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[Gates McFadden]
On the eve of the '80s,

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a decade after cancellation,
Star Trek was back.

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The motion picture had
successfully relaunched the franchise,

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taking more than three times
its budget at the box office.

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I could never believe that.

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[McFadden] Well, despite earning
$139 million worldwide...

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[cash register dings]

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...a sequel to the original motion picture
was anything but a certainty.

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So beam aboard and hold on tight

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as we boldly go into the depths
of Star Trek.

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And you can see it all from here
in The Center Seat.

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Despite having made millions
and the studio's desire

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to make a follow-up
to Star Trek: The Motion Picture,

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there were still issues.

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By that time, the perception was,
despite its financial success,

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which you would think would be enough,

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it just didn't do
what they wanted it to do.

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[McFadden]
"They" being the studio.

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And they didn't like
how the motion picture had been made.

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The lack of discipline during production
was legendary.

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[McFadden]
But the studio had a solution.

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[Robert Sallin]
"We're gonna make this picture,

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and it's gonna be done under the eyes
of the television division."

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[triumphant music playing]

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Thinking being, obviously,
that folks in television

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know how to do things cheaper.

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[McFadden] You didn't need to tell
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry twice.

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A TV guy through and through,
he cranked out the script in no time.

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Which was the crew of the Enterprise

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being involved
in the assassination of JFK

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and sort of writing history.

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[McFadden]
And Paramount wrote back immediately.

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They rejected it with a form letter.

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"Thank you for making this submission,
it's not what we're looking for."

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And this was going to Gene Roddenberry.

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[McFadden] Paramount had adopted
a less-is-more approach to Roddenberry.

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They didn't wanna deal with him.

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[McFadden]
No one did.

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His last writer
had only one message for him.

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Don't ever touch my script, you bastard!

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He wouldn't stop rewriting.

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He was just maniacal about it.

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[McFadden]
Years of creative interference

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had burned too many bridges
with Paramount.

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When Star Trek: The Motion Picture
got mixed reviews...

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...and because the budget
went so far over,

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even though that had nothing to do
with Gene Roddenberry at all,

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Paramount used that as an excuse

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to take Star Trek away
from Gene Roddenberry.

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And he was demoted.

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[McFadden] You could say
Gene was his own worst enemy,

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but there's a theory that explains
complicated characters like him.

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Did you ever hear
of the Moses Joshua theory of creation?

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[McFadden] It's the idea that
some creative types are like Moses.

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They bring into existence
something that wasn't there before.

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[McFadden] But like Moses himself,
they lack certain managerial skills,

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needing organized types like Joshua.

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Is a can-do person.

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That is brilliant.

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Gene led us through the desert
for 40 years, yeah,

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but he couldn't deliver.

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[McFadden] But Gene wasn't entirely
banished from the promised land.

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He was given the courtesy
of a tiny, little office.

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They gave him a new contract

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that said that he would be
a very well-paid script consultant.

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[McFadden]
But in Hollywood terms...

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That meant that he had no power.
He was not in control.

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[McFadden]
Well, no power officially,

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but Gene,
a master of the dark arts of PR,

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wasn't ready to dematerialize just yet.

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Meanwhile, Paramount
had found their Joshua.

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A guy named Harve Bennett.

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[John Tenuto]
Incredibly popular.

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He knew how to do a science-fiction show.

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[McFadden] Having cut his teeth
on The Mod Squad,

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The Six Million Dollar Man,
and The Bionic Woman,

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he knew how to make the ordinary
extraordinary.

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[bionic sounds]

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[McFadden] And...

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He knew how to do a show under budget.

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[McFadden] Harve Bennett
met with Paramount executives.

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They asked him for his honest opinion
on Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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And he said,
"Do I tell the truth or do I,

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you know, give him something
he wants to hear?"

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[McFadden]
What he said shocked no one.

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"Kinda boring."

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"My kids are falling asleep during it."

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And they said, "Okay, can you
make us a Star Trek movie

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for less than $45 million?"

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And he very famously said,

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"Sir, I could make three better pictures
for what you spent."

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[McFadden] Harve was speaking
Paramount's language,

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and the budget for the sequel
reflected that to the tune of...

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$30 million.

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[cash register dings]

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[McFadden]
For that kind of money,

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you could barely make the opening titles
of most blockbuster sci-fis,

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so Harve went to a producer
whose middle name is resourceful.

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I had gone to the UCLA Film School
before film was fashionable,

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and one of my classmates
was a guy named Harve Bennett.

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[McFadden]
And one day out of the blue,

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his old friend called him.

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And he says, "I'd like you to produce
the Star Trek thing."

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And I said, "Well, sure, why not? Okay."

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[McFadden] So while Harve
nailed down the story, Bob's job...

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Was to do everything else.

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[McFadden]
With no real ideas yet,

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Harve returned
to Star Trek 's roots for inspiration.

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Harve did screen
all the previous episodes,

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and it was in doing so
that he came up with the idea

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of bringing Khan
back into the picture, as it were.

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[McFadden] Khan was the
genetically engineered alpha male

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made famous by Ricardo Montalban
in the episode "Space Seed."

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My name is Khan.
Please sit and entertain me.

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[McFadden] And if Khan was back,
Montalban was back older, wiser,

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and even more famous,

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thanks to some
truly fantastic performances.

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Welcome to Fantasy Island.

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Montalban is an underrated actor.
He's a fantastic actor.

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He played a great variety of roles

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and always a polished,
beautiful performance.

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[McFadden] But there would also be
a spot on the bridge

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for a fresh, young face.

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Stand by.

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[McFadden] And it seemed like the young
and relatively unknown Kirstie Alley

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had a knack for being a good match.

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I had done Match Game.

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-[host] Yeah, very good!
-[audience cheering]

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[McFadden] That went so well,
they wanted to match her up again.

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So they asked me to do Password,

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and I was lucky enough to have
Lucille Ball as the celebrity on Password.

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[McFadden]
That's right, the very same Lucille Ball

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who financed Star Trek in the first place.

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And although purely a coincidence...

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[laughs] It was just like...

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It was like a dream come true.

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[McFadden] It seems that fate had decided
Kirstie Alley and Star Trek

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were a perfect match.

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The most amazing thing
about Star Trek for me,

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other than it was the first job
I ever had as an actor,

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was that Nick Meyer and Harve Bennett
really championed me.

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[McFadden] Because what they saw
in the young Kirstie Alley

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was more than just her good looks.

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You know, basically,
Saavik doesn't have any humor at all.

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I think it took somebody
with a lot of humor

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to put over that particular brand
of humorlessness.

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Humor.

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It is a difficult concept.

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[McFadden] But just as
a new Vulcan was confirmed,

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the original suddenly disappeared.

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Leonard Nimoy did not
want to do another Star Trek movie.

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He thought it'd be a good time
to retire the character.

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[McFadden]
Spock or no Spock,

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Harve Bennett and Paramount
continued to develop the script,

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even turning to writers
from the original series.

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It was a revolving door,
it seemed to me, of writers.

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[McFadden] Taking bits and pieces
from everyone,

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they were far from having one script
they were all happy with.

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The clock was ticking.
I was very concerned.

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[McFadden] Then, it was
an unexpected break in casting

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that would give the script
a new direction.

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Nimoy had changed his tune,
telling producers...

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"I would love to do it."

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[McFadden] Meaning he'd love
to come back as Spock.

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But under one condition.

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Leonard said, "Write me out,
find an exit for Spock."

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That is wise.

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So Harve Bennett called Leonard
a few days later and said...

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[McFadden]
What no fan would wanna hear.

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"We're gonna kill Spock."

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[dramatic music playing]

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And Nimoy said, "Okay, great."

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[McFadden] Nimoy loved it,
but the creator of Mr. Spock didn't.

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Spock was supposed to get killed
ten pages into the script.

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Gene Roddenberry hears about this,
and he feels this is the end of Star Trek.

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[McFadden]
Gene was incensed at the idea.

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[Marc Cushman]
"You don't have to kill Spock.

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You can just have him
going back to Vulcan."

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Unfortunately, nobody would listen to him.

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He did not have any responsibility
for the production

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or for shaping the material.

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[McFadden]
But that wouldn't stop him from trying.

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Gene would send us memos.
They were, by and large, disregarded.

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[McFadden]
But Gene was not going to just sit by

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and watch them kill off
one of his favorite characters.

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This was personal for Gene.

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[McFadden] So Gene resorted
to one of his oldest tricks.

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He leaked through
Susan Sackett, his assistant,

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that Spock was gonna get killed
in the first ten minutes.

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How do they know this?

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Well, they had put
sort of a code on the scripts

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so they could track the scripts back.

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[McFadden] But by the time
they found out who did it,

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it was too late.

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And the fans had an uprising.

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[McFadden]
And once again...

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Paramount was being flooded
with letters and phone calls.

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[phone rings]

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[McFadden]
Threatening to boycott the movie.

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Unless Spock was not killed off.

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[McFadden] But some fans
took it much further than that.

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[answering machine beeps]

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And the next thing I know, on
my home telephone answering machine,

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I got a message.

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[McFadden] A message
that cut right to the point.

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[Sallin] "You kill Spock
and we'll kill you."

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I served in the Marine Corps
and I've served in the Air Force,

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and I've never had my life in danger,
but I'm producing a Star Trek picture

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and my life is being threatened?

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We were kind of being driven
up the wall by the volume of mail,

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by pressure tactics by certain people,

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who, as I say,
felt over possessive about Star Trek.

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So we simply decided on a policy,
and the policy is closed set.

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[McFadden]
But before they could close the set,

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Robert would have to find a director.

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What I found out is, a lot of people
didn't wanna do Star Trek.

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A lot of people
didn't wanna do a sequel.

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A lot of directors
didn't want to do sci-fi.

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And a lot of directors weren't available.

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[McFadden] There must be somebody
who wanted the gig.

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So I made up a list.

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I must have had 30 or 40 people
on my list.

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[McFadden] Down a long list of names,
Bob came across this guy.

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[bell dings]

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I'm Nicholas Meyer
and I write and direct movies.

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[McFadden] But back in 1982,
Nick had only one film under his belt,

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meaning Star Trek was...

