Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

As this year is the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, I've decided to look at the 5 Trek films that I actually enjoy watching! As the late, great Agony Booth once noted, there was a good 10 years when this film was considered the weakest Trek movie. But, starting with the infamous Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), a number of Trek films have proven more deserving of that title. Also, unlike those films, this movie has had good points about it from the very beginning. Trek itself was on the cusp of becoming another TV series in the late 70s, until the great success of Star Wars (1977), prompted Paramount to nix those plans and revive the franchise as a feature film. In addition to getting the original cast back, the director was the legendary Robert Wise, whose classics includes The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). The film begins with three Klingon ships encountering a mysterious cloud. After firing on it, the cloud sends out blue balls of fire which vaporize all three ships. This is monitored by the nearby Federation outpost Epsilon IX, which determines the cloud is heading to Earth.

We cut to Vulcan, where Spock is undergoing the Kohlinar, a discipline intended to purge all emotion. He is about to be rewarded for his hard work when he senses a disturbance in the Force-ur, I mean something from space. The Vulcan priestess mindmelds with him determing that an alien entity is contacting him and that Spock's human half is affected by this. As a result, she deems that he has not fulfilled his studies and says he must search for answers elsewhere. As she and her aides depart, Spock picks up the pendant she discarded, even though he was just told he wasn't worthy of it!

Next, we are on Earth, at Starfleet HQ in San Francisco. Kirk arrives there, via shuttle and meets up with Sonak, who is set to be science officer on the revamped Enterprise. Kirk instructs him to report to him on the ship following his meeting.

That meeting obviously took a few seconds because we next see Kirk on a station orbiting Earth. Once beamed aboard, he meets up with Scotty, who informs him that the ship still needs to be worked on, but Kirk informs him of the approaching cloud and that the Enterprise is the only ship that can stop it, because, I guess, the others are all getting their oil changed or something. The next sequence is one reason why some fans calling this film The Motionless Picture is understandable. Scotty and Kirk take a pod and bascially spend 4 minutes gawking at the refitted Enterprise before the damn thing finally docks.

Kirk goes to the bridge, where Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura warmly greet him before Sulu informs him that the ship's new captain Decker (Stephen Collins) isn't aware that Kirk will now take command. After ordering Chekov to assemble the crew for a meeting, Kirk heads to Engineering, where Decker and Scotty are working. Kirk takes Decker aside and informs him that he's in command now, with Decker as his XO. Decker is pissed, but Kirk just orders him to the bridge. That's when an alert sounds, saying that the transporter is in use, even though it is still on the fritz. Kirk and Scotty frantically race to the transporter room, where Sonak and another officer are in the process of being beamed. However, the transporter isn't working properly and, despite everyone's efforts, the duo die because of the malfunction. As no one else is available on such short notice to be science officer, Kirk gives the job to Decker.

The crew is gathered in the crew deck where they see footage of the cloud destroying the Klingon ships. Kirk then steps in and informs them that the Enterprise is the only ship that can stop it. Epsilon IX contacts them, informing them of how big the cloud is before the cloud destroys the station.

The damn transporter is finally repaired as the ship beams up its remaining staff. One of these is the navigator Ilia (Persis Khambatta), whom Decker was once involved with. He warmly greets her as she arrives on the bridge and, for some reason, informs Kirk about her oath of celebacy before he assigns her to her post. Uhura then informs Kirk that one person is refusing to be beamed aboard, prompting him to go to the transporter room. Said person is beamed up and is revealed to be McCoy, with a beard and dressed like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever(1977), so I'm guessing the poor soul who died with Sonak was the ship's original doctor, which prompted Kirk to drag Bones off the disco floor.

Despite being as crouchity as ever, Bones is convinced to be the ship's doctor as the Enterprise is finally launched. After leaving the solar system, Kirk wants to go to warp speed, despite objections from Decker and Scotty. Kirk's insistance though leads to the ship being sucked into a wormhole (which is different here than in later Trek series for some reason). We get another valid criticism for the film's slow pace as everyone literally moves and talks super slowly while in the wormhole.

