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(More customer reviews)In 1966, a TV show writer/producer named Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) had an idea for a futuristic sci-fi TV series in which humanity has united, achieved faster-than-light interstellar space travel and joined other worlds in the "United Federation of Planets". The show, known as "Star Trek", was on the air for a mere three years, but thanks in part to the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, in syndication the show gained a huge audience and fans began to gather at "Star Trek" conventions. With so much interest growing in "Star Trek", producers at Paramount (which obtained the show from Desilu Productions) considered reviving the TV series in the late 1970's, but opted instead to produce a big-screen feature-length film.
In 1979, the first film, called "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", was produced and reunited the entire cast from the cancelled series: Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Lt. Commander/Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard H. 'Bones' McCoy (DeForest Kelley, 1920-1999), Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott (James Doohan, 1920-2005), Lt. Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Keonig), Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) and Doctor (formerly Nurse) Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett, who is Gene Roddenberry's widow). Directed by the Oscar-award winning director Robert Wise (1914-2005), the film opened to throngs of waiting fans, but sadly, the film's story (inspired by an episode from the original series) was not well received.
Three years later in 1982, the second film entitled "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" opened in theaters. Based upon an original series episode that guest-starred Ricardo Montalban as the villian Khan Noonien Singh, this film was hailed by fans and remains to this day one of the most popular of all of them. Though the character of Spock died at the end of this film, the third film released in 1984, "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", saw his character return because his body at the end of the second film had been left on a newly formed, man-made planet. The next film released in 1986, "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home", was another very popular film in which the entire original crew travels back in time to current-day Earth in a captured Klingon ship. Unfortunately, the fifth film released in 1989, "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", is regarded by many as being the worst "Star Trek" film ever produced. Directed by William Shatner, the film's story features Spock's long-lost brother (Laurence Luckinbill) taking over the new Enterprise starship in order to find what he believes is the Garden of Eden, but instead finds an irritated alien entity that had been dumped there by someone else. The sixth film produced in 1991 and entitled "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" was the final film starring the entire original cast and featured an interesting story involving the Klingons wanting to create a peace treaty with the Federation.
With so much interest in the franchise again, Paramount decided in 1987 to produce an entirely new "Star Trek" TV series featuring a new cast, which would form the crew for the latest version of the starship Enterprise set about 100 years after the time of Kirk. The cast included Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Lieutenant/Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby, first season only), Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn), Commander Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Lt. Commander/Commander Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the android Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), the boy Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and the frequently recurring character Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg). The new TV show, named "Star Trek: The Next Generation", ran for seven complete seasons between 1987 and 1994.
Four additional big-screen films were then produced starring the cast from "Star Trek: The Next Generation", except for the characters portrayed by Denise Crosby and Wil Wheaton. The first of these films was released in theaters in 1994 and was entitled "Star Trek: Generations". It also included three original cast characters (Captain Kirk, Scotty and Pavel Chekov) to link the "Next Generation" with the original cast. Many fans were disappointed with the film, but I enjoyed it. The second of these "Next Generation" films was released in 1996. Entitled "Star Trek: First Contact", most people enjoyed the excitement of this film's story that featured a deadly cybernetic enemy known as the Borg that had been discovered during the "Next Generation" series. Controlled by the powerful Borg Queen (Alice Krige), the Borg travel back Earth's past in order to stop the father of warp drive, Dr. Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), from testing humanity's first-ever warp-powered ship that allowed Earth to make its first contact with an alien species, the Vulcans.
The third film featuring the "Next Generation" cast was released in theaters in 1998. Entitled "Star Trek: Insurrection", the film was not received as well by fans as the previous film, but was entertaining. The final film produced to date in 2002, "Star Trek: Nemesis" featured an alien species that had yet to be shown in any big-screen film, the Romulans. Unfortunately, this film's poor performance in theaters was due to a somewhat lackluster story. Whether or not Paramount will ever produce another film based upon "Star Trek" is currently unknown, but if another one is produced, it would more than likely feature another completely new cast of characters.
Overall, I rate the complete "Star Trek - The Motion Pictures DVD Collection (Special Edition)" DVD set with 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who has not yet purchased any of the special edition "Star Trek" films on DVD. Thank you Gene Roddenberry, wherever you are, for creating such a wonderful universe of characters and stories in "Star Trek".
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