It’s been a while for all of these, so I don’t think a non-spoiler thread for each is appropriate. But maybe we can make this thread spoiler free?
Thoughts/thots?
Pike I think your suggestion sounds good. I can avoid the frak party threads until I see the movies 
Oh, my apologies. I honestly thought the statue of spoilers limitations on a film from 1982 would’ve run out by now, especially one so well-known in pop (let alone geek) culture… but I do sincerely apologize if I spoiled some of your fun.
It’s still a great film, with plenty left to enjoy!
I’m totally down with however everyone would like to approach this, but don’t feel bad, Mike. I’m in your court. The name of Trek III is pretty much a spoiler for II, yeah?
Well, I guess one could argue that the most you know from the title alone is that Spock is somehow lost (although this is only true in a metaphorical sense, since – SPOILER ALERT – everyone ought to know exactly where he is…)
You know, some forums have spoiler “highlighting” as an option, via HTML tags. Could we do this on GWC – or is it available already, and I just don’t know about it?
Just place whatever spoiler-containing text you have between two spoiler tags like this:
<spoiler> Spock is actually Luke’s father. </spoiler>
Except use brackets [] instead of carets <>. Or whatever those things are called.
Examples:
[spoiler]Glimfeather is a solid dude.[/spoiler]
And…
[spoiler]Pike can’t stand all of us on his lawn.[/spoiler]
You get the idea.
Cool! Will do!
i’ve been looking forward to the trek arc for a while…i’ve been looking for a reason to forcefeed trek to my girlfriend and the movie is a perfect excuse.
Welcome aboard, bhsdrew. I love seeing what tips people over to posting on the forum.
Thanks Pike, yea i been listening to the podcast for over a year, but i just never posted when i listened to the live podcast i was like damnit i want to know what the inside jokes are!
Heh. They do tend to accumulate. Check the FAQ (link is up top and to the left) for a few of them. We probably need to add some others, so don’t be afraid to ask.
So, are we discussing Star Trek IV yet? I started re-watching it this morning and haven’t even gotten to the 20th century part (surely no spoiler there, right? <g>), and already I am having a blast. Athough I saw Star Trek III on the big screen, IV is the first of the films that I saw as a Trekkie, and I will always have fondness for it for that reason alone.
I’d forgotten some of the cornier aspects of even the 23rd century portions – I mean, dude, Vulcan engineers have to wear Munchkin caps while they work? Are they whistling while they work, also? And the President of the Federation sends a “planetary distress call” to basically tell people, “Stay away!” What kind of distress call is that? – but, frak, if this movie doesn’t have a 100% unsullied heart of pure Trek goodness. Of course there is intelligent life beyond humanity on Earth! Of course we’re going to save the planet! I mean, there is no hesitation, no BSG- or even TNG-style soul-searching about what to do (as much as I love those kind of stories, too) – Kirk and Co. just snap into action, with appropriate grousing from Bones. Awesome.
This movie in lots of ways is very atypical Trek, but I wonder if it made a lot of new Trekkies all the same, because I think the essence of Gene Roddenberry’s orginal philosophy is there. And I’m no blindly loyal pro-GR apologist (even though my recent rantings on TMP probably make me seem that way), but he did see the future as a fundamentally positive time, and he did see human beings as basically good and capable of getting better, and this movie is at its heart all about that.
So bring on Uhura’s totally improbable adjustment of a transmission for density, salinity and other factors! Bring on McCoy’s weirdo googly-eye-making at Spock throughout the film. Frak, even bring on those pointy-hatted Vulcan corps of engineers! This movie is one of the best Trek has yet produced.
Looking forward to ST IV.
Some pretty funny scenes in it.
I love this one.
Scotty: “How quaint.”
Just watched it last night. Oh, yes, sir: Uhura is THAT good. In a single motion, she can adjust audio signals to offset salinity factors.
