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Monday, April 18, 2011
Star Trek: The Motion Picture #1-3
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102 comments:
This wasn't terrible, at least no more terrible than the movie was that's for sure. And to be fair out of all the Star Trek Movies this was certainly not the worst.
When you panned over the box for the DVD collection I noticed that it didn't list the second movie as a comic it had. Just a misprint? or did they actually not have a comic adaptation?
The plot concept for this one was certainly a good one I think.
Also, I saw the reveal about V'Ger being one of the Voyager space probes coming a little while before that was revealed, though that's probably thanks to an episode of Space:1999 which involves Voyager 1.
"When you panned over the box for the DVD collection I noticed that it didn't list the second movie as a comic it had. Just a misprint? or did they actually not have a comic adaptation?"
Nope, not a misprint. Until about two or so years ago, Wrath of Khan did not have a comic adaptation, hence why I said "at the time" when describing it.
I have read the comic (all three issues in one) in german - our version contains a 4 page blurb about the motion picture itself, complete with movie stills.
Oh, and the reason why Decker Jr. decided to merge with V'ger? While it has not been made clear in both the movie and the comic, he had the hots for Ilia (and she had them for him). That's the reason why she is waiting for him in front of the captain's quarters... (It doesn't explain why Kirk didn't take him to a conference/briefing room. Heck, even the brig would have been less... awkward.)
It's interesting to watch this and SF Debris review of the film itself.
Why is it that every time we saw the enterprise it was really badly proportioned? As if the artist lost all perspective, literarily, half way through drawing the legendary ship. It's not just this comic. Every time I've seen a trek comic the ships have never been close to right.
Then again I've never understood why a comic adaptation of a movie is needed. Sure we get a bit of perspective, but if it needs a tie in comic to explain what is going on it's not a good movie and some one muss t have noticed that…
Can't say much more. Some good references, a few smirk worthy jokes (loved the hitchhikers gag) and good observations. More or less as usual. Liked the visual gag of different uniforms, even if you had to use the 2009 uniform rather than the much cooler green captan's tunic.
Thomas
(Ps I agree, the other uniforms were much better than the pyjamas we got in TMP. My personal favourite being the Wraith of Kahn red tunic. Far more official)
Great review!! I'm glad you brought up the whole emotion thing because I always bang my head on the wall when people act like a being with cravings and curiosity is completely emotionless.
How did Decker's merger with V'Ger evolve them into something phenomenally cosmic?
Shouldn't that have just given V'ger Decker's memories? I'm really confused by that!!
Was there ever an actual crossover between Transformers and Star Trek? I know that it would probably be the stupidest thing ever but...
"Oh, and the reason why Decker Jr. decided to merge with V'ger? While it has not been made clear in both the movie and the comic, he had the hots for Ilia (and she had them for him). That's the reason why she is waiting for him in front of the captain's quarters... (It doesn't explain why Kirk didn't take him to a conference/briefing room. Heck, even the brig would have been less... awkward.)"
Oh, it was made in clear in both that they had a relationship, just not that it was apparently soooo important to him to spend the rest of his life with the robot facsimile of her.
Why do so many people mix up celibate and chaste? Celibacy means that you do not marry. Chastity or being chaste means no sex.
Great review. I like the movie, if only because it was one of the first bits of Star Trek I ever saw. Sort of like the most recent one, I think it is clearly more "movie" than "star trek". Still, you're right about it moving slowly.
Also, seeing that you like Hitchhiker's Guide, have you ever read any of the Discworld books?
You can do a Movie Comic Adaptation Comparison of the 1986 Transformers Animated film. There is one from Marvel Comics during the Original 90 issue run, and A adaptation from IDW.
'Oh, it was made in clear in both that they had a relationship, just not that it was apparently soooo important to him to spend the rest of his life with the robot facsimile of her.'
Blame that mistake on me being tired. Looking back, both the comic book and the movie hint at it - but yes: the extent of their relationship isn't made clear.
The blame for that goes to the writers, the director and Stephen Collins (who played Cmdr. Decker in the movie) - as well as the comic book which could have done something to drive home that Decker was in love with Lt. Ilia. Even a caption box would have been okay for me.
The original title of THE MOTION PICTURE was "In Thy Image." The film was originally developed as a pilot script for a potential TV relaunch called STAR TREK: PHASE II, in which Decker and Ilia would have been regular characters. So if the comic adaptation were to call itself something other than "The Motion Picture," "In Thy Image" would have been the logical choice to go with.
