TOS-era Movie Run Through

Myrddin

Finished watching all six, one a night for the past week. Very enjoyable stuff.

The Motion Picture - Nowhere near as bad as the rep it has, though it's not very non-fan friendly either. It's a big, space opera that transitions the TV show into a movie series very well. The story is very Trek, but was also quite radical for the time (in terms of Star Trek). The effects, particularly the model of the Enterprise, are stunning even today. Definitely one for hardened fans, but otherwise, it's going to feel like a clunky film. In a way that's exactly what it is, it was Trek's first foray onto the big screen, and it was finding its feet in that regards. Plus the cast hadn't worked on Trek for years, so it's not a smooth, polished film by any stretch. It is Star Trek though, and nowhere near the worst of them.

The Wrath of Khan - What can I say, still my favorite to this day. Cracking story, perfectly cast, stunning physical, special, and practical effects, the score is incredible, the tone of the film is spot on, the dialogue, the script...I could go on and on, it's truly fantastic to watch. It has a very naval feel to it, which I gather is Meyer's influence, and also gives hope for the new tv series. This gets the top spot for me.

The Search for Spock - Not to everyones liking, and continues the vein of odd numbers being bad & evens being good, though not for me. For me, this is a brilliant continuation of the events of II. It's not as tight or engaging as II, but is still fantastic Trek viewing. There's a real sense of family establishing at this point between the crew, and it's displayed when they all unite together to steal the Enterprise, against their orders. The Enterprise theft scene is up there with the best of any Trek moments, and while the Genesis planet segments can drag the pace back a bit, they don't last very long. The fight with Kruge near the end is great though...."I...have had....enough...of you!!!"

The Voyage Home - Still continuing on, though loosely, this picks up almost right after III. Before long though, it breaks away and forms it's own story. It's good, fun in parts, cheesy in others, but it holds up. It's nowhere near the top of the bunch, but not the worst either. I think the whole point of this film really is to wash away the sins of the crew in the previous film, and get Kirk back into the Captains seat. It does this, in that oh so 80's way!

The Final Frontier - Hmm, this one didn't sit right with me. The story/concept is a good one, but I felt the execution was way off. The film felt disjointed, convoluted, and to be honest, it looked crap as well. The effects are terrible, very cheap looking, which is a shame considering the quality of of the effects in the previous films. Cybok was well played, and the main cast were of course their brilliant selves, but they alone couldn't save the film. The only thing of note, is the continuing bond between the crew, more so Kirk, Spock, & McCoy...by now they're established as less so Captain and officers, but nothing short of family. This, for me, is the worst of the bunch, and really the only bad one.

The Undiscovered Country - A grand finale. Back to brilliance with this one. The score is outstanding, and again, it has a very militaristic naval feel to it. The story is brilliant, the effects are once again top quality (if you're into models, it doesn't get much better), the acting, cast, and script are all hugely engaging. "Cry havok, and let slip the dogs of war!". Not my favorite, but definitely up there. There's a nice conclusion for this crew too, and "growing old" has been a constant theme since the second film (and one totally missing from V)...they're to put back to spacedock, to be decomissioned...while the ship and its legacy will soon pass to a new crew. It interestingly uses LOADS of sets from the Enterprise-D, some of which I'd never noticed before (the observation lounge, ten forward, main engineering, the corridors, etc).

To rank them in order, it's difficult, but:

1) The Wrath of Khan
2) The Undiscovered Country & The Search for Spock (joint second, controversial!)
3) The Voyage Home
4) The Motion Picture

5) The Final Frontier (the only bad one, hence the gap to number 4)

It also struck me many times while watching these, that cynics of the JJ-films are being way too hard on the new films. The old films are choc full of inconsistencies, errors, and are very fantastical compared to the different tv series. Hardcore fans, myself included, have glossed over these problems while highlighting the problems in the new ones, & it isn't fair. While the new ones aren't exactly Wrath of Khan material, they're nowhere near Final Frontier either.

helimachoptor

Wrath of Khan closely followed by the Undiscovered Country.

