When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 4 wins & 21 nominations total
John Gowans
- Assistant to Rand
- (as John D. Gowans)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Captain Kirk addresses the crew before launching, many of the extras were noted Star Trek fans, including Bjo Trimble, co-organizer of the letter-writing campaign that kept Star Trek (1966) alive for a third season.
- GoofsWhen flying past Jupiter, three consecutive shots of Jupiter and its moons are shown. The first and third are from the POV of the ship as it approaches and passes Jupiter, and show the sunshine on planet and several moons coming from the port aft. The second shot shows the opposite angle of the oncoming ship, and the sunshine on the planet and 4 moons is coming from a different direction on each body, none of them from the port aft.
- Crazy creditsEnd title: "The human adventure is just beginning."
- Alternate versionsOn November 6, 2001, the Director's Edition supervised by Robert Wise was released on DVD and widescreen VHS, running 136 minutes. The material added to the film consists of the following:
- The landscape of Vulcan was changed to include a yellowish sky and new landscape featuring massive statues. All other footage was tinted gold.
- The matte painting of the Golden Gate Bridge in the scene where Kirk arrives at Starfleet Headquarters was replaced by a new CGI scene that shows Kirk's shuttle arriving at Starfleet. It is actually slightly longer than the original version.
- The matte painting of Starfleet Command was improved with CGI effects, including an original series shuttle launched in the background.
- In a close-up shot when Kirk first sees the new Enterprise from his shuttle, the image of the ship was superimposed over Kirk's face as a reflection in the shuttle's window.
- After Kirk leaves the bridge, a short conversation between Sulu, Uhura and an alien officer was inserted.**
- A new CGI shot of the Earth is shown on the viewscreen when the Enterprise leaves the planet.
- A new CGI effect showing one of the Enterprise's nacelles was inserted into the window when Kirk, Spock and McCoy speak on the observation deck.
- A new CGI shot was inserted which shows V'Ger's second energy torpedo vanishing before it could strike the Enterprise.
- The energy probe that invades the bridge now approaches in a CGI exterior shot.
- A new CGI shot shows the V'Ger vessel entering Earth orbit.
- The scene in which Chekov burns his hand is much longer and shows Lt. Ilia healing him with her empathic powers instead of Nurse Chapel.**
- The long walk to V'Ger was totally redone. There is now a walkway that materializes out of thin air, compared to the endless field in the original version.
- The Enterprise's voyage to the center of V'Ger is slightly extended. It has a scene of Spock sharing a tear "for V'Ger" and Scotty ordered to self-destruct the ship if the landing party is unsuccessful.**
- The small black "empty matte" in the window when Decker and Ilia confront each other in the recreation deck was replaced with a CGI shot of the V'Ger cloud interior.
- The final explosion of V'Ger was slightly extended. The shot from the original version remained intact, but a new element of the vessel imploding its energy for the explosion was added.
- New opening titles were commissioned for the film's opening. The opening titles now have a slight fading effect and are now seen over a background of stars. The text is colored a bright gold, compared to the original version's white.
- The explosion in the wormhole was redone. There is now an exterior shot of the asteroid exploding and the wormhole disintegrating. Additionally, the viewfinder in the next shot is enhanced to show sparks and debris.
- The final message to the audience, "The human adventure is just beginning", was altered. In the original version, the starfield cuts away to a blank title card showing the text. In the Director's Edition, the starfield was extended by a few seconds to allow the text, colored bright gold, to fade into the picture.
- The ending credits were slightly altered. The text, as with the opening titles and the final "human adventure" text, was changed color, from white to a bright gold. Additionally, the music was slightly extended to add new Director's Edition credits.
- An all-new sound mix was commissioned, keeping the music and dialog intact, and adding new effects for almost all scenes. For example, the Enterprise computer voice alarms are now replaced with klaxon sirens, the lightning effects have new echoes, and a blend of Enterprise bridge sound effects from the original Star Trek series, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country have been added into the background of scenes taking place on the bridge. The new mix is in Dolby 5.1 EX Surround.
- The footage from 1979 was digitally restored and remastered, and combined with the new CGI elements.
- The opening overture has been restored to its full length. It is also played over a CGI starfield, rather than the blank screen in the original version.
- A slight dialog alteration was made: In the 1979 and 1983 versions, the V'Ger cloud is said to be "over 82 AUs in diameter" which equals 7.626 billion miles across - much too large for the Enterprise to realistically travel to the heart of the cloud at subwarp speeds within a reasonable length of time. For the Director's Edition, the Epsilon 9 commander's dialog was altered so that the cloud is now said to be a (somewhat) more reasonable "over 2 AUs", or 186 million miles.
