RE: Bingowings:
I find it funny that, in RLM's review of Star Trek (2009), he referred to it and TMP as his two favorite Trek films, despite being on what he considered the opposite spectrum of how Trek films worked. But I consider them to both be the two worst Trek films and precisely because they're so similar: bloated, special effects-driven films with not enough story. The only difference is that TMP's effects are boring and pad out the film, and 2009's effects are loud and gawdy.
In regards to the Enterprise docking sequence, my argument is always that TWOK used the exact same footage and still managed to convey a sense of scale and wonder. But since they cut it down to an acceptable length, it actually worked a hell of a lot better and didn't risk putting the audience to sleep! The first time I saw TMP, that was a defining moment for me. I remember my reaction almost exactly. "Wow. What amazing music. What a grandiose shot! The Enterprise looks so amazing, and Kirk is getting it back. This must be so thrilling for him! Oh, and Scotty's smiling too. That's good. And now they're smiling at each other. Oh, and there's the ship again. Oh, and here's the ship from a different angle. And Kirk's still smiling... And there's the ship again? And here's the ship from the back? Um, can we get on with it? Has it really been over three minutes?! And now four minutes of nothing but docking?! Somebody make it stop!!!!"
You say that TMP wasn't meant to be a TV movie, but, honestly, if it had been, it might have been better. There's only about an hour's worth of story there (if that), but since its effects pad it out to twice that length, it just becomes nothing but tedious.
Every account on the making of this movie that I have read shows a revolving door of writers either quitting or fired for being unable to make the story work, Gene making their lives miserable the entire time they were there, the script still being unfinished into production (sound familiar to Star Wars fans?), and most of the actors being extremely displeased with what was going on around them. It just seemed to be a mess from all facets, so it doesn't surprise me that, in my estimation, it came out to be mostly unwatchable and meandering. But I'm glad you enjoyed it more than I did.
Eh, I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree on this one, but, if you don't mind, I'd love to shift over to the other part of this argument: Gene's influence on TNG, and whether that show would have survived if he had stuck around.