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..."