Posted on February 3rd, 2009 by Samuel Walters
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the final voyage of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise. That isn’t to say that the characters didn’t reappear again in other films or episodes of Trek. But this was the last time they were on a mission together. As such, the movie holds a great deal of nostalgia – for fans and actors alike. And in many respects, it is a worthy, proper sendoff for such an iconic cast, crew, and series. After three seasons of television and six films, this is quite literally the end. And the movie is quite self-aware of this fact, making the theme of the future, the “Undiscovered Country” central to the story, the characters, and the audience. Put simply, everyone is aware that they are passing on the torch and they strive to do so with dignity, grace, and a lot of adventure. That the movie isn’t especially very good hardly matters in light of how important it is in the vast canon of Star Trek.
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Posted on January 27th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is almost unanimously labeled as the very worst Star Trek film ever produced. And, truth be told, it’s almost impossible to dispute such an assessment. It really is a disjointed, awkward, clumsy, campy affair that barely manages to accomplish anything. The film is, simply, mismanaged. But I will say this, I disagree that The Final Frontier is far and away the worst film of the franchise. Put alongside Nemesis, the two films are roughly comparable in their overall failures (and minor successes). The details of the failures and (minor) successes are, of course, slightly different. But the bottom line is that this film is no worse an overall experience than Nemesis.
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Posted on January 24th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is quite a departure for the franchise. Without question, it features a relatively lightweight story, plenty of action, and takes place almost entirely away from the Enterprise. The acting and dialogue can sometimes be a bit hokey. Plus, the film drags just a little too much through its middle scenes. The environmentalist message doesn’t wear particularly well. And yet the film remains one of the most entertaining in the entire franchise. Rightfully so. There’s a spirited aura to the film that is simply unquantifiable. The result is a flawed, but classic movie.
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Posted on January 21st, 2009 by Samuel Walters
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock is the inevitable continuation of the events that ended in the previous movie. But whereas The Wrath of Khan was movie that was nearly flawless, that was accessible to just about any moviegoer, The Search For Spock not only relies heavily on the previous movie, but also on the assumption that viewers are heavily invested in the characters. More critically, the movie is uneven and unfocused, suffering from some typical Hollywood sequel cliché. That isn’t to say that this is a terrible movie. There are in fact a number of iconic moments. But for the most part, it’s a significant step down from its predecessor.
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Posted on January 20th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a fantastic film. It is quite rightly lauded as the finest Star Trek film to date. From start to finish it enfolds at a vigorous pace, is filled with excellent character development and exploration, touches on a number of profound themes, features an iconic villain, and contains incredibly riveting action sequences. The best news of all is that you don’t even have to be a Star Trek fan to enjoy and appreciate this film. It easily transcends not only the franchise, but the genre as well. But if you do happen to be a Trekkie, this is the movie that you had been waiting for – a true continuation of the mission to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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Posted on January 15th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is Star Trek’s version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. From start to finish you can see the influence of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke – from the design, to the pacing, to the visuals, to the final transcendent scenes. And with this film being the highly anticipated reunion of one of the most beloved casts in television history, it would seem to be a good formula for success. Unfortunately, the surface level story is almost entirely ripped from a previous Trek episode – the glacially paced “The Changeling.” What really proves to be a drag on this particular movie is not only its equally monotonous pace, but its inability to morph Star Trek into a kind of science fiction that is, tonally, quite different. The result is a film which is beautiful from a visual and thematic standpoint, but so plodding and obscure from a narrative standpoint that it ends up being, overall, a below average movie.
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Posted on January 10th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“The Cage” is the original pilot episode of the Star Trek series. For years it went unseen in its entirety and fans had to rely on the subsequent episodes, “Menagerie, Parts I & II” in order to see what all the fuss was about. But accompanying the Season 3 DVD release of the Original Series, the pilot episode has been restored, in its entirety, for fans to enjoy at their leisure. Indeed, there much here to enjoy – the story itself is worthy of merit and holds up remarkably well, even considering its age and the fact that its characters are so unfamiliar to Trek. To that end, it’s worth taking a peek at this episode, not just for the nostalgia and posterity factors, but also because it’s central themes and message are quite compelling.
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Posted on January 7th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
What an awkwardly appropriate way to end a series. “Turnabout Intruder” is, on its surface, a terribly sexist and derogatory episode. Indeed, the surface level story is enough to draw a significant amount of ridicule – and justifiably so. But lurking just below the surface is a story that successfully draws upon the history and camaraderie of the crew to solve what might be the most dire crisis to face the Enterprise. In the end, it is the crew’s love of, loyalty to, and friendship toward, the captain that pulls the ship out of a seemingly no win situation.
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Posted on January 5th, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“All Our Yesterdays” is a bittersweet episode which explores, in some measure, the legacy of civilization. It is, therefore, with a bit of irony that it provides, in some measure, a kind of legacy for the Star Trek franchise. There’s quite a bit that this episode gets right, particularly with respect to the character explorations. But there are just a bit too many questionable decisions to turn this classic into a truly exceptional hour of television.
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Posted on January 3rd, 2009 by Samuel Walters
“The Savage Curtain” is a bit like Star Trek’s version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And the results are the same. Using historical figures and making them into “action heroes” is just plain silly and laughable. There’s a not-so-subtle subtext of good vs. evil in this episode, with a more obscure reference to the price of war. But considering our entry point into all of this is the sudden appearance of one Abraham Lincoln, it’s almost impossible to take the episode, the story, and the message seriously. And that doesn’t even begin to factor in the mistakes that the episode makes after the introduction of Lincoln.
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