Star Trek Movies

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ten movies (so far) and rumours of a prequel to Enterprise!

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A total of ten Star Trek movies to date have been produced by Paramount Pictures.

A common urban myth among fans is that the even-numbered Star Trek films are superior to the odd-numbered Star Trek films. This rule of thumb is most easily applicable to the first few films: Star Trek II and IV are usually at or near the top of the fan favorites, while I and V are usually at the bottom (though I has since received quite a bit of positive re-evaluation in the wake of an acclaimed "Director's Edition" revision released on DVD). This is not wholly applicable, however; III followed on from the success of II, which continued into IV, and VII (Star Trek: Generations) is regarded as a firm fan favorite. Another exception is X (Star Trek: Nemesis), which is one of the most critically derided Star Trek feature films, many critics accusing it of attempting to imitate the plot (and success) of Star Trek II. Despite fetching the lowest revenue at the box office in Star Trek history, it sold well on its DVD release in 2003.

Although North American and UK releases of the films were no longer numbered following the sixth film, European releases continued numbering the films.

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Paramount Pictures, 1979; see also 1979 in film) is the first feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. It is often referred to as ST:TMP or TMP. The film is often regarded as a disappointing one due to 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 plot has led some fans to label it as The Motionless Picture. 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.

n the late 23rd century, ca. stardate 7412.6, 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 starships and other objects it encounters en route. Starfleet decides to dispatch the starship USS Enterprise to intercept the "thing", requiring that its lengthy refit process be quickly finished and tested while in transit.

As part of this plan, Admiral James T. Kirk assumes his old command of the ship, angering Commander Willard Decker, who had been overseeing its refit as its new captain. With many of the former crew members of the ship aboard, the Enterprise embarks on its journey, but testing of its new systems goes poorly, resulting in further stress between Kirk and Decker. Many problems are resolved by the addition of science officer Commander Spock, who had been on his homeworld of Vulcan undergoing the kolinahr ritual. His failure to complete kolinahr led him to conclude that his destiny lay with humanity and Starfleet.

The Enterprise intercepts the alien cloud, survives its initial assault, and journeys inside the cloud, finding a vast alien vessel, which the crew learns is named V'ger. The ship gradually journeys to the center of V'ger, suffering some casualties along the way, as well as experiencing the strange transformation of navigator Lieutenant Ilia into a robotic probe. It all leads to a transcendent finale at the center of V'ger.

V'ger is revealed to be the unmanned scientific probe Voyager 6, which was part of the Voyager program, and (fictitiously) launched in the 1980s or 1990s. 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 self-awareness living beings possess. 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 completely, and thus the Earth is saved by the crew of the Enterprise.

TMP exhibits numerous themes familiar to viewers of Star Trek (TOS) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). One is the notion of "Kirk as destroyer of malevolent machines". Captain Kirk often encountered and destroyed computers which have become too powerful for the humanoids around them. TMP takes a slightly different tack, 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 TNG. Star Trek almost always portrays this transformation in a positive light, something to which humanity can aspire, and V'ger's transformation here certainly is in this 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 re-born as his old self, returning to duty.

The film is short on drama or excitement; other than Kirk's conflicts with Decker and the obvious threat of V'ger, there is precious little conflict in the film, and both of these elements are resolved by the deus-ex-machina nature of the ending. The story, in effect, is a relatively straightforward puzzle for the characters to solve, and, having done so, their other problems evaporate.

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."

"The Planet of the Titans" was nearly produced as the first Star Trek motion picture. Written by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant, the script involved the crew of the Enterprise rescuing the starship Da Vinci from a disaster. During the rescue Kirk suffers a shock to the brain causing him to go mad and disappear. Years later, the Enterprise, now under Captain Gregory Westlake, is dispatched to a planet near where Kirk disappeared. This planet is slowly being sucked into a black hole, and contains a wealth of information that the Klingons (who have also dispatched ships) want as well. Kirk is found, but the planet and the Enterprise are pulled, via the black hole, into Earth's past, where they become the Titans of Greek mythology. It was to be directed by Philip Kaufman. Ralph McQuarrie did pre-production art (including a very Star Destroyer-like Enterprise) and Ken Adam storyboarded the script. The second issue of Starlog magazine trumpeted the production of the film on a front cover headline. The movie was abandoned in late 1976 when Paramount finally rejected Scott and Bryant's script.