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Only the second movie
I'd ever made in my life.

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[McFadden] And a complete novice
when it came to the Star Trek universe.

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But we talked and he got it.

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[McFadden]
Comparing Star Trek to...

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Hornblower in outer space.

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[McFadden] Words almost out
of Gene Roddenberry's mouth.

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-So we signed him.
-[bell dings]

235
00:10:11,654 --> 00:10:13,031
[McFadden]
Cigar and all.

236
00:10:13,114 --> 00:10:16,076
Harve and I walked out
and Harve turned to me and said,

237
00:10:16,159 --> 00:10:17,118
"I don't know."

238
00:10:17,202 --> 00:10:18,119
I said, "What's wrong?"

239
00:10:18,203 --> 00:10:19,621
And he said, "He's gonna be trouble."

240
00:10:19,704 --> 00:10:22,540
[McFadden] But the trouble
was all Nicholas' for now.

241
00:10:22,624 --> 00:10:24,876
He was faced with five different scripts.

242
00:10:24,959 --> 00:10:25,794
So I read them.

243
00:10:25,877 --> 00:10:29,464
[McFadden] And from five scripts,
Nicholas came out with one idea.

244
00:10:29,547 --> 00:10:32,592
Why don't we make a list

245
00:10:32,675 --> 00:10:35,011
of all the things we like
in these five scripts,

246
00:10:35,095 --> 00:10:37,514
and then we'll try
to cobble this together

247
00:10:37,597 --> 00:10:41,518
and make a new movie that incorporates
as much of this as possible.

248
00:10:41,601 --> 00:10:42,852
[McFadden]
Which was a great idea,

249
00:10:42,936 --> 00:10:46,272
until Nicholas found out
he only had 12 days to write it.

250
00:10:46,356 --> 00:10:47,232
Ugh.

251
00:10:47,315 --> 00:10:51,486
They say, "Well, the problem is that
if we don't have a draft of a script

252
00:10:51,569 --> 00:10:54,072
in 12 days, ILM..."

253
00:10:54,155 --> 00:10:56,574
[McFadden] That's effects house
Industrial Light & Magic.

254
00:10:56,658 --> 00:10:59,953
"...say they cannot deliver
the special effects shots

255
00:11:00,036 --> 00:11:01,538
in time for the June opening."

256
00:11:01,621 --> 00:11:02,705
[McFadden]
At which point Nicholas asked...

257
00:11:02,789 --> 00:11:04,332
"What June opening?"

258
00:11:04,416 --> 00:11:06,084
It never rains, but it pours.

259
00:11:06,167 --> 00:11:07,001
[dramatic music playing]

260
00:11:07,085 --> 00:11:09,546
And they said, "You know,
we booked this thing into 600 theaters"

261
00:11:09,629 --> 00:11:10,463
or something.

262
00:11:10,547 --> 00:11:13,800
You booked it into the theaters
and there's no movie?

263
00:11:13,883 --> 00:11:15,802
[McFadden]
Nonetheless, Nicholas said...

264
00:11:15,885 --> 00:11:18,513
Well, okay,
I think I can do this in 12 days.

265
00:11:18,596 --> 00:11:19,639
[McFadden]
To which Bob replied...

266
00:11:19,764 --> 00:11:21,474
There's no argument from me.

267
00:11:21,558 --> 00:11:23,560
[McFadden]
Paramount finally had a writer-director

268
00:11:23,643 --> 00:11:25,895
who could work
with their ridiculous schedule.

269
00:11:27,647 --> 00:11:31,317
Our concern was, they're gonna
drag their feet on this upstairs

270
00:11:31,401 --> 00:11:32,944
in the administration building.

271
00:11:33,027 --> 00:11:35,405
[McFadden] Although Nicholas
was already signed on as a director,

272
00:11:35,488 --> 00:11:38,116
he would have to wait
until his writing deal was complete

273
00:11:38,199 --> 00:11:39,742
before starting the script.

274
00:11:39,826 --> 00:11:42,203
They said, "Well, we couldn't
even make your deal in 12 days."

275
00:11:42,287 --> 00:11:45,999
And that's when I sort of made my mistake
and I said, "Well, forget about my deal.

276
00:11:46,082 --> 00:11:48,084
Forget about the money.
Forget about the credit."

277
00:11:48,168 --> 00:11:49,752
You know, I was really dumbstruck.

278
00:11:49,836 --> 00:11:51,713
[McFadden]
Nicholas agreed to write the movie.

279
00:11:51,796 --> 00:11:52,672
For free.

280
00:11:52,755 --> 00:11:53,590
[McFadden]
Not just that.

281
00:11:53,673 --> 00:11:54,674
Um...

282
00:11:54,757 --> 00:11:56,801
[McFadden]
He agreed to do it without any credit.

283
00:11:56,885 --> 00:12:01,431
I really wanted to make this movie.
I was jonesing for this thing by now.

284
00:12:01,514 --> 00:12:04,142
And later he told me, he said,
"My agent told me I was crazy."

285
00:12:04,225 --> 00:12:07,812
[McFadden] Crazy or not,
the movie was now on Nicholas' shoulders.

286
00:12:13,568 --> 00:12:17,113
[McFadden] With just 12 days to write
this Star Trek movie sequel...

287
00:12:17,197 --> 00:12:20,658
As I worked,
it was like fiddling with a Rubik's Cube.

288
00:12:20,742 --> 00:12:21,618
It was Mad Libs.

289
00:12:21,701 --> 00:12:23,870
[McFadden] Taking bits and pieces
from previous drafts.

290
00:12:23,953 --> 00:12:25,455
[Nicholas Meyer]
The Genesis Project.

291
00:12:25,538 --> 00:12:27,123
Genesis is life.

292
00:12:27,207 --> 00:12:28,541
[Meyer]
Kirk meets his son.

293
00:12:28,625 --> 00:12:29,584
[grunting]

294
00:12:29,667 --> 00:12:30,919
[Meyer]
Lt. Saavik.

295
00:12:31,002 --> 00:12:31,961
Thank you, sir.

296
00:12:32,045 --> 00:12:33,630
[Meyer]
The simulator sequence.

297
00:12:33,713 --> 00:12:35,423
What about my performance?

298
00:12:35,507 --> 00:12:36,799
I'm not a drama critic.

299
00:12:36,883 --> 00:12:40,720
But along the way,
certain themes are jumping out at you.

300
00:12:40,803 --> 00:12:43,306
[McFadden] And Nicholas realized
he was writing a movie about...

301
00:12:43,389 --> 00:12:47,018
Friendship, old age, and death.

302
00:12:47,101 --> 00:12:49,938
Other people have birthdays,
why are we treating yours like a funeral?

303
00:12:50,021 --> 00:12:51,064
Bones, I don't wanna be lectured.

304
00:12:51,147 --> 00:12:53,233
And this is a cast that is getting older.

305
00:12:53,316 --> 00:12:55,902
So rather than pretending
that they're not...

306
00:12:55,985 --> 00:12:57,070
Who am I hiding from?

307
00:12:57,153 --> 00:12:59,197
...go at it head-on.

308
00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,283
From yourself, Admiral.

309
00:13:02,367 --> 00:13:03,493
Give him glasses.

310
00:13:06,538 --> 00:13:09,541
[McFadden] It sounded like
the answer to everyone's prayers.

311
00:13:09,624 --> 00:13:10,708
He saved us.

312
00:13:10,792 --> 00:13:12,335
[McFadden]
Called The Wrath of Khan,

313
00:13:12,418 --> 00:13:14,587
this Star Trek sequel had everything.

314
00:13:14,671 --> 00:13:15,922
[phone ringing]

315
00:13:16,005 --> 00:13:19,926
[Meyer] Get a call from Harve Bennett.
He said, "We have a problem."

316
00:13:20,009 --> 00:13:23,429
I said, "What's the problem?"
He says, "Bill Shatner hates the script."

317
00:13:23,513 --> 00:13:24,347
[dramatic music playing]

318
00:13:24,430 --> 00:13:27,308
[stammers] He hates the script?

319
00:13:27,392 --> 00:13:32,564
And I think, again, only my second movie,
"Oh, that's it. We're done. We're toast."

320
00:13:34,357 --> 00:13:35,400
This is a disaster.

321
00:13:36,276 --> 00:13:37,986
[McFadden]
There was only one thing for it:

322
00:13:38,069 --> 00:13:39,904
a meeting with the producers.

323
00:13:39,988 --> 00:13:45,910
All I remember about the meeting is that
I had to keep getting up and going to pee.

324
00:13:45,994 --> 00:13:50,206
I didn't know where to put
either my embarrassment or my rage.

325
00:13:50,290 --> 00:13:52,792
[McFadden] While Nicholas' bladder
took the initial hit...

326
00:13:52,875 --> 00:13:56,212
And I'm sitting there totally finished.

327
00:13:56,296 --> 00:13:58,172
[McFadden]
Drawing on years of experience,

328
00:13:58,256 --> 00:14:02,343
executive producer Harve Bennett
had already diagnosed the problem.

329
00:14:02,427 --> 00:14:03,303
Correct.

330
00:14:03,386 --> 00:14:06,347
[McFadden] With Shatter,
not Nicholas' bathroom problem.

331
00:14:06,431 --> 00:14:09,058
Basically figured out
that Bill wanted to make sure

332
00:14:09,142 --> 00:14:11,269
that he was always
the first man through the door.

333
00:14:11,894 --> 00:14:12,895
Permission to come aboard, Captain.

334
00:14:12,979 --> 00:14:14,272
Welcome, Admiral.

335
00:14:14,355 --> 00:14:16,065
He was the leading guy.

336
00:14:16,149 --> 00:14:18,067
So I was learning
how to write for a star.

337
00:14:18,151 --> 00:14:20,445
[McFadden]
And like every screen actor ever,

338
00:14:20,528 --> 00:14:22,780
Shatner was also worried
about the one number

339
00:14:22,864 --> 00:14:24,907
more important to an actor
than his fee.

340
00:14:24,991 --> 00:14:27,702
The original script specified Kirk's age.

341
00:14:27,785 --> 00:14:31,122
[McFadden] And Shatner felt Captain Kirk
should be ageless, thinking...

