History Trivia / StarTrekTheMotionPicture

* DevelopmentHell: Ever since the reruns took off, the new Star Trek production went in every direction, from movies to the Phase II series. The movie "[[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Planet_of_the_Titans Star Trek: Planet of the Titans]]" included Ralph [=McQuarrie=] of ''Franchise/StarWars'' fame doing some concept art. Basically, Gene Roddenberry was working nonstop since the end of the series to get '''something''' ''Star Trek'' into production. He and others took several runs at a TV movie, or a theatrical film, none of which really excited Paramount, who finally said "You know, it was a TV show, it should be a TV show," and greenlit ''Phase II'' as the anchor series for a new Paramount TV network. Then ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' dropped, and everyone was scrambling to [[FollowTheLeader put their own space-based sci-fi films into production]] (this same rush gave us ''Film/{{Alien}}''), and the only space-based science fiction anyone at Paramount had to work on was ''Star Trek'', and with the network project being canned six months before launch by the head of Paramount's owner Gulf and Western ([[{{Irony}} for fear of losing too much money]]), ''Phase II'' was retooled into ''The Motion Picture''. Much of the effects work that had been done for ''Phase II'' -- including a complete model of the refit ''Enterprise'' -- had to be redone because it wasn't of sufficient quality to work in a theatrical film. This resulted in the film's massively overinflated budget.

* TheMerch: The very first movie-themed UsefulNotes/McDonalds Happy Meal was for this film.

** In 2022 Paramount released what is likely going to be the final cut of the movie at 4K on Paramount+ streaming and in theatrical quality through Fathom Events. This cut of the movie fixed many of the original issues, for example completing proper color timing (so that the colors seemed less dull) and going back to the original, unused ADR tracks (the original cut relied almost entirely on sound recorded on set). A few CGI elements were also upgraded in replaced, for example the shot of San Francisco as Kirk's shuttle arrives in Starfleet Command and a newly created CG model of V'Ger.

** Following the release of the Star Wars Editions Robert Wise became interested in revisiting Motion Picture hoping to get a chance to complete the post-production the movie didn't get. Paramount agreed and the 2001 Directors edition of the movie was released. Wise had hoped that it would be released at a theatrical quality, however, Paramount only released the movie on home media. Two of the producers who worked with Wise, prior to his death, promised that they would continue to pursue the possibility of a fully rendered theatrical version of the film.
** In 2022 Paramount released what is likely going to be the final cut of the movie at 4K on Paramount+ Streaming and theatrical quality through Fathom events. This cut of the movie fixed many of the original issues, for example completing proper color timing (so that the colors seemed less dull) and going back to the original, unused ADR tracks (the original cut relied almost entirely on sound recorded on set). A few CGI elements were also upgraded in replaced, for example the shot of San Francisco as Kirk's shuttle arrives in Starfleet Command or a newly created CG model of V'Ger.

* SameContentDifferentRating: Originally on release, ''The Motion Picture'' was rated "G". Back then, of course, the G rating didn't yet connote preschool fare (''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' was rated G, as well, for instance). However, when the Director's Cut was being prepped for release in 2001, the film was resubmitted to the [=MPAA=] due to the inclusion of new shots. None of it changed the content of the film in any discernable way, but the film was re-rated PG.

** By that time, Trumbull had been serving as an unpaid consultant, strictly as a favor to Wise, and it was decided to bring FGC in to take over. However, because of the time crunch (the team now had well under a year to go), Trumbull brought in John Dykstra's [[Creator/ApogeeProductions Apogee, Inc.]][[note]]''They'' were Paramount's first choice to do the effects after FGC declined, but had turned it down to work on ''Film/AlteredStates'', which had a similarly rocky production that ultimately freed them up to work on the film.[[/note]] to assist. They had to work around the clock to get the job done. As a result of having to spend way more money than initially anticipated on special effects, a considerable amount of it basically wasted, someone at Paramount insisted on [[ShootTheMoney using as many of those shots as possible in the movie]]. Despite all this, a few sequences by Abel's company did make it into the final product, particularly during the wormhole sequence, and the studio did receive credit for these contributions.

