Master & Commander and Star Trek....

[Warped9]

On Sunday evening I couldn't find anything of real interest on TV to kick back and watch. So on a whim I popped in my dvd of Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World.

I love this movie. It just works for me. As filmed I see it as the best Star Trek movie never made. It isn't a "save the world" or "the galaxy" type story, but just an isolated event within the context of a much bigger story (the war between England and France). And even though it's a period piece set in the far past it just resonates on so many levels as a TOS adventure. From characterization to depicting the eighteenth century world it was so much like watching first season TOS but through a strange filter. Wonderful.

If a Star Trek film came off like M&C then it could be something to appreciate.

 

[A beaker full of death]

The Horatio Hornblower series of movies hits the same note, too. These stories are the source of TOS, and really are TOS at its best.

 

[Plum]

Well heck, I remember Shatner being interviewed by NBC in an old vid (it's on YouTube somewhere I'm sure) and he describes Star Trek as Horatio Hornblower in space.

 

[Botany Bay]

I agree Warped9 - I remember watching it under protest when it came out, and by the end of it thinking - "Wow - that was a top notch Star Trek movie set on boats!"

 

[Neopeius]

aussie said:
I agree Warped9 - I remember watching it under protest when it came out, and by the end of it thinking - "Wow - that was a top notch Star Trek movie set on boats!"

I never thought that at all, but it was quite a good movie.

TOS had a little Hornblower in it, but it had a lot more 50s science fiction and the WW2 navy in it.