Ilia picked up an asteroid that was pulled into the wormhole with them. Kirk orders phasers to be used, but Decker counters him, telling Chekov to use the torpedoes instead. That plan works and the ship is pulled back into normal space. As things get back to normal, Kirk orders Decker to accompany him to his quarters with Bones insisting on coming along. Kirk begins to chew Decker out, before the latter states that the ship's new design rendered the phasers inoperable once the engines were cut off. Kirk concedes that he overreacted and dismisses Decker. As Decker and Ilia briefly catch up, Bones drives home the point that Kirk always wanted the Enterprise back and that this emergency gave him the perfect chance for that. That's when Uhura informs him of an approaching Federation shuttle that wishes to dock. Chekov is sent to greet the visitor, who turns out to be Spock, who promptly makes his way to the bridge to the delightful shock of everyone.

Despite his almost rude stance, Spock was quickly instated as the ship's science officer before he heads to Engineering to help Scotty with the engines (sure, a science officer can do that). The engines are soon fixed which means the ship can reach the cloud much faster! Spock meets with Kirk and McCoy and informs them that he sensec the cloud's presence on Vulcan. Kirk tells him to keep him in the loop in case he feels anything else from the cloud. After Spock leaves, McCoy tells Kirk that Spock's connection to the cloud may lead to a conflict of interest, not unlike Kirk's in regard to getting the Enterprise back. The ship finally reaches the cloud, with Decker advising use of shields, although Kirk says that may be seen as hostile by the cloud. Spock examines how powerful the thing is before sensing it again, saying that the cloud is contacting them. That's when it shoots out a blue bolt at them, which hits the ship, injuring Chekov. As Ilia saves Chapel the trouble of healing his pain, Spock informs Kirk that they can actually protect themselves from the cloud by sending a message on a special frequency, which he and Decker quickly whip up deflecting another blue bolt just in time. Spock tells Kirk he wants the ship to enter the cloud now while Decker advises caution. Kirk decides to go ahead and we are treated to another several moments of everyone just staring at SFX on the viewscreen. After a while, another blue bolt approaches the ship and materializes on the bridge. Spock id's it as a probe which begins to play with the computers. This leads Spock to smash one of the consoles, which I guess pisses the probe off since it retailates by shocking Spock until it hones in on Ilia before she is basically absorbed by the probe, which vanishes. Decker wastes no time being pissed at Kirk for allowing the ship to enter the cloud before a tractor beam begins pulling the ship in.

With the cloud unable to be scanned, Spock's suggests they are being pulled into the interior of the cloud. Chekov then alerts them to a presence in the Captain's quarters. Kirk and Spock head over there where they see someone in the shower, who turns out to be Ilia. whom Kirk puts clothing on with the push of a few buttons. . However, her voice is different, as she informs them that she is the probe from earlier now with Ilia's form. Spock suggests McCoy analyze it and he and Chapel discover that the exterior perfectly duplicates Ilia. Spock notes that, when Decker arrives, he and the Ilia probe still look at each other with fondness. Outside sick bay, Spock says that this could mean that the probe may have Ilia's memories as well and, as such, may be willing to provide our heroes with more info about the aliens running the cloud. Ilia breaks out of sick bay and wants to tour the ship more, which Kirk complies with ordering Decker to be her guide.

As Decker shows her around, with Kirk and McCoy watching via a hidden camera, Decker begins to somewhat weaken her defenses, although she still states V'Ger, the name she gives regarding who controls the cloud, plans to convert the crew to data storage. But she allows Decker to show her why that may not be such a good idea. At the same time, Spock is sneaking around the ship and nerve pinches the lone crewman in a hanger. The next scene is on the bridge, where Chekov informs Kirk that a thruster suit is missing. Kirk deduces that Spock took one and plans to follow him. In his suit, Spock records a message for Kirk saying that he intends to contact the aliens holding them captive. With the proper button-pushing, Spock rockets his way into V'Ger, surrounded by SFX that still hold up today! Spock notes what he sees as he eventually reaches a facsmilie of Ilia, which Spock gets the idea of mind-melding with. Not surprisingly, this turns out to overwhelm Spock, whom V'Ger subsequently burps out of the orafice next to the Enterprise, where Kirk is suited up and waiting to retrieve him.

