Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Stephen Collins, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Persis Khambatta, Mark Lenard, Majel Barrett.
Directed by Robert Wise.
Running time: 143 minutes.
Rating: G
Legendary intergalactic hero James Tiberius Kirk (Shatner) regains command of the U.S.S. Enterprise overstepping the aspirations of promising young officer Commander Decker (Collins) to investigate the phenomenon of alien lifeform known only as V’Ger. Its origins hit a little too close to home as V’Ger threatens to destroy Earth. The crew of the Enterprise is once again called upon to complete an impossible mission. This time that mission is to save Earth.
A decade in syndication had given Star Trek a massive following by the time this film was released and it also came out when science fiction was back in vogue.
Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century, Jason of Star Command, Project UFO were all out during the late 1970s. Far from oversaturating the market for science fiction those productions actually complimented what Star Trek had done unlike schlock sci-fi series such as Lost in Space which had not.
A film version after the box office success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind or at least another try at the series was probably inevitable. In fact had it not been for the enormous difficulties caused by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry a Star Trek movie might have come along much sooner.
By the time Robert Wise was brought on board as director the production team decided it could not go forward without Leonard Nimoy reprising his role as Spock. Nimoy’s long-simmering feud with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was an impediment that they worked through. He remained a hard sell when it came to the sequels.
The miserable, disastrous year long shoot with a bloated budget that also went overschedule resulted not merely in frayed nerves amongst members of the production team but in an overly long and remarkably dull film overall. You will find comparatively few critics that enjoyed this take but in the end it is Star Trek fans who matter most and they went to see the film in droves when it was in theatre and still do on DVD. It did not have to be of superior quality to the best of the television episodes to be just what fans had been waiting for and it wasn’t.
Star Trek: The
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