Story by: Alan Dean Foster
Screenplay by:
Harold Livingston
Directed by: Robert Wise
Released:
December 7, 1979
Original US domestic gross:
$82m
Adjustedforinflation:
$296m
Whena hugealiencloudof
unknownorigincompletely
obliteratesa Starfleet
listeningpost,theonlyship
in rangeis rushedoutof
drydocktointercept:the
refittedU.S.S.Enterprise.
Controversially,Starfleetalso
sendsitschiefofoperations
totakecommandofthe
untestedship– oneAdmiral
JamesT. Kirk...
- TheMotionPicturewas
thefirsttimewesaw23rd
CenturyEarth,asthe
originalfive-yearmission
wasin thefarthestreaches
ofexploredspace.Original
pilot“TheCage”came
close,butin realitythe
MojaveparkofCaptain
Pike’syouthwasa Talosian
illusion.SinceTheMotion
Picture, onlyStarTrek
InsurrectionandStarTrek
Beyondhavebeenset
entirelyoffEarth. - Thefilmalsomarked
thedebutappearance
oftheKlingonlanguage- developedinitiallyby
James“Scotty”Doohan
afterGeneRoddenberry
wasdissatisfiedwith
theeffortsofUniversity
ofCaliforniaacademic
HartmutScharfe.“‘I’lldo
it foryouafterlunch,’”
DoohantoldRoddenberry.
“I wasdoingsomething
closetoMongolian.We
- developedinitiallyby
had to cut out vowels as
much as possible.” It was
admittedly only a few
phrases, with linguist Marc
Okrand truly fl eshing it out
for Star Trek III: The Search
for Spock. Scharfe’s Vulcan
dialectic, however, did
make it into the fi nal fi lm.
- The Guinness Book of
Records cited The Motion
Picture as the most
expensive then made
(unadjusted for infl ation),
witha budgetof$46m.
Yearslater,however,
theactualbudgetof
Superman:TheMovie
wasfinallyrevealedas
$54m.If youadjustfor
inflation,Cleopatrawas
thehighestUSproduction,
witha USSR-bankrolled
productionofWarand
Peacerumouredtobe
therealtitle-holder,
thankstoa mind-boggling
$100mbudgetin 1966- whichworksoutat
approximately$1.8bn
in today’smoney.In
comparison,TMP’slate-
20teensbudgetwouldbe
a mere$260m.
- whichworksoutat
- Basedontheadjusted
figure– whichdoesn’t
factorin a mammoth
marketingspendby
Paramount– it’sless
surprisingthatthefilm
wasn’tconsidereda big
successbythestudio,
eventhoughit wasclearly
a hit.Thepoorcost-to-
profit ratioresultedin the
pared-downbudgetfor
StarTrekII: TheWrathof
Khan, thesideliningof
GeneRoddenberry,and
theintroductionofTV
producerHarveBennett
andyoungbuckNick
Meyer– alldecisionsthat
arguably“saved”the
franchise,withTheWrath
ofKhanstilllaudedasthe
bestStarTrekfilmandthe
mostprofitable.
Star Trek:
Th e Motion Picture
Ship’s
Manifest
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05
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