Celebrate Star Trek TMP’s (& STVI) Anniversary & Watch Rare Behind Scenes Films

Today, December 7th, is the 33rd anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first feature in what will soon be a twelve film franchise. To celebrate TrekMovie is featuring a rare behind the scenes feature that shows how the film was made. We also have video of William Shatner reflecting on TMP and if you want to relive the movie but don’t have the time, you can watch the 10 minute version.We also remember Star Trek VI, which had an anniversary yesterday, with another BTS video.

 

Remember Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Here is a rare featurette reel for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (thanks to YouTuber Jay West). It shows a lot of interesting behind the scenes action creating the epic film.

And while we are remembering here is William Shatner reflecting on TMP, from when it was shown on TNT in the nineties (thanks to videoholic90sA).

If you don’t have time to sit through the entire 132 minutes of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, YouTuber weownyoursoul  has distilled the film down to 10 minutes.

Star Trek VI Birthday (Belated)

Yesterday, December 6th, was the birthday of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the final film for the TOS crew. It was released 21 years ago. To remember that film, You can watch the electronic press kit (EPK) Paramount used to help promote the film (thanks to Doug Engalla). Click image below because it is not embeddable.

And since teaser trailers are the topic of the week, it is worth remember the teaser for Star Trek VI. It didn’t have any footage from the film but was a great look back at the franchise.

Happy anniversary to TMP and TUC!

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I loved that teaser for TUC, since we knew it was the last voyage of the original crew, it was really a perfect teaser.

Agree re/#1. Beautifully done.

Still think TMP is underrated. One of my favorites. Sure, it’s a different kind of Trek, but it’s still a great Trek IMO. It was thoughtful, cerebral, and a bit mind-bending if you let yourself immerse in it. Read the novelization if you have the opportunity.

I still think that the great unexplored stories of the TOS-era lie between TMP and TWOK. As I recall, one of the timelines noted two five year missions between the end of TMP and when Kirk got promoted (again).

A special kudos to the score; get the LaLaLand complete extended collection — 3 CDs — there’s even a vocal version of Ilia’s Theme sung by Shaun Cassidy. Jerry Goldsmith’s best work, IMO as well.

At 1:13: that mustache! That model! They don’t make (either of) them like that any more.

I was dragged to the movie theater in 1991 to see “Ernest Scared Stupid” because it was my brother’s turn to choose.

I was already in a bad mood because that was the day Gene Roddenberry died.

And then that teaser for “Star Trek VI” came on.

I wept. I still get choked up when I watch it.

(The trailer; not “Ernest Scared Stupid.”)

Dang. I want to be 17 again, watching Trek on the big screen for the first time!

Ah…..The Refit Enterprise… How I miss thee.

I was one of those people who actually liked TMP. I don’t care what anyone says. I’ll take a five minute fly-by of the Enterprise any day of the week.

And Star Trek VI…

Can’t believe it’s 21 years old. Saw it opening night and remember feeling melancholy about it being the last voyage of the original crew, but what a good film to go out on.

Who is the narrator of the Undiscovered Country trailer?

Sounds a bit like Christopher Plummer.

@7 Yup it was Plummer aka Chang.

Reminds me what a fun channel TNT was in the ’90s. Anyone else remember Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs? Good times.

That trailer gave me goosebumps when I first saw it and it still does today! It captures one of the best aspects of Trek: the relationship of the crew. Pioneers, Team, family, and friends.

That STMP featurette is fun. Persis Khambatta had a great shaped head and was a great looking woman. She left too early.

Sad to think we have gone from the poetry of TMP to the cartoonishness of Trek09.

Wow. Hard to believe it’s been that long since STTMP premiered!

I remember watching the first showing at a small theater in California and was pretty amazed. I saw it probably 3 or 4 times again.

The theater owner gave me that HUGE lobby display with the 3D Enterprise and popout characters and the winkie-blinkie lights. Only problem was it was to big to fit anywhere in my house. I wound up putting it in storage but there was a leak and it was a total loss.

I also bought the 8MM version of the movie as well. Still have that but no projector to show it on. The theater owner gave me the trailer which I cut up into individual frames and mounted as 35MM slides. I have hundreds of those.

Regards.

It would be nice IF they showed or submitted footage that was
worth the effort to watch but like the Film it merely drones on
endlessly. Why beat a dead horse? At best it’s a real snoozer.

Not only was TMP dull, but it has the worst costume and set design of the entire franchise. The bridge is almost barren, and those short-sleeved shirts…bleah.

These were the Star Trek movies…

TMP, probably my favourite Star Trek film. Especially since getting the directors edition a few years back. Glorious.

Still waiting for STMP: DE on Blu