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Star Trek: The Motion Picture/YMMV

< Star Trek: The Motion Picture


The Film:

  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The theme is so awesome, they made it the theme for Star Trek: The Next Generation. And you have not gotten your money's worth for any decent sound system you own until you hear the Blaster Beam through your subwoofer.
    • "Ilia's Theme" is one of the most stunningly beautiful pieces of music in all of Star Trek.
  • Ho Yay: "This simple feeling..." is exactly what, now, Spock? Especially since they're holding hands? And Kirk's gazing at him with a look of unprecedented, almost aching tenderness?
    • "Dammit Bones, I need you! Badly!"
    • The page image for Ho Yay is from this movie. Just sayin'.
    • Watch the scene where Spock first shows up on the bridge. Now look at Kirk's face. Does he or does he not look like he's just had the love of his life returned to him from death? His entire face lights up in that moment. There's no ambiguity there whatsoever.
    • And V'Ger finally understands this 'simple feeling' once Decker and Ilia join with it...sorry, is this supposed to be subtext?
  • Narm: The wormhole incident when the Enterprise tries to go to warp. The voices getting steadily more drawn out as the situation becomes more dire winds up hilarious, especially with Chekhov's accent.
  • Retroactive Recognition: Reverend Camden as Captain Decker.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: Powered by going way over budget. From the iridescent paint job on the Enterprise that made Chroma Key fail hard to zillions of vehicles and costumes you only saw on screen once to (of course!) the mind-bending V'Ger sequences, you should seriously consider giving your eyes a break every now and then.
    • Not to mention the AWESOME effect when the Enterprise warps out.
    • This also backfired hard in that they spent so much money on the effects that there are ridiculously long shots of them that just go on, and on, and on. The first fly-around of the Enterprise winds up dragging. Both Nimoy and Shatner said they were disappointed in how effects-focused the film was.
  • WTH Costuming Department: Everyone's exploring the galaxy in their jammies...
    • Not to mention McCoy's Disco unabomber look.
    • It's worse than that. Besides looking ridiculous, the costumes were literally agonizing for the male castmembers to try and sit down in because of the way the crotch was cut.

The Novel:

  • Freud Was Right: Everything has sexual subtext. EVERYTHING. Enterprise has make-out alcoves, V'Ger's giant orifice is likened to... another kind of orifice, Kirk gets a boner while talking to an old flame, a pretty intimate description of Probe!Ilia's first appearance, V'Ger wondering why Decker and its probe are having sex (Decker suggested it as a way to break through to Ilia's mind and Kirk agreed to it), and on and on and on.
  • Ho Yay: The movie is already fairly homoerotic, but the novelisation takes it Up to Eleven. For one thing, the novel introduces the Vulcan word t'hy'la, which Spock uses to describe Kirk, and which can mean friend, brother or lover. For another, it outright states that it was Kirk's mind that had called to Spock across the lightyears and ruined his Kolinahr.
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