By the by, "In Thy Image"/THE MOTION PICTURE is also a partial reworking of an even earlier STAR TREK screenplay called "The God Thing," written by Roddenberry in the early '70s. There was a lot of recycling going on with this movie.
I laughed at the opener. Admittedly it's your ship, but to have such an argument over a name after such a speech was hilarious.
Least the scout ship got the voted-for name. Compromise is golden.
The motion(less) picture is pretty widely panned.
No wrath of Khan Comic? Sadface.
Why did you change trek-costumes--Wait, nevermind, saw the text in the credits. And you're right. Even your costume-versions of the uniforms are better than them...Though that may just be to 40 years of improved fabric crafting.
Wars, Trek, Gate, Battle. They're all nice series with their ups and downs.
Y'know, Egypt is not the only ancient civilization with Ancient Evils, it's just the one most picked on due to the questions left over from the construction practices of the pyramids. What about the Mayans? Greece or Rome? Apparently there were a lot of sealed evils in japan too.
I'd kinda like to see the comic adaptation of the 5th film. That one was weird. And maybe the comic for Generations would Explain where Data's Emotion chip came from.
Your re-enactment of teh slow motion wormhole scene had me pissing my pants.
I remember being nine or ten when I first say it and the video box said that the movie contained "Ten minutes of never before seen footage"!
Naturally I assumed most of it was spent on that longshot of the Enterprise.
However this does explain the story a lot better than the movie could and I personally would love to see more star trek comics.
However, I would really love to see a TNG comic
I do remember being in a bookstore in my youth and seeing a TNG comic where Q came onto the bridge and turned Picard into a goat.
Now either that really happened or I'm remembering a fever dream but if you can find that one, I'd love to see that one reviewed...even though I have no idea what happens past the point of the goat
Oh and one thing I didn't get was the Peter O'Toole joke about him being the creator. What's that about?
Never mind my previous comment. I hadn't yet seen the video in full when you brought up PHASE II. My apologies.
Wait, did the bottle not break because it was stronger than the steel wall? Or because the wall and the bottle are the same strength? Or because Linkara is weak?
(Yes, I know the real reason is you couldn't actually smash the bottle against the wall/green screen)
"Break, damn you!" classic.
I'm one of those weirdos who does actually somewhat like the first Star Trek film, though I'll admit I probably like it for the wrong reasons, the short version of which is that it's a good sci-fi film with beautiful imagery and a great premise, albeit it's just not Star Trek. It's more like 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I consider the greatest film ever made. Anyway...
I really appreciate you giving background on the film's production (which I'd never heard a word of before) because it clears up a misconception I had about the films.
I thought I'd heard a rumor that Star Trek IV's script originally began life as a completely original property that was shelved for various reasons until being found and repurposed by Nimoy, evidence for this being that it's the only film to not feature the Enterprise as well as the first real mentions of transparent aluminum and the lack of money in the Federation (so far as I know). I did learn eventually that the rumor is completely untrue, though hearing about Phase II's scrapped pilot being used as the basis for the film now gives me a little relief that I'm not completely crazy and imagining hearing weird stories of purported Hollywood skulduggery.
Keep up the good work... and I agree Vigilant is a better name for a scout ship than a giant, v-shaped trash can with no brakes and 3 million years on the clock.
I'll stop now.
Star Trek V? I've heard reviews for the movie, I'd like to see how the comic handled it. Maybe we'll find out what God needs with a star ship.
"I'd kinda like to see the comic adaptation of the 5th film. That one was weird. And maybe the comic for Generations would Explain where Data's Emotion chip came from."
That came from the TV series, specifically the episodes "Datalore," "Brothers," and "Descent, Part 1 and 2."
"Oh and one thing I didn't get was the Peter O'Toole joke about him being the creator. What's that about?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creator_(film)
Oh man, I really dislike Star Trek: The Motion Picture and it looks like the comic isn't really any better than the film (Why would it be?). I know there are worse Trek films but this one really makes me sleepy. I recall as a young kid being extremely freaked out over Trek comics, but I'm not sure why (I think they were DC published).
Also all your Starfleet uniforms just made me really want some of my own.
Not terrible, and glad that they fixed some of the issues from the motion picture. I agree that things could have been done better, though.
Also, I am curious, Lewis - what is your favorite Star Trek series? I did notice the model of DS9 in your old place, which gives me hope that it's DS9 (my favorite).
is it just me or was that a hitchhikers guide to the galaxy reference
For all the flaws with the movie and the comic adaptation, there's one thing that cannot be denied: Persis Khambatta was smokin' hot.
