Last December marked the 35
th anniversary of
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (TMP)
and in the process, it ushered in an era of Star Trek movies that still
exists today, including the new cinematic universe that was ushered in
through 2009’s J.J. Abrams’-helmed reboot.
With the impending release of next year’s
Star Trek Beyond,
written by Simon Pegg (who plays the new universe’s Montgomery Scott)
and veteran writer Doug Jung and directed by Justin Lin (of
Fast and the Furious
fame), this makes it the ideal time to revisit the film that started it
all as well as examine what the new movie could learn from
TMP.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was created in large part
based off the first attempt to bring back the property to television in a
live-action sense, known as Phase II. Excluding
The Animated Series,
which ran from 1973 to 1974, as well as the first aborted attempt to
bring Star Trek back to the big screen (under the project title of “Star
Trek: Planet of the Titans”), production on the Phase II television
series began in mid-1977 with a target premiere date sometime in 1978.
However, with the unexpected and overwhelming success of
Star Wars,
Paramount decided to transform Phase II into a full-blown theatrical
release. It is interesting to note that the pilot episode of Phase II
called “In Thy Image” would serve as the backbone for the screenplay for
The Motion Picture.
When
The Motion Picture was released in 1979, there was a sense of great anticipation. Trek had not been back in live-action format in a decade since
The Original Series
was cancelled after its third season in 1969. In this regard, the
current state of the franchise is not similar, after all. The last movie
to be released was just two years ago with
Star Trek Into Darkness with
Star Trek Beyond slated for 2016. However, there is a similarity between the anxiousness that permeated the lead-up to the release of
TMP and now for
Star Trek Beyond.
What do I mean by anxiousness? On the one hand, the anxiousness during
TMP’s time was driven solely by the fact that the franchise had been out of a live-action format for a decade. Sure, there was
The Animated Series,
but that could never be the same, could it? The pent-up demand was
palpable. In 2015, the anxiousness is derived from something else. The
best word I can use to describe it is trepidation, that murky line
between cautiously optimistic and mildly ambivalent. The new movies have
been polarizing to fans, with 2013’s
Into Darkness arguably
being even more divisive than the first. The production history for the
2016 movie has been fraught with massive directorial and writing
changes (with Roberto Orci dropping out as writer and director to be
replaced with Justin Lin as director and Simon Pegg as both actor and
co-writer with Doug Jung).
Recent acknowledgements from Pegg that the script is still being
rewritten and worked on with only about a year left until the film’s
release, in addition to concerns from Paramount Studios that previous
scripts were too
“Star Trek-y”
have left some fans wondering: “Just what is the direction of the
franchise? Is there a larger vision and is that larger vision even worth
pursuing?” This is only made more poignant with 2016 marking Star
Trek’s 50
th anniversary and the fact that, as for right now,
the JJ-verse movies are the only iteration of Trek being made. Thus with
this current backdrop as context, I think it’s incredibly worthwhile to
look to
TMP for inspiration and insight.
I recently re-watched
The Motion Picture, both the cinematic
release on Blu-Ray as well as the Director’s Cut (which was sadly not
produced at the time in a way that would have made it easy to restore to
HD). And for the benefit of full disclosure, I’ve always been an ardent
TMP partisan and my belief in the strengths of this movie are only reinforced after my recent re-watches.
Borne out of a time when
Close Encounters of the Third Kind and
2001: A Space Odyssey were big hits with audiences,
The Motion Picture
has always had a different visceral feel than any of the successive
Trek films. And I don’t merely mean on a purely aesthetic level either,
although that plays a significant role (for the record, I’ve always been
a big defender of the
TMP uniforms, monochromatic color
schemes and all). What I mean is that from the very opening scene, with
the triumphant score that would later be appropriated by
The Next Generation, this movie conveyed a sense of ambition and scale that continues to be unique to this day.
Admiral Kirk addressing the crew about their mission
Everything seemed bigger. We got our first glimpse of what Earth looked like in the 23
rd
century, and that opening shot of the Golden Gate Bridge and Starfleet
Command (including the extended take that was included in The Director’s
Cut) was magnificent. Even the Enterprise seemed more majestic. The
scene where Admiral Kirk is briefing the crew in the recreation deck
creates such a large perception of scale that is never really matched in
any other movie, or series, for that matter. The ship seemed massive
and the crew complement huge and vibrant, with diverse ethnicities and
races both humanoid and non-humanoid. Truth be told, no starship crew in
any subsequent Trek iterations would never appear more grandiose or as
teeming with life than it did in that scene. This visual motif would be
continued in how the very concept of jumping to warp speed would be
portrayed. We’ve often become accustomed to our various starships
performing feats of faster-than-light travel and “hopping galaxies” (as
Bones would put it in
The Wrath of Khan) as being very ho-hum, banal, and perfunctory. But I’ve always loved the fact that
TMP portrayed warp travel as still being unpredictable and fraught with unseen danger, even in this grand future.
The Enterprise trapped in a wormhole of its own creation
But the most important lesson to be learned from TMP is the sense of
exploration and examination of the human condition that it engendered.
To be sure, Kirk’s mission aboard the Enterprise to intercept the alien
probe, V’ger, was not intended as a peaceful exploratory mission.
Rather, it was to intercept and neutralize at all costs a hostile and
implacable force (this is another point where the Director’s Cut shines,
it reintroduces a scene where Kirk orders Scotty to self-destruct the
Enterprise in case their efforts to communicate with the probe fail).
