Review of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) by Dwayne B — 09 Sep 2012

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a huge, epic space drama that almost works... but just misses the mark on a few levels. This was supposed to compete with Star Wars, but it moves too slow to hold up to that film.

It is great to see the original cast back together and the new Enterprise is a fantastic design. In fact, all the models in the film are amazing, but they are let down by substandard special effects (again, especially after Star Wars). The matting of the various models and opticals is horrendous, huge black lines around everything.

The story would have worked as an episode, maybe a 2 parter, but on this scale, its just too overblown.

So, if you are a Star Trek fan, it is a must as the first in the series of films, but would probably drive a newcomer to the franchise screaming into the arms of "Twilight". If you really want to get into the Star Trek movies and you haven't seen any of them, start with part 2, its a great film.