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Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Paramount Pictures, 1979) is the first feature film based on the popular science fiction television series, Star Trek. It is often referred to as ST:TMP or TMP.
The third science fiction film directed by multiple Academy-Award-winning director (and editor of Citizen Kane) Robert Wise, Star Trek: The Motion Picture revitalised the Star Trek franchise, spawning nine motion picture sequels.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, in addition to employing nine of the principal actors from the original series, inaugurated the film series' practice of including special guest stars: Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins.
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Cast
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Plot summary
In the late 23rd century (stardate 7412.6, circa 2273 AD), a powerful alien force, in the shape of a massive energy cloud, is detected in Klingon space and is believed to be heading for Earth. The cloud destroys three Klingon starships and a Starfleet monitoring station that it encounters en route. Starfleet decides to dispatch the starship USS ''Enterprise'' to intercept the cloud, requiring its lengthy refit process to be quickly finished and tested while in transit.
As part of this plan, Admiral James T. Kirk assumes his former command of the ship, angering Commander Willard Decker, who had been overseeing the refit as its new captain. With many of the former crew members of the ship aboard, the Enterprise embarks on its journey; however, testing of its new systems goes poorly, including a deadly transporter accident that kills the science officer, resulting in further stress between Kirk and Decker. Many problems are resolved by the arrival of a familiar replacement science officer, the Vulcan Commander Spock, who had been on his homeworld of Vulcan, undergoing the kolinahr ritual. His failure to complete kolinahr and purge his emotions has led him to seek his answers on the Enterprise, explaining, "On Vulcan I began sensing a consciousness. Thought patterns of exactingly perfect order. I believe they emanate from the intruder. I believe it may hold my answers."
The ship gradually journeys to the center of V'ger, where V'ger is revealed to be the unmanned scientific probe Voyager 6, which was part of the Voyager program, and (fictitiously) launched in the "twentieth century". The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines that interpreted its programming as instructions from God to "learn all that is learnable" and return that information to its creator. These machines made V'ger into something capable of fulfilling that mission, and "on its journey back it gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness itself!" However, Spock realizes that what V'ger lacks is the ability to give itself a purpose other than its original mission. Having learned all that is learnable on its journey home, which took V'ger across the Universe, V'ger finds itself empty and without a purpose. Only through the creator can V’ger begin to explore illogical things, such as God, other dimensions, or higher planes of being. In the climax of the film, V'ger (in the person of the Ilia probe) merges with Commander Decker and then vanishes into a higher realm of being, and thus Earth is saved by the crew of the Enterprise.
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Themes
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TMP exhibits numerous themes familiar to viewers of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. One is the notion of Kirk as a destroyer of malevolent machines. Captain Kirk often encountered and destroyed computers which had become too powerful for the humanoids around them. TMP takes a slightly different tactic, as V'ger is not actually destroyed.
Another theme is the notion of a being transcending the material plane to become something greater and enter another level of existence, usually represented as a being of light. Creatures such as the Organians, from the original series episode "Errand of Mercy", have this characteristic, as do several beings from The Next Generation. Star Trek almost always portrays this transformation in a positive light, something to which humanity can aspire, with V'ger's transformation here fitting into the mold.
Another prevalent theme in the movie is that of birth and rebirth. The Enterprise’s lengthy transit, though critically derided, is widely perceived by fans to have profound symbolism, akin to sperm fertilising an ovum in human reproduction, just as the ship and its crew travel through V'ger to ultimately conceive a hybrid being.
Rebirth in the film also applies to the characters. Decker and Ilia are removed from the stage through their own rebirth, while Kirk comes to command the Enterprise again as a sort of rebirth. Spock is reborn as a new self, realizing the emptiness of total Logic.
The film could be seen by some as short on drama or action/excitement. On the other hand, it portrays a more intellectual and philosophical-type of Science-Fiction film than the other Star Trek films (and in some ways becomes closer to "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), with themes about the meaning of existence, the limits of knowledge, and the ultimate destiny of humanity and robots). There are few heavy-handed action-type scenes in the film, and most of the suspense is brought by the clues and revelations that McCoy, Spock, Decker, and Kirk deduct/encounter in the search for V'ger's true identity, mission, and how to stop it. The story, in effect, is a complicated puzzle for the characters (and audience) to solve, which is only resolved at the end with the discovery of V'ger's human-made origin.
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Origins of the film
In the wake of Star Trek's popularity in the early 1970s as a result of newborn Trek fandom and syndication, there were several failed attempts to produce a Trek feature film, starting in 1974. A number of ideas were seriously pitched for a film to be entitled Star Trek II. These included "The God Thing" by Gene Roddenberry about a vessel visiting Earth claiming to be God, a story by Harlan Ellison about alien reptiles changing Earth's past to make snakes evolutionarily dominant, and "The Planet of the Titans."
