Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) -🤯📼First Time Film Club📼🤯 - First Time Watching/Reaction/Review
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
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Watches Emily yawn for lack of caffeine early in the film, thinks "Oh Emily honey, you in trouble girl" ...
Really looked like she was nodding off a few times.
She needed a Raktajino before the movie.
I think THIS movie is just AWESOME! . .. and always have! And I suspect that those who've called it "slow" or "booring" are probably just the kind of t@@ls who crave ohhhhh guns, car chases, and explosions every minute throughout the entire duration of a movie. In fact, such people are the reasons we have all these big, dumb, action "blockbusters" with goons like Vin Diesel and The Rock and Schwarzenegar and so on.
@@IanFindly-iv1nlcareful, you're so edgy you might injure yourself 😇
@@IanFindly-iv1nl I grew up with this movie. Got to see in theaters a couple years back. I love the whole flyby bit.
"I haven't had any caffeine this morning."
Those of us that know the movie: "OH MY GOD!"
This film was saved by the genius of Jerry Goldsmith. Without the magnificent score, the film would have seemed even longer.
I shudder to imagine this movie….. using the musical style of the TOS series….. wooohoooo oooh oho ohohoh
Although maybe if his music for the Enterprise reveal hadn't been so good, they might have cut the scene down to only a couple of minutes.
I like to think that this could’ve been the musical theme to Star Wars had John Williams never been around.
Well, I admire the score too. However. I'm not of the belief that it was this movie's SOLE ASSET, no.
The Original Series had 3 seasons already in 1960's so if the original was to have another season it would be the 4th season.
You have to remember, this movie was made in 1979...before this (aside from A New Hope) Space Ships were little matchbox ships. The establishing shots were used to show, it's not little paper cutouts anymore.
It's also the first time the Enterprise has been seen on the big screen and the first new Star Trek in ten years.
Well, TOS was in the 1960's and was fully fleshed out models as well. In fact, the original series model, which they faithfully restored to its original look, is on display at the Smithsonian Museum. :D
@@ChrissonatorOFLyes but the new model is a significant improvement. Its a gorgeous model.
There were plans for a Star Trek Phase II television series. But it got cancelled and many of the visuals like those of the Klingon ships and the new look of the Klingon characters were repurposed and used in the movie. The male Starfleet Officer at 4:09 who is killed on the Epsilon 9 Space Station at 8:56 was to be the new Vulcan science officer in Phase II. He got repurposed too. :)
2001 A Space Odyssey was the first not A New Hope.
They built the damn model. They damn well gonna show the model! 😉
6:40
"OK, I'm Gonna Say This, The Shots Are Holding Too Long"
That's actually the reason why some people call this Star Trek movie "The Slow Motion Picture," amongst other derisive names
Also "The Motion(less) Picture" 🤣
There is a rather interesting piece of background info about the transporter accident which, in the movie, only serves to eliminate Sonak and make way for Spock's return later in the movie. In the book, written by Alan Dean Foster and *Gene Roddenberry*, it's much more significant and has a loose tie-in to the original series episode, THE NAKED TIME.
In that episode, Kirk loses control of his emotions due to an infection and there's a scene where he is talking to Spock and says, "Love. You're better off without it, and I'm better off without mine. This vessel, I give, she takes. She won't permit me my life, I've got to live hers." and shortly after, when he's alone, he looks around the room, as though talking to the Enterprise, and says, "Never lose you! Never!"
In ST:TMP, the two people who are beaming aboard are Sonak and Vice Admiral Lori Ciana - they address Sonak, but never touch on who the other person was. In the book, Lori Ciana is Kirk's ex-wife. When Kirk got back from the five year mission, he was promoted to Admiral, forcing him to give up the Enterprise, he was dealing with the fame of being a living legend, and he had some PTSD, all of which she helped him through. The marriage didn't last and they'd been apart for a couple of years at this point in the movie.
What is interesting is that the transporter accident occurs at the EXACT MOMENT Kirk takes command of the Enterprise, and it is the Enterprise's transporters that are beaming the two aboard. It's the Enterprise that is directly responsible for killing Kirk's ex-wife - a very real manifestation of, "This vessel, I give, she takes. She won't permit me my life, I've got to live hers."
"Fascinating," quoth Mr. Spock.
A most intriguing observation indeed. 🤔
I guess she is jealous. Personally though I think she loved Spock the most. Not because she didn't love Kirk, but Spock's been with her the longest and is likely her deepest familial connection. They'd die for each other, to speak dramatically.
THAT scene is SCARRY! And t@@ls who say "Nothing ever happens" in this movie seem to forget scenes like THAT one. Something similar to it also happens in The Fly (86 version). SAME thing basically, only more graphicaly in THAT (with the aftermath actually being shown).
@@IanFindly-iv1nl
Agreed - but just a bit of clarification if you please: did you _intend_ to spell "scary" with two r's, as if to say "it'll scar you for life"? 😁
@@goldenager59 Well, it was a lucky accident you could say.
At the tender age of 47 I'm only just now getting into Star Trek. Or to be more specific, this film. I've fallen in love with it over the last week or so and must have watched it a dozen times.
