TMP: Kirk's Journey to the Ship

[Smiley]

Watching TMP on TV the other day, I had a thought about why some people, myself included, may think the Enterprise fly-by is too slow and kills the momentum of the movie.

The fans who saw the movie in the theater when it came out were anxious to see the ship on the big screen, true, but it was also the first time they were exposed to Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful Star Trek theme. For decades, fans have heard that music more frequently as the main title theme for TNG, and many of them saw TNG before TMP. Watching the Enterprise fly-by with that music may bring to mind the sensibilities of that show and its pacing. At the very least, it can feel recycled, even though TMP came out first.

I'll probably always have the view that that scene drags on too long and is trying too hard to be like 2001, but I wonder if I would think the scene more majestic if I saw it at its moment in time.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

I saw TMP in the theater, and I was jacked for the Enterprise Flyby. Viewed on a huge screen, underlaid by that triumphant, heralding theme-- we were seeing the Enterprise like we had never seen her before, from all angles and up close and personal. It was a great experience for someone who had started drawing that ship with crayons shortly after watching the first episode when it premiered in the fall of 1966. It was great. "Joyous", even!

I can see why other folks with a different history, who have only seen it on television might not view it in quite the same way.

Also, I think that the sequence lasts less than two minutes. Now - if you want to talk about a long, slow, boring sequence, we could look towards the V'ger flyover. I think that is the sequence that leans too hard towards 2001!

 

[Christopher]

Also, I think that the sequence lasts less than two minutes.

The musical cue "The Enterprise," which begins when the travel pod undocks from the office complex and ends when it docks with the ship, is just about six minutes long.

But for me, the only part where it drags is when the travel pod does that long, slow U-turn just before the big head-on reveal. That reveal is utterly breathtaking and I can understand giving the audience a breather to build anticipation, but it could've stood to be 10 or 20 seconds shorter. At least there could've been a little more going on there visually; I wish the Director's Edition had added some FX of a transport going by in the background or something.

 

[J.T.B.]

A lot of people seem to have objections to that sequence but I personally never heard anybody complain about it for about the first 20 years the movie was around. Plenty of other complaints, but not that one.

A couple of things to consider: Of course it was a chance to show off the model photography, which looked great on the big screen, very solid and real. Obviously that was in the tradition of the long pass of Discovery in 2001 and especially the opening shot flyover of the vast star destroyer in Star Wars, which really had an impact on people at the time.

Full orchestral scores were back in fashion then, mostly thanks to John Williams, so there was a nice chance to give Goldsmith a showcase. Plus Robert Wise had his biggest successes as a director of musicals, so he was comfortable with that kind of thing. He was also an old-school director who liked the classic Hollywood technique of "grand entrances," making the main characters the center of attention in their first appearances, which he extends to the ship in TMP. He also gave the gunboat in The Sand Pebbles a prominent entrance with its own music cue and a brief visual tour around the engine room, though of course nowhere near as long as the TMP fly-around.

Maybe more basically, people were used to a different kind of movie pacing back then. A couple of minutes with nothing much going on but some nice music was not really unusual. Superman's "Can You Read My Mind?" musical interlude was probably not much shorter than the TMP fly-by, and even had a lyric voiceover.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

Also, I think that the sequence lasts less than two minutes.

The musical cue "The Enterprise," which begins when the travel pod undocks from the office complex and ends when it docks with the ship, is just about six minutes long.

Now that's funny.

Editing the visuals is easy! Editing the music, that's hard. There is a similar tease in both, however, before the big head on reveal with the fully realized, that could potentially be trimmed; still would only cut a minute or so out.

 

[drt]

Now - if you want to talk about a long, slow, boring sequence, we could look towards the V'ger flyover. I think that is the sequence that leans too hard towards 2001!

Heh, I love the entire sequence from entering the cloud to the appearance of the probe on the bridge. The music is cool and eerie and the just cements in my mind that exploring space probably should be weird and trippy.

 

[BillJ]

I just sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

[Christopher]

A couple of things to consider: Of course it was a chance to show off the model photography, which looked great on the big screen, very solid and real.

Maybe it's harder to see now that we have the E-D and E-E and Defiant and Voyager and NX-01, but back then, this was the Enterprise, the one and only ship of our dreams, and finally getting a crystal-clear look at it on the big screen, able to get up close and personal and see it with an unprecedented amount of realistic detail, was an amazing moment for the fans. We would've been disappointed if it hadn't been long enough to let us really savor it.

Full orchestral scores were back in fashion then, mostly thanks to John Williams, so there was a nice chance to give Goldsmith a showcase.

Right, that's right. Before then, SF scores had tended to be more modern or concrete or alternative or whatever. Certainly Goldsmith's earlier scores of the decade, like for Planet of the Apes, had often been more experimental. I think TMP was the first time he'd really adopted that big, bombastic orchestral style that he became known for later, although of course he still incorporated more exotic sounds and styles.

