THE CHANGLING PART 2

 

Film Title:  The Motion Picture

Air Date: 12/7/1979

Written by Alan Dean Foster and Harold Livingston

Directed by Robert Wise

Cast: William Shatner as Rear Admiral James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Stephen Collins as Captain Willard Decker     James Doohan  as Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Commander Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Commander Nyota Uhura          Majel Barrett as Dr. Christine Chapel          Walter Koenig as Lieutenant Pavel Chekov      Persis Khambatta as Lieutenant Ilia        Grace Lee Whitney as Lieutenant Janice Rand           Michael Rougas as  Lieutenant Cleary       David Gautreaux as Commander Branch              Marcy Lafferty as Chief Petty Officer DiFalco          Terrence O'Connor as Chief Petty Officer Ross           Jon Rashad Kamal as Lieutenant  Commander Sonak                            Roger Aaron Brown as unnamed  Epsilon Technician       Gary Faga as unnamed Airlock Technician               Michele Billy Povill as unnamed Lieutenant         Howard Itzkowitz as unnamed Ensign                 John Gowans as unnamed Crewman                 Jeri McBride as unnamed Crewman          Ralph Brannen as unnamed Crewman           Ralph Byers as unnamed Crewman                                Paula Crist as unnamed Crewman             Iva Lane as unnamed Crewman             Franklyn Seales as unnamed Crewman          Momo Yashima as unnamed Crewman            Joshua Gallegos as unnamed Crewman         Junero Jennings as unnamed Crewman             Sayra Hummel as unnamed Crewman                  Leslie C. Howard as unnamed Yeoman              Lisa Chess as unnamed Yeoman              Mark Lenard as the unnamed Klingon Captain                                  Jimmie Booth as unnamed Klingon Crewman                       Joel Kramer as unnamed Klingon Crewman                           Bill McIntosh as unnamed Klingon Crewman               Dave Moordigian as unnamed Klingon Crewman         Tom Morga as unnamed Klingon Crewman        Tony Rocco as unnamed Klingon Crewman                  Joel Shultz as unnamed Klingon Crewman            Craig Thomas as unnamed Klingon Crewman              Edna Glover as unnamed Grand Master T’Sai      Norman Stuart as unnamed Vulcan Master          Paul Weber as unnamed Vulcan Master Doug Hale as the Enterprise Computer (voice)

Ships and Space Stations: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Epsilon Nine, Space-drydock, IKS Amar, two unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class, Surak VS-5047-61192259584-5, various unnamed shuttlecraft

Planets: Earth and Vulcan

My Spoiler filled summary and review: After the opening credits, the movie begins with three Klingon K’t’inga class cruisers.  The view is treated with what will be the new Klingon musical theme through the soundtrack.  The Klingons themselves have moved on from their proto-human like look from the classic series and animated series to their true traditional look. It’s a good thing too, otherwise we would be asking why there is both a Klingon commander and a Romulan commander who look just like Spock’s dad.  The Klingons’ activity is being monitored by a nearby Starfleet station, Episode Nine, who observe the Klingon ships heading to a giant space cloud.  They try to fire weapons at the cloud only to have the cloud quickly destroy them.  So, despite their new look, they played the old Klingon role of being fodder for whatever new villain or entity is making an appearance.   

The Klingons

On Vulcan, Spock is about to complete the ceremony of Kolinahr, the purging of all emotion. Spock then backs out at the last minute. This is the Vulcan equivalent of dumping at the altar.  That has happened to Spock as well, but this is Kolinahr, not pon farr so there are no hurt feelings.  The masters let Spock know his destiny is elsewhere.  On Earth Admiral Kirk makes his first live action appearance in ten years.  We see him talk briefly to Spock’s successor as science officer of the Enterprise.  Kirk has a mission that means the Enterprise needs to be ready soon, because despite the fact that they are on Earth, capital homeworld of the Federation, they only have one ship that had just completed a years-long retrofit.

Spock fails need the Enterprise

Kirk beams up to the space station and has Scotty bring him in a short-range shuttle to the space dry dock.  Here the Enterprise is finishing up its retrofit that its new Captain and Scotty had been preforming in order to take her out on the ship’s next five-year mission.  At this point we begin the episode of Extreme Home Maker Over: Starship Edition.  As Scotty slowly and with pride takes the Admiral on a ride around the exterior of the ship.  He shows Kirk, and the viewer all the changes.  Kirk comes aboard and heads to the bridge.  The bridge has also been done over.  The new bridge comes with the best command chair ever. Kirk is immediately greeted by his former bridge crew; they are all excited to have him back. Although some feel a little sad for Decker.  