Never too late to join Starfleet. Live long and prosper 🖖
Hey fellow 47-year-old (though my birthday is in 5 days, so I'll be 48 and we won't be age friends anymore lol). Glad to see someone my age getting into Star Trek. I've been a Trekkie for my entire life, I still remember watching reruns of the original series aka TOS when I was about 4 or 5 (same time I started watching Doctor Who actually). I certainly hope you continue watching the films for sure, if not the various TV series as well. It's (mostly) all worth a watch. I will say this, definitely watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan it is considered one of not only the best Trek films ever made, but one of the better sci-fi films made with an incredible villain. I'd also recommend Star Trek 6 - but that's just me :)
I think THIS movie is just AWESOME! . .. and always have! And I suspect that those who've called it "slow" or "booring" are probably just the kind of t@@ls who crave ohhhhh guns, car chases, and explosions every minute throughout the entire duration of a movie. In fact, such people are the reasons we have all these big, dumb, action "blockbusters" with goons like Vin Diesel and The Rock and Schwarzenegar and so on.
Hello. I will be joining the 47 club next week. I can't imagine growing up without Star Trek. I remember watching the show everyday after school as early as the 1st grade. Wrath Of Khan is my favorite of the films and I saw Voyage Home in the theater with my dad.
You are in for a wonderful journey.
@@LordLOCI'll be leaving 47 for 48 in three weeks, and have been a fan since I was little. They played reruns of TOS in the afternoons after school when I was in grade school. My first movie was Wrath of Khan at the age of 6. I've only missed seeing The Motion Picture, The Search for Spock, & Generations in theaters but have seen all the movies & series many times. Nice to know I'm not the only one my age that likes Star Trek, most people our age wouldn't go near it when we were younger cuz that's what nerds did.
That "loose bass string" sound is made on an instrument called a "blaster beam", a long (12 to 18 foot) metal beam under tension from metal wires with electric guitar pickups mounted on it. They got the distinctive BOINGING" V-Ger sound by banging it with a large metal rod.
And the guy who invented and played it was the former child actor who played Captain Kirk's nephew in "Operation--Annihilate!"
That's an awesome factoid!
Regarding Ilia - the oath of celibacy is required by Deltans for a very good reason. Deltans give off EXTREMELY powerful pheromones that can be harmful to humans. Deltans engaging in an intimate relationship with a human, indeed most non-Deltan species, can lead to severe psychological damage and even incapacitation for that other species. Hence the oath of celibacy required by Starfleet.
But mostly, it's because she's talking to Kirk and the man has a reputation...
problem was, none of this species lore is presented in the film (and really, I don't know how it could have been without it being awkward), and without that context, the line is almost a non sequitur. Yeah, it's explained in the novel, but one shouldn't require external materials to explain things that ultimately don't help advance the plot.
@@Redfern42 Honestly I don't really think it's that much of a non-sequitur as it's pretty heavily implied through character reactions and dialogue. The way Uhura says "she's Deltan" and the looks of everyone's faces when she enters the bridge. It's still vague, but you know something's up, and Ilia's celibacy line more or less hammers it.
@@Redfern42 The novelization does go into much more detail about it. In fact the novelization is really horny for some reason.
As per your note "Stars" - The music, in the beginning, was a tradition of the "roadshow" movies of the fifties and sixties, when studios sent out films to be an event, and they would have entrance music for the audience to enter the theater from the film. Sometimes films would also have intermissions that would have music play to start intermission, and music (the entr'acte) to get the audience back in to their sets, and end the films with more music (called Exit Music or Exeunt). Because this film was directed by Robert Wise, the Oscar-winning director of the 1961 version of West Side Story and the beloved movie musical The Sound Of Music (both of those films had roadshow releases), it kind of makes sense. Wise was one of tne of the greatest directors of the end of the studio system.
The Captain of the Klingon vessel was played by Mark Lenard, an actor who in the original series played Spock's father, Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, and the Romulan Commander in the TOS episode "Balance Of Terror". He is one of the only actors to play a Vulcan, a Romulan, and a Klingon in Star Trek.
You beat me to it, I was going to comment on the “stars” too :)
Yeah, musical preludes and intermissions used to be much more common, especially in longer movies. I believe Ben-Hur (the Charlton Heston version) had both, and that was a LONG movie (like 4 hours). Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had an entr’acte, but I don’t recall if it had a prelude. Doctor Zhivago may have had them as well but I haven’t seen it in decades.
@@user-uo6cq1cp3u Thinking about it, I believe it might have even started in the 1930s with Gone With the Wind. That's almost 4 hours long. Anyway, the mark of the hopeless cineastes is a knowledge of this kind of stuff. It's nice when you know you're not the only one with this kinda stuff cascading around their cranium! :)
In fact, the very last two movies to have a long musical overture like this were this movie - and Disney's The Black Hole - both sci-fi films, and both coming out at the end of 1979.
- And interesting note about credits - and where they are placed - at the beginning and at the end of films. You may notice in films prior to the mid 1970s that it was common for films to FRONT LOAD all of their credits at the beginning of the film. Leaving only a perfunctory "The End" and fade to black at the end of the film.
Now - this was not universal. Look at the James Bond films - they put SOME of the more important credits (main actor - director, producer etc) at the front of the film - and notably to the "risque" device of scantily clad ladies (to hold at least SOME *AHEM* of the audience's attention during that sequence) but then have MOST of the credits at the end.
To clarify further - it was American films that front loaded the credits and films from other countries (like England) did not.
Why?
The Unions. The actors guild. Directors guild. Every technical guild and union you can think of - they ALL wanted the names and credits of THEIR people to be in FRONT before the film proper starts - forcing you to see them. And possibly read them. They figured that if the credits and names were at the END of the film, people would walk out without seeing them.
Which - let's face it - is true.
So - what changed?
Star Wars. That's what happened. George Lucas wasn't PART of Hollywood proper. The Star Wars films were 100% his (until he sold the rights to Disney - which was a DISASTER of course, but a separate topic) and he wanted the credits at the end.
