[15]:64 Livingston described the writers' issue with the story, calling it "unworkable": We had a marvelous antagonist, so omnipotent that for us to defeat it or even communicate with it, or have any kind of relationship with it, made the initial concept of the story false. After the show's cancellation, owner Paramount Pictures hoped to recoup their production losses by selling the syndication rights. During this time, fans organized a mail campaign that flooded the White House with letters, influencing Gerald Ford to rechristen the Space Shuttle Constitution the Enterprise,[15]:30 and Roddenberry and most of the Star Trek cast were present for its rollout. [9], While the bridge scenes were shot early, trouble with filming the transporter room scene delayed further work. [61][62] Toys included action figures, ship models, and a variety of watches, phaser mockups and communicators. It was necessary for all the main cast to be familiar with control sequences at their stations as each panel was activated by touch via heat-sensitive plates. [19]:1647 He added a sealed control room that would protect operators from the powerful forces at work. Diller planned on a new Star Trek series forming the cornerstone for a new television network. "We begged to be fired." Much of the materials for these casual clothes were found in the old storerooms at Paramount, where a large amount of unused or forgotten material lay in storage. With Earth saved, Kirk directs Enterprise out to space for future missions. Zuberano, who had helped select the site for the shoot, traveled to Yellowstone and returned with a number of photos. One of the ships was NASA's own Enterprise, added per Roddenberry's request: Some fans have suggested that our new Enterprise should carry a plaque somewhere which commemorates the fact it was named after the first space shuttle launched from Earth in 1970s. [19]:1789[15]:1347 The upswept Vulcan eyebrows needed to be applied hair by hair for proper detail, and it took Nimoy more than two hours to prepare for filmingtwice as long as it had for television. (Because of Trumbull's disinterest in only working on special effects, he reportedly received a six-figure salary and the chance to direct his own film.
The director carried the fresh print of the film to the world premiere,[47][9] held at the K-B MacArthur Theater in Washington, D.C. Roddenberry, Wise, and the principal cast attended the function, which also served as an invitational benefit for the scholarship and youth education fund of the National Space Club. The seller was convicted of stealing a trade secret, fined $750, and sentenced to two years' probation. Stephen Godfrey of The Globe and Mail rated their performances highly: "time has cemented Leonard Nimoy's look of inscrutability as Mr. Spock [] DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy is as feisty as ever, and James Doohan as Scotty still splutters about his engineering woes. [15]:210 For close shots of the pod traveling to the Enterprise, close-ups of Shatner and Doohan were composited into the model, while in long shots lookalike puppets were used. The biggest design issue was making sure that the connective dorsal neck and twin warp nacelle struts were strong enough so that no part of the ship model would sag, bend, or quiver when the model was being moved, which was accomplished via an arc-welded aluminum skeleton. To inform actors and series writers, Lee prepared a USS Enterprise Flight Manual as a continuity guide to control functions.
[15]:51 Wise had seen only a few Star Trek episodes, so Paramount gave him about a dozen to watch. How do you resolve this thing? [15]:130, Fred Phillips, the original designer of Spock's Vulcan ears, served as The Motion Picture's makeup artist. [15]:25 In June 1976, Paramount assigned Jerry Isenberg, a young and active producer, to be executive producer of the project, with the budget expanded to $8 million. V'Ger's destruction of the ships was created using scanning lasers, with the multiple laser passes composited onto the moving model to create the final effect. Since Xon was too young to fill the role of first officer, Roddenberry developed Commander William Decker, and later added Ilia. Though Phillips had saved the original television series casts used for making the appliances, Nimoy's ears had grown in the decade since and new molds had to be fabricated. [27], By August 9, the production was already a full day behind schedule. A second, 20-inch (51cm) model of the ship was used for long shots. He thought that Enterprise should self-illuminate when traveling years from any source of light. To recreate the appearance of the swirling eddies of water in the real Yellowstone, a combination of evaporated milk, white poster paint, and water was poured into the set's pools. [102] David Denby of New York magazine, wrote that the slow movement of ships through space was "no longer surprising and elegant" after films such as 2001, and that much of the action consisted of the crew's reacting to things occurring on the viewscreen, which he considered to be "like watching someone else watch television". The series went into reruns in the autumn (September/October) of 1969, and by the late 1970s had been sold in over 150 domestic and 60 international markets. [43][44] It was created by musician Craig Huxley, who played a small role in an episode of the original television series.
