1 00:00:00,127 --> 00:00:03,088 [announcer] The Star Trek USS Enterprise gift set with command chair, 2 00:00:03,172 --> 00:00:06,925 console, three telescreen cards, and five Star Trek action figures. 3 00:00:07,009 --> 00:00:09,303 [Gates McFadden] Years after its cancelation, 4 00:00:09,386 --> 00:00:11,722 the only new Star Trek characters on TV 5 00:00:11,805 --> 00:00:14,683 were about six inches tall and made of plastic. 6 00:00:14,767 --> 00:00:16,810 [announcer] Star Trek action figures also sold separately. 7 00:00:16,894 --> 00:00:18,312 [McFadden] With no new series, 8 00:00:18,395 --> 00:00:23,192 Gene Roddenberry could only watch as other people got rich off his idea. 9 00:00:23,275 --> 00:00:26,028 They sold $12 million worth of toys the first year, 10 00:00:26,111 --> 00:00:30,407 on a toy line of a television show that was off the air for half a decade. 11 00:00:30,491 --> 00:00:33,076 [McFadden] Desperate, Gene went cap in hand to Paramount, 12 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:35,412 looking for a piece of the action, but instead... 13 00:00:35,496 --> 00:00:38,582 They said, "For 150,000, why don't you just buy everything?" 14 00:00:38,665 --> 00:00:42,252 [McFadden] A good deal for a franchise that's now worth $4 billion dollars. 15 00:00:42,336 --> 00:00:45,088 [Larry Nemecek] He could've been the George Lucas of Star Trek, 16 00:00:45,172 --> 00:00:47,174 but right at that time, he couldn't come up with the cash. 17 00:00:47,257 --> 00:00:49,551 [McFadden] But don't worry, help is on the way. 18 00:00:49,635 --> 00:00:52,095 Somebody's gotta write the goddamn script. 19 00:00:52,179 --> 00:00:53,305 [McFadden] Sort of. 20 00:00:55,098 --> 00:00:57,643 So beam aboard and hold on tight 21 00:00:57,726 --> 00:01:01,855 as we boldly go into the depths of Star Trek. 22 00:01:03,941 --> 00:01:08,612 And you can see it all from here in The Center Seat. 23 00:01:12,449 --> 00:01:16,829 Unable to come up with that cash, Gene looked to create another cash cow 24 00:01:16,912 --> 00:01:18,914 in the form of sci-fi pilots. 25 00:01:20,165 --> 00:01:22,584 Pumping them out one after the other. 26 00:01:22,668 --> 00:01:25,546 Phasers set to stun and jumpsuits set to kill. 27 00:01:25,629 --> 00:01:27,381 That thing is from your century? 28 00:01:27,464 --> 00:01:29,341 Yeah, we call them automobiles. 29 00:01:29,424 --> 00:01:31,677 [McFadden] But no matter how fetching the jumpsuits, 30 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,054 nothing fit quite like Star Trek. 31 00:01:34,137 --> 00:01:36,098 The reruns were doing gangbusters. 32 00:01:36,181 --> 00:01:37,432 It went into syndication. 33 00:01:37,516 --> 00:01:39,476 They kept running it and kept running it and kept running it. 34 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,856 So we watched that show all the time because it was on. 35 00:01:43,939 --> 00:01:48,861 I grew up watching the original series and, you know, reruns whenever it was on. 36 00:01:48,944 --> 00:01:51,029 Come home from school, you watched Star Trek. 37 00:01:51,113 --> 00:01:53,824 It was a perfect sales demographic. 38 00:01:53,907 --> 00:01:59,037 It was a show that appealed to 18-49, and they just ate it up. 39 00:01:59,121 --> 00:02:01,790 [McFadden] The networks were crying out for new Star Trek, 40 00:02:01,874 --> 00:02:05,043 but the show had already been consigned to history. 41 00:02:05,127 --> 00:02:07,045 Because they had destroyed the sets, 42 00:02:07,129 --> 00:02:10,257 they had given away the Enterprise to the Smithsonian Institute. 43 00:02:10,340 --> 00:02:14,219 [McFadden] But Paramount could no longer ignore the show's growing legion of fans. 44 00:02:14,303 --> 00:02:17,097 [Marc Cushman] It's everywhere. Fan fiction, books, it's just selling. 45 00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:18,849 The merchandising is selling. 46 00:02:18,932 --> 00:02:21,393 So they finally said, "Okay, let's do a Star Trek movie." 47 00:02:21,476 --> 00:02:22,853 [McFadden] Well, that was easy. 48 00:02:22,936 --> 00:02:26,899 The idea that a dead TV series would come back as a movie 49 00:02:26,982 --> 00:02:30,027 because the fandom demanded it, that was revolutionary. 50 00:02:30,110 --> 00:02:32,446 [McFadden] But for Gene, it was an opportunity, 51 00:02:32,529 --> 00:02:34,406 or even an answered prayer. 52 00:02:34,489 --> 00:02:37,784 So he wrote a feature film script entitled The God Thing. 53 00:02:37,868 --> 00:02:41,204 In which Kirk fights Jesus on the bridge of the Enterprise. 54 00:02:41,288 --> 00:02:44,166 Which involved the crew of the Enterprise, in essence, 55 00:02:44,249 --> 00:02:47,419 meeting what is perceived to be a god but not being God. 56 00:02:47,502 --> 00:02:49,463 [McFadden] But this wasn't to be God's chosen script 57 00:02:49,546 --> 00:02:53,216 because in 1974, The God Thing wasn't a thing. 58 00:02:53,300 --> 00:02:54,968 Barry Diller, who was running Paramount, was Catholic, 59 00:02:55,052 --> 00:02:58,472 and this script dealt with religion, and so he was bothered by it. 60 00:02:58,555 --> 00:03:01,516 [McFadden] But Gene wasn't the only one to pull up a pew, 61 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,102 and another script had caught Paramount's eye. 62 00:03:04,186 --> 00:03:06,313 Called Star Trek: Planet of the Titans, 63 00:03:06,396 --> 00:03:09,816 a planet that the Klingons, the Federation, 64 00:03:09,900 --> 00:03:12,069 and a new alien race that was being introduced 65 00:03:12,152 --> 00:03:13,862 were trying to develop. 66 00:03:13,946 --> 00:03:15,864 Several versions of the script were written. 67 00:03:15,948 --> 00:03:18,200 [McFadden] And Gene didn't like any of them. 68 00:03:18,283 --> 00:03:21,370 He keeps having to tell them that everything they wrote is not Star Trek. 69 00:03:21,453 --> 00:03:24,331 The characters aren't right. The Federation's not right. 70 00:03:24,414 --> 00:03:25,707 The starship's not right. 71 00:03:25,791 --> 00:03:27,626 "Have you seen any of the episodes, guys?" 72 00:03:27,709 --> 00:03:31,171 There were about a dozen scripts that were written 73 00:03:31,254 --> 00:03:32,506 that were never produced. 74 00:03:32,589 --> 00:03:35,926 [McFadden] After two years of false starts aiming for the silver screen, 75 00:03:36,009 --> 00:03:40,722 Paramount gave up, deciding it was now time to return to the small screen. 76 00:03:40,806 --> 00:03:43,433 Paramount decided, "Let's do what we know how to do." 77 00:03:43,517 --> 00:03:44,559 [McFadden] Uh, make movies? 78 00:03:44,643 --> 00:03:47,187 "Let Gene make another TV series on Star Trek." 79 00:03:47,270 --> 00:03:49,231 [McFadden] So no movies, then? 80 00:03:49,314 --> 00:03:51,274 Which isn't as odd as it sounds 81 00:03:51,358 --> 00:03:55,654 because Paramount did have big plans to make content for the small screen. 82 00:03:55,737 --> 00:04:00,659 By the time you get to 1977, the only networks that existed 83 00:04:00,742 --> 00:04:04,579 in the United States were CBS, NBC, and ABC. 84 00:04:04,663 --> 00:04:08,500 Paramount decides it wants to try its hand at a fourth network. 85 00:04:08,583 --> 00:04:10,919 Now, you know, a decade before Fox, 86 00:04:11,003 --> 00:04:13,630 here's Paramount trying to add to the Big Three. 87 00:04:13,714 --> 00:04:17,467 Star Trek was going to be the flagship of that network. 88 00:04:17,551 --> 00:04:20,262 They realize what their strength is, and they're gonna lead with that. 89 00:04:20,345 --> 00:04:23,306 [McFadden] They thought they needed TV people to make a TV show, 90 00:04:23,390 --> 00:04:25,559 and that's why this man entered the fray. 91 00:04:25,642 --> 00:04:27,310 I'm Harold Livingston. 92 00:04:27,394 --> 00:04:31,023 [McFadden] Harold was hired to produce Paramount's new Star Trek TV show 93 00:04:31,106 --> 00:04:32,607 called Phase II. 94 00:04:32,691 --> 00:04:35,527 All I know is Roddenberry called me in one day. 95 00:04:35,610 --> 00:04:37,237 They offered me this job. 96 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,158 [McFadden] Harold had just one sci-fi credit, but it was a doozy. 97 00:04:41,241 --> 00:04:45,454 I was the story editor on a show called Future Cop. 98 00:04:45,537 --> 00:04:46,705 [McFadden] But now he'd be the writer 99 00:04:46,788 --> 00:04:50,834 for this perfectly named second Star Trek series, Phase II. 100 00:04:50,917 --> 00:04:54,212 We were going to do 13 one-hour episodes. 101 00:04:54,296 --> 00:04:56,715 [McFadden] There was just one rather pointy problem. 102 00:04:56,798 --> 00:04:59,134 Spock was not going to be in Phase II. 103 00:04:59,217 --> 00:05:00,635 That, sir, is illogical. 104 00:05:00,719 --> 00:05:02,262 [McFadden] It was all to do with differences 105 00:05:02,345 --> 00:05:04,806 regarding a chocolate breakfast cereal. 106 00:05:04,890 --> 00:05:06,141 Mr. Spock! 107 00:05:06,224 --> 00:05:09,102 My search for something super chocolatey has led me here. 108 00:05:09,186 --> 00:05:12,606 They'd let Pebbles cereal have Fred and Barney wearing pointed hears 109 00:05:12,689 --> 00:05:14,733 and making quasi-Vulcan jokes. 110 00:05:14,816 --> 00:05:16,902 Fascinating! 111 00:05:16,985 --> 00:05:21,239 There had been legal disputes involving royalties from the series, 112 00:05:21,323 --> 00:05:24,701 involving the use of the actors' faces in merchandising. 113 00:05:24,785 --> 00:05:26,244 [McFadden] Nimoy refused to sign on 114 00:05:26,328 --> 00:05:29,831 until the dispute over licensing his image was resolved. 115 00:05:29,915 --> 00:05:34,252 Ironically, the script he passed on was called In Thy Image. 116 00:05:34,336 --> 00:05:36,088 Everyone else is, "Yes, sign me up." 117 00:05:36,171 --> 00:05:39,257 [McFadden] And although the screenplay writing duties fell to Harold... 118 00:05:39,341 --> 00:05:42,469 The idea of the story came from Alan Dean Foster. 119 00:05:42,552 --> 00:05:46,306 Alan Dean Foster has been published in science-fiction magazines 120 00:05:46,389 --> 00:05:48,100 and has written science-fiction books. 