What just "works" for you?

[dukesman]

Where do I begin?

WOK:
-"Let them eat static" - that whole scene leading up to Khan's surprise attack as he seethes at the 1701 onscreen
-"Here it comes..."
-"Khan, I'm laughing at the superior intellect" and the ENTIRE Mutara Nebula battle
-Kirk touches the glass as dying Spock gives him the Vulcan salute...oh man. And then Kirk's reaction at the funeral - I get choked up with him every time.

TSFS:
-Stealing the Enterprise
-the entire destruction of the 1701 right up to where Kirk asks "Bones, what have I done?"
-Spock lives, the crew rushes over to him and the words "...And the adventure continues.." show up on the screen. Hell yes!

TVH:
-1701-A is revealed and "Let's see what she's got."

TUC:
-Ent-A and D7 in formation together
-the dinner scene
-Kirk and McCoy's trial-loved them coming up through the floor to a darkened room full of snarling klingons
-Kirk and Spock alone together discussing their places in the universe before battle
-the entire battle between the Ent/Excelsior and the BOP, especially "To be...or not...to be...BOOM!"
-Ent and Excel in formation over Khitomer

GEN:
-"oh my"

FC:
-the initial swoop in of the Ent-E as it saves the Defiant from the Cube...
-"And you're all astronauts....on some kind of Star Trek?"

NEM:
-Shinzon's initial reveal from the darkness
-Picard's little speech on the eve of battle and the entire battle between the ENT and the SCHIMITAR.
-the crew remembering Data

I'm sure there are more but these are the best IMO.

 

[Yassim]

Not so much the first time through, but now, I get shivers during...

"Nice work, Scotty! You did it!"

"... Jim... better get down here.... better hurry..."

cut to empty chair. Kirk runs.

 

[Basill]

Oh yeah, that is a supreme moment. That moment of realization is one of Shatner's best. I was reviewing that one the other day and took a bit to examine Saavik's reactions while Bones is bemoaning Kirk's presence. Kirstie Alley's reaction shots are fun to examine throughout the film, usually in response to Kirk's actions; like when he breaks the little unit to open the Chekov-Terrell tuna box, and the, "I know what he blames me for!" -soon after.

 

[destructive]

Admiral Janeway in 'Nemesis', she tells Picard there's been a political shakeup on Romulus, as Mulgrew delivers this line she shakes her head a little (perfect janeway sass), i get a good feeling whenever i see that

 

[Mysterion]

TWOK: The wordless exchange on the bridge between Kirk and David when they are trying to escape the impending Genesis Device detonation.

 

[Redshirts_Widow]

Oooh good one! I love the way Shatner is leaning forward as if to conjure up more speed whilst David is just slouched dejectedly at the back of the bridge.

 

[Basill]

Yeah, good one. I always wondered if Chekov thought they had a chance in hell when he announces "four tousand keelom-eeters." He has this sorta happy nervous smirk as if that is significant. Then Sulu just drops the bomb.

 

[Mysterion]

Redshirts_Widow said:
Oooh good one! I love the way Shatner is leaning forward as if to conjure up more speed whilst David is just slouched dejectedly at the back of the bridge.

And the bit where Kirk looks back to David questioningly, and David simply shakes his head. Great stuff.

 

[SmoothieX]

Basill said:
Yeah, good one. I always wondered if Chekov thought they had a chance in hell when he announces "four tousand keelom-eeters." He has this sorta happy nervous smirk as if that is significant. Then Sulu just drops the bomb.

^ The way you phrased that made me laugh.

About the bomb drop, I can't think of too many other instances where someone feels resigned to defeat. Maybe when Picard agrees to blow up the ship in FC but I can't think of any others.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Basill said:
One "clicker" for me in that film was the arrival of the Grissom at Genesis... the ominous music as the Klingons plot suddenly swells to the familiar Trek theme, as the Grissom roars past and then begins to roll slighty as it prepares to enter standard orbit. I ate it up.

I love that, too! I think that music cue is one of the best in all of the Trek movies and I wish it was on he album. TSFS as a whole I'm rather meh about but hat scene rocks (though I loved it when I saw it in the theatres at the age of 14).

 

[Lil Chaka]

Redshirts_Widow said:

Basill said:
TMP: Spock's arrival on the shuttle, the music especially; from the moment McCoy walks away with his poker face and the music cues, to the moment Uhura gasps and Kirk turns around with amazement on his face. That's Goose Pimple 101.

