Topic: Weekend Movie Marathon: The Final Frontier

[addicted2dvd]

Weekend Movie Marathon

The Final Frontier

I have always been a fan of the Star Trek franchise. Even though I only ever seen a small portion of the franchise. Including the films. I have never seen the first 3 movies... and I am unsure about movies 5 & 6. I only seen probably half of the original series... about 3 seasons of TNG... and all of Enterprise when it comes to the series. I would buy everything Star Trek if it wasn't for the price still being too expensive. Luckily a friend gave me the entire original series. Plus all 10 of the original movies (I already have the reboot movie from last year).

Since I haven't seen many of the movies... I decided to make this my movie marathon for this weekend. I plan on watching all 11 movies. I normally don't get that many movies in on a weekend. So I may be starting this weekend's movies on Thursday instead of the normal Friday. So this weekend I am planning on watching...

Movie List:
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Star Trek: Generations
- Star Trek: First Contact
- Star Trek: Insurrection
- Star Trek: Nemesis
- Star Trek (2009)

[Najemikon]

I haven't seen the Star Trek pilot, but doesn't it apparently link in quite neatly with the new film (11)? It would be interesting to see, Pete, considering how you've seen it just recently.

[addicted2dvd]

I don't remember too much about the storyline of the new movie. But I will keep that in mind when I watch it!

[Achim]

There is another episode where they reference The Cage.

(click to show/hide)

Even more, Kirk and Spock land somewhere on a planet and meet the wheel-chaired Captain Pike.

But maybe someone mentioned that before without me realising it...?

[Tom]

But maybe someone mentioned that before without me realising it...?

Karsten already mentioned the two-parter "The Menagerie". In those episodes they "recycled" the original pilot.

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Director's Edition
Year: 1979
Director: Robert Wise
Rating: PG
Length: 136 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Commentary

Stars:
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
James Doohan
George Takei
Majel Barrett

Plot:
The U.S.S. Enterprise™ proudly soars again in this new, beautifully restored Director's Edition of the original Star Trek™ movie classic. This new Director's Cut features enhanced visual effects and a new sound mix, supervised by legendary director Robert Wise. When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise™ to take command. Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and the cast from the acclaimed original Star Trek™ television series mobilize at warp speed to stop the alien intruder from its relentless flight toward Earth.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Closed Captioned
Text Commentary

My Thoughts:
What to say about this movie. It is the first time I ever seen it. And it is a good movie... I did enjoy it. But I think I was expecting a little more from it. I could be wrong here... but I think the story they told could have been condensed a little as well. I caught myself looking at the clock more then once while watching it. I did however like seeing the crew get back together after several years apart. Other then what I stated I did enjoy watching this movie... and I am thrilled I finally have it in my collection.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Year: 1982
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Rating: PG
Length: 113 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English

Stars:
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
James Doohan
Walter Koenig
George Takei

Plot:
It is the 23rd century. The Federation starship U.S.S. Enterprise™ is on routine training maneuvers, and Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) seems resigned to the fact that this inspection may well be the last space mission of his career. But Khan is back. Aided by his exiled band of genetic supermen, Khan (Ricardo Montalban)–brilliant renegade of 20th century Earth–has raided Space Station Regula One, stolen a top secret device called Project Genesis, wrested control of another Federation starship, and now schemes to set a most deadly trap for his old enemy Kirk...with the threat of a universal Armageddon! Co-starring Kirstie Alley (Cheers™) in her stunning motion picture debut.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
The first thing I will say is that I am glad I watched the episode Space Seed before watching this movie. While I agree it isn't absolutely necessary... I did like having the back info from the episode before watching this one. And this one I enjoyed immensely. This is more like I was expecting from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A great story... stunning visuals... and having the characters all back again. I also really liked the addition of Kristie Alley as Saavik. I didn't realize until today that Kristie Alley ever had a role in a Star Trek movie... or that it was her first movie role. Since I never seen the first 3 movies before today... the ending came as a surprise to me as well.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[hal9g]

Glad you liked this one, Pete.   

I consider this to be the best of the lot.

[addicted2dvd]

Yeah... I do believe that one would be hard to top. Though I do remember I liked Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But liking it is pretty much all I remember about it.

[hal9g]

The Voyage Home rates as #2 for me.  The humor gave it a very different feel from all other Trek movies.

[Antares]

Title: Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Director's Edition

Basically, this first film was a rehash of an episode from TOS which had been tinkered a bit, to encompass the Voyager satellite missions of the 70's & 80's. The episode its screenplay was based upon was called The Changeling, which you will see when you get to season 2 of your Trek episode marathon. In the original episode, the V'ger was actually called Nomad, and did not take human form. Great episode from season 2.

[Antares]

Title: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Did you catch the many correlations between story premise in this film and Melville's Moby Dick? If you look at the beginning of the film, when Chekov and Terrell beam down to the planet and they come upon the Botany Bay spaceship, the camera pans across the interior and books are seen on a shelf. The camera stops for a fleeting second on Moby Dick.

Also, towards the end of the film, when Khan engages the Genesis device, he recites Ahab's damning soliloquy as he harpoons the white whale.

One of the best sequels ever.

[addicted2dvd]

Afraid that was lost on me since I never read Moby Dick... and I never seen any movie made from it. 

[Najemikon]

Wrath of Khan is seriously awesome. 

I don't know Moby Dick well, but I knew it well enough to appreciate its links here and really does add a wonderful dimension to it. In fact I never thought of this before in relation to Star Trek...

I've always had this theory that the first film of a franchise is not a franchise, so it has to be a proper self-contained film. Star Wars is not "a Star Wars film", it's a metaphorical fantasy set in space and based on The Hidden Fortress. I think the big mistake made with Star Trek The Motion Picture is that it feels like "a Star Trek film", merely an extended episode. Wrath of Khan is truly one of the best sequels ever because they went back to the drawing board and used the classic novel as frame of reference, recognising they needed to treat it fresh to grab a new audience properly.

One thing I have always loved about the films is the idea of the ships moving against each other as they would in a naval battle. I never thought of that being in the series, but here it was explicit.

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Year: 1984
Director: Leonard Nimoy
Rating: PG
Length: 105 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English

Stars:
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
James Doohan
Walter Koenig
George Takei

Plot:
Admiral Kirk's defeat of Khan and the creation of the Genesis planet are empty victories. Spock is dead and McCoy is inexplicably being driven insane. Then a surprise visit from Sarek, Spock's father, provides a startling revelation: McCoy is harboring Spock's living essence. With one friend alive and one not, but both in pain, Kirk attempts to help his friends by stealing the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE™ and defying Starfleet's Genesis planet quarantine. But the Klingons have also learned of Genesis and race to meet Kirk in a deadly rendezvous.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
I went in not expecting much from this one... as I was told the odd numbers were not as good as the even number movies. Maybe not expecting much helped... but I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was a good continuation of The Wrath of Khan.  One thing I was sorry to see was the replacement of Kristie Alley as Saavik. At least they didn't replace the actress again for The Voyage Home. I did find it a little weird that Christopher Lloyd played a Klingon in this movie. Not that he wasn't fine in it... it was just strange to hear his familiar voice for a Klingon.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5