Also really like The Voyage Home too

Optimus Prime

I think Voyage home is my favourite to be honest, i just watched it so many times. Undiscovered country and Wrath of Kahn are great too. I always thought it was mad the way the used the next gen sets in 6, the music at the end too is the TNG theme i think.

Also is michael dorn officially playing his father\grandfather in it, or is it just some other dude. I know his father was killed at kitomer

degrassinoel

i would have associated generations with TOS too, but i'm in agreement with ye there

Sad Professor

I really like Star Trek III as well. Nimoy's direction is a bit rough in places but I always thought the writing was excellent. Harve Bennett consistently nailed the characterisation of the TOS crew while raising the stakes to levels never seen in the show. In particular I love how Kirk is written. The ease with which he decides go against orders and steal the Enterprise, and the way he goes from grieving his son to deciding to blow up the ship. I love how instinctive that decision is. He makes it in seconds while under extreme stress and doesn't second guess it until he's down on the planet watching the ship burn up. Compare this with Picard's frequent displays of sentimentality over the Enterprise in TNG. Picard laboured over his choices and would never have been caught dead saying something like "My god… what have I done". Kirk was born to the kind of life and death scenarios he found himself in.

Myrddin

^^ agreed. The other thing is, I feel Pine's Kirk from the new movies is so absolutely spot on, that it's actually a great insight into Kirk's younger days...which we never really got to see.

_Kaiser_

For me TSFS breaks the "odd-numbered = bad" theme and I'd rate it over TVH which, while fun, has a completely different tone to the previous 2.

WoK is probably the best of the original films, with TUC a close second and a decent ending for the original crew, but the way they simply reused TNG sets was a bit cheap I thought (they did this in TFF as well if I remember right)

TFF.. well, with the exception of the scenes between Kirk, Spock and McCoy it's pretty much a mess and the weakest of the lot.

TMP I agree doesn't deserve the flak it gets Sure it's slow (echos of 2001) and even the uniforms were awful , but it's a good Trek story in the original style and the Refit reveal sequence is still amazing.


Now if we're doing the TNG films...

Generations has some great shots of good old Enterprise-D, but Picard isn't John McClane no matter how much they tried to make him be (in FC especially). The random uniform changes from TNG-style to early DS9/VOY style was just random and annoying (side note: late TNG style FTW!), and the -D deserved better then to be picked apart for salvage on some random planet I never took to the -E to be honest.

FC is (like WoK) the action installment but doesn't do it as well as that earlier film, although the follow-ups in ENT (Regeneration and In a Mirror Darkly) were great so there's that

Insurrection was weak, a poor two-parter really, and as for Nemesis... awful pretty much throughout. One last payday for all involved but best forgotten I think... well, until we get to the JJ films which (aside from the first which was very watchable on repeat viewings as a action comedy with a Sci-Fi slant), are just not my kind of Trek I'm afraid (though I haven't seen the latest one yet admittedly).

Beefy78

I'm also watching these movies currently - blitzed through II, III & IV within 24 hours last week having done TMP a week or so earlier. Might watch V tonight.

I broadly agree with the above, I think III is much better than it is popularly held to be. V is a car-crash of a film, to be honest. Even as a Trek-obsessed kid who loved even terrible TV episodes i knew how much this stunk. The exception being the first 15 minutes. I love the character stuff around the campfire between Spock, Kirk and McCoy.

Generations is typically classed as a TNG film (certainly that is where Paramount have always placed it in the boxsets) and that's another film that I've always thought was underrated. I have never not enjoyed that film.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Myrddin wrote: »

To rank them in order, it's difficult, but:

1) The Wrath of Khan
2) The Undiscovered Country & The Search for Spock (joint second, controversial!)
3) The Voyage Home
4) The Motion Picture

5) The Final Frontier (the only bad one, hence the gap to number 4)

For me - you are close, but I would drop TSFS to joint third with TVH. I feel that TUC was just that bit better and tighter direction/story wise and and it was excellent from the character interaction perspective.