121 00:05:48,183 --> 00:05:54,106 He also wrote the novelization books based on the animated Star Trek series. 122 00:05:54,189 --> 00:05:55,065 Fascinating. 123 00:05:55,148 --> 00:05:57,275 [McFadden] Well, hopefully, Harold would make it so 124 00:05:57,359 --> 00:05:59,277 as he began working on the script. 125 00:05:59,361 --> 00:06:03,073 I went home and locked the doors and wrote this script. 126 00:06:03,156 --> 00:06:03,990 [McFadden] And what a script. 127 00:06:04,074 --> 00:06:05,784 [John Tenuto] There's a supreme intelligence 128 00:06:05,867 --> 00:06:08,370 on its way to Earth to meet its creator. 129 00:06:08,453 --> 00:06:10,413 The Enterprise is sent to intercept it. 130 00:06:10,497 --> 00:06:12,916 [McFadden] But then, another supreme intelligence 131 00:06:12,999 --> 00:06:14,584 intercepted Harold's script. 132 00:06:14,668 --> 00:06:19,840 Roddenberry, he said, "All right, you've done your job, now I'll do mine." 133 00:06:19,923 --> 00:06:22,467 And Gene Roddenberry rewrote Harold's script. 134 00:06:22,551 --> 00:06:26,012 It was about 40 pages longer and very poor. 135 00:06:26,096 --> 00:06:26,930 Just dreadful. 136 00:06:27,013 --> 00:06:29,766 [McFadden] Possibly because Gene had replaced his beloved Spock 137 00:06:29,850 --> 00:06:31,768 with an inferior facsimile. 138 00:06:31,852 --> 00:06:34,938 The character of Xon was a full Vulcan 139 00:06:35,021 --> 00:06:38,275 but wanted to be on a mostly human ship 140 00:06:38,358 --> 00:06:41,987 because he wanted to explore the human element more. 141 00:06:42,070 --> 00:06:45,115 [McFadden] The man lined up to replace Spock wasn't from Vulcan, 142 00:06:45,198 --> 00:06:47,117 he was the man from Atlantis. 143 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,829 Oh, not the Man from Atlantis, a different one. 144 00:06:50,912 --> 00:06:54,666 My list of credits, other than the theater plays that I'd done, 145 00:06:54,749 --> 00:06:56,376 was the Man from Atlantis. 146 00:06:56,459 --> 00:06:59,796 Oh. Pass freely. I haven't the heart. 147 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:01,965 [McFadden] It was just a humble guest spot, 148 00:07:02,048 --> 00:07:03,341 but it led to this. 149 00:07:04,467 --> 00:07:06,178 Will Decker. 150 00:07:06,261 --> 00:07:07,095 How do you do, sir? 151 00:07:07,179 --> 00:07:08,513 [McFadden] With so little experience, 152 00:07:08,597 --> 00:07:11,266 David was brought in for a full makeup screen test, 153 00:07:11,349 --> 00:07:13,143 to see if he had the chops... 154 00:07:13,226 --> 00:07:14,811 Lieutenant, you're erasing those tapes. 155 00:07:14,895 --> 00:07:16,855 [McFadden] ...and the ears for the role. 156 00:07:16,938 --> 00:07:20,150 Sir, if I am to function efficiently as science officer, 157 00:07:20,233 --> 00:07:23,653 I must become intimately familiar with each circuit in this system. 158 00:07:23,737 --> 00:07:24,988 Carry on. 159 00:07:25,071 --> 00:07:26,948 Thank you, sir. I will. 160 00:07:27,032 --> 00:07:29,993 [McFadden] But just as the new kid was about to be cast, 161 00:07:30,076 --> 00:07:31,870 a new kid on the block arrived for sci-fi, 162 00:07:31,953 --> 00:07:35,040 and he had people queuing around the block for his movie. 163 00:07:35,123 --> 00:07:40,670 Mr. Roddenberry told me that he was very wistful one day in 1977 164 00:07:40,754 --> 00:07:43,006 when he drove by the theater 165 00:07:43,089 --> 00:07:47,302 and saw the long line around the block for Star Wars, 166 00:07:47,385 --> 00:07:51,264 wishing that it could have been for a Star Trek film. 167 00:07:51,348 --> 00:07:54,059 [McFadden] Even if Paramount was having second thoughts 168 00:07:54,142 --> 00:07:58,521 about doing TV instead of a movie, it was too late to change course. 169 00:07:58,605 --> 00:08:01,608 When Star Wars became a hit, they didn't wanna do a movie 170 00:08:01,691 --> 00:08:03,318 because they said, "Now it's been done. 171 00:08:03,401 --> 00:08:05,612 Who needs another? It's a one-time thing." 172 00:08:05,695 --> 00:08:07,948 [McFadden] Well, then a TV series it is. 173 00:08:08,031 --> 00:08:10,450 Well, that's the real trick, isn't it? 174 00:08:10,533 --> 00:08:11,993 [McFadden] Actually, yes, 175 00:08:12,077 --> 00:08:15,372 because Paramount's plan to turn on a fourth network 176 00:08:15,455 --> 00:08:16,873 was about to be turned off. 177 00:08:16,957 --> 00:08:20,877 Because no one wanted to really commit the dollars for a fourth network. 178 00:08:20,961 --> 00:08:23,088 [McFadden] The TV network was faltering, 179 00:08:23,171 --> 00:08:26,258 and if Paramount thought George Lucas was a one-trick pony... 180 00:08:26,341 --> 00:08:28,176 They didn't think there'd be sequels to Star Wars. 181 00:08:28,260 --> 00:08:29,761 They didn't think there'd be Close Encounters. 182 00:08:29,844 --> 00:08:31,513 I wanna speak to someone in charge! 183 00:08:31,596 --> 00:08:33,848 [McFadden] Along came a film whose dazzling lights 184 00:08:33,932 --> 00:08:37,352 proved just how hypnotic science fiction at the movies could be. 185 00:08:37,435 --> 00:08:39,854 [musical tones playing] 186 00:08:39,938 --> 00:08:42,065 [McFadden] There was no denying it, 187 00:08:42,148 --> 00:08:45,068 the big money in sci-fi was moving to the big screen. 188 00:08:45,151 --> 00:08:47,696 After seeing Close Encounter's success, 189 00:08:47,779 --> 00:08:50,699 Paramount executives called David Gautreaux to their offices 190 00:08:50,782 --> 00:08:53,201 for a close encounter of their own kind. 191 00:08:53,285 --> 00:08:55,537 I'm brought right up to Gene Roddenberry's office now. 192 00:08:55,620 --> 00:09:00,083 I'm in a big room, a lovely office, and there's a lot of men in this room. 193 00:09:00,166 --> 00:09:02,711 [McFadden] Including Paramount's top brass. 194 00:09:02,794 --> 00:09:05,130 [David Gautreaux] There was Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, 195 00:09:05,213 --> 00:09:07,674 and there's Gene, and he's got a drink in his hand, 196 00:09:07,757 --> 00:09:09,175 and he's offering me, "What would you like, David?" 197 00:09:09,259 --> 00:09:11,678 I go, "Well, I happen to like bourbon." "Pour David a bourbon." 198 00:09:11,761 --> 00:09:14,347 So Gene is really the master of ceremonies for this. 199 00:09:14,431 --> 00:09:16,766 And so it was two things going on at the same time. 200 00:09:16,850 --> 00:09:22,022 "David, congratulations, you are our Xon. Hurrah!" 201 00:09:22,105 --> 00:09:24,316 A big toast. I'm so happy I'm standing there. 202 00:09:24,399 --> 00:09:27,569 "Now we have another announcement we wanted to make with all of you here. 203 00:09:27,652 --> 00:09:30,113 We're going to be a motion picture!" 204 00:09:30,196 --> 00:09:33,533 [McFadden] So not a TV show, a movie, again. 205 00:09:33,616 --> 00:09:34,951 "Huzzah!" 206 00:09:35,035 --> 00:09:39,664 [McFadden] And so now all they had to do was repurpose Harold's pilot... 207 00:09:39,748 --> 00:09:40,582 [coughs] 208 00:09:40,665 --> 00:09:43,877 [McFadden] ...that had been repurposed by Gene for the big screen. 209 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:45,503 So we all go and we read it. 210 00:09:45,587 --> 00:09:49,549 And he's sitting there, he had a desk that was about two feet higher 211 00:09:49,632 --> 00:09:52,385 so he looked down on you like Mussolini. 212 00:09:52,469 --> 00:09:56,765 He had this grin on his face, expectantly. "What'd you think?" 213 00:09:56,848 --> 00:09:58,892 So I said, "Gene, it is shit." 214 00:09:58,975 --> 00:10:00,852 And the grin fades. 215 00:10:00,935 --> 00:10:03,897 We had a few words, and he got a little angry. 216 00:10:03,980 --> 00:10:05,523 "Well, we'll let the studio decide!" 217 00:10:05,607 --> 00:10:08,735 [McFadden] That gave studio head Michael Eisner the deciding vote 218 00:10:08,818 --> 00:10:12,072 between Gene's rewrite or Harold's original pilot. 219 00:10:12,155 --> 00:10:15,992 He says, "This is a good script, Gene, but it's a television script." 220 00:10:16,076 --> 00:10:17,827 He says, "Harold's is a movie." 221 00:10:19,079 --> 00:10:20,580 I though Gene was gonna faint. 222 00:10:24,292 --> 00:10:28,171 [McFadden] By the mid-1970s, it seemed Star Trek the TV series 223 00:10:28,254 --> 00:10:30,423 was suffering an identity crisis. 224 00:10:30,507 --> 00:10:33,218 What was always meant to be a TV series became... 225 00:10:33,301 --> 00:10:35,762 The movie that was a movie, but then it was a TV show, 226 00:10:35,845 --> 00:10:37,263 but then it was a movie again. 227 00:10:37,347 --> 00:10:40,350 [McFadden] Nearly everyone had lost track of the trek until... 228 00:10:40,433 --> 00:10:43,978 The decision is made to take In Thy Image and turn it into a motion picture. 229 00:10:44,062 --> 00:10:46,815 The pilot that we were commissioned to do 230 00:10:46,898 --> 00:10:49,943 is being morphed into a major motion picture. 231 00:10:50,026 --> 00:10:53,613 [McFadden] And in more ways than one, Paramount was shooting for the stars. 232 00:10:53,696 --> 00:10:56,282 They were aspiring to do 2001. 233 00:10:56,366 --> 00:10:58,201 [Dr. Dave Bowman] Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL. 234 00:10:58,284 --> 00:11:01,413 [McFadden] George Lucas had shown sci-fi could pull a crowd, 235 00:11:01,496 --> 00:11:04,040 but Paramount didn't think movies were the way to keep them. 236 00:11:04,124 --> 00:11:07,335 People think Paramount said, "Oh, we gotta have a movie like Star Wars." 237 00:11:07,419 --> 00:11:09,170 And it's gonna cost you something extra. 238 00:11:09,254 --> 00:11:12,257 [Cushman] The reality was Star Wars had very little to do with it. 239 00:11:12,340 --> 00:11:16,052 Science fiction was not by any stretch of the imagination a guaranteed thing 240 00:11:16,136 --> 00:11:17,929 just because Star Wars had been successful. 241 00:11:18,012 --> 00:11:23,268 The concept of a sustained, profitable, growing science-fiction franchise 242 00:11:23,351 --> 00:11:24,978 had never really existed before. 