You fantastic geek, you. :D How many uniforms IS that?
So! Not bad, as these adaptations go. Had a good time with this one. Thanks for sharing it with us.
-Oracle
I would have gone with a Captain Power & The Soldiers of the Future joke instead of Power Rangers in Space, but that's another show you do and I'm probably the only one who would get that reference.
There is a DVD or CD-Rom set out there that has ALL the Star Trek comics, including the original Gold Key run.
Good name for the ship and the scout. Now we need to see the scout ship. :)
Awww, I was hoping for Linkara to mention that the race that repaired V'Ger was implied (and flat out stated to be, in the Shatner novels) to actually be the Borg. Which... kinda makes sense in how V'Ger "assimilates" everything it comes across into data.
Let's try this again:
I think you gave a good representation of the "warp speed" scene from the movie...especially since it was unintentionally the funniest thing the film did. I think it inspired the Ludicrous Speed bit from Spaceballs.
Anyway, probably an instant classic with your jokes being on the point (and the usage of the classic Patton bit which makes more sense having seen the movie), and great geekiness about Star Trek and the changes in uniforms. On the other hand, a slight nitpick: according to one source, Paramount wasn't inspired to make Phase II into a movie by Star Wars alone...they thought it was a fluke, but then Close Encounters was also a hit the same year and they got the go ahead for the movie. Then again it did inspire a lot of space/space-esque movies in the late 70s...
To be fair, Robert Wise was a great director (going back to Val Lewton's The Body Snatcher), but maybe he wasn't the right person to direct a Star Trek movie. At least Nicholas Meyer (2 and 6), Leonard Nimoy (3 and 4), and Jonathan Frakes (8 and 9) were more than capable. William Shatner (5), not so much!
Fortunately, I highly recommend Wise's 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, not the crappy 2008 remake with Keanu Reeves!
I actually like Star Trek: TMP for all its flaws. It was the last attempt made by Trek to stick to its original premise of exploration and encountering the unkown. After that, it just became about blowing stuff up with photon torpedoes.
Mountain King: Not sure if I can call you a whippersnapper or not judging from your profile pic. But I am going to anyway… Whippersnapper! Back in the olden days when Lens Flares were just a glint in JJ Abrams eye rather than in everyone else’s even home VCRs were rare and it took a long time for movies to be released on tape, and an even longer time for them to be released on tape to buy rather than rent. So if you wanted to relive the experience of the movie in the months between it leaving the cinema and being released you read the novelisation or the comic adaptation.
SchweitzerMan : Not a fever dream. I am pretty sure that was a ST: TNG annual joint-written by John De Lancie where he kidnapped Picard and took him through his life and his regrets. Early enough in that DC run that it was released before “Best of Both Worlds” and the follow up “Family” where we met Jean Luc’s brother so it had a Claude Picard instead and who died as a young boy. Jean-Luc regrets having failed to save his brother from falling down a well and breaking his neck so he says “yes” when Q asks if he wants Claude to survive. Has a small effect on the course of events though as Claude grows up to be supreme military dictator of the Federation.
One more thing I forgot to mention...the bit with Kirk following Spock into V'ger and getting covered in tiny pyramids? That's a discarded scene from the film called "The Memory Wall." It was to be a 10-minute sequence of Kirk and Spock poking around the V'ger interior, and they shot about half of it before Doug Trumbull, one of the film's FX supervisors, told them the scene was boring as hell and would drag the film down if they went thru with it. So they scrapped it and replaced it in the final film with Spock's solo spacewalk, which Trumbull could shoot quickly and have the whole scene be a couple minutes long.
That's right, folks, even the FX guys felt the movie was wasting time and needed to pick up the pace. Says it all, don't it?
...oh, that was a *bad* sign.
For those not up on naval tradition, if you don't get the bottle to break on the first swing when christening a ship, it's considered a sign that she ship is unlucky. The more swings it takes, the worse the ship's luck.
At this point, I'm surprised that Comicron 1 hasn't suffered a Total Existence Failure yet...
linkara the video is not working all im getting is a circle with a exclamatin point in it!
is there some way this can be fixed?
good review. Also small query, what are your thoughts on Star Wars? I myself am a huge fan, having watched the original three movies on VHS when I was a kid. I just would like to know, what are your feelings about it? Are you a fan? If so I can guess not as much as a Star Trek fan. Also, are you thinking of reviewing any bad Star Wars Comics?
Ok, The trippy Wormhole scene may have been confusing and messed up, but it is now officially worth it so you could hilariously reenact it.
