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Since today is the 45th anniversary of the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture & other reasons, I went & watched it just now. I do not believe this is only my second viewing, but I’m sure it’s been 20 years. So my perspective here is much more memory lane than usual.

For starters, I saw this in probably the first week it ran in 1979 after looking forward to NEW STAR TREK at last (yeah, we know, cartoons, cool; NEW STAR TREK!) for months.

I was 12, in the 7th grade. I saw it with a friend I’d known since 4th grade. Before the film started, in the theater, he turned to me & said: This is what this friendship has been all about. And I thought: What?! What about my fart jokes?

After the title sequence, I suddenly flashed back to OMFG WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE KLINGONS? Genetic evolution in just 10 years? What a shock.

And then, I believe this was the first time we ever heard Vulcan spoken. “Kash kaunds, Spock,” has lived rent-free in my head since this film came out. (Repeated, iirc, in ST3.)

Then Ilia. From the novel, I learned the word “pheromone.” Lol. Have a look at the Born Sexy Yesterday trope if you’re not familiar with it. I also learned the word "celibacy" from this film & pondered the meaning deeply.

And Decker. The word pheromone doesn’t seem to be spoken in the film, nor any mention of his father that I noticed. But he filled out the uniform nicely.

And of course, the abject horror of the transporter scene. “What we got back didn’t live long. Fortunately.” I’ve never forgotten those words.

Then the wormhole sequence, when the Enterprise becomes entrapped in a screensaver. I recall in high school writing a lot of graphics programs on the Apple II+ to simulate the wormhole from this film.

And of course, everyone’s fave:

Beelaaaaay thaat phaaaa-serrrrr orrrr-derrrrr!

How has it been so long?