In 1969, after being canceled by NBC for the second time, “Star Trek” went off the air, after three seasons with little fanfare.
The following autumn, it went into syndicated reruns and something remarkable happened- Trek became a hit. Well into the 1970′s, it would continue to score huge numbers, so much so, the series returned to television, in animated form in 1973. Although initially not considered canon, (it is now however) it did reveal Kirk’s middle name as Tiberius. Produced by Filmation and aired by NBC, the series was strapped with a low-budget and anemic ratings, and was canceled in 1975 even though it won an Emmy award at the end of its first season.
Regardless of yet another cancellation, Paramount and Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were adamant on bringing the series back in live-action form beginning in 1976.
Several attempts were made to bring Trek to the big screen. One was an ambitious treatment by British writers Chris Bryant and Allan Scott was called “Planet of the Titans,” set after the five-year mission depicted in the series, the film involved Star fleet competing with the Klingons for claim to the supposed home world of the mythical Titans, a technologically-advanced race long thought extinct. As the planet is pulled into a black hole, the USS Enterprise must also face off against the Cygnans, the alien race responsible for the Titans’ disappearance. Ultimately, Captain Kirk is forced to take the Enterprise into the black hole to defeat the Cygnans, a decision that sends the starship and its crew backwards in time thousands of years and into orbit around Earth. After introducing fire to the primitive Humans living at the time, Kirk and his crew are revealed to be the legendary Titans協ascinating indeed with an attempt to create a “Planet of the Apes” style twist ending that left many cold.
Production moved forward on this than any idea before it as a Director was lineup- Phillip Kaufman, a college of George Lucas who would later help him create Dr. Indiana Jones for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and directing such films as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” (starring Leonard Nimoy), The Right Stuff, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, was ready to reinvent “Trek” in a radical way but taking the “cultish vibe from it.”
Despite the bad science of the Enterprise entering and exiting a black hole fully intact, there was plenty to get excited about, especially the offer to Japanese icon Toshiro Mifune cast as the lead Klingon baddie.
Even though momentum was gained, studio exec Barry Diller didn’t like the direction Trek was headed and canceled the movie idea in May 1977 instead he proposed a second television series.
Set to premiere in the fall of 1978, “Star Trek: Phase II” would be the new network’s flagship series about the continuing adventures of the Star ship Enterprise starring the entire original cast except Leonard Nimoy who had had a falling out with Roddenberry and refused to return. The move was not an altogether artistic one as Diller also had in mind a bold idea for a fourth television network to compete with the then, big three of, CBS, ABC, NBC.
To fill in the gaps left by Nimoy’s absence and Shatner’s less than full-time workload; three new characters were added: William Decker as the ship’s first Officer and two new alien characters, Science Officer Xon (pronounced Zahn) a full-blooded male Vulcan and navigator Ilia, (pronounced I-Lee-Ah) a bald-headed female empath from the planet Deltan.
Dekker was made to be a younger version of Kirk so he could take over much more of the physicality of the show’s male lead. With Shatner getting older and expensive, the logic was that the actor and character would be gradually phased out and replaced with Dekker a younger, cheaper version of Kirk.
Xon was to be the cold-logical POV, even more so than the half-Vulcan Spock, that would otherwise have been missing due to Nimoy’s absence and provide healthy philosophical debate with Dr. McCoy.
It would later be revealed that Lt. Ilia, navigator, had a previous relationship with Decker and would provide plenty of sexual chemistry between her and Dekker and especially Kirk.
If the three characters have a d閖�vu vibe, it’s because they would later be altered into Commander Will Riker, Lt. Commander Data and Deanna Troi of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
A half of a season worth of scripts were written (some would eventually be re-worked for “TNG” like: “Devil’s Due” and “The Child,” during the writers’ strike of 1988) as was the series ‘bible,’ sets and models were built, special-effects tested, actors cast- three weeks before principle photography began the whole project was cancelled by August 1977.
