start, was approved and nursed. Much as he complains it was diluted and dumbed down, I prefer what we got to the whole "oh it's the Devil and Kirk doesn't need anyone's help thank you."

On the other hand, his direction was great. He has a real eye for composition and pacing. With a better writer and a stronger producer keeping him in check (no disrespect to Harve Bennett, but by his own admission, he was pretty tired of the bullshit by this time), Star Trek V could have been an amazing film. Unless the studio mandated humor brought it back down, but someone with a more suble sense of humor might not have resorted to fart jokes and pratfalls.

 

[22 Stars]

You are too kind to Shatner's direction and the film in general. It is like saying ST V could have been an amazing film if it had been A DIFFERENT FILM! Written differently, Produced differently and I feel directed by someone else. It was Shatner who insisted on the literal GOD story (at least when Gene did it, it was somewhat disguised). ST V is a childish attempt to make a Star Trek film.

That being said, I think it could possibly be re-edited into an hour long story (seriously cut about half of it out), with new FX and not be truly horrible, but it would still not be amazing.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Nah, I'm not being that kind to the film if I feel it would have been great if it were a different movie. However, I think his direction was fine, and that's where his creative involvement should have ended. Directing and acting in the same film is hard enough, and I feel his acting suffered more than his direction. But his being allowed to come up with the story was mistake #1.

With the exception of that wacky direct to video UFO film Groom Lake, I've found a lot to respect about his directorial efforts. He's got a good eye.

 

[sonak]

yeah, of all the various problems, the direction really isn't one of its big flaws. More the humor, the writing, and the effects.