Film Junk Premium Podcast: The Star Trek Original Motion Picture Franchise

Posted by on May 22nd, 2013   Filed under: Featured, Film Junk Podcast, Premium Podcast

Star Trek

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, so with that in mind, the Film Junk crew sat down with Reed Farrington — Film Junk’s resident Star Trek expert — to endure a solid three hours of Trek talk in service of you, our loyal listeners! In this episode we focus on the first six Star Trek films, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and ending with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Along the way, Reed Farrington attempts to defend his love of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier while simultaneously throwing a fan favourite of the series under the bus. Meanwhile, we explore the effectiveness of Uhura’s sexy feather dance and the logic of wearing ripped pants when your genitals happen to be located on your knee. We also discuss the history of the infamous “KHAAAAANNNN!!!” scream and Kirk’s true motivations behind it. So, will the even/odd theory of the series hold true? You’ll just have to tune in and find out. If you don’t…well double dumbass on you!

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This series of premium podcasts was created to help support the regular weekly Film Junk Podcast. Head on over to Bandcamp and download full episodes for a minimum donation of just 99 cents. As always, let us know if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any other suggestions for future specials. Thanks for your support!



  • Nick P.

    OMG I am so friggen excited!!! You guys better have said nothing bad about ST3, my personal fave.

    Why you ask? I feel that it is the best because it is the most emotionally involving, had the best effects, the music was incredible, Nimoy created 3 incredible set action pieces, and I think this may have been Shatners best acting performance ever.

    Plus they did this all given the worst set-up ever, bringing a main character back from the dead. I love the fact that it cost something, the death of Kirks’ son and the enterprise. It wasn’t free like Stupid into Darkness.

  • Tommy

    BOOYA!

  • piggystardust

    A series that, as Fry said in Futurama, averages out to be really great.

    Based on your letterboxd scores this week I think I’ll agree with your opinions. I’m curious to hear Reed defend V.

  • Sam

    Awesome!!

    Awaiting this premium forced me to finally watch all the Star Trek films for the first time. Was not disappointing. Downloading the premium now.

    I didn’t hate Star Trek V as much as most, but I definitely like as much as Reed and would still say it was the weakest (along with the first) of the series.

  • Kasper

    When you guys do a proper redesign of the site, I really hope the whole podcast business gets set up better. It’d be so much sweeter if I could just choose to buy a “season” worth of premium episodes, rather than having to go in and pay for each, and they would then automatically pop up on my feed for easy access whenever new ones gets released.

  • csidle

    If I understand correctly, these are the films discussed in this podcast?
    1 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
    2 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
    3 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
    4 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
    5 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
    6 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

    The only thing Star Trek I’ve seen is the 2009 film. So I figure I might watch the above six films over the summer and listen to the podcast to finally get into what this thing is.

  • csidle

    Incidentally, if one were interested in getting into the tv series, what would be a good starting point? I figure I might watch the original series, and The Next Generation seems relevant too, but it’s awfully long.

  • Sam

    csidle – Yes those are the ones being covered. Like you, I had only seen 2009 Star Trek before watching all six of those over the last few weeks.

  • Dken1

    Awesome! Thanks guys for all your hard work!

    For csidle above, you can start with season 3 of Star Trek the Next Generation – seasons 1&2 aren’t very good. I could give you a list of my favorite episodes from that season if you want and you can see the rest if you’re interested. My personal favorite is Star Trek Deep Space Nine for its really epic story arcs, but that show took a few seasons to get traction also.

  • Really looking forward to this one, guys. Reed’s wisdom and input is always a welcome bonus, even on non Trek-related business. I hope that you show some love for Christopher Lloyd’s portrayal of the Klingon Kruge. It’s one of my favorite ST film performances.

    Thanks for your efforts!

  • piggystardust

    csidle I was brought up on the 6 original motion pictures, so that’s where I’d recommend starting. You might want to just watch a couple episodes from the original series to get an appreciation for the series. But honestly they’re not all worth watching. Just check out like a top 25 list and watch the significant ones.

