Can you make a Star Trek movie without visual effects?
... and all the ways Star Wars was not involved in the decision to make Star Trek: The Motion Picture
“Its knowledge has reached the limits of this universe, and it must evolve. What it requires of its god, doctor, is the answer to its question, "Is there nothing more"?”
Hi!
The story of Star Trek goes back to the 1960s, with the original series that was cancelled, before finding a huge fanbase through syndication. Paramount, realising they had a huge hit on their hands, wanted to take advantage in the mid ‘70s with something new.
A feature film (or two or three)!
But that didn’t happen.
A new TV series!
But that didn’t happen.
A feature film based on the pilot of that TV series!
That would happen, but it would come with huge cost, huge problems and no usable visual effects… at first.
The onesies though…
It’s true that Star Wars was an unprecedented success in the summer of 1977, and many imitators came out of the proverbial woodwork to capitalise on that success, including Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979).
Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn’t intended to emulate Star Wars’ success, but that success undoubtedly encouraged Paramount that fans would come to a big screen adventure for the USS Enterprise and her crew.
But thanks to the constant issues on set, director Robert Wise remained unhappy with the finished product. It would take 43 years for his definitive version to be released in high definition…
And finally…
“Keepittogether, keepittogether, keepittogether”
Live long and prosper!
Em x
"It’s really rare to hear a woman talking about films on a podcast. Most of the podcasts I listen to are hosted by men, so what you do feels really refreshing. It’s clear you put loads of work into it, too. Keep it up! We need more female voices in film podcasting!”
Rachael