342
00:14:31,205 --> 00:14:32,999
You know, they don't have
to put a number on him.

343
00:14:33,082 --> 00:14:34,459
[McFadden]
But I guess now we'll never know.

344
00:14:34,542 --> 00:14:36,336
Forty-nine in the script.

345
00:14:36,419 --> 00:14:37,253
Happy birthday.

346
00:14:37,337 --> 00:14:39,464
That wasn't something that
William Shatner wanted to do.

347
00:14:39,547 --> 00:14:42,550
I think also for the character, you don't
want to be pinned down like that.

348
00:14:42,634 --> 00:14:43,468
Thank you.

349
00:14:43,551 --> 00:14:48,056
He was understandably protective
of what he had created,

350
00:14:48,139 --> 00:14:49,807
the character of Kirk.

351
00:14:49,891 --> 00:14:53,311
[McFadden] So Nicholas
rewrote with the star's ego in mind.

352
00:14:53,394 --> 00:14:55,563
I went home and, I think,
fixed the thing in eight hours

353
00:14:55,647 --> 00:14:57,106
and just send it back to him.

354
00:14:57,190 --> 00:14:59,859
[McFadden] Shatner's response
came back at warp speed.

355
00:14:59,942 --> 00:15:01,110
Lights.

356
00:15:01,194 --> 00:15:03,780
[Meyer] He left a message
on my voice message machine.

357
00:15:03,863 --> 00:15:04,739
[answering machine beeps]

358
00:15:04,822 --> 00:15:06,199
[McFadden]
Which said something like this...

359
00:15:06,282 --> 00:15:09,410
"You are a genius" and something,
something, something.

360
00:15:09,494 --> 00:15:11,996
[McFadden] And with that,
he had his star's blessing.

361
00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:14,374
And I used to play it back to him
every now and again

362
00:15:14,457 --> 00:15:16,250
when I was, you know, having issues
and I was like,

363
00:15:16,334 --> 00:15:18,169
"Hey, Bill, just take a listen."

364
00:15:18,252 --> 00:15:21,297
"You are a genius" and something,
something, something.

365
00:15:21,381 --> 00:15:22,882
[McFadden]
Now with the script settled,

366
00:15:22,965 --> 00:15:26,386
Nicholas was free to pursue
his vision of an action-adventure,

367
00:15:26,552 --> 00:15:29,430
taking inspiration
from military dramas such as...

368
00:15:29,514 --> 00:15:31,057
The movie called The Enemy Below.

369
00:15:31,140 --> 00:15:33,851
[McFadden]
Because for high drama on a low budget,

370
00:15:33,935 --> 00:15:36,979
nothing beats
a claustrophobic contest of wills.

371
00:15:37,063 --> 00:15:40,733
And so I went all out to make it more
like a submarine, more like destroyers.

372
00:15:40,817 --> 00:15:42,652
Those things are not built for comfort.

373
00:15:42,735 --> 00:15:44,779
[McFadden]
That meant making everything...

374
00:15:44,862 --> 00:15:46,447
Smaller, claustrophobic.

375
00:15:46,531 --> 00:15:48,533
[McFadden]
No minor detail was spared.

376
00:15:48,616 --> 00:15:50,159
[Meyer]
Why aren't there blinking lights?

377
00:15:50,243 --> 00:15:52,036
Let's just put a lot of those in.

378
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,331
[McFadden] More than just light,
Nicholas needed an epic score.

379
00:15:55,415 --> 00:15:57,125
But he was short on cash.

380
00:15:57,208 --> 00:15:59,293
Jerry Goldsmith's was too expensive.

381
00:15:59,377 --> 00:16:01,170
[McFadden]
While Jerry had done a fantastic job

382
00:16:01,254 --> 00:16:03,089
on Star Trek: The Motion Picture,

383
00:16:03,172 --> 00:16:06,718
his fee would have consumed
the entire special effects budget

384
00:16:06,801 --> 00:16:08,094
on The Wrath of Khan.

385
00:16:08,177 --> 00:16:10,263
So Jerry Goldsmith was out.

386
00:16:10,346 --> 00:16:12,974
So we just started listening to music.

387
00:16:13,057 --> 00:16:16,602
[McFadden] Back in 1982,
that meant cassettes,

388
00:16:16,686 --> 00:16:18,062
and lots of them.

389
00:16:18,146 --> 00:16:21,691
[Meyer] Composers would send in
samples of their work,

390
00:16:21,774 --> 00:16:25,903
and I'd drive to and from the studio,
listening to these cassettes.

391
00:16:25,987 --> 00:16:29,323
[McFadden] And on one fateful morning,
Nicholas came across...

392
00:16:29,407 --> 00:16:32,076
James Horner, whoever that was.

393
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:33,870
[McFadden]
Well, since you asked.

394
00:16:33,953 --> 00:16:36,539
He was just a young composer
looking for a break.

395
00:16:36,622 --> 00:16:40,626
Had sent in a tape and I really liked it.

396
00:16:40,710 --> 00:16:44,756
[McFadden] That's how James Horner
became the composer for The Wrath of Khan.

397
00:16:44,839 --> 00:16:48,468
Well, actually,
that's not how Robert remembers it.

398
00:16:48,551 --> 00:16:51,429
As a matter of fact, neither Harve
nor Nick had anything to do with it.

399
00:16:52,430 --> 00:16:54,056
You know,
maybe I shouldn't talk about this.

400
00:16:54,140 --> 00:16:54,974
[man] Of course you should.

401
00:16:55,057 --> 00:16:57,935
[McFadden] To be fair,
Nicholas isn't arguing with him.

402
00:16:58,019 --> 00:17:01,981
As I wrote in my memoir,
memory is fallible.

403
00:17:02,064 --> 00:17:04,150
[McFadden]
So how does Robert remember it?

404
00:17:04,233 --> 00:17:07,028
I knew I wanted
something somewhat operatic.

405
00:17:07,111 --> 00:17:11,073
I went to Joel Sill, who was then the head
of the music department at Paramount,

406
00:17:11,157 --> 00:17:13,868
and I told him the kind of thing
I was looking for.

407
00:17:13,951 --> 00:17:17,789
And I said, "Joe," I said,
"What I don't want is musical wallpaper."

408
00:17:17,872 --> 00:17:21,125
And he gave me I don't know
how many cassettes of different composers.

409
00:17:21,250 --> 00:17:22,877
[McFadden]
Okay, those parts line up.

410
00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:26,005
And I rejected all of them
except Jamie Horner.

411
00:17:26,088 --> 00:17:27,757
[McFadden] Now, whether it
was Robert or Nicholas

412
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:29,884
who found this diamond in the rough,

413
00:17:29,967 --> 00:17:32,887
what really mattered is that
Horner wouldn't break the budget.

414
00:17:32,970 --> 00:17:36,390
His creative fee for scoring
this film was $10,000.

415
00:17:36,474 --> 00:17:37,934
[McFadden]
Which was quite a steal,

416
00:17:38,017 --> 00:17:41,103
so much so that
Bob felt kind of guilty about it.

417
00:17:41,187 --> 00:17:42,980
And they gave him a $25,000 bonus.

418
00:17:43,064 --> 00:17:45,149
-[cash register dings]
-[McFadden] Not bad for a first-timer.

419
00:17:45,233 --> 00:17:48,820
Meanwhile, this old-timer
didn't vibe with the changes.

420
00:17:48,903 --> 00:17:51,489
Gene Roddenberry-- I remember
getting a memo-- didn't like them.

421
00:17:51,572 --> 00:17:53,282
He thought they were way too militaristic.

422
00:17:53,366 --> 00:17:56,118
[McFadden] But having been relegated
to a small office...

423
00:17:56,202 --> 00:17:58,538
That was just the way it was gonna be.

424
00:17:58,621 --> 00:18:00,957
[McFadden] Because Nicholas Meyer
had drawn inspiration

425
00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:02,625
from another classic film.

426
00:18:02,708 --> 00:18:07,463
The Prisoner of Zenda
has the high collars and the wide flaps.

427
00:18:07,547 --> 00:18:09,841
[McFadden] Which not only
framed the face beautifully...

428
00:18:09,924 --> 00:18:11,300
Gives a color contrast.

429
00:18:11,384 --> 00:18:13,553
[McFadden] But it was going to take
more than fancy uniforms

430
00:18:13,636 --> 00:18:15,763
-to make a splash at the box office.
-How?

431
00:18:15,847 --> 00:18:18,015
[McFadden] They would need
state-of-the-art special effects

432
00:18:18,099 --> 00:18:20,601
from the legendary wizards at ILM,

433
00:18:20,685 --> 00:18:22,895
while obeying Paramount's prime directive.

434
00:18:22,979 --> 00:18:25,439
"Here's your budget,
doesn't change, work within that."

435
00:18:25,523 --> 00:18:28,985
[McFadden] A budget that was a lot less
than other films of the era.

436
00:18:29,986 --> 00:18:32,864
But director Nicholas Meyer was undaunted.

437
00:18:32,947 --> 00:18:34,657
Art thrives on restrictions.

438
00:18:34,740 --> 00:18:37,702
And also, I had a lot of help
from Robert Sallin.

439
00:18:37,785 --> 00:18:41,247
[McFadden] Who oversaw
much of ILM's work for the young director.

440
00:18:41,330 --> 00:18:42,498
He watched my back.

441
00:18:42,582 --> 00:18:45,835
[McFadden] And kept the designs
under budget with a few clever tricks.

442
00:18:45,918 --> 00:18:47,211
The design of the Regula 1.

443
00:18:47,295 --> 00:18:50,339
[McFadden] Where the scientists
were working on the Genesis Project

444
00:18:50,423 --> 00:18:53,175
was actually the Orbital Office Complex.

445
00:18:53,259 --> 00:18:54,844
It was left over from the first film.

446
00:18:54,927 --> 00:18:57,138
And I just said, "Turn it upside down."

447
00:18:57,221 --> 00:18:58,514
And that's what they did.

448
00:18:58,598 --> 00:18:59,765
[McFadden]
And didn't cost a cent.

449
00:18:59,849 --> 00:19:02,727
If I could save a buck on the models,
I was gonna do it.