Ambient noise such as the buzz of bridge controls were added to enhance certain scenes. [15]:160 The seats were covered in girdle material, used because of its stretching capacity and ability to be easily dyed. Abel and Associates bid $4million for doing the film's effects and Paramount accepted. [58], To coincide with the film's release, Pocket Books published a novelization written by Roddenberry. Cole remained on the motion picture production and was responsible for much of the visual artwork created. The model was built out of a plethora of materialswood, foam, macram, Styrofoam cups, incandescent, neon and strobe lights. Trumbull was busy on Close Encounters, and was tired of being ignored as a director and having to churn out special effects for someone else's production; after completing the effects work, Trumbull planned on launching his own feature using a new film process. The production team used the original script, surviving sequence storyboards, memos, and the director's recollections. As Paramount executives' interest in the film began to wane, Roddenberry, backed by fan letters, applied pressure to the studio. A total of 15 of the devices were made for the film. [79], The Director's Edition was far better received by critics than the original 1979 release, with some considering the edit to have subsequently turned the film into one of the series' best. While the team planned on compositing multiple passes to provide physical movement to the cloud shots, Trumbull felt that it detracted from the sense of scale, and so small animations were subtly introduced in the final product. It also has publicity advantages if properly released at the right time. Wise took the just-completed film to its Washington, D.C., opening, but always felt that the final theatrical version was a rough cut of the film he wanted to make. [54]:7967, When The Motion Picture was announced, many synthesizer artists submitted demo tapes to Paramount. To save money, construction coordinator Gene Kelley struck sets with his own crew immediately after filming, lest Paramount charge the production to have the sets dismantled. As Trumbull also felt the Enterprise's lights were ill-suited for his needs, he rewired both models. Commander Spock arrives as a replacement science officer, explaining that while on his home world undergoing a ritual to purge himself of emotion, he felt a consciousness that he believes emanates from the cloud, making him unable to complete the ritual because his human half felt an emotional connection to it. I'll leave it to you where you want it on the vessel. [29]:55 Trumbull wanted the cloud to have a specific shape to it"it couldn't just be a blob of cotton," he said, "it had to have some shape that you could get camera angles on." At a basic level, their exchanges are those of an odd assortment of grumpy, middle-aged men bickering about office politics. Kline recalled that there was not a single "easy" shot to produce for the picture, as each required special consideration. Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley delivered their final lines at 4:50 pm. [8][15]:24 The film was postponed until spring (March/April) 1976 while Paramount fielded new scripts for Star Trek II (the working title) from acclaimed writers such as Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, and Harlan Ellison. To move away from that look, Michelson created a new, bent and angular design. The Klingon cruiser's lighting was so dim that there was no way to make them bright enough on film. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) assumes command of the recently refitted Starship USS Enterprise, to lead it on a mission to save the planet and determine V'Ger's origins. [9] By the time The Motion Picture was finished, $26 million was spent on the film itself, while $18 million had been spent on sets for the undeveloped Phase II series, much of which were not used for the film itself, which brought the total cost of the movie to $44 million. Citing his experience, Kirk uses his authority to take command of the ship, angering Captain Willard Decker, who has been overseeing the refit as its new commanding officer. [29]:4 Post-production supervisor Paul Rabwin suggested Robert Abel's production company Robert Abel and Associates might be up to the task.
