UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ STAR TREK: The Original Motion Picture 6-Movie Collection -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

Personally, I think there's a segment of the fanbase that can't forgive that it's the most accessible of the Trek movies to a mainstream audience. It's like when a small band suddenly has a hit song, there's always going to be fans that have to say "They sold out, man!"

And...there are just some people that simply don't like something that other people love.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It hits all the Star Trek notes, with echoes of The Motion Picture, plus all the humor from episodes like A Piece of the Action and the Trouble With Tribbles, but it still has a story to tell and does so with a very specific Star Trek point of view.

I’ll admit that it’s not the first film I reach for when I go to watch a random Trek movie, but I completely agree with this take on the film. It’s very much a Star Trek story that just so happens to play well to a wider audience - which always seems true when a “genre” show tries its hand at comedy.

I disagree with other me that it’s for an audience of people who don’t like Star Trek. If anything, what I’ve come to realize is that there is no one specific thing that defines what Star Trek is and should be for each viewer. I know that’s definitely true of Star Wars as well (I feel very confident of saying that the things I look for in SW are different than what most people seem to be looking for there.)

One of the difficulties of translating a show to a movie is that you spend the same amount of time making one movie that you used to spend making a dozen or two dozen episodes, but only get to tell one story within that same amount of time. If you take each of the first four Star Trek movies on their own, they individually represent aspects of what the series was like but no single one of those films gets it all - nor would it be fair or even possible for them to be able to. But taken together, they carry a fuller range of the themes, styles and tones that comprise the series.

If there’s one little nitpick I have on the fourth film - and it’s not really a complaint - it’s that after the crew’s actions in TSFS, I was eager to see how that story continued in the 23rd century and the ramifications of everyone’s actions, and the film (and film series) mostly bypasses that, restoring things to a status quo in a very “episodic television” fashion. It’s not that I don’t buy it - important people get away with breaking the rules all the time and Kirk’s unauthorized visit to Genesis didn’t really change the final outcome of that planet (the planet was still going to self destruct without his presence, the Klingon attack was going to happen anyway, and Starfleet was gonna junk the Enterprise anyhow) and they really did redeem themselves by saving Earth. And a follow-up movie with the crew being persecuted wouldn’t have been very fun and there’s no way you end a Trek movie by sending Kirk to jail. It is what it is.

I always found Scotty’s “hello computer” line to be hilarious. Doohan sells it. It’s not the only time someone has been brilliant at one thing but not another. How things work over time change and being good at one era’s machines doesn’t always translate. We have absolutely brilliant people on this forum who could design and assemble a perfect high end home theater from scratch, but who might struggle if presented with a 35mm projector and no manual. I never questioned that Scotty could do anything with a 23rd century engine but needed a hand turning on a 20th century consumer PC. To me, that’s not a “Scotty is dumb” scene, that’s a “isn’t it funny how things change” scene.

 

[TravisR]

And...there are just some people that simply don't like something that other people love.

Absolutely but that's why I said there was a "segment of the fanbase" that felt that way.

 

[dpippel]

Absolutely but that's why I said there was a "segment of the fanbase" that felt that way.

To be fair, Travis, you said "I think there's a segment of the fanbase that can't forgive that it's the most accessible of the Trek movies to a mainstream audience." There's a big difference between Star Trek fans with an axe to grind who don't like the film for the reasons you stated, and people who think that IV simply isn't a very good film.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I feel like I was lucky enough to see those Trek films at a young age where I didn’t think to question anything I saw - I just accepted them as The Way Things Are. I wish I could still watch movies with that kind of innocence and acceptance.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The Voyage Home - which I watched last night in 4k - has long been one of my favorites. It might just be a perfect film.

Even if I loved the rest of "Voyage Home" - which I do not - the horrible performance from Catherine Hicks prevents this movie from perfect status!

 

[JoshZ]

I disagree with other me that it’s for an audience of people who don’t like Star Trek.

You make a well-reasoned argument, but how many times in your life have you heard The Voyage Home referred to as "The Star Trek movie for people who don't like Star Trek?" Six million times? Ten million? That was practically the movie's tag line on posters.

