Star Trek I: The Motion Picture

In the age where Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrik were making slow moving, artful movies, the stories of Star Trek tried to find a place in the theatre. The crew of the Enterprise are neither artful, nor slow moving... which created a rather confusing and boring movie. On it's own this movie would be considered a B-movie at best. Fortunately Star Trek had a fan base that would watch paint dry... that is if the paint spelled "Star Trek". This movie attempted to appease a niche market of the late 70's crowd, while at the same time tried to fulfill the fantasies of faithful Trekkers. It failed to do either very well, much like the present day J.J. Abrams movies tries to appease the lens-flare, shoot-em-up, action adventure seekers of the 2010's. Any director that strays too far from the original storytelling techniques of Star Trek does a disservice to the audience. With that said, this movie could be one hour shorter in length and still tell a compelling story. Try not to fall asleep.

I remember sitting in the theater on the first day full of anticipation as it had been a long time since the series ended and I was ready for some more trek. The lines were unbelievable but it was great fun waiting in line and experiencing the spectacle. Since that day , we've seen Trek displayed in endless ways, some for the better and some not so memorable. This movie was not very good but at the time it was hard to see it for what it was due to the intense desire for Star Trek return.Just try to understand that for those of us that loved Trek and missed it represented a long awaited next step (and maybe the last ) and it bridged a gap. Now as much time has gone by I find I have passed through the mindless adulation stage followed by the realization that it was very flawed until now where want to see it again. I can't explain it and I'll probably regret spending the money (if I can't find it for free in it's uncut form). But, I will have to watch it again

This original version does disservice to Star Trek, the cast, and Robert Wise...this due to the greedy studio rushing the film into release...sad. But, lo, Google just released the Director's (aka special edition) version which was Wise's true vision for this film. That version i call a cinematic masterpiece and gave it 5 stars.