*** The company, while initially only brought on to handle the effects, ended up doing things that '''''weren't''''' part of the initial deal thanks to Rodenberry's rewrites, like set and costume designs. This got them in trouble with the labour unions as a result of hiring whoever they could to help round out their newly formed Astra division.

* DawsonCasting: Strange example; for this film only, the TOS cast were playing versions of their characters that had aged 5-6 fewer years than they had in real life, due to the TroubledProduction running in excess of the "2 and a half years" of TimeSkip mention in the movie.

* DevelopmentHell: Ever since the reruns took off the new Star Trek production went in every direction, from movies to the Phase II series. The movie "[[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Planet_of_the_Titans Star Trek: Planet of the Titans]]" included Ralph [=McQuarrie=] of ''Franchise/StarWars'' fame doing some concept art. Basically, Gene Roddenberry was working nonstop since the end of the series to get '''something''' ''Star Trek'' into production. He and others took several runs at a TV movie, or a theatrical film, none of which really excited Paramount, who finally said "You know, it was a TV show, it should be a TV show," and greenlit ''Phase II'' as the anchor series for a new Paramount TV network. Then ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' dropped, and everyone was scrambling to [[FollowTheLeader put their own space-based sci-fi films into production]] (this same rush gave us ''Film/{{Alien}}''), and the only space-based science fiction anyone at Paramount had to work on was ''Star Trek'', and with the network project being canned six months before launch by the head of Paramount's owner Gulf and Western ([[{{Irony}} for fear of losing too much money]]), ''Phase II'' was retooled into ''The Motion Picture''. Much of the effects work that had been done for ''Phase II'' -- including a complete model of the refit ''Enterprise'' -- had to be redone because it wasn't of sufficient quality to work in a theatrical film. This resulted in the film's massively overinflated budget.

** The visual effects production was a mess in an of itself. When the project first shifted from a television series to a feature film, Paramount wanted to bring in Creator/DouglasTrumbull's Future General Corporation (whose founding Paramount had subsidized) to handle the new effects, but FGC had already committed to ''Close Encounters'', which led to the two companies feuding. In the interim, the job went to Robert Abel and Associates, a company that while having plenty of experience in commercials, had none regarding films.[[note]]At the time, they'd go on to provide animation work for Disney's ''Film/TheBlackHole'' and ''{{Film/Tron}}'' not long after.[[/note]] And it showed.
*** Only ''after'' principal photography was all but done in early 1979 did Wise check on the special effects, of which he hadn't even seen a demo shot (which concerned him). It soon became apparent that RA&A [[SpecialEffectsFailure couldn't get the job done]] (though, in Abel's defense, the frequent rewrites were a contributing factor to the delays). Though sources within the film's production vary on how much they ended up producing during that time, it's often considered to be not enough and not very high quality. None of this made any easier by four prominent factors:
*** The company, while initially only brought on to handle the effects, ended up doing things that '''''weren't''''' part of the initial deal, like set and costume designs.
*** That Abel used the money (and equipment) that was ''intended'' for the movie on commercials and {{Creator/HBO}} bumpers, as they themselves were in debt to the tune of almost a million dollars due to a Levi's ad that cost more than intended. The instant Paramount found out about it, they forced the studio to stop all commercial projects until the film was finished.
*** As noted above, the script rewrites imposed by Roddenberry ended up affecting the effects about as much as the actors, with more and more shots added to the film until it ballooned from the initially planned 140 shots to 350. With the effects budget having to be reset each time.
*** Finally, most of the remaining time not shooting the film's effects or outstanding commercial projects was spent by trying, and failing, to construct a complex computer-controlled camera rig, something that even Abel's employees balked at when they were already running behind schedule.
** By that time, Trumbull had been serving as an unpaid consultant, strictly as a favor to Wise, and it was decided to bring FGC in to take over. However, because of the time crunch (the team now had well under a year to go), Trumbull brought in John Dykstra's [[Creator/ApogeeProductions Apogee, Inc.]][[note]]''They'' were Paramount's first choice to do the effects after FGC declined, but turned it down due to ''Film/AlteredStates'', which had a similarly rocky production that ultimately freed them up to work on the film.[[/note]] to assist. They had to work around the clock to get the job done. As a result of having to spend way more money than initially anticipated on special effects, a considerable amount of it basically wasted, someone at Paramount insisted on [[ShootTheMoney using as many of those shots as possible in the movie]]. Despite all this, a few sequences by Abel's company did make it into the final product, particularly during the wormhole sequence, and the studio did receive credit for these contributions.
** It was so over budget that Paramount executives were keeping a running tab each day of how much it was such (they had trusted Roddenberry despite the fact that he had never produced a feature film; after this they knew better than to let him again, all While Abel kept asking for budget increases due to the Roddenberry-enforced rewrites). Indeed the VFX production with the studio was such a mess, some of RA&A's former crew, including art director Richard Taylor and employee Richard Edlund among others, have since gone on to question Paramount's decision to hire Abel's company in the first place:

