Title: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Year Released/Rating: 1979 PG

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Directed By: Robert Wise

Written By: Gene Roddenberry, Alan Dean Foster, Harold Livingston

Genre: Science Fiction

Star Rating:  5/5 stars

Where I Got It: We own it; rewatch

Trivia:

• The V'ger prop was so large and involved so much work that one end of it was being used in scenes while the other end was still being built.
• The voice of actress Majel Barrett, who plays Dr. Christine Chapel (as well as other roles including Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation) and was Gene Roddenberry's wife, was used for Star Fleet computers such as that of the Enterprise throughout the "Star Trek" franchise, from the original Star Trek series through to the Star Trek re-imagining. Her voice in this picture is very recognizable though she does not have a lot of lines.
• This film marked the first appearance of the ridged-forehead Klingons. In the original Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry wanted the Klingons to look alien, but budget constraints prevented this from being done beyond giving the actors dark mark-up and fake eyebrows. The change in the Klingons' appearance was partially addressed in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations, establishing the existence of smooth-forehead Klingons. However, ridged-forehead Klingons appeared in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise prompting a satisfactory explanation to the brief existence of smooth-forehead Klingons. The episodes Star Trek: Enterprise: Affliction and Star Trek: Enterprise: Divergence showed their existence resulted from a viral mutation caused by Klingon experimentation with enhanced human DNA. 
• The Klingon words spoken by the Klingon ship's captain were actually invented by actorJames Doohan (Commander Scott). Later, linguist Marc Okrand devised grammar and syntax rules for the language, along with more vocabulary words in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and wrote a Klingon dictionary. He based all his work on those few Klingon lines in this movie, so that they even made sense retrospectively. 
• Orson Welles narrated trailers for the film. 
• The uniforms that appear in this movie never again appear in any other Star Trek episode or movie. What appears to be a buckle on the uniform was intended to be a device that relays medical readings to the medical bay computer. The cast hated the uniforms, which required assistance in order to be removed. In fact, one of the cast's conditions for returning in a sequel was to have new uniforms. 
• The line spoken by Commander Spock: "Any show of resistance would be futile, Captain." is a precursor to the repeated line used by another logically-driven race, the Borg Collective who first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

Summary: When a destructive space entity is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral Kirk resumes command of the Starship Enterprise in order to intercept, examine and hopefully stop it.

Review: 

I view this movie as a long television episode.  Sure, the pacing is very slow compared to modern movies, but look at the the original television shows.  We get a slow build focusing on the reunion of characters.  Then we get bits and pieces of the mystery, but we only know as much as the characters on the Enterprise.  This is a trademark of the television series. I really do enjoy this movie, I just have to remind myself of when it was made.  I'm so used to the slick modern action films that this one seems dull in comparison.  But this movie has the advantage of great characters and an intriguing storyline.  Very compelling!

Best Bits: 

• Captain James T. Kirk: Evaluation, Mr. Spock.  Commander Spock: Fascinating.
• Captain James T. Kirk: Well, for a man who swore he'd never return to the Starfleet...   Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: Just a moment, Captain, sir. I'll explain what happened. Your revered Admiral Nogura invoked a little-known, seldom-used "reserve activation clause." In simpler language, Captain, they DRAFTED me!   Captain James T. Kirk: [In mock horror] They didn't.  Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: This was your idea. This was your idea, wasn't it?  Captain James T. Kirk: Bones, there's a... thing... out there.  Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: Why is any object we don't understand always called "a thing"?
• Captain James T. Kirk: Well, Bones. Do the new medical facilities meet with your approval? Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: They do not. It's like working in a damn computer center.
• [last lines]  Chief DiFalco: Heading, sir?  Captain James T. Kirk: Out there... thataway.
• Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: [Walking up to Spock] So help me, I'm actually pleased to see you!
• Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: Spock, you haven't changed a bit. You're just as warm and sociable as ever.  Commander Spock: Nor have you, doctor, as your continued predilection for irrelevancy demonstrates.
• Commander Spock: Any show of resistance would be futile, Captain.