And big ups to Kirk, though, for thinking of doing it. That entire “here’s how we’ll save the earth” portion reminded me of Anders’ information dump. “OK, let’s lay it out really fast, fast enough that everyone will go with it, and we can move along.”
I’m really not a Trek fan after the TNG series. Here’s two of my major issues: Time travel and crusty-headed aliens.
- Aliens. It bugged me how, as the Star Trek universe expanded, they kept introducing aliens with exponentially crusty heads. “They’re from very, very, very far away – THAT’S why they have so much stuff growing on their humanoid head!”
But when I watched ST IV for the first time in years, I was struck by the assortment of new alien races – and how they looked like Star Wars creatures. And how they looked pretty whack.
So I guess I’d rather have crusty-headed aliens with deeply ridged foreheads.
- Time travel. I won’t bash Enterprise at length here, but all the time travel stuff, come on. And when, apparently…
[spoiler]the new movie involves time travel[/spoiler]
…I thought, “For frakkin’ craaap’s sake, can’t they just take the time travel and stick it where the sun don’t shine? IT NEVER WORKS. DOESN’T GENERATE ANY DRAMA. ENOUGH. Why’d they bother in the first place?”
But then, watching ST IV, I was reminded that the time travel factor weighed heavily in one of the best old-school Trek movies. So hey, time travel it is.
Also…
- New Saavik = boo. As the bird of prey takes off, the exterior shot reveals her 16" waistline. Who cares? Gimmie Kirstie.
And tangent from there: It’d be funny if Kirstie Alley played emotional Saavik like Rebecca from Cheers.
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And, man, the recurring shots of the workers struggling to save the windows of Starfleet HQ… after the 16th time, it was just funny. “Even the very windows of Starfleet are in danger!” It’s on par with Adama looking at Galactica’s cracks.
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Killing Dr. (sic) Spock was a really ballsy move. But unnecessary. Bringing him back was a wimpy move. But maybe necessary. Killing the Enterprise was a nice counter-sacrifice. At the end of IV, it’s nice how, after three movies, everything returns to where it was after I: Kirk is captain, Spock is alive, Enterprise is restored, the crew is reunited and out to have space adventures.
While Robin Curtis is no Kirstie Alley, she played the part well – just differently. Nimoy directed her, explicitly, to play Saavik as 100% Vulcan, so, at least in the production team’s mind, the half-Romulan bit – which never made it to screen in the first place – was jettisoned. It’s a shame, b/c Alley’s Saavik was infinitely more interesting (and, of course, hotter <g>), but my hating on Robin Curtis has approached zero over the years. She really does turn in strong work in ST III. I wish they’d treated her and the character with a bit more respect in IV. Less than two minutes screen time? And the most inane line: “I haven’t had a chance to tell you about David” – Come on! They’ve been on Vulcan for three frakking months by that point! What, Kirk was in the loo the whole time?
I think ST IV would have made an appropriate finale to the original film series, too, although ST VI has some nice closure surrounding [spoiler]David’s death[/spoiler] and the Klingons. (Even though Kirk’s line about that at the end makes no sense in hell – “You’ve restored my son’s?” What faith did David ever have in Klingons? Oh, well, we’ll save that for next week’s podcast.)
I wish we’d gotten Gillian Taylor back in one of the latter films. What a strong character, very well played by Catherine Hicks. I think she’s the only woman in Star Trek to “love him and leave him” to Kirk, too! Huzzah!
No one talking yet about ST VI? No one psyched for the next podcast? C’mon, I know you are…!
I can remember seeing ST VI in the theater opening weekend and being blown away by the fact that it started with Cliff Eidelman’s dark, ominous music as opposed to the usual triumphant fanfare. My friend in the seat next to me leaned over and said, “This is gonna be different, huh?” And it sure was.
I probably rank it above ST III but below II and IV in my list of favorite TOS films.
Other thoughts, trivia, things to look for…?