Three Movies Everybody Hates...Except Me

It boggles my mind why fans of the series hate this movie so much.  Since watching the movie many times I've also screened episodes of the series and I believe the movie delivered in all of the key elements.  I thught the casting was great.  Connery was good as the outrageous villian.  It was kind of like seeing Bond play Goldfinger.  The leads had great chemistry as far as I was concerned.  The tension was certainly there, although it might have been more understated.  Some fans objected to the kissing scene; I thought it was handled just right and it's probably what half the audience always wanted to see.

I felt that from Steed's opening shots with all of the weird camera angles that the director had the right feel for the quirkiness of the show.  It just all worked for me, though I realize I am in the vast minority.  I especially liked the running gag with having tea.

I don't know why they keep making these revival movies because they are almost never successful, except in the case of the franchise we'll be discussing next.  The main reason they fail is that on some level they fail to satisfy the hardcore fan base.  Usually its because they don't stay true to the concept of the original, as blatantly seen in Mission Impossible.  I thought Cherchik succeeded in capturing the mood and charm of the original.  At the very least he made a sincere effort to honor and respect the main elements of the series while having a story big enough to be worthy of a movie.  Patrick MacNee must have seen something valid in it or he wouldn't have done his cameo.

I do object to the one swear word in the movie.  It was totally gratuitous and probably planted solely to get a more mature rating.

I think revivals are a no win proposition because they cannot compete with our memories.

On my personal A to  F satisfaction scale The Avengers gets: A-.

The reviews of this movie were so bad when it was first released that they approched the level of being hateful.  All of the venom was being sent in one direction.  It was all dumped on William Shatner, who directed.  After the drubbing he took over this movie, being showered with Tribbles probably wasn't so bad.  In any case, the crummy reviews scared me away.  I didn't go near it for seven years.  I finally reluctantly relented and bought the video to complete my movie set.

BOY WAS I SURPRISED!  it is by far my favorite of te feature films for several reasons.  Of all the films it captures the flavor of the oiginal series best.  It centers on relationships, primarily the Kirk, Spock, McCoy relationship to move the story as in ST III.  There is more chaacter interaction in this movie, and  a certain intimacy, while at the same time trying to take these familiar characters in some unexplored directions.  The scene in the officers lounge where this trio of brothers is confronted by their private pain is one of the most riveting in Trek history.

The film makes good use of the supporting cast.  They all had significant scenes that added humor and action to the story.  I was okay with the story.  If it's okay for Kirk to have a son. it's okay for Spock to have a brother.  Besides, if you want to compare weak stories, the whole whale thing in ST IV was no great winner in my book..

As a person of faith I loved the way God and faith are treated in a positive way.  Every living being is portrayed as being on a personal life journey to find God and truth.  The being who pretends to be God is the living essence of absolute evil who has been impisoned in the barren place.  Therefore their must be an all powerful Being of absolute love who imprissoned him.

The quality of this series has always been uneven.  The reason they continue while others we are discussing fail, is because Star Trek, as a concept and as an industry is bigger than the movies.  Star Trek movies always succeed on some level because Trek needs a big medium to contain it.  Critics either don't get Star Trek or they were out to get Shatner.  I'm glad many fans are giving the movie a second look.  On my personal satisfaction scale Star Trek V gets:  Straight A

Of the three movies under discussion this one is probably the most reviled.  I have heard that this movie is the lowest grossing movie in British film history.  It's really a shame because it could have been and should have been a hit.  It did not fail because Jonathan Frakes made a bad film, he made a good film, but he also made the wrong film at the wrong time.  We'll dissect all of that in a minute.  I want to quickly dispose of why I like it.

I like it simply because I bought into the story I was given, and after doing that it made me laugh and cry several times.  I'm sorry, but it's just a movie and I can't ask more than that from a movie.

Now, why did it fail?  It failed because the hardcore fans got a copy of the script before the release.  They detested Frakes' approach and boycotted the movie in droves.

It is hard to ifathom how Frakes, who has had years of experience dealing with fandom of cult phenomena make such a horrible miscalculation.  One would think that if anyone could understand the psychology of cult fandom that he would.  Star Trek has proven that the initial success of these kinds of movies are in the hands of 'hungry' hardcore fans who have been waiting decades for this movie.  They are your bread and butter.  You have to make it your mission to give them the movie they have prayed for, expected and deserved.  You do not want to anger them or disappoint them in any way because the ultimate goal here is to build a film franchise.  The fans were both angered and disappointed and so now there will be no second chance at creating a franchise.  They wanted a science fiction rescue adventure that utilized and brought to live-action the characters they grew up with, not a coming of age story about Alan.  This movie might have been a great second movie after appeasing the fan base.

However, it is highly unfair to judge a movie on what it isn't.  There are some great moments and thankfully they at least got Jeff, Lady Penelope right.  Lady P;. and Parker steal the movie.  Like Lost in Space this is a good family movie, which was Frake's original goal.  Thunderbirds gets:  B