450
00:19:02,810 --> 00:19:04,937
[McFadden] But when it came
to the USS Reliant,

451
00:19:05,021 --> 00:19:06,355
a cheap hack wouldn't do.

452
00:19:06,439 --> 00:19:07,440
We did the same thing.

453
00:19:07,523 --> 00:19:10,693
Yeah, just flipped
the Enterprise upside down.

454
00:19:10,776 --> 00:19:12,945
And so instead of having
the nacelles up here,

455
00:19:13,029 --> 00:19:13,988
nacelles are down here.

456
00:19:14,071 --> 00:19:15,323
[McFadden]
Yep, totally different.

457
00:19:15,406 --> 00:19:16,324
Yep.

458
00:19:16,407 --> 00:19:18,075
[McFadden]
So with the upside-down ships...

459
00:19:18,159 --> 00:19:19,076
I said, "How does that look?"

460
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,788
[McFadden] A cobbled-together script,
maroon uniforms, and a green director,

461
00:19:22,872 --> 00:19:28,210
they began rolling on production
on November 9th, 1981.

462
00:19:29,003 --> 00:19:30,171
[man] Rolling.

463
00:19:30,254 --> 00:19:31,130
[Meyer]
We started production.

464
00:19:31,213 --> 00:19:35,259
[McFadden] But just three days in,
Robert sounded the distress signal.

465
00:19:35,343 --> 00:19:38,471
The end of the first three days,
Nick was a week behind.

466
00:19:38,554 --> 00:19:40,014
[dramatic music playing]

467
00:19:40,097 --> 00:19:42,308
[McFadden]
So Robert did what anyone would do.

468
00:19:42,391 --> 00:19:43,434
I panicked.

469
00:19:43,517 --> 00:19:44,352
Pure and simple.

470
00:19:44,435 --> 00:19:46,395
I I didn't know where
this was gonna go,

471
00:19:46,479 --> 00:19:47,813
and I didn't know what to do.

472
00:19:47,897 --> 00:19:50,358
[McFadden] Robert soon found himself
producing a movie

473
00:19:50,441 --> 00:19:52,526
whose director
he couldn't get through to.

474
00:19:52,610 --> 00:19:56,948
Nick didn't know me, and I think
he was protective and hesitant

475
00:19:57,031 --> 00:20:01,494
and afraid that I would somehow
impinge on his world or something,

476
00:20:01,577 --> 00:20:03,579
and Nick was resistant.

477
00:20:03,663 --> 00:20:08,167
I couldn't put my arm around Nick
and say, "Nick, listen to me.

478
00:20:08,250 --> 00:20:10,962
You're in trouble.
Now, I'm gonna help you.

479
00:20:11,045 --> 00:20:12,672
Let me see if I can do that."

480
00:20:12,797 --> 00:20:15,800
His attitude was always
keeping me at a distance.

481
00:20:15,883 --> 00:20:17,093
I was very busy.

482
00:20:17,176 --> 00:20:20,388
[McFadden] It was like
there was a forcefield around Nick.

483
00:20:20,471 --> 00:20:22,765
So Robert made a call
he thought was the only way

484
00:20:22,848 --> 00:20:25,685
to save the second Star Trek movie.

485
00:20:25,768 --> 00:20:26,978
I went to management.

486
00:20:28,187 --> 00:20:30,064
And I said, "Here's what's going on.

487
00:20:30,147 --> 00:20:33,484
This could be a big problem,
and I think you should replace him."

488
00:20:39,657 --> 00:20:42,535
[McFadden] With his inexperienced director
falling behind...

489
00:20:42,618 --> 00:20:43,995
I went to management.

490
00:20:44,078 --> 00:20:47,123
[McFadden] And delivered a scathing report
to Paramount's top brass.

491
00:20:47,206 --> 00:20:48,541
"I think you should replace him."

492
00:20:50,710 --> 00:20:51,544
Huh.

493
00:20:51,627 --> 00:20:54,255
[McFadden] But Paramount's
chief operating officer, Michael Eisner,

494
00:20:54,338 --> 00:20:55,756
saw things differently.

495
00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,050
Said, "No, we're not gonna do that."

496
00:20:58,134 --> 00:21:01,429
[McFadden] Eisner was concerned
about Paramount's reputation.

497
00:21:01,512 --> 00:21:03,889
He said, "Because nobody
will wanna work at Paramount."

498
00:21:03,973 --> 00:21:05,182
And I said, "Fair enough."

499
00:21:05,266 --> 00:21:08,185
[McFadden] So stuck with
his young director for now,

500
00:21:08,269 --> 00:21:09,812
Robert put the pressure on.

501
00:21:09,895 --> 00:21:13,858
We were able to get the message
across to Nick, and he was receptive.

502
00:21:15,151 --> 00:21:18,863
[McFadden] But being behind,
he'd have to find ways to make up time.

503
00:21:18,946 --> 00:21:22,658
I had to fly down quickly
to get on set immediately.

504
00:21:22,742 --> 00:21:24,535
[McFadden]
On such a highly technical shoot,

505
00:21:24,618 --> 00:21:27,079
Ken's experience would come in handy.

506
00:21:27,163 --> 00:21:29,040
Come down,
I have probably my little bit of crew.

507
00:21:29,123 --> 00:21:29,957
We go in.

508
00:21:30,041 --> 00:21:31,584
[McFadden]
And waited for the young director

509
00:21:31,667 --> 00:21:33,961
to get to his special effects shots.

510
00:21:34,045 --> 00:21:36,005
[crickets chirping]

511
00:21:36,088 --> 00:21:37,882
[McFadden]
And then waited some more.

512
00:21:37,965 --> 00:21:39,759
They never got to the shot.

513
00:21:39,842 --> 00:21:42,470
I'll say this for him,
he's consistent.

514
00:21:42,553 --> 00:21:45,222
[McFadden] The ILM effect wizards
were just sitting around,

515
00:21:45,306 --> 00:21:47,349
conjuring up no light nor magic.

516
00:21:47,433 --> 00:21:52,938
So I had to constantly help him
back into the visual effects scenes.

517
00:21:53,022 --> 00:21:54,398
[McFadden]
Beginning with storyboarding

518
00:21:54,482 --> 00:21:56,984
many of the film's
special effects sequences,

519
00:21:57,068 --> 00:21:59,695
with the help of art director Mike Minor.

520
00:21:59,779 --> 00:22:03,157
So I remember clearly saying to Mike,
"You know, that battle..."

521
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,951
[McFadden] That battle
would be the epic final showdown

522
00:22:06,035 --> 00:22:07,203
between the Enterprise...

523
00:22:07,286 --> 00:22:08,579
There she is!

524
00:22:08,662 --> 00:22:10,831
[McFadden]
...and Khan's stolen Reliant.

525
00:22:10,915 --> 00:22:14,585
We can't whip these things around
like World War I fighter planes.

526
00:22:15,711 --> 00:22:18,339
You know, they're lumbering,
slow-moving things.

527
00:22:18,422 --> 00:22:23,010
And I said, "We need to have some way
to enhance the tension."

528
00:22:23,094 --> 00:22:24,553
[McFadden]
And the clever solution proved to be

529
00:22:24,637 --> 00:22:26,931
right in front of their noses.

530
00:22:27,014 --> 00:22:29,850
"How about if we hid them in a nebula?"

531
00:22:29,934 --> 00:22:32,895
[McFadden] The gaseous clouds
proved to be the perfect setting

532
00:22:32,978 --> 00:22:34,730
for a spatial chess match.

533
00:22:34,814 --> 00:22:37,608
My logical conclusion
was to do it with a cloud tank.

534
00:22:37,691 --> 00:22:39,401
[McFadden]
Of course, a cloud tank.

535
00:22:39,485 --> 00:22:40,820
Sorry, what's a cloud tank?

536
00:22:40,903 --> 00:22:44,532
The cloud tank
is basically a large, metal container

537
00:22:44,615 --> 00:22:46,492
with glass panels on each side,

538
00:22:46,575 --> 00:22:51,622
and it's filled with warm water
up to about three-quarters of the way up.

539
00:22:51,705 --> 00:22:57,711
Then, insanely, you would lay
a piece of plastic on it very gently.

540
00:22:57,795 --> 00:22:59,588
[McFadden]
But they were not done yet.

541
00:22:59,672 --> 00:23:02,883
Then, you would gently pour in cold water.

542
00:23:02,967 --> 00:23:04,635
And you would create an inversion layer.

543
00:23:04,718 --> 00:23:07,179
[McFadden]
Meaning once the clear wrap was removed,

544
00:23:07,263 --> 00:23:11,559
the two layers would mix,
with lights used to add cosmic colors.

545
00:23:11,642 --> 00:23:14,270
[Ken Ralston] And it starts to give
almost a look of thunderheads

546
00:23:14,353 --> 00:23:15,729
or clouds that are spreading out,

547
00:23:15,813 --> 00:23:19,942
and there's a nice, fake sense
of a scale to it when you do that.

548
00:23:20,025 --> 00:23:22,361
[McFadden] Some of Robert's
money-saving ideas for effects

549
00:23:22,444 --> 00:23:25,281
were so cheap,
they were literally the garden variety.

550
00:23:25,364 --> 00:23:28,450
The original script
called for a creature to attach itself

551
00:23:28,534 --> 00:23:30,494
to the back of Chekov's neck.

552
00:23:30,578 --> 00:23:32,913
[McFadden] But Bob felt
they could do a little better.

553
00:23:32,997 --> 00:23:34,915
I was going out
to get my newspaper.

554
00:23:34,999 --> 00:23:36,167
I saw a slug.

555
00:23:36,250 --> 00:23:37,960
[dramatic music playing]

556
00:23:38,043 --> 00:23:38,878
And I hate those things.

557
00:23:38,961 --> 00:23:43,799
But anyway, I said, "Hey, is it feasible
that a little, slimy thing like that

558
00:23:43,883 --> 00:23:46,969
could enter the human ear
and lodge itself

559
00:23:47,052 --> 00:23:48,971
maybe in the cerebral cortex?"

560
00:23:49,054 --> 00:23:51,015
[McFadden]
The answer was yes.

561
00:23:51,098 --> 00:23:52,308
For God's sakes.

