Pros: The end, so reminiscent of the original series on TV
Cons: Too many special effects, not enough plot
The Bottom Line: Get a grip, guys - we want plot, not special effects. If you could tack that ending onto a decent plot, this movie would actually be watchable.
Kidnykid's Full Review: Star Trek: The Motion Picture
They made this film to satisfy demand - pure and simple. Much of the acting is wooden or leaden; the special effects often look cheap and there are too many of them without enough plot to bind them together. (Rather reminds you of a holiday fruitcake, doesn't it?)
Having said that, I was just glad they brought the franchise back. Dr. McCoy is his crusty old self; Spock needs a date with some Sterno to warm him up, as usual. And Adm. Kirk - well, what can be said about this space cowboy?
The lot of them are on Earth when it is learned that a threat from space - unknown, of course - is heading toward the planet. Stephen Collins (of SEVENTH HEAVEN fame) portrays the captain supervising the refit of our beloved Enterprise. Capt. Kirk, promoted to Admiral in the years since the series ended, comes back to forcibly take over command of the Enterprise so that the unknown enemy might be fought, and as I said at the beginning of the review, this plot device is an excuse to overload the movie with special effects from here to Siam. (It is also an excuse for Adm. Kirk to get out from under his desk-jockey job and become a real space cadet again.)
A few beats into the mission, Persis Khambatta comes on deck as the Deltan navigator. (Her species is important because Deltans are the most sexually active species in the galaxy; they emit pheromones which automatically arouse any man who can smell them, and much screen time is wasted on showing the men on the bridge falling all over themselves trying to hide their lust for the Deltan.)
As usual, the enemy (which turns out to be a machine called Vejur, actually an overgrown space ship with an old Voyager automated NASA ship at the center) is defeated, with a twist that is yet another excuse to blow the special effects budget.
I have to say that of all the films, the end of this one - after Vejur is eliminated as the bad guy - is the one most reminiscent of the end of each of the TV shows. The three of them would indeed often stand on the bridge and rehash the events of the episode (or, in this case, film). However, the ending did not provide enough of a payoff to compensate for the rest of the film and its lack of anything other than special effects. (By the way, it should be noted that the special effects guru working on this film was Douglas Trumbull of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY fame. There was no such thing as ILM at the time this movie was released in the late 1970s, perhaps eighteen months after STAR WARS.)
In STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE the original crew of the Starship Enterprise from the 1960s TV show is reunited in this dramatic full-length science ...More at Family Video
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