Iteresting. The impact of that scene was diminished by Phil Farrand's comments in one of his Nitpicker's Guides in which he suggested that the whole Vulcan shuttle approach to the Ent was a blatant ripp-off of the opening FX of SW:ANH.

HUH???

 

[CaptainJon]

So much great stuff has already been mentioned, and some of it I might be repeating, but what the heck?

The Motion Picture:
- The introductory flyby of the new Enterprise
- The closing bridge scene and final Enterprise flyby/warp out

The Wrath of Khan:
- The whole surprise attack by the Reliant & Kirk's response
- The entire Mutara Nebula sequence from the beam-out from Regula to the final attack on the Reliant
- Spock's death scene
- The funeral scene
- The final Kirk/David scene
- The closing scene and discovery of the torpedo/coffin and final zoom-out...
What can I say? The whole movie really just worked!

The Search for Spock:
- The prologue and opening credits; the music was fantastic
- Stealing the Enterprise
- The build-up to the battle with the Klingons
- The destruction of the Enterprise
- The closing Kirk/Spock scene

The Voyage Home:
- The bird-of-prey takeoff scene
- The Kirk/Spock/Gillian truck scene
- Crash of the bird-of-prey
- The reveal of the new Enterprise and warp-out

The Final Frontier
- From the moment Goldsmith's TMP theme starts at the opening credits all the way through Kirk's rock climbing scene as Goldsmith's beautiful score plays
- The Klingon attack and shuttle crash; as mentioned, the effects were bad, but the music really made it work for me
- The shuttle landing on Shakari (sp?) and the walk to find God

The Undiscovered Country
- The opening credits; I'm a huge music fan so it really got the heart pumping
- The Big Bang at the beginning
- The Battle for Peace sequence at the end, from the moment the bird-of-prey cloaks to Kirk's closing speech; one of the most heart-pumping, thrilling sequences in all of Star Trek; and once again, fantastic music
- The closing farewell scene, fly-out and the sign-off; a very fitting end for the TOS era

Generations
- Not the entire credit sequence, just from the moment when the bottle smashing against the hull to the reveal of the Enterprise-B; once again music
- The moment we fade to the 24th Century and gradually lift to see the sailing ship; music, need I say more?
- The destruction of Armagossa sequence
- The evacuation/separation/crash of the Enterprise; it was amazing to watch on the big screen; I loved how the crash had no music and relied entirely upon sound, a great choice!
- The Data/Troi scene where they find Spot, but I almost crack up every time after learning that Spiner said "Does he have to find the cat? Can't he find Geordi?"
- The closing Picard/Riker scene; a very fitting end to the movie
- The final warp-out; once again, the music

First Contact (where do I begin? my fav movie)
- The opening credits; music
- The first reveal/flyby of the new Enterprise; music
- The Battle with the Borg
- Deanna/Cochrane/Riker bar scene ("I'm just trying to blend in." "You're blended, all right.")
- The entire sequence from when the Phoenix is preparing to warp out through to the closing "It's about to get a whole lot bigger."; and that shot of the Enterprise through the window was fantastic! And how can I forget? Music
- First Contact sequence to the end; music (anyone tell I'm a big Trek score fan?)

Insurrection
- First Enterprise flyby
- Data opening the dam and discovering the clocked ship; music
- The Riker Maneuver (sans joystick)
- The climactic battle; the Enterprise playing chicken with the Son'a ship, Picard's "Too late" and the collector beginning to explode, and the Enterprise sweeps in, races the explosion and beams Picard out, and the Enterprise escapes the exploding Collector...I thought it was great! And again...music.

Nemesis
- Blue Skies; I don't know, but this just worked for me. I wish it could've been longer like it was originally scripted to give that sense of family, but it just seemed to work.
- The opening flyby of the Enterprise; Goldsmith's TMP theme rendition is beautiful
- The call to Battle Stations, the Captain's log, and the discovery of the Scimitar following the Enterprise; one of my favorite TNG movie music cues.
- The Enterprise/Scimitar battle, especially the crash
- Data's final flight and sacrifice
Too bad I felt like after the closing explosion, the ending was mishandled. It was probably more with the directing than anything else, but it just felt awkward. The remembrance scene with the crew felt like it should've been much more.
- Oh, but I can't forget, the final Picard/Riker scene; the sort of passing of the torch to the new captain.