243 00:11:25,061 --> 00:11:28,815 [McFadden] So Paramount planned to make one and one movie only. 244 00:11:28,898 --> 00:11:32,193 "With big money, big box office, no reason to every make a second one. 245 00:11:32,277 --> 00:11:35,196 The fans will never come out to watch a second Star Trek movie. 246 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:36,823 And then we'll launch our network, 247 00:11:36,906 --> 00:11:40,326 and then doing the series off of the strength of the movie." 248 00:11:40,410 --> 00:11:42,745 [McFadden] But no matter how much Paramount said, 249 00:11:42,829 --> 00:11:46,499 "May the fourth network be with you," it never would be. 250 00:11:46,583 --> 00:11:48,001 But in any case... 251 00:11:48,084 --> 00:11:51,629 You still have a lot of money that has been invested. 252 00:11:51,713 --> 00:11:55,633 [McFadden] The studio's Star Trek project resembled a real-life space program, 253 00:11:55,717 --> 00:12:00,847 and felt almost as costly with sets, props, and even a brand-new spaceship. 254 00:12:00,930 --> 00:12:03,516 An entire overhaul and update of the Enterprise itself. 255 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:05,518 [McFadden] They had a new ship for a new production, 256 00:12:05,602 --> 00:12:08,480 but who would captain this risky mission? 257 00:12:08,563 --> 00:12:09,397 Robert Wise. 258 00:12:09,481 --> 00:12:12,317 [McFadden] Paramount thought veteran director Robert wise 259 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,235 would be a safe pair of hands. 260 00:12:14,319 --> 00:12:19,866 Robert Wise was the first and only director on the list considered. 261 00:12:19,949 --> 00:12:22,327 [McFadden] Wise couldn't make a flop if he tried, 262 00:12:22,410 --> 00:12:24,537 not after this song and dance. 263 00:12:24,621 --> 00:12:25,455 West Side Story. 264 00:12:25,538 --> 00:12:27,540 This is the guy who made The Sound of Music. 265 00:12:27,624 --> 00:12:29,584 [McFadden] And he knew sci-fi from way back 266 00:12:29,667 --> 00:12:32,378 when it was lasers, not phasers. 267 00:12:32,462 --> 00:12:34,547 He had done a classic science-fiction movie 268 00:12:34,631 --> 00:12:36,341 called The Day the Earth Stood Still. 269 00:12:39,928 --> 00:12:43,473 Which is still regarded as one of the greatest science-fiction movies ever made. 270 00:12:43,556 --> 00:12:46,559 [McFadden] The pieces were falling into place for Paramount, 271 00:12:46,643 --> 00:12:49,604 but there was still something, or someone, missing. 272 00:12:49,687 --> 00:12:52,815 Mr. Nimoy was still not involved in the project. 273 00:12:52,899 --> 00:12:56,361 Robert Wise, he agreed to do the film. 274 00:12:56,444 --> 00:12:59,989 His wife was a Trekker and her son was a Trekker, 275 00:13:00,073 --> 00:13:03,535 and they told him, "It's crazy to do it without Spock. 276 00:13:03,618 --> 00:13:05,370 It'd be like doing it without Kirk." 277 00:13:05,453 --> 00:13:10,416 And so Wise went to Paramount and said exactly what they had told him 278 00:13:10,500 --> 00:13:13,336 and said, "There's got to be a way that we can get him." 279 00:13:13,419 --> 00:13:16,172 [McFadden] Scheduling conflicts and a bigger conflict 280 00:13:16,256 --> 00:13:19,717 over licensing and royalties had taken it down to the wire. 281 00:13:19,801 --> 00:13:24,973 Days before the press conference to announce Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 282 00:13:25,056 --> 00:13:28,142 all of those issues were quickly resolved, 283 00:13:28,226 --> 00:13:30,061 and Leonard Nimoy came on board. 284 00:13:30,144 --> 00:13:31,980 Science Officer Spock, 285 00:13:32,063 --> 00:13:33,565 reporting as ordered, Captain. 286 00:13:33,648 --> 00:13:36,192 [McFadden] The movie was announced to huge fanfare. 287 00:13:36,276 --> 00:13:39,195 Leonard Nimoy was already getting into character, 288 00:13:39,279 --> 00:13:42,699 and when asked why it had taken him so long to confirm... 289 00:13:42,782 --> 00:13:44,909 And probably the thing that took the most time was the fact 290 00:13:44,993 --> 00:13:48,705 that the mail service between here and Vulcan is still pretty slow. 291 00:13:48,788 --> 00:13:50,498 [audience laughs] 292 00:13:50,582 --> 00:13:53,167 [McFadden] But Paramount still had a mountain to climb. 293 00:13:53,251 --> 00:13:58,089 Since Star Trek last took to the airwaves, science fiction had gotten real. 294 00:13:58,172 --> 00:14:02,051 Now audiences are expecting Star Wars-level and Close Encounters-level 295 00:14:02,135 --> 00:14:03,177 quality special effects. 296 00:14:03,261 --> 00:14:05,430 [musical tones playing] 297 00:14:05,513 --> 00:14:08,975 [McFadden] Aggressive presales had also painted Paramount into a corner, 298 00:14:09,058 --> 00:14:11,227 with a terrifyingly close release date. 299 00:14:11,311 --> 00:14:15,857 The distributors were promised that there would be a Star Trek movie 300 00:14:15,940 --> 00:14:20,278 that they could show in their theaters on December 7th, 1979. 301 00:14:20,361 --> 00:14:24,324 They had penalty contracts where if they could not deliver this movie by the 7th, 302 00:14:24,407 --> 00:14:26,701 because these theaters are holding open the space for them, 303 00:14:26,784 --> 00:14:29,203 they were out the wazoo for millions of dollars. 304 00:14:29,287 --> 00:14:32,665 [Tenuto] So that only gives them 18 months, basically, 305 00:14:32,749 --> 00:14:36,336 to take what was a television show and turn it into a motion picture. 306 00:14:36,461 --> 00:14:39,172 [McFadden] At least they had a brilliantly inventive title. 307 00:14:39,255 --> 00:14:40,965 This motion picture would be called... 308 00:14:41,049 --> 00:14:42,133 Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 309 00:14:42,216 --> 00:14:43,051 [McFadden] Huh? 310 00:14:44,552 --> 00:14:47,263 [John Dykstra] The body politic that was making the movie went, 311 00:14:47,347 --> 00:14:49,891 "You better let everybody know that this is a motion picture, 312 00:14:49,974 --> 00:14:53,186 as opposed to an adapted TV show." 313 00:14:53,269 --> 00:14:56,397 [McFadden] The fact was this was an adaptation. 314 00:14:56,481 --> 00:15:00,276 [Tenuto] You had what was meant to be a teleplay for a TV show 315 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:03,363 has to become a major motion picture for large screens. 316 00:15:03,446 --> 00:15:05,323 [McFadden] Which brings us back to Harold. 317 00:15:05,406 --> 00:15:07,867 Somebody's gotta write the goddamn script. 318 00:15:07,950 --> 00:15:10,870 There was a deadline looming. They had to start shooting. 319 00:15:10,953 --> 00:15:14,123 So Roddenberry invited Harold Livingston back. 320 00:15:14,207 --> 00:15:16,084 [McFadden] Harold's original script 321 00:15:16,167 --> 00:15:19,754 seemed to have gotten its DNA mixed up in the transporter. 322 00:15:19,837 --> 00:15:22,674 In fact, it had gained a whole new Gene. 323 00:15:22,757 --> 00:15:25,593 "In Thy Image, written by Gene Roddenberry." 324 00:15:25,677 --> 00:15:28,012 He took all the credit. He didn't share it. 325 00:15:28,096 --> 00:15:29,263 His name is on top. 326 00:15:29,347 --> 00:15:31,891 [McFadden] Harold felt his script was now a rewrite, 327 00:15:31,974 --> 00:15:33,142 and a write-off. 328 00:15:33,226 --> 00:15:35,770 So he decided to draw a line in the sand 329 00:15:35,853 --> 00:15:38,606 when meeting Roddenberry and director Bob Wise. 330 00:15:38,690 --> 00:15:40,358 [Harold Livingston] The first thing Wise says to me is, 331 00:15:40,441 --> 00:15:41,693 "What'd you think of the script?" 332 00:15:41,776 --> 00:15:45,613 I said, "What I think, Mr. Wise, is you ought to take cyanide. 333 00:15:45,697 --> 00:15:46,656 Total crap." 334 00:15:46,739 --> 00:15:48,783 And that one brought a big laugh. [laughs] 335 00:15:48,866 --> 00:15:50,952 So they asked me if I would rewrite it. 336 00:15:51,035 --> 00:15:54,997 I said, "I'll rewrite it as long as it is contractually agreed 337 00:15:55,081 --> 00:15:57,875 that Gene Roddenberry does not put word on paper." 338 00:15:57,959 --> 00:16:02,338 I mean, I hated him because he couldn't keep his fingers off a script. 339 00:16:02,422 --> 00:16:03,506 He had to rewrite everything. 340 00:16:03,589 --> 00:16:05,007 "Agreed." 341 00:16:05,091 --> 00:16:06,426 And they gave me a lot of money. 342 00:16:06,509 --> 00:16:08,261 [McFadden] Harold set about writing a script 343 00:16:08,344 --> 00:16:11,764 the whole franchise was riding on, safe in the knowledge 344 00:16:11,848 --> 00:16:14,559 that Gene Roddenberry would not have his way with it. 345 00:16:14,642 --> 00:16:18,146 [Livingston] I write a first draft, which Eisner wants to see. 346 00:16:18,229 --> 00:16:22,316 I give it to Gene's secretary to send to Eisner. 347 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,193 About three days later, my phone rings. 348 00:16:24,277 --> 00:16:26,446 It's Eisner calling me from Paris. 349 00:16:26,529 --> 00:16:29,323 He said, "What kind of shit did you send me?" 350 00:16:29,407 --> 00:16:30,408 Honest to God. 351 00:16:30,491 --> 00:16:31,826 I said, "What are you talking about?" 352 00:16:31,909 --> 00:16:34,912 I said it was a good script. I said Bob liked it. 353 00:16:34,996 --> 00:16:37,415 He said, "Nobody could like this crap." 354 00:16:37,498 --> 00:16:41,627 We find out what happened was I gave the script to Gene's secretary, 355 00:16:41,711 --> 00:16:45,298 and she sent Gene's rewrite to Eisner in Paris. 356 00:16:45,381 --> 00:16:46,966 [McFadden] You can't write this stuff, 357 00:16:47,049 --> 00:16:50,011 which is why director Bob Wise was amazed. 358 00:16:50,094 --> 00:16:52,180 Wise said to me, direct quote, 359 00:16:52,263 --> 00:16:55,224 "Harold, I've been in this business for 40 years, 360 00:16:55,308 --> 00:16:58,019 and I've never had an experience like this." 361 00:16:58,102 --> 00:16:59,645 [McFadden] Not for the first time, 362 00:16:59,729 --> 00:17:03,107 Star Trek, the fourth iteration was back to square one. 363 00:17:03,191 --> 00:17:06,652 We threw Gene's rewrite out and went back to what I did. 364 00:17:09,989 --> 00:17:12,116 [McFadden] The signing of Leonard Nimoy as Spock 365 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,703 had Star Trek: The Motion Picture headed in the right direction... 