JediTricks wrote:TMP is a great film, it's a tragedy that the director's edition was never rendered in HD as it solves some of the issues the theatrical cut suffers. But even the theatrical cut, I was watching it with friends recently and the lead-up to V'ger is shocking how engrossing that material is.
I haven't seen the theatrical cut in years. The 2 disc director's cut is the one I own and have watched the last few times I've been in the mood to see it again. But I agree, the music, the pacing and the largely dialogue free sequences as the Enterprise flies into this massive cloud are well done.
The New Coke Trek films don't give a shit about the Enterprise, which is why it's so ugly and poorly-designed (the way the giant nacelles are barely attached to the pylons, for example). They weren't even sure how big their ship was going to be in the first one, giving multiple vastly different scales, ultimately deciding it should be larger than the 1701-D.
They're modern popcorn action flicks: lots of blurry CGI and spectacle, very little substance or depth. I don't hate them, but they're certainly inferior to the original series and movies.
I've been watching TOS lately since it's been a few years, and I'm reminded of just how much I enjoy that show, and how well done it really is on so many levels. Shatner gets a lot of flack for some of his acting choices, but he's very good as Kirk in those early episodes, and capable of a good deal of quiet and subtle acting when required. Spock's court martial during "The Menagerie" is a prime example of a very restrained William Shatner, calmly involved in proceedings and working out just what Spock is trying to do and trying to say. And Spock smiles, or half smiles, a lot more than I remembered in the early episodes. You can tell the actors are just learning their characters, but they're already putting a lot into the parts and producing some good performances.
There's a reason that show thrived for so long. I've seen every episode a dozen times growing up, and I still enjoy going back and re-watching every few years.