* RewatchBonus: The Vulcan master who tells Spock that he has not acheived ''Kolinahr'' tells him to "[[CatchPhrase live long and prosper]]" in heavily accented English instead of the Vulcan she had been speaking to him in up to that point.

* TheOtherMarty: David Gautreaux was signed on to play a fully Vulcan main character named Xon as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute character replacement]] for Spock when Nimoy refused to return to the ''Phase II'' series. He remained on as the series turned into the movie, filmed test footage and participated in cast readings. When Nimoy finally agreed to return, the script was overhauled extensively so that Xon was taken out and Spock arrives on board. Because of the contract, Gautreaux was still paid and the basic character was replaced with the ill-fated Lieutenant Sonak played by Jon Rashad Kamal, while he requested a slightly larger role as the human Commander Branch, the officer of the outpost destroyed by V'Ger. He said that years later Nimoy expressed regret for his part in him losing the role.

** Spock's father ([[Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel "Journey to Babel"]]) is a Klingon Captain! (Although admittedly you wouldn't recognize him unless you knew it was the same actor under the heavy make-up.)

* {{Expy}}: Since the mid-Eighties, Comicbook/{{Superman}}'s enemy Comicbook/{{Brainiac}} has adopted many of V'Ger's characteristics. In 1985, he accidentally ended up on a "machine planet" that modified him into a form that could gather knowledge from all across the universe, turning into an enormously powerful MechanicalAbomination traveling in a ship whose interior was full of trippy imagery. Later, ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' depicted him obsessed with gathering all knowledge in the universe, destroying worlds in the process of accumulating information about them, reminiscent of V'Ger's destructive uploading process.

* TheMerch: The very first movie-themed McDonald's Happy Meal was for this film.

** According to Wise and associate producer Jon Povill, the released film was essentially a rough cut that no one had seen in its entirety before shipping. Wise completed the final cut a day before the premiere and had to take it with him to the premiere in Washington. The reels were still wet when they were loaded onto the projector.

** Some of the clothing worn by the aliens in the movie (seen at Starfleet Headquarters) was made from unused bolts of cloth left over from ''Film/TheTenCommandments''.

* ImageSource:
** HoYay

** The visual effects production was a mess in an of itself. When the project first shifted from a television series to a feature film, Paramount wanted to bring in Douglas Trumbull's Future General Corporation (whose founding Paramount had subsidized) to handle the new effects, but FGC had already committed to ''Close Encounters'', which led to the two companies feuding. In the interim, the job went to Robert Abel and Associates, a company that while having plenty of experience in commercials, had none regarding films.[[note]]At the time, they'd go on to provide animation work for Disney's ''Film/TheBlackHole'' and ''{{Film/Tron}}'' not long after.[[/note]] And it showed.

** Creator/DeForestKelley appeared on a talk show while the film was in production. When asked how the film was coming along, he replied, "It's crazy. We start filming next week, they're already building scripts, but the script's not finished".

*** Finally, most of the remaining time not shooting the film's effects or outstanding commercial projects was spent by trying, and failing, to construct an overly complex , computer-controlled camera rig, something that even Abel's employees balked at when they were already running behind schedule.