Martin Livings (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
martinlivings) wrote2009-02-27 03:23 pm
martinlivings) wrote2009-02-27 03:23 pm
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Seven Days of Star Trek, days 3, 4 and 5 (retrospectively)
Sorry, things have been slightly nuts at work, so no time for 7DOST until now. These will be short and to the point. I think. I don't actually plan them before I write them. :)
Day Three - Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
This was Leonard Nimoy's feature film directorial debut, and as such, it's pretty good. It lacks visual scope, and good chunks of it are fairly clunky, but overall it's a well-intentioned sequel, not just out for a quick buck. It's a little bland, though; off the top of my head, I can't really remember anything outstanding about it. Even Christopher Lloyd gives a fairly lacklustre performance as a one dimensional Klingon bad guy.
To me, this film was always just filler between the death and rebirth of Spock. Even the destruction of the Enterprise didn't really touch me terribly. Weird.
Three Starfleet badges out of five.
Quote of the film:
Kirk, to Bones while doing Vulcan hand sign: "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Day Four - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
This one is tricky. It's great fun, I'll grant you. Everyone gets their character moments, and not in a humiliating way (see the next film for those!). It's easily the lightest and the funniest of the Star Trek films. But, I dunno... Star Trek without the Enterprise? It's the eighth crew member, and the one with the biggest heart. There's a hole in the centre of this film that's only filled at the very end.
Still, I have to say, fantastic fun, and easily one of the best of the films. I do love the movie, despite the lack of Enterprise. Or, y'know, an enemy, or real conflict. :)
Four Starfleet badges out of five.
Quote of the film:
Spock, to Kirk: "What does it mean, "exact change"?"
Day Five - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Otherwise known as "Jim Kirk has a fistfight with God and wins", perhaps unfairly. Yes, Bill Shatner got to co-write and direct a film, and we all discovered where his talents really lay. It's really not a good film; the special effects are shonky, due to the budget cuts that happened, and the script is... well, bits of it are... alright. I actually liked the heavy-handed but effective sequence with Bones recalling mercy-killing his father. But most of it... oh dear... Sulu and Chekov lost in the woods? Scotty knocking himself unconscious? Spock, Kirk and Bones singing "Row Row Row Your Boat"? But, worst of all, a middle-aged Uhura's naked fan dance in the desert??? Utterly cringe-worthy.
It's a miracle they made another one after this. And a bigger miracle that it was one of the best in the series.
Two Starfleet badges out of five.
Quote of the film:
Spock, to Kirk: "Please Captain, not in front of the Klingons."
Day Three - Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
This was Leonard Nimoy's feature film directorial debut, and as such, it's pretty good. It lacks visual scope, and good chunks of it are fairly clunky, but overall it's a well-intentioned sequel, not just out for a quick buck. It's a little bland, though; off the top of my head, I can't really remember anything outstanding about it. Even Christopher Lloyd gives a fairly lacklustre performance as a one dimensional Klingon bad guy.
To me, this film was always just filler between the death and rebirth of Spock. Even the destruction of the Enterprise didn't really touch me terribly. Weird.
Three Starfleet badges out of five.
Quote of the film:
Kirk, to Bones while doing Vulcan hand sign: "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Day Four - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
This one is tricky. It's great fun, I'll grant you. Everyone gets their character moments, and not in a humiliating way (see the next film for those!). It's easily the lightest and the funniest of the Star Trek films. But, I dunno... Star Trek without the Enterprise? It's the eighth crew member, and the one with the biggest heart. There's a hole in the centre of this film that's only filled at the very end.
Still, I have to say, fantastic fun, and easily one of the best of the films. I do love the movie, despite the lack of Enterprise. Or, y'know, an enemy, or real conflict. :)
Four Starfleet badges out of five.
Quote of the film:
Spock, to Kirk: "What does it mean, "exact change"?"
Day Five - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Otherwise known as "Jim Kirk has a fistfight with God and wins", perhaps unfairly. Yes, Bill Shatner got to co-write and direct a film, and we all discovered where his talents really lay. It's really not a good film; the special effects are shonky, due to the budget cuts that happened, and the script is... well, bits of it are... alright. I actually liked the heavy-handed but effective sequence with Bones recalling mercy-killing his father. But most of it... oh dear... Sulu and Chekov lost in the woods? Scotty knocking himself unconscious? Spock, Kirk and Bones singing "Row Row Row Your Boat"? But, worst of all, a middle-aged Uhura's naked fan dance in the desert??? Utterly cringe-worthy.
It's a miracle they made another one after this. And a bigger miracle that it was one of the best in the series.
Two Starfleet badges out of five.
Quote of the film:
Spock, to Kirk: "Please Captain, not in front of the Klingons."