al_bundy

2001 was written when computers were still new and a lot of people feared their potential. these days when every ipod has more computing power and storage than the entire Apollo project no one really cares. nothing really special about the concept of the movie since intelligent robots had been in media for a long time.

ironically if my son ever watches it i'll have to keep him from laughing when i tell him that at one point people used these things called calling cards to make phone calls in this place called a phone booth instead of their own phones they carry around everywhere.

i thought 2001 was just as drawn out

riley_dude

It's a pretty good film but I think what was so exciting about it when it came out 30 years ago is that we were seeing characters we loved from the TV show and with better production values too. This was in a time when they didnt make movies from TV show. Now, of course, it is done all the time.

Hokeyboy

The Maltese Falcon was written at a time when there before DNA was discovered, before genetic advances allowed for more penetrative investigative tools, before cell phones, Internet searches, state-of-the-art surveillance techniques, satellite imaging, or even Pixie Sticks.

NOTHING special about that movie.

Supermallet

This reminds me of a hilarious review I read panning 2001 because it wasn't accurate in the actual year 2001. I didn't realize films were made to be crystal balls into the future.

And if you think paranoia about self-aware machines is a thing of the past, then I assume you'll be skipping the new Terminator film coming out this month.

gmanca

I enjoy TNG but all of their films were boring; First Contact had some nice action pieces but they left out the best part of the story on the wayside: Picard's past with the Borg should have been more of the focus than the stupid quasi-love/buddy story with Alfrie Woodward and Cochran's warp test-drive. Other than that, they all felt like expanded TV episodes.

Breakfast with Girls

This thread turned into a comparison of the various movies, with more than just one or two mentions of TNG movies. Given the fact that you didn't call people out for daring to mention those (including a reference to "Nemeshit"), I think his comment was perfectly valid in context.

Anyway, I like The Final Frontier. Some of the others may be better overall, but it still has plenty of good character interaction, including the camping scene.

hasslein

^^Thank you. That is really appreciated.

Supermallet

After watching the two films back to back, I've decided I prefer Horner's score for Khan over Goldsmith's score for TMP, although I do enjoy them both.

Xander

TMP is the only one I really can't rewatch. Well, Nemesis too. The others all have redeeming factors (to me) in one way or another even amongst their flaws. But I really just find TMP too slow-moving to keep me interested.

dhmac

10 YEAR BUMP!

News from SD Comic-Con 2019 that Star Trek: The Motion Picture "The Director's Edition" (aka the director's cut), current only available on a 2001 DVD release, may finally be getting a 4K HD transfer:

https://trekmovie.com/2019/07/19/par...ctors-edition/

Specifically this part:
For years, the main reason given that the Director's Edition wasn't converted to HD for the Blu-ray release (which only has the original theatrical version) was the claim that the new special effects for the director's cut were in SD and couldn't be redone in HD. But in February 2017, ST:TMP producer David C. Fein posted online this about the Director's Edition special effects: "All of the shots in the film were created with HD in mind so the quality of the models and elements were much higher than the SD renderings. We have everything, and when the time is right, we'll use them. Again, there is no truth that anything is missing." So now it's great to see what he said back then is finally happening, barring any setbacks.

I think the Director's Edition is far and away the best version of this movie because of how it subtlely improved the pacing, reinstated crucial character scenes, and fixed problematic special effects. It's so much better that I don't ever care to watch the theatrical cut again so I'm definitely looking forward to more announcements on this news.

Why So Blu?

Cool, I'll buy that version.

Meathead

I'm definitely in for this if they release it. I've only watched the DC since it came out. I wonder what the iTunes version has as it currently lists the director's cut as an extra. Maybe SD?

milo bloom

I'd absolutely buy this. I'd also buy a widescreen version of the Special Longer Edition (warts and all), even if it's just SD (but 16x9 of course).

