knudsen (09/13/82)
After the fuss over Hard SF versus Fantasy a few weeks back, I finally figured out why I still prefer to re-see the first StarTrek movie over the second. The first one really did deal with what someone called spiritual issues -- personal growth into friendship, emotions, searching for Creator, etc. This of course played right into the Spock persona -- remember how obsessed Spock was with V'ger at first. The whole sequence is personally very satisfying to watch over and over again. [Granted, it was laid on a bit thick, which griped off a lot of real-world liberal-artsy movie reviewers; but that thickness may have been what some 'nerd' viewers needed (Oops, badmouthing my own "ethnic group").] The second movie (TWOK) was a good war & crime adventure thriller, but didn't have much spiritual message, period. Instead, we saw the fruits of what Spock & others had learned from V'ger -- Spock telling Kirk to his face "I am your friend..". Speaking of laying it on thick ... oh well, if you want to see friendship between men dealt with subtly, go see "Das Boot". ihnss!knudsen