someveryinterestingfront-projection,
composite,in-camerastuff, butit wasn’t
as coolas thevisualeffectsbeingdone
at thetime.Again,notourbestfoot
forward.Therewasthe‘RockMan.’Bill
hada visionforthat,whichdidn’twork
outverywell.Therearelimitationsof
whatyoucandowithmake-upanda
suit,withoutanyenhancement.
“CGwasn’tas advancedin’88
as it is now,”headds.“Westruggled
withthat.Again,tome,it goesback
tothatwethoughtweknewwhatwe
weredoing.Wewerea littlegiddy
fromthesuccessofThe VoyageHome.
Weweren’tabletoexecute,toachieve
thesamelevelofstoryoreffects.It
soberedusuprightaway.I thinkwe
camebackstrongwithStarTrekVI:
The UndiscoveredCountry.”
InventiveProduction
Design
Morepositively,Shatnerhired
productiondesignerHerman
Zimmermantobringtheirlandscapeto
life.Zimmermanwentontoconceive
andconstructnewsets,includingthe
08 The
infamousRock
ManfromThe
FinalFrontier.
09 Shatner
workswith
Laurence
Luckinbill,
aliasSybok.Bird-of-Prey’s bridge,theEnterprise’s
bridge,elevatorshafts,corridors,
andalienplanetsurfaces.Winterhas
nothingbutpraiseforZimmerman.
“Hermanhadtheinventivenessof
a televisionproductiondesignerwho
is steppinguphisgamein thefeature
world,”hesays.“Wewerealwaysamazed
at thelittlethingsHermanwoulddo.
Therearethoseplasticcontainersyou
buya pre-madesandwichin fromthe
commissary,thathavethattriangleboxshape.Whenit snapstogether,it’s
a box.Whenit unsnaps,it lookslike
twotriangles.Hefiguredouta wayto
pullthatapart,putit ona wall,paint
it, moveit around,andit becamesome
textureforanalienspacecraft.Hewas
reallycleveraboutthat.
“Wedidmakeonemistakeat the
lastminute,”Winternotes.“Wegot
nervous.OnthewallofElCapitan[a
rockformationinYosemiteValley],
there’sa bitofa sparklewhenthesun
hitsintherightway.Withouttimeto
makechanges,wemadea last-minute
decision– I probablypushedHerman
todothis– toadda littlebitofthat
kindoftexturetooursetwall,andwe
wenttoofar.It lookedfake;it looked
glossy;it lookedstupid.It wasan
over-application,ormaybeweshould
havesprayedonsomething.Inmy
mind,it detractedfromtherealism
wewereattempting.”BoxOfficeBonanza?
Despiteallthehurdles,The Final
Frontiercrushedit at theboxoffice
openingweekend.The filmearned
$17.4million,beatingoutThe Voyage
Home’s previousrecordof$16.8
million.Fora briefmoment,there
wasa senseofrelief.
“Wewatchedthosenumbers
likea hawk,”Wintersays.“Wewere
constantlydissectingthosenumbers
andhowwewereperforming.It
becameclearaftera whilethatword
ofmouthwasn’tgoingfarenough
becauseit didn’texcitethefans,
andnon-fans,as much.
“Oneofthethingsthatwe
achievedonthefourthmovie,The
VoyageHome, is thatwewereable
toengageanaudiencethatwasnot
regularStarTrekfans.The storywas
accessible.Partofit wasbeingonthe
streetsofSanFrancisco.Partofit was
youdidn’tneedinsideinformation
aboutStarTrektoenjoythemovie.
Thosecontemporaryelementshelped
a greatdeal.Scottietryingtotalkto
hismouseonthecomputer– that
wasjustfunnystuffat thetime.
“Youneededmoreoftheinside
StarTrekforTheFinalFrontier,” he
concludes.“The audienceanticipation
washighbecauseofThe VoyageHome
andthat’spartofwhatfueledthat
openingweekend.Afteranopening
weekend,it’suptoa movietodeliver,
andwejustcouldn’tdeliverthe
samelevel.”“The introduction
of Spock’s brother
was an attempt to
deepen the story
and offer more of a
psychological thriller
in terms of where
Sybok is taking us.”
0908RALPH WINTER