Oh $^#% Yes! Review all the Comic Adaptations! It could be your theme for the next month or so!
I actually like ST:TMP for all its flaws. It's the last attempt to make Trek about encountering the unknown as opposed to just blowing stuff up with photon torpedoes.
The TMP uniforms were bad in so many ways, but I have to ask... Why don't you have an ENT uniform? They look really cool and they have pockets!
... I feel as if someone has placed a phaser lock on me...
-M4A
Finally, someone else is bothered by the whole "long for emotions" paradox! I remember that confusing the heck out of me even when I was a little kid watching TNG.
"Awww, I was hoping for Linkara to mention that the race that repaired V'Ger was implied (and flat out stated to be, in the Shatner novels) to actually be the Borg. Which... kinda makes sense in how V'Ger "assimilates" everything it comes across into data."
I've heard that, but it doesn't really make all that much sense, really. The Borg would have assimilated it and kept it, not upgraded it and send it on its merry way.
Count me among the people who actually enjoyed the film. I feel all the criticisms of it are justified - pacing, story concerns, character underdevelopment - but in my mind, its atmosphere, production design and score (especially the score) outweigh the negatives. If it was trimmed quite a bit and they sorted out some of the other issues, I think it would be a solid Trek film. Or perhaps it's because Koyaanisquatsi is one of my favourite films, so I was perfectly alright with scenes that just consisted of special effects, music and reaction shots.
The one effects sequence I think works as it is is the tour of the Enterprise, and I think about 50% of my enjoyment is due to Goldsmith's gorgeous score.
I'd certainly like to see your take on other Trek adaptations, maybe even that recent TWoK that came out. Aren't you planning on doing something for Shatner's original treatment for STV, or did I dream it?
"To be fair, Robert Wise was a great director (going back to Val Lewton's The Body Snatcher), but maybe he wasn't the right person to direct a Star Trek movie. At least Nicholas Meyer (2 and 6), Leonard Nimoy (3 and 4), and Jonathan Frakes (8 and 9) were more than capable. William Shatner (5), not so much!"
Another good Robert Wise flick that got turned into a crappy remake? The Andromeda Strain. Watching it right now, in fact.
Linkara man, the bottle didn't break on the first go, any sailor will tell you that's really bad luck for a ship...
Other than that, good review :)
Very, very neat. And it made me realize that the movie in question's the only one in the whole line I have never yet seen...Odd...
Not certain if I actually want knowing what I'd be in for.
(And for some reason it still makes me a bit sad you never read Discworld /sidenote)
"The TMP uniforms were bad in so many ways, but I have to ask... Why don't you have an ENT uniform? They look really cool and they have pockets!
... I feel as if someone has placed a phaser lock on me..."
The Enterprise uniforms, while functional, look horrible on the ship itself - the place already looks dull and grey everywhere, so seeing the dark blue on top of the dark grey just made it look kind of ugly.
I'm not against having one of those jumpsuits in the future, but for the moment I prefer the ones that look a little better (First Contact uniforms, while dark, still tended to contrast against the brown of the areas they were in, plus had a more solid color underneath the jacket).
"I'd certainly like to see your take on other Trek adaptations, maybe even that recent TWoK that came out. Aren't you planning on doing something for Shatner's original treatment for STV, or did I dream it?"
Pretty sure you dreamed it. XD I'll still take a look at the Star Trek V comic down the road, though.
"I've heard that, but it doesn't really make all that much sense, really. The Borg would have assimilated it and kept it, not upgraded it and send it on its merry way."
Reading up on it after the fact, Star Trek Legacy states that V'Ger created the Borg, even though the novel "The Return" stated that they repaired V'Ger. Can we just toss our hands up and say "Sure. Why not. Woop woop woop" at this point? Heck, factoring in First Contact, Enterprise, and every time travel episode of TOS, TNG, VOY, DS9, I'm pretty sure the timeline looks like a plate of spagetti at this point.
I would not be surprised if there is a Star Trek and PR in space, or Lost Galaxy, crossover comic.
By the way, did you manage to brake the bottle during your theme song? LOL.
Damn you and your awesome collection of Starfleet uniforms. But glad you didn't wear the awful uniforms in the Motion Picture, they looked more like mental asylum orderlies than members of an advanced peacekeeping and military force. And what the hell was the point of McCoy's open collared version? He looked less like the ship's doctor and more like the ship's gigolo.
Good review by the way.
Am I the only one who thought Vger was the Star Trek Brainiac? A super smart robot whose programed to gather all knowledge in the universe. Sure, Vger never killed and bottle planets (that we know of) but still.