He could get away with that because -
A) He was independent (20th Century Fox financed and distributed his Star Wars film, but had almost no direct control of it)
B) He filmed mostly overseas in Tunisia and England Pinewood studios
So neither the studios or the Unions had much to say about where he placed his credits. To be fair - they thought - along with most everyone else, that Star Wars was going to BOMB and therefore wasn't worth getting worked up about.
(Insert Maniacal Nerdish Laughter here) OH THE IRONY!!
ANYWAY...
George Lucas actually paid a small penalty IIRC for placing ALL the credits at the end. But since Star Wars made SO MUCH MONEY I doubt he much noticed.
Star Wars, along with Jaws and Superman - started the trend of placing the credits mostly at the END of films. Superman famously tried to have it BOTH ways -with it's famously overdone FLYING FONT and dramatic music to announce the lead actors, the producers, the director etc. But did repeat and have all the detail credits at the end.
Now it would be considered VERY odd and old-school to have all the credits at the beginning. But that's the way it was done before Star Wars.
Also simply called an "overture". 2001: A Space Odyssey had one too - a few minutes of black screen with atonal Ligeti music, before the MGM logo kicks in and that bowel shaking low organ note of "Also Sprach Zarathurstra" launches in to the main title - it sets the mood of that film perfectly. This movie, more than anything, wanted to ape that previous film's awe, so went for a similar overture.
I sort of miss those overtures, it makes it more an "event", and builds anticipation - but modern general audiences would just get twitchy and not just sit there and bask in the atmosphere such an opening can create. Shame really.
I went through the US government's Defense Language Institute when I was in the service. Dozens of different languages are taught to Defense Department personnel there.
Although it's (obviously) not actually _taught_ there, the going joke (?) was that Klingon was the most-learned language among students there.
Perhaps klingon will be the base for the next code talker type code like Navajo in WWII. Lol
@@charlesmaurer6214 there are too many geeks all over the world for that to work. Klingon could be the new esperanto, tho. lol
IIRC the Defense Language Institute is in the Bay Area on the West Coast? (Googles) Dang so close! Right Coast, Right State, Wrong Bay...off by a couple of hundred measly miles.
22:15 that's actually Voyager 2, launched by NASA in the 70s, in real life! Voyager 2 is still out there, they're actually still getting signal from it; it's in interstellar space now. 🙂 it's a pretty iconic shape, look it up, you'll see what I mean! 🙂
Also, my dad got me onto Star Trek. I remember watching this on cable as a child with him. He fell asleep, but it is a happy memory for me. Thank you for reviewing this.
Emily isn't the only one who yawned at parts of this movie when it first came out 😄It was based on the original pilot for the unmade series "Star Trek: Phase II".
Don't let this movie stop you from watching the future ones. They get much better.
This is a beautiful film.
Well Emily, of all movies, THIS was not the one to watch uncaffeinated! That being said, this is actually the Director's cut, which was tightened from the original theatrical version. I love this movie because it gives off vibe like Kubrick's 2001. It took me a while to get there though, because when I first saw it, it just seemed to be recycling one of the stories from the original series, so I had mixed feelings in 1979. I would have rated it a 6 back then, but would give this version an 8 today.
The director's cut is NOT a tightened version of the theatrical version. It has the same pacing issues and is four minutes longer.
@@ThreadBomb It has indeed been tightened in some ways. The extra four minutes is from additional character scenes. If you carefully observe and compare, some of those long scenes involving the journey through the cloud and the V'ger flyover have been trimmed, which is made evident from cuts made in the music. Granted, we are talking mere seconds so to someone watching it for the first time (who hasn't had their coffee) it wouldn't make a heck of a lot of difference. 😊
@@davidfox5383 Also keep in mind that the original release was taken away from Robert Wise before he finished editing it, it order to make its release date. The director's cut fixed that.
@@ThreadBomb Overall, yes, but the original theatrical moves even slower--as David explained, shots went on way too long, so Robert Wise made tons of seconds-long trims throughout the movie. A number of the moments in Emily and Matthew's reaction aren't even in the theatrical version, and those are some of the best human moments in what was a overall a cold story.
I think THIS movie is just AWESOME! . .. and always have! And I suspect that those who've called it "slow" or "booring" are probably just the kind of t@@ls who crave ohhhhh guns, car chases, and explosions every minute throughout the entire duration of a movie. In fact, such people are the reasons we have all these big, dumb, action "blockbusters" with goons like Vin Diesel and The Rock and Schwarzenegar and so on.
This movie is notorious for making my brother fall asleep three different times before he finally made it all the way through.
What I've always thought was that director Robert Wise was trying to make his own version of "2001" using "Star Trek". Which is why it's got this kind of sterile feel to it, along with all these long shots of space or of the Enterprise.
They'd been trying for years to relaunch "Trek" with no success. Obviously, the success of "Star Wars" is what led to this. Basically, Paramount studios said how can we cash in and thought oh, let's dust off "Star Trek".
Not exactly true. A relaunch TV series ('Phase II') was about to start production - they had scripts, sets, costumes, and a cast (the guy who plays Sonak in the movie had been cast as Spock's replacement in the TV series). But after Star Wars was a huge hit, Paramount Studios wanted to cash in and so turned the TV series into a movie.
@ThreadBomb true, but "Phase II" was sort of stuck in limbo when "Star Wars" hit and they decided to do the film. But, after several changes "Phase II" eventually became "The Next Generation".
I think THIS movie is just AWESOME! . .. and always have! And I suspect that those who've called it "slow" or "booring" are probably just the kind of t@@ls who crave ohhhhh guns, car chases, and explosions every minute throughout the entire duration of a movie. In fact, such people are the reasons we have all these big, dumb, action "blockbusters" with goons like Vin Diesel and The Rock and Schwarzenegar and so on.