Kirk confronts Decker, he tells him point blank that, he, Kirk, is taking over the ship with Decker receiving a temporary grade reduction and job as Executive Officer.  When Decker asks why Kirk notes his experience. When Decker points out the ship’s changes Kirk simply reminds him that it is why he will continue as the ship’s first officer. This will cause drama through the rest of the movie, but it will not be truly explored in the way that it should have been.  I will talk more about that in my additional thoughts section.  Immediately, however, there is an alarm from the transporter room.  Lt. Janice Rand, in her first appearance since “The Conscience of the King,” now the transporter chief, is having a horrible time.  A transporter accident has put the lives of two officers in flux, one of which is the science officer.  This ends with both officers dying.  Since Kirk can’t get a new Vulcan to act as science officer, he forces Decker into double duty. 

Kirk returning 

Kirk hosts a crew meeting where he explains the danger they will be going into and the threat that it poses to Earth.  The transporter gets fixed, and ship welcomes two more crew members. The first is Lt. Ilia who is bald, beautiful, and has a prior relationship with Decker.   For some reason, the new navigator needs to announce to everyone on the bridge that she has taken a “vow of celibacy.”  A bit presumptuous if you ask me, but Kirk lets it slide.   The second person is none other than our famous Dr. McCoy, “drafted” out of retirement using an old reactivation clause. McCoy, being himself complains about everything including needing a new head nurse that Chaple is a doctor, the new sickbay, and Kirk particularly his relationship to Decker. 

These two have some history

With the threat looming Kirk needs to take this old girl with her new look out for spin. After all the giant space cloud isn’t slowing down.  And it is at this moment that we get the most exciting part of the movie.  As the ship warps out it creates a worm hole that makes everybody’s vision blurry, and their speech is slowed. If that were all it would be funny, but a giant asteroid has also got caught in the wormhole and it’s headed right toward the ship. The helm is offline so they can’t evade.  Kirk orders it to be destroyed with phasers but Decker countermands him and orders the ship instead to fire photon torpedoes.  The explosion destroying the asteroid also causes the wormhole goes away and everything returns to normal. Later Kirk demands to know why Decker countermanded him. Decker calmly explained that in order to increase phaser power the phasers now run through the engines if the engines are offline the phaser might not work.  Kirk realizes he was right and lets him go.  McCoy then chews Kirk’s butt for his beef with Decker. 

Nevertheless, they are stuck in the middle of space until they solve their warp engines problem. Fortunately, a long-range shuttle craft comes out of nowhere. The shuttlecraft contains Mr. Spock who is here to solve all their problems.  He offers his services as chief science officer and Kirk orders his commission re-instated.  Although Spock has done them a great service fixing the engines.  It appears Spock’s time on Vulcan has dampened his social skills a bit.  McCoy even thinks Spock’s mental connection to the cloud creature might present a security risk.

Back to save the day!

The Enterprise gets to the energy barrier and is scanned. They do nothing in response.  Spock’s reading suggests that it is very powerful. However, Spock’s mental powers come in use that the creature wonders why they have not replied. Bolts of lightning fly through the warp core and into the ship’s systems injuring several including Chekov, who gives out that classic Chekov scream. Spock patterns a code from the signals being sent to transmit a message.  The lighting attack stops, Spock suggests they proceed, Decker says he finds that an unwarranted risk, but won’t explain to Kirk what he means by it.

As they move into the cloud they come across a massive ship. Uhura explains they can’t send anything out.  For their signals are just reflected back at them.  The ship is suddenly boarded by a beam of energy that Chekov thinks might be part of their crew. The energy thing moves along the bridge when it suddenly focuses on Lt. Ilia. It zaps and disappears with her.  Which causes Decker to cry out about how he defines “unwarranted.”  It turns out they don’t have to miss Ilia for very long.  Because a replacement Ilia is suddenly transported aboard.  This new Ilia is a probe for what she calls V'ger.  V'ger is that entity in the center of the cloud. This probe was created so V’ger can understand the Enterprise and its carbon-based units and see how they can be used to help V’ger with its mission.  The mission is to find the creator. For some reason V’ger thinks that its creator can be found on Earth.  Given that the probe has all of Ilia’s memories and experiences they decide that Decker will be the best one to work with her. 

Decker and the Fake Ilia

While Decker is off charming the robot, Spock has decided to take matter into his own hands.  He steals a suit and jet pack and decides to attempt to enter V’ger’s vessel solo.  He has quite a bit of success when he gets in there, he encounters images that he concludes a V’ger’s memories, including an image of what he assumes must be V’ger’s homeworld: a planet of all machines.  Spock finds the real Ilia stuck in the machine.  He attempts to mind meld with her, but he is given intense feedback by V’ger forcing him back.  Back on the Enterprise, Kirk figured out what Spock was doing and decided to rescue him.  He is there just in the nick of time and Spock is brought back to sick bay.  There Spock confides to Kirk that for all of V’ger’s knowledge it does understand basic emotions and bonds of brotherhood.  Nevertheless, it still seeks its creator.