In sickbay, Spock slowly comes to and informs Kirk and McCoy of what he saw and that his mind-meld reveals V'Ger to be even more lost than he is. V'Ger apporaches Earth with the Ilia-probe noting that V'Ger has launched deadly weapons in the planet's orbit, which are intended to wipe out all life as V'Ger's signal goes unanswered. But Kirk isn't about to go down without a fight and orders the ship evacuated, threatening that the info V'Ger needs will be destroyed if the Enterprise is destroyed. The Ilia-probe says that V'Ger concedes, agreeing to take the ship to V'Ger directly. When the ship stops, Chekov reports that there is a breathable atmosphere just outside the ship. Kirk sends himself, Spock, McCoy, Decker, and the Ilia probe to see V'Ger. Upon arriving, they see V'Ger is actually the probe Voyager VI (I guess we all slept through the launches of Voyagers III-V), which was reported lost not long after its launch 3 centuries earlier. Spock deduces that it entered the atmosphere of a planet inhabited by machines, which repaired it and souped it up for its return trip. The reason Voyager's signal is not being answered is because there is no one on Earth now familiar with its original 20th century signal.

Spock states that Voyager has advanced to the point where it must evolve and the only way to do that is to merge with a human, as humans are the ones who created it. This gives Decker the idea to volunteer for the job, although Kirk is skeptical. But Decker is adamant as it will obviously allow him to be with Ilia. More SFX happen as Decker and the Ilia probe are absorbed into Voyager, while Kirk, Spock, and McCoy quickly go back to the ship.

Soon, Voyager goes into another dimension as its whole vessel vanishes in a flash of light, leaving only the ship in orbit of Earth. Back on the bridge, Kirk and company smile at the fact that a new life form has essentially been created. He notes both Decker and Ilia as missing, while Spock elects to remain on board and the ship warps off into the stars. The Motion Picture definitely has much to recommend it. The SFX are gorgeous, if excessive, although unlike those in The Phantom Menace, they still look impressive today. The musical score is arguably Jerry Goldsmith's finest work (Roddenberry obviously agreed as he would use it as the title track for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Speaking of TNG, Decker and Ilia would essentially be reincarnated as Riker and Troi on that series. The 2001 director's edition of the film does tighten its pace a bit, although the flaws of the film that still stand out today are that the plot is essentially too similar to that of the original series episode "The Changeling," and that there is almost none of the wonderful interplay between the regulars which became one of the hallmarks of that series. The good news is that the film made enough money to green light a 2nd Trek film, which would more than make up for this one's flaws.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine-"The Visitor"

As this month is Father's Day, I decided to take a look at one of DS9's most moving episodes.

This episode, the 2nd of DS9's 4th season, begins at a house on a rainy night. The owner of this house turns out to be an older Jake Sisko (Tony Todd). He answers a knock on the door, which is a young woman named Melanie (Rachel Robinson, daughter of Garak himself, Andrew Robinson). She soon informs Jake that she's a fan of his writing and hopes to become an author himself. She also asks why Jake stopped his writing career when he did. After a moment, he tells her that it is because he lost his father Ben when he was 18. After the title sequence, Jake informs us that it all began when he and his old man took the Defiant to the wormhole to witness its once-every-half-century subspace inversion (amazing that they know it does it at that rate, as Sisko and company only discovered the wormhole 3 years earlier). En route, Jake was writing another story when Sisko informs him it's time to see the spectacle. That's when something malfunctions in Engineering, prompting Sisko to check it out, with Jake in tow. They arrive to see the crewmen in Engineering unconscious and the warp core going critical. Father and son stop the core from going boom. However, the core emits an energy discharge which hits Sisko, causing him to vanish.