Plus Robert Wise had his biggest successes as a director of musicals, so he was comfortable with that kind of thing.

Right. When I saw West Side Story, it struck me how much it reminded me of TMP: Both films featured multiple lengthy set pieces driven by spectacular visuals and instrumental music.

Maybe more basically, people were used to a different kind of movie pacing back then. A couple of minutes with nothing much going on but some nice music was not really unusual. Superman's "Can You Read My Mind?" musical interlude was probably not much shorter than the TMP fly-by, and even had a lyric voiceover.

On the Superman: The Movie soundtrack album I have, the cue titled "The Flying Sequence" is 8 minutes, 10 seconds -- about 36 percent longer than the Enterprise flyover. I'm not sure if it's the exact same cut used in the film, though.

Editing the visuals is easy! Editing the music, that's hard. There is a similar tease in both, however, before the big head on reveal with the fully realized, that could potentially be trimmed; still would only cut a minute or so out.

The portion that accompanies the slow U-turn could probably have a few phrases trimmed pretty easily. As for the cloud/V'Ger-flyover sequences, it was expected that Wise would cut down those scenes in the final edit (that he never got to do because the film was rushed into theaters), so Goldsmith actually wrote the cues with lots of repetitive phrases so that portions could be clipped out easily. Which worked quite well for the Director's Edition, since they trimmed a minute or two out of each of the two parts of the sequence.

 

[dub]

I love the film and agree that it drags at times. For me, it was the Vger flyover stuff. It's cool the first time, but for me it drags on the re-watches.

But honestly, Kirk's big reunion with his ship might be my favorite scene of the movie. For me, it didn't drag at all. I wouldn't change or remove a single frame. The music, the ship, the timing of it all, Kirk's expressions of awe, and Scotty by his side sort of playing the role of the audience and officiant at the same time. Kirk was meeting his bride again for the first time. And Star Trek was back! That was the moment. And it needed to be milked. What a fantastic scene.

And I'll say "the music" again because it's just so awesome. And I'm thrilled that Wise and others convinced Goldsmith to change his original music for that scene. The music that was used was meant to be there. It feels as if every note was there all along and Jerry just found them. Actually, that whole score is amazing.

 

[EnriqueH]

A lot of people seem to have objections to that sequence but I personally never heard anybody complain about it for about the first 20 years the movie was around. Plenty of other complaints, but not that one.

I agree with JTB completely, except that I've not heard a complaint my whole life until I came to this board back in July.

I've always loved this scene.

I can remember my dad renting Star Trek: TMP when I was a kid. The movie was not easy to get through. As a kid, I found myself walking out of the room during the middle and coming back towards the end. In fact, I can clearly remember my pattern: I'd watched the movie with rapt attention UNTIL right after the wormhole, and then I'd leave, then back again when Spock was in his spacesuit.

If I had to nitpick, there was a moment or two when Kirk was looking at the panels on the side of the docking bay, away from the Enterprise, and I felt that could be excised.

But overall, I think the sequence is one of the film's highlights.

 

[SchwEnt]

That scene is magnificent as-is. But context truly makes all the difference.

Moviegoers today are accustomed to dazzling big budget FX scenes.
Prior to TMP in 1979, there were only a handful of high-end space FX movies. TMP FX were (and are) mindboggling and the public wasn’t as jaded as today after decades of FX spectacles. Fans weren’t thinking about the running time of the scene, fans were too busy being stunned by the awesomeness. TMP was a big deal for cinema in general. Such things had rarely (or never) been seen before. It was special indeed.

Contemporary ST viewers come to TMP having seen starships in drydocks in all the movies, all the series, it’s all the same-old, same-old. ST fans at the time had never seen anything like it. TMP was a first. There is no comparison.

Contemporary ST viewers are familiar with dozens of Star Trek characters, crews, ships, series. Star Trek today is a broad-ranging universe of ships and crews. In 1979, there was one captain-Kirk. There was one starship-the Enterprise. THE Enterprise. Our one familiar beloved starship.

Contemporary ST viewers see TMP having already enjoyed multiple movies, hundreds and hundreds of eps, many series, decades of production. TMP is up against all the rest of ST and is perhaps judged against all that. At the time, TMP stood alone.

Contemporary ST viewers don’t see TMP as it was at the time. As they say, you had to be there. Star Trek was only TOS/TAS and that’s all we had. A decade without new Star Trek. And a real possibility that would be all there ever was, no new Star Trek ever again (Hollywood wasn’t re-booting everything yet).

That journey Kirk makes to the Enterprise is not just another scene, not a plot point to get him back aboard the Enterprise and why is it taking so long? It’s more than just technical wizardry and effects masterwork. It’s an emotional moment for the fans who knew a different Star Trek than fans do today. To have Star Trek back, to see the Enterprise again… not just on TV… not just in a movie… but to see THE Enterprise in absolute top cinematic form… with that musical score…

That journey to the Enterprise exists almost outside the film, a moment beyond the film itself, an event for ST fans that hasn’t been matched since.