Studio heads began having second thoughts, first they looked around at the phenomenal success of “Star Wars;” and wondered why “Star Trek” couldn’t do business like that. Also the mounting costs of the pilot, the subsequent series and the lukewarm response from affiliates getting on board for this fourth network, which by now seemed unlikely- a movie just sounded far more prudent. As usual with all things Trek, the end is never final as the cast, save one, Xon was dropped completely (replaced in the movie, briefly by Sonak who was killed in a transporter malfunction) was now headed for the big screen- again.
From its then enormous budget of $47 million, (the most expensive movie at that time) the pilot for the aborted television series would be reworked into a bigger canvas from which to work. From the giddy-up, this endeavor was to be an event- to its Director Robert Wise (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”) and Composer Jerry Goldsmith- Trek’s return was going to be huge. An unknown Paramount studio exec was heard to have said, “Make it like ‘Star Wars, only bigger.”
Writer Harold Livingston was picked to write a compelling screenplay that would say all the things Roddenberry wanted to say and most agreed, from Wise on down to the actors, they that he was a fine writer, except Roddenberry.
Both men grew to hate each other with Livingston holding the bigger grudge as Roddenberry would constantly rewrite his work, never tell him what he was doing to said work and take all the credit, only when it was good, blaming Livingston if it was not. This continued on until Director Robert Wise acted as referee. Creating havoc, production was constantly delayed leaving actors angry and confused and no one having a clue as to how the film would end.
Once the conflict was resolved, another problem arise, what to do about Spock/Nimoy’s return. Roddenberry and Nimoy had a testy relationship that began during production of the original series when Nimoy took umbrage with Roddenberry’s Trek merchandising, using Nimoy’s likeness as Spock and not getting compensated for it and selling the shows bloopers. Not only did he feel he was cheated out of some dough,Why Did The Uss Contitution Nickname The Ship Old Ironsides?. but his integrity as an actor was compromised with the blooper reels being sold to the highest bidder. One must remember this was long before Dick Clark packaged and sold Hollywood fuck-ups as entertainment.
Their personal relationship was dead, but they continued on professionally until it reached its logical breaking point.
The merchandising and the blooper issues were never resolved to the actors satisfaction so once the animated series was canceled in 1975, Nimoy bid Spock and the Trek universe adieu by writing an autobiography titled, “I am NOT Spock!”
Nimoy may very well have done a Garbo and retired into the good night had it not been for Michael Eisner, Diller’s second in command, who wisely said, “How the fuck can we do a Star Trek movie without Spock?”
Efforts, including those by his co-star Shatner, were made to meet Nimoy’s demands the first would be to make Spock an integral part of the story and not some cameo as initially written.
With production back online things moved to the completion date and then on to its release December 5, 1979, fans were ecstatic making the film a $100 million plus hit, a fact that must be stressed as the film is perceived to have been an artistic and commercial failure.
The film opens with the destruction of three Klingon warships by a mysterious energy cloud that is on a direct heading for Earth. The newly redesigned U.S.S. Enterprise, the pride and joy of the United Federation of Planets, is the only ship available to intercept the cloud, and it hasn’t undergone its shakedown cruise. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), restless after 2 1/2 years behind a desk, uses the crises to once again take command of the Enterprise, forcing the ship’s expected captain, Will Decker (Stephen Collins), into the role of Executive Officer. Most of the crew is re-united, including the grumpy Dr. McCoy (the late DeForest Kelley) and the half-Vulcan Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Spock senses a kinship with the vast consciousness that exists at the heart of the cloud as he goes through his emotional purge called the Kolinar. Also on board are Chief Engineer Scotty (James Doohan), Security Chief Chekov (Walter Koenig), Helmsman Sulu (George Takei), Communications Officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and a newcomer, Navigator Ilia (Persis Khambatta).
