It's pretty well known among Trekkies that Robert Wise's 1979 feature film "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" came about after the proposed 1977 TV series "Star Trek: Phase II" never quite made it off the ground. "Phase II" was meant to be the initial "Star Trek" spinoff series, but various behind-the-scenes decisions eventually saw the project mutating to fit the big screen. "Phase II" characters were changed to be part of "The Motion Picture," and several ideas for "Phase II" scripts made their way into future episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which debuted in 1987.
Trekkies will also tell you that Paramount was unimpressed by the box office numbers for "Motion Picture," a film that "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry was heavily involved in. Harold Livingston is the credited screenwriter, but Roddenberry aided in the story and served as producer. Because "Motion Picture" was a relative dud, Roddenberry was pushed out of the sequel.
Trekkies will also tell you that Paramount was unimpressed by the box office numbers for "Motion Picture," a film that "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry was heavily involved in. Harold Livingston is the credited screenwriter, but Roddenberry aided in the story and served as producer. Because "Motion Picture" was a relative dud, Roddenberry was pushed out of the sequel.
- 1/1/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review of the new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version of 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the first film of one of the most successful film franchises in movie history, spun off from the original breakthrough sci-fi TV series of the 1960s. Beam me up.
What is 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray? Well, compared to the picture quality of a regular Blu-ray disk, it has a resolution Four Times the pixel value, creating a spectacular in-depth picture experience.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Ten years after the original series left the TV airwaves, the crew of the Starship Enterprise – Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Weapons Officer Chekov (Walter Koenig). Communications Officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Helmsman Sulu (George Takei) – are reassembled under a new commander, Captain Decker (Stephen Collins). Before he can launch the reconditioned ship, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) brusquely comes aboard and relieves Decker of his command.
What is 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray? Well, compared to the picture quality of a regular Blu-ray disk, it has a resolution Four Times the pixel value, creating a spectacular in-depth picture experience.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Ten years after the original series left the TV airwaves, the crew of the Starship Enterprise – Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Weapons Officer Chekov (Walter Koenig). Communications Officer Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Helmsman Sulu (George Takei) – are reassembled under a new commander, Captain Decker (Stephen Collins). Before he can launch the reconditioned ship, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) brusquely comes aboard and relieves Decker of his command.
- 9/13/2022
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Harold Livingston, an American novelist who wrote the screenplay for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979, died early Thursday morning, Bobby Livingston confirmed to Variety. He was 97.
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was Livingston’s most famous writing credit, and he also wrote for several TV shows, including “Mission: Impossible,” “The Six Million Dollar Man” and more.
“Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster, who penned several “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” novels, also contributed to the story and script development alongside Livingston. The 1979 film was the first movie in the “Star Trek” franchise, and it starred the original TV series cast members, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins.
The film was successful at the box office, earning 139 million worldwide from a 44 million budget, and Paramount ordered a follow-up, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan...
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was Livingston’s most famous writing credit, and he also wrote for several TV shows, including “Mission: Impossible,” “The Six Million Dollar Man” and more.
“Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster, who penned several “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” novels, also contributed to the story and script development alongside Livingston. The 1979 film was the first movie in the “Star Trek” franchise, and it starred the original TV series cast members, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins.
The film was successful at the box office, earning 139 million worldwide from a 44 million budget, and Paramount ordered a follow-up, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan...
- 4/28/2022
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
On Dec. 7, 1979, Paramount’s Star Trek — The Motion Picture hit theaters and launched the franchise on the big screen. The film, which reunited the cast of the NBC series, went on to earn three Oscar nominations (for art direction, original score and visual effects) at the 52nd Academy Awards. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:
No mistake about it, Star Trek is a big movie — big in scope, big in spectacle and, most important, big in entertainment values. Trekkies will be pleased to know that almost all of their favorite characters are back in their original roles (with the welcome addition of voluptuous Persis Khambatta as the Navigator); while the Enterprise itself, which had apparently been in drydock these many years, has now been rebuilt and enlarged to an unimaginable vastness — unimaginable except, of course, by producer Gene Roddenberry and the special effects teams assembled by Douglas Trumbull...
No mistake about it, Star Trek is a big movie — big in scope, big in spectacle and, most important, big in entertainment values. Trekkies will be pleased to know that almost all of their favorite characters are back in their original roles (with the welcome addition of voluptuous Persis Khambatta as the Navigator); while the Enterprise itself, which had apparently been in drydock these many years, has now been rebuilt and enlarged to an unimaginable vastness — unimaginable except, of course, by producer Gene Roddenberry and the special effects teams assembled by Douglas Trumbull...
- 12/7/2021
- by Arthur Knight
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Back in the ‘70s, plans for a “Star Trek” movie were underway by creator Gene Roddenberry. In a new excerpt from the book, “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek – The First 25 Years” by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, previous scripts by Roddenberry had Captain Kirk fighting against Jesus and even stopping the JFK assassination.
