It was a cold and windy night in the middle of a major snow storm in a small Ontario city when I attended the opening night of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The weather outside didn’t matter because the Enterprise and all her crew were on the big screen. The movie release ended a long wilderness of speculation and rumour in the dark days for Star Trek fans between the end of the television series and the film.
Today, the movie is not considered to be one of the better Star Trek films. It’s actually thought to be the start of the odd numbered film curse: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, all being considered the lesser of the film series legacy.
The film, directed by Academy Award winner Robert Wise, is however considered to be a good science fiction film with its sweeping visuals and cerebral story. The film originally started out as a unrealized Star Trek television series: Star Trek Phase II, but was instead fast-tracked to the big screen after the success of Star Wars. It was the fast paced action oriented experience of Star Wars that many audiences and studio executives had expected to see when Star Trek hit the theatres a year after Star Wars.
In the end, the film grossed $139 million on an investment of $46 million – enough to launch the enduring film franchise and all the Star Trek that has been released since.
To the fans that were there in the beginning, Star Trek: The Motion Picture will always hold a special place of which “There Is No Comparison” after all “The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning.”
Next year, will mark the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek TV series. You can be sure we will have something cool Star Trek -related here at Geeks and Beats. Stay tuned!
Vger
Zaldy Zuño liked this on Facebook.