Now presumed dead, Jake becomes uncertain of his future, despite comfort from his friends on the station. But, one night, Jake sees his dad on a chair in their quarters but only briefly as Sisko vanishes again. Dax investigates but finds nothing, leading Jake to think it was just a dream. As time goes on, the Klingon Empire becomes more agressive, prompting Bajor to enter a pact with Cardassia. This leads to DS9's civilian population leaving to prevent being caught up in impending war. Jake refuses to do so, however, despite Kira and Worf informing him that he would be safe if he did so. Later, in private, Jake tells Kira that, as Sisko had accomplished so much on the station, he feels he would leave him behind if he left. Kira understands but gets Jake to promise that he'll leave if she insists he do so.

Months later, Jake sees his dad again and, this time, takes him to Bashir. The doctor discovers that Sisko was caught in a temporal inversion when the discharge hit him, causing him to go out of sync with time. But Sisko disappears again after a few moments, leaving Jake heartbroken again. Melanie then interrupts the story, telling Jake she can leave if it's too hard for him to continue. Jake says it isn't because he is dying, although his mood quickly lightens as they discuss her writing ambitions before he continues with his story. Dax and O'Brien spent the next few months trying to get their captain back, although this was tough since the wormhole wouldn't repeat its inversion for another 50 years. Later on, DS9 itself is forced to surrender to the Klingons, forcing Jake to leave. He returns to Earth and eventually marries a woman named Korena (Gaylin Gorg). She ends up meeting her father-in-law when he appears again one evening. He disappears again later, but this prompts Jake to begin studying subspace mechanics to try to get his old man back. This eventually turns into an obsession which prompts Korena to eventually leave him. Realizing that recreating the accident is the way to get Sisko back, Jake, 50 years later, gets Nog, now a Starfleet Capain, to take him to the wormhole. With Dax and Bashir's assistance, they begin work, but, this time, Jake gets pulled into subspace, meeting up with his dad.

Sisko is shocked at how much time has passed and how Jake has basically tossed everything away to bring him back. However, Jake is eventually pulled from subspace. Jake then tells Melanie that the one way that he can bring Sisko back is by killing himself once Sisko appears again and this will lead to the captain returning to the point in time when the whole saga began. Melanie is moved by this and bids Jake farewell. The next day, Sisko appears and he and his son chat before Jake informs him about what he plans to do. Sisko is moved by this and embraces him That's when Sisko sees himself in the Defiant's engine room again and quickly pushes himself and Jake away from the discharge. Jake is amazed that his dad knew the discharge was coming but all Sisko can do is tearfully embrace his son and the future they now have together.

Of all the Star Trek characters that have children, I've always found Sisko's relationship with Jake to be the most appealing. Brooks and Lofton always had wonderful scenes on the series. That chemistry is a big reason this episode works so well and, as I previously noted, one reason DS9's finale proved disappointing was that the final moments weren't centered on the two of them.

Munich (2005)

The current conflict in Iran which nobody but Trump wanted has prompted me to take a look at what is probably Steven Spielberg's most controversial film.

This film centers on the massacre of Israeli athletes by a Palastinian militia at the 1972 Olympics in West Germany, which left all the hostages and the perpetrators dead. This leads the Israeli government to send groups throughout Europe to terminate Palestinians who had a hand in planning the horrific siege. From that point on, the movie centers on a fictitious quintet of these troops, led by Avner Kaufman (Eric Bana). But the moral ramifications of doing his duty soon begins to catch up with Avner, who just became a father shortly before the Munich massacre. As a result, he begins to wonder if he is any better than the people he is being ordered to terminate and, slowly but surely, the other four men on his team-Steve (Daniel Craig), Carl (Ciaran Hinds), Robert (Matheiu Kassovitz) and Hans (Hans Zischler)-begin to feel the same way. Munich became controversial mainly because it attempts to humanize both sides of this conflict. After all, the Nazis in Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade aren't exactly portrayed as complex. But this is why I applaud Spielberg for making a film such as this, to illustrate how reality cannot always be defined as 'good guys' or 'bad guys.' The film's conclusion is also appropriately ambiguous, especially given how events in the Middle East have unfolded in the decades since the 1972 massacre.