 

[RyanKCR]

And for someone like me, who had not really know what Star Trek was at the time I saw TMP in the theater, it was very good that it made such an impression that I have since compared all Sci-Fi films back to it.

As a young rabid Star Wars fan I was more interested in the visuals of being in space. TMP was the movie I had wanted. I was eight or nine when I saw it and liked it better than Star Wars.

 

[Epsilon-9]

The scene works splendidly well and I don't see it dragging or holding the film back not for one single frame of the scene. Jerry Goldsmith score in Dolby Stereo keeps it going for me as there is something to listen to as well as watching.

 

[Maurice]

Some people complained about the long effects scenes, including the Enterprise reveal, even then. It IS too long. It's too long in part because they show too much of the ship through the dock from the outside, and there are shots like the inexplicable slow pass on the hexagonal lighting unit which should have been tossed on the cutting room floor and stomped on.

Goldsmith also recorded much of the music with repeated figures so that a music editor could trim bits out, given that he was composing for scenes that didn't have all their final shots available. This was done in the Starfleet HQ reveal in the original cut, where the fanfare was shortened (the full version was used in the DE).

 

[Melakon]

Plus Robert Wise had his biggest successes as a director of musicals, so he was comfortable with that kind of thing.

I don't think this is entirely fair, as it seems to belittle the bulk of Wise's career as director, beginning in the 1940s. His third musical, Star!, was a huge flop.

 

[2takesfrakes]

What I love about this shuttle ride, as compared with everything in TREK that followed, was that this was maybe the last time that STAR TREK marvelled at itself. Even during the series, it could boast how "forward" thinking it was, in terms of representing minorities on television, the kinds of stories it did and how it had become a Pop Culture Icon. But TMP came across as sterile and boring and all of the artistry and taking itself seriously went out the window, for the most part, after that.

It was like the studio was ashamed of TMP, happy to simply mine from it, without ever wanting to take that "serious artist" approach, ever again. And as an artist, I'm just blown away at how the ENTERPRISE model is quite simply, a work of art. The Art Deco influences are very pronounced and appropriate. The amount of detail and that pearlescent finish to enhance the "self-lighting" is impressive. Later ENTERPRISE designs seemed more concerned with faux-engineering and they never really had that kind of artistry in mind. Even the reboot ENTERPRISE, which is much more concerned with appearances, looks like it's scrunched up, with these oversized nacelles encroaching on the saucer section.

And after ILM, in its "wisdom," decided to paint over the TMP model with a flat finish to suit their needs, the look of the model was, unfortunately diminished. It never had that "presence" it had in TMP, especially. So, I'm fond of the shuttle sequence. TMP's ENTERPRISE is eyecandy, as is the rest of this film. And I truly wish that kind of artistry could come back. But CGI models and lense flares just won't let it ...

 

[Smellmet]

First film I ever saw on the big screen, aged 5 and to this day that scene is the main thing that sticks in my mind from that magical day, it just seemed so big so real, having been too young to see Star Wars at the cinema this was my first taste of epic big screen sci-fi. Even now seeing the ship from outside the drydock, Kirk eyeing up his only true love revealing teasing bits of her curves to him through the sections of drydock is pure starship pornography and gets me misty eyed every time I watch it (which is a lot) without fail. The utterly amazing score just complements and magnifies everything about this magnificent reintroduction to my all time favorite ship.

I can appreciate how perhaps younger people who came to trek later maybe see this scene is drawn-out and too long, and with the films are made these days I doubt it would have it's place in modern cinema.

To me on a personal level though this scene is just so special, and is the sole reason that I am not only a massive Star Trek fan but a sci-fi and movie fan in general, it means that much to me. The opening Star Destroyer scene in Star Wars may be more iconic, but for me this is the one, the daddy, and packs far more emotion than the admittedly thrilling opening scene of Wars.

TWOK may be the more overtly entertaining movie and JJ Trek has it's thrills and I'm a big fan of both, but The Motion Picture for me is the Star Trek film, and the flyby plays a big part in that. I absolutely adore it.

 

[Christopher]

Personally, I have no problem with TMP's pacing but find TWOK's pacing to be glacial and boring. Maybe it's because in TMP, we're supposed to be taking our time to absorb and contemplate the grandeur of the experience, so a slow pace is appropriate; but in TWOK, the sluggish pace is during the action scenes, and you have starships moving like hippos wallowing in mud and moments where Kirk or Khan gets a status report of something imminently dangerous happening and just stares dumbly for ten or twelve seconds before giving an order.

 

[Smellmet]

I've never had a problem with TWOK's pacing at all.

 

[Melakon]

I much prefer the image of starships moving at the speed of ocean galleons, over them zipping around like speedboats or jet aircraft.