A Brief Guide to Star Trek

just three days before our premiere. I cut about ten minutes and had a new master printed. The film that was ultimately shown was a rough cut, the kind of film you show at your first sneak preview. You really never know what you have until you get your film in front of an audience.’

    The reviews of
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
were definitely mixed, with
Variety
taking a positive view: ‘[The film] 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 spaceship, the dependable and understanding Kirk, the ever-logical Spock, and [a] suspenseful twist ending.’ Roger Ebert, of the
Chicago Sun-Times
called the film ‘about as good as we could have expected’ but lacking the ‘dazzling brilliance and originality of
2001
’. The film’s lengthy running time – much of it taken upwith special effects sequences – was heavily criticised, resulting in the movie becoming widely known as
Star Trek: The Motionless Picture
or
Star Trek: The Slow Motion Picture
. David Denby, of
New York Magazine
, noted how much of the film consisted of characters reacting to things on view screens, making the experience ‘like watching someone else watch television’, perhaps intended as a veiled criticism of the movie’s television origins.
    Opening in 859 cinemas, the movie grossed $11.8 million across the opening weekend, beating the record previously set by
Superman
(1978) for the same time of year. Within a week the box office had risen to $17 million, eventually reaching a final US total of $82.25 million. The film eventually grossed $139 million worldwide and scored three Oscar nominations (for Art Direction, Visual Effects and Original Score by Jerry Goldsmith). Despite this, within Paramount the long-gestating film was considered a disappointment. The costs of the abandoned
Star Trek: Phase II
project were attached to the movie. Blame was attached to Gene Roddenberry, and while the studio decided they would like to produce a quicker and cheaper sequel film, the creator of
Star Trek
would not be involved.
    For his part, Leonard Nimoy was glad he’d returned to
Star Trek
but was equally glad that the process had come to an end with the release of
The Motion Picture
. ‘I felt liberated’, he wrote in his autobiography,
I Am Spock
. ‘No longer would I have to deal with questions like “Why won’t you do
Star Trek
again? Are you sick of Spock?” The hype and expectation brought out a large audience for a short period of time – and then it was over. I felt I’d taken off the Spock ears for the last time. That, I thought, is the end of that.’
    For William Shatner, writing in his book, Star Trek
Movie Memories
, he came from playing Captain Kirk again to attending the premiere believing the film ‘was gonna be nothing short of terrific. Later, watching the film with a perspective that was a bit more honest I thought to myself, “Well, that’s it. We gave it our best shot, it wasn’t good, and that’ll never happen again.” Shows you what I know.’
    Director Robert Wise would get the chance to revisit
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
and finish it to his satisfaction in 2001, just four years before he died. An extended TV cut of the movie had debuted in 1983 on ABC, with twelve minutes of restored footage, but Wise had not been involved. The arrival of DVD allowed him to return to the ‘unfinished’ movie and advances in computer special effects allowed him to not only re-edit the movie but also revise and complete some of the special effects. Using the script, storyboards, studio memos and the director’s recollections, an attempt was made in this special edition to bring the film closer to the original intentions. The re-released film was 136 minutes, four minutes longer than the original 1979 release. The re-edited Director’s Cut of
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
was better paced, featuring a better balance between special effects and character drama, and was better reviewed than the original.
    For all its faults,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
succeeded in a most spectacular way. It not only brought
Star Trek
back from oblivion (thus setting the scene for all the spin-off TV shows that followed), but it also launched a new series of big screen adventures for the original
Star Trek
TV crew that would run throughout the 1980s.

    After the overblown
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
, the executives at Paramount knew a