Showing posts with label Star Trek The Motion Picture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek The Motion Picture. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Trek movies, worst to first

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979): 10 Mind-Blowing Facts!

I read an article yesterday giving one person's list of the Star Trek movies, from worst to first. I think he listed "Nemesis" as worst, with "The Voyage Home" first. "Wrath of Khan" was fifth. "Insurrection" was down the list. I'm watching it now, and it's one of my favorites.

With my own list, I'd pick "Generations" as my least favorite. James T. Kirk got killed in that one, and I hated the mundane way they killed him off. I have a copy of that video, but I have not watched it in years.

I'd put "The Final Frontier" and "The Undiscovered Country" in 10th and 11th place, respectively. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is probably ninth; too slow. They spent more time with graphics than they did with story and characters.

 Next comes "Star Trek Into Darkness", the one where Benedict Cumberbatch plays Khan. I hate the reboots, and "Wrath of Khan" was enough for me. I didn't need another Khan.

 "Nemesis" is seventh among the 12 Star Treks I've seen. They wasted a great opportunity, and Data deserved a better grand finale than that.

 The first J.J. Abrams movie, "Star Trek", was OK in some ways and terrible in others. Abrams played fast and loose with the Trek mythos (I hated that), and, frankly, I wouldn't have that James T. Kirk pilot a wheelbarrow, much less a starship.

 "First Contact" and "Insurrection" come next. I actually liked James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane in "First Contact"; he was interesting, and Glenn Corbett was boring in the original series. I hated it, however, when Picard went nuts with the machine gun in "Contact"; out of character. I liked "Insurrection" because of F. Murray Abraham, plus Data's relationship with the kid. And I liked Picard's lady.

I actually like "Search for Spock", and it comes just after my No. 2 pick, "Wrath of Khan". I think the latter movie is the best Trek movie ever, but I'm picking MY favorites.

 And, frankly, "The Voyage Home" is my favorite. The story line — going back in time to get two humpback whales to save the future — is implausible, but I can get past that. This is the funniest and most human of all the Treks. I love the part where they broke Chekov out of the hospital.

 I just saw "Star Trek Beyond", and I'm not sure where I'd rank it between "The Voyage Home" and "Generations". I need to think about it.

 I will say, though, that the part where Enterprise was ruined was torture.

 Live long and prosper... And let me know what YOU think.
VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE








🖖🖖🖖

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  BLUESKY: PROFILE



BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
- No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Thinking about Star Trek

This Star Trek Redesign Quietly Shifted the Entire Aesthetic

I remember September 1966, when I watched my first Star Trek episode, "The Man Trap." I thought Star Trek was a dumb name for a TV show — hey, I was 13, what did I know? — but I immediately realized that I'd love the show.

 When the show died in 1969, I was devastated, empty. I "survived" on novelizations or novels until 1979 when the very slow and boring "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" came out. In lots of ways, I hated it; but it was great to see the Enterprise and its crew again.

 Fast forward. We've gone through Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Enterprise. There have been great individual episodes, and some of them are as good or better than anything in ST: TOS.

 It's been a while since I got my Star Trek fix, although I've bought a movie or two and several Next Generation episodes. Within a few days, I watched Nemesis, the movie with F. Murray Abraham having stretched skin, and the Next Generation episode in which Picard visits his brother Robert (French pronunciation, ro-bear) and his family.

 On Friday, I got another fix, as I watched the new movie. They played fast and loose with the Star Trek mythos — hell, they imploded Vulcan and killed the Lady Amanda. Kirk was a wild child and Spock's mortal enemy (until the ending).

 The movie itself is almost non-stop action, although it slowed down enough for Kirk to have an interlude with a green woman with red hair.

 Leonard Nimoy dominated the movie in his short moments onscreen — no big surprise. The Romulans looked like biker punks with tattoos and elfin ears. I loved the guy who played Scotty, and Bones McCoy was dead on. The crowd laughed when McCoy said something like "I love this guy," meaning Spock. DeForest Kelley's Bones wouldn't have said that for love or Federation credits.

 It's funny, but the new Kirk didn't remind me of William Shatner until the end of the movie, when he walked onto the Enterprise bridge as the new captain. His manner, and the uniform, finally reminded me of the original James Tiberius Kirk. Instead of being a frenetic cadet, he was finally and truly in command.

 Will I watch it again? Yes. Will I embrace the "new timeline" as gospel? No.

 But, every once in a while, it's great to boldly go where no one has gone recently.

 One other thing: There's no way in hell that Starfleet would give THAT Kirk his own starship. They wouldn't let him command a wheelbarrow.

Years ago, I had a bunch of Star Trek books in my apartment, and visitors would tell me that I ought to keep them. "They'll be worth something someday," they'd say.

 Turns out they were wrong. You can buy Trek books for almost nothing at the local Edward McKay book store.

 I just listened to an audio book of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics." It's the one in which they find Captain Montgomery Scott in the pattern buffer of a ship crashed on the surface of a Dyson sphere.

 James Doohan did all of the voices, and Levar Burton talked at the beginning and end of the book.

 It was great to hear Doohan's voice again, particularly when he spoke as Scotty and Miles O'Brien. He was OK doing Picard, Riker, Troi and most of the others, but he was terrible as Data and Worf. His Data was too mechanical, and his Worf didn't boom when he spoke; he growled.

 Otherwise, it was an enjoyable experience.


^


VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE


><

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  BLUESKY: PROFILE



BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
- 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

GETTING ORGANIZED

BEING ORGANIZED How I Plan & Organize My Life to Achieve Goals ✴ Home organization tips...for under $5!! ✴ ORGANIZE | Small Kitchen Hack...