Sunday, April 25, 2010

ST:6 "The Undiscovered Country" review

From December 7th, 1991 comes this Miami Herald review of the sixth Trek outing, the last with all the original cast. Written by someone that is obviously not a fan, it is a lukewarm review that manages to denigrate the entire series of movies. Take it with a grain of salt, as I did when I read it. You can tell when a reviewer is prejudiced against a film's source material to the point that they can't write a fair review.
(Click on images to enlarge.)
One of the most laughably ridiculous phrases is when he writes that the movie "zips and snorts and wheezes past sets and situations that seemed new when George Lucas invented them for Star Wars in the 70's." O-o-o-kay, we know where you're coming from now, Bill.

Bonus: Below, from around 1981 comes a clipping from the kid's section of the Sunday paper (from Beckley, WV) about Leonard Nimoy...


Bonus #2: Below is another of the Random House Trek greeting cards that came out in 1976, which I picked up at the store Starship Enterprises from this display. Needless to say, I didn't give these to people for their birthdays or any other occasion; they stayed in my collection.



Below is the inside of the card.

Bonus #3: Below, another page from one of the Trek coloring books from the late 70's.

"Nyota, what say we get together after our shift tonight?"
"Your cabin or mine, sugah?"

5 comments:

Alex Johnson said...

I'm a huge fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars, so I'm continually annoyed when fans of one franchise bash the other. They can both exist! :P

Also, The Undiscovered Country is, hands down, my favorite Star Trek movie. It's a shame this bias reviewer didn't see the awesomeness of it all...

Jeff said...

Terrible review of a great movie. If the guy hates Star Trek so much, what was he doing even reviewing the movie? The bias made his review totally useless, and I'm sure those who read it at that time realized that.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is my favorite of the movies for the adventure and the humor, but I love them all -- even the fifth one. :)

Anonymous said...

1991? Really? ST:6 came out in 1991, as in 19 year ago? No, No No! It seems like half that time.

Your blog is the best. Keep it up. I check in reguarly to see what's new.

Frederick said...

Alex,

I like both also, although I was a Trekker first and foremost. But that doesn't mean I have to bash the SW movies... only "The Phantom Menace." :) TUC was a great movie and this guy used the review to spew his distaste of the show.

Jeff,

You're right, his dislike of the show dripped all over the review like a leaky adult diaper. And you even love "The Final Frontier"? You ARE a true fan! :)

Anon,

I agree, it does not seem like nearly 20 years ago that TUC came out. Hard to believe! Thanks for the kind comments!

DesiluTrek said...

I have to admit that as time goes by I am not as knocked out by TUC ... I keep thinking of stuff that irks me, like that ridiculous search of the huge ship's "galley" and the obvious substitution of Valeris for Saavik (while I'm glad it meant Saavik wasn't a turncoat). Mostly, though, the crew's excessively racist attitude toward the Klingons just doesn't fit and feels 23rd-century inappropriate, Kirk's attitude included, even if you could argue he was embittered by David's death. I think what I like best today is Sulu as Excelsior captain with Janice Rand aboard.