366 00:17:15,787 --> 00:17:18,206 Well, so help me, I'm actually pleased to see you. 367 00:17:18,289 --> 00:17:21,334 [McFadden] ...and Paramount breathing a sigh of relief. 368 00:17:21,417 --> 00:17:23,503 [Tenuto] Because we're not gonna risk Star Trek property 369 00:17:23,586 --> 00:17:26,631 that doesn't have its most recognizable and one of the most popular, 370 00:17:26,714 --> 00:17:28,424 if not the most popular character. 371 00:17:28,508 --> 00:17:31,928 [McFadden] But Spock's return was still throwing a wrench in the works. 372 00:17:32,011 --> 00:17:34,722 In essence, you have to write Spock into the movie, right? 373 00:17:34,806 --> 00:17:36,516 He wasn't even in In Thy Image. 374 00:17:36,599 --> 00:17:38,434 [McFadden] What was good for Leonard Nimoy 375 00:17:38,518 --> 00:17:40,770 was not so good for David Gautreaux. 376 00:17:40,853 --> 00:17:42,939 [Will Decker] Are you trying to tell me all that work was done for nothing? 377 00:17:43,022 --> 00:17:44,941 That is the logical conclusion, sir. 378 00:17:45,024 --> 00:17:48,277 [McFadden] Whose Johnny-come-lately Vulcan character, Xon, 379 00:17:48,361 --> 00:17:50,196 was suddenly on the chopping block. 380 00:17:50,279 --> 00:17:53,157 Spock is vital to this core. 381 00:17:53,241 --> 00:17:54,700 [McFadden] And knowing Xon wasn't, 382 00:17:54,784 --> 00:17:56,911 David met with Gene for reassurance. 383 00:17:56,994 --> 00:17:59,956 [Gautreaux] And he gave me a thousand assurances. 384 00:18:00,039 --> 00:18:03,709 "We're definitely, definitely, definitely, we're building this to go into series." 385 00:18:03,793 --> 00:18:06,587 [McFadden] Executives insisted Xon was a Vulcan 386 00:18:06,671 --> 00:18:08,589 who would live long and prosper. 387 00:18:08,673 --> 00:18:12,677 "Xon is key to the future of this franchise." 388 00:18:13,594 --> 00:18:14,887 I went, "Okay." 389 00:18:14,971 --> 00:18:17,640 [McFadden] So all David had to worry about was learning his lines. 390 00:18:17,723 --> 00:18:18,891 [Gautreaux] They send me the script. 391 00:18:18,975 --> 00:18:22,270 There is no Xon in the screenplay. 392 00:18:22,353 --> 00:18:25,773 And I realize, "Oh, it's over." 393 00:18:25,857 --> 00:18:28,818 [McFadden] Fortunately for David, another envelope arrived, 394 00:18:28,901 --> 00:18:32,280 and it contained the next best thing an actor can hope for. 395 00:18:32,363 --> 00:18:35,366 "Here is your payoff. You're free." 396 00:18:35,449 --> 00:18:36,784 All in one gesture, 397 00:18:36,868 --> 00:18:42,331 and a very large check well above what the pilot figure was. 398 00:18:42,415 --> 00:18:45,585 I felt completely liberated. 399 00:18:45,668 --> 00:18:49,255 [McFadden] But Mr. Spock himself was feeling anything but relief 400 00:18:49,338 --> 00:18:51,591 over the Spock-versus-Xon debacle. 401 00:18:51,674 --> 00:18:53,885 So Nimoy summoned David to ask him... 402 00:18:53,968 --> 00:18:56,220 [imitating Leonard Nimoy] "How did it affect you 403 00:18:56,304 --> 00:19:01,225 when I took that role away from you?" 404 00:19:01,309 --> 00:19:03,352 [McFadden] For David, Nimoy's olive branch 405 00:19:03,436 --> 00:19:05,688 was compensation enough for his loss. 406 00:19:05,771 --> 00:19:08,441 I certainly never, ever once said, 407 00:19:08,524 --> 00:19:11,485 "That Nimoy guy coming back and taking my role." 408 00:19:11,569 --> 00:19:16,073 I never viewed it that way because... he's Spock. 409 00:19:16,157 --> 00:19:17,074 You are correct. 410 00:19:17,158 --> 00:19:20,119 [McFadden] And even by the standards of a Vulcan, this was... 411 00:19:20,202 --> 00:19:22,246 It was very human, very humane, 412 00:19:22,330 --> 00:19:24,582 that he would ask such a challenging question. 413 00:19:24,665 --> 00:19:27,585 [McFadden] And David still got to learn some lines for the movie. 414 00:19:27,668 --> 00:19:29,670 That's within Klingon boundaries. Who are they fighting? 415 00:19:29,754 --> 00:19:30,880 Unknown, sir. 416 00:19:30,963 --> 00:19:34,967 They did say, "David, we'd like you to play Commander Branch." 417 00:19:35,051 --> 00:19:36,844 So I agreed. I played Commander Branch. 418 00:19:36,928 --> 00:19:39,680 [McFadden] Here he is commanding, albeit briefly. 419 00:19:39,764 --> 00:19:40,890 [alarm sounds] 420 00:19:40,973 --> 00:19:42,683 We are under attack! 421 00:19:42,767 --> 00:19:45,519 [McFadden] And while Xon, the new Vulcan didn't make it, 422 00:19:45,603 --> 00:19:50,066 for the first time in nearly a decade, the original cast was tight again, 423 00:19:50,149 --> 00:19:51,734 like peas in a space pod. 424 00:19:51,817 --> 00:19:52,860 I appreciate the welcome. 425 00:19:52,944 --> 00:19:54,570 [McFadden] Including Mr. Chekov. 426 00:19:54,654 --> 00:19:55,488 Aye, sir. 427 00:19:55,571 --> 00:19:57,865 [McFadden] Walter Koenig finally came in from the cold 428 00:19:57,949 --> 00:20:00,201 after missing the animated series. 429 00:20:00,284 --> 00:20:02,703 I thought were in for a grand time. 430 00:20:02,787 --> 00:20:06,248 When we came back to do the first really big one that we did 431 00:20:06,332 --> 00:20:10,711 after being away so long, it was amazing! 432 00:20:10,795 --> 00:20:12,004 They're the same people. 433 00:20:12,088 --> 00:20:15,049 [McFadden] And there were mysterious new characters too, 434 00:20:15,132 --> 00:20:18,469 smuggled in from the original Phase II TV pilot. 435 00:20:18,552 --> 00:20:20,596 She's Deltan, Captain. 436 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,599 [Tenuto] A Deltan, which was a new alien race. 437 00:20:23,683 --> 00:20:25,351 Her species was bald. 438 00:20:25,434 --> 00:20:28,729 They possessed a pheromone that was something 439 00:20:28,813 --> 00:20:31,857 that humans just could not steel themselves against. 440 00:20:31,941 --> 00:20:34,610 [McFadden] Which was especially inconvenient for humans because... 441 00:20:34,694 --> 00:20:37,113 My oath of celibacy is on record, Captain. 442 00:20:37,196 --> 00:20:39,782 [McFadden] Lieutenant Ilia was played by a new face, 443 00:20:39,865 --> 00:20:44,161 and not just any face, Miss India 1965. 444 00:20:44,245 --> 00:20:47,707 Persis Khambatta was an exceptionally beautiful woman. 445 00:20:47,790 --> 00:20:50,710 [McFadden] It wasn't just her looks that set Persis apart. 446 00:20:50,793 --> 00:20:54,005 Unlike a lot of actors, she was willing to part with her hair. 447 00:20:54,088 --> 00:20:57,842 [McFadden] This was no simple matter of a few hours of makeup and a bald cap. 448 00:20:57,925 --> 00:21:03,389 Persis was prepared to go baldly where no Star Trek actress had gone before. 449 00:21:03,472 --> 00:21:05,683 There are really heartbreaking images of her crying 450 00:21:05,766 --> 00:21:08,561 while they were doing that, but that's how committed she was 451 00:21:08,644 --> 00:21:11,605 to playing the character and bringing an authenticity to the role. 452 00:21:11,689 --> 00:21:14,442 [McFadden] Also new, the character of Commander Decker. 453 00:21:14,525 --> 00:21:17,820 But actor Stephen Collins got to keep his locks. 454 00:21:17,903 --> 00:21:20,990 But getting the part was a bit of a close shave. 455 00:21:21,073 --> 00:21:24,660 Because at this point in his career, his biggest film role had been 456 00:21:24,744 --> 00:21:27,830 as one of the many men in All the President's Men. 457 00:21:27,913 --> 00:21:29,957 Now Stephen had a meaty role, 458 00:21:30,041 --> 00:21:33,377 playing a character with deep ties to Star Trek. 459 00:21:33,461 --> 00:21:36,505 Who's the son of Will Decker from "The Doomsday Machine" 460 00:21:36,589 --> 00:21:37,631 from the original series. 461 00:21:37,715 --> 00:21:40,217 Commodore Decker, you are relieved of command. 462 00:21:40,301 --> 00:21:43,220 [McFadden] The cast for the motion picture was in shipshape, 463 00:21:43,304 --> 00:21:45,931 but unfortunately the script wasn't. 464 00:21:46,015 --> 00:21:48,559 [Tenuto] It was not perfect because it had been rushed 465 00:21:48,642 --> 00:21:51,353 to convert In Thy Image to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 466 00:21:51,437 --> 00:21:53,773 Ready or not, she launches in 12 hours. 467 00:21:53,856 --> 00:21:57,526 [McFadden] So much so that principal photography began in 1978 468 00:21:57,610 --> 00:21:59,862 before a script had even been finished. 469 00:21:59,945 --> 00:22:03,449 Paramount was also behind on commissioning special effects. 470 00:22:03,532 --> 00:22:05,201 [screams] 471 00:22:05,284 --> 00:22:08,037 [Cushman] They wanted to give it to Industrial Light & Magic, 472 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:09,163 but they weren't available. 473 00:22:09,246 --> 00:22:10,831 [McFadden] Meaning there was a risk 474 00:22:10,915 --> 00:22:13,250 their special effects might not be so special. 475 00:22:13,334 --> 00:22:14,210 And so... 476 00:22:14,293 --> 00:22:17,421 Paramount hired Robert Abel and Associates. 477 00:22:17,505 --> 00:22:20,549 [McFadden] Which in movie circles was not an obvious choice. 478 00:22:20,633 --> 00:22:23,052 Had never done a movie. They were doing TV commercials. 479 00:22:23,135 --> 00:22:25,179 [announcer] Enough of this kissing, little registered mark. 480 00:22:25,262 --> 00:22:29,934 [McFadden] Not just any TV commercials, but effects-heavy extravaganzas. 481 00:22:30,017 --> 00:22:33,646 And they had just gotten a lot of attention for a 7UP TV commercial, 482 00:22:33,729 --> 00:22:35,523 which had a lot of effects in it. 483 00:22:35,606 --> 00:22:39,276 ♪ We see the light of 7UP ♪ 484 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,113 [McFadden] While it was more soda than Yoda, 485 00:22:42,196 --> 00:22:44,907 it wasn't a million light years away from sci-fi. 486 00:22:44,990 --> 00:22:46,742 So Robert Abel was hired. 487 00:22:46,826 --> 00:22:49,286 To do all these mind-blowing special effects 488 00:22:49,370 --> 00:22:53,582 that are, in an industry perspective, having to compete with Star Wars. 489 00:22:53,666 --> 00:22:55,668 [McFadden] Desperate for fresh ideas, 490 00:22:55,751 --> 00:22:58,504 Robert Abel hired a hotshot young designer... 