Ultimately both ideas were rejected by then Paramount boss Barry Diller and the studio continued to pursue new storylines. The Hollywood Reporter posted an excerpt from the book where author Michael Jan Friedman gave more detail of Roddenberry’s script.
“Gene was — and still is — one of my heroes, for God’s sake, no pun intended. As he had already left the land of the living, this was a unique opportunity to collaborate with him. But when I read the material, I was dismayed. I hadn’t seen other...
Ultimately both ideas were rejected by then Paramount boss Barry Diller and the studio continued to pursue new storylines. The Hollywood Reporter posted an excerpt from the book where author Michael Jan Friedman gave more detail of Roddenberry’s script.
“Gene was — and still is — one of my heroes, for God’s sake, no pun intended. As he had already left the land of the living, this was a unique opportunity to collaborate with him. But when I read the material, I was dismayed. I hadn’t seen other...
- 7/6/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Ryan Lambie Dec 7, 2019
Massive cost overruns, script rewrites and an angry Leonard Nimoy. Star Trek: The Motion Picture didn't have an easy road.
This article originally appeared on Den of Geek UK.
After years in limbo, the rush to make a Star Trek movie suddenly began in earnest on March 28th, 1978. That day saw a lavish press conference arranged by Paramount president Michael Eisner, chairman Barry Diller, and the entire cast of the original Star Trek series. Eisner announced to an assembled group of reporters that a film spin-off from the cult Trek TV show was finally going to be made. Its appropriately grand title - Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The director, Eisner continued, would be Robert Wise - an industry veteran who was not only a safe pair of hands (he’d directed such hits as West Side Story and The Sound Of Music), but also had a...
Massive cost overruns, script rewrites and an angry Leonard Nimoy. Star Trek: The Motion Picture didn't have an easy road.
This article originally appeared on Den of Geek UK.
After years in limbo, the rush to make a Star Trek movie suddenly began in earnest on March 28th, 1978. That day saw a lavish press conference arranged by Paramount president Michael Eisner, chairman Barry Diller, and the entire cast of the original Star Trek series. Eisner announced to an assembled group of reporters that a film spin-off from the cult Trek TV show was finally going to be made. Its appropriately grand title - Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The director, Eisner continued, would be Robert Wise - an industry veteran who was not only a safe pair of hands (he’d directed such hits as West Side Story and The Sound Of Music), but also had a...
- 3/17/2016
- Den of Geek
Ryan Lambie Oct 19, 2017
Massive cost overruns, script rewrites and an angry Leonard Nimoy. Ryan charts the battle to make the original Star Trek movie...
After years in limbo, the rush to make a Star Trek movie suddely began in earnest on the 28th of March 1978. That day saw a lavish press conference arranged by Paramount president Michael Eisner, chairman Barry Diller and the entire cast of the original Star Trek series. Eisner announced to an assembled group of reporters that a film spin-off from the cult Trek TV show was finally going to be made. Its appropriately grand title - Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
See related Gunpowder: air date announced for Kit Harington's new show Game Of Thrones: the things Jon Snow does know 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017
The director, Eisner continued, would be Robert Wise - an industry veteran who was not only...
Massive cost overruns, script rewrites and an angry Leonard Nimoy. Ryan charts the battle to make the original Star Trek movie...
After years in limbo, the rush to make a Star Trek movie suddely began in earnest on the 28th of March 1978. That day saw a lavish press conference arranged by Paramount president Michael Eisner, chairman Barry Diller and the entire cast of the original Star Trek series. Eisner announced to an assembled group of reporters that a film spin-off from the cult Trek TV show was finally going to be made. Its appropriately grand title - Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
See related Gunpowder: air date announced for Kit Harington's new show Game Of Thrones: the things Jon Snow does know 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017
The director, Eisner continued, would be Robert Wise - an industry veteran who was not only...
- 3/16/2016
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
There was once a rumor, for an upcoming movie titled "The Empire Strikes Back," that Han Solo -- not known for his lightsaber skills -- would find himself in a duel with Darth Vader. During this duel, the two combatants' lightsabers would become fused, with an end result of Han and Vader's "life forces" combining -- creating quite the conundrum for Luke Skywalker. (If Luke kills Vader, then he would also kill his friend Han.)
There was also another rumor about "The Empire Strikes Back": Mick Jagger would compose the score.
Obviously, those outlandish rumors never happened -- but they are the kind of crazy development story that one might find on the Internet today. If you don't believe me, maybe go back and check out some of those "The Dark Knight Rises" rumors. In the late 1970s, however, there was no Internet to accelerate or decelerate unfounded rumors such as the examples above.
There was also another rumor about "The Empire Strikes Back": Mick Jagger would compose the score.
Obviously, those outlandish rumors never happened -- but they are the kind of crazy development story that one might find on the Internet today. If you don't believe me, maybe go back and check out some of those "The Dark Knight Rises" rumors. In the late 1970s, however, there was no Internet to accelerate or decelerate unfounded rumors such as the examples above.
- 10/24/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
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