Runtime:
136 minutes (The Director's Edition)
Directed
by: Robert Wise
Starring:
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Stephen Collins,
Persis Khambatta
From:
Paramount
Yep,
I have never talked about any of the Star Trek movies since I started
doing this blog back in August of '09. By then I had already seen the
reboot of the series (which I enjoyed; I will watch that again before
the goofily titled Star Trek Into Darkness comes out next month; I
will probably go see that at its midnight premiere, as I imagine
dealing with Trekkers (or Trekkies or whatever you want to call them)
will be quite the experience) and a few weeks before that I saw the
original Star Trek II on the big screen at Universal's theatres in
Orlando. I figured now would be a good time for me to talk about the
movies with the original cast from the TV show, starting with this
one. I did watch a number of the episodes of the TV show as a kid and
saw the movies on VHS tape. I know that this entry gets mixed reviews
even from fans, but I do not recall ever having any issue with it,
despite the fact that the VHS version was 143 minutes long, i.e.
pretty damn long.
As
for the plot, you probably know it by now; this is the one with V'Ger
and the lady officer who is bald. Let's be honest, those are the most
famous aspects of the story, dealing with the old crew getting back
together on a newly fitted Enterprise (along with some new people) in
order to try and intercept a massive cloud of energy that is
unstoppable and heading straight towards Earth. You find out that the
entity is known as V'Ger and what is ends up being... sure, it is
wacky but this is a story that tries in several different ways to be
2001: A Space Odyssey.
I
must have seen this Director's Edition in college but that was more
than 10 years ago. Seeing it tonight, I still enjoy the movie despite
it not being like the TV show or the other movies in the series.
Things are slower and more cereberal and heady. With all the fancy
images that you get from the wormhole sequence and especially when
they go in the cloud of energy, it definitely was inspired (or ripped
off from) 2001. But hey, I still enjoy it and its heady concepts as
it's all interesting to me, what it means to be human and if there's
more out there. It makes you think and I am fine with that.
Also,
the performances are all at least fine and the special effects still
look nice in 2013, although admittedly the Director's Edition had
various changes, including cleaning up various special effects shots.
This is the best version of the director's vision as the movie was
rushed to be released on time. If nothing else, this allowed the rest
of the movies in the series to be made, when they were going to bring
it back as a TV show, then Star Wars and Close Encounters were huge
hits and Paramount followed the money. The score from stalwart Jerry
Goldsmith was also pretty grand, which helps. Also, I imagine that if
you smoke a lot of weed or take some acid then watch the movie, your
mind will be blown away by the trippy visuals and wacky sound
effects!
I
understand why people wouldn't care for this sort of film but me, I
am fine with it. I'll be back tomorrow night.
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