Good reaction you two. 🍿
An explanation for y'all - Many older films throught the 50s, 60s up until the late 70s (aka - the stars with music before the movie intro you saw) used to have music 'overtures' before the movie actually began, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, My Fair Lady, Lawrence Of Arabia, It's A Mad Mad Mad World (and if you watch some of Robert Wise's other films, such as The Sound Of Music and the original West Side Story) they all had overtures too. It is a practice that eventually fell out of favor by the end of the 70s. The reason behind an 'overture' goes all the way back to the opera, vaudeville, theater days before motion pictures, playing the music would help people get ready to focus, showcase some of the music that was about to later appear within the show and often help to set the mood, while the cast and crew set the stage for the show. Plus it also served as a 5-to 10-minute warning for audience members to get to their seats, the show was about to start. Motion pictures continued that old tradition for a time. The decline in overture popularity coincided with a sharp change in film credits. Such as in 1977, George Lucas was fined $100,000 by the MPAA for putting the credits on the back end of Star Wars. He opted to pay the fine rather than reverse the change. 'Overtures' started to become a thing of the past in the film industry by then, with more elaborate, visual opening title sequences/opening scenes becoming more the norm... 🎶
I have always enjoyed Star Trek: The Motion Picture and I do somewhat agree that it is slow in some parts...however story wise, V'GER wasn't the type of lifeform that you could get into a space fight or fisticuffs with, it was way too powerful (after all you saw what it did to the Klingons & the Epsilon 9 space station in the beginning), you had to study it and learn from it in order to both communicate with it and find out what its purpose is. This was a more of cerebral science fiction, not action sci-fi. That being said this film wasn't for everyone, however the sequel 'Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan' was much more to many people's likings (and had much more direct connection to the original series, since the character of Khan, played by the same actor Ricardo Montalban, from the episode of Space Seed, returns for vengeance against Captain Kirk - henth the title, lol). So please continue with the movies, they do get much better...🖖
And to be honest, the behind-the-scenes (there are several documentaries) of the making of this film (from the beloved TV series to the big screen) is far more interesting & fascinating than the actual movie ended up being (in my opinion). So those are also worth watching (and those documentaries made appreciate the film a lot more than I originally did). 😁
Overtures were never common for films, they were only composed for a few "prestige" productions, to try to give the movie the validity of a play or an opera.
@@ThreadBomb - you need to do better research bud...overtures were associated with many films (I said many films, not all films) from the golden age of cinemas up until the late 70s. They were the most popular during the 50s & 60s. In many cases, these overtures have been cut from a lot of television and/or home video releases, so many modern audiences never got to see/hear them (let alone knew about them). Nowadays many of the original overtures for many of these films can only be found on "restored" DVD, Blu-ray & 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray versions, if at all.
Here is a link listing the many films with overtures...en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_with_overtures
The instrument described as having the loosest strings on a bass is the 18 ft long aluminium blaster beam, the longest string instrument created and gives the soundtrack of this movie it's unique sound. It was used in shows and movies from an episode of Wonder Woman in the 1970's to Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones.
I don't think anyone is going to get too upset with you saying that a lot of those shots were taking a bit too long. From what I've talked about with other Trek fans, even ones who love this movie, that is one of main big complaints. There are times it just drags on, especially with some of it's cinematography.
There has been a lot of complaints from fans about the pace over the years.
There is a lot to love about this film. I love the first view of the Enterprise in space dock with the music, though I respect people’s opinion it goes on for to long. At a guess I think they coulda made this about 20 mins shorter, made it a bit tighter, and not lost anything. The soundtrack is fantastic!
@@Temeraire101 and, this is the director's cut, which is 17 minutes shorter than the theatrical release.
They were trying to go the 2001 route by having those long shots but it didn't work.
When you put yourself in the shoes of the fan base, they had loved to show for 3 years that got canceled pre-VCR.
They had nothing but occasional fan magazines to feed their fandom for years.
They were thrilled to see long high-def images of their favorite ship
Matthew's face when she's says Viger is some kinda red neck engineering 😂
The long shots were because Robert Wise was inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey”
Unfortunately.
I think THIS movie is just AWESOME! . .. and always have! And I suspect that those who've called it "slow" or "booring" are probably just the kind of t@@ls who crave ohhhhh guns, car chases, and explosions every minute throughout the entire duration of a movie. In fact, such people are the reasons we have all these big, dumb, action "blockbusters" with goons like Vin Diesel and The Rock and Schwarzenegar and so on.
"It's all the same"
-Matthew, just wanting to watch the world burn.
The beginning with only music is not a weird thing, it is a thing of the sixties to begin some movies, it places you in a kind of right mood to watch the movie ! Remember Kubrik’s 2001 used this in 1968, you even got a pause with music if the movie is too long. A lot of streamers on you tube movie reaction do not know this !
It wasn't to get you in the mood. They used to have actual curtains covering the screen that would open just before the studio logo like in plays. This is before previews and Ads. This movie is just old enough to have the "dark screen" because some movie theaters still had the curtains when this came out. A lot of the older movies have had this "dark screen" removed for the more modern releases but not all.
@@tj_2701 They definitely had previews and ads in the "old days"! Up until the 70s, the way most movie theaters worked is they would play continually, movies interspersed with previews and cartoons (and newsreels, before TV killed those). Audiences could go in whenever they wanted and stay as long as they wanted. That's where the phrase "This is where we came in" comes from, because people would watch the loop of movies and leave once they reached something they had seen before.
