Why was Star Trek: The Motion Picture only so-so?

[spooky]

what I liked most about it was how hot a young Stephen Collins was....

Totally agree with you on that one, loved the scene when he merges with Ilia/V'Ger since he is nekkid and such . The Director's Cut is a great update to the original, the VFX being more in line with what the director had intended.

 

[Jesse James]

what I liked most about it was how hot a young Stephen Collins was....

And that tight jump suit uniform he was wearing at first which gave us a great bulge shot.

 

[Joshua_me]

The argument that it took itself too seriously is rubbish.

Oh, horseshit !

Horseshit, I say !

One would have thought it was the second coming of Christ the way they introduced the new Enterprise. ( As if to say, "Ooo ! Look how much better special effects have become in 10 years and look how a boatload of money thrown to the wind can make things looks SO much more impressive !)

And, it DID look impressive.....

But, there's an old saying from the theater, "If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage", and there wasn't a whole lot on the page to begin with.

Thirty three plus years down the road, the special effects they were so impressed with look laughably dated, but a well-written script would have remained timeless.

It remains a curiosity, but as a film, it's a pompous, humorless bore.