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Star Trek The Motion Picture
Rating: 
Series: The Original Series #2
Published: December, 1979
Author: Gene Roddenberry
Review by: Cmdr. Kali D'or |
Well, when you think things can't be any worse than a movie, read this one. Its pretty bad.
If you are really a fan of Star Trek, you probably did see the movie that was released after the end of the series. It told the story of Kirk taking back the captaincy of the Enterprise by means that weren't exactly "kosher" and then taking off one more time to save the galaxy. Of course, he left a few casualties in his wake, including Will Decker, the man he personally selected to take over the re-fit of the Enterprise following the end of her 5 year mission. And the Deltan navigator, Ilia, Decker's love interest from a previous posting.
Along the way, Spock shows up to save the ship, one more time. but his attitude needs serious adjusting. He has failed in completing the Kolinahr, the total expulsion of emotion from his psyche. It didn't work. And even for Spock, he's cranky. McCoy is his usual irrascible self, Chekov has been promoted and takes over the tactical and weapons station; Uhura is still at Comm and thankfully, Sulu is still in the driver's seat. Because Kirk has no clue how this new Enterprise works.
Seems there is some sort of energy cloud that is heading for earth, and destroying everything in its path on the way. Of course, Kirk and the Enterprise is the last line of defense before the cloud engulfs the planet.
Nothing new here. the only thing the book does is spare us some really bad acting. We do loose the special effects that were built to protray V'ger, the lost Voyager space probe sent out 200 years ago by NASA, but the rest of the story really stays the same. There is a little more interaction between Kirk and Admiral Nogura, and he experiences a personal loss of a friend that is unexpected. But it certainly does not stop Jim Kirk in his tracks. As usual, he does press on, regardless.
I thot the movie was kinda lame, and the book was just as silly. There was a little of the back and forth dialog between McCoy and Spock, but this time, it wasn't really funny. And Kirk and his constant second guessing and internal conflict was, I thought, pretty much done because it was expected of him. He was gonna get the damn ship back and the heck with anyone in his way.
And he did, and they paid. Just because he manages to figure it out (with Spock's help of course - what would he ever do without the Vulcan sidekick is beyond me) and save everyone one more time, I found that this time out, his highhandedness was just a bit much to take.
Just because this was written by Gene Roddenberry doesn't mean it was good.
Title: Star Trek The Motion Picture
Author: Gene Roddenberry
Review by: Cmdr. Kali D'or
