Star Trek Magazine – July 2019

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
  
  
  
  

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.
  
  
  
  


• 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

04

05

06