STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE MOVIE REVIEW OF HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY

Paramount's Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a cinematic marvel that is highly recommended for viewing entertainment. Great questions of life can be presented in cinematic and theatrical entertainments. This movie is one of those that poses interesting life questions. It is the intent of this article to demonstrate key points of this film and to magnify those questions that perhaps you have asked yourself. Star Trek: The Motion Picture proves that story lines even in films of age can have just as much complexity as films do today.

The Search for Answers. Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, is an icon and just as much a mainstay to the image of Star Trek as Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner. In this first film debut since the ending of the television series Spock has returned to his native home of Vulcan to undergo a training or ritual known as Kolinahr or the purging of all remaining emotion. This he did in order to find answers of his own being since he is part human. Upon completion of this training he suddenly refused the token of Kolinahr when he sensed a higher intelligence from the deep of space. It was pronounced that his own answers would not be found on Vulcan but elsewhere in the universe.

At what lengths are we willing to go to achieve the answers we seek? Learning to tie a tie is not difficult but eludes great multitudes of people. Formal attire occasions come to each and every one of us as some point. If you are unaware of preparing a tie do you seek answers through the internet or a fellow friend or mother? The alternative is to go without a tie or not meet the occasion altogether which is a choice that many do entertain. The hope and drive of the human mind is to seek the answers and apply them to our person and individual situations. Mr. Spock sought answers as each of us must do.

Attainment of Desire. Two situations were presented in Star Trek: The Motion Picture which hailed the product of attainment of desire, both in a correct way and also in an incorrect way. Captain James T. Kirk accepted promotion to Admiral thus removing him from the throne of a starship namely the Enterprise. Sensing time catching up with him he seeks opportunity to reacquire the starship Enterprise. He finds such occasion out of personal desperation rather than apparent necessity. The onset of the threat of a dangerous energy source on a trajectory toward Earth gave him the opportunity to take control of the Enterprise based on his experience and the exclusivity of his rank. This caused discontent between Captain Willard Decker, played by Stephen Collins, and Admiral Kirk and further proves that grabbing hold of desire needs to be done through correct choices without which adverse consequences will ensue.

Captain Decker, on the other hand, also had a bout with obtaining that which he wanted most. Decker is also a seeker of knowledge and an enthusiast into the unknown. At a certain point he lost his estranged female friend and love, Ilia played by Persis Khambatta, to this energy. When her form comes back as an emissary of the great intelligence V'Ger, Decker seeks to save her or what's left of her. Toward the end of the film Decker finds himself in a position of both meeting the demands of V'Ger and also eternally connecting with his love. Noticing his new found calling he actively opens the way to pacify V'Ger which also enabled him to physically connect with artificial intelligence thus producing a new life form. Decker grabbed hold of an opportunity when it called to him. Through means not of malice but rather through rigorous enthusiasm and full disposition of choice. Being a movie, of course both outcomes proved successful. Kirk obtained his ship and Decker obtained love. What's important is the choices we make in order to attain our desire. How we receive knowledge along the way is crucial to the level of happiness met with the intended goal.

Finding Your Purpose. V'Ger sought out his purpose out of the ashes of his own mission and the desire to complete that mission. V'Ger was found to be the space probe Voyager 6 which the Voyager line was sent out to gather data and send that data back to Earth. Over three hundred years later Voyager 6 came in contact with a species of artificial intelligence who understood it's language and built a palatial ship of energy for it to accomplish it's mission – to return to Earth to deliver it's unequaled collection of data.

Voyager's dilemma is that it became self aware amidst the processing of all the data. It became curious and conscious. Thus, as each one of us at times, questions his own purpose and expansion of knowledge, worth and individuality. The culmination of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is Voyager's analysis of what needed to be done in order for it's needs to be satisfied. It wasn't enough to send data back to Earth but rather to deliver it in person to the Creator which in his case was mankind. To experience and touch the breath of God was it's desire as it is with us, to ultimately grasp the hand that has the answers to our own potential and purpose. V-ger, or Voyager, found this by physically joining with Decker as a representative of the collected Creator. Upon doing so it fulfilled it's original mission as a cold metal spacecraft and poured upon the Earth a magnificent mass of knowledge and data.

In conclusion into the analysis of the human psychology side of Star Trek: The Motion Picture several correlations can be made while enjoying the science fiction entertainment. Life is about fulfilling purpose, happiness and new personal frontiers. It's easy to lose hope. Life seems to center around money and status and it hinders one's own self perception. Though many forces are trying to eliminate many of our freedoms and liberties we are still in a period of unprecedented prosperity and possibility. Obtain a dream, and no matter how “off the wall” it seems, do those things in your power to make those dreams come to fruition. What we find is that the reward is not the dream itself but rather the growth. As you go through the motions of work, positive attitude, strategy and vision you'll find immense value in the personal growth from that discipline.

As we point our telescopes to the sky and contemplate eternity and the universe may we find a renewed purpose and drive within ourselves to maximize the measure of our being. Learn all there is to learn and use that knowledge to be self reliant in discovering new fields of opportunity.