Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition

The slow-motion picture: That’s how the first cinematic voyage of the Starship Enterprise was mockingly described when first released in 1979. Audiences wanted the pulp action of Star Wars, and the insatiable appetite for space adventure was enough to get the franchise to the beloved Wrath of Khan and beyond. But what director Robert Wise created, and amplified with his 2001 remaster/re-edit, was to capture the original series’ sense of cosmic wonder. The torpor becomes spectacle and introduces all the themes of aging, friendship, and loss that would define the ongoing star trekking of Bones, Spock, Kirk, Scotty, and Uhura. – Richard Whittaker