But this mission belied a deeper and more resonant message when it was
revealed that the probe itself was of human origin. Everyone who has
seen the movie (and arguably even those who haven’t) know how important
that twist is. The fact that V’Ger is in fact one of the Voyager probes
(albeit the fictional Voyager 6) and that it has come back to Earth, not
to harm it, but to learn from its creator why it was sent out in the
first place, hits so many resonant notes on the nature of exploration
and the human condition itself. It dares to ask questions that explore
the concept of emergent consciousness, the limitations of cold
programming and calculation, the contradictory uniqueness embodied by
the human mind which inhabits both a place of emotion and logic, and how
all of these things can and must be explored by a consciousness not
solely defined as organic or inorganic. Indeed, the most moving moment
for me is actually a scene that was cut from the original theatrical
version. Restored in the Director’s Cut, it involves Spock crying on
behalf of V’Ger. He explains to Kirk why: “I weep for V’ger as I would
for a brother. As I was when I came aboard, so is V’Ger now. Empty.
Incomplete. Searching. Logic and knowledge are not enough.”
Spock crying for V’ge
So how does this apply to next year’s movie and to the state of the
franchise as a whole moving forward? I think it’s absolutely critical
that any future Trek movie restore that same sense of wonder, scale, and
exploration that was so prevalent throughout TMP, as well as its study
and examination of the human condition. To be sure,
The Motion Picture
wasn’t a perfect movie, but insofar that it captured these elements,
the movie was resoundingly successful and it’s something that fans are
beginning to appreciate more and more. I would also suggest that the
decentralized and de-personified nature of V’ger is refreshing and
suggests a model for future films. The past four movies (
Into Darkness,
Star Trek ’09,
Nemesis, and
Insurrection)
all have featured a villain, obsessed with revenge, commanding an
imposing ship that the Enterprise crew has to valiantly blow up in order
to save the day. Indeed, there hasn’t been a movie without a headlining
“main threat bad guy” since
The Voyage Home. This is not to
say that villains don’t have a role in Trek: I personally loved Ricardo
Montalban as Khan, Christopher Plummer as Chang, and Alice Krige as the
Borg Queen. But is it possible for us to formulate an idea for Star Trek
that doesn’t always necessitate such a trope? That doesn’t necessitate a
huge space battle, whiz-bang explosions, and a dead villain as the only
outcome of our heroes succeeding? The recent commercial and critical
success of movies like
Gravity and
Interstellar strongly suggest that not only is this possible, but for a franchise like Star Trek, it is absolutely necessary.
(from
left to right) Ru’afo from Insurrection, Shinzon from Nemesis, Nero
from Star Trek ’09, and John Harrison / Khan from Into Darkness
I wouldn’t presume to second-guess Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, and Justin
Lin when they’re in the process of writing, producing, and directing a
movie under the scrutiny of the world’s most dedicated fanbase. Unless
you’re one of the very people who have actually been in that kind of
situation, it’s almost impossible to know what factors, constraints, and
pressures influence the pressure cooker environment in which the
producers operate in. Other seemingly troubled productions such as the
third season
Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise”
would turn out to be among the franchise’s best work. And in actuality,
Pegg’s comments back in March of this year
emphasizing
his awareness that “the spirit of adventure and exploration” need to be
present in the new movie is quite heartening. For all we know, next
year’s movie might be everything we’re looking for and then some. We can
only wait and see. But in the meantime, we can still ruminate and
reflect on what made Star Trek truly resonant for us, and hope that what
we see in the future will reflect and expand on that.
In the end, despite the despondence or fear that some fans have about
next year’s movie, I’m actually optimistic for Trek’s future. Star Trek
has endured its high and lows, its peaks and valleys, its eras of green
verdant growth and harsh dry drought. Despite the absence of Trek on
television (where it excels the most) and the fan reticence towards the
new studio movie, Star Trek still thrives. Why? Without a doubt, it’s
because of the dedicated fanbase that has kept the franchise alive
through periods of famine and feast. Even now, we are experiencing a
veritable renaissance of fans films and independent productions, in the
form of
Axanar, New Voyages / Phase II,
Star Trek Continues,
and many others. Indeed, the success of these fan films and independent
productions speak to the vitality of Star Trek and arguably to the
existence of unmet demand that is not being satisfied from the new
movies. Indeed, it is quite telling that on the eve of Star Trek’s 50
th
anniversary next year in 2016, there has been no discernible effort by
the studio to commemorate the anniversary or celebrate the franchise in a
way that has been done for
Doctor Who’s 50
th anniversary in 2013 or with
Star Wars’
impending return to the big screen in December 2015. Rather, it seems
that it is the fan-driven and independently created work and not the
“official” studio-sanctioned content, which is driving the majority of
fan enthusiasm these days.
This ultimately brings us full circle. Whether it’s a television
series, a Paramount produced movie, or a fan / independent production,
Star Trek is at its best when it can combine action, adventure, drama,
humor, moral and socio-political allegory into a richer milieu about the
human condition. With a return to its exploratory roots, Star Trek can
recapture that palpable sense of excitement and wonder that fans once
had in the summer of 1979. TMP at its heart is about the human condition
and in this fan’s humble opinion, any future iteration of Trek can only
be well-served by learning from
The Motion Picture that started it all.
Will Nguyen lives in the Boston area. You can tweet him at
@Will_Nguyen. He’s also the co-host for
Warp 5, a weekly Enterprise show on
Trek.fm,
a dedicated podcast network that talks about every aspect of the Trek
universe from television, the movies, literature, and everything in
between.
