Project Enterprise: The mission begins

And so it begins. My mission: to watch all of the Star Trek movies, in order. Most I have not seen since I saw them in the movie theater. One of them I have seen so many times, I have lost track. You know which one that is. I already know it's the best of the lot. But there's no getting around it. I have to start with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A movie I have never heard anyone defend as underrated. [Editorial update: I re-ordered these posts so you can scroll down to read them in order, rather than having to go backwards. Yes, that's right I messed with the space-time continuum. Also, if you're wondering what this little project is doing on a blog that is supposed to be about books, all I can say is that 1) while I watched a good bit of the original Star Trek in re-runs in the 1970s, I mostly remember specific plots from these paperbacks we had that had different episodes as short stories and 2) it's my goddamned blog and I'm going to do what I want with it.]

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Well, now I know why I've never felt the need to go back and watch this one again. That was two hours and nine minutes that only felt like three and a half hours. I'm glad, for the whole Star Trek universe, that Star Wars gave everyone involved enough confidence to revive the franchise. But man what a dog. A slooooooooow dog. The lesson they seem to have absorbed from the success of Star Wars was that people really, really want long tracking shots of ships in space. This was not the right lesson.

Overall: C -

Plot: B  This had potential -- the whole Voyager thing is actually kind of cool, when you think about it. They just took way too long to have us think about it, then wrapped it up in a nonsensical three minutes.

Costumes: D Honestly, most of the crew, and especially Kirk in the shortsleeved white jumpsuit, look like dental hygienests heading for a swingers convention, circa 1979. They can't help the 1979 part, I know. But the rest of the aesthetic is just silly. What are those belt buckles in the front for anyway?

New cast members: B+ I had a big crush on Stephen Collins when he was in Tales of the Gold Monkey, which was an Indiana Jones-ripoff TV series that came on a couple years after this movie. I guess I'm glad he was able to recover from this and have a career. I liked Ilia OK -- I remember when the movie came out that her shaving her head was a BIG DEAL. Because she was Indian? I can't remember. And I just looked up on IMDB and saw that she died  in 1998, of a heart attack, which is a real shame. I don't think she had much of a chance to act here but she was very expressive with her eyes, especially when she had to deal with that pulsing thing in her throat.

F/X: B-Technically they were OK though the rainbow strips when they went to warp were kind of odd and the wormhole effects were just silly. The grade would be higher if they hadn't been so in love with the effects and just made the whole movie about 60 percent longer than it needed to be.

Series by rank: 1 for now, but that's only until I watch more. I'm sure it will end up somewhere near the bottom.

Project Enterprise: The second. The greatest. The Wrath of Khan.

 2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) I love this movie just as much as I did the first time I saw it at the Hampshire Mall. I must have seen it at least five times in the theater, and that wasn't so easy for me, living out in the country. Why did I love it so? I was just the right age, I guess -- it was during that period of Star Wars/Raiders movies that hit the early adolescent geek sweet spot. And it touched on all the great things about the Star Trek world while minimizing the cheesy/embarrassing aspects. So there. I don't think they'll ever top this one, though I hope J.J. Abrams will keep trying.

Overall: A

Plot: A Whoever came up with the idea of a follow-up on the original series episode "Space Seed" was a genius. A GENIUS. Everyone rose to the occasion, most especially Ricardo Montalban. An incredible recovery from the bore-fest of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Costumes: B+ Another good recovery, though there is no getting around the cheesiness of uniform jumpsuits (like that worn by young David Marcus) and McCoy's jumpsuit-with-chaps-for-pants in an early scene is still haunting me. The grade really should be higher, though, to reflect the awesomeness of the garb put together by Khan and his klan in very challenging conditions. I especially like what they do with the appropriated Starfleet-wear. The sets are also greatly improved.

New cast members: B Saavik is awesome. Perhaps Kirstie Alley's greatest role, though it didn't allow for her comic chops. Carol Marcus is fine, and David Marcus is OK. (My husband noted that he was "that kid from Square Pegs" but since I was a deprived adolescent who didn't have cable and had a lot of homework and chores that seriously limited my TV viewing time in the '80s, I never saw that show. I never saw 21 Jump Street, either. OK????) Khan's son I find alternately fascinating and totally miscast -- like he really belongs in a video for a middling metal band.

F/X: A- Another stellar recovery -- they backed off on the overly long tracking shots of spaceships and concentrated on stuff that moves the story along. Not quite the right category but the score is great, too -- evidently the work of a young James Horner, which I had never noticed before.