Overtures were reserved for a few big-budget movies that wanted an air of prestige. These movies were also given a theatrical-style intermission due to their unusual length. But these were special events. It was not the usual movie-going experience.
The pre-credits music is called an "overture".
I saw this in 1979 (oh gawd! Lol) and yeah, it moved too slow then too, you are not alone! (Oh wait, that was another movie! Lol) The fast pace of Star Wars just two years before really made this feel even slower. What worked was awe, just sheer awe at Star Trek being back, being on the big screen. I didn’t hate it at the time, we were just a little deflated. As for it being the nail in the coffin of Trek, no, I still wanted more, we just knew the next one would tighten things up and we weren’t wrong. I think the studio knew to take a risk because even if it was just pure fans watching the second one it would’ve made its costs back.
I'm one of those weird fans who like even the long takes in this movie - but then, the Enterprise Refit is such a beautiful ship. I will never skip a beauty shot of it.
I also feel like for my taste, movies where there's a cut every 1-3 seconds often don't leave any room for a shot to breathe and take me into the situation. But of course, none is inherently better or worse - and what feels "normal" or excessive is to some extent determined by the cinematography we are most accustomed to. That being said, this *does* have some shots that definitely stood out as loooong in '79. But that is definitely also a deliberate association with movies like 2001 or the old epics.
That shot, along with the music is one of my favourite scenes in a movie. I just remember sitting in the cinema and being captivated by the beauty of the refit.
at least its not like the "extended cut", where the long take of v-ger was evenlonger. it was actually so long they ran out of model and at one point you can see just white foam with paint dribbling down it. lol
I'm in complete agreement! The refit Enterprise is by far my favorite ship, and I could watch hours of those beauty shots and never get tired of it.
It's not just a case of "older movies were slower". Even compared to movies from decades earlier, TMP has pacing problems.
I'm one of those weird fans, too... It has a hypnotic effect. That said, I still prefer the director's cut which tightens those long shots a bit.
Love the music in this movie. You are right Emily, those are some long darn shots. Please watch the wrath of kahn.
you guys do what very few reaction channels do: you have actual personality, and you break down the film afterward and talk insightfully about it.
They were actually planning to make a new TV series with the original cast. They were well into preproduction with sets, casting, and costumes. Persis Kambatta had already been cast. Only Nimoy passed on doing the series and a new Vulcan character was created. Then Stars Wars became a big hit and Paramount abandoned the TV series for a movie instead.
The actor who was to play the new Vulcan got the consolation role of being the Commander of the Space Station that gets digitized during Kirk's briefing with the crew.
@@bjgandalf69 David Gautreaux. I always wondered why they didn't make the Vulcan Sonak Xon instead and have Gautreaux play him. The role amounted to about the same. Maybe they didn't want to kill off Xon for some reason.
Can't wait for more Star Trek on your channel. 🖖
The guy who played the Klingon commander is the same guy who played Spock's father in the original series, movies 3, and 4, and several episodes of TNG.
And the first Romulan seen on the series IIRC
They definitely tried to make Star Trek into 2001 Space Odyssey, fortunately they thought better with Kahn
Mathew Jefferies who designed the interior of the Enterprise and the bridge also designed the command center of the Pentagon
Fans have called this The Slow Motion Picture, as it was a slow burn with lots of dialogue but little action. Thankfully STAR TREK II THE WRATH OF KAHN was released in 1982, making it one of the best Star Trek movies ever made!
Fans don't call it the Slow Motion Picture. Malcontents who would rather be watching a Star Wars movie call it that.
I love this movie for what it is and I am glad it's here. BUT! My freiends and I have always called this Star Trek : The Motion Sickness :)
@@richardb6260 To be fair, some of the long shots are longggggg. But as a lifelong Trekkie, trust me, I love them all. That like 10-minute flyover of the Enterprise - it was literally for the fans basically. Not the people who don't watch the show, that's for sure. Though knowing some of the changes and discussions the film had during production, the fact we even got some of those longer shots is a miracle let alone the movie itself :D
Alternate names:
Star Trek: The Motionless Picture
Star Trek: Where Nomad Has Gone Before
Star Trek: Spockalypse Now!
@@LordLOCI’m a big ST fan, love the Enterprise flyover and music. They coulda cut out about 20 mins from the film though and not lost anything.
This movie takes place about 2.5+ years after the original 5 year tour. I have heard that the crew started another 5 year tour with Kirk as captain between this movie and Star Trek II.
Possibly two. 1 and 2 in-universe were about 10-12 years apart. 2272-ish and 2284/85.
@@Vipre- In Wrath of Khan, Kirk is depressed, feeling old, hates inspections. I get the impression that Spock has been captain for awhile and Kirk has had time as an Admiral to get miserable. Chekov is also on another ship as the first officer.
That movie poster is instant bedroom wall nostalgia.
It also makes a great T-shirt.
When the Ilia probe shows up and Kirk says “Tricorder.” I always think, Tricorder, I barely know her. 😂
I cracked my wife up the first time we went to a casino. We read a sign that said "poker in the rear" and I of course immediately said "but I barely know her".
This movie has a few problems, e.g. the weak supporting performances, and the naff costume designs, but the big problem is the pacing. People complain about the V'ger flyover scene being slow, but the problem is that the entire film up to that point has been at the same slow pace. You can't do a dramatic slow-down when you're already moving at a snail's pace. This problem was not fixed in the director's cut.
If I could re-edit the movie, the main things I would do would be to cut the Enterprise fly-by scene to 2 minutes at most, and remove both the transporter accident and the wormhole encounter. Sadly, nothing can be done about the bad extras.
Yeah this movie made me sleepy too 😂 and I'm a star trek fan. Love to see you continue your star trek movie journey!
