How come so many people say it is awful?

It is a slow burn, but I agree it gets more hate than it deserves.

I think a big part of it was the time. Star Trek was back after 10 years, the fans had been demanding it, clamouring for it and now it was finally here. Anticipation has never been higher for any Star Trek TV show or film before or since..... and they gave us a remake of the old nomad episode?

They needed a Wrath of Khan. A big screen experience.

I bet if TMP was the third or fourth film it would not get the hate it does. I think it is a 7/10 film whose timing makes it a 4 or 5. It is certainly better than five and, IMO, any of the TNG films (First Contact a very possible exception)

Not enough:

BOOM BOOM! OOOOOOOOO! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Explosions SO PRETTY!!!!






My Vote history: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1914996/ratings

Because it proved to be a disappointment.

Because they don't have the patience for slower-paced cinema.

It did have an overly slow pace. I think the bigger problem is that there is no real antagonist, which might have worked for an episode of the TV series but doesn't work well for a feature film.

The music, Klingons, visuals, and story (though cribbed from its own series) were all great. Excellent even. I love this movie for these reasons. But as has been repeated many times in this thread, the pacing is criminal. The slow ship tour so early in the movie turned the lights out on people's interest. The aggressively bored you right out of the gate. Things do get better after that but there were certainly sleeping people in the theater by then. It was also one of the last movies to make the mistake of using the G rating even though it was not a specifically kid movie (as the rating had already become associated with).

The fix? Keep the Klingons involved for longer instead of all the long filler and even have them reach Veeger first.

Awful? No. Boring, tedious, too long, too slow? Yes.

I saw this in the theater when if first came out after living through and loving a decade's worth of TOS reruns. Couldn't wait for the film.

The first 10 minutes are ASTOUNDING!! The opening where the Klingons are attempting to engage vger is amazing. The effects of the plasma ball surrounding the Klingon ship was fabulous, but unfortunately set up the rest of the film for failure.

Nothing from the first ten minutes on came close to the wondrous opening.

I haven't seen the director's cut but the comments here have me curious.