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THE MOVIE
After the original series was cancelled in 1969, creator Gene Roddenberry (along with a few sacks of letters from the legion of fans) attempted to bring the Star Trek to the big screen. Without going into too much detail, the path was not an initially successful one. Executives at Paramount thought it wiser to return the series to television, and with the exception of an animated series, this would not actually happen again until 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, the success of science fiction films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (and no doubt Star Wars) finally convinced the Powers That Be to bring the film to the silver screen, and a new era of Star Trek began.
Set about four years after the end of the Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture sees James T. Kirk (William Shatner) promoted to Admiral and the U.S.S. Enterprise under the supervision of Captain Willard Decker as it is being refitted. However, with a powerful entity on its way to Earth, Kirk takes command of Starfleet's flagship - after a prolonged homo-erotic docking procedure, of course - dragging the old crew along with him.
Every fan of any long-running series will have their favourite era, and for me it is the original feature films of the Star Trek universe. The original series had its own charms, of course, but there is something intangibly magic about the feature films with Shatner in the lead. Unfortunately, it is hard to foresee the near perfection of the trio that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan through to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in this often drawn-out mess. Elements of the plot were taken from the ill-fated Star Trek: Phase II, a proposed follow-up to the original "five year mission" depicted in the first television series. While this certainly foreshadows much of the "pseudo-intellectual" approach of the later Next Generation episodes, it was perhaps a little too cerebral for audiences of the late-1970s. Indeed, in some circles this is known as Star Trek: The Motionless Picture.
More 2001: A Space Odyssey than Star Wars, people must have wondered where the "arm phasers first, ask questions later" Kirk had gone to. Indeed, after an opening sequence in which the (then) new-look Klingons are zapped to smithereens by the unknown entity, we are treated to what seems like a real-time sequence of Kirk catching a shuttle to the Enterprise. For the first time in years (and maybe it's the hi-def), I noticed just how erotic this sequence was. What is more interesting is that it is Kirk and Scotty in the pod. Just a few short scenes later, Kirk emphatically tells McCoy (DeForest Kelly) "Dammit Bones - I need you! Badly". As it turns out, there is a whole subtext to this film that just flew straight past me when I last watched this. These intriguing elements aside, it does take a while for this film to get going. Content to linger over the beautifully constructed and detailed sets, there is nothing about this film that moves at more than a snail's pace, not even the extras that generally scurrying about in the background. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, even they are dressed in beige.
While one half of me wants to applaud this (often underrated) film for not taking the obvious action route straight off the bat, there are certainly times when one wants to scream at the screen for something to happen. I'd even take director Robert Wise's Sound of Music sequences randomly sandwiched in to quicken the pace at times. The final 20 minutes of the film is actually quite superb, but for some it will all be too little too late. That said, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was soon to provide the action-packed goodness that many craved, and this did foreshadow the more studied pace of some of the later Star Trek episodes. However, at this stage this is a film franchise that is yet to find its voice. For these reasons, Star Trek: The Motion Picture remains and interesting anomaly in the Star Trek canon.
THE TRANSFER
Video:
A few years ago, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was re-mastered as part of a DVD Director's Cut. This is not that version. All of the Blu-rays released individually - and as part of a boxset - are the original Theatrical cuts. This is actually a good thing, as I never felt quite right about some of the CGI changes. However, while they were done far more tastefully than most of those in the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions, this Blu-ray edition presents the original theatrical version in 1080P and is probably the best cut yet.
Yes, there are a few speckles here and there - and some are more obvious than others (such as three big black marks on screen during the Enterprise launch) - but for the most part, this is a crisp presentation of a film that has a very limited colour spectrum.
NB: The stills in this review are not taken from the Blu-ray, but rather from publicity shots. You'll just have to take my word for it that it looks as good as it does.
Audio:
The audio is where this Blu-ray really shines. For the first time, the film is presented with Dolby True HD 7.1 audio. It sounds absolutely amazing. While screens may never quite be able to compete with the cinema experience, the audio is getting very close. Or at least close enough to annoy your neighbours.
The wealth of mono and stereo tracks also available confuses me, but hey - I'll go with it!
THE EXTRAS
The bonus feature selection is a mixture of old and new, and a few bonus Blu-ray features thrown in.
As this is the Theatrical Cut, we miss out on the group commentary with Director Robert Wise from the DVD edition. However, we get a new Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Daren Dochterman. The Okudas are walking encyclopedias on Trek, so we probably get more information per square inch here, although a cast and crew commentary would have been nice.
Again, some of the documentaries from the previous edition are gone (including the one on Phase II: The Lost Enterprise), but we get a new one under a Production section called The Longest Trek: Writing the Motion Picture (10:44, HD). The brief featurette touches on aspects of the Phase II project and the various stages the scripts went through before it went to screen. It is interesting that not all parties were happy with it. The Star Trek Universe section contains two featurettes: Special Star Trek Reunion (9:37, HD); which includes several notable fans discussing the scene they appeared in during the film; and Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 001: Mystery Behind V'ger (4:24, HD), a fictional data file on the possible origins of V'ger, tying it in with the Borg and hosted by the Australian-accented Sarah Backhouse.
New to the Blu-ray is the BD-Live feature, Star Trek I.Q and the Library Computer Access. The latter is actually quite a good interactive trivia track. While not quite picture-in-picture, it does provide a wealth of additional information at the click of a button on demand. All sorts of Trek trivia will be listed in an on-screen menu designed to look like the computers in the Trek universe.
Also ported over from the DVD are the 11 Deleted Scenes (8:02); 7 TV Spots and the theatrical and teaser Trailers.
SUMMARY
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is something of an anomaly in the Trek universe, although it is not the train wreck that many make it out to be. Although some may claim that this is the start of the "odd numbered Star Trek films are crap" curse, the new (film) series simply needed to find its feet. While that would happen in the next film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, this remains an interesting glimpse of a direction that Star Trek almost decided to go in. Trek fans will want this either way, although fans of the new action-packed J.J. Abrams Star Trek may find the pace a little lacking. A shaky start for the film that launch one of the most enduring film series, with eleven films to date, and for that alone props have to go to this flick.
The Blu-ray presentation is quite a good one, especially on the sound side of things, and while we don't get all of the bonus features from the DVD editions, we do get some nice bonus features here. No doubt there will be a Director's Cut edition in the future though...
Worth a look.
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