So for the past two years I’ve worked at a movie theater, at one point we had a customer who was 80+ years old who said the last movie she went to a theater for was this movie.
In the notes section, I'm surprised they didn't get into the nickname "The _Slow-Motion_ Picture", the inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey [including the overture segment, long shots, overall pacing], & the phenomenon of watching 2001 "elevated", hence why this could use that assistance!
Amusingly, the film was also known as *Star Trek: The **_Motionless_** Picture* (as well as *Spockalypse Now* ). 😁
I really like this movie, it was not very popular upon release, seeing how Star Wars changed the game some 2 years prior.
Compared to A New Hope it's really slow, some would even say boring, and not completely without merit, but it has some really great character moments and development, and it's one of those comfort movies for me that I can just watch pretty much any time and have a good time.
Financially, it was very popular. It made $139 million at the box office. Of the original cast and Next Gen Trek films, only First Contact beat it with $143 million. Voyage Home came close with $133 million.
@@richardb6260 Oh really? For some reason I had it in my mind that it flopped at the box office. Not sure why I thought that tbh, it's just been a thing I though I knew :D
@@TheOdMan it had a runaway budget that went from $25 million to $44 million due to a special effects fiasco that required hiring the biggest effects names (Doug Trumbull and John Dykstra) to work around the clock to get the film finished in time. So, the studio made sure the sequel would be under control and produced Wrath of Khan through their television division (Harve Bennett was primarily known as a television producer). So, while Wrath of Kahn made $97 million, it only cost $12 million to make.
The Motion Picture had the 4th biggest US box office of 1979 (behind Superman, The Amityville Horror, and Rocky II), but failed to be a hit on the scale of Star Wars, as the studio had hoped. It was shown in more US theaters than any other movie that year - except Star Wars, which was still going strong two years after it came out. 1986's The Voyage Home was more financially successful than TMP, if you take into account its much lower budget.
Screw it, I LOVE the long, beautiful shots. Every single second of them.
To only echo what others may or may not be saying, you've got to remember this came out two years before movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Those films set off a wave of Science-Fiction and Fantasy films and TV Shows that range from Disney's The Black Hole, Ridley Scott's Alien, and Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie on the big screen and Battlestar: Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and The Incredible Hulk on the small screen.
Star Trek had quite the history after it was cancelled in 1969 to come back, and did come back first as an animated series in 1973, and was about to come back to television in 1977; but because of Star Wars' box office success, the studio decided to not go back to television but to make a feature film instead.
They had to scramble to get the film ready for its release in 1979; which meant having the special effects needed to finish the film. They never got them to where they needed it to be. So they made a Director's Edition in 2001 with improved effect shots, but they were only available in Standard Definition. In 2022, the people behind the Director's Edition were able to enhance their original work for 4K High Definition. The 4K Director's Edition is dedicated to the film's director: Robert Wise; who worked on the film in 2001; as is known for classics like The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music, and West Side Story. He passed away in 2005.
'Outland' is an underrated movie from the post-Star Wars boom.
My mum is a big Star Trek fan, and my first introduction to the franchise was through the original series movies, along with TNG. While I will say this film definitely has issues with its pacing at times, I do still enjoy watching it, it's one of my go to comfort films, and I don't care what anyone says, that's a hill I'll die on
"I apologize for the yawning..."
No need. The Motionless Picture often has that effect.
McCoy is my spirit animal.
Sure, objectively speaking the sequence introducing the Enterprise could've been quite a bit shorter. But I gotta confess: I love every second of it, and you don't even wanna know how many times I've watched it.
Most of the extras in the briefing prior to leaving earth were actual Star Trek fans invited to be part of the movie.
2:02
Fun Fact for you guys:
This movie was written as what was originally to be the pilot episode of a new Star Trek series titled "Star Trek:Phase II," which starred the original series cast of Star Trek, minus Leonard Nimoy.
But, it was scrapped as a series, and the script from the pilot, titled "In Thy Own Image," was reworked into a theatrical-length motion picture. Other elements of the Star Trek:Phase II series were recycled into other Star Trek shows: such as the relationship between Commander Riker and Councilor Troi and Data's desire to be human, in edition to 2 episodes of Phase II that were released as episodes of TNG (Specifically: The Child and Devil's Due)
24:24, Decker gives up being a living corporal being. But in doing this he and Ilia get to be together for all time. With her being Deltan and him human they couldn't actually ever be a couple. So it's a bit of a win win.
It's always interesting when people younger than me speculate about cgi well before it was used. There was some very basic wireframe cgi used in the early 70s (eg, the film "Westworld"), but 3 dimensional cgi effects weren't really a thing until the early 90s.
Out of all the uniforms shown the best from The Motion Picture is Kirk's initial Admiral's uniform. In fact it has been recreated and slightly redesigned for Pike to wear in the JJ Abrams Star Trek movie and Shatner looked amazing in it but once he switched to the Captain's uniform with the exception of the short sleeved shirts were drab like you pointed out. The reason they needed help getting in and out is to give the stretch look of the pants from the shoes upward they were literally stitched together as a one piece outfit so you couldn't put the shoes on separately.
If you are going to continue reacting to the remaining original cast Trek movies before watching Wrath of Khan you should watch and react to the original series episode Space Seed as it is directly tied to the second movie and watching it will make the movie make more sense as to why he is inflicting his wrath upon them.
Probably also watch The Doomsday Machine too, since it give context to The Motion Picture and Decker's relationship with Kirk.
I know I'm a minority in this opinion; but, I really enjoy the long shots with the music. I think of it as more of art and sound combined and just love watching this shots over and over. This is one of my favorite Star Trek movies with the story and the long melodic shots.