- The producers of the Director's Edition submitted the film for re-rating by the MPAA, hoping for a PG rating rather than the original G rating which they believed carried a negative association; the basis for the higher rating was the intensified soundtrack. Oddly, when the original theatrical version was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2009, it carried no MPAA rating.
- Scenes previously available in the "special longer version."
- ConnectionsEdited into Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
- SoundtracksTheme from 'Star Trek: The television Series'
Written by Alexander Courage and Gene Roddenberry
Featured review
Cult Cuts Volume 24
#2/4: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
(7/10): Let me open this review by saying that I grew up watching Star Wars and not Star Trek, I never was a Trekkie, that being said I do want to see more of the series.
Being that this is my first viewing of any of the original series films other than bits and pieces, I liked it but didn't love it, however, from what I hear aside from number five the original is the weakest of the original films.
I'll start with the positives. For late Seventies it's got some fantastic visuals and some great production value. The wormhole sequence was very trippy and the overall feel of the unknown spacecraft, once on it looks surreal and futuristic, even more futuristic than the Enterprise.
It's got a great Cast, but it's also a continuation from the Show, anyways we have William Shatner, George Takai, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan and the one that steals the show, Leonard Nimoy as Spock.
It's also got a great score by Jerry Goldsmith who I remember as the composer for the Gremlin Rag. His score is very Large Scale and Grandiose with a sense of exploration to it.
The Dialogue is also pretty great at times, along with the acting, mainly from Nimoy as he didn't become iconic in the role of Spock for no reason, he's very intellectual, logical (as all Vulcans are) and stiff with a hint of humanity to him.
Now comes the part where I say what I didn't like.
The main complaint I have with the film is that it's slow paced and at just over two hours it begins to drag, especially in the third act before the last maybe fifteen to twenty minutes kicks in, then it gets more engaging again. However I found it somewhat difficult to pay attention to once they reach their destination and right before they realize exactly what they're dealing with, the span of time between those two points just became a bit of a slog.
That being said that was really my only major problem with the film, but it's a bit of a big deal cause if it can't hold your attention and stay engaging, you might lose your audience unless they are really invested or have a better level of patience than what modern films have been catering towards.
It's a decent start to a legacy film franchise that I heard gets way better by the very next film, so I can't wait to dig into Khan further down the line.
#2/4: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
(7/10): Let me open this review by saying that I grew up watching Star Wars and not Star Trek, I never was a Trekkie, that being said I do want to see more of the series.
Being that this is my first viewing of any of the original series films other than bits and pieces, I liked it but didn't love it, however, from what I hear aside from number five the original is the weakest of the original films.
I'll start with the positives. For late Seventies it's got some fantastic visuals and some great production value. The wormhole sequence was very trippy and the overall feel of the unknown spacecraft, once on it looks surreal and futuristic, even more futuristic than the Enterprise.
It's got a great Cast, but it's also a continuation from the Show, anyways we have William Shatner, George Takai, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan and the one that steals the show, Leonard Nimoy as Spock.
It's also got a great score by Jerry Goldsmith who I remember as the composer for the Gremlin Rag. His score is very Large Scale and Grandiose with a sense of exploration to it.
The Dialogue is also pretty great at times, along with the acting, mainly from Nimoy as he didn't become iconic in the role of Spock for no reason, he's very intellectual, logical (as all Vulcans are) and stiff with a hint of humanity to him.
Now comes the part where I say what I didn't like.
The main complaint I have with the film is that it's slow paced and at just over two hours it begins to drag, especially in the third act before the last maybe fifteen to twenty minutes kicks in, then it gets more engaging again. However I found it somewhat difficult to pay attention to once they reach their destination and right before they realize exactly what they're dealing with, the span of time between those two points just became a bit of a slog.
That being said that was really my only major problem with the film, but it's a bit of a big deal cause if it can't hold your attention and stay engaging, you might lose your audience unless they are really invested or have a better level of patience than what modern films have been catering towards.
It's a decent start to a legacy film franchise that I heard gets way better by the very next film, so I can't wait to dig into Khan further down the line.
- jonahstewartvaughan
- Jun 9, 2023
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Viaje a las estrellas
- Filming locations
- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA(portions of planet Vulcan sequence filmed at Minerva Terrace)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $82,604,699
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $11,926,421
- Dec 9, 1979
- Gross worldwide
- $82,676,805
- Runtime2 hours 23 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) officially released in India in Hindi?
Answer