491 00:22:58,587 --> 00:23:02,800 I was recommended right out of school to work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 492 00:23:02,883 --> 00:23:05,845 [McFadden] ...and gave him a suitably entry-level job to start. 493 00:23:05,928 --> 00:23:07,596 Build a whole new Enterprise. 494 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,559 [McFadden] Completely redesign one of television's most iconic vehicles, 495 00:23:11,642 --> 00:23:12,643 and do it fast. 496 00:23:12,726 --> 00:23:15,521 The Enterprise had already been built, but it was too small. 497 00:23:15,604 --> 00:23:19,817 It was like six feet long. They decided on maybe a 10-foot model. 498 00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:23,487 [McFadden] For the big screen, Paramount needed a big ship. 499 00:23:23,571 --> 00:23:25,614 So the Enterprise was upsized. 500 00:23:25,698 --> 00:23:28,075 And they build this beautiful model. Huge. 501 00:23:28,159 --> 00:23:30,161 [Cushman] He rebuilt most of the miniatures. 502 00:23:30,244 --> 00:23:33,330 And the ones he didn't rebuild, he had to redesign in some way or another. 503 00:23:33,414 --> 00:23:36,917 [McFadden] But with the script still in flux and with shooting underway, 504 00:23:37,001 --> 00:23:39,545 who knew which of the new ships would even fly? 505 00:23:40,212 --> 00:23:42,464 They were rewriting that script as they were filming it. 506 00:23:42,548 --> 00:23:45,050 We were shooting without pages at times. 507 00:23:45,134 --> 00:23:47,344 [McFadden] None of this helped director Robert Wise, 508 00:23:47,428 --> 00:23:51,515 whose vast experience counted for little in the Star Trek universe. 509 00:23:51,599 --> 00:23:54,518 He did not know Star Trek, and he was at the mercy of people 510 00:23:54,602 --> 00:23:56,187 who said, "This is the way this should be done." 511 00:23:56,270 --> 00:23:59,565 [McFadden] And at the mercy of people pestering him for close-ups. 512 00:23:59,648 --> 00:24:05,112 Each time I tell this, I hope I tried to relieve myself 513 00:24:05,196 --> 00:24:07,406 of the embarrassment, the humiliation, 514 00:24:07,489 --> 00:24:10,701 the guilt that I felt at the time. 515 00:24:10,784 --> 00:24:14,455 [McFadden] A shocking burden that Walter carries with him to this day. 516 00:24:14,538 --> 00:24:16,999 We were shooting. It was very early in the shoot. 517 00:24:17,082 --> 00:24:20,127 And I went up to... 518 00:24:20,211 --> 00:24:23,964 I called him Mr. Wise from start to finish. 519 00:24:24,048 --> 00:24:29,345 I said, "Mr. Wise, are we gonna come back and do a close-up of Chekov?" 520 00:24:29,428 --> 00:24:33,057 [dramatic music playing] 521 00:24:36,227 --> 00:24:38,312 I can't. [laughs] 522 00:24:38,395 --> 00:24:41,440 He said to me, "Please don't. 523 00:24:41,523 --> 00:24:44,401 Please don't talk about those actor things to me." 524 00:24:45,778 --> 00:24:48,697 Ugh. It destroyed me. 525 00:24:48,781 --> 00:24:51,575 I mean, he was absolutely right. Absolutely right. 526 00:24:51,659 --> 00:24:54,662 You know, I was thinking of me, me, me, me, me. 527 00:24:54,745 --> 00:24:56,163 [McFadden] You can't blame a guy for trying. 528 00:24:56,247 --> 00:24:57,206 [Walter Koenig] Me, me, me, me. 529 00:24:57,289 --> 00:24:59,291 [McFadden] But under the circumstances, 530 00:24:59,375 --> 00:25:04,046 Robert Wise had much bigger issues monopolizing all of his attention. 531 00:25:04,129 --> 00:25:06,257 There were changes coming down by the hour. 532 00:25:06,340 --> 00:25:08,592 We had to do all kinds of scenes. 533 00:25:08,676 --> 00:25:12,554 [McFadden] Soon, the movie's right hand was no longer talking to its left. 534 00:25:12,638 --> 00:25:16,225 Script pages were coming down to the set after the scenes had already been shot. 535 00:25:17,351 --> 00:25:19,687 And any kind of script or vision that you have causes problems. 536 00:25:19,770 --> 00:25:23,190 You may need to set up that scene in a different location, 537 00:25:23,274 --> 00:25:24,900 do the camera movement in a different way. 538 00:25:24,984 --> 00:25:27,152 That's all time. That's all money. 539 00:25:27,236 --> 00:25:29,697 Both of which the film didn't have enough of. 540 00:25:29,780 --> 00:25:31,991 [McFadden] The writer and producer were barely talking either. 541 00:25:32,074 --> 00:25:34,451 [Livingston] Gene would continually rewrite. 542 00:25:34,535 --> 00:25:37,746 Somebody would sneak it back to me, and I'd rewrite him. 543 00:25:37,830 --> 00:25:40,958 The rewrite of the rewrite of the rewrite would get rewritten. 544 00:25:41,041 --> 00:25:42,584 And it became script wars. 545 00:25:42,668 --> 00:25:46,005 He wouldn't stop. He was just maniacal about it. 546 00:25:46,088 --> 00:25:48,382 [Koenig] I guess that was a trademark of Gene's. 547 00:25:48,465 --> 00:25:50,509 He had to rewrite everybody's work. 548 00:25:50,592 --> 00:25:52,052 And he was a bad writer. 549 00:25:52,136 --> 00:25:54,972 [McFadden] Ironically, some of the best dialogue 550 00:25:55,055 --> 00:25:59,310 and the most electrifying scenes were playing out between Harold and Gene. 551 00:25:59,393 --> 00:26:02,771 We'd sit there, insulting each other, calling each other "stupid" 552 00:26:02,855 --> 00:26:04,106 and "a piece of shit" 553 00:26:04,189 --> 00:26:05,858 and, "You don't know what the hell you're doing. 554 00:26:05,983 --> 00:26:07,568 Get out of my sight." 555 00:26:07,651 --> 00:26:09,320 We are at each other's throats. 556 00:26:09,403 --> 00:26:10,571 [male voice] Emergency alert. 557 00:26:10,654 --> 00:26:11,947 [McFadden] But Star Trek: The Motion Picture 558 00:26:12,031 --> 00:26:15,075 now had a problem money alone couldn't solve. 559 00:26:15,159 --> 00:26:19,038 I said, "I'm not gonna put up with this and I don't care, and I quit!" 560 00:26:25,419 --> 00:26:28,922 [McFadden] Star Trek: The Motion Picture was now months into shooting, 561 00:26:29,006 --> 00:26:30,966 but fast running out of script. 562 00:26:31,050 --> 00:26:32,926 They gave us an unfinished script. 563 00:26:33,010 --> 00:26:35,554 [McFadden] And the only thing worse than not having a script 564 00:26:35,637 --> 00:26:37,639 is not having a writer to fix that. 565 00:26:37,723 --> 00:26:39,475 So I get a call from Katzenberg. 566 00:26:39,558 --> 00:26:40,851 [McFadden] Writer Harold Livingston had... 567 00:26:40,934 --> 00:26:41,810 Quit! 568 00:26:41,894 --> 00:26:44,313 [McFadden] And Paramount executives rushed to save their production. 569 00:26:44,396 --> 00:26:48,734 Katzenberg sends a car for me, brings me to his office at 7:00 PM. 570 00:26:48,817 --> 00:26:53,155 I walk into his office. The secretary locks the door. 571 00:26:53,238 --> 00:26:54,406 "Would you like something to drink?" 572 00:26:54,490 --> 00:26:56,700 So I said, "Yeah, I'd like some gin on the rocks." 573 00:26:56,784 --> 00:26:58,702 Brings me a full glass. 574 00:26:58,786 --> 00:27:00,621 So I'm sitting there, I'm drinking. 575 00:27:00,704 --> 00:27:01,538 I drank. 576 00:27:01,622 --> 00:27:04,333 Half-hour later, Katzenberg comes in. 577 00:27:04,416 --> 00:27:06,460 "All right, you're gonna come back to work." 578 00:27:06,543 --> 00:27:07,419 I said, "No, I'm not." 579 00:27:07,503 --> 00:27:09,213 And I'm drunk, I'm whacked out of my head. 580 00:27:09,296 --> 00:27:11,715 [McFadden] Perhaps the gin had not swayed Harold, 581 00:27:11,799 --> 00:27:13,509 but it had given him some courage. 582 00:27:13,592 --> 00:27:16,428 I said, "I want $10,000 a week." "Got it." 583 00:27:16,512 --> 00:27:19,014 "And I want a picture commitment, a script commitment." 584 00:27:19,098 --> 00:27:20,307 "You got it." 585 00:27:20,391 --> 00:27:22,101 So that's what I had to do. 586 00:27:22,184 --> 00:27:25,062 [McFadden] But just as Harold had tied one on with Katzenberg 587 00:27:25,145 --> 00:27:28,190 and been tied down, Gene was unraveling. 588 00:27:28,273 --> 00:27:32,152 Gene was already starting to show signs of substance abuse. 589 00:27:32,236 --> 00:27:33,779 He was on drugs all the time. 590 00:27:33,862 --> 00:27:37,324 He smoked a lot of pot, and I know he was on cocaine, 591 00:27:37,408 --> 00:27:39,952 and he was a prodigious drinker. 592 00:27:40,035 --> 00:27:41,328 [Gerrold] Gene Roddenberry was probably 593 00:27:41,412 --> 00:27:43,622 one of the most complicated people I've ever met. 594 00:27:43,705 --> 00:27:46,792 He had power, he had authority, he had ability. 595 00:27:46,875 --> 00:27:49,253 He wasted it by being a substance abuser. 596 00:27:49,336 --> 00:27:51,547 But when he was at his best, he was the best. 597 00:27:51,630 --> 00:27:53,715 And when he was at his worst, he was the worst. 598 00:27:53,799 --> 00:27:55,759 [McFadden] Sidelined from his own production, 599 00:27:55,843 --> 00:27:58,220 Gene was losing touch with his life's work. 600 00:27:58,303 --> 00:28:00,931 [Livingston] I understand that this was Gene's baby. 601 00:28:01,014 --> 00:28:02,266 It was his whole life. 602 00:28:02,349 --> 00:28:04,893 And without Star Trek, he was gone. 603 00:28:04,977 --> 00:28:06,103 He was nothing. 604 00:28:06,186 --> 00:28:07,604 [McFadden] The creator of Star Trek 605 00:28:07,688 --> 00:28:10,482 tried harder to force his will on the production. 606 00:28:10,566 --> 00:28:15,988 Roddenberry was always trying to imbue his own ideas into the script, 607 00:28:16,071 --> 00:28:17,281 into the picture. 608 00:28:17,364 --> 00:28:19,199 He drove everybody crazy. 609 00:28:19,283 --> 00:28:23,620 He was more than a pain in the ass, he was a monumental nuisance. 610 00:28:24,496 --> 00:28:25,998 [McFadden] On set, director Robert Wise 611 00:28:26,081 --> 00:28:29,376 was feeling stymied by his overreaching producer. 