I guess I got too much DC in me.
And here I thought your uniforms kept changing to set up for the Warrior #4 crossover with Spoony.
And here I thought your uniform kept changing to coincide with the Spoony Experiment and his Warrior #4 review.
Oh, and anyone who wasn't aware, yeah, Linkara did a MST3K fanvid of ST:TMP in high school.
Trailers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oYTz8JQ9ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9HrW5m7ils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHBM6HVqI7M
(I also posted these on the AT4W board : D)
Of course the Decepticons got their hands on V'ger! How else would Megatron have been able to record his message to his Predacon descendant?
Good review, as usual. I'm a Trek fan myself. My only problem with TMP is the pacing, props to the Director's Cut and this series for correcting some of that. Aside from some minor dialogue changes and the added scene with the mini-pyramids, it follows the movie pretty closely as far as I can tell, including the scene you weren't sure was in the movie, BTW, to foreshadow Decker loosing his cool. Not that we needed them to tell us that he wasn't going to like Kirk stepping in, but there ya go.
Loved the uniform changes between scenes. To flex my Trek uniform ID muscles a bit, let's see...
Neo*-TOS, Captain.
TWOK-the first ~20 minutes of GEN, no rank shown.
TNG-late DS9 (background characters) with GEN-NEM combadge, crewman.
DS9-VOY with above combadge, probably Captain again. (couldn't tell due to the jacket covering you collar a bit)
FC-NEM, Captain.
I won't say this comic series is bad in my eyes simply because of the source material being what it was, just not a fan of the art style.
The name of the ship... (sigh) Not so fond of that one, but at least this thing has a scout ship to use that name on. The fact that the bottle didn't break is an 'interesting' sign of things to come, I think.
Looking forward to next week.
Fiery Little One
*09 movie.
Cewl I never couldfinish this movie without falling asleep!
Do Wrath of Kahn next on this series!
I'd be interested to see you try the same thing Star Trek II. That movie had some pretty goofy dialogue in it, but the actors (primarily Ricardo Montalban) really sold it. I would be interested to see if it still holds up without the benefit of actors. Additionally, it might be another one of those episodes where you see if something that was really popular at the time has aged well.
Yeah xD I thought you were going to go for a Warrior #4 set up with Spoony with the changing clothes, oh well.
Great review ^^
I think you and sfdebris should review the Wrath of Khan comic together one of these days. Just sayin'.
Ok, let me get this straight...
A probe called Voyager 6 is launched into space, with a infinite hardrive to record all data, which absorbs so much data it becomes a living computer-cloud that possesses a sex-inducing chick, which a guy volunteers to merge with.
People didn't like this movie?
This idea is FREAKIN' AWESOME!!
I imagine when you say the movie was slow, it must have been REALLY slow. It must have been told REALLY badly. That's too bad.
I actually liked the first movie
allot
Great video as always, Linkara. I enjoyed watching The Motion Picture, but it DRAGS. If they quickened the pace, the run-time would be cut in half. I've got the directors cut which does include extra scenes that are included in the comic (not the pyramid thing though)
The plot of TMP was based on elements from episodes of TOS. I can't recall the exact episode names but one is where an unfathomable force is moving through the galaxy, and it turns out to be an old Earth probe that gained consciousness out in space. It boarded the Enterprise and began killing red shirts with ruthless abandon. The other episode was about a giant space cloud that ate planets but didn't realize it was killing people until Spock figured out the right frequency to send it a message. But them both together, you get V'Ger.
My favorite movie has always been Wrath of Khan. I will spontaneously quote it with friends, even in public. Since it is not included in the collection, would you still review it? And what is you favorite Star Trek movie?
I like the name of the ship(s) While I voted for Vigilant, I also liked Comicron1, so I get the best of both worlds; although, I would have expected to see more characters at the christening (90s kid, Ensign Munro, etc)
Again, great video. I can't wait to see what comes next.
I agree that ST:TMP is too long and ponderous, but it does have some good qualities to it: it jumps the Star Trek timeline ahead of the old series’ five year mission, ages the characters, makes Kirk an Admiral, brings up his uneasiness with having a desk job, and brings back Spock’s conflict between his Vulcan and human sides. At the least, it laid the ground for STII, when Nicholas Meyer used some of those themes about aging and Kirk’s need to command for greater effect.
The whole transporter accident is just ridiculous. The Enterprise’s transporters are under repair and not safe for use. So what? Aren’t there a bajillion other transporters on Earth and in space? You don’t need two transporters to beam someone from one place to another.
