General / Off-Topic Favourite 'Original Crew' Star Trek Film (1-6) <Spoilers!>

[Giskard]

Geek-tastic I know! But hopefully a bit of fun.

You can choose between:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Released in 1979. Star Trek's answer to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Decker annoys Kirk. V'ger is a baby and Ilia is Deltan!​

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan

Released in 1982. Camp, revenge fuelled mania!
Chekov gets a slug in his ear, Khan steals the 'Genesis Device' and Spock (kind of) dies.
"Botany Bay? - Oh no!"​

Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock

Released in 1984. Bones has one hell of a headache, Kirk steals the Enterprise! Kirk's son is murdered, Kirk destroys the Enterprise! - and steals a Bird of Prey!​

Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home

Released in 1986. The one for non-Star Trek fans. A probe is destroying Earth, crew go back in time to fetch some whales, Chekov looks for Nuclear Wessels!​

Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier

Released in 1989. Shatner directs (unfortunately), crew sing camp-fire songs, Uhura dances with some leaves and they all go looking for God!​

Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country

Released in 1991. Star Trek does a Shakespearean Whodunnit! Crew gets drunk on Romulan Ale. Kim Cattrell is a Vulcan! Christopher Plummer wears an eye patch, and we're looking for two pairs of gravity boots!​

My favourite all-rounder has to be Star Trek 2. I just think Ricardo Montalban is superb. So many great quotes too!

"With my last breath; I spit at thee!"

 

[Cmdr M.G.Dangerous]

Despite a lot of negative comments about it, I felt that The Motion picture was well done. Especially in light of the fact that Robert Wise had to step in and rescue it from the disaster the filming began as. "Spank the Baby" Lol you would not get away with that in a script anymore

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!! Nuff Said! Oh Yeah and Kirsty Alley looking good as a Vulcan

'To order poison in a bar would be illogical' & 'That green blooded SOB finally got his revenge for all those arguments he lost' This one had some good points but seemed weak in many places. Great to see Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon. Even better though was Robin Curtis as the Vulcan Lt Saavik.

Voyage Home and Final Frontier are the weakest, silliest in the series imo. Uhura Dancing...Shudders

Undiscovered Country. The Rura Penthe stuff was cr*p, but the rest was good stuff. Kim Cattrell wasn't my favourite Vulcan, I preferred Kirsty Alley to Cattrell, & Robin Curtis to both.

Sulu: In range?
Helmsman: Not yet sir.
Sulu: Come on, come on.
Helmsman: She'll fly apart!
Sulu: Fly her apart then!

The winner without a doubt has to be.....Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!

 

[Giskard]

Some good points Mr Dangerous!

Without doubt, number five is the weakest. Certainly in story terms it is. It also suffers from weak special effects.

I too really like The Motion Picture. It's beautifully shot and designed. I wish more films were made that way nowadays. (Less noise, more thought, less 'cuts' in editing).

 

[Giskard]

Dang! No-one is playing....<sniff>

 

[deMangler]

The Wrath of Khan - for being an excellent follow up to an excellent episode and for just being great generally.

The Voyage Home, for Scotty talking into a mouse.

I remember liking The Motion Picture a lot first time round, but I tried to watch it again recently and couldn't get into it.

 

[ianw]

I think for me it's probably The Voyage Home.

I like the comedy and contrasts with the technologically advanced crew mingling with us comparatively primitive beings.

Several quotes here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092007/quotes

 

[Giskard]

Voyage Home is good fun. The cast really seem to enjoy themselves in that one.

Also, an important real-world message is given.

 

[Selezen]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

Always and forever, favourite film of all time.

"What about the rest of the inspection?"

"Later."

 

[Giskard]

Shatner was just so great!

 

[Mobius]

im going for The Voyage Home, just a good fun film, why are only the even numbered films anygood.

 

[Giskard]

Well I do think that 'The Motion Picture' is good and also that 'The Search for Spock' has its moments. (Stealing the Enterprise, the murder of David etc). But you're right, films 2, 4 & 6 are generally better and more rounded. ('The Final Frontier' was just so disappointing).

 

[Hamerstein]

ST 6 The Undiscovered Country for me. Great blend of decent acting, a dash of humour, action and use of all the crew - not just focusing on Kirk (not that I object to Bill Shatner - he's great).

I like them all (except 5), for different reasons.

The Motion Picture is a bit odd, considering it was supposed to be Paramount's counter to Star Wars, it feels more like 2001. It's still a well crafted film and a decent acting effort for roles that the cast hadn't played in over a decade (at that point).

Wrath of Khan is good, but personally I find it the darkest of the 6, which on reflection isn't how I like my Trek. The set up is a little contrived and after watching Space Seed again this week, Khan's massive hostility to Kirk is over-exaggerated (I just have to assume that Khan is totally nuts).