Despite all its technology it is noted that V’ger was also trying to communicate to Earth in old radio waves. Without a reception V’ger concludes that the carbon-based life forms on the planet had somehow prevented the creator from reaching out to V’ger.  So, it sends these energy bolts and has them hover above the Earth ready to eradicate humanity.  When they determine that V’ger doesn’t consider corporal base life true life McCoy becomes the first to realize that V’ger is under the opinion that its creator is an artificial intelligence like itself.  This causes Decker to quote that we all create God in our own image.

Spock finds Ilea

Spock suggests a different strategy.  V’ger is a child and therefore should be treated like a child.  Kirk announces to fake Ilea that they know why the creator hasn’t responded and she demands they disclose the information.  Kirk orders to clear the bridge making V’ger cause the ship to rumble.  Kirk points out that if they are destroyed their knowledge goes with them.  Fake Ilea says V’ger will comply providing they turn over the information. Kirk then tells her that the message must be given to V’ger directly not to his probe. This is smart move for Kirk who is buying time to allow him to figure out the best way to get V’ger to commit suicide.  V’ger’s vessel opens its entrance allowing the Enterprise to penetrate its interior.  Chekov notes that as they enter an oxygen atmosphere forms inside the vessel that would allow humans to survive.  Kirk organizes a landing party consisting of himself, Decker, Spock, McCoy, and Fake Ilia.

The team exits the Enterprise manually, not through a transporter, they take a nice long jog to find V’ger. When they get there, they discover something very familiar about the main V’ger body.  It looks just like the old Voyager space probe.  Kirk goes to the crude covered name plate that says “V_ _ _ _ GER _” He scrapes away some of the crude and reveals the name of Voyager 6.  NASA had sent this into space almost three hundred years prior. 

At that point Kirk realizes that it has happened again.  Humans send a device out into space, it runs into some alien technology that ends up changing it, and it decides it needs to find its creator, and is willing entire star systems to get what it wants.  Last time Kirk talked the Nomad device into suicide, if he wanted to do that again, he would have to be more creative.  Kirk appeals to V’ger that “we are the creator.”  Fake Ilia disputes this but Kirk says he can prove it and he contacts Uhura, and she gives him the old radio code.  However, V’ger fries its own circuits.  Because it wants THE creator to show up so V’ger can bond with the creator and become one.  Doing so would give access to imagination and possibly other plains of existence.  Decker sees this and realizes the possibilities.  Understanding that he has only seconds to act before Kirk, as Bane of All Artificial Intelligence, talks V’ger into suicide.  Decker reroutes V’gers circuits claiming he can enter the codes manually.  When the other three try to warn him off, Decker says to Kirk that he wants this as much as Kirk wanted the Enterprise.  With that energy surrounds Decker.  Fake Ilia joins him (and maybe her connection to real Ilia makes her less fake).  The two of them embrace and energy starts to envelop everything.  Kirk, Spock, and McCoy hightail it back to the ship and all of what was V’ger, including the cloud, enveloped in energy and disappears.  Leaving only the USS Enterprise.

The Last One Standing

Back up on the bridge the three officers wonder if they have not just experienced the birth of a whole new life form.  McCoy jokes that it had been a long time since he had delivered a baby, but he hopes that they have given this one a good start.  When putting together the casualties list Kirk lists Captain Decker and Lt. Ilia as “missing.” 

Time for final thoughts

Scotty reports to Spock that they are all set to drop him off at Vulcan, but Spock says there is no need as he will be staying.  The Enterprise has completed its refit, the crew has been reunited, and with Captain Decker missing that leaves the old captain, James T. Kirk, opportunity to continue command.  It’s time for the next five-year mission.    

Additional thoughts: As a kid I disliked The Motion Picture.  Of all the classic Star Trek films it was by far my least favorite.  Although the refitted Enterprise looked cool, I had a hard time with the slow story and the ridiculous looking uniforms.  I mean why put the famous starship crew of all time in pajamas and what was that Walkman-thing they were wearing on their stomachs?  Over the years, however, I have come to appreciate what they were trying to do.  Star Trek after all is more than one thing.  Some great Star Trek is an epic space battle between two or more ships, other times it can be exploring a strange new world, an amazing time travel adventure, or we can meet a new type of life.  This movie is about one of the more sci-fi aspects of Star Trek, complete with stunning visuals.  The movie in many ways feels like an extended episode: a multiact structure with Captain’s Logs giving us updates every step of the way.  It’s important to remember that those watching in December 1979, this was the first time they were able to see this crew live action in ten years.  It must have been something special. 

The Klingons looking good!