And yeah, the whole “Enterprise is the only ship in range,” this isn’t the first time they’ve pulled that. In ST: Generations, the Enterprise-B was the only starship in range of the energy ribbon, and they were just flying around Earth’s solar system.
spocks story resolution was simple
He realized that life is pointless without emotion
1. This review suffers from a) most of your watchers already knowing the story, b) the comic book not being entertainingly bad. That's a bad combination, but thankfully not a common one.
2. "A thousand unnamable emotions swell up within him. The awe, the wonder, the romance, the obsession fill his heart again."
Awe, wonder, romance, obsession? You just named them. How are they unnamable then? This makes no sense at all.
3. That's a great Shatner impression.
It's interesting to note that a lot of what was to be used for Star Trek Phase II as well as things that were used in ST: TMP were used in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The theme song obviously being the biggest noticeable thing right away.
A number of early TNG episodes were actually originally Phase II scripts altered to incorporate the Next Gen characters.
Also, William Decker and Ilia were the templates used to create Commander William T. Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi.
Definitely do more Star Trek comics in the future as they're interesting to see, especially the movie adaptations as they tend to include scenes cut out of the actual films a lot of times (of course the same goes for a lot of movie based comic adaptations).
"...responsible for the evil that is... ANCIENT EGYPT!"
Thanks a lot Linkara, I was drinking when you said that and that comment, plus the swarm of pyramids, recalling Pyramid Head (RIP buddy) and CARD GAMES have combined to force me to dry the coffee off my monitor...
*sigh* I should drink angled away from my screen...
"Was there ever an actual crossover between Transformers and Star Trek? I know that it would probably be the stupidest thing ever but..."
I haven't read it, but there is actually a G.I. Joe / Star Trek / Transformers / Ghostbusters crossover comic series about zombies by IDW called Infestation. (No, I am not making this up.)
uh-oh linkara's wearing a red star trek uniform I hope he knows what he's doing granted I have only watched a few minutes into the review but I just hope it's going to be alright.
Excellent review, as always, Linkara. I'd definitely be behind your reviewing more comic adaptions of Trek movies. And of other movies, as well, really.
If you can forgive me for a moment, I'm going to try to defend what is admittedly my least favorite of the classic Trek movies. As you said, TMP was made from what might have been early scripts for Trek's TV relaunch as Phase Two. I've always felt that had the whole Phase Two thing come to pass with that script or scripts intact as originally intended, it or they might actually have worked a lot better than the way the movie came out.
The flaw, I think, came when the folks at Paramount repurposed the Phase Two material from television work into a feature film, especially since, at the time, they thought they'd probably only get one movie.
I come up with this theory as someone who has, on at least one occasion, tried something similar, albeit with fan fiction. Granted, even good Sonic the Hedgehog fan fiction is notoriously bad, and is only made worse when it gets rewritten before posting.
But what I'm getting at here is that where the writers most likely failed is in hastily trying to take an already written story in a slightly different direction. While TMP certainly wasn't a bad movie, it could just as easily been so much better, too
R.I.P. Elizabeth Slaten
Random question, Lewis: Do you like the Kirby games?
Another random question: Did you like the 2009 Star Trek reboot? I liked it, but then again, I hadn't seen very much of any other Star Trek series, so... yeah...
Here is another fact about the motion picture this is going to make you laugh. One of the suggested plots of the movie was going to be about the crew traveling to cavemen times and giving them fire which in turn makes the cavemen see Kirk as a god and link him the myth of Prometheus
There was always something that bugged me about the whole V'ger=Voyager thing. As I understand it, the machine/ship/whatever tells that its name is V'ger, it is not the humans who go "lets call this thing... V'ger". Why does the ship not know its name? If I make an analogy to computer, the name of the company and the serial number are easily found, so why wouldn't it find the name in the programming and rely on the lettering? If Voyagers programming was so ancient that it didn't have the name coded in, then it would rely on the lettering, but a ship collecting data throughout the universe that isn't able to scan through the debris on its side? Thats just plain stupid. Another explanation would be that the machine lifeforms rebuilt it with an incomplete lettering, which is also pretty stupid - they were able to build a thinking ship, but too stupid to wipe the original clean? Anyway, it makes no sense that V'ger wouldn't know its name is Voyager, which would of course eliminate the whole big plot twist of the movie.
-greenbean-
Dear god: TMP.
I have all 11 Star Trek movies on Blu-ray, and I put off watching them because the completionist in me needs to see them all together and the first one is like pulling teeth.