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Notes
The film was directed by Robert Wise, after the studio decided they wanted a big name director attached to the property, and released Phase II pilot director Bob Collins.[ It displayed state-of-the-art (for the time) special effects, set design and use of models. ]
The special effects for the movie became one of the biggest production problems. Half way through production it was decided that original effects company working on the project, Robert Abel and Associates, were not up to the task of producing the large number of scenes. In March of 1979 Paramount offered Douglas Trumbull's effect company, Future General, a virtual blank check if they could get all the effects work done by the Christmas release date. Most of the work done by Robert Abel up to that point was scrapped (the wormhole sequence seems to be the only "Able" effects scene that made it into the final film). Trumbull went ahead with the job to re-visualize and rework most of the effects scenes, using the same crew and equipment from the just finished Close Encounters of the Third Kind and even subcontracted work out to John Dykstra (Star Wars). ["The Making of Star Trek--the Motion Picture" Pocket Books, 1980.]
The entire segment of Spock entering V'Ger alone was filmed at the last minute by Douglas Trumbull, who wrote and directed the sequence. The original sequence, showing Spock and Kirk entering V'Ger's memory core had been in production but abandoned when it was determined that the sequence brought the movie to a halt and that the costs of the wire-removal and other effects would consume much of the entire effects budget for the film.
This is the first moment in Star Trek when Klingons are seen with their trademark 'bumpy forehead' look rather than the hooked eyebrows and twirled moustaches seen in the original television series. This change of appearance sparked debate (some even stated the Klingons' behavior in the film was unlike the previous behavior seen in the original series) and a quarter century of fan speculation (and a joking reference in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations") until a canonical rationale for the change was finally provided in a 2005 episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Much of the recording equipment used to create the movie's intricately complicated sound effects was, at the time, extremely cutting edge. Among these pieces of equipment was the ADS (Advanced Digital Synthesizer) 11, manufactured by Pasadena, California custom synthesizer manufacturer Con Brio, Inc. The movie provided major publicity at the time and was used to advertise the synthesizer, although no price was given at the time.["Vintage Synthesizers" Backbeat Books, 2000]
An extended cut of the film on videotape and ABC network television released in 1983 included a number of small character moments that had been trimmed, some slightly illuminating, some embarrassingly performed. This was one of the first occasions in which an extended version of a film was created for television and the then-new home video market. The additional footage included one glaring error in that a scene showing Kirk supposedly floating in space was added, however the scene had not had special effects added, so viewers were clearly able to see the scaffolding and ceiling of the soundstage in which the sequence was filmed. (This sequence can still be viewed among deleted scenes included on the 2001 DVD release.)
In 2001, a Director's Edition of the film was released on VHS and DVD. Robert Wise was given the opportunity to re-edit the film to better match his original vision, and also to use computer-generated imagery to complete sequences which had been curtailed due to shooting deadlines. The new effects were based on storyboards from the original production and produced to appear as if done using the effects technology of the time. Several continuity errors were also corrected, but some were also added. Edits to improve the film's pacing were made, especially effective in the film's second half, where segments were trimmed to curtail prolonged reaction shots of the actors to the interior of V'Ger. This Director's Edition of the film also has a proper sound mix, which was lacking in the theatrical presentation. This version of the film is generally considered a significant improvement over the original film[Digital Bits"]["Toxic Universe"]
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Criticism
The film is often regarded as a disappointing one because of its plodding pace and emphasis on special effects over story and characterization, and is considered by many as one of the lesser films in the series. Its rather slow pace has led some fans to label it derisively. However, there are also many fans who consider this film to be the best of the series and the one film that most accurately reflected Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future. The film was regarded by critics as ponderous and boring, especially during the second half, which included lengthy scenes of the Enterprise flying through the interior of the cloud, with the awed reactions of the crew. Director Robert Wise claimed later that the slow pacing of these scenes was due to the rushed production schedule which resulted in many of the special effects sequences being added at the last minute without the time for proper editing. However, effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull has noted his preference for slower and more lengthy effects shots as opposed to the more aggressive style popularized by Star Wars.
Critics also complained that the story is clearly little more than an hour-long TV episode fleshed out to two hours (a criticism that would become standard with the release of every future Trek film). Other complaints include the observation that the film is an amalgamation of The Changeling (TOS episode), The Immunity Syndrome (TOS episode), Where No Man Has Gone Before (TOS episode), and the animated episode One of Our Planets is Missing (TAS episode).
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Beyond the film
Elements of the film were also resurrected in The Next Generation, such as the dashing young executive officer (Commander Riker) who had a personal relationship with an empathic alien woman (Counselor Troi) and the often unpopular one-piece Starfleet uniforms.