562
00:23:52,391 --> 00:23:54,226
[McFadden] Which was money in the bank
for Robert.

563
00:23:54,310 --> 00:23:57,146
I said, "Great!"
That's when I got so excited.

564
00:23:57,229 --> 00:24:00,399
So I went up to ILM,
and I told Ken Ralston about it.

565
00:24:00,482 --> 00:24:03,903
[McFadden] And Ken got to work
crafting Bob's space slug.

566
00:24:03,986 --> 00:24:05,404
I took a piece of polyfoam,

567
00:24:05,487 --> 00:24:09,825
cut these little, little segments
in this thing very delicately,

568
00:24:09,909 --> 00:24:12,912
left. a small little thing in the middle
so it was flexible,

569
00:24:12,995 --> 00:24:15,748
stuck it on their face,
and I had a monofilament line,

570
00:24:15,831 --> 00:24:16,957
and I would just pull.

571
00:24:17,041 --> 00:24:19,001
It would actually do this.

572
00:24:19,084 --> 00:24:20,211
[gasps]

573
00:24:20,294 --> 00:24:21,545
It could be that simple.

574
00:24:21,629 --> 00:24:25,174
[McFadden] While the slug had no trouble
burrowing into Chekov and Terrell's heads,

575
00:24:25,257 --> 00:24:29,094
Director Nicholas Meyer was having
a hard time getting through to Shatner.

576
00:24:29,178 --> 00:24:34,558
There is a moment in the movie where he's
supposed to give Khan some information.

577
00:24:34,642 --> 00:24:37,561
Give me some time
to recall the data on our computers.

578
00:24:37,645 --> 00:24:40,022
I give you 60 seconds, Admiral.

579
00:24:40,105 --> 00:24:42,191
[Meyer]
And Kirk has a line: "Here it comes."

580
00:24:42,274 --> 00:24:46,362
And first time Bill says it,
he goes, "Here it comes."

581
00:24:46,445 --> 00:24:47,613
[crickets chirping]

582
00:24:47,696 --> 00:24:51,533
And I say,
"Bill, this guy is super smart."

583
00:24:51,617 --> 00:24:54,119
Time is a luxury
you don't have, Admiral.

584
00:24:54,203 --> 00:24:59,166
"If you say that with this, like,
sarcasm dripping off the lens,

585
00:24:59,250 --> 00:25:03,003
just don't give away the, you know,
what you got up your sleeve."

586
00:25:03,087 --> 00:25:04,797
[McFadden]
His star wouldn't take the note.

587
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:06,215
It was still laden.

588
00:25:06,298 --> 00:25:09,551
[McFadden] But like Captain Kirk himself,
Nick had something up his sleeve.

589
00:25:09,635 --> 00:25:11,095
I just kept doing it.

590
00:25:11,178 --> 00:25:12,012
Time's up.

591
00:25:12,096 --> 00:25:13,097
"That was no good for sound."

592
00:25:13,180 --> 00:25:14,014
Time's up.

593
00:25:14,098 --> 00:25:15,516
"I'm sorry, we were soft-focus."

594
00:25:15,599 --> 00:25:16,433
Time's up.

595
00:25:16,517 --> 00:25:18,018
And he got bored.

596
00:25:18,102 --> 00:25:19,645
And look at the end result.

597
00:25:19,728 --> 00:25:21,146
Here it comes.

598
00:25:22,898 --> 00:25:24,024
Now, Mr. Spock.

599
00:25:24,108 --> 00:25:29,947
When he became bored and less aware
of how he was presenting,

600
00:25:30,030 --> 00:25:30,990
he got really good.

601
00:25:31,073 --> 00:25:32,449
[McFadden]
But subtlety went out the window

602
00:25:32,533 --> 00:25:35,286
the day Ricardo Montalban
arrived on the set.

603
00:25:35,369 --> 00:25:38,205
We came on,
we were doing the cargo bay sequence,

604
00:25:38,289 --> 00:25:39,748
which introduces Khan.

605
00:25:39,832 --> 00:25:41,000
[dramatic music playing]

606
00:25:41,083 --> 00:25:45,963
But he screamed the whole thing
at the top of his lungs.

607
00:25:46,046 --> 00:25:48,340
This is Ceti Alpha Five!

608
00:25:48,424 --> 00:25:49,883
I was awestruck.

609
00:25:49,967 --> 00:25:52,845
The whole crew
was sort of standing around.

610
00:25:52,928 --> 00:25:54,221
[McFadden]
And while Nicholas was comfortable

611
00:25:54,305 --> 00:25:56,890
asking William Shatner for more takes,

612
00:25:56,974 --> 00:26:00,769
the esteemed Ricardo Montalban
was a whole different story.

613
00:26:00,853 --> 00:26:06,233
I really didn't know what to do
because I was sort of awed by him.

614
00:26:06,317 --> 00:26:08,986
[McFadden] And that did not bode well
for the production.

615
00:26:09,069 --> 00:26:11,864
A director,
that's the one person you look to

616
00:26:11,947 --> 00:26:13,365
for how the shoot is going to go.

617
00:26:13,449 --> 00:26:15,492
[McFadden]
Nicholas had a choice to make.

618
00:26:15,576 --> 00:26:19,955
And I thought, "Is he going to yell at me
if I try to tell him anything?"

619
00:26:20,039 --> 00:26:21,332
I wasn't really sure.

620
00:26:21,415 --> 00:26:24,209
[McFadden] Not wanting to incur
the wrath of Khan,

621
00:26:24,293 --> 00:26:28,881
Nick took the villain off set,
hoping to appeal to the artist within.

622
00:26:28,964 --> 00:26:33,635
I said, "You know, Laurence Olivier,
my idol, once said that an actor

623
00:26:33,719 --> 00:26:36,430
should never show an audience
his top.

624
00:26:36,555 --> 00:26:42,061
Because once you show them your top,
they know you got no place else to go."

625
00:26:43,979 --> 00:26:47,858
And he said,
"Aha, you're going to direct me.

626
00:26:49,318 --> 00:26:54,239
Oh, that's great. I need direction.
I don't know what I'm doing up there."

627
00:26:54,323 --> 00:26:57,993
[McFadden] Montalban returned to set
to deliver his second take.

628
00:26:58,077 --> 00:26:59,953
And it was flawless.

629
00:27:00,037 --> 00:27:02,289
You couldn't make it any better than that.

630
00:27:02,373 --> 00:27:04,750
I gave him these 23 marks to hit.

631
00:27:04,833 --> 00:27:06,377
He hit every one of them.

632
00:27:06,460 --> 00:27:08,504
They didn't do a second take.
They didn't have to.

633
00:27:08,587 --> 00:27:12,341
But from then on,
Bill and Leonard's performance elevated.

634
00:27:12,424 --> 00:27:14,635
[laughs] It was just-- just enough.

635
00:27:14,718 --> 00:27:19,723
I don't think anyone else noticed it,
but I did it and it made me smile.

636
00:27:19,807 --> 00:27:22,476
[McFadden] But someone's reviews
were less than stellar

637
00:27:22,559 --> 00:27:23,685
for the new kid on set.

638
00:27:23,769 --> 00:27:26,021
[laughs] I don't know
if I've ever told this.

639
00:27:26,105 --> 00:27:31,402
At one point, I was told that Bill

640
00:27:31,485 --> 00:27:33,153
wanted me to have some acting lessons,

641
00:27:33,237 --> 00:27:34,905
in the middle of making the movie.

642
00:27:34,988 --> 00:27:38,158
[McFadden] News that Bob
broke to Kirstie in the middle of lunch.

643
00:27:38,242 --> 00:27:43,455
So I did and I took her to lunch
and I gently made the proposition.

644
00:27:44,164 --> 00:27:49,002
And I said, "How about us
hiring a drama coach

645
00:27:49,086 --> 00:27:50,504
to work with her?"

646
00:27:50,587 --> 00:27:53,048
I was a bit of a hooligan.

647
00:27:53,132 --> 00:27:57,344
I went out all the time.
I wasn't great at knowing all my lines.

648
00:27:57,428 --> 00:28:00,931
I was handling it a bit like a dilettante.

649
00:28:01,014 --> 00:28:04,726
So I could see how someone
would go like, "Oh, my God.

650
00:28:04,810 --> 00:28:09,106
Oh, my freakin' God,
she needs this or she needs that."

651
00:28:09,189 --> 00:28:11,900
And I was like, "Okay, I guess."

652
00:28:11,984 --> 00:28:16,447
But I also knew that
if I just had my lines learned better

653
00:28:16,530 --> 00:28:18,866
and didn't act so wild-ass

654
00:28:18,949 --> 00:28:23,245
that it would appear
that I was a much better actor.

655
00:28:23,328 --> 00:28:24,580
[laughs] So...

656
00:28:25,664 --> 00:28:29,501
[McFadden] So one way or another,
Kirstie had those lessons.

657
00:28:29,585 --> 00:28:32,171
And I thought her performance
was better because of it.

658
00:28:32,254 --> 00:28:35,048
[McFadden]
But for another young actor in the cast,

659
00:28:35,132 --> 00:28:38,010
all the acting lessons in the world
couldn't save him.

660
00:28:38,093 --> 00:28:39,595
And who do we have here?

661
00:28:39,678 --> 00:28:41,305
Midshipman First Class Peter Preston.

662
00:28:41,388 --> 00:28:43,098
The scene that I auditioned with

663
00:28:43,182 --> 00:28:46,435
was the scene that ended up
getting cut from the film.

664
00:28:46,518 --> 00:28:50,397
[McFadden] A colorful exchange
between Preston and Captain Kirk.

665
00:28:50,481 --> 00:28:52,483
I believe you'll find everything
shipshape, Admiral.

666
00:28:52,566 --> 00:28:53,400
Oh, do you?

667
00:28:53,484 --> 00:28:56,195
And we learn that it's Scotty's nephew.

668
00:28:56,278 --> 00:28:58,280
My sister's youngest, Admiral.

669
00:28:58,363 --> 00:28:59,656
And they cut that out at the time,

670
00:28:59,740 --> 00:29:02,951
and it made Scotty's reaction
kind of inexplicable.

671
00:29:03,035 --> 00:29:04,745
[voice breaking]
He stayed at his post.