You can tell Roddenberry had a part in writing it because all of his scripts are SLOW.
I could handle it if it was just bad, bad things can be entertaining. Like CSI: Miami, the new V, or Star Trek V. The movie fails on every possible level, recycling an entire ploot from the TOS episode "The Changeling" (which by the way is tonnes better than the film), bad dialogue, slow pacing, bad wardrobe, bad lighting, obvious smudginess caused by shooting things different distances away at the same time, I could go on.
Also, what's the point in directly adapting a movie to a comic book? I mean, I know there's the Buffy comic based on the movie script, but at least in that case the original script was different enough from the movie that the comic has a completely different tone and resolution. (Check out the Origin if you can. It's canon to the show, replacing the film)
The review was awesome though. Keep it up.
My sides were splitting during your reenactment of the slo-mo wormhole acid trip sequence. SO spot on!
I had severely mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand it had some really great moments between the main characters, especially Kirk and Spock, but overall the movie is slow, boring, stilted and way too effects-heavy.
The Voyage Home was always my favorite :) I'm a sucker for comedy.
Wait so no Brainiac comparison?
Never really was a Star Trek fan. Maybe it's my Punk background, but I always saw the Federation as a Totalitarian regime and I always looked at their actions with suspicious eyes (like I was watching propaganda).
That said, I actually liked the first two movies. Though this comic really doesn't do justice to the trippiness of the first ST movie.
http://elvenjunko.deviantart.com/art/Adopt-The-Fourth-Wall-201602324
That has nothing to do with this video. I hope you look at it anyway.
Kiri, I figure that's one of those words that's changed meaning over time. Literally millions do that...
There's a reason the fan nickname for this movie is Star Trek: The Slow Motion Picture.
(Lewis, did you say somewhere you haven't read Discworld? I suspect you'd like it - for you I'd especially recommend Moving Pictures... but I won't force you.)
Looking at the ending of this one and VI (The Undiscovered Country), I have to wonder how Sulu reacts. ""Second star on the right and straight on 'til morning?" Could you vague that up a little, Sir?"
(Yes, it was as vague when Peter said it and Kate sang it, but that book was surreal throughout. It makes more sense there. Or at least its lack of sense makes more sense... or... nevermind.)
JM: You just made me remember just a little bit from that comic. Glad to know that it was NOT a fever dream. Now I want to read that comic...but can you explain why the part with him turning into a goat happened?
Seriously...a goat?
Great review Linkara. I have to say, some of the artwork in that comic is pretty impressive, seems pretty boring though!
My two cents on The Motion Picture: I think TMP is better than it gets credit for. I can understand why a lot of people hate it though because it's quite slow and it suffered a little from being too heavily influenced by 2001, but I didn't mind the snail's pace and drawn-out scenes. Robert Wise has more than a good eye for setting up a scene from a visual stand-point. The special effects aren't so bad either, you can really appreciate them more on the remastered version of the film, no there's no Lucas-style digitized after-effects, just a beautiful picture which makes the film look better than ever before. For me the plot was interesting enough to keep me engaged while soaking up the awesome visual effects, the beautiful cinematography and the (mostly) superb acting. I don't mind slow, drawn-out movies as long as they look beautiful and don't have an incredibly stupid plot.
I actually really like Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I mean, it has its flaws, but so do all of them (except for maybe Firs... no, they could've gone with something better for the song on the juke box) but I actually thought some of the others were more bland, and I think the "director's cut" version is pretty cool because--as someone pointed out--the new effects blend in better than with the theatrical and "Special Longer" versions.
When it said "a thousand unnamable emotions swelled within him" I couldn't help but think "Dull surprise". I can so vividly imagine it.
symbols also have the purpose of passing information. By wearing a symbol others will be informed that this is a being of pure logic, and this could affect how they interact with him.
It's definitely a twin-clones-of-Hitler type of thing, Consolecleric. Cool concept (I think one of the novels suggests that whatever the V'ger/Decker merger turned into ended up becoming the Borg, or something along those lines), bad execution.
When Leonard Nemoy and Deforest Kelley turn in performances that make William Shatner circa TOS look like a brilliant actor, you know something's wrong.
Huh, who would've thought that the adaptation of the movie would be better and more action packed than the movie itself? Then again, the novelization of Mortal Kombat Annihilation (yes, there WAS a novelization of that abomination) was better and more action packed than the movie itself, but those are usually made from earlier, better drafts of the final script.
