My Review of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"

Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out back in 1979. With that you have to give this movie some context before watching it. Now I haven't been a fan of Star Trek until later on in my life. Back when I first saw this movie I didn't know too much about Star Trek but I knew I didn't like this movie. After watching it this time around I realized that there was a reason I didn't like it back in the day but my opinion has changed on this movie.

So this movie starts off quite odd. It's a black screen with music playing for a few minutes. I don't quite know what that's all about but I'm not familiar with Star Trek the original TV series so maybe it's flown over my head. Also they didn't get into introductions into telling us who the main characters were.

Mind you this was a popular show back in the day and I think the filmmakers assumed people that were watching it already knew who Captain Kirk and Spock were. I didn't have any context into what was going on. Kirk is an admiral and wants to take over the Starship Enterprise (a ship he used to captain back in the TV show days). Spock is this half human half Vulcan character that is on his quest to live his life based on complete logic and shun his emotional side of himself.

The whole cast and crew of the original TV show come together when Earth is threatened by this mysterious entity that is navigating straight for it. Other alien races have encountered this weird entity only to get obliterated by the mysterious entity. So you can see why they're really concerned about our home planet.

A lot of the movie is actually spent on the visuals of how vast space is and the enormity of the Starship Enterprise. I don't think they've ever had the budget and the means to show this off in the original TV show. So having this movie is to show the moviegoers how amazing and shocking it was. Again this was in 1979 so the special effects compared to today's standards isn't quite the best but I can imagine a lot of people would have been in awe. It's kind of weird to see all of their faces constantly fixated in shock at the magnitude of their own ship when they've been on the ship for years. I guess it's the viewer's first time seeing it in this perspective so we see ourselves in them.

My younger self probably didn't appreciate the visual and auditory wonder that they were trying to emanate in this movie. It was quite an older movie so the pacing of the movie was a little different. Now I can finally see what they were doing.

They also added a lot of philosophical discussions throughout the movie. Although the vastness of space and exploration is great what if we were able to absorb all its knowledge? What then do we do with this information? Is there anything for us beyond information? This movie dives into the importance of relationships and bonds. Logical beings don't quite understand emotion and the fact that emotion drives living things to do unimaginable things. It asks us to look into ourselves to understand how great we are despite our imperfections. Nothing is perfect and that's what's amazing in this crazy universe.

Overall, I got more out of this movie but only now after so many years later. I didn't like this movie at all when I first saw it many years back. I didn't understand it and to a certain extent you need context to truly understand this movie. You have to know who these characters are and you also have to understand the time this movie was made. It will help you appreciate this movie a lot more. As of now I had a much better time with it knowing what I know now. That's why I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. I don't know if I can go back to rewatch this movie over and over again but I do have an appreciation for it.