672
00:29:04,828 --> 00:29:09,333
[McFadden] But not quite as inexplicable
as why the dead body keeps breathing.

673
00:29:09,416 --> 00:29:10,918
I'd never done a death scene before.

674
00:29:11,001 --> 00:29:14,129
And as I'm laying there,
supposedly dead underneath this thing,

675
00:29:14,213 --> 00:29:16,882
they go on to this two,
two-and-a-half-minute scene

676
00:29:16,965 --> 00:29:18,509
of dialogue going back and forth.

677
00:29:18,592 --> 00:29:21,845
[McFadden] With poor Ike
holding his breath the whole time.

678
00:29:21,929 --> 00:29:24,264
And then all of a sudden,
I thought, "I can't do this anymore."

679
00:29:24,348 --> 00:29:26,350
And I'm going...
[breathing heavily]

680
00:29:26,433 --> 00:29:29,353
[McFadden] Luckily, they called cut
before he passed out.

681
00:29:29,436 --> 00:29:31,230
And I had to check with Nick
and say, "Okay,

682
00:29:31,313 --> 00:29:33,649
were you able to make it through that
without seeing me breathe?"

683
00:29:33,732 --> 00:29:35,234
He said,
"Of course I saw your breathe, Ike,

684
00:29:35,317 --> 00:29:36,985
it was like a two-and-a-half,
three-minute scene.

685
00:29:37,069 --> 00:29:38,153
Nobody holds their breath
for that long.

686
00:29:38,237 --> 00:29:39,571
Don't worry about it.
I'm gonna cut away."

687
00:29:39,655 --> 00:29:43,992
[McFadden] While the new cast members
appeared to take the setbacks in stride,

688
00:29:44,076 --> 00:29:46,370
not all egos could be managed.

689
00:29:46,453 --> 00:29:50,249
Off set, there were problems too,
where a brooding Gene Roddenberry

690
00:29:50,332 --> 00:29:54,545
saw his vision of Star Trek
being forgotten.

691
00:29:54,628 --> 00:29:57,297
So he was always pushing back

692
00:29:57,381 --> 00:30:00,842
against things that he felt
weren't true to Star Trek

693
00:30:00,926 --> 00:30:03,136
and true to the characters
that he had created.

694
00:30:03,220 --> 00:30:05,806
[David Gerrold]
Harve was extremely polite to Gene,

695
00:30:05,889 --> 00:30:08,809
and Gene was extremely polite
to Harve Bennett.

696
00:30:08,892 --> 00:30:10,477
[McFadden]
At least publicly.

697
00:30:10,561 --> 00:30:15,357
Gene didn't have any kind things
to say about Harve Bennett in private.

698
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:16,858
He continued to sound off.

699
00:30:16,942 --> 00:30:21,530
[McFadden] Harve was careful not to upset
Gene or his legions of followers.

700
00:30:21,613 --> 00:30:23,407
If the two of them
had been any more polite,

701
00:30:23,490 --> 00:30:24,992
there would have been blood on the floor.

702
00:30:25,075 --> 00:30:27,869
[McFadden] But Gene's meddling
had already created a monster

703
00:30:27,953 --> 00:30:30,497
Harve Bennett couldn't possibly control.

704
00:30:30,581 --> 00:30:34,418
The leak about Spock's fate
had fans in open revolt.

705
00:30:34,501 --> 00:30:36,211
The Spock death rumors were out there.

706
00:30:36,295 --> 00:30:39,256
And they were gonna boycott the movie
and boycott the merchandise,

707
00:30:39,339 --> 00:30:43,552
and were professional marketers who
had done a professional marketing campaign

708
00:30:43,635 --> 00:30:46,638
and were spewing statistics
and numbers and dollar amounts.

709
00:30:46,722 --> 00:30:49,433
[McFadden]
And the clamor was spilling onto the set.

710
00:30:49,516 --> 00:30:52,269
I was shocked that I was
holding in my hand a copy of something

711
00:30:52,352 --> 00:30:56,440
that was going to be hugely disappointing
to the massive fan base.

712
00:30:56,523 --> 00:30:59,776
[Meyer]
People said, "Oh, you can't kill Spock."

713
00:30:59,860 --> 00:31:02,279
And I said, "Yeah, you can kill him.

714
00:31:02,362 --> 00:31:05,741
The only question
is whether you kill him well."

715
00:31:11,997 --> 00:31:15,500
[McFadden] With fans threatening a boycott
over rumors of Spock's demise,

716
00:31:15,584 --> 00:31:18,420
Paramount was in an impossible situation.

717
00:31:18,503 --> 00:31:20,839
The bottom line was, he wanted out.

718
00:31:20,922 --> 00:31:24,092
They only got him in the movie
promising him a big death scene.

719
00:31:24,176 --> 00:31:26,219
[McFadden]
Star Trek was caught in a conundrum

720
00:31:26,303 --> 00:31:29,181
entirely of its creators' own making.

721
00:31:29,264 --> 00:31:31,475
The only question
is whether you kill him well.

722
00:31:33,226 --> 00:31:35,479
[McFadden]
Without the element of surprise,

723
00:31:35,562 --> 00:31:38,065
some ingenious sleight of hand
was required.

724
00:31:38,148 --> 00:31:43,445
You have this scene where it turns out
the Kobayashi Maru is a simulation.

725
00:31:43,528 --> 00:31:44,446
Captain.

726
00:31:45,447 --> 00:31:48,325
Put that at the beginning,
let the audience see that Spock dies.

727
00:31:48,408 --> 00:31:50,410
They'll say,
"Oh, that's what this was all about."

728
00:31:50,494 --> 00:31:52,954
Then you can catch them by surprise
at the end of the picture.

729
00:31:53,038 --> 00:31:54,456
-Aren't you dead?
-[bell dings]

730
00:31:54,539 --> 00:31:57,084
It's all just kind of a setup to throw us.

731
00:31:57,167 --> 00:32:00,253
[McFadden] But when it came
to euthanizing his own character,

732
00:32:00,337 --> 00:32:02,839
Leonard Nimoy was suddenly uneasy.

733
00:32:02,923 --> 00:32:06,259
That was a major, major
difficult moment for me.

734
00:32:06,343 --> 00:32:07,886
Very difficult.

735
00:32:07,969 --> 00:32:10,430
I think he was having
sort of jittery feelings about,

736
00:32:10,514 --> 00:32:12,766
"Do I really wanna end this after all?"

737
00:32:12,849 --> 00:32:14,559
[Larry Nemecek]
This was a big moment.

738
00:32:14,643 --> 00:32:17,396
Big enough so that the minute they do it,

739
00:32:17,479 --> 00:32:19,773
Leonard Nimoy
starts having second thoughts.

740
00:32:20,691 --> 00:32:23,527
And I began to be concerned
that maybe I'd made a mistake.

741
00:32:23,610 --> 00:32:26,613
Then he was feeling
very sort of jittery and testy

742
00:32:26,697 --> 00:32:28,490
and nervous about it.

743
00:32:28,573 --> 00:32:32,369
[McFadden] But Nimoy had no qualms
about the manner of Spock's demise.

744
00:32:32,452 --> 00:32:36,206
Maybe it's fitting that Spock
should die saving the ship and the crew

745
00:32:36,289 --> 00:32:38,542
and be a hero
and go out in a blaze of glory.

746
00:32:38,625 --> 00:32:42,462
[McFadden] This was potentially
the most important Star Trek scene ever,

747
00:32:42,546 --> 00:32:44,172
and everyone knew it.

748
00:32:44,256 --> 00:32:45,549
Well, almost everyone.

749
00:32:45,632 --> 00:32:48,510
I didn't really understand
the significance

750
00:32:48,593 --> 00:32:52,931
to so many people of what
was going on while we were shooting

751
00:32:53,014 --> 00:32:56,935
until I turn around and see
my cinematographer is crying.

752
00:32:58,687 --> 00:33:00,939
The first A.D. is crying.

753
00:33:01,022 --> 00:33:02,983
Don't grieve, Admiral.

754
00:33:03,066 --> 00:33:05,026
The prop guy is crying.

755
00:33:05,110 --> 00:33:08,613
The needs of the many outweigh...

756
00:33:10,991 --> 00:33:12,576
The needs of the few.

757
00:33:14,286 --> 00:33:15,120
Or the one.

758
00:33:16,580 --> 00:33:18,165
And I was just making the movie.

759
00:33:18,248 --> 00:33:19,249
Spock...

760
00:33:21,418 --> 00:33:24,421
Bill and Leonard really just nailed that.

761
00:33:24,504 --> 00:33:26,298
I mean, there was sobbing on the set.

762
00:33:26,381 --> 00:33:28,175
I mean, they really got into it.

763
00:33:28,258 --> 00:33:33,430
[Leonard Nimoy] I was always very touched
by what happened in that sequence.

764
00:33:33,513 --> 00:33:35,223
And it really worked in the film.

765
00:33:35,307 --> 00:33:37,684
I have people still today
who write me and say,

766
00:33:37,768 --> 00:33:40,812
"Every time I still see that picture
for the fifth, tenth time, I still cry."

767
00:33:40,896 --> 00:33:43,398
[McFadden]
It was the perfect end for Spock,

768
00:33:43,482 --> 00:33:46,485
performed to perfection, except...

769
00:33:46,568 --> 00:33:50,030
We shot the scene
with no film in the camera.

770
00:33:50,113 --> 00:33:51,323
[man] You're kidding.

771
00:33:51,406 --> 00:33:55,535
The first time it ever happened to me
in thousands and thousands of scenes.

772
00:33:55,619 --> 00:34:00,415
This is a story about Kirk
coming to terms with himself.

773
00:34:00,499 --> 00:34:01,708
Kirk begins by saying...

774
00:34:01,792 --> 00:34:03,460
I don't believe in the no-win scenario.

775
00:34:03,543 --> 00:34:05,128
Until he's confronted by it.

776
00:34:05,212 --> 00:34:10,091
It's a story about a man
who ultimately realizes his fallibility

777
00:34:10,175 --> 00:34:11,927
and perhaps accepts his humanity.

778
00:34:12,010 --> 00:34:14,137
Death is the no-win scenario.

