"Lack of character development my ass!"
- Rob Ager
I admit it - I am a sci-fi geek. Perhaps not as much as I used to be when I was a kid but I still really enjoy mind-bending, thought-provoking sci-fi films when they are occasionally made. There are several sci-fi movies that I keep returning to again and again as I get older. There are others that, while I found them fun and supremely entertaining when I was nine or ten years old, haven't seemed to have aged all that well. I guess that my tastes have changed quite a bit as I have matured and gained a great deal more life experience.
One of the films that I keep coming back to again and again without ever really getting tired of it is Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I remember seeing this film at the old Met Theatre (a beautiful, classic grand cinema that is no more) in Regina in December 1979 when it was originally released. My older brother (who was and still is a sci-fi fan) who I really looked up to when I was six years old took me to see the movie. I had seen Star Trek episodes on TV as a little kid but I didn't really get what it was all about. This movie though had something special about it - something deeper, subconscious, and quite unsettling (especially for a six year-old!). There is only one other movie with which I have had a similar gut reaction and I will post about it sometime soon.
"The concepts are grand and imposing. The film plays on our fear of the unknown and our fear of the universe as an imposing place in which man is just an insignificant biological accident. So, I actually consider Star Trek: The Motion Picture to be almost a technological horror film."
- Rob Ager
Over the years I have read and listened to lots of criticisms of this movie and how it is so terrible - poorly paced, bad script, no space battles, too cerebral, etc. Yet, I find that all of these characteristics of the film that most put forward as criticisms are precisely the things that I love about it. I also love the special effects which, even forty years later, mostly look fantastic.
Rob Ager from Collative Learning recently did a video review of the movie. I have watched his review of what he refers to as a "criminally underrated movie" several times and I must say that I have never come across a more detailed and thoughtful examination of the film. Rob has put into words what I have been feeling about this film and trying to figure out since 1979.
If you are also a fan of this film and want to hear an excellent analysis of it, watch Rob's video. I also greatly appreciated many of the comments that other people who love this film have left for Rob. I'm really happy to find out that I'm not alone!
"There are some themes of Star Trek: The Motion Picture that are more subliminal and not stated"
- Rob Ager
STMP affected me very deeply on a psychological level. I have to totally agree with Rob's analysis that, when compared to 2001: A Space Odyssey, STMP uses characterization to more explicitly explain plot points, yet there is still a lot more going on under the surface throughout the film. I think this is why I actually used to find this film kind of scary and unnerving when I was a kid. To be honest, there are aspects of this film that I still find unnerving.
"I was seven or eight years old when my father rented a VHS copy of it. He was really into the film but I didn't have a clue what was going on and I found it kind of scary - the V'ger spaceship was terrifying. I didn't see the film again until I was fourteen years old and, this time, my mind was blown."
- Rob Ager
In his review, Rob states that he still enjoys watching the film even now that he is into his forties. I have to agree - with time and age, I have also been able to get more and more out of this film every time I watch it. There are indeed deep philosophical underpinnings in this film about the universe, technology, and evolution. I guess that these types of themes aren't for everyone - or perhaps even most people.
"It amazes me that any adult could sit down and watch this film and not have that kind of response, but a lot of people clearly don't."
- Rob Ager
So, I love this film. I agree with Rob that it is one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time and is definitely one of the best (if not the best) of all of the Star Trek films (many of which became way too formulaic, silly, and cheaply produced in later years). This film is a work of art and has sometimes been described as a cinematic "tone poem" (especially when you add in the stellar masterwork soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith).
One final thing - the new-look Klingons and their guttural language absolutely freaked me out as a little kid and still do to some degree. Ahh, the psychological impact of this film on me - continues to this very day...
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