ST:TMP - The Motion Picture.

Dave

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okay - started watching this last night -- might finish it tonite -- but when Kirk is talking to Decker (think that's the other captain's name) he says he was in space for 5 years on the Ent - so, when they wrote the movie, did they just use the assumption that the 'trek' continued tho the show didn't?? I just happened to catch that line, and was curious, b/c i think some assumptions were made about the timeline of Trek based on the fact that the original mission was only 3 years --- (which, i guess it really was) -- but Kirk says he was out there in space for 5 ---

right now -that's the only thing, aside from the really gross facial hair of Bones, and the long stringy hair on Spock, that caught me
 
one more thing i just remembered --

what was the deal w/ the weird wormhole that the ship was caught in when they tried to enter warp?? how did it form and where did it take them? i thought wormholes were supposed to traverse large distances? and what made the ride so bumpy and distorted??

i know - lots of questions and probably most of them require a physicist to answer, but it just seemed odd --


oh - and what was with those ugly-a** uniforms? you know, the ones w/ those 'ab working' things where a belt buckle might go --
it's almost like they tried to totally scrap the original uniform idea and created the ugliest 70's reject thing on the planet --- good thing they found someone w/ a smidge of intelligence and taste and came up w/ something better!

i have a feeling the movie might have been a lot better if they had just given the crew decent uniforms!
 
They had invented special effects, and had some money to throw around on uniforms is the obvious answer.

This was known as the 'Slow Motion Picture' due to the lack of plot and excessive special effect sequences. I guess they felt after 'Star Wars' they had to do it. Fans were glad of any 'Star Trek' after having waited so long for it, and it amazingly still made a profit.

One good thing to come out of it, was that they went the opposite way for the next film, and went heavily into the plot and action for 'The Wrath of Khan'.
 
well - they should have taken that money they spent on SFX and given it to a uniform designer w/ a little bit of a brain --

and ditched the wormhole thing and the 4 minutes of them staring in awe at the 'thing' as they flew into it -- why would they be in such awe? they've been out in space for so many years -
and, weren't they in a hurry b/c that 'thing' was headed straight for earth? and they needed to stop it? if so - then why did they spend so much time just staring at the viewscreen??

this movie is so -- blah -- i've been working on watching it for 3 days now - and i'm STILL not done!
 
I did see this at the cinema, but I was so disappointed that I didn't bother going to see 'The Wrath of Khan' or 'The Search for Spock'. It was only after I saw them on TV that a friend dragged me to see 'The Voyage Home'. That was so good I became a big fan again!
 
well - get this - i was like 4 or 5? when TMP came out - and we saw it at a Drive-in! my sister and i were sunburnt like you wouldn't believe and wearing Strawberry Shortcake pajamas! (middle of the summer - hot as heck!)

okay- so, i didn't get the weird looks the guys had in the movie - think i couldn't tell that they were supposed to be the same guys from the show -- anyway -- i probably fell asleep watching it - don't remember --

but - i think i've seen ALL the ST films in the theatre -- Dad used to take us to 'em all - up through Generations - then he stopped - and i had a sci-fi enthusiastic friend and we went to the rest --

the cool thing about ST:IV - even ppl who don't like ST - LOVE that movie - my sister (same one who was sunburnt) liked it and she doesn't like ST --
 
In an effort not to knock this film too much, there were some good points to it. Even the special effects had elements which would later become staples of TNG: the hallways, the vertical matter/antimatter core, the little elevator in engineering, the beds in sick bay. Even the TNG music originated with this movie. Decker and Illia as characters are remarkably similar to Riker and Troi. We tend to forget that TNG borrowed these along with many of the sets built, and that's why it could look so good while spending a little less.
 
yeah - i noticed that too - the vertical core and the hallways -- and, i think the control panels were beginning to look less 'B-movie' and more 'trekky' (is that a word?) tho, the science station looked kinda cramped -- and very 'cubicle' like -- kinda scary - cubicles still, on a starship?? eeeeeek!!!

this Ent, is it supposed to be the same one from the series? the original NCC-1701, Constitution class???
 
yeah- that was SOME refit!! ;) no wonder the thing was in space-dock for so long -- they gutted her and put new innards in place --
guess they had to write in the 'refit' part b/c they'd destroyed the old set -- (or taken it down or whatever they do w/ those things) and couldn't build it exactly the way it had been, so they came up w/ the refit to bridge the 'continuity' gap!

good job tho - one of the best plot devces of this movie!
 
