Point taken but when the fifth film in a series sports by far the worst FX then there's clearly a problem, you can't really make a comparison to TOS which was over 20 years prior with a tiny proportion of it's budget. My yardstick is TMP, which is still a decade older yet utterly blows it out of the water visually. My point is I think audiences expect something more from a big screen outing, especially a sci fi one.
My feeling exactly. This was a motion picture. I give the original series way more leeway because it was a TV show made in the 1960s (and taking that into account I thought the effects for a 60's made show weren't bad for the time).
The effects in TFF were shameful. They didn't necessarily need to use ILM either. TMP, Insurrection and Nemesis all proved you could put out satisfactory effects from other companies. ILM is the best, no doubt, and they'd be my first choice almost every time. But there are plenty of effects companies out that, cheaper if that was desired, that still could have done an adequate job. TFF effects were a big fail in my book.
As for the film, it does rank 13/13 in my book. However, that doesn't mean I hate it. I don't hate any of the Star Trek films. I have all 13 in my collection and will happily watch any of them when the mood strikes.
TFF captured some of the best character moments of the series, esp. of Kirk/Spock/McCoy. I actually loved Luckinbill as Sybok--while I wasn't a big fan of him being a never before seen half-brother (he could have been a mentor gone bad for Spock), but that's no knock on the character otherwise or Luckinbill himself. And Goldsmith always put out a top notch score. And it has one of my favorite sets outside the bridge of the films, the forward observation room (I always wished Meyer found a way to incorporate that in TUC--it was a great set by Zimmerman).
Things I didn't like, special effects, SPECIAL EFFECTS. I continue to hope Paramount decides to fix that. If CBS can completely rehaul the original series and update TNG (something that from what I understand was very hard to do), Paramount can redo the effects of TFF. And in this day and age, they probably could make it look infinitely better with a minimal amount of money.
Would fans fork over money for a special-remastered edition of TFF on Blu-Ray? I actually think they'd make decent money on that. A longstanding complaint has been the effects. And I think TFF has plenty of fans to make it worth their while.
The story and the hammy comedy--not a lot you can do with that. The novel was far superior I thought (if you've never read it give it a read--I read it before the movie came out and thought the movie would be better than it was as a result).
Honestly I'm not sure how much I blame Shatner for the faults in the film. Paramount sounded like they were pretty heavy handed. They wanted more comedy--hoping to cash in on TVH. But you can't manufacture humor like that. In TVH it was much more natural and appropriate. In TFF you could tell it was forced. And Paramount wanted to go on the cheap. I remember reading somewhere that George Takei (or maybe it was Doohan) even complemented Shatners directing style. He obviously had his issues with Shatner but he said that Shatner maintained a relaxed environment on set and seemed to be open to suggestions. He wasn't some tyrant on set. These days I tend to pin more blame on Paramount for TFF's failings--except for maybe the story itself which is more on the writers, and yes Shatner too.