If you want "glass aquarium filled with water and paint and swirly dude" for your special effects. I highly recommend Disney's The Black Hole. Technically it was Disney's answer to Star wars 40 years before they ended up owning it.
The story of the making of this film is arguably more interesting than the movie itself. Emily was spot on about 'banging the robot'. I highly recommend the Gene Roddenberry novelizatin. It ....varies... from the film script in a number of ways and is an experience in its own way. 😎
If Emily thought it was a struggle to stay awake, imagine watching it from a comfy chair in a dark theater. 😏
Thanks for sitting through this.
I suggest Emily drinks her coffee, for the first time I was not pleased with her comments. Back then, the entire audience applauded when they saw Captain Kirk. It wasn’t a perfect movie but just the fact it was made was enough for many fans. I felt your flippant remarks were unnecessary.
I think THIS movie is just AWESOME! . .. and always have! And I suspect that those who've called it "slow" or "booring" are probably just the kind of t@@ls who crave ohhhhh guns, car chases, and explosions every minute throughout the entire duration of a movie. In fact, such people are the reasons we have all these big, dumb, action "blockbusters" with goons like Vin Diesel and The Rock and Schwarzenegar and so on.
I think this movie was dubbed STARE TREK because of all the monitor staring by the crew. Brilliant visuals though and Jerry Goldsmith awesome score.
Another interesting fact about the origin of this movie: There was a proposed spinoff series called "Star Trek: Phase Two," which was supposed to star Decker as the captain Ilia as his ex-girlfriend from a planet of empaths, and Sonak as a science officer. When the series was scrapped, the script for one of the episodes was rewritten and padded out (a lot!) to create the script for this movie. The other episode drafts were later recycled into Next Generation episodes, and Riker and Troi were basically a reimagined version of Decker and Ilia.
I always think of the Mad Magazine parody Star Dreck: The Moving Picture, when Kirk and Scotty are flying around the Enterprise Scotty says something like "is it emotional for you to be back?" "Yes Scotty, but also, where the hell is the door?"
There’s a theory that V’Ger’s ascension inadvertently led to the creation of what we now call the Borg. Many non-canon (like novels and video games) media have expanded on this theory, but none have a clear answer on exactly how it happened. My personal idea is that the wormhole that sent Voyager 6 to the planet of living machines sent it hundreds of years into the past (the borg are confirmed to have existed for at least seven hundred years), and once its mission was complete, it used that same wormhole to get to the future, and through that wormhole it remained in contact with the living machines of the past. Like V’Ger, the living machines believed that organics aren’t true lifeforms, but when V’Ger ascended with the help of an organic, it made them realize that not only are organics true lifeforms, but true perfection could not be achieved without them. So ever since that revelation, the machines have decided to bring organics as well as whatever technology they developed into their being, forcibly if necessary. And the rest is history.
Another little tidbit: the unusual musical instrument used on this soundtrack is called a Blaster Beam. The particular blaster beam used by Goldsmith was created by former child actor, Craig Huxley. Huxley had his own connection to Star Trek as he played Kirk’s nephew in an episode of TOS.
Also, the Klingon captain seen at the beginning was Mark Leonard who played Sarek on TOS (as well as the Romulan commander in an earlier episode).
You can also see that Decker and Ilia are very early versions of Riker and Troi. There was a Star Trek: Phase Two series in the works which they would be in, but didn't work out, then they recycled the character ideas into Riker and Troi.
In a hundred years it'll be in the public domain and future nerds will argue over which of the hundred different cuts is the best.
Yeah, the over indulgent long effect shots bugged me too. Trek 2 is really the movie that put the movie franchise on the map.
And thus the Borg were born…
We are Borg!! Resistance is futile!!
The stars and music prior to the Paramount logo was as has been noted before, common to blockbuster film releases at the time; it was an overture, which would be played as the audience was filtering in and seating themselves. (Previews and trailers pre-movie were not as much of a thing either.) Obviously it does not lend itself to an enjoyable home viewing experience...
Regarding the uniforms, I think most of the viewing public, at the time and since, probably agree with you. Doubtless someone thought they would suggest something wildly futuristic, with no snaps, buttons, zippers, et cetera, but in reality, I have never found ANYBODY who thought beige, gray, or pastel pajamas looked good.
I dearly hope you will be reacting to the remaining Star Trek movies as well, I think you will like them better overall.
Star Trek:The Motion Picture was NOT done by CGI at all,they used matte paintings and used Tesla coils for the Vger fireballs.
Best reaction to this movie ever! Great after viewing notes too.
Not surprised Pippin was pretty much sleeping through the whole movie. "Bad jokes." Emily, never change. 😀
Robert Wise directed this. He also directed the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, a Sci Fi classic!
He also directed the original version of The Haunting (1963) ! And also The Sound of Music, The Andromeda Strain, West Side Story and amusingly enough the original "Cat People" ("Curse of the Cat People").
He got around. 😀
@@snorpenbass4196 Always liked the Andromeda Strain.
Mark Lenard played the Klingon commander. He is also known for playing a Romulan commander and Spock’s father Sarek in TOS. I believe he’s the only actor to play three major races in Star Trek.
The uniforms were awful.
Mattel made a killing on Star wars figures.
Mego wanted to duplicate that so they got the rights to the figures for this movie.
The costumes were so bad the figures were unsellable.
The whole fiasco ended up making Mego bankrupt
lol now they would be priceless.
12:14 "Sir, the _Enterprise_ redesign increases phaser power by channeling it through the main _engines._ When they went into antimatter imbalance, the phasers were automatically cut off."