    Here’s how I’d rank the shows:
    Voyager
    Enterprise
    Original Series
    TNG
    The Animated Series
    DS9

  • Matt

    Need to watch part VI before I download this…

    I have to say watching IV for the first time in preparation for listening to this episode, and I have to say it is not really as great as many make it out to be. Most of the comedy feels really strained, and not really that interesting. I mean wouldn’t trained star fleet officers have a little more common sense about life in the 20th century?

    Peoples love of part IV makes their criticism of the problems of some of the weaker entries such as V seem really ridiculous.

    (BTW I am with Reed on V being underrated although I am not sure for the same reasons yet)

  • Matt

    csidle: While the TOS has some good episodes, you have to be 100 percent prepared to watch a pretty dated show from the 60s. I would just choose whichever show’s concept sounds the most interesting to you and just go for it. I think all the series have their merits and decent moments… even Enterprise.

  • Kasper

    #7: Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek has to offer. The Next Generation is also awesome from season 3 and onwards, though the first two seasons aren’t horrible or anything, they’re just mediocre at best. Decent enough but nothing special.

    Most hardcore trekkies probably love The Original Series, but I can’t stand it. It certainly wouldn’t be the show to start with I’d say.

    Voyager and Enterprise also aren’t very good in my opinion, but I can’t say that definitively I guess, as I gave up on both after about two seasons with Voyager and one season with Enterprise.

  • piggystardust

    #14 but didn’t you find the Bajorans annoying?

  • Kasper

    #15 Nope! I really like them (except for a few episodes here and there) and find most of the stories with them interesting, especially when paired with the Cardassians. But I can understand why you’d find them annoying, I know a lot of people who feel the same way.

  • piggystardust

    The time warp precedent in the TV series that Reed’s referring to is from the episode “The Naked Time”. They were trying to escape a planet’s gravitational pull not a black hole. It worked and in the end they basically said if we ever need to travel back in time again, we can repeat that process, though it has a 1 in 10,000 chance in working. And Kirk says “let’s hope we never have to risk it”

    I only know because I just watched this episode on my pre-Into Darkness star trek kick.

  • Dken1

    The Motion Picture had many of the same elements as the Original series episode “The Changeling”. The script was being constantly rewritten almost every day and it turned into Gene Roddenberry vs. the other writers. Some excellent books were written by Phil Farrand called the “Nitpickers Guide to Star Trek.” He has one book on the classic series/movies, two books on TNG, and he got through 4 seasons of DS9 before he had to stop due to copyright infringement. The books point out all the mistakes, goofs, and continuity errors he and his followers found in the series and the movies – all done in a fun way. He also got through four seasons of The X-Files.

  • Kasper

    Loved the Sean Connery facts Reed brought up.

  • bullet3

    Great installment, Reed was totally on his A game for this, nice work fellas

  • Reed, if you take a look at this list I’ve compiled, you’ll see that if you have Row Your Boat in a movie, chances are it’s horrible. Sorry to break it to you.
    http://boxd.it/20OA

  • Bryan

    @Movie Vigilante (21) – Lol…

  • Andrew

    Anyone else having trouble with the download? When I click to buy I get an error screen on both IE and Chrome.

  • What’s the error?

  • Spooksta

    No error here. d/l fine

  • Andrew

    I click on the Buy link and get this screen:

    “Hmm, that shouldn’t have happened.

    Please go back and try reloading the page, waiting for it to load fully. Sorry for the inconvenience!

    If you find yourself back on this page, an overzealous browser plugin or internet security program
    may be to blame. Temporarily disable anything that could be interfering, and please try again.
    If that doesn’t appear to help, please let us know what you were trying to do, and we’ll get right back to you.”

    Don’t worry about it Sean — I sent an email to Bandcamp. Hopefully they can figure it out.

  • Okay thanks, keep me posted.

  • Sam

    So Star Trek V was on Reed’s Top 58 Films of All-Time but only gets a 3.5/4?

    I guess I can’t say I’m surprised. If Jay lives in Fantasy Land, then Reed is from Bleak Reality Town

  • Interesting to read all these comments. Part of Star Trek’s philosophy is IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations), so it only makes sense that it would be hard to get a consensus from a random group of Trekkies.