Unfortunately, the plot wasn’t so special.  It’s “the Changeling” now bigger, better, and brighter.  This isn’t a unique criticism, every fan notices this.  So, I am not going to dwell on it too much more or risk being a type of hypocrite. On a lighter note, I do find it hilarious that they spent so much remaking the Klingons to look like the true kickass antagonists they were always meant to be, only to have them be slapped away almost without effort by something that turned out to be human space garbage.

Thinking of you again!

I realize Kirk had a great time serving with Spock but developing a strong desire to only have Vulcan science officers some type of new bigotry.  I “must have a Vulcan” seems weird for a franchise that emerged out of the 1960s, a decade that demanded an end to racial preferences.  Also, why does Decker have to do double duty?  There is no one else on the ship capable of serving as chief science officer out of a 430 person crew?  Not even in the science department?  Maybe Kirk is seeing everything through his Spock googles. Although when Spock does arrive, he so Kolinahred out that it must have been a reminder to Kirk not to view the past with too much nostalgia as the it might taint the memory. 

Everybody happy to see Spock, but Spock

With the exception of Kirk’s Admiral uniform, I don’t know why anyone thought these new uniforms looked good.  In preparing for one’s big ten-year live action return, one should want to look a feel their best.  Instead, they look like they all got invited to a pajama party, where they had to bring their own Walkman. The Enterprise, however, did get to look her best.  Already beautiful, she got to produce the best episode of Extreme Home Makeover ever.  Everything about the ship was perfect.

"I'm sexy, and I know it!"

One big disappointment was the Decker/Kirk relationship.  This should have been a great drama, it is set up to be, but instead we get muted drama.  The rival captains are placed against each other, but this never leads to anything.  To make matters worse is it is considered canon that Will Decker is the son of Matt Decker from “The Doomsday Machine.” Not only should this be a major part of their story, but it is not even mentioned.  When you think about the Kirk/Decker situation it makes sense from Starfleet’s side.  A planetary-ending level threat of unknown origin is on its way. The only ship you have has a captain who has never commanded a ship out of space dock and has spent the last two years remodeling that vessel. The last captain is nearby and has a record of defeating threats like this. Why not put the old one back and charge and have the new one be first officer for a tour since he knows the remodel. However, their personalities are going to clash. Kirk, which the movie shows, really wants his old job back. Decker, after getting over the initial shock seems totally cool with the loss of status. I think this should have been played up more. Imagine being Decker you spend two years fixing up this ship to take it out. Then you lose the command because a threat arrives and Starfleet doesn’t trust you to deal with it, but they will let be second-in-command to the captain we do trust. Also then add in the family history his father went after a similar threat years ago.  He lost everything.  His life, his ship, and his crew were all gone.  Jim Kirk went against the same threat and came away the winner, and now Starfleet wants to preemptively make the Decker/Kirk swap.

“I am taking over center seat, Will” Kirk.

“You’re what?” asked Decker.

“I am replacing you as Captain of the Enterprise.  You’ll stay on as Executive Officer, temporary grade reduction to commander.”

“May I ask why?” Decker

“My experience.  There is a very dangerous threat that can destroy multiple starships and potentially devore solar systems.  Now having gone toe to toe against Nomad, the gigantic single-cell organism, not to mention the Doomsday Machine…”

“And they don’t trust a Decker to deal with anything resembling a Doomsday Machine, do they?” Decker walks off in anger.

They could have done a lot with that.

Although it could have used more drama, the Kirk/Decker arrangement is actually shown to work.  Decker’s knowledge of the ship saves them from the asteroid in that wormhole. Nevertheless, Kirk’s experience gets them through the mission.  Throughout the film Decker displays an overwhelming amount of caution worthy of General George McClellan from the US Civil War.  Decker isn’t alone, a lot of the crew feel that way.  In fact, Kirk is almost the only person on the entire crew who understands the magnitude of the threat that V’ger makes to Earth.  The movie is already slow moving but it is amazing that the crew has such a lack of urgency considering the threat to the homeworld of most of them.  If Decker had been left in command, they never would have penetrated the cloud and Earth’s population would have been wiped out.  Good job, Captain Kirk.

Unlikely pair

              This year I am teaching 8^th grade science, and we’re doing astronomy this last month.  So, a lot of this is fresh to me.  The Voyager series stopped after Two. It’s probably this movie’s fault. NASA probably saw the movie and was like “Let’s stop building these Voyager series they might come back and try to kill us.”  Also, at their max speed it would be 80,000 years for one of them to reach the nearest solar system.  So, getting lost in a black hole to be found by alien robots was probably the most unrealistic part of the movie. (The finding a black hole part, not the alien robots.)

Voyager 2

It's too bad we never get to see any of the five-year mission that went on after The Motion Picture.  Oh, well that is why the Pocket Book Series was written. 

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5