Star Trek turned 43 this week. The first episode of the original series aired on Sept 8, 1966. To celebrate, I re-watched all the original cast’s Star Trek movies. Starting with Star Trek The Motion Picture and going through Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, I quickly review the movie legacy of the cast from the original TV show.
Let’s see if these movies are still as good in the harsh light of today. Beware, though, as the movie pirate will tell you, “Proceed with caution, mates. Thar be spoilers ahead!”
Star Trek: The Motion Picture — I didn’t watch this until I was in high school. What I remember from that screening was one word: BORING. Watching this again, I have a new word: COMA-INDUCING. The problem lies in the fact that this movie was originally developed as a new Star Trek TV series called Phase II which would’ve included Kirk, Spock, Bones and others in small roles as well as a bunch of new officers (a bald chick and that guy from 7th Heaven). After the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, Paramount trashed the new series and had the show re-developed as a motion picture. Surprisingly, Phase II was written by sci-fi legend Alan Dean Foster who also wrote the Star Trek reboot novelization. Despite the high pedigree of writer, what the movie delivers is an incomprehensible mess. The storyline is hard to follow, some of the effects are terrible and the acting is less than stellar. If you are looking for your first Star Trek movie viewing, I beg you, with all that is holy, DO NOT start here. Your journey will end before it can begin. If you must, return to it later and wonder WTF just happened. After watching this again, I’m surprised Part II got made at all. 1.5/5
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — It’s almost cliche to say that Star Trek II is the best Star Trek movie, but things become cliche for a reason. Next to Part VI, also written/directed by Nicholas Meyer, this is the best Trek movie. This movie’s story is a sequel to a 1967 episode of the original series called Space Seed. Ricardo Montalban’s Khan first appeared in that episode and the movie picks up years later when Kirk and his crew once again face the titular genetically enhanced Khan. The opening of the movie is iconic and depicts the infamous Kobayshi-Maru officer’s test. From there the action takes off and never lets up during the tight 116 minute runtime. The superior pacing and the tete-a-tete between Kirk and Khan make this a wonderful sci-fi action movie. This is what everyone thinks of when you say Star Trek and that’s why it’s a classic. I’ll tell you this, if you don’t shed a tear during Spock’s death scene when he tells Kirk that he will forever be his friend, then you have no soul, my friend. I’m misting up right now just thinking about it. 4/5
Tuesday is the day studios traditionally release their DVD offerings to stores. So I thought this would be the appropriate time to discuss a problem I have. Why do many studios refuse to use the movie poster on the cover of the DVD? It makes no sense. Many times, they commission another “poster” that includes all the major actors as “floating heads” with the title and some random scene from the movie. It’s ridiculous. Sometimes they even cobble together head shots of the actors, photoshop them on body doubles, and create some insane, nonsensical situation that many times has nothing to do with the movie. 
Cavalcade of Awesome 