But you're not supposed to be able to use phasers when the ship is traveling faster than light, _anyway._ That's what starships carry photon _torpedoes_ for.
Except that the asteroid causing the imbalance is within _Enterprise’s_ warp field, which means that the FTL limitation on phasers does not apply.
Phasers are not light beams, (I.e., not lasers.)
@@Parallax-3D 🤔Which... is irrelevant. Starships are designed to carry photon torpedoes because phasers don't work when you travel faster than light.
DS9 is my 1 or 1A favorite series. The Sisko is wise. The Sisko is angry. The Sisko is a damn good chef. 😂
And all Sisko men are great fathers.
I started watching this movie 15 years ago..... I don't think I ever finished it.
I just became a Star Trek fan in June 2024!!! 🖖🏻😊
I always felt that the first movie was trying to emulate 2001: A Space Odyssey rather than become competition for Star Wars
The biggest problem with this movie was the special effects. Not only were they rushed, as they were still being worked on mere weeks before the film was due to be released, but the director's decision to make them the main focus of the movie, rather than telling a decent story, resulted in what became one of the biggest disappointments in the whole franchise.
You are correct about the prolonged shots. It always seemed to be a case of "look what we can do now. Look how pretty we can make it!"
It is still sometimes referred to as Star Trek The Motionless Picture for a reason! 😂
Calling someone with the rank of Commander "Mr." is a huge insult. That term was only used for junior officers, and warrant officers, and even then it's been phased out. So Kirk was an ass to Decker on multiple levels. Also, I really believe that someone involved thought the pacing of 2001: A Space Odyssey would work for Star Trek. It didn't.
Ships and such were miniatures. Effects like the cloud were matte oil paintings enhanced by CGI.
14:15 you can faintly hear a Wilhelm yell
With this reaction you made me subscribe to your channel.
You guys should consider watching Star Trek Continues. Not bad for a fan made continuation and conclusion to the Enterprises 5 year mission. And leads into the motion picture.
Great reaction guys
I loved STC!
Star Wars is Science Fantasy ... Star Trek is Science Fiction!
I've always thought this movie would have made a really good one hour episode of Star Trek.
In point of sober fact, it _has_ ...sort of. The episode "The Changeling" (I forget which season exactly) has the _Enterprise_ encounter Nomad, an Earth space probe that was long since lost and ended up being augmented by uniting with an alien race's probe, developing self-awareness as well as fearsome powers. (For this reason, *ST:TMP* was referred to by some Trek-savvy wits as "Where _Nomad_ Has Gone Before".) 🤭
We waited a decade after Star Trek TOS for this to arrive. Although we were tossed a few bones with the animated series in the 1970s - it was a long, long decade of a wait.
I believe the all the music from before the movie even started was because they were treating the movie like an old school epic Hollywood movie where there would be music before the movie even started for while people were walking in and taking their seats. Surprised it didn't have an intermission in the middle like those old films. Lol.
This may be covered later, but this movie is old enough that it may have included the dark screen before the Paramount logo that movies used to have before the curtains opened revealing the screen like a play, back before previews and Ads.
This one is a 10 for me just because it's so ambitious. That opening bit of music is the overture... a bit of mood music to get the audience ready for the film to start. Most used the time to go to the lobby for snacks. The Black Hole also has one which was pretty much the last I can think of, but before then it was a bit of a staple of early cinema.
9:32
"I Don't Like The Uniforms"
Neither did the cast.
In fact, George Takei (Sulu) had said in an interview that, due to how the uniforms were designed, the cast members couldn't even go to the bathroom within being escorted by someone from the costume department to help them get out of their costumes in order to relieve themselves, which is why the Starfleet uniforms are so different in the next 5 Star Trek movies
The point of the stars and just music at the beginning before the credits was what they used to do on big epic movies like "Spartacus" or "2001". Like when they used to have intermissions on epic long movies.
yeah they went more for a 2001 vibe rather than Star Wars. It's also known as the Slow Motion Picture. It also was a textbook example of a production nightmare
Back in ye olde days, long movies had an intro music to get people settled into their seats, along with an intermission in the middle for bathroom breaks. Considering this is about a three hour movie, then yeah, they needed it.
I saw in the movie in theaters in 1979, it had the overture music but being only 2 hours 12 minutes long there was no intermission. There was a version edited for television that ran in a 3 hour time slot, they padded out the movie with extended scenes, deleted scenes and even scenes without special effects added in, most famously the scene where Kirk leaves ihe Enterprise in the EVA suit, you see the airlock with the stage framing and harness supporting him as he floated out. That version was released on home video as Star Trek: The Motion Picture The Special Edition that ran 2.5 hours.
Mr Spock thinks Viger is a machine that's alive with mind melding abilities, that's why he wanted to go deeper inside her without the others looking. 19:12
Ah those uniforms-Kirk looks like he's ready to hit the tennis court
The Klingon captain who died at the beginning was Mark Lenard, Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror" and Spock's dad Sarek. So he'd played a Romulan, Vulcan, and Klingon.
Unless this was the new 4K remastered edition, none of it was computer-generated, because practical application of CGI hadn't been invented yet. But you made it through Star Trek: The Slow-Motion Picture.
In Gene Roddenberry's novelization, Decker and Ilia-Probe did what you suggested, and while. . . coupled, he experienced the Deltan mind-meld that occurs when Deltans have sex (which is why they must take an oath of celibacy to serve in Starfleet among humans), and the real Ilia's mind was in there. So Decker wanted to unite with her at the end because the woman he loved was still there.
Jeffrey Combs before Jeffrey Combs.