Mabuse

Trevor

Loved it and will eagerly buy it in 4K.

brayzie

I never saw 2001 so I thought Star Trek: The Motion Picture was great, especially since my expectations were lowered so much from internet talk.
I liked how Shatner's Captain Kirk was portrayed as a selfish asshole who got someone killed. Not the perfect protagonist.
Spock's exploration of V'ger was awesome. Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, and the Undiscovered Country had more heart and felt official, but I missed the more science fiction aspect of exploring new worlds, rather than just action and comedy.
I think the only thing I didn't like was the disposable uniforms. But I thought it was a fantastic movie.

dhmac

As new movies and shows in the Star Trek franchise have gotten worse (IMO) with the J.J. Abrams movies and Star Trek Discovery, none of which have any sense of wonder and instead are mostly full of over-the-top action, my appreciation for ST:TMP has only grown.

And RedLetterMedia did a re:View of ST:TMP last year that I think is the best review video I've ever seen of the movie.

story

Over the last month or so, I showed my kids the trinity: Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, The Voyage Home. Because they asked for more, we watched The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country. I really don't have a desire to watch The Motion Picture. Maybe down the road.

We did Machete Order for the Stsr Wars movies, then I finally relented and showed them The Phantom Menace a year later, now that's what they talk about. Ugh.

milo bloom

We’re in danger of getting off track here but the reason for your kids talking about TPM the most is that it’s the one that actually feels the most like a Star Wars movie. AOTC amd ROTS suffer from the same problem that TLJ does: they’re more in tune with regular movie making concepts but that’s not what Star Wars movies are. It’s why TFA and Rogue One are more liked, there’s a rhythm and hue they have that’s more like the OT.

To to bring it back to Trek, it’s why TMP gets bagged on, you had Robert Wise directing, who’s actually a good filmmaker but the story needed another six months of rewriting before filming ever started. It’s got some Trek moments for sure, but it’s also trying to be a sci-fi movie and Trek was never about being “pure” sci-fi.

dhmac

I think when someone is old enough to appreciate sci-fi such as The Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, The Andromeda Strain, Soylent Green, Blade Runner, and (of course) 2001: A Space Odyssey, then they might like Star Trek: The Motion Picture too. Too young, though, and they'll just think these are all boring.

dhmac

The backstory on the different versions of ST:TMP is because, when it was initially released, it had a set in stone release date that the filmmakers had to rush to get the movie done in time. Because of this rush, director Robert Wise saw the released version as like a "rough cut" and not what he would've released if he had more time to work on the film. When the studio offered him a chance to make a director's cut for the movie's DVD release, he immediately agreed because he would finally have a version of the movie closer to what he intended. They even used the original storyboards from the movie's production as a guide to fix the special effects that were either not completed or were rushed out in subpar form, so even the effects that are different in the Director's Edition were because they were making them along the lines of what was originally intended.

So someone put together these comparison videos of ST:TMP (theatrical cut) vs. ST:TMP "The Director's Edition" (aka director's cut). Anytime an image goes blank, it means that scene was cut from that edit.

(Spoiler-ized merely to make this post look shorter by hiding the clips for anyone who doesn't care to watch them)


And they also created some comparisons between ST:TMP (theatrical cut) and ST:TMP "Special Longer Version" which is the longest cut of the movie and the preferred cut of many fans

milo bloom

The VHS version a lot of folks had of TMP was the SLV so it put itself into the cultural memory that way, plus it was the TV edit and I know I’m not alone in having much my early movie collection be movies that were taped from tv.

Like I said, I’d absolutely buy a remastered copy of the SLV.

dhmac

Given how much a lot of fans love the Special Longer Version, I think Paramount should put out a multiple versions ST:TMP Blu-ray edition with the theatrical cut, the Director's Edition, and the Special Longer Version, all in HD or even 4K and in the correct aspect ratio, much like the multi-cut release of Blade Runner that has 5 different versions of the movie.

Mike86

Double_Oh_7

Set phasers to boredom! It's so bad, even William Shatner thought the franchise was over when he saw it