According to Gene Roddenberry's novelization of the film, Will Decker is the son of Commodore Matt Decker from the original series episode "The Doomsday Machine", which was also the plan for the Phase II television series. Despite not being mentioned onscreen in the movie, this relationship has assumed at least semi-canonical status, considering its Roddenberry origins, and the fact that it has never been officially contradicted in the years since.
The film's storyline is strongly reminiscent of the Original Series episode "The Changeling", which features an Earth-born probe, enhanced by alien technology and seeking to return to its "point of origin". The probe, in this case Nomad, mistakenly believes Kirk to be its creator, and possesses a strong drive to sterilize all "imperfect" life forms. This led some fans to dub the film "Where Nomad Has Gone Before."
In the novelization of this movie, credited to Gene Roddenberry, and published by Pocket Books in paperback format, V'Ger is spelled "Vejur" through to nearly the end of the novel, and the second individual who perishes in the Enterprise transporter accident is a Starfleet Admiral named "Lori Ciana". The novelization states that Lori Ciana was a Starfleet Vice-Admiral assigned as Rear Admiral James T. Kirk's commanding officer in his post as chief of Starfleet Operations (as well as his ex-wife, for some of the two-and-a-half years since he relinquished captaincy; it is sometimes erroneously stated that the character was his fiancée). The female character who perished in the transporter was played in the film by Susan Sullivan.
Roddenberry's novelization is the only Star Trek novel credited to the creator of the franchise, although there were rumors in the 1980s that it was actually ghost written by Alan Dean Foster. No evidence has ever arisen to support this rumor, which probably arose because Foster co-wrote the film itself; Roddenberry wrote the novelization alone.
(However, ghost-writings such as this would not have been unprecedented, as Foster ghost-wrote the novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, which was credited to creator George Lucas.)
In William Shatner's novel, "The Return", in which the Romulans and the Borg team up to revive Kirk and destroy the Federation, Spock was nearly assimilated by the Borg, but was saved by the fact that he mind-melded with V'ger. This is because, according to Shatner's novel, the alien race that found V'ger was an earlier form of the Borg. (Gene Roddenberry had speculated that perhaps the living machine world found by V'ger was the Borg homeworld.) Spock was saved from assimilation because he had part of the Borg Collective in his mind after he mind-melded with V'ger.
There are several reported inconsistencies in the film:
In the original 1979 cut of the film, the planet Vulcan is depicted as having two moons. However in the original series episode The Man Trap, Spock notes that Vulcan has no moon. This has been corrected in the director's cut.
The V'Ger cloud is reported to be over 82 astronomical units in diameter. An AU is the distance between Earth and the Sun, and a diameter of 82 AUs would engulf the entire solar system. While this seems inconsistent with V'Ger managing to get into Earth orbit, a line in the film explains "Cloud dissipating rapidly as it approaches", and, indeed, the last of the cloud vanishes as V'ger enters Earth orbit (a fading blue cast in the original cut, but more distinctly seen in the Director's Edition). In the Director's Edition, the line describing the cloud is edited to "two AUs in diameter".
When Kirk tries to use the phasers to destroy the asteroid in the wormhole, Decker overrides his orders, instead opting for the photon torpedoes. He gives his reason later as because the newly-enhanced phasers take their power directly from the warp engines, so when the engines went into imbalance, the phasers were cut off, hence the need to use the torpedoes instead. Actually, in the original series production bible phasers were always supposed be sublight weapons and would not work at warp but special effect and story errors resulted in that part being largely ignored. Hence when efforts to go back to the production bible in The Next Generation there was confusion, compounded when Deep Space Nine and Voyager stories used the finished original episodes as their source material.
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Trivia
A single, curved corridor set is made to appear as different levels of the Enterprise by changing the color of wall panels. A similar technique was used when Robert Wise directed The Andromeda Strain. Redressing the set for this purpose limits the order in which scenes must be filmed, which is probably why other Star Trek productions did not continue the idea of ships having color-coded levels.
Many of this film's starship sets, built in 1978 on Paramount Stage 9, were fully enclosed and interconnected. They would remain standing, with significant remodeling and expansion, for use in every Star Trek movie, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager, until 2001.
Artist Andrew Probert proposed a climactic sequence involving the Enterprise being attacked by the Klingon ships from the beginning of the movie, which would rematerialize as V'ger moved to its new plane of existence, but this sequence was not filmed.
The film's soundtrack also provided a popular debut for the Blaster Beam, an electronic instrument about 10 feet long, stringed, and played with an artillery shell. Jerry Goldsmith used it to create the eerie signature V'ger sound.
Writer David Gerrold is an uncredited extra, playing an Enterprise crewman. Also appearing as extras were Robert Wise's wife Millicent, and Gene Roddenberry's assistant Susan Sackett.
Adjusting for inflation, this film had the highest budget of any Star Trek movie. However, this budget appears larger than it would be otherwise, because costs of all the abandoned efforts from 1975 on, including Star Trek: Phase II, were included.
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Books
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