Instead, in 1977, attention was turned away from a film and towards a second television series, to be entitled Star Trek: Phase II, as part of a fourth television network to be created by Paramount. Despite already-extant casting, costuming and set production, Michael Eisner, then-head of Paramount, called a landmark studio meeting. Eisner has been known to declare "we've been looking for a Star Trek motion picture...and this is it!", thus the new Paramount network would be postponed (it would eventually become the UPN network), and the Phase II pilot episode In Thy Image would be rewritten as Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

All this couldn't have come at a more opportune moment. By the end of 1977, Star Wars had become a huge box-office success, and Paramount put The Motion Picture into pre-production. Rather than follow the space opera feel of Star Wars, TMP instead emulated the mood and format of 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which Douglas Trumbull also supervised special effects.

The film follows the story of "In Thy Image" only generally, as multiple disputes between screenwriter Harold Livingston and producer Gene Roddenberry (as well as numerous changes requested by Paramount Executives and the actors) led to extensive and even daily rewrites of the movie right up to the end of filming.

Major changes from the Phase II pilot episode include: Scenes of Kirk trying to recruit McCoy in a park in San Francisco, a conference of admirals discussing the intruder, Lieutenant Xon's entire role, the destruction of the cruiser Aswan, an invasion of the Enterprise by mechanical probes, scenes of the Ilia-probe attempting to seduce Kirk and Sulu, and scenes of Kirk and Ilia beaming down to San Francisco to show her footage of NASA's Voyager program at Starfleet Command. The director of the pilot episode, Bob Collins, was briefly set to be the director of the motion picture.

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 displays state-of-the-art (for the time) special effects, set design and use of models. Despite this, the film was regarded by critics as ponderous and boring, especially in the second half, which included lengthy scenes of the Enterprise flying through the interior of the cloud, with the awed reactions of the crew. However, the ship's lengthy transit is also widely perceived by fans to have profound symbolism, akin to human fertilisation and conception. 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). Despite this, the first hour of the film contains some witty and interesting moments - even with Kirk's long, drawn-out shuttlepod flight to the refitted Enterprise.

An extended cut of the film on videotape and 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 short 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. 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.

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.

Artist Andrew Probert proposed a climactic sequence involving the Enterprise being attacked by the Klingon ships from the beginning of the movie, who would rematerialize as V'ger moved to its new plane of existence, but this sequence was not filmed.

The film's Academy Award nominated score was by Jerry Goldsmith. His theme to the film was later reworked as the theme for the Television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and was also reused as the theme in Star Trek V. The theme also appears in Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis.

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 TOS. This change of appearance sparked 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.

Elements of the film were also resurrected in TNG, such as the dashing young executive officer (Commander Riker) who had a personal relationship with an empathic alien woman (Counsellor Troi), and the one-piece Starfleet uniforms.

It has been theorized that Will Decker is the son of Commodore Matt Decker from the original series episode "The Doomsday Machine": that was indeed the plan for Phase II. It is sometimes erroneously stated that this relationship is canonical, however as it is never mentioned in TMP or elsewhere, it is not.

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.

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 named as 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-lover, for some of the two-and-a-half years since he relinquished captaincy; it is sometimes erroneously stated that the character was also his fiancee). 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. (This same rumor persists regarding the novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope which was credited to creator George Lucas but widely believed to have been written by Foster.)

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 Roddenbury 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 when 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 phasers take their power directly from the warp engines, when the engines went into imbalance, the phasers were cut off, hence he used the photons. Later Trek series, such as TNG, establish that phasers are sublight weapons and would not work at warp. However, this rule wasn't established at the time of the making of the film, and furthermore the warp engines were already shut down in the worhole, further confusing the issue (especially given dialogue about "Negative inertial lag". (There are odd occurrences in TNG, DS9 and Voyager where phasers are used during warp. These are likely simply canonical slips.)