The struggles of the special effects staff who created the movie “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and what they left behind, Part 2

"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" synopsis

The Federation spaceship Enterprise is back! The first movie of the popular TV series "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" is now available in a remastered version. After learning that three powerful Klingon ships have been destroyed by an unknown object, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is forced to take command of the newly refurbished Enterprise. Stars from the popular TV series, including Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley, warp through space to protect Earth from mysterious objects that are relentlessly approaching.

The first Star Trek: The Motion Picture movie released over 40 years ago. However, despite the production cost of $35 million, the film only grossed $82.6 million at the box office, and received many harsh reviews for its content. If the next film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) had not made a comeback, the theatrical series might not have continued. Although the first work was not very popular, some say it was ``actually a work with high aspirations as a science fiction work.''

Index

• Participation of Douglas Trumbull
• Trumbull's team on the move
• miniature problems
• Differences in production style between FGC and Apogee
• vijar design
• Publication and evaluation of completed works
• What is the theme of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"? *Note: Contains spoilers!

Participation of Douglas Trumbull

The production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture hit a dead end with the departure of Robert Able & Associates (RA&A), who had been commissioned to do the visual effects. Jeffrey Katzeberg, who was acting as the de facto producer, once again selected Douglas Trumbull as visual effects supervisor, despite having been turned down once.

In fact, Trumbull had proposed in August 1978 that they would be allowed to do the visual effects if certain conditions were met. He was liked by Frank Yablans, the previous president of Paramount, and established FGC as a company to develop next-generation film systems. At that time, Paramount Pictures and its parent company, Gulf & Western Industries (G+W), had made a full investment in the project, which hamstrung the company.

When we turned down the previous Star Trek: The Motion Picture request, all of the FGC's equipment was confiscated and given to RA&A. Trumbull's terms were that the contract would be canceled and FGC would be closed after the project was completed. At that point, Paramount had not yet felt a sense of crisis and had rejected the proposal, but this time they gave the OK.

"Andromeda..." preview

It also has a lot to do with the fact that Robert Wise was selected as the director, who was still unconfirmed at the time of the previous request. When Trumbull was 28 years old, Wise had hired him as the visual effects director for Andromeda (1971), and he was indebted to him for that.

Trumbull's team on the move