779
00:34:14,221 --> 00:34:16,556
[McFadden]
But Paramount did not accept that.

780
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:21,061
The studio and producers had an idea,
a highly controversial one.

781
00:34:21,144 --> 00:34:24,940
And I and Harve too
were very strong

782
00:34:25,023 --> 00:34:30,070
about the fact that we needed
to plant in the audience's minds

783
00:34:30,153 --> 00:34:31,571
the "maybe" idea.

784
00:34:31,655 --> 00:34:34,032
Harve came to me on the set.

785
00:34:34,115 --> 00:34:37,744
He said, "What can you give us
that might be a thread

786
00:34:37,828 --> 00:34:41,414
for the future for Spock or Star Trek ?

787
00:34:41,498 --> 00:34:42,666
Just in case.

788
00:34:42,749 --> 00:34:44,209
And it took me a moment.

789
00:34:44,292 --> 00:34:46,378
I said, "I can do a mind meld
on DeForest Kelley,

790
00:34:46,461 --> 00:34:47,879
who's laying there unconscious."

791
00:34:47,963 --> 00:34:48,797
[gasps]

792
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,633
I'm sorry, Doctor,
I have no time to discuss this logically.

793
00:34:51,716 --> 00:34:53,802
"And I can say
something ambiguous, like..."

794
00:34:53,885 --> 00:34:54,719
[Spock] Remember.

795
00:34:54,803 --> 00:34:56,221
-[bell dings]
-He said, "Okay, do that."

796
00:34:56,304 --> 00:34:59,766
I thought, "This guy,
this is a producer." [laughs]

797
00:34:59,850 --> 00:35:04,479
[McFadden] This touch of Vulcan logic
from the producers made Spock proud.

798
00:35:04,563 --> 00:35:07,899
But for the director,
they had lost the human emotion.

799
00:35:07,983 --> 00:35:08,817
Oh, I hated it.

800
00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:10,777
Nick was adamant.

801
00:35:10,861 --> 00:35:12,988
I fought it tooth and nail.

802
00:35:13,071 --> 00:35:16,241
We twist
these people's feelings into knots,

803
00:35:16,324 --> 00:35:18,785
and then we say, "Oh, just kidding"?

804
00:35:18,869 --> 00:35:22,038
[McFadden] Nonetheless,
the door was left open for Spock.

805
00:35:22,122 --> 00:35:25,625
And they decided they need
a button on the end of the movie,

806
00:35:25,709 --> 00:35:29,004
showing the casket wherever it landed.

807
00:35:29,087 --> 00:35:31,715
[McFadden] One way or another,
Spock would live on.

808
00:35:31,798 --> 00:35:33,675
But not everyone was happy about it.

809
00:35:33,758 --> 00:35:34,718
They killed Spock.

810
00:35:34,801 --> 00:35:37,429
They should have left him dead,
as hard as that is.

811
00:35:37,512 --> 00:35:39,139
Part of the reason why that film works

812
00:35:39,222 --> 00:35:42,392
is because of the emotional impact
of Spock's death.

813
00:35:42,475 --> 00:35:45,103
And then at the very end,
they give you the shot of the coffin

814
00:35:45,186 --> 00:35:48,690
that kind of winks at you and says,
"Actually, he's gonna be back."

815
00:35:48,773 --> 00:35:51,026
And it kind of takes
some of that away.

816
00:35:51,109 --> 00:35:55,655
That said, it's a small quibble in what
is really the best of the Star Trek films.

817
00:35:55,739 --> 00:35:57,449
Goodbye, everybody. Thank you.

818
00:35:57,532 --> 00:35:58,867
[McFadden]
Paramount couldn't have been happier.

819
00:35:58,950 --> 00:36:02,787
And when shooting wrapped
on January 29th, 1982,

820
00:36:02,871 --> 00:36:05,790
Bob, Harve, and Nick
delivered a film on schedule.

821
00:36:05,874 --> 00:36:07,542
And we came in on budget.

822
00:36:07,626 --> 00:36:10,921
[McFadden] While Nicholas never got
his say on Spock's immortality,

823
00:36:11,004 --> 00:36:14,132
he had at least pulled off
his own little mind meld,

824
00:36:14,215 --> 00:36:16,551
winning back the faith of his producer.

825
00:36:16,635 --> 00:36:20,138
It was a hard thing to pull off,
and we couldn't have done it without him.

826
00:36:27,228 --> 00:36:30,273
[McFadden] Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
premiered in 1982.

827
00:36:30,357 --> 00:36:32,817
The first time I realized
it was gonna be a big thing,

828
00:36:32,901 --> 00:36:36,196
honestly, was when the premiere
was at Grauman's Chinese Theater,

829
00:36:36,279 --> 00:36:40,450
walking in and seeing
a bajillion photographers.

830
00:36:40,533 --> 00:36:42,160
I hadn't really ever seen that before.

831
00:36:42,243 --> 00:36:46,122
[McFadden] What happened during
the screening really took her by surprise.

832
00:36:46,206 --> 00:36:48,416
The audience just kind of went wild.

833
00:36:48,500 --> 00:36:52,003
So this, this was the best Star Trek
that I've ever seen before.

834
00:36:52,087 --> 00:36:55,340
[McFadden] The death of Spock
had breathed new life into the franchise,

835
00:36:55,423 --> 00:36:57,801
-$95 million worth.
-[cash register dings]

836
00:36:57,884 --> 00:36:59,552
-I loved it.
-It was awesome.

837
00:36:59,636 --> 00:37:02,138
I hated part of the ending,
but I understand that

838
00:37:02,222 --> 00:37:04,724
that will be remedied
in the next one, right?

839
00:37:04,808 --> 00:37:09,646
Star Trek III is a possibility.
I think it's a distinct possibility.

840
00:37:09,729 --> 00:37:12,857
When we did Star Trek II ,
up until the very final parts,

841
00:37:12,941 --> 00:37:14,192
it was a standalone film.

842
00:37:14,275 --> 00:37:15,443
[McFadden]
Standalone or not,

843
00:37:15,527 --> 00:37:18,989
Paramount now had 95 million reasons
to bring Spock back.

844
00:37:19,072 --> 00:37:22,200
I'm looking forward to discussing
as soon as possible

845
00:37:22,283 --> 00:37:26,371
the next Star Trek motion picture
and-and my involvement with it.

846
00:37:26,454 --> 00:37:30,208
The movie was such a huge hit
that they came back to Nimoy and said,

847
00:37:30,291 --> 00:37:33,044
"What would it take to get you
to come back and do another one?"

848
00:37:33,128 --> 00:37:35,422
And I said, "I would like to direct it."

849
00:37:35,505 --> 00:37:38,550
To my surprise,
they didn't throw me out of the office.

850
00:37:38,633 --> 00:37:41,011
[McFadden]
For a would-be first-time director,

851
00:37:41,094 --> 00:37:43,471
Nimoy had a Vulcan's cool confidence.

852
00:37:43,555 --> 00:37:47,308
When we made Star Trek II,
Nicholas Meyer was directing.

853
00:37:47,392 --> 00:37:49,602
I thought, "I-I can do what he does."

854
00:37:49,686 --> 00:37:51,646
[McFadden]
It seemed like a match made in heaven,

855
00:37:51,730 --> 00:37:55,233
but this was a director
arriving with serious baggage.

856
00:37:55,316 --> 00:37:56,401
Certain people might have been

857
00:37:56,484 --> 00:37:59,988
a little worried
about Leonard's directing.

858
00:38:00,071 --> 00:38:04,492
Everybody was like...
"Okay."

859
00:38:04,576 --> 00:38:06,536
[McFadden]
Studio head Michael Eisner wanted Spock

860
00:38:06,619 --> 00:38:08,955
in front of the camera, not behind it.

861
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:11,041
He said, "I can't have you
direct this movie."

862
00:38:11,124 --> 00:38:12,792
I said, "Why, Michael?"

863
00:38:13,918 --> 00:38:15,503
He said, "You hate Star Trek.

864
00:38:15,587 --> 00:38:19,924
You insisted on the Spock character
being killed in Star Trek II.

865
00:38:20,008 --> 00:38:22,427
You had it in your contract
that Spock had to die.

866
00:38:22,510 --> 00:38:24,721
I can't have you directing
a Star Trek movie."

867
00:38:24,804 --> 00:38:29,601
I said, "Michael, this is really crazy.
I don't hate Star Trek."

868
00:38:29,684 --> 00:38:32,979
It was not in my contract,
and I said, "The contract is in a file

869
00:38:33,063 --> 00:38:34,647
in the building that you're in.

870
00:38:34,731 --> 00:38:36,524
Somebody's given you bad information.

871
00:38:36,608 --> 00:38:39,277
Take a look at it and see if you can
find anything like that in the contract.

872
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:40,695
It's not there. It's not true."

873
00:38:40,779 --> 00:38:43,740
[McFadden] Whatever was in that contract,
Eisner came back,

874
00:38:43,823 --> 00:38:47,035
offering Nimoy a new one as a director.

875
00:38:47,118 --> 00:38:49,245
And he said, "Okay, let's make a deal."

876
00:38:49,329 --> 00:38:51,164
And we immediately made a deal
and went to work.

877
00:38:51,247 --> 00:38:53,041
[McFadden]
With Spock returning in some form,

878
00:38:53,124 --> 00:38:55,543
Paramount had gained one Vulcan,

879
00:38:55,627 --> 00:38:56,836
only to lose another

880
00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:59,881
after an unhappy experience
on The Wrath of Khan.

881
00:38:59,964 --> 00:39:02,175
She didn't seem
to be very comfortable about it.

882
00:39:02,258 --> 00:39:04,177
[McFadden]
Kirstie Alley would not be returning.

883
00:39:04,260 --> 00:39:06,513
One day,
she came to my dressing room,

884
00:39:06,596 --> 00:39:09,849
and she was in absolute tears.

885
00:39:09,933 --> 00:39:11,976
All of a sudden, she said to me,
"You know what?

886
00:39:12,060 --> 00:39:13,436
If this is what Hollywood is like,

887
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:15,396
I don't think
I want anything to do with it.

888
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:16,523
I think I'm done."

