Sorry for the long delay between posting...school will do that to you...
Genre: Science Fiction
Runtime: 2 hrs 12 min
Rating: G
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei
Synopsis: Captain Kirk reassembles his old crew on the newly refit Starship Enterprise and is sent out to investigate a mysterious cloud-like entity.
Sometimes it's just fun to go back and watch classic science fiction, especially the original Star Trek (series or movies), especially when it's been over a decade since I last saw this one.
Although the graphics and special effects are very classic 1979, and the movie is a little slow in progressing (according to modern standards, not my own) this movie is still a good watch and a classic in the science fiction genre.
I think what I've always loved about Star Trek is their willingness to work with subjects that are not necessarily popular at the time. (The episode dealing with the half white-half black aliens comes to mind). But what is perhaps more profound, especially in this movie, is the search for "more."
This particular move opens with a blue-cloud entity attacking and destroying several ships. It then cuts to Spock sitting in the wilderness of Vulcan seeking to remove all emotions from his mind. Even though the entire Star Trek crew is reunited, I want to focus on Spock and this entity - who is later called V-GER - and their quests.
Spock makes a comment to Kirk and Bones that he could sense the entity, it's supreme logic and that it was searching. He claimed that this entity might have the answers to his own dilemma with emotions. However, after doing a mind-meld with V-GER, Spock comes to a startling realization: logic isn't everything. "I should have known." He says. Then he grasps Kirk's hand and says "This, this simple feeling is beyond V-GER's comprehension. No feeling. No hope. And Jim, no answers. It's asking questions. Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more?"
It comes to light that V-GER is seeking out "the creator" to answer his many questions. He will "join with the creator."
What is perhaps the most profound part of this movie is the turn Spock's personal journey takes as he begins to understand V-GER:
"It only knows that it needs. But like so many of us, it does not know what."
"As I was when I came aboard, so is V-GER now. Empty, incomplete and searching. Logic and knowledge are not enough."
"Each of us at some time in our lives turns to someone - a father, a brother, a god - and asks: Why am I here? What was I meant to be? V-GER hopes to touch his creator to find his answers."
Spock sought out logic, reason, and knowledge to "fulfill" his life, but in his contact with an entity that personified these virtues that he sought, he discovered that there is a greater need within every being - a need for purpose. And so often that purpose can only be found in something greater than ourselves. As Christians we believe that our purpose comes from God - our Creator - and only through "joining" with our Creator - becoming new creatures - can we truly find and fulfill that purpose.