The new phaser was entirely self-contained, with its own circuitry, batteries, and four blinking lights. "[105], The characters and acting received a mixed reception. On film the engine room appeared hundreds of feet long, but the set was actually only 40 feet (12m) in length. The pressure of the steam channeled into the pools through hidden tubing causes enough movement in the whirlpools to duplicate the location footage. I loved it, but it's a fairy tale of princes and knights in another galaxy. They worked on designs for planets, planetary and asteroid bases, a black hole "shroud", a crystalline "super brain", and new concepts for the Enterprise, including interiors that Adam later revisited for the film Moonraker and a flat-hulled starship design (frequently credited to McQuarrie, but which McQuarrie's own book identifies as an Adam design[21]). Gene Siskel felt the film "teeter[ed] towards being a crashing bore" whenever Khambatta was not on screen,[19]:155158and Jack Kroll of Newsweek felt that she had the most memorable entrance in the film. [42] The film's soundtrack also provided a debut for the Blaster Beam, an electronic instrument 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6m) long. As new effects were added, Abel increased their bid by $750,000, and Roddenberry suggested that the effects costs and schedules be reexamined. [85] A 4K version of the directors cut was released on the Paramount+ streaming service, and will later release in 2022 on physical media. The Starfleet delta symbol was standardized and superimposed over a circle of color indicating area of service. [15]:88 For the science station, two consoles were rigged for hydraulic operation so that they could be rolled into the walls when not in use, but the system was disconnected when the crew discovered it would be easier to move them by hand. [15]:193. [67] The premiere was followed by a black-tie reception at the National Air and Space Museum. [29]:4 With Trumbull now available, primary responsibility for The Motion Picture's optical effects passed on to him. The only prop that remained from the original television series was Uhura's wireless earpiece, which Nichols requested on the first day of shooting (and all the production crew save those who had worked on the television show had forgotten about). Wise later considered his work with Goldsmith one of the best relationships he ever had with a composer. During the retakes throughout the week the crew mopped and dusted the set constantly, and it required later technical work to eliminate the dust in the final print. [15]:17880 Security swept cars leaving the lots for stolen items; even the principal actors were not spared this inconvenience. [106] Martin considered the characters more likable than those in comparable science fiction films. We experimented with all kinds of approacheswe didn't know what to do with the ending. [53], Sound designer Frank Serafine, a longtime Star Trek fan, was invited to create the sound effects for the picture. To create the illusion of depth and long visible distances, the art department staff worked on designs that would utilize forced perspective;[9][15]:88 set designer Lewis Splittgerber considered the engine room the most difficult set to realize. [15]:1857, While Kline was concerned with lighting, print quality, and color, Bonnie Prendergast, the script supervisor, took notes that would be written up after the company had finished for the day. Its final production cost ballooned to approximately $44 million, and it earned $139 million worldwide, short of studio expectations but enough for Paramount to propose a less expensive sequel. Because the original Vulcan scenes had been photographed with actors speaking English, the "language" needed to lip-sync with the actor's lines. (), Srpskohrvatski / , National Aeronautics and Space Administration, List of films featuring extraterrestrials, "Movie Poster Art Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "NEW 'STAR TREK' PLAN REFLECTS SYMBIOSIS OF TV AND MOVIES", "Lower Costs Energize 'Trek' Film Profits", "James Doohan, Scotty in Star Trek, dies", To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, "Majel B. Roddenberry, wife of 'Star Trek' creator, dies", "Majel Roddenberry, 'Star Trek' Actress, Dies at 76", "Mark Lenard, 68, an Actor in Classics From Ibsen to 'Star Trek', "Jerry Goldsmith, 75, prolific film composer", "STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE: LIMITED EDITION (3-CD SET)", "Filmtracks: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Jerry Goldsmith)", "The list of the 250 nominated film scores - 's 100 YEARS OF FILM", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture Special Longer Version", "Robert Wise Gets to Redo Rushed 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' -- 22 Years Later", "Jerry Goldsmith: A Personal Reminiscence", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Director's Edition", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Directors Edition", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition; The first Star Trek film gets an incredible facelift in this new director's edition", "TrekMovie: CBS & Paramount Announce First Star Trek Blu-ray sets - TOS S1 & All TOS movies coming April/May", "Celebrate the 55th Anniversary with These New Star Trek Releases and More", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition Hits 4K Blu-ray Along With a Six Film Set", "NY Times: Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Viacom Chief Touts Star Trek As 'Unqualified Blockbuster' As Film Reaches $380M Globally", "Pottering on, and on Highest-grossing film in franchise", "Review; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan The Director's Edition", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) movie review", "AFI's 100 Years100 Heroes & Villains Nominees", "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees", Faceted Application of Subject Terminology, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture&oldid=1101026220, Films based on Star Trek: The Original Series, Films with screenplays by Harold Livingston, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 July 2022, at 22:58.