Wait...wouldn't a Wrath of Khan comic NOT be Atop the Fourth Wall? It is where "Bad Comics Burn". If Mr. Lovhaug believes Pegg (odd numbered Star Trek films are garbage, evens are good...and then words eaten with how the eleventh turned out), he's got, at most, 4 comic book reviews to go (3, 5, 7, 9) if he decides to cover the film series. (10 got mixed reviews, but the likelihood is that the old guard critics were tired of Star Trek.)
"Huh, who would've thought that the adaptation of the movie would be better and more action packed than the movie itself? Then again, the novelization of Mortal Kombat Annihilation (yes, there WAS a novelization of that abomination) was better and more action packed than the movie itself, but those are usually made from earlier, better drafts of the final script."
Much like the novelization of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Much better than the film because it was based off an earlier script. In fact, the EARLIER script used for the NOVELIZATION filled in some plot holes that were left UNRESOLVED in the FINAL FILM. Case in point: In the novelization, we actually get a justifiable REASON why Megatron is working with the Fallen: He wants to become a Prime, but in the final battle, Optimus tells him that Primes are born, not made, causing Megatron to swear off ever working for someone else ever again (which would actually be some nice character development). In the movie? "No one is greater than Megatron... Except this ancient, fiery guy in a sarcophagus." What. The. Funk. And. Wagnal. Also, Skids and Mudflap aren't racist in the novelization. And Leo (gasp) actually DOES SOMETHING (double gasp)!
@ Jarkes:
Yeah, I know the feeling; MK Annihilation's novelization actually has actual fights in it that the movie glossed over, like a fight between Liu Kang and Sheeva (in the movie, Sheeva just gets crushed by a cage without a fight).
SchweitzerMan: No reason. Other than it is Q and he thought it would be funny, like when he turned Doctor Crusher into a Red Setter on the show... or when in the DC comics he turned the entire crew into Androids... and on another occassion into Klingons. Next scene after Q leading Goat-Picard across the bridge is Picard appearing in Paris near where his parents live (was before the Picard family vineyard was established).
Note: Was the 1990 DC annual, and John De Lancie had full rather than co-writer credit (as I had said).
Volvagia, you assume the quality of the movie is reflected in the quality of the comic. It ain't necessarily so.
(I've never read the 'Trek movie adaptations, so I don't know - I'm not judging here, just opening up possiblities.)
Sweet review, Linkara. I'm surprised you didn't talk about the TNG connection to Phase II and TMP, where in the second season they recycled Phase II plots (AGAIN) to cover a writer's strike and generally, Ilia was replaced for Troi and Riker was the substitute for Decker. (Hmm, four letter name and 'ker. Wonder if that was intentional.)
Great review on the first Star Trek movie adaptation.
The little intro where you kept trying to break the bottle is sure hilarious. Though, I've heard that if the bottle doesn't break on the ship's christening, bad luck is sure to follow. Perhaps it is foreshadowing of trouble ahead?
IDW has published the Star Trek Movie Omnibus this week, including the adaptations of the first six Star Trek movies!
J.A.P.
I have a theory on the whole "emotionless machine seeks existentialism" thing. Thinking on the issue from the perspective of a computer, it's possible that they're coming at this as quantitative variables that they can calculate, sorta like how NCP reactions to a given situation in a video game are calculated. In this case, there's several things about organics and the universe as a whole that emotionless logic cannot explain that emotionalism can. For example, art; art has no function or purpose for a machine, but it's such a huge part of culture that only someone that can express emotions can explain and appreciate it. Not being able to quantify and explain these things without emotion creates a syntax error in the computer's circuits and drives it to find a solution, in this case find a means to explain it. So, really, it's not desire or emotion that drives them to look for "more to life" than what they are, it's a simple "cannot compute, sudden end of file" error.
About the video. I wanted to address what was said in the video about the Vger "ship". In the video the guy commenting basically says, 'this isn't a ship it's pointless to show the scenes of the enterprise flying through the abstract blue stuff because we don't know what it is.' But we do know what it is. I saw this movie as a kid and knew what it was. The enterprise was flying through Vgers massive shield. And Vger's shield is 2 AU's large. It's basically it's own nebula. So, I though that part of the movei was awesome. Just my opinion.
The reason why Chekov's hand was burned? The procers originally wanted to kill him off in the movie.
Now, wait just a minute there, Linkara. Why is the UNNS Enterprise running at the reader a Good Cover when BloodGunn running at the reader is a Bad Cover?
(I mean, aside from the fact that 90's Kid endorses BloodGunn.)
Small nitpick: The Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars didn't exist yet. The San Francisco one did, so your point remains.
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