Re:View Star Trek : TMP

I don’t know if you guys ever watch these, I do from time to time, but I watched this the other day and thought it was really good and pretty spot on.

Meant to put this in MC, can someone move it?

I saw it. It was a pretty good review.

I have to say that I actually like TMP. All of it.

I've always liked it but the director's cut they released some years ago that tightened up the storytelling a bit made it even better to me. I wish they'd release it in HD or higher, but that would mean having to redo many of the effects they did for that version.

I definitely like it a lot better than I did back in the day. I agree the black hole scene was just a little too much.

I didn’t know there was a director’s cut, is it on the box set that has all the movies except the Kelvinverse?

I have to disagree with Mike though, the uniforms suck, I much prefer the TWOK uniforms better.

It was a standalone release back when they were re-releasing all of the TOS movies as director's cuts or with other special DVD features.

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Pi...ds=star trek the motion picture directors cut

I also see that you can rent or buy it through Prime Video.

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Pi...ds=star trek the motion picture directors cut

My understanding is that version isn't available on Blu-ray because the effects for it are in SD, not HD.

I’ve got Prime so I’ll check it out.

I may do the same just to see how it looks on an HDTV.

The Director's Edition certainly "fixes" a lot of things--and tremendously improves the pacing--but I may actually still prefer the theatrical version. The DE loses some sounds that I liked; "pod secured" and the bom-bom-bom alarm klaxon come immediately to mind.

I think the perceived weakness of the film--the lack of action--diminishes as we get older, and the drama and theme become more appreciated. TMP is not a bad film, and it's STILL easily the most cinematic of the franchise.

I think it’s a good follow up to TOS. Which is one thing that is pointed in the review. Although they definitely could have done more with Bones.

TMP lacks the warmth of the original series. Had the characters had it then I feel it could well have been the greatest of all Star Trek movies. I have argued for over 20 years that the movie is very underrated. It has a great deal of what Trek should be. Intelligence and the exploration of both space and what it is to be human. Also, like Paladin says, it has an epic quality that hasn't been matched by any Trek since.

It remains one of my favourite Trek movies and, in my opinion, the "truest" to the franchise in terms of themes and story. Indeed, all of the TOS movies to some extent are truer than what came after them. In mean, when you look at dumbed down trash like Into Darkness and put it alongside something like TMP you really do appreciate just how much TMP was true Trek. It also shows how less creative and intelligent franchise products have become in the modern era. No studio would sign off on a story like TMP now. I don't even think you'd get a Star Trek V or VI now.

I don’t know @El Chup , Interstellar proved you can do a more cerebral movie. Granted it’s Christopher Nolan, but I’m sure any big name director could do it.

I think you need to learn what the word “franchise” means.

Agree about the TMP Starfleet uniforms. Those gray pajamas were awful. TWOK showed how a redesigned uniform could look really good. But I remember my first reaction back in the day was "why did they change the uniforms at all?"

IIRC, the original uniforms were chosen to "pop" on color TV; they looked garish on a feature film.

I never liked the TMP pajama outfits, and, truthfully, the post-TWOK uniforms weren't much better. To me, they looked too stuffy, too officious. The JJverse uniforms look pretty good to me, preserving the TOS look without being overpowering. The TNG and DS9 outfits were okay, but I think the best ones are the uniforms from ENT and the TNG/DS9 uniforms after FC (all black, grey shoulder, department-colored turtlenecks).

Yeah, I know. In fact, I think that was the argument at the time. But JJ Trek showed how the basic idea of the three colored uniforms could work in a movie. Like I said, the gray pajamas were just . . .

I'm really liking the New TOS uniform, it works.

The asymmetry in the collar's bugging me, but other than that, it looks pretty good.

I like the fact that TMP was shooting to be more like 2001 than Star Wars. Hiring Douglas Trumbull to do the SFX was a perfect choice, but some of those effects were sloppy or unedited due to Paramount desperately trying to make a release date instead of a releasing a finished, polished movie.

The biggest problem with TMP was hiring old-school director Robert Wise, who's directing style is stiff and mostly boring. Even his classics like The Day The Earth Stood Still are hokey, boring, and lacking in visual originality. He moves actors around with no real emotion, and creates performances that are as stiff and cringeworthy as George Lucas's PT. However, his Director's Cut was far superior in terms of pacing.

Did anyone ever read Shatner's "Star Trek Movie Memories" biography? He goes into great detail about the fighting that went on behind the scenes between Gene Roddenberry (who was always a hack) and writer Harold Livingston, each of whom were re-writing scenes daily just trying to figure out what the movie was to be about? It's a miracle that they got a mostly cohesive story at all considering how rushed the production was with no finished script.

I would love to see a "Final Cut" of TMP to enhance the VFX to 4K, and to tighten the pacing a bit more while toning down some of the more stiff line deliveries (i.e. "Oh good, Christine. It's Chekov!")

"Vat? You're on first name terms vith her but not me?"

Poor Pavel.

She seems to be the worst offender. The worst line delivery in the movie is when Spock appears on the bridge for the first time. After McCoy says "So help me, I'm actually glad to see you!" and there's an awkward pause when Spock does not respond, Nichols delivers the line...

"It's how we all feel, Mr. Spock."

...emphasizing the word "feel." But it should be:

"It's how we all feel, Mr. Spock."

...emphasizing the word "all." I cringe every time I hear it.

They brought that up in the review, they said it was awkward because Spock just simply ignores her. Spock has pretty much rejected all emotion and humanity. That’s probably why she emphasized feel rather than all.

That's always been my interpretation of Nichols' delivery of that line.

Eh, I suppose you could try to look at it that way...but, no, it's still just wrong. She's agreeing with the sentiment expressed by Dr. McCoy, not explaining human emotion to Mr. Spock.

Now we have an interesting question that should be asked at a convention.

One of the most boring movies ever made IMO. Take away all the slow long shots of ships moving and characters staring at the viewscreen and you have a story that could have easily been told in less than an hour. Whenever Im doing a Trek marathon I always skip this one and start with TWOK.

Kirk's Admiral uniform that he's wearing in the flyby, and the white shirt, are aces otherwise the rest are fugly

I don't really care for the onsies that show off all the actors' junks. Honestly I think the WoK uniforms are better than all but the FC uniforms. It's kind of funny how back in the day everyone seemed to think spandex was the material of the future.