Although critics moaned over the long running time and overload of visual FX (in today's bloated FX laden cinema, ST:TMP is standard to quaint fare), fans plunked down enough box office loot to make it a hit and justify the many installments to follow. In 2009, director JJ Abrams faced a similar challenge, and his reboot or re-imagination starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana and Karl Urban soared to praise and profit.
The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning.
While being easy to dismiss as too visually oriented, too long or lacking emotional subtext, Wise helmed a movie dealing in both the physical and sexual needs of humanity and our more substantive emotional underpinnings. Lt. Ilia and her old flame Decker (Stephen Collins) exemplify just how complex a future could be where issues of interfaith or interracial couplings have been settled, but now a new variable challenges our notion of being human - one of interspecies joining. Ilia (Persis Khambatta) is a Deltan and her people employ sex as we would in celebration or greeting. Their sexuality is as much a part of their identity as their name or career. This romantic couple joined alongside by the struggle of Spock and Kirk to rectify and rekindle their own long, passionate friendship and professional relationship are more than enough of a humanity equation to savor and balance - if viewers only pay attention.
Ultimately, Wise made a film that he could be proud of, even though he didn't have enough time to finish the complex optical FX. Back then, the only computers capable enough to conjure up such visuals in the budget and production time scheduled were the fictional cyber circuits of the Starship Enterprise. In November 2001, Wise finally got the chance to see his finished film premiere in the Paramount Theatre of The Arts - complete with new digital FX which perfectly complimented the traditional film opticals of the 1970's era. It was subsequently released on a special edition DVD.
No comments:
Post a Comment