889
00:39:16,606 --> 00:39:19,818
[McFadden] When invited
to reprise her role as Lt. Saavik,

890
00:39:19,901 --> 00:39:24,906
the actress' eye-watering asking price
sent a clear message to Paramount.

891
00:39:24,989 --> 00:39:26,407
That's 100% false.

892
00:39:26,491 --> 00:39:28,535
The thing that's always bothered me

893
00:39:28,618 --> 00:39:32,539
was the fans thought
I was too good to do Star Trek III.

894
00:39:32,622 --> 00:39:35,583
And so I said,
"I don't wanna do Star Trek III."

895
00:39:35,667 --> 00:39:37,710
Which was 100% false.

896
00:39:37,794 --> 00:39:40,797
[McFadden]
She says it was the other way around.

897
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:45,301
They offered me less money
for Star Trek III than Star Trek II,

898
00:39:45,385 --> 00:39:48,346
and I'd done quite a bit of work
in between those two things.

899
00:39:48,429 --> 00:39:52,517
[McFadden] And the rising star
had no choice but to politely pass.

900
00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,729
It wasn't me just going,
"I'm too good to be in Star Trek III."

901
00:39:56,813 --> 00:39:59,399
[McFadden]
So with Kirstie Alley stepping aside,

902
00:39:59,482 --> 00:40:01,317
Robin was introduced to Saavik.

903
00:40:01,401 --> 00:40:05,947
And I was tickled pink, you know,
to come in and take over the role.

904
00:40:06,030 --> 00:40:08,366
[McFadden]
Robin relaxed into the character,

905
00:40:08,449 --> 00:40:10,493
safe in the knowledge that her director

906
00:40:10,577 --> 00:40:13,329
was the world authority
on all things Vulcan.

907
00:40:13,413 --> 00:40:16,207
What more expert hands to be in
than Leonard Nimoy

908
00:40:16,291 --> 00:40:17,959
to be directed to play a Vulcan?

909
00:40:18,042 --> 00:40:22,922
He said, "Vulcans have 1,000 years
of wisdom behind the eyes."

910
00:40:24,132 --> 00:40:26,551
How many have paid the price
for your impatience?

911
00:40:26,634 --> 00:40:32,265
He had this lovely way
of gently kind of guiding me, you know,

912
00:40:32,348 --> 00:40:34,559
to whatever moment it was
that Saavik was having.

913
00:40:34,642 --> 00:40:36,519
[McFadden]
But even a thousand years of wisdom

914
00:40:36,603 --> 00:40:40,565
wouldn't help Robin work out
how to negotiate Vulcan romance.

915
00:40:41,608 --> 00:40:46,321
God, I remember the day
Steven Manley and I were all-all aflutter,

916
00:40:46,404 --> 00:40:50,617
wondering, "Okay, what--
what is Vulcan foreplay going to be?"

917
00:40:50,700 --> 00:40:54,829
[McFadden] Stephen Manley portrayed
a hormone-addled, teenage Spock.

918
00:40:54,913 --> 00:40:56,456
[Robin Curtis]
Because the scene on the page

919
00:40:56,539 --> 00:41:00,585
definitely read that Spock and Saavik
are about to have this important moment.

920
00:41:00,668 --> 00:41:03,087
[McFadden]
This was the ritual mating of the Vulcan.

921
00:41:03,171 --> 00:41:05,089
Pon farr.

922
00:41:05,173 --> 00:41:06,674
Oh, my God, what is this gonna be?

923
00:41:06,799 --> 00:41:09,594
You know, what parts of our bodies
are gonna be interacting?

924
00:41:09,677 --> 00:41:13,681
[McFadden] Luckily for them, the director
was quite familiar with Vulcan biology.

925
00:41:13,765 --> 00:41:16,643
And Leonard Nimoy
took us very gently aside,

926
00:41:16,726 --> 00:41:18,353
very quiet part of the soundstage,

927
00:41:18,436 --> 00:41:20,939
and he took our hands
and he formed them like this.

928
00:41:21,022 --> 00:41:25,652
And he said, "You're just going
to gently stroke each other like this."

929
00:41:25,735 --> 00:41:28,279
[McFadden]
Although it was a bit demure,

930
00:41:28,363 --> 00:41:30,531
it showed just enough
to preserve a little...

931
00:41:30,615 --> 00:41:31,741
Vulcan mystique.

932
00:41:33,076 --> 00:41:35,620
My lord, the ship appears to be deserted.

933
00:41:35,703 --> 00:41:37,163
How can that be?

934
00:41:37,247 --> 00:41:39,916
[McFadden] The Klingons may not
have been known for their mystique.

935
00:41:39,999 --> 00:41:41,251
Oh, yeah!

936
00:41:41,334 --> 00:41:42,835
[McFadden]
But with Taxi 's Christopher Lloyd

937
00:41:42,919 --> 00:41:46,297
having swapped his furrowed brow
for a Klingon forehead,

938
00:41:46,381 --> 00:41:48,716
they had some star power in their ranks.

939
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,427
Chris Lloyd was well known for comedy,

940
00:41:51,511 --> 00:41:54,555
but he was also wonderful in a movie
called One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

941
00:41:54,639 --> 00:41:56,766
Why don't you knock off the...
and get to the point?

942
00:41:56,849 --> 00:41:58,685
Terrific actor,
he's like a chameleon.

943
00:41:58,768 --> 00:41:59,852
Charming.

944
00:41:59,936 --> 00:42:02,647
[McFadden]
Star Trek III also saw the return

945
00:42:02,730 --> 00:42:05,733
of the previously undiscovered composer.

946
00:42:05,817 --> 00:42:08,987
James Horner was out there
with a 102-piece orchestra

947
00:42:09,112 --> 00:42:11,739
at Paramount,
and what a blast that was

948
00:42:11,823 --> 00:42:13,616
to sit there, see the sequence

949
00:42:13,700 --> 00:42:16,619
everyone at ILM
put so much sweat and tears in.

950
00:42:16,703 --> 00:42:22,458
And then there's this 102-piece
orchestra-- boom-- backing it up.

951
00:42:22,542 --> 00:42:25,545
[orchestral music playing]

952
00:42:26,879 --> 00:42:27,714
Nothing like it.

953
00:42:27,797 --> 00:42:31,050
[McFadden] Music or not,
one scene would be particularly dramatic.

954
00:42:31,134 --> 00:42:33,386
We thought,
"Well, let's create a great death scene

955
00:42:33,469 --> 00:42:34,721
like a great actor would do."

956
00:42:34,804 --> 00:42:37,682
[McFadden] Perhaps even more traumatic
than the death of Spock,

957
00:42:37,765 --> 00:42:42,437
especially for Gene,
was the demise of the Enterprise itself.

958
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:43,563
He said, "That's a character.

959
00:42:43,646 --> 00:42:46,858
Audiences loved the Enterprise.
That's their home away from home."

960
00:42:46,941 --> 00:42:50,069
That's the premise, you know.
It's not me and my friends,

961
00:42:50,153 --> 00:42:51,904
it's "These are the voyages
of the starship Enterprise."

962
00:42:51,988 --> 00:42:53,323
And you're gonna blow it up?

963
00:42:53,406 --> 00:42:55,158
[McFadden]
But if the ship was going to go down,

964
00:42:55,241 --> 00:42:57,952
it was going to go down
in a blaze of glory,

965
00:42:58,036 --> 00:43:00,204
thanks to some ILM magic.

966
00:43:00,288 --> 00:43:02,081
When we got to the final blow-up,

967
00:43:02,165 --> 00:43:04,751
at the last second, I remember,
"Hey give me some talcum powder."

968
00:43:04,834 --> 00:43:07,086
And I just sprinkled it
on top of the ship

969
00:43:07,170 --> 00:43:09,630
so when it goes off,
you can see it in the movie too,

970
00:43:09,714 --> 00:43:12,008
this interesting, sort of fine stuff
comes up.

971
00:43:15,136 --> 00:43:16,596
Which added to the scale of it.

972
00:43:16,679 --> 00:43:19,265
[McFadden] And made the whole thing
really, really fun to blow up.

973
00:43:19,349 --> 00:43:23,311
I personally am very hurt
by the destruction of the Enterprise.

974
00:43:23,394 --> 00:43:26,606
I feel that more deeply
than I did the death of Spock.

975
00:43:26,689 --> 00:43:28,524
[McFadden]
And he wasn't the only one.

976
00:43:28,608 --> 00:43:29,776
The movie was coming out.

977
00:43:29,859 --> 00:43:34,030
I made a point of saying, "Well, I finally
got to blow up that Enterprise ship.

978
00:43:34,113 --> 00:43:35,531
It's such a pain to shoot."

979
00:43:35,615 --> 00:43:37,867
And I got, like, death threats.

980
00:43:37,950 --> 00:43:39,660
[McFadden]
Welcome to the club.

981
00:43:39,744 --> 00:43:42,538
It's like, "Whoa, okay, no more jokes."

982
00:43:42,622 --> 00:43:44,123
[McFadden]
Whatever fans thought of this,

983
00:43:44,207 --> 00:43:45,416
they loved the film.

984
00:43:45,500 --> 00:43:49,087
Star Trek: The Search for Spock
raked in a cool $87 million.

985
00:43:49,170 --> 00:43:50,171
[cash register dings]

986
00:43:51,964 --> 00:43:55,093
Essentially guaranteeing another outing.

987
00:43:55,176 --> 00:43:57,762
I think this is really
the best Star Trek yet.

988
00:43:57,845 --> 00:44:01,432
Leonard Nimoy has turned in,
I think, a magnificent job.

989
00:44:01,516 --> 00:44:03,267
That point in time
felt like the original cast

990
00:44:03,351 --> 00:44:05,228
was still gonna keep doing some features.

991
00:44:05,311 --> 00:44:08,022
[McFadden] Even if Kirk and crew
would need a new ride.

992
00:44:08,106 --> 00:44:12,193
Jeff Katzenberg tells Leonard Nimoy,
"We want you to make Star Trek IV."

993
00:44:12,276 --> 00:44:14,362
[McFadden]
Leonard quickly accepted.

994
00:44:14,445 --> 00:44:16,656
But that's a tale for another time.

995
00:44:17,698 --> 00:44:19,784
[theme music playing]