Star Trek: The Motion Picture - SE
Paramount Home Entertainment   -   1979   -   136 minutes

Reviewed by Erick Klafter

Review Date: September 15, 2002

FOR STARTERS

PHOTO GALLERY Ready For Departure

Who would have thought that a TV series that was near the bottom of the ratings every week in its initial run and was eventually cancelled by the network would explode into the biggest moneymaker Paramount Pictures owns? Well, that's what happened with Star Trek. After going off the air in 1969, this little known TV series exploded into syndication and by the mid-70s rumors about another TV series or at the very least a TV movie swept the country. Finally, after seeing the success of Star Wars, Paramount Pictures gave the go ahead to bring back the original crew in a full-length feature, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

All of the original crew is back along with a few Klingons and some new cast members, including a Deltan name Ilea. And let's not forget good ole' NCC-1701, the Enterprise. Two and a half years after its "five year mission" has completed, we are brought back into the 23rd Century, with a fully refit Enterprise. This time the nemesis is a huge cloud of enormous energy headed towards Earth. It has destroyed everything in its path and the only ship available to intervene is, of course, the Enterprise.

With another chance to be the hero, now Admiral Kirk finds a way to take command away from the man who he appointed to replace him, Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins). That little chore out of the way, they go to intercept the cloud and investigate. After beaming up Dr. McCoy and making a quick pit stop to pick up Spock, they head out to save Earth.

After flying into the cloud, Lt. Ilea is taken prisoner by a probe and replaced with an identical twin robot designed to observe the crew. Through the probe, we learn that the cloud contains an entity known as "V-Ger" whose sole purpose is to reach Earth and join the creator. If it fails to do so, the Earth will be destroyed. Kirk, Spock, and the crew now rush to get to the center of the cloud to save all of humanity.

VIDEO

The director's version of the movie has corrected some of the moronic items that were seen in the original. This version is longer than the original, although you can't feel it. Better editing in certain places and well-placed additional footage account for that. Shots that weren't available at the time of release are included, and horrible shots of insignificant items on the view screen and mindless shots of Kirk holding dramatic poses are removed. When the movie came out in 1980, it was nominated for an Academy Award in special effects. Twenty-two years later it wouldn't win the prize in a Cracker Jack Box, but the video on this DVD is very clean and sharp. The ships and other elements along with the outer space backdrop mesh more nicely on my television than when it was on the big screen. To the keen eye, however, you can tell it was a cut and paste job. The colors of the uniforms, planets, and the cloud are extremely appealing to the eye. Overall, a job well done for a movie two decades old.

AUDIO

The audio is well balanced throughout the entire movie. The background music during the long non-verbal scenes keeps you in suspense as you see "V-ger" unfold itself. The front channels give full, brilliant sound while the rears offer well-executed separation. The subwoofer hums during some of the more intense scenes providing a richer, full-bodied sound field.

SUPPLEMENTS

The director's version is two discs. The first disc is the movie itself plus a few extras, including three different commentaries (by the director and two others) and a technical text commentary by Visual Designer Michael Okuda. The second disc has three documentaries, the most interesting being about the failed attempt to bring the original series back to TV with a refreshed look. We get to see some behind-the-scenes footage as well as deleted scenes. There is a promo for the newest Trek to be on TV as well as some storyboard information. All in all, if you have the time, you can outwit your other friends who think of themselves as Trek experts by viewing the second disc in its entirety.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This is a well done updated version from the original. Paramount will be doing director's versions of the rest of the Trek movies as well, and this is a good beginning. Get ready, the movies ahead are far better and I expect the discs to improve as well.