Star Trek 60th Anniversary Reflecting on the Franchise Trek Goes to the Movies

Star Trek 60th Anniversary
Reflecting on the Franchise
Trek Goes to the Movies

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

In 1979 Star Trek would return, this time to the big screen with Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Born out of Star Trek: Phase II, a failed attempt at a sequel to the original series, and Paramount's desire to compete with Star Wars, The Motion Picture saw the return of the original crew aboard a newly refit starship Enterprise commanded by now Admiral Kirk to investigate the threat of the mysterious cloud entity V'Ger, later revealed to be the long lost NASA space probe Voyager VI.  Joining the cast were Stephen Collins as Captain Willard Decker and Persis Khambatta as Lieutenant Ilia.  Although some people criticize the movie for it's slow pace, I personally enjoy TMP.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan featured the return of Ricardo Montalban as the titular Khan from TOS "Space Seed", and sees some really good character development for Kirk, with Admiral Kirk in a midlife crisis, being bored behind a desk.  The movie introduces Kirstie Alley as fan favorite character Lieutenant Saavik and Merritt Buttrick and Dr. David Marcus.  TWOK juxtaposes life (Project Genesis, the revelation of Kirks son David Marcus) with death and mortality (Kirk's feelings about getting old, Spock's death and the Kobayashi Maru scenario).  Spock's death saving the Enterprise is perhaps the most notable thing about the movie, having been such a big point of contention with the fans when it was leaked before the film's premiere.  The movie also introduced the academy's Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario, a staple of trek lore ever since.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock seek Kirk and company disobey orders and steal the Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis Planet to retrieve the body of Captain Spock and return it Vulcan to reunite it with his katra, his spirit, which Spock transferred to Dr. McCoy before his death.  The movie stars Christopher Lloyd as the Klingon Captain Kruge and John Larroquette as Maltz, and features the return of Marc Lenard as Spock's father, Ambassador Sarek.  If The Wrath of Khan was about Spock's statement that "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one", The Search for Spock was the absolute antithesis of that, with Kirk and co. sacrificing everything (their careers, risking their lives, Kirk's son David dying, the Enterprise being destroyed) to save Spock.  The Destruction of the Enterprise to prevent it's capture is one of the most emotional scenes in the movie.  

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

In contrast to the last two films, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a lighthearted time travel tale with the crew in the captured Klingon Bird of Prey travelling back to 1986 San Francisco to bring two humpback whales to the 23rd century to save Earth from destruction by an alien probe.  The crew deal with the need for money, "colorful metaphors", punk rock, and 20th century hospitals and meet Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) a marine biologist who is instrumental in them obtaining the whales.  In the end Kirk and crew still have to face the music for their actions in The Search For Spock, although most of the charges are dropped except for disobeying ordered of the Starfleet C-in-C, for which Kirk is demoted to Captain.  The movie ends with the crew assigned to a new USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Directed by William Shatner Star Trek V: The Final Frontier puts the crew on the not fully functional USS Enterprise-A against Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), a Vulcan zealot bent on finding God.  While definitely not the franchises finest outing, the movie does have some fun moments: Kirks "What does god need with a starship" and Uhuras feather dance, as well as some admittedly corny ones: Scotty hitting his head, Kirk, Spock and McCoy singing around the campfire and Spocks "marshmellons".

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

The original crew's final outing, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country uses contemporary cold war events (fall of the Berlin Wall, Chernobyl) to fill in some blanks in the lore and show the "first olive branch" and beginnings of peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.  The movie also establishes the Klingons love of the works of Shakespeare, with guest stars David Warner as Chancellor Gorkon and Christopher Plummer as General Chang both quoting the bard.  The film also introduces Kim Cattrall as Valeris, taking the helm from Sulu who is now captain of the USS Excelsior.  The ending with the Enterprise-A being decommissioned is highly symbolic of the movie being the end of an era for the TOS cast.  Overall a very worthy sendoff.

Next week: back to the small screen