Star Trek: The Motion Picture

In which I self-indulgently comment on Star Trek movies in preparation for seeing the new one:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Ten years after the series went defunct, Paramount revived the franchise (this might have had something to do with the success of a certain George Lucas movie). James T. Kirk is now an admiral and regrets taking the promotion. Enterprise is undergoing an extensive refit and under the command of one Capt. Decker, son of the man who went crazy after his crew was eaten by he Doomsday Machine. Spock is off on some Vulcan cult thing and McCoy has retired from the service.

Just as Enterprise is ready to undergo space trials, a really big space cloud is detected, heading toward earth. It's already vaporized (or something) a trio of Klingon battle cruisers and Enterprise is the only ship in the quadrant. Again. (But wait, this is the home quadrant, right?)

Anyway, Kirk gets the command of Enterprise after pulling a few strings at Starfleet Command, Capt. Decker is pissed, Spock returns after a telepathic moment with Kirk, and McCoy is drafted and full of wonderful curmudgeonlyness (and Chapel is now a doctor). They go off and, after an interminable amount of time flying through clouds and whatnot, get to the heart of V'ger (the cloud's name) and save the day.

Perhaps the best thing about the movie was the score and the refit Enterprise. The scene where the shuttle pod "tours" space dock with the first sight of the new ship (after ten years) is absolutely glorious. And the refit Enterprise is still my favorite incarnation of starships Enterprise. Sleek, elegant, and without a lot of inexplicable junk kludged onto the outside. The uniforms, though. Wow.