MotW: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

"Finally after having The Original Series and The Animated Series, I will begin watching the Star Trek movies. Over watching this franchise, it has become clear to me that Star Trek really is something inherently unique and it is with no doubt in my mind, one of the best shows ever made. I wonder what it must have been like as a fan of the show back in the 60's and 70's when the show was cancelled and then, a decade later, they announce a movie on the backbone of the titanic success of Star Wars. Star Trek and Star Wars are two entirely different franchises, but due to their similar names and settings, these two get lumped together and compared. It is unfortunate, because this first Star Trek movie really suffered from that. Instead of giving us something truly Star Trek, the film tries to emulate some of the things that made Star Wars so successful. There is such an emphasis on special effects. Nearly every scene includes a bluescreen of some sort. The scenes that use models look extraordinary even today, however, there are some scenes where people are super-imposed onto the screen, and it looks kind of shit and wildly outdated. The score however, is perfection. It was the best follow up the original theme anyone could ever dream of. It was really fun to see the Enterprise crew get back to the ship after such a long hiatus. Kirk, Scotty and Bones are wonderful, however, I do not feel like Spock is Spock in this movie. It is as if he has lost all of his humanity and is now completely Vulcan. Something that also has to be said; the uniforms, my fuck do they look fucking awful. Bland and drab colors. What the hell happened in the costume department. Where are all of the fun colors? The mystery surrounding V'ger is pretty fun and it is one of the coolest aliens in the Star Trek universe this far into the franchise, and the reveal was quite clever. The main problem with this movie though, is the sluggish pace. I think there was a time and place for a slow introduction, however, the entire film follows this snail pace, and it is a huge problem, so much so that William Shatner thought the film had killed its opportunity to come back. There is a lot of moments in this movie that are wonderful, however, as a cohesive experience, it fails to capture what the first Star Trek movie should have been. Instead of making a Star Trek movie fans would celebrate, they tried to make a movie the general audience would have liked and pleased no one." 3/5

Here's a link to the slapping theme song as well.