Official Score = 2 Devils[/caption]Rarely has a TV show that started off with essentially, 'NO' real budget, some decent talent (both writing and filming), and yet be the absolute definition of campy awesomeness yet prove to be one of the most influential moments in human history! I am talking about the, 'Star Trek' phenomena!
You see, it all started on NBC back in 1966, when Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek: The Cage), along with the help of Desilu Productions (A production company owned by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz), would bring a pilot to NBC for this sure fire classic... the only problem is that they thought it was, 'to cerebral' and wanted a show that had a lot more action... So off they went back to the drawing boards... (fortunately though, eventually the first pilot would see the light of day about 20 years later...)
And well, with a few cast changes (Jeffrey Hunter (who played Captain Christopher Pike in the first pilot) had been convinced not to continue his role in the second pilot, and Majel Barrett (who played, 'Number One' in the original pilot would later play, 'Nurse Christine Chapel', and a few other changes,) the new pilot would be made, and with it's success, would launch a phenomena that still resounds in pop-culture and the rest of the world today!
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Captain Kirk (William Shatner) as he is trying to stop the now god like former friend/crewmate in the second pilot episode.[/caption]Well unfortunately, like a lot of great shows, this one went by the wayside due to having poor ratings during it's run... And when the fans spoke up about the death of their show after only just a few years, (the show lasted from (1966 - 1969), their efforts bore fruit when the studio decided to bring in a new series, 'Star Trek: Phase 2' to the world...
Unfortunately this show would never make it to the small screen but in the end, elements of the proposed new show would be brought in to the new movie, including: David Gautreaux (The Hearse), who was supposed to play, 'Xon' (who had a brief moment in the movie), and Persis Khambatta (Nighthawks) who would play, 'Illia' in the movie.
And as for the movie itself, this movie was written by: Harold Livingston (Partners In Crime) & Directed by: Robert Wise (The Day The Earth Stood Still). Starring: William Shatner (Kingdom Of The Spiders), Leonard Nimoy (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers), DeForest Kelley (Night Of the Lepus), James Doohan (Jason Of Star Command), George Takei (3rd Rock From The Sun), Majel Barrett (Mars And Beyond), Walter Koenig (Babylon 5), Nichelle Nichols (Heroes), Persis Kahmbatta, Stephen Collins (Revolution), Grace Lee Whitney (Batman) & David Gautreaux.
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Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Commander Willard Decker (Stephen Collins) on the bridge of the, 'Starship Enterprise'.[/caption]This movie tells the story of where the original senior staff of the Star Ship Enterprise ended up at after their last 5 year mission, you see, Kirk (William Shatner) was promoted to, 'Admiral' and headed off to a new post at, 'Starfleet', Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) has retired back to Earth, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has pursued his Vulcan upbringing and took a leave of absence from Starfleet to purge all emotions from himself... Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) appears to have taken up a post at Drydock... But it would appear that just about everyone else stayed on the ship... under the command of a new, 'Captain', Commander Willard Decker (Stephen Collins)...
Well during this time, there is large mass of energy that seems to be headed toward Earth, and basically everything in it's path is being consumed... So as it gets closer to Earth, Starfleet dispatches the newly refitted, 'U.S.S. Enterprise' under the temporary command of, 'Admiral James T. Kirk', and as this entity nears to the, 'Earth' it will be up to, 'Kirk' and the newly reformed crew of the, 'Starship Enterprise' to find out what this is, and stop it before it destroys the planet Earth!
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The Enterprise inside the massive, 'V'Ger' machine...[/caption]In the end I have always heard that this movie was pretty bad, (believe it or not, from, 'Star Trek' fans, and non-Star Trek fans alike!) I don't know why this is... I mean the acting from everyone is exemplary, the special effects for, '1979' were absolutely spectacular, and the vision of, 'Robert Wise' was phenomenal!
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't by far the best of the movies... The truth is, is the movie was way to long, with to many unnecessary sequences... This unfortunately for me, seriously detracted from what made this movie truly awesome!
But in the end, this movie is not horrible... It is fun, if you are looking for some time to kill... And if you check it out, you might find the same thing as well!
http://youtu.be/h5vK8hCVrFg