    For those that are new to Film Junk and aren’t familiar with Treknobabble and are interested in my thoughts about Star Trek and are patient enough to make sense of my ramblings, I recommend that you check them out.

    I tried not to get too geeky in the podcast, so one thing I didn’t bring up, but I find really interesting and that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is that Bran Ferren, the guy responsible for Star Trek V’s effects ended up being a head technologist at Disney and was responsible for film projection going digital!

    @piggystardust: Regarding “The Naked Time,” I think there was a reference to a black star, because the term “black hole” had not been coined, yet. So I think they were pulling away from that rather than a planet, because I’m pretty sure the Enterprise is powerful enough to break away from a planet’s gravity, otherwise it would never be able to get out of orbit.

  • piggystardust

    After doing a little reading on wikipedia I can confirm it was indeed a planet, however the issue was that the engines had been shut off and they didn’t have time to restart them so they had to use this cockamamie “experimental “intermix” formula to inadvertently create a time warp and escape.

  • Too bad Reed won’t be on the Superman Premium podcast in which he would probably say that Superman IV is his favourite. Better yet; Supergirl.

  • Arnold Schizopolis

    Once I read “well double dumbass on you”, I immediately clicked “Download Now”!!!

  • Nick P.

    I gotta agree on the visual look of the films. I don’t agree with Jay that 6 was the best looking of the films. I feel 3 is the best looking overall visually there is not a single scene I don’t like in that one. I do agree that for the shipboard scenes, 6 has the best looking interiors for the enterprise. And I love how they started to incorporate some of the TNG design (although, to be fair, I am sure that is because they were sharing sets to save money!)

    I am a little surprised that of all the bad acting, silly effects in some areas, bizarre story choices, plot holes, the number ONE worst for Frank was David Warner playing 2 roles?????

    BTW, Reed is correct about the cloaking technology. In ST canon, the federation signed the treaty of algernon that they would not develop cloaking technology, and the Klingons would stop killing humans. It is a little stupid and one sided, but that is why the federation does not have cloaking technology.

    BTW. great podcast guys, I was very happy how you guys didn’t completely destroy star trek the way you did LOTR!

  • Andrew

    Hey Sean – downloaded it just fine on my home computer. I had been trying to get it on my work computer, which I think has security software that I can’t disable. Anyway, can’t wait to listen!

  • Awesome, glad to hear it. Thanks Andrew!

  • @Movie Vigilante: Based on the trailers, Man of Steel is my favourite Superman movie.

  • Loren

    @JayCheel Which is better? Kirks coat in Wrath of Khan or Stallones coat in Expendables 1?

  • Great podcast guys…I’ll listen again on a 4 hour drive to Spokane tonight!

    #36 – Reed, thanks for your contribution to the podcast, Sir. And I agree that for the first time in years I’m actually looking forward to Superman!

  • @piggystardust: Oh, yeah, that sounds familiar. O’Reilly was infected and shut down the engines. Sorry if it sounded like I was doubting the veracity of your initial comment. I’ll have to check out how the “black star” fit into the episode.

    @Movie Vigilante: Even I have enough taste to judge that Superman IV was very, very bad.

    @James: My pleasure, James. I know that trying to please everybody results in pleasing nobody, so it’s always pleasing to hear that someone still appreciates me.

  • Arnold Schizopolis

    Love this podcast!

    Just re-watched II & IV and saw III for the first time, which I enjoyed. I think the “Khaaaan!” scene in II is legit. Kirk just cheated death by sheer luck, which resulted in a Starfleet Captain committing suicide and left Chekov incapacitated. I think that was more on Kirk’s mind when he screamed than the thought of the Enterprise being fixed quicker than expected.

    But I think the knitpick of the biologist jumping onto Kirk during the teleport in IV is legit. Good Cronenberg reference. I think I love IV even more now. It’s like a feel-good Frank Capra classic. It might be tied with II now as my favorite of the original films.

  • Owozifa

    I have to admit one of the things I really like about Star Trek: The Motion Picture is its weirdness. Stuff like the transporter accident really freaked me out when I was a kid. But it was the one I might be most prone to falling asleep in.

