Remembering the Motion Picture

[Rico]

Today, Dec. 7th, 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the first Trek film, "Star Trek – The Motion Picture."  I can still remember getting to the theater early on a cold night in Michigan to see this movie and was blown away at the opening sequence as I saw huge Klingon ships on the big screen for the very first time.  While this may not be the best of the Trek movies, it certainly paved the way for the rest of the movies and the subsequent TV series.  Who knows if "Star Trek" would still even be watched and talked about in the year 2009 if this film had not been made.  It made a good deal of money and I still enjoy watching it.  I think it had a lot of ambition and who could forget seeing all of our favorite characters up on screen again after about 10 years since the original TV series had ended.  So look back now at one of the trailers for this ground-breaking movie.

Star Trek - The Motion Picture - Teaser Trailer

[Yeoman Mara]

I'm too young to have seen this one at the movies but I do kind of like it on DVD.  Sometimes it's kind of slow, but I like the ending.  Cosmic!

[wraith1701]

Really a ground-breaking film.  I remember seeing it in theaters when I was 7 or 8. Unfortunately, I was too young to appreciate the film- I fell asleep!  I've since come to appreciate it. It might not move at break-neck speed, but it really is an epic film, with a timeless score, impressive visuals, and some of the most memorable character moments in Trek history (the introduction of gruff, bearded McCoy stands out for me, as well as the Kirk/Decker tension). 

[X]

I saw this one on the big screen as part of a marathon leading up to Undiscovered Country. It was one of the best days that I've had to watch them all on the big screen.

I loved that day without a doubt. I love the movie for what it is, but I can help but remember how slow it was. The trip into V'ger felt like I was there on that slow slow voyage thousands of miles to get to the center.

Has anyone else noticed that we've never gone more than 5 or six years without new trek showing up in a visual medium?

[Rico]

Yeah, it's really one of the more "epic" of the Trek films.  They really tried for something huge for the big screen and I actually think they pull it off - more or less.  Hard to believe 30 years have gone by already.

[Bryancd]

I was 10 when TMP debuted in theaters. I was blown away by the look of the film and really loved the whole V'Ger/Voyager story line as I was big into NASA and the space program. Parts of the movie seemed odd, but I fell in love at first sight with the refit Enterprise. I recall not being a big fan of the uniforms. The novelization was also a good read and helped fill in some of the parts of the movie I sorty of didn't catch.

[Bromptonboy]

I saw this one in the theaters as well.  I was so happy that there was some new Trek.  My impressions were - 'Hey - those aren't the Klingons I am used to!' and 'That is a ripoff of the Nomad episode' - but I still enjoyed it immensely. 

[Ktrek]

I remember seeing this in the theater and I did enjoy it at the time but not as much as I enjoyed Star Wars. The pacing of the film was slow and making the film a true sci-fi film instead of an action/adventure film probably hurts the films reputation some also, but I think that is the film's strength. It's actually closer to 2001 than it is to Star Wars.

Probably the thing that I and most Trek fans who saw it in 1979 remember is seeing the ship again. Refitted and beautiful on the big screen. Today that scene seems overly long but back then we relished every minute of it.

Kevin

[Bryancd]

I think the dry dock scene in TMP is the most wonderful sequence in any Star Trek production.

[Blackride]

I enjoyed the movie except that it tried to be too much like 2001 mid-way through it I thought.

I totally agree with your comment Bryancd on the dry dock stuff.....