[31][15]:206 The Glencoe-based facilities the teams had used for Close Encounters were deemed insufficient, and a nearby facility was rented and outfitted with five more stages equipped with camera tracks and systems. In contrast, almost every action on the Klingon bridge made noise to reflect the aliens' harsh aesthetic[54]:797 While much of the effects were created using digital synthesizers, acoustic recordings were used as well.
"[30], During the rewrite of the final scenes, the studio executives clashed with Roddenberry about the script's ending, believing that the concept of a living machine was too far-fetched. [75] Wise, who had considered the theatrical presentation of the film a "rough cut", was given the opportunity to re-edit the film to be more consistent with his original vision. [103] Variety, disagreed, calling the film "a search-and-destroy thriller that includes all of the ingredients the TV show's fans thrive on: the philosophical dilemma wrapped in a scenario of mind control, troubles with the space ship, the dependable and understanding Kirk, the ever-logical Spock, and suspenseful take with twist ending".
The result was a list of 34 names, none of whom were chosen to pen the script. Isenberg began scouting filming locations and hired designers and illustrators. Polyurethane foam was sprayed over the framework under the supervision of the Los Angeles Fire Department. [101] Conversely, Arnold felt that the acting of the main cast (Shatner in particular) was poor; "Shatner portrays Kirk as such a supercilious old twit that one rather wishes he'd been left behind that desk", he wrote. [9][15]:89, Redesigning the Enterprise corridors was also Michelson's responsibility. Unique destruction effects for the station had to be discarded due to time constraints. Will be a big shot some day. Minor set up miniatures on the tank's floor before construction and made sure that the shadows that fell on Spock at Yellowstone could be properly recreated. Ramsay tried to cut as much unnecessary footage as he could as long as the film's character and story development were not damaged. Combining the shoes and trousers was difficult, time-consuming, and expensive, as each shoe had to be sewn by hand after being fitted to each principal actor. [15]:57 Wise felt that the story was sound, but the action and visuals could be made more exciting. Michelson first removed Chekov's new weapons station, a semicircular plastic bubble grafted onto one side of the bridge wall.
The executives consulted Asimov: if the writer decided a sentient machine was plausible, the ending could stay. V'Ger itself was filmed in a hazy, smoky room, in part to convey depth and also to hide the parts of the ship still under construction. Roddenberry was forced out of creative control for the sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). David Gerrold estimated before its release that the film would have to gross two to three times its budget to be profitable for Paramount. [20] Roddenberry teamed up with Jon Povill to write a new story that featured the Enterprise crew setting an altered universe right by time travel; like Black's idea, Paramount did not consider it epic enough. Wise, who had worked with the composer for The Sand Pebbles, replied "Hell, no. [39] The rewriting of the theme required changes to several sequences Goldsmith had scored without writing a main title piece. The blue color of previous uniforms was discarded, for fear they might interfere with the blue screens used for optical effects. The bridge, for example, was lit with a low density of light to make the console monitors display better. [15]:129[19]:1778 Fletcher also recycled suedes from The Ten Commandments for other costumes. [76] Goldsmith had always suspected that some overly long cues could be shortened, so he made the cues repetitive. A variety of field jackets, leisure wear, and spacesuits were also created; as these parts had to be designed and completed before most of the actors' parts had been cast, many roles were filled by considering how well the actors would fit into existing costumes. [55]:142 When Apollo suggests that humans need a new pantheon of gods, Kirk dismisses the idea with the words, "We find the one quite sufficient." Dennis Clark (Comes a Horseman) was invited to rewrite the script and to include Spock, but he disliked Roddenberry, who demanded sole credit. [15]:177, The computer console explosion that causes the transporter malfunction was simulated using Brillo Pads. [15]:1236 Fletcher designed the Class B uniform as similar to evolved T-shirts, with shoulder boards used to indicate rank and service divisions. Each costume had the shoes built into the pant leg to further the futuristic look. [15]:165 Due to the requirement that the sun be in a specific location for filming and that the environment be bright enough, production fell behind schedule when it was unseasonably cloudy for three days straight. [78] Although no new scenes were added, the MPAA rated the revised edition PG in contrast to the G rating of the original release. [28]:87 The Enterprise was revised