More Favorite Guilty Pleasure Films

Here's a follow up to an article I wrote a while back about films which are guilty pleasure of mine. The Terror (1963)

This Roger Corman film was made in just 3 days while Corman was in the midst of filming his great Edgar Allan Poe series. But, unlike those films, this one is not exactly Corman at his best. This story of a soldier (Jack Nicholson) who comes across a mysterious woman (Sandra Knight) who herself is linked to a mysterious baron (Boris Karloff) is pretty much as cliched as they come. Still, for anyone who wants a time-killer in the middle of the night, this film should do the trick. Basic Training (1985)

This military comedy about a female Pentagon employee (Ann Dusenberry) who overcomes sexism by (yes!) seducing a Russian ambassador (Walter Gotell) into betraying military secrets certainly doesn't have the laughs that Stripes (1981) did. Still, if you like your comedies with sex and nudity, there are certainly worse ones out there. Star Trek: The Next Generation "The Price" (1989)

If any episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation can be called a guilty pleasure, it's this one, which aired during the show's third season. In this story, Troi (Marina Sirtis) falls in love with one of the guests (Matt McCoy) who is bidding for the rights to a stable wormhole, only to later discover the unethical methods he uses. Like almost all of Trek's love stories, this one is not exactly a classic, but it did cause a stir for showing the first ever bed scenes in a Trek series. Also, as someone who has crushed on Sirtis forever, this definitely holds rewatchable value for me. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

Officially the fourth entry in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, this film was rereleased once its stars, Renee Zellweger & Matthew McConaughey, became A-listers. The film, written and directed by Kim Henkel, who co-wrote the original film with Tobe Hooper, basically repeats the same beats of that classic movie, although the protagonists here, led by Zellweger, are high school students who become lost following their prom and come across a mysterious farmhouse, who occupants include McConaughey, whose acting here gives new meaning to the term 'ham acting.' Honey (2003)

The title character in this film (Jessica Alba) is a dance instructor who dreams of becoming a choreographer. She is helped along the way by her friend Gina (Joy Bryant) and local barber Chaz (Mekhi Phifer) who she becomes romantically involved with. The film itself doesn't offer any surprises dramatically but it is pleasant to watch.

Double Feature Time; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan/O

For my 1st post of 2026, I'm looking at 2 films I always thought had a bit in common.

William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous playwright in history. So, it's not surprising that his works have been adapted countless times for the cinema over the decades. Many films have also clearly been influenced by his work. One such film is the 2nd Star Trek movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). The movie's director, Nicholas Meyer, clearly was influenced by Shakespeare when making this film. Indeed, echos of Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear are clear thoughout the movie in regards to Kirk beginning to think his best days are behind him and Khan being consumed by his obsession of revenge against Kirk, who had exiled Khan in the original series episode "Space Seed"-an exile which would lead to the deaths of many of Khan's followers, including his wife.. A more literal adaptation O (2001), which is a contemporary take on Shakespeare's Othello. In this film, Othello is Odin James (Mekhi Phifer) who is the basketball champ at a private school and who is romantically involved with this story's Desdemona Desi (Julia Stiles), who is the daughter of the school'd dean (John Heard). Odin's popularity becomes a target of jealousy for his teammate Hugo (Josh Hartnett), this film's Iago and the son of the basketball coach (Martin Sheen). As with his counterpart in the play, Hugo sets into motion a calculated plan to destroy Odin and his relationship with Desi which leads to tragedy for all involved.