Year: 1979
Director: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Harold Livingston, from a story by Alan Dean Foster, based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Stephen Collins, Persis Khambatta, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig
Running Time: 132 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction
When a mysterious alien cloud possessed of powerful destructive capabilities is detected on a course heading directly for Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk (Shatner) is put in charge of the newly overhauled USS Enterprise, and reunites his old crew to investigate and stop the cloud's path of destruction by any means necessary.
When the original television series of Star Trek ended in 1969 after three seasons and 79 episodes, it looked like it would be one more cancelled TV show that would exist for evermore in the fuzzy afterlife of repeats. However, as the 1970s progressed, Star Trek became a major success in syndication, as well as attracting increasing numbers of devoted fans. A 14 episode Saturday morning cartoon version was broadcast in the mid '70s, but Paramount Studios were becoming interested in a new live-action Star Trek. In the late '70s Paramount announced plans for a new cable TV network, to be imaginatively named The Paramount Network, and the flagship programme on launch night would be Star Trek: Phase II, which would feature some of the original cast alongside new characters. Pre-production was already well advanced on Star Trek: Phase II, scripts had been written, sets had been built, parts had been cast, costumes designed and some special effects footage had already been shot, when Paramount pulled the plug on The Paramount Network, and Star Trek: Phase II was cancelled. Rather than waste the considerable amount of money and time that had been spent on the new Star Trek, Paramount decided to remount what would have been the pilot episode of Star Trek: Phase II as a stand-alone feature film. The script was rewritten and veteran director Robert Wise was hired to helm the project. The resulting film boasts some very impressive special effects, but is hindered by a slow pace, and a drab feeling to the whole thing, from the colourlessness of the Enterprise interiors, to the new uniforms which all seem to be in varying shades of light blue, white and beige. There is also the pretentiousness and po-faced philosophising which hampered Star Trek at its worse, with very little of the action and humour of the TV series at its best. Many of the returning actors have little more than cameo roles, and the two new additions Stephen Collins as Kirk's rival for the Enterprise, Captain Decker, and Persis Khambatta at the alien Deltan Ilia, never really get the chance to make much of an impression. Despite the plot being a race against time to save the earth, there is very little dynamism, and the story essentially calls for the actors to do little more than react to what they see on monitor screens. It's clear that what the producers were going for was a serious cerebral science-fiction epic along the lines of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), but that is the wrong approach for Star Trek. The film does have its good points though. The opening sequence, where the alien cloud encounters three Klingon spaceships is exciting, the special effects are still impressive even after all this time, and there are moments when that create a genuine sense of wonder. Also the climax, with its clear sexual metaphor is quite daring.