again after Abel & Associates were dismissed. Khambatta spent six months following the regimen, (her hair eventually regrew without issue, though she kept her shaven locks after production had ended. Early work was promising, and by the fall of 1976, the project was building momentum. Roddenberry had known Puttkamer since 1975, when they had been introduced by a mutual friend, the assistant director of Astronautics at the Smithsonian Institution. [15]:162 One scene required the Ilia probe to slice through a steel door in the sickbay; doors made out of paper, corrugated cardboard covered in aluminum foil, and cork were tested before the proper effect was reached. Two hundred communicators were fashioned, but only a few were the $3500 top models, used for close-ups of the device in action. [15]:13 The first day's shots used 1,650 feet (500m) of film; 420 feet (130m) were considered "good", 1,070 feet (330m) were judged "no good", and 160 feet (49m) were wasted; only one-and-one-eighth pages had been shot. The original plan was for Kirk to follow Spock in a spacesuit and come under attack from a mass of sensor-type organisms. Ellison's story had a snake-like alien race tampering with Earth's history to create a kindred race; Kirk reunites with his old crew, but they are faced with the dilemma of killing off the reptilian race in Earth's prehistory just to maintain humanity's dominance. [39] Several state-of-the-art synthesizers were used as musical instruments, notably the Yamaha CS-80, ARP 2600, Oberheim OB-X, and Serge synthesizer. [29]:634, Dick Rubin handled the film's props, and set up a makeshift office in the corner of stage 9 throughout production. The crew built a circular track that had the same shape as the corridor and suspended the antigravity prop on four small wires that connected to the track. Scenes were rewritten so often it became necessary to note on script pages the hour of the revision. Weldon prepared an ammonia and acetic acid solution that was touched to Koenig's sleeve, causing it to smoke. The machines upgraded the probe to fulfill its mission, and on its journey, the probe gathered so much knowledge that it achieved sentience. By June 30, he had produced what he considered an acceptable script, but studio executives disagreed. [109] "[Khambatta] is sympathetic enough to make one hope she'll have a chance to show less skin and more hair in future films", Godfrey wrote. [72], Aside from the effects, the soundtrack was remixed. The set was designed and fabricated in four and a half weeks, and was filmable from all angles; parts of the set were designed to pull away for better camera access at the center. [65], Owing to the rush to complete the film, The Motion Picture was never screened before test audiences, something Wise later regretted. In the 23rd century, a Starfleet monitoring station, Epsilon Nine, detects an alien entity, hidden in a massive cloud of energy, moving through space toward Earth. [8][15]:25. [15]:161 Various canisters and cargo containers appear to be suspended by anti-gravity throughout the film. [108] Stephen Collins and Persis Khambatta were more favorably received.
[90], In the United States, the film sold the most tickets of any film in the franchise until Star Trek (2009), and it remains the highest-grossing film of the franchise worldwide adjusted for inflation,[91][92] but Paramount considered its gross disappointing compared to expectations and marketing. and include the Maya civilization into his story, which enraged the writer because he knew Maya did not exist at the dawn of time. Given access to state-of-the-art audio equipment, Serafine saw the picture as the chance to modernize outdated motion picture sound techniques with digital technology. A Effects were synthesized or acoustic sounds that were important and integral to the picturethe sound of V'Ger's weapon (partly done with the blaster beam instrument) for example, or Spock's mind meld, as well as transporters, explosions, and the warp speed sound effect. Katzenberg called Wise the film's savior, using his experience to (as Shatner recalled) subtly make filming "actor-proof". "Science fiction films, including those of the recent past, have been woefully short of good science advice", he said.
[29]:5964, Even after the change in effects companies, Yuricich continued to provide many of the matte paintings used in the film, having previously worked on The Day the Earth Stood Still, Ben-Hur, North by Northwest and Logan's Run. The main Enterprise model was eight feet long, to a scale of 1/120th scale size, or 1 inch (2.5cm) to 10 feet (3.0m). Rawlins, production manager Lindsley Parsons Jr., and Katzenberg were all tasked with keeping things moving as fast as possible and keeping the budget under control; every hour on stage cost the production $4000. [84] A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray of the film was released on September 7, 2021, to commemorate the franchise's 55th anniversary. The basic premise and scenes such as a transporter accident and Spock's Vulcan ritual were discarded, but later returned to the script.