The Search for Spock is a wee bit rambling, pacing is off. It's definitely a middle film of a trilogy (which just goes to prove how great The Empire Strikes Back really is).

I love The Voyage Home, probably because it doesn't take itself too seriously and there are some great character interactions.

The Final Frontier is probably my least favourite, it tries to build on the lightness of 4 but goes too far, the jokes feel way too contrived.

 

[Giskard]

I really like number 6 too. I love it when Spock puts that patch on Kirk, and there is no 'highlighting' of it to the audience. I wish they did that more in films.

It's the stuff with 'Iman' and some of the poor set work on the prison planet that I don't like. Otherwise very good!

 

[Selezen]

The Iman stuff was definitely the low point of that film. On a par with the "seduction" scenes in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Ham Acting.

I disagree that Khan's hostility towards Kirk was over-exaggerated. Khan was an obsessive - that was clear from Space Seed. He wasn't happy about being overpowered and outsmarted, then he was manoeuvred into a position he didn't want to be in but that did give him the chance of getting what he wanted - dominion over others. In his own way he thought he had won, and he got the girl to boot.

Then all his carefully contrived plans were laid waste when Ceti Alpha 6 exploded. It let to McGivers' death too, then there was only one person to blame for all that...Kirk. 14 years of grieving, struggling to survive and focusing on revenge kept him going then, at last, he got his chance. Note how the others (Joachin in particular) tried to turn him away from his path. I think the Khan interactions were very good - Khan himself focused Ahab-like on his whale, and the others being dragged along almost unwillingly but tied to their master by loyalty.

It's almost as good as Moby (the obvious influence) as a study in obsession, and it works on so many levels. Same with 6, as you mention, with the small things not "spelled out" to the audience, thus showing them a bit of respect as intelligent people too. Same director, note.

 

[Giskard]

The thing about Wrath of Khan too, is that Ricardo Montalban is just brilliant. He produces such a memorable performance that defines the film.

Very good point about Nicholas Meyer directing both 2 and 6!

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

one thing i love about trek is the number of books there are available, from what i've heard though the books written of the films are quite slow going, in the case of ST 2, buy the book and hours will seam like days.

 

[Selezen]

one thing i love about trek is the number of books there are available, from what i've heard though the books written of the films are quite slow going, in the case of ST 2, buy the book and hours will seam like days.

You actually made me laugh out loud there. Very nice.

ST2's book does waffle on. It does, however, explain a few things about Saavik that didn't make it into the final cut of the film...

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

You actually made me laugh out loud there. Very nice.

ST2's book does waffle on. It does, however, explain a few things about Saavik that didn't make it into the final cut of the film...

yea, she is a lot deeper a character than the film hints at, she even ends up marrying Spock in the fiction, one of a select few to have her own book.

from what i can remember of her back story she was born to a Vulcan mother and a Romulan father on Helguard, a Romulan world where they were experimenting on captured Vulcans.

 

[krisavery]

Wrath of Khan is probably my favorite, but enjoy the slow calm pacing of the Motion Picture too.
Undiscovered country is a good solid film with plenty in the pot.
Search for Spock is often overlooked, but it isn't half bad.
Voyage Home is fun, but I hate the music in that film, and it has a bad 80s feel (as opposed to a good 80s feel).
Number 5, the God one... meh.

Out of interest, I am currently watching through the whole of the original series having only seen some of them on TV over the years. I have to say, that the writing in them as a whole is great! I hadn't realised just how good it was, and how close to the films it really was.

It suprised me (though I am sure there are fans who already know this) that Wrath of Khan is a mix of concepts from several episodes.

Obviously "Space Seed" that featured Khan originally, but also "Balance of Terror", where Kirk and crew fight the Romulans in a space duel. If you haven't caught that episode, I'd give it a try. Good stuff.
There are parts of other episodes that also went into Wrath of Khan that I have noticed throughout the seasons. I get the feeling that WoK was the result of careful study of the best Star Trek episodes.

Right, nerdage over.

 

[Selezen]

I get the feeling that WoK was the result of careful study of the best Star Trek episodes.

I agree - it has been written that Nick Meyer was given a main task - write and direct a film on a low budget to prove that Star Trek would work. This was because Roddenberry and Wise spent more than twice the necessary budget and wrote a cerebral, plodding film that relied on visuals. And it sucked.

So Meyer, a Trek newbie, basically watched the whole series then at the end remembered Khan as the most interesting "villain". Then he wrote an action film heavily influenced by classical films and literature, specifically Moby (obsession) and Run Silent Run Deep (submarines), combining the four elements (including KHan and Star Trek itself) into a highly successful and cheap film!

And you thought YOU were nerdy... ;-)