    I seriously would marathon all six movies in a row when I was like 12, though. These movies and Indiana Jones are probably some of my most watched films from youth.

    And this was also one of the best premium podcasts yet, with some solid discussion. Reed too. Though I will note one error. Spock says nothing when he goes to get the hover boots in Star Trek V. Not “I’ll be right back” or anything. They don’t even know he’s gone anywhere until he shows up with the boots. We just see him quietly leave the room after looking at the ladder for a moment. That’s kind of the gag.

    I’m surprised nobody brought up how unlikely it would be for Scotty to manage to knock himself out by hitting his head walking at a casual speed, though.

  • @Owozifa: I must have had a mental connection with Spock when he went to get his boots. :-) And regarding Scotty knocking himself out, have you ever knocked your head against a metal beam while walking? Then again, I got up after running headfirst into an unpadded metal football fieldgoal post, so maybe you have a legitimate disbelief.

  • Bryan

    I just paid $5 for a 3-hour podcast. That can sound either ridiculously cheap or way too expensive – depending on your point of view. All I know is that Reed has been on fire lately, and I’m really looking forward to this. And I CANT WAIT ’til the Superman Premium – I hope Greg would be into participating. Cheers, big ears…

  • Dken1

    I don’t know if this was brought up yet but Nicolas Meyer was also a big reason for Star Trek IV’s success and quality – he co-wrote the script, specifically the scenes on Earth. Like what Joss Whedon did for Firefly and The Avengers, Meyer seems to be really good at giving most people in a big cast a chance to shine, (or at least something to do) ;)

    Your discussion of Star Trek V kind of reminded me of Prometheus, with Frank’s discussion of people’s desire to meet their maker. The climax was just about as disappointing too.

    Speaking of an Alien universe tie-in, I noticed that James Horner uses his main action cues from Star Trek III later in Aliens (another sci-fi series he takes over from Jerry Goldsmith).

    I’m kind of surprised that there wasn’t more discussion about Spock’s “mind rape” scene. This is a clear example of how dangerous Vulcans can be if they weren’t so disciplined and laid back most of the time. That would have been great if Spock had a chance to interrogate “the villain” in the new movie in this way.

    Fantastic podcast guys! I wish I could have guest starred and co-geeked out with Reed (hehe).

  • scoobydelite

    Was a little surprised two moments didn’t appear in anyone’s best/worst list, both from Star Trek III. One for the best list would be the crew watching the destroyed Enterprise as it plummets down in the atmosphere, it is a beautiful yet melancholy scene and well-acted by the actors. For the worst of list would be the Kirk vs. Kruge fight and the cheesy “I have had… enough… of YOU!” line at the end of the fight. It’s an uderwelming fight overall in general.

  • Eric from Illinois

    surprised that all of you seemed to miss kirk’s son’s death. the klingon knocks him down, kneels over him and stabs him right in the chest. you all seemed to say that we never saw his death.

    anyway… great work guys on another awesome premium

  • You see it but I think the camera cuts away or something? I could be wrong.

  • @Dken1: It’s strange that Meyer is revered in Star Trek circles, but hasn’t been able to get esteem for his non-Trek efforts. The mind-rape scene is controversial among Trekkies. We were running long, and I didn’t think the other guys would have much to say about it.

    @scoobydelite: I think I did bring up Kirk and McCoy’s conversation on the cliff as being symbolic of the Star Trek franchise, so the Enterprise destruction moment wasn’t completely overlooked by us. I agree the Kirk / Kruge fight was underwhelming. Actually, I should have put fistfights on my list of worse moments.

    @Eric: We never see the knife going into the body. We get a Saavik reaction moment.

  • scoobydelite

    Hey Sean, for next month’s premium are you guys going to discuss Superman II Director’s Cut along with the Lester version? IMO there’s enough differences between the two to have an interesting conversation. The Director’s Cut is the better of the two mainly because the Brando scenes added back in give the movie a much needed dramatic edge the Lester version lacks. Plus some of the goofy stuff is thankfully edited out. It seems quite a few fans prefer the Director’s Cut.

  • I think most of us prefer the Lester cut so that will probably be the one we watch, but we’ll definitely have to make a point of discussing the differences between the two versions.