612 00:28:29,460 --> 00:28:34,214 [Gerrold] Robert Wise was used to having a much greater degree of autonomy 613 00:28:34,298 --> 00:28:36,091 to getting things to work, 614 00:28:36,175 --> 00:28:39,595 and Roddenberry's meddling and micromanaging 615 00:28:39,678 --> 00:28:41,847 was not working well for him. 616 00:28:41,930 --> 00:28:44,099 It was not a happy experience for him. 617 00:28:44,183 --> 00:28:46,685 Roddenberry was the worst producer he ever had to work with. 618 00:28:46,768 --> 00:28:48,228 [McFadden] Adding to the trouble, 619 00:28:48,312 --> 00:28:52,774 Katzenberg and Harold's gin-fueled accord had already broken down. 620 00:28:52,858 --> 00:28:56,612 I got so disgusted with everything that I didn't care about the money or anything. 621 00:28:56,695 --> 00:28:57,654 I just walked out. 622 00:28:57,738 --> 00:28:58,614 [McFadden] Again. 623 00:28:58,697 --> 00:29:00,407 Which was not the end of the story 624 00:29:00,491 --> 00:29:02,367 because the story still had no end. 625 00:29:02,451 --> 00:29:04,870 They didn't have an ending for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 626 00:29:04,953 --> 00:29:08,999 They gave us a two-act script in a three-act movie. 627 00:29:09,082 --> 00:29:11,502 I had trouble writing the ending myself. 628 00:29:11,585 --> 00:29:13,504 I mean, I can't blame anybody for that 629 00:29:13,587 --> 00:29:15,547 because I couldn't come up with a decent ending. 630 00:29:15,631 --> 00:29:17,633 [McFadden] And without a writer on board, 631 00:29:17,716 --> 00:29:22,012 the only writing being done was a series of angry memos. 632 00:29:22,095 --> 00:29:24,932 Lots of memos going back and forth, including from Paramount. 633 00:29:25,015 --> 00:29:26,517 "What's the ending gonna be?" 634 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:28,936 And nobody could agree on what the ending was gonna be. 635 00:29:29,019 --> 00:29:30,938 [McFadden] Literally at a loose end, 636 00:29:31,021 --> 00:29:33,899 they even turned to the movie's two stars for ideas. 637 00:29:33,982 --> 00:29:38,320 Bill and Leonard joining the party, there's a trap there of self-interest. 638 00:29:38,403 --> 00:29:41,073 [McFadden] Meaning roles that were written for other characters. 639 00:29:41,156 --> 00:29:42,574 "I'll do that part." [chuckles] 640 00:29:42,658 --> 00:29:45,452 That's what I was imagining that was going on. 641 00:29:45,619 --> 00:29:51,458 You know, there were so many voices and so many... so much self-interest 642 00:29:51,542 --> 00:29:54,920 that it interfered with them finding the end of the story. 643 00:29:55,003 --> 00:29:58,465 [McFadden] But actually, rumor has it Shatner was a little more generous 644 00:29:58,549 --> 00:30:00,175 than previously suggested. 645 00:30:00,259 --> 00:30:01,969 "I'll do that part." [laughs] 646 00:30:02,052 --> 00:30:03,470 [McFadden] No. Actually... 647 00:30:03,554 --> 00:30:07,683 Bill Shatner said, "Let's have Chekov do this" 648 00:30:07,766 --> 00:30:09,977 on a couple of occasions. 649 00:30:10,060 --> 00:30:12,396 That would have substantially boosted my part. 650 00:30:12,479 --> 00:30:16,108 [McFadden] Maybe Walter would have that close-up after all. 651 00:30:16,191 --> 00:30:17,568 They didn't. They didn't go for it. 652 00:30:17,651 --> 00:30:19,528 [McFadden] Ooh, right. 653 00:30:19,611 --> 00:30:23,615 But Bill Shatner had come out in favor of Walter Koenig. 654 00:30:23,699 --> 00:30:25,993 [McFadden] Well, whoever got the close-ups, 655 00:30:26,076 --> 00:30:29,204 it was pretty obvious that not having a third act was bad. 656 00:30:29,288 --> 00:30:30,664 But there was another problem 657 00:30:30,747 --> 00:30:33,458 that couldn't simply be solved with a typewriter. 658 00:30:33,542 --> 00:30:36,003 The special effects people were not producing what he needed. 659 00:30:36,086 --> 00:30:38,380 So the question would be, why wouldn't they come forward and say, 660 00:30:38,463 --> 00:30:39,673 "Hey, we're having a problem"? 661 00:30:39,756 --> 00:30:41,216 Well, because you don't wanna get fired. 662 00:30:41,300 --> 00:30:44,469 They were feeling that they would somehow find a way to pull it through. 663 00:30:44,553 --> 00:30:46,763 [McFadden] The director was getting nervous. 664 00:30:46,847 --> 00:30:48,390 Paramount presold this. 665 00:30:48,473 --> 00:30:50,517 There was a locked premiere date. 666 00:30:50,601 --> 00:30:52,853 [McFadden] With the movie already booked in theaters, 667 00:30:52,936 --> 00:30:55,772 Wise knew how true the teaser poster really was. 668 00:30:55,856 --> 00:31:00,360 The adventure was only just beginning when it should have been nearly finished. 669 00:31:00,444 --> 00:31:02,487 They were opening the movie in nine months. 670 00:31:02,571 --> 00:31:03,864 She needs more work, sir! 671 00:31:03,947 --> 00:31:06,783 Bob Wise finally said, "Come show me what you have." 672 00:31:06,867 --> 00:31:08,744 He'd been asking to see it for a while. 673 00:31:08,827 --> 00:31:10,704 [McFadden] The effects crew played a test reel, 674 00:31:10,787 --> 00:31:12,748 hoping the director would see the light. 675 00:31:12,831 --> 00:31:15,334 And so they brought it in, and they screened it. 676 00:31:15,417 --> 00:31:17,252 [McFadden] Robert Wise saw the light all right. 677 00:31:17,336 --> 00:31:19,129 The probe itself, which was a physical thing, 678 00:31:19,212 --> 00:31:20,672 putting out a huge amount of light. 679 00:31:20,756 --> 00:31:21,840 [McFadden] But that was all he saw. 680 00:31:21,923 --> 00:31:23,550 [Cushman] And he said, "Okay, show me what else you have." 681 00:31:23,634 --> 00:31:25,052 They said, "That's everything." 682 00:31:25,135 --> 00:31:28,138 And they failed terribly. They were over their heads. 683 00:31:28,221 --> 00:31:30,057 They didn't know how to do something like this. 684 00:31:30,140 --> 00:31:32,726 [McFadden] Worse, this humble on-camera effect 685 00:31:32,809 --> 00:31:35,479 was not what Robert Abel had promised. 686 00:31:35,562 --> 00:31:38,690 Bob had bitten off a huge chunk. 687 00:31:38,774 --> 00:31:43,403 He had proposed and pursued doing the effects for the movie 688 00:31:43,487 --> 00:31:45,072 in a digital environment 689 00:31:45,155 --> 00:31:49,493 with computers that were not even as powerful as your cellphone. 690 00:31:49,576 --> 00:31:53,372 [McFadden] Unbeknownst to the director, the digital effects had failed. 691 00:31:53,455 --> 00:31:56,833 And the only stunning visual effect Robert Wise saw 692 00:31:56,917 --> 00:31:58,794 was the disappearing budget. 693 00:31:58,877 --> 00:32:00,504 About five million was squandered. 694 00:32:00,587 --> 00:32:02,589 Robert Wise had a meltdown, 695 00:32:02,673 --> 00:32:06,301 to just storm out and say, "I never wanna see that man again." 696 00:32:06,385 --> 00:32:08,595 [McFadden] That man was soon-to-be-replaced 697 00:32:08,679 --> 00:32:10,764 special effects supervisor Robert Abel. 698 00:32:10,847 --> 00:32:13,100 "Find me somebody else. I don't care who. 699 00:32:13,183 --> 00:32:15,727 I will never have anything to do with that man again." 700 00:32:15,811 --> 00:32:18,647 [McFadden] The numbers were all bad for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 701 00:32:18,730 --> 00:32:23,276 Six months until the premiere, only two of three acts scripted 702 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,446 and just one miserable minute of special effects. 703 00:32:29,783 --> 00:32:31,410 [McFadden] Nearly a year into production, 704 00:32:31,493 --> 00:32:34,705 Star Trek: The Motion Picture still had no special effects, 705 00:32:34,788 --> 00:32:36,832 no ending, and seemingly no hope. 706 00:32:36,915 --> 00:32:38,583 Systems overloading, Captain! 707 00:32:38,667 --> 00:32:42,379 [McFadden] Only one thing could make this classic Hollywood nightmare worse: 708 00:32:42,462 --> 00:32:43,296 lawyers. 709 00:32:43,380 --> 00:32:46,007 Exhibitors put a lot of pressure on the studio 710 00:32:46,091 --> 00:32:47,843 in the form of a potential lawsuit 711 00:32:47,926 --> 00:32:53,056 to make sure that the movie was completed on the date that they had proposed. 712 00:32:53,140 --> 00:32:56,435 [McFadden] There's nothing like the threat of legal action to get things moving. 713 00:32:56,518 --> 00:33:00,230 Fearing the worst, Paramount made plans to shift liability. 714 00:33:00,313 --> 00:33:02,941 I believe they had to have a fall guy. 715 00:33:03,024 --> 00:33:07,612 [McFadden] Overwhelmed and underachieving, Robert Abel was cast in that role. 716 00:33:07,696 --> 00:33:12,993 Bob Abel became the force majeure that the studio had to have 717 00:33:13,076 --> 00:33:16,413 in case they were sued by the exhibitors 718 00:33:16,496 --> 00:33:20,167 to avoid a $100 million class-action suit. 719 00:33:20,250 --> 00:33:22,461 [McFadden] Dreaming up legal strategies was one thing, 720 00:33:22,544 --> 00:33:26,339 but what Paramount needed was someone to dream up an ending to their film. 721 00:33:26,423 --> 00:33:28,675 [Cushman] And John Povill, who was associate producer, 722 00:33:28,759 --> 00:33:30,719 came up with the ending in the 11th hour 723 00:33:30,802 --> 00:33:35,766 with this idea that V'Ger is trying to achieve consciousness. 724 00:33:35,849 --> 00:33:38,810 [McFadden] That's V'Ger, the giant, amorphous energy cloud. 725 00:33:38,894 --> 00:33:41,688 And how better to do it than to merge with the Creator? 726 00:33:41,772 --> 00:33:43,565 -And who is the Creator? -A human. 727 00:33:43,648 --> 00:33:44,483 [McFadden] That's this human. 728 00:33:44,566 --> 00:33:46,610 [Cushman] And Decker can merge with Ilia. 729 00:33:46,693 --> 00:33:47,944 [McFadden] That's this woman. 730 00:33:48,028 --> 00:33:49,780 The Creator has not answered. 731 00:33:49,863 --> 00:33:51,114 [Cushman] Which is also merging with V'Ger. 732 00:33:51,198 --> 00:33:52,324 Who is V'Ger? 733 00:33:52,449 --> 00:33:54,785 V'Ger is that which seeks the Creator. 734 00:33:54,868 --> 00:33:57,412 Which allows V'Ger to merge with humankind. 735 00:33:57,496 --> 00:33:58,538 It became a living thing. 