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-
- The Movie Era
- ---------------
- by Edwin Yau
- --------------
-
-
- Now that the movie era of Star Trek has ended (or has it?), and with the
- advent of the boxed set of the movies, I thought it would be nice to have a
- quick trip down memory lane and look back at the movies, and pick out my
- favourite scenes, special/optical effects and lines out of each movie.
-
-
- Star Trek - The Motion Picture
- ------------------------------
-
- Kirk & Co. return for the first and most expensive Trek movie. They're older,
- but they're still slim and fit. They must intercept a mysterious god-like
- cloud and prevent it from possibly destroying Earth. It turns out to be the
- Voyager 6 probe with brains. The uniforms are new. The Enterprise has a nice
- new look too and is metallic in colour, but whoever designed the interior of
- the ship lied about passing his or her starship interior design course! The
- first hour was good - I nearly dropped off for a while in the second hour,
- but managed to stay awake by doing some Vulcan meditation.
-
- Best Effect : The cloud (but waaay too long!).
- Best Line : "Spock, you haven't changed a bit. You're just as warm and
- sociable as ever." - McCoy.
- Best Scene : Seeing the new-look Enterprise.
-
-
- Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
- -------------------------------
-
- Kirk and Co. battle the Klingon-quoting "revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold"
- Khan from "Space Seed". Kirk's feeling old. Spock dies in the opening scene
- (or has he?) The uniforms have changed again. The Enterprise gets a real
- pasting, but triumphs in the final battle (hurray!). The Enterprise is nearly
- destroyed by Genesis, but is saved by Spock, who meets his maker (or has
- he?). Kirk meets his son. Savvik's really nice. Scotty's putting on weight,
- Uhura's hairstyle's changed, and "remember"....
-
- Best Effect : The final battle.
- Best Line : "Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the
- most... human." - Kirk.
- Best Scene : Spock's death.
-
-
- Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
- -----------------------------------
-
- Kirk and Co. unite and disobey orders to find Spock and put him back together
- again, and come across a few evil Klingons who want Genesis in the process.
- They "ship-nap"? the Enterprise and Scotty disables the all-new experimental
- Excelsior. The Enterprise battles a Bird Of Prey and meets her maker (sob!).
- McCoy thinks he's Spock and tries unsuccessfully to neck-pinch a security
- officer in a bar. Spock's been regenerated (shades of Dr. Who) and becomes
- one again. David Marcus is killed. Saavik has had major plastic surgery.
- Scotty's getting bigger and Uhura's hairstyle's changed.
-
- Best Effect : Destruction of the Enterprise.
- Best Line : "Up yer shaft." - Scotty.
- Best Scene : Death of David Marcus & Kirk's reaction.
-
-
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- -----------------------------
-
- Kirk and Co., exiles on Vulcan, travel to Earth on the H.M.S. Bounty to face
- trial, but find a probe ionizing the Earth's atmosphere in their way. They
- travel back in time to find two humpback whales and bring them back to save
- the planet (hurray!). Admiral Kirk is demoted for disobeying orders and
- becomes Captain Kirk again, and gets a new Enterprise (hurray!), with new
- white paint too. Spock feels fine and speaks with colourful metaphors,
- Scotty's getting bigger and... surprise, Uhura's hairstyle's changed.
-
- Best Effect : The whales (I didn't know they weren't real at times!).
- Best Line : "No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space." - Kirk.
- Best Scene : Spock neck-pinches the punk.
-
-
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- -------------------------------
-
- Kirk and Co. meet a god-like creature (didn't something like this happen in
- the first movie?) and battle the evil Klingons once again. Actually it's not
- as bad as people make out (honest). Pretty good directing, but shame about
- the script and the timing of the release. Kirk looks younger, everyone else
- looks older. We find that Spock has a half-brother, Sybok, who's very
- emotional for a Vulcan. Sybok hi-jacks the Enterprise and takes her through
- the Great Barrier to meet "god", who turns out to be an evil alien. Scotty's
- looking bigger and Uhura's hair has got white streaks in it.
-
- Best Effect : The shuttle entering the Enterprise at high speed.
- Best Line : "Captain, not in-front of the Klingons." - Spock.
- Best Scene : The shuttle entering the Enterprise and the Klingon ship about
- to fire.
-
-
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- --------------------------------------
-
- The Federation makes peace - the Klingons are the good guys now ("Ye canna be
- serious!"). The Enterprise appears to have fired on the Klingon ship and
- Chancellor Gorkon is assassinated. Kirk and McCoy are accused of Gorkon's
- murder and sent to Rura Penthe for life. Kirk battles Kirk. Kirk and McCoy
- are saved and the Enterprise heads off to Camp Khitomer to a final battle
- with the Shakespeare-quoting Klingon, General Chang in his "ha!-we-can-fire-
- when-cloaked" Bird Of Prey. Spock gets angry. Traitors are everywhere. The
- Enterprise gets a real pasting this time, but when Kirk says "FIRE!" everyone
- cheers! With 5 photon torpedoes rammed down it, the Bird Of Prey bites the
- dust (hurray!) and Kirk and Co. beam down and save the day once again, before
- sailing off into the sunset for the final time (sob! (or have they?)).
- Everyone looks older and larger but all the more wiser, and Uhura hairstyle's
- changed back to curly hair again!
-
- Best Effect : The photon torpedo going through the Enterprise's hull and the
- Klingon blood floating around in zero-g gravity.
- Best Line : "Earth, Hitler, 1938" - Kirk's response to Chang's "We need
- breathing room".
- Best Scene : The final battle between the Enterprise, the Excelsior and the
- Bird Of Prey, especially the bit where the photon torpedo goes
- through the Enterprise's hull. Also the scenes from the
- mysterious firing on the Klingon Battlecruiser to Kirk's
- surrender, especially the bit where the assassins beam on board
- the Klingon battlecruiser.
-
-
- I'd rate the movies in this order:- first equal are 2 & 6, followed by:- 3,
- 5, 4 and finally 1. Best Soundtrack has to be ST6, followed by:- 5, 2, 3, 1
- and finally 4. Is this the end? Well, I don't know, but I do know that until
- I go to the great starship in the sky, for me, THE one and only crew of the
- starship Enterprise will always be with me in my heart. "...second star on
- the right and straight on till morning..."
-
-