I always found Scotty’s “hello computer” line to be hilarious. Doohan sells it. It’s not the only time someone has been brilliant at one thing but not another. How things work over time change and being good at one era’s machines doesn’t always translate. We have absolutely brilliant people on this forum who could design and assemble a perfect high end home theater from scratch, but who might struggle if presented with a 35mm projector and no manual. I never questioned that Scotty could do anything with a 23rd century engine but needed a hand turning on a 20th century consumer PC. To me, that’s not a “Scotty is dumb” scene, that’s a “isn’t it funny how things change” scene.

The problem with the scene is not just Scotty acting dumb, but also the way he mashes away at the Apple IIe keyboard afterward and instantly whips up a beautifully 3D animated rendering of his "transparent aluminum" in about four seconds.

The whole scene is just flat-out stupid.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I think the whole scene is funny as hell!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Even if I loved the rest of "Voyage Home" - which I do not - the horrible performance from Catherine Hicks prevents this movie from perfect status!

I love me some Catherine Hicks in "Voyage Home".

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Scotty's "Hello, Computer" scene is the nadir of the franchise for me.

Sure.

 

[Nelson Au]

I saw each of the TOS Star Trek films ”live” on premiere day. It was an event after having been starved for new Star Trek for so long. So we ate it all up. I think the scene with Scotty on the Mac was done for laughs of course and sure, when I first saw it, I thought how does Scotty know a QWERTY keyboard. But we went with it because it was such a fun scene. The only time I left the theaters slightly disappointed and feeling like it cannot end like this was after Star Trek 5 and Nemesis. I hated that scene in Star Trek 5 that Neil posted above.

At the time of these films, one thing I’m having a flash back about, is that while we were loving the films, in the back of my mind I’m thinking, this is all great. But after the long syndication run of TOS, seeing the cast older started to feel like what you saw in MAD magazine. It’s tough for the actors as they got older to keep slim and trim. And as a fan, it was tough to see that. What caught my eye was Spock with a small ponch. Of course William Shatner fought it all his life. And James Doohan being the most over weight. Of course George Takei joked he’d love to keep making geriatric Star Trek at the time. And we were all in, make more TOS Star Trek!

 

[JoshZ]

Sure.

Also bad. Not defending it. I just dislike the Voyage Home scene even more.

 

[sbjork]

Sure.

 

[TravisR]

I still have never seen Trek V or VI (I just bought the UHDs a week ago) and I'm really looking forward to seeing if The Final Frontier lives up to its "reputation".

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I love me some Catherine Hicks in "Voyage Home".

To each his own but...ugh. Most irritating, self-righteous character in movie history!

 

[Tino]

Even if I loved the rest of "Voyage Home" - which I do not - the horrible performance from Catherine Hicks prevents this movie from perfect status!

I don’t get your hate of her performance. I thought she was perfectly fine in the role.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I still have never seen Trek V or VI (I just bought the UHDs a week ago) and I'm really looking forward to seeing if The Final Frontier lives up to its "reputation".

- Walter.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

@TravisR given your appreciation for the offbeat and enthusiasm for less than perfect sequels in other genres I think you stand a good chance of enjoying V - I certainly do.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Maybe it's just where I'm coming from wrt Trek, but feels like some may be taking these Trek films a tad too seriously.

For me, the TOS cast shows and movies have never really been quite *that* completely serious (unlike some other sci-fi shows/films, including perhaps some of the more recent Trek)... maybe partly because of their low budget, low tech origins, but also partly because of all the overacting (and inherent camp to varying degrees) of that era as exemplified in that show and furthered in the movies.

I definitely expect more (thorough) seriousness and better presentation of reality (that comes w/ the higher budgets and tech) w/ more recent Trek shows and movies, but yet, also still a fair degree of levity (and certain decor) that seems to have always been part of Trek. Maybe some of those gags hated by some wouldn't play nearly as well for me (of course, probably done differently) in more recent Trek -- hard to say...

_Man_

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I don’t get your hate of her performance. I thought she was perfectly fine in the role.

From my review:

"Every time I watch 'Voyage', I almost start to wonder why I semi-dislike it – until Hicks appears. That’s when the film starts to go into the toilet, and the fact that she’s nearly omnipresent once she hits the screen means the movie can’t escape the negatives she brings.

There's nothing in the role that makes it necessarily problematic, so it's all due to Hicks, as she appears to be in a permanent snit. Hicks’ turn is so miserable that she almost single-handedly ruins this movie for me. She makes Gillian one of the least-appealing characters I've seen."