736 00:33:58,622 --> 00:34:01,041 [McFadden] If that sounds confusing, that's because it is. 737 00:34:01,166 --> 00:34:02,876 And Paramount felt the same way. 738 00:34:02,959 --> 00:34:07,798 Paramount hated it, hated it, but Robert Wise said, "I like it." 739 00:34:07,881 --> 00:34:10,717 And of course, when Bob Wise liked it, then Paramount liked it, 740 00:34:10,801 --> 00:34:11,927 and so it got filmed. 741 00:34:12,010 --> 00:34:13,845 [McFadden] Working out the end was a start. 742 00:34:13,929 --> 00:34:16,473 But in June of '79, Paramount still had 743 00:34:16,556 --> 00:34:19,434 an incomplete film with no special effects. 744 00:34:19,518 --> 00:34:21,353 [Tenuto] Paramount brings in Doug Trumbull, 745 00:34:21,436 --> 00:34:24,689 who is one of the special effects world's most amazing artists, 746 00:34:24,773 --> 00:34:26,274 working on 2001. 747 00:34:26,358 --> 00:34:28,026 [McFadden] Stanley Kubrick's classic opus 748 00:34:28,109 --> 00:34:31,696 had virtually defined the look and feel of space on film. 749 00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:34,699 Nobody knew how to do space effects better than Doug Trumbull. 750 00:34:34,783 --> 00:34:37,994 [McFadden] Paramount needed Trumbull to do the same for Star Trek, 751 00:34:38,078 --> 00:34:39,204 and at warp speed. 752 00:34:39,287 --> 00:34:42,207 What Star Trek needed was a new way of doing things. 753 00:34:42,290 --> 00:34:46,253 And luckily for Trumbull, John Dykstra had invented just that, 754 00:34:46,336 --> 00:34:48,255 courtesy of Star Wars again. 755 00:34:48,338 --> 00:34:49,381 Here's where the fun begins. 756 00:34:49,464 --> 00:34:53,927 When we did the Star Wars stuff, it opened up a whole new realm 757 00:34:54,010 --> 00:34:56,221 for lots and lots of material. 758 00:34:56,304 --> 00:34:58,473 [McFadden] Motion control, still a new technique, 759 00:34:58,557 --> 00:35:01,518 had made it possible to realistically depict spaceflight. 760 00:35:01,601 --> 00:35:02,435 Take us out. 761 00:35:02,519 --> 00:35:07,566 We were using technology we designed for an earlier project 762 00:35:07,691 --> 00:35:12,070 to achieve a new result, but there was so much work to do 763 00:35:12,153 --> 00:35:13,446 in such a short period of time. 764 00:35:13,530 --> 00:35:15,699 When I joined them, it was triage. 765 00:35:15,782 --> 00:35:20,620 Suddenly, there was a crash rush at the end of coming up to the release date. 766 00:35:20,704 --> 00:35:22,414 [Dykstra] We immediately went into a nightmare. 767 00:35:22,497 --> 00:35:23,957 Everybody's hair was on fire. 768 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,960 We were working three eight-hour shifts. 769 00:35:27,043 --> 00:35:28,044 They brought beds in. 770 00:35:28,128 --> 00:35:31,214 I think the quote was from Michael Eisner was, 771 00:35:31,298 --> 00:35:34,467 "You're coming out on the release date we have set. 772 00:35:34,551 --> 00:35:38,680 I don't care if there's black leader in place of where the effects should be, 773 00:35:38,763 --> 00:35:39,764 the movie's coming out." 774 00:35:39,848 --> 00:35:42,058 Don't worry, she'll launch on schedule 775 00:35:42,142 --> 00:35:43,518 if we have to tow her out with our bare hands. 776 00:35:43,602 --> 00:35:45,770 [McFadden] With the hardest of hard deadlines, 777 00:35:45,854 --> 00:35:49,107 John and Doug divided the work between their studios. 778 00:35:49,190 --> 00:35:52,652 Doug was really, I think, focusing on the Enterprise. 779 00:35:52,736 --> 00:35:55,030 [McFadden] The iconic and now redesigned mothership 780 00:35:55,113 --> 00:35:57,073 was destined to be the centerpiece. 781 00:35:57,157 --> 00:35:59,034 Doug did the drydock sequence. 782 00:35:59,117 --> 00:36:00,952 And they do the tour around the Enterprise. 783 00:36:01,036 --> 00:36:02,662 And if you're a Star Trek fan, it's ahh... 784 00:36:03,872 --> 00:36:07,459 The introduction of the Enterprise had to be orgasmic. 785 00:36:07,542 --> 00:36:10,503 I'm in heaven. You know, you could stop now, I'll die happy. 786 00:36:10,587 --> 00:36:12,964 [McFadden] This cinematic climax was made possible 787 00:36:13,048 --> 00:36:14,799 by some ingenious smoke and mirrors. 788 00:36:14,883 --> 00:36:17,761 [Dykstra] Trick is, is that we're trying to create an illusion. 789 00:36:17,844 --> 00:36:19,596 You put a light source on the ship, 790 00:36:19,679 --> 00:36:23,475 and you want it to focus on a particular thing. 791 00:36:23,558 --> 00:36:26,394 [Andrew Probert] So much white lighting on the side of the ship 792 00:36:26,478 --> 00:36:28,188 kind of took away from the scale of the ship, 793 00:36:28,271 --> 00:36:33,234 and he thought it'd be better to neutralize all of that lighting down 794 00:36:33,318 --> 00:36:37,447 and just use these spotlights to give the ship more scale. 795 00:36:37,530 --> 00:36:39,157 [McFadden] That epic scale came from something 796 00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:40,784 small enough to fit in your mouth. 797 00:36:40,867 --> 00:36:43,328 There was dental mirrors, a lot of dental mirrors. 798 00:36:43,411 --> 00:36:45,914 Take a new light source, it's a focused beam 799 00:36:45,997 --> 00:36:49,000 bouncing off a dental mirror, and it puts a spot of light over here, 800 00:36:49,084 --> 00:36:52,170 and it looks like that light is sourced from here. 801 00:36:52,253 --> 00:36:53,797 [McFadden] But to get the party started, 802 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,925 it wasn't the Enterprise that needed to look imperious. 803 00:36:57,008 --> 00:36:59,803 John Dykstra's outfit did the opening shot, 804 00:36:59,886 --> 00:37:03,765 which was of the Klingon ship looming into view. 805 00:37:03,848 --> 00:37:06,226 They knew how important it was for the picture. 806 00:37:06,309 --> 00:37:08,561 [McFadden] If the Enterprise was going to be majestic, 807 00:37:08,645 --> 00:37:11,564 her enemies needed to be electrifying. 808 00:37:12,565 --> 00:37:13,650 We had lots of weird stuff. 809 00:37:13,733 --> 00:37:18,238 We had a Tesla coil, which is a lightning generator. 810 00:37:18,321 --> 00:37:23,076 It would throw a six-foot arc in helium with the no vacuum, 811 00:37:23,159 --> 00:37:25,412 which is a long piece of lightning. 812 00:37:27,330 --> 00:37:32,168 It used 60 amps at 440 volts, which is a lot of electricity. 813 00:37:33,837 --> 00:37:38,216 And we had to build a cage around it because we're near the airport there, 814 00:37:38,383 --> 00:37:40,844 and when we fired it up, it would interfere 815 00:37:40,927 --> 00:37:45,015 with radio transmissions from the tower with the airplanes. 816 00:37:45,098 --> 00:37:48,601 Maybe that wasn't the best way to do it, but it was the way that we figured 817 00:37:48,685 --> 00:37:50,437 we could get it done in the time that we had. 818 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,523 [McFadden] While incredible explosions were being rendered to film, 819 00:37:53,606 --> 00:37:57,902 something else was exploding like a supernova, and it wasn't pretty. 820 00:37:57,986 --> 00:37:59,029 It went way over budget. 821 00:37:59,112 --> 00:38:02,323 It doubled and then tripled, and then eventually was $45 million. 822 00:38:02,407 --> 00:38:03,867 Money wasn't an issue. 823 00:38:03,950 --> 00:38:05,076 And worked around the clock 824 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,621 and finished the last of the special effects 825 00:38:08,705 --> 00:38:11,458 about a week before the movie was going to open. 826 00:38:11,541 --> 00:38:14,294 [McFadden] A lot had gone into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 827 00:38:14,377 --> 00:38:15,545 Nobody had seen the movie. 828 00:38:15,628 --> 00:38:17,797 [McFadden] And a lot of it ended up on screen. 829 00:38:17,881 --> 00:38:20,008 It was an incredible human effort. 830 00:38:20,091 --> 00:38:23,720 [McFadden] So it was no surprise that, following their first screening, 831 00:38:23,803 --> 00:38:25,805 the L-word was used. 832 00:38:25,889 --> 00:38:28,349 And suddenly, it's feeling long. 833 00:38:28,433 --> 00:38:30,643 [McFadden] Along with the B-word. 834 00:38:30,727 --> 00:38:32,645 It's feeling a little boring. 835 00:38:32,729 --> 00:38:34,105 [McFadden] However, somewhat ironically, 836 00:38:34,189 --> 00:38:37,358 Robert Wise just didn't have enough time to fix it. 837 00:38:37,442 --> 00:38:41,446 He wanted more time to shave off some of those moments 838 00:38:41,529 --> 00:38:44,824 that people complained about where there's a little too much special effects, 839 00:38:44,908 --> 00:38:48,161 add a little bit more of the humanity into the film. 840 00:38:48,244 --> 00:38:51,331 [McFadden] But with the premiere looming, Paramount had the bigger problem 841 00:38:51,414 --> 00:38:55,543 of finishing their final cut, or any cut, in time for the opening. 842 00:38:55,627 --> 00:38:58,296 They were just hoping that they could get it done. 843 00:39:04,886 --> 00:39:07,222 [McFadden] December 7th, 1979. 844 00:39:07,305 --> 00:39:10,642 There was a red carpet thing. Everybody was in tuxedos. 845 00:39:10,725 --> 00:39:13,019 [McFadden] As everyone made their way to the premiere... 846 00:39:13,103 --> 00:39:16,689 Robert Wise is carrying with him the print, and it's still wet. 847 00:39:16,773 --> 00:39:18,191 They just made the print. 848 00:39:18,274 --> 00:39:21,736 [Gerrold] They came out of the developer into the can still wet 849 00:39:21,820 --> 00:39:25,698 with the idea that they would be dried off by their first trip through the projector 850 00:39:25,782 --> 00:39:26,866 when they got to the theater. 851 00:39:26,950 --> 00:39:31,579 The last roll of visual effects had been done the night before. 852 00:39:31,663 --> 00:39:33,081 They got into the theater. 853 00:39:33,164 --> 00:39:35,917 [McFadden] The feeling in the room was euphoric. 854 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,753 The opening to Star Trek: The Motion Picture is glorious. 855 00:39:39,712 --> 00:39:43,007 There's so much going on, the effects are marvelous. 856 00:39:43,091 --> 00:39:46,261 The audience cheered and applauded when they saw the Klingon ships. 857 00:39:47,804 --> 00:39:50,306 [McFadden] Paramount had a hit on their hands. 