Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Maybe it's general nostalgia, maybe it's a desire to nerd out before the new Trek movie comes out, but I thought I'd take a walk down memory lane and walk through Trekdom once again- in order and chronologically, dipping my feet into the television shows now and again as well. And, courtesy of Netflix, I started at the beginning, with Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Directed by Hollywood Veteran Robert Wise and written by noted science fiction author Alan Dean Foster,(with another noted science fiction master, Isaac Asimov as science consultant.) I recall Star Trek: TMP (or Star Trek 1) as one of the strangest, weirdest and generally oddest of all the Trek films. I think there's a tendency to view it as a weird abberation of some kind, but I think it deserves fresh consideration. In the context of the late 1970s, Star Trek 1 is a fine example of the design, mood and aesthetic of science fiction films at the time. If you watch it again, closely, you can see shades of Blade Runner and Alien- as well as overtones of such science fiction cheese as 'Logan's Run' or even a little of 'Fantastic Voyage' and '2001' Star Trek 1 fits into its era perfectly, maybe in a retro-cheesy type of way, but it fits nonetheless.

To me, what I think is overlooked about Star Trek 1 is that it's one of the only films where the crew of the Enterprise actually encounters something really and truly alien. Even though the special effects feel anachronistic today, there is
no denying that V'Ger itself is one surreal head trip of a piece of art- and in no other Trek movie do you feel that the Enterprise is actually exploring, really and truly encountering something alien. Sure, they interact with aliens, but all of it has a remarkably hum-drum feel about it. They run into Klingons every other bloody day. This whole wacky V'Ger thing on the other hand is something totally unknown and alien- and that fits with the 'exploration' ethos that Trek originally was about. The film itself vibrates with the fears and dangers of stepping into the unknown. The crew feels it from the word go in Star Trek 1, when Uhura, upon hearing the news that Kirk has taken command once again of the Enterprise remarks that their chances of coming back have just doubled.

As for the characters, they shine nicely. Stephen Collins provides the first connection to 7th Heaven playing the shoved aside Captain, Decker, whom Kirk rather douchily shoves aside so he can get his precious Enterprise back- and Collins
plays nicely off of his character's conflict with Kirk as well as his reunion with lost love Illea, played (with the apparent knowledge that she is probably doomed forever to be an obscure pop culture reference- by Persis Khambatta.) This relationship is a curious precursor to the similar 'past history' shared by Deanna Troi and Riker in TNG. As for the crew well, Kirk, Spock and Bones once again snap back into their familiar trifecta at the heart of Trek: Kirk eagerly back in command and bristling at resentment for being stuck in a desk job as an Admiral. Spock, having resigned from Starfleet to try and purge his emotions back on Vulcan is searching for answers to his inner duality of being Vulcan and human. Bones, as usual, provides his function of essentially saying 'Double-You-Tee-Eff, Man!' whenever Kirk or Spock do something insanely wacky.

The movie climaxes with an ending that some might consider to be truly lame- after all the epic special effects and the mystery, one might left thinking: 'What? Really?' but in the end, it works: it is plausible, believable and ultimately, the entire movie stands as an exploration of the unknown- which is what Trek is about. And afterall if you're living in the future and flying around with aliens and starships, then it's going to take something truly trippy to seem totally alien to all of you.

I think the legacy of Stark Trek 1 is a mixed one: it's pretty trippy, but that was science fiction at the time. The full effects of glorious space opera propelled by Star Wars had not yet been reflected fully on the genre- but really, the opportunity
presented by Star Trek 1 was ultimately a missed one- this movie feels differently from all of the others because it fits its time period (the late 70s) perfectly- even down to the muted colors of the uniforms- if Trek would have evolved with the times, the franchise could have unfolded in a far different manner than how it originally did.