As has been written in the pages of /Film before, Robert Wise’s 1979 feature film “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” isn’t a boring film. It’s more likely that you’re just watching it incorrectly. Recall that “The Motion Picture” was the first time Trekkies had seen anything from this franchise since the cancellation of the original TV series in 1969. For a decade, the adventures of Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and all the rest were hampered by the show’s budget, leaving many exotic planets looking like parks in Southern California, and aliens like character actors in makeup.
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” aimed to make — and succeeded at making — the old show look as epic as possible. There’s a reason why “Motion Picture” pauses for several minutes while Kirk and Scotty (James Doohan) fly around the U.S.S. Enterprise, just to look at it. This was the first time the Enterprise ever felt like a massive spacecraft, a gigantic structure with hundreds of people inside. The same might be said of the film’s extended V’Ger sequences, wherein the Enterprise is seen slowly flying through a cloud hundreds of millions of miles across. “Star Trek” is no longer filming animated phasers and styrofoam rocks. Now, it finally takes places in the epic vastness of space.
The special effects, however, were perfectly balanced with notable character work. A lot of time in “Motion Picture” was spent re-establishing well-known “Star Trek” characters, catching up with them after a several-year absence. According to a 1979 article in the New York Times, “Star Trek” creator said that the special effects needed to be great, but he demanded that the characters be kept at the center of things. The effects could never overwhelm the people.
Gene Roddenberry insisted that the effects always take a back seat to the characters
It should be noted that Roddenberry’s comments were being made only two years after the release of George Lucas’ ultra-blockbuster “Star Wars.” That film pushed sci-fi VFX forward a tremendous degree, and Michael Eisner (then the Chief Operations Officer at Paramount) felt that a “Star Trek” movie had to at least match “Star Wars” in terms of its visuals. As any Trekkie can tell you, though, the characters in “Star Wars” were mere mythical archetypes, while the characters on “Star Trek” are more complex and human, wrestling with practical morals and the fineries of command. Eisner’s comments about improved VFX came with an implication that “Star Trek” might — like “Star Wars” — become more about visuals and simplistic mythical storytelling than the old TV series.
Roddenberry, remaining true to his vision, said that the effects in “Motion Picture” were all based on enriching the world and adding texture to Trek’s utopian future. As he put it:
“We try to analyze how a spaceship will be operated in the 23d Century, so the Enterprise is bigger and more sophisticated. But while there will be plenty of special effects, they’re related to the characters — they’re part of the dramatic integrity, not an end in themselves. They won’t take over the picture.”
There is a general sense that “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” aimed to serve as an antidote to the high-octane, effects-based blockbusters that were coming into vogue at the time. “Star Wars” is fun and all, but it’s childish. The implication is that “Star Trek” was going to be a sci-fi film for grown-ups, and that the effects wouldn’t be the only highlight.
Even the director got in a stab at the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg wave of sci-fi
“Star Wars” wasn’t the only culprit, either. Recall that Steven Spielberg had a major hit in the form of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” the same year as “Star Wars.” Clearly, special effects were becoming unbound, and a new form of audience-pleasing, wholly accessible pop filmmaking was forming. Director Robert Wise helmed “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” Wise was, well, a wise choice to direct, as he had previously made the sci-fi hit “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and one of the most successful movies of all time in the form of “The Sound of Music.” He, too, didn’t have kind things to say about the recent wave of sci-fi, citing “Close Encounters” in particular. Wise said:
“[I re-wrote the script] to develop characters more strongly and establish chemistry between them. I thought it needed more emotion and feeling to make the story more believable. ‘Close Encounters’ had an interesting beginning, but fell apart in the middle.”
As Trekkies can now tell you, “Motion Picture” wasn’t as big a hit as “Star Wars,” and left Paramount feeling a little disappointed. Gene Roddenberry was removed (creatively) from future “Star Trek” movies, and other producers and filmmakers managed to make more crowd-pleasing, money-making films throughout the 1980s. “Motion Picture” went down in history as “the boring one.”
But it’s not the boring one. Indeed, it’s the most thoughtful, brainiest of the “Trek” movies. It zeroes in on Kirk as a character (he’s now grumpy and has lost his sense of awe) and on Spock (who was on the cusp of rejecting his humanity). The effects are great, but the characters come first. By design, “Motion Picture” is a far cry from “Star Wars.”