 

[Phantassm]

That one shot of the Enterprise from Star Trek III when she first clears the spackdock doors and the Kirk orders full impulse power, the external view as the ship gracefully moves and the music is ever majestic works wonders for me. Its about a 5 second shot.

 

[sbk1234]

"Don't call me Tiny."

"That green-blooded son-of-a-bitch. It's his revenge for all those arguments he lost."

"Nobody's perfect."

"Get back your command. Get it back before you turn into part of this collection. Before you really do grow old."

"There's a man I haven't seen in 15 years who's trying to kill me. You show me a son who'd be happy to help him. My son. My life that could have been, but wasn't. What am I feeling? I'm old, worn out."

"Can I cook, or can't I?"

"Weren't these a present from Dr. McCoy?"
"And they will be again. That's the beauty of it."

"Double dumb-ass on you!"

"One damn minute, Admiral."

"It is the human thing to do."

Just to name a few.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
-The themes, not the musical score. They were larger-than-life themes of identity and belonging, and asked "who am I?" and "where do I belong?" Also, it asked better than TFF, "what is god?"

As pointed out in the director edition podcast, if only Harold Livingston had the proper time to rewrite the script or had less interference from Roddenberry, the movie might've been better than it was originally received.

All the major players are looking for something they've lost. V'Ger is searching for the creator. Kirk is searching for the man he once was. Spock is searching for the man in-between logic and emotion. Decker is searching for something greater than himself. The beats are there, but get lost in all the static scenes of people gasping over V'Ger.

Too bad that the Director's Edition cut out the line that sums up the movie. "We all create God in our own image."

If we took that and spun it to the characters, than V'Ger god would be a machine (as stated in the film); Kirk's god is his starship; Spock's god has been logic, but it's not enough; and Decker's god isn't at all what he thought it would be (his arc from starship captain to new lifeform).

-The scope. Vulcan, Earth, inside V'Ger, other dimensions. N
-The look of the Enterprise; she never looked lovelier.
-The uniforms. Yeah, I liked them. Sure they looked like pajamas or dentist uniforms, but the simplicity of Thesis's aesthetic is carried over from TOS.

The Wrath of Khan

-The themes of aging, friendship, loyalty and command. Big themes, small scope.
-The Hornblower aspect of the storyline. It felt as if this is how C.S. Forrester would've handled Star Trek .
-The physical feel of Meyer's version of Trek. Everything seemed more hands on, and I know that goes against some of what was previously established in TMP/TOS, but this is a future that I felt I could actually touch. Everything seemed so physical.
-The "Nautical but nice" motif of TWOK.
-The uniforms. Highly impractical for daily shipboard duty, more of a class-A, but pretty to look at. Too bad, Robert Fletcher didn't have the budget to create a variety of Starfleet working/informal wear like he wanted.
-The fact that the characters were growing older, changing and possibly even going separate ways. Things changed in this movie.
-Saavik. (Boy was she a hottie, back then!)
-Kirk facing the consequences of his decisions in life. First, Khan. Then, Carol and David Marcus. Ultimately, Spock's death caused, in part, by the decisions he made throughout the film.

The Search for Spock
-The reverse side of the TWOK themes, i.e the needs of the one over the needs of the many.
-The stealing of the Enterprise.
-Nimoy's directing.
-The look of a TOS episode, i.e. soundstage planet (though not very effective for a motion picture).
-The last shot of the movie with the crew reunited with Spock.
-The fact that the crew risked their entire careers for their friend.
-The destruction of the Enterprise. I was like six or seven, and when I saw that I was like... NO!

The Voyage Home
-The adventurous aspect. Trek was fun again.
-The humor of the "fish out of water" scenario.
-The music, it fit the themes of the movie and it's lighthearted tone.
-Damn, it was good seeing everyone back together after being separated for most of the previous movie.
(However, in hindsight, I didn't like the reset at the end with everyone back on a ship that looked exactly like the old one.)

The Final Frontier
-The exploration of the trinity (Kirk, Spock and McCoy). This was the only film that truly tested their friendship, showing what they mean to each other and how they really need each other. It's almost as if these three form one complete person.
-The cinematography.
-The look, special effects aside, of the film from the set design to the lighting (especially in the officer lounge scene).
-McCoy's decision to "help" his father. De Kelly pulled out all the stops in that scene. And to think that his actor's ego almost killed it.
-The mountain sequence in the opening.
-The feeling that this was a lost episode of TOS, which was Shatner's goal.
-The interaction of the characters from the Big Three to the Final Four.