After battling several systems failures, including a malfunctioning transporter that kills two crewmen and a propulsion system that becomes unstable and creates a wormhole, the Enterprise makes contact with the entity within the cloud, called V’ger. The journey to the center of the alien ship is a strange and bizarre one. Ilia is killed when a probe invades the Enterprise bridge, and V’ger later sends a second probe to the ship in the form of a mechanism that mimics Ilia’s body and features. Kirk learns that V’ger is a living machine traveling to Earth to make contact with its “Creator”. If this contact is not made, V’ger intends to wipe out all of the human beings “infesting” the planet. It is up to the crew of the Enterprise to prevent that eventuality
The story is cerebral (maybe too cerebral for some tastes) with little in the way of space battles, instead the TMP goes for ideas. Striking a resemblance to a re-hash of the original series episodes combined and rearranged (“The Changeling”being the most obvious inspiration and echoes of Arthur Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama).
This is the first and so far only Trek film that deals with hard-core science-fiction, a concept that would have been best suited for a middle sequel perhaps as the film doesn’t boast much action, only the cerebral kind and the only real sin the film commits is its refusal to know the characters, not to an insulting degree, just enough to go- “he wouldn’t do that!”
Nearly all of their character’s trademarks are missing with very little humor and at one point act totally against what’s already been established; Kirk’s bravado is replaced with authoritarianism; Spock’s inquisitiveness is replaced with downright recklessness (his emotions taking over perhaps?) in trying to mind meld with V’ger. McCoy’s charm is present, but is scaled down too much. Scotty and Uhura have a few good moments, do nothing more than stand around.
Persis Khambatta as Ilia makes little of an impression as the bland alien. It was rumored that she took an astounding seven-teen takes for a single line reading of “No.”
Aside from flimsy character quirks, which are nitpicks for the most part; the acting is good from the main characters. Shatner captures Kirk’s first love of being in Command perfectly. We know instantly how he feels when he steps aboard the newly re-designed Enterprise. Deforest Kelly as McCoy is his usual grumpy self with most of the film’s best lines and his one testy debate with Spock harkens back to the best moments of the original series. Nimoy is as cool and calculated as ever with an interesting perspective in regards to V’ger’s plight.
A more prudent editor would have cut many of the lingering shots as the film desperately needed a tightened mid-section; too many have the cast just standing around. That said, compared to today’s ugly, avid/MTV, slash cuts, the slow panning shots, especially of the spruced up Enterprise, and is a sight to behold.
Director Robert Wise does give the entire film a sense of class and genuineness. No longer is this a campy network TV show as its inspiration from “2001″ is obvious but something with balls and an attempt at least to expand some gray matter. Those lovely widescreen shots are worth the time alone as it effortlessly lifts Trek out of its television confines. Wise set an impressive standard, that visually and thematic has yet to be surpassed by its sequels.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score is the standout however, a character itself, the score represents majesty and wonder as it mirrors the visuals perfectly. The film’s opening overture beats John Williams’ first Star Wars score in its beauty, danger, mystery and richness with Ilia’s theme being the single best piece of music in the film; the entire score stands as the very best one of all of the movies with Trek in the title.
I have and always will love this film for what it at least tried to do; inspire its audience with awe, wonder and most importantly- ideas. The cold mechanics of V’ger only underscore the unique beauty of being human and our ability to temper our emotions with logic and knowledge. Spock gets this when he weeps for the entity as “he would for a brother� he feels regret perhaps after having gone through the “Kolinar” as we see in the film’s opening moments, he finally learns to accept his human side.http://www.ironsideeffects.info/as-illustrated-above. The entity learns that it must move beyond its cold mechanical programming to evolve and join with its creator.
After nearly thirty years, the special effects are still impressive; from the introduction of the Enterprise to its journey inside V’ger; all beautifully conceived shots. My favorite is Spock in the space suit intent to mind meld with the alien- the artistry is amazing even compared to today’s sophisticated tools.
The films epic look is still astounding as every cent is shown onscreen. The film starts of big and keeps getting bigger. Ironically enough, as the sequels continued to be released, getting generally positive reviews and making money, their budgets were continuously reduced and none had the sumptuousness or epic view this film holds.
I am an original series whore, so the complaints are merely nitpicks since they do not ruin the movie for me in any way. Maligned from the start, time has been very kind to this film and looking back its one of the best entries yet.