858 00:39:50,390 --> 00:39:52,350 It's amazing. It's insane. 859 00:39:52,433 --> 00:39:55,562 Star Trek: The Motion Picture was extremely successful. 860 00:39:55,645 --> 00:39:58,189 It's insane that the movie made as much money as it did. 861 00:39:58,273 --> 00:39:59,440 It made a fortune. 862 00:39:59,524 --> 00:40:02,861 Star Trek: The Motion Picture makes $139 million. 863 00:40:02,944 --> 00:40:05,363 [McFadden] After crawling over the finish line, 864 00:40:05,446 --> 00:40:08,366 the film still managed to take first place. 865 00:40:08,449 --> 00:40:11,202 It was number one at the box office for about three months. 866 00:40:11,286 --> 00:40:16,040 It made more money than any Star Trek film until Star Trek 2009. 867 00:40:16,124 --> 00:40:17,750 [McFadden] But critics were split. 868 00:40:17,834 --> 00:40:21,504 [Cushman] About half of them were very positive. Half weren't. 869 00:40:21,588 --> 00:40:23,798 [McFadden] For some, the rebirth of Star Trek 870 00:40:23,882 --> 00:40:25,300 was an achievement itself. 871 00:40:25,383 --> 00:40:28,219 [Tenuto] What a towering achievement Star Trek: The Motion Picture was 872 00:40:28,303 --> 00:40:31,514 that it was able to take a 1960s television show 873 00:40:31,598 --> 00:40:36,728 produced on a 1960s budget with 1960s special effects technology 874 00:40:36,811 --> 00:40:40,481 and transform it into something realistic and believable. 875 00:40:40,565 --> 00:40:42,358 It looks like you found a way. 876 00:40:42,442 --> 00:40:46,738 [McFadden] But for some, the film still moved at a 1960s pace. 877 00:40:46,821 --> 00:40:50,658 "Star Trek: The Motionless Picture" and things like that. 878 00:40:50,742 --> 00:40:52,493 [Koenig] The papers, they were brutal. 879 00:40:52,577 --> 00:40:57,123 They just said we were these old guys who should have stuck to television. 880 00:40:57,248 --> 00:40:58,166 It was just awful. 881 00:40:58,249 --> 00:41:02,253 The only thing was, I evidently was so anonymous in the picture 882 00:41:02,337 --> 00:41:06,883 that when the reviews came and they started naming the actors 883 00:41:06,966 --> 00:41:09,802 who were out of their league by being in this picture, 884 00:41:09,886 --> 00:41:12,847 they ignored my existence entirely. 885 00:41:12,931 --> 00:41:14,641 I-I was grateful. 886 00:41:14,724 --> 00:41:16,142 We're out of it. 887 00:41:16,226 --> 00:41:19,812 I always see all the flaws in it because I was there 888 00:41:19,896 --> 00:41:21,648 and I know where the compromises are. 889 00:41:21,731 --> 00:41:23,107 [McFadden] For Leonard Nimoy, 890 00:41:23,191 --> 00:41:25,693 the motion picture was like a faraway planet. 891 00:41:25,777 --> 00:41:29,405 V'Ger is barren, cold. 892 00:41:29,489 --> 00:41:31,241 It was cold, it was distant. 893 00:41:31,324 --> 00:41:32,867 It had very little to do with Star Trek. 894 00:41:32,951 --> 00:41:35,411 No meaning, no hope. 895 00:41:35,495 --> 00:41:38,957 Characters were not in shape in place, playing off of each other 896 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:41,042 and with each other the way we did best. 897 00:41:41,125 --> 00:41:43,419 There were some reviews that called into question 898 00:41:43,503 --> 00:41:46,130 the missing sort of humanity of the characters. 899 00:41:46,214 --> 00:41:48,716 [McFadden] Then, there was possibly the most confusing ending 900 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,886 to a sci-fi picture since 2001: A Space Odyssey. 901 00:41:51,970 --> 00:41:53,805 I wasn't crazy about the ending. 902 00:41:53,888 --> 00:41:57,475 What V'Ger needs in order to evolve is a human quality. 903 00:41:57,558 --> 00:42:01,688 And that's not because I didn't write it. It's because it made little sense to me. 904 00:42:01,771 --> 00:42:05,400 They all do a merge or do something. I don't know. 905 00:42:05,483 --> 00:42:08,945 But if it worked for the Star Trek people, okay, good. 906 00:42:09,028 --> 00:42:10,280 [McFadden] For director Robert Wise, 907 00:42:10,363 --> 00:42:12,824 it turned out to be one of his biggest hits, 908 00:42:12,907 --> 00:42:14,742 and one of his least favorite films. 909 00:42:14,826 --> 00:42:18,288 He said, "I've never made a movie before where we were rewriting the script 910 00:42:18,371 --> 00:42:21,374 as we were shooting and waiting for the special effects." 911 00:42:21,457 --> 00:42:23,501 Making Star Trek wasn't fun. 912 00:42:23,584 --> 00:42:25,586 [McFadden] The success of Star Trek: The Motion Picture 913 00:42:25,670 --> 00:42:27,672 had saved the franchise. 914 00:42:27,755 --> 00:42:29,507 [Cushman] Star Trek: The Motion Picture was such a big hit, 915 00:42:29,590 --> 00:42:30,967 of course there was gonna be a second movie 916 00:42:31,050 --> 00:42:32,010 and a third movie and so forth. 917 00:42:32,093 --> 00:42:35,972 It made it of worth to continue the Star Trek franchise. 918 00:42:36,055 --> 00:42:39,600 [McFadden] But this larger prize came at the expense of the TV show. 919 00:42:39,684 --> 00:42:42,478 So their Phase II went away for that reason, 920 00:42:42,562 --> 00:42:44,772 because of the success of the movie. 921 00:42:44,856 --> 00:42:48,568 [McFadden] For Gene Roddenberry, the motion picture was another example 922 00:42:48,651 --> 00:42:51,529 of Star Trek taking off without him on board. 923 00:42:51,612 --> 00:42:53,614 [Nemecek] You know, there were a lot of problems with the motion picture, 924 00:42:53,698 --> 00:42:59,412 both structurally and as a film, and a lot of that was not Gene's fault, 925 00:42:59,495 --> 00:43:00,747 but he was blamed. 926 00:43:00,830 --> 00:43:02,999 And he was demoted. 927 00:43:03,082 --> 00:43:06,377 After the motion picture, Gene was kicked upstairs. 928 00:43:06,461 --> 00:43:09,172 They gave him a new contract that said 929 00:43:09,255 --> 00:43:12,800 that he would be a very well-paid script consultant. 930 00:43:12,884 --> 00:43:15,428 [McFadden] For perhaps the first time in its history, 931 00:43:15,511 --> 00:43:18,181 but not the last, Star Trek had broken through 932 00:43:18,264 --> 00:43:21,267 despite its creator, as well as because of him. 933 00:43:21,351 --> 00:43:22,727 We wouldn't be here discussing Star Trek 934 00:43:22,810 --> 00:43:24,562 if it wasn't for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 935 00:43:24,645 --> 00:43:27,774 Somebody had to go boldly where no one had gone before, 936 00:43:27,857 --> 00:43:29,359 and Robert Wise did it. 937 00:43:29,442 --> 00:43:32,987 It would be churlish and self-aggrandizing, I think, 938 00:43:33,071 --> 00:43:35,073 to not acknowledge the debt, 939 00:43:35,156 --> 00:43:38,868 even if, you know, I just learned things watching the movie 940 00:43:38,951 --> 00:43:41,037 that I didn't understand or wanted to change 941 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:42,455 or thought could be done differently. 942 00:43:42,538 --> 00:43:47,585 It was also a sociological pop culture landmark. 943 00:43:47,668 --> 00:43:48,878 What do you make of all this? 944 00:43:49,003 --> 00:43:51,756 [McFadden] Just as the motion picture split critical opinion, 945 00:43:51,839 --> 00:43:55,343 fans were also split and still debate its worth today. 946 00:43:55,426 --> 00:43:57,929 The very first debate among the fans: 947 00:43:58,012 --> 00:44:00,556 Is Star Trek: The Motion Picture good or bad? 948 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:04,435 It just didn't have the dynamics, didn't have the drama. 949 00:44:04,519 --> 00:44:05,770 I think it's a good movie. 950 00:44:05,853 --> 00:44:08,940 Most people excoriate it, but I like the first Star Trek movie. 951 00:44:09,023 --> 00:44:11,359 [McFadden] But for every fan of the original series 952 00:44:11,442 --> 00:44:14,987 who lamented the lack of a good villain or driving action... 953 00:44:15,071 --> 00:44:16,823 [grunting] 954 00:44:16,906 --> 00:44:20,118 [McFadden] ...there's a fan who sees pure science fiction. 955 00:44:20,201 --> 00:44:23,704 [Tenuto] It's a very cerebral, thoughtful commentary. 956 00:44:23,788 --> 00:44:25,915 It comments on the concept of faith. 957 00:44:25,998 --> 00:44:29,085 It deals with something that we are dealing with right now, 958 00:44:29,168 --> 00:44:32,296 in a profound way, which is the merger of humanity and machines. 959 00:44:32,380 --> 00:44:34,507 V'Ger and the Creator will become one. 960 00:44:34,590 --> 00:44:37,552 And so in some ways, again, like really great science fiction, 961 00:44:37,635 --> 00:44:38,553 ahead of its time. 962 00:44:38,636 --> 00:44:41,931 For all the slings and arrows that the motion picture takes as a piece of cinema, 963 00:44:42,014 --> 00:44:44,642 Star Trek broke so many norms. 964 00:44:44,725 --> 00:44:47,311 It broke so much new ground on so many levels. 965 00:44:47,395 --> 00:44:49,730 We are inside a living machine. 966 00:44:49,814 --> 00:44:52,316 Star Trek: The Motion Picture goes into who we are. 967 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,277 What is life? What is the meaning of life? 968 00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:58,239 Star Trek: The Motion Picture keeps in line with Roddenberry's edict 969 00:44:58,322 --> 00:45:00,491 that Star Trek is us. 970 00:45:00,575 --> 00:45:05,580 I think we gave it the ability to create its own sense of purpose 971 00:45:05,663 --> 00:45:07,832 out of our own human weaknesses. 972 00:45:07,915 --> 00:45:09,876 [McFadden] Whatever its human weaknesses, 973 00:45:09,959 --> 00:45:14,881 Star Trek: The Motion Picture had put Star Trek, the franchise back on track, 974 00:45:14,964 --> 00:45:17,884 even if its makers felt like they had just survived a war. 975 00:45:17,967 --> 00:45:22,472 I've been in three wars. I've had the shit kicked out of me. 976 00:45:22,555 --> 00:45:25,016 My worst war was with Roddenberry. 977 00:45:25,099 --> 00:45:26,976 I don't know who else could have taken all that shit. 978 00:45:27,059 --> 00:45:29,687 [McFadden] Well, Harold would not be the last. 979 00:45:29,770 --> 00:45:31,856 [theme music playing]