The Undiscovered Country
-The opening up of the Trek universe, trying to go into detail on how this society functions politically.
-The attempt to bridge TNG and TOS.
-The submarine feel; although Nick should've looked more towards the destroyer/heavy cruiser motif.
-Captain Sulu of the Excelsior.

Generations
-The cinematography; the Enterprise-D never looked better.
-The damn best two-hour episode of TNG. Really, it plays really well on television than in the theater.
-Shatner's performance, which is spades above Stewart's, who was obviously tired from filming the last season of TNG, carrying the entire finale and being asked to carry his first major motion picture billing.
-The scenes aboard the Enterprise-B. I like the look of the ship and, yes, I liked Captain Cameron... Harriman (who is really good in the TrekLit novels).

First Contact
-The overall look of the film.
-The character of Lily Slone and Alfie Woodward's performance.

Insurrection
-Not much worked for me in this film.

Nemesis
-Ditto, except the shots of the crew preparing for the final battle (I just like scenes like that).

 

[Dart]

middyseafort said:
-McCoy's decision to "help" his father. De Kelly pulled out all the stops in that scene. And to think that his actor's ego almost killed it.

You will have to enlighten me on this.

 

[Warped9]

Redshirts_Widow said:
I was watching STVI last night and the scene where the Enterprise drops out of warp and screams towards Khitomer at impulse stuck in my head. The shot stays pretty static as the Ent becomes smaller and smaller into the distance suming up beautifully the vast distance still to cover with an adversary stalking them.

I can also greatly criticize ST6, but this shot does work for me as well.

Another one part of a scene I like in a film I can really criticize is Kirk's refusal to give into Sybok's mind manipulation in ST5. Kirk doesn't need to be shown where he screwed up in his life. THAT is pure Kirk.

The only tolerable (and good) scene in ST4 is the farewell scene between Spock and Sarek near the end of the movie.

 

[ancient]

As a Trek fan, every movie has numerous moments, even the crappiest ones: Here are a tiny sample of mine...

TMP:
-Any scene with McCoy. Most of the movie is painful at best, with shitty (or no) dialogue, but McCoy was fiesty!

TWOK:
-Any scene with Khan
-The Mutara battle
-The Spock death scene
-The Spock funeral
-The Spock ending narration

TSFS:
-Stealing the ENT
-Breaking McCoy out of Jail
-The destruction of the ENT
-The end: SPOCK: "Jim...Your name...is Jim."

TVH:
-Seeing the New enterprise: "We've come home."

TFF:
-"Other people have families" "Other people, Bones, not us."
-What are ye standin around for? Ye don't know a jail break when ye see one?"
-"So Human"
-"I need my pain!" "if we loose our pain we loose ourselves."
-"I have found my place here. I cannot go with you."
-Sailing into the barrier, pan down to the wooden ship wheel inscription: "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
-"What does God need with a starship?"
-"I lost a brother once. I was lucky I got him back." "I thought you said people like us don't have families." "I was wrong."

TUC:
-The explosion of Praxis
-The Enterprise on the Run.

GEN:
-"Was anyone in here?" "...Aye"

FC:
-"I can hear them."
-"This far, NO FURTHER."
-"You are the bravest man I've ever known."
-The torpedoes not hitting the Phonix.

INS:
-Opening pan over the villiage with the musical score.
-Picard confronting the Admiral and Baddie.

NEM:
-The Opening sequence after the titles.
-Data/B8 deactivation: "I do not understand." "I know."

 

[Manticore]

ancient said:
-The torpedoes not hitting the Phonix.

Followed up by "Resistance...is futile." Always puts a grin on my face.

 

[Therin of Andor]

* In the original version of TMP, Ilia's tricorder clattering to the deck after she's digitized by the first Vejur probe - the scene is cut too finely in the DVD DE. Even though I'd already read the novel, this scene was just chilling in the cinema!

* Some of the glances between the crew after the Epsilon 9 station is destroyed.

* "Aren't you dead?" (ST II)

* Grace Lee Whitney as Rand (Woman in cafeteria) in ST III.

* Two Andorian admirals in ST IV.

* "You broke your little ships." (FC)