Series rank: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. The Motion Picture

Project Enterprise: It's all about Spock

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) It's funny how different your memory of a movie is when you see it once, almost 30 years ago. My memory of this movie is that it's a lot about Spock's re-education, with an extended adolescence. That's not in the movie at all. Where did I come up with that? All I can say is, at least this one was short. I was even awake all the way through.

Overall: C They had to do it after the end of Wrath of Khan. Star Trek needs Spock. But other than that, there is no reason for this movie.

Plot: C The actual execution was surprisingly uncompelling, given the events (Kirk's son is killed! They destroy the Enterprise!)

Costumes: C+ And … it's back to cheesy town. First Kirk wears a tracksuit. Then he's got this ruffled shirt that, when he takes off his tunic, makes him look like a pirate. A cheesy pirate. And the Vulcan costumes are so insanely ridiculous that it's tempting to give them some points since it's so diametrically opposed to the dignified Vulcan character. But I can't do it.

New Cast Members: C- The new Saavik -- she's no Kirstie Alley. I feel like Kirstie Alley would have found a way to save David Marcus. And Christopher Lloyd is a brilliant actor in many ways, but he just doesn't have the gravitas to be a Klingon, much less a Klingon commander.

F/X: B- Like so much else in this movie they were just OK or as they say in the NYT Magazine, meh.

Series ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. Search for Spock 3. Motion Picture

Project Enterprise: God!

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) I had mercifully retained no memory of this movie, other than that it was probably time for these guys to hang it up. After all, at this point The Next Generation had been on TV for two years. Get it? NEXT GENERATION? Nevertheless they made this movie. And Shatner's one of three guys credited with the story. Ruh-roh. The whole scene at the campfire at the beginning was excruciating.

Overall: D+ This is harsher than I expected, but truly they seem to have indulged all the worst tendencies about the series and it's becoming all about Kirk's mortality. Yuck.

Plot: C- The idea of Spock's heretofore-unknown older brother being a messiah figure who's going to lead everyone else to God had some promise -- but just serves as an opening to a bunch of mawkish scenes (though I did appreciate Kirk proclaiming "I need my pain!").

Costumes: D- Two steps back. Now Kirk's red tunic is some kind of velour-y plush material, unlike everyone else who's still stuck with the polyester. At least he ditched the pleated shirt. And McCoy's jaunty scarf -- which he wears while out camping??? -- is just ... no.

New cast members: B- Sybok was actually pretty good. Nothing like an extroverted messianic Vulcan. And he gets serious points for his IMDB listing, which shows he played four different characters on Murder She Wrote. Which, I know, has nothing to do with Star Trek. But is still awesome.

F/X: D+ For some reason, the effects suddenly look like they're from a 1960s TV show. Those had their charm when they were on a 1960s TV show. And the Wizard of Oz stuff for God? That had its charm when it was in a 1936 movie.

Series ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. The Voyage Home. 3. The Search for Spock. 4. The Motion Picture 5. The Final Frontier.

Project Enterprise: The next generation. Sort of.

7. Star Trek: Generations (1994) Finally -- I feel like I've broken out of some kind of tractor beam … OK, not quite. Kirk is still … hanging … around. But at least we're relieved by the crew from The Next Generation. It's both good to see them as new faces, and good to see them again. And Scotty did utter the phrase "space time continuum," even though he was only in the movie for about 15 minutes.

Overall: B- Not a great movie in and of itself. A transition movie. Kind of like Search for Spock, but a little better.

Plot: C I really didn't get what the ribbon/nexus thing was or how it worked. Picard seemed to jump in and out of it at will. And how handy that Whoopi Goldberg was there to explain it all to him!

Costumes: B- TNG folks were in their standard polyester jumpsuits. I was never really a fan but they were better than the old jumpsuits. They managed to get the Klingon thing down during the making of TNG, though -- maybe all those hours doing Worf.

New cast members: A- Malcolm MacDowell. That's really all you need to say, right? Whoopi Goldberg doesn't really count since she was a regular on TNG. The only drawback to MacDowell is that he and Patrick Stewart outclass Shatner to a near-embarrassing degree. But Shatner's really beyond embarrassment, isn't he? And casting Cameron from Ferris Bueller as the new Enterprise captain at the beginning was a little obvious. We just knew things weren't going to go well.

F/X: B+ The crash of the Enterprise saucer section goes on a little too long but it is impressive. And in an earlier battle with the Klingons, there's an especially impressive slo-mo of bodies flying around the bridge -- several steps beyond the old everyone-falls-to-the-right battles on the bridge.

Series Ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. The Voyage Home 3. Generations 4. The Undiscovered Country 5. The Search for Spock 6. The Motion Picture 7. The Final Frontier