There is a new DVD version of the film being released -- Nov 2001 in the US, Dec 2001 in the UK. It may even be released in cinemas.

It is exactly the same story as the original, but there are a lot of tweaks in it which make it more pacey and improve it. Robert Wise was on such a tight schedule that he never had time to do what he would have liked. The first time that he saw it was with an audience, and paramount didn't want changes made after that in case word got out it was a bad movie.

So they don't do things like add the NX-01 to the ships in the display, but they do change the bad matte painting when they walk on V'Ger with a more convincing CGI backdrop.

Apparently, there is no background noise on the bridge in the movie. They fix that and it makes a big improvement to the ambience.

They fix all the scratches and mistakes on the film, the arm that was left in in the drydock, the bit of the Enterprise that is missing.

They have filmed extra scenes of Starfleet, and trimmed down other scenes.

There are lots of new special effects, but only those in the original story boards. They only used original notes made by Wise and Roddenberry.

One major thing they have done is to remove the moon and planets seen from Vulcan and change the sky red. That's how it was in 'Amok time' and in the other movies.
 
ya know - until just now - i didn't realize that there was no background noise on the bridge in the movie -- but you're right - there isn't anything there -- i was trying to figure out what was wrong w/ the movie in all the bridge shots -- no noise --- that's what did it! and ya know - that can have an amazing effect on the movie -- leaving out little stuff like that --


interesting ---- any ideas on whether or not they're gonna release the other movies on DVD, or do they wanna wait and see how this one does???
 
wow the DVD sounds good, although i think i've only seen TMP once anyway, its just never on telly...
but good that they;re giving it the treatment for the re-release!
 
I'm glad that they are too, I found the film slow and a little boring, so if it is more pacey and the action is edited better -great.

But, I'm also glad that it's not getting the whole 'Treatment'. Rob Bonchune is quoted as saying "This was an attempt to finish the film, not to make it better. There is no change in the story." John Treska added with a laugh, "Greedo doesn't shoot first!"
 
Collins Proud Of Trek Role

Stephen Collins, who played Willard Decker in Robert Wise's 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, told SCI FI Wire that he welcomed the chance to provide audio commentary on the recent director's-edition DVD release of the first Trek movie. "I love being part of this," Collins said during The WB's winter press tour promoting his TV show, 7th Heaven. "When I was cast in the Star Trek movie, and right before we started shooting, there was a photo session, and DeForest Kelley ... who plays Bones, Dr. McCoy, said, 'This will never be out of your life. It will never go away.' And he meant it as a good thing, which it primarily is."

Collins won the role of the captain of the Enterprise, never having seen an episode of the original series. But he quickly warmed to his part in the venerable franchise. "I love being part of Star Trek," he said. "I particularly love that I was a captain of the Enterprise, lest you all forget. I try to put that out as much as I can. For the first 20 minutes of the movie, I was the captain of the Enterprise. And then Kirk demoted me. But it's a good trivia question, if you want to stump your friends. Name all the captains of the Enterprise. Most people won't name me."
 
and ya know what? he's right - i almost didn't remember who he was -- i was thinking - 'decker? who was decker?' -- but i remember now -- ooops! ;)

didn't realize it was Stephen Collins tho -- wow! great way to see how much people can change ------
 
I can't remember him in anything else! I'm sure I will have seen him though! This '7th Heaven' series is a new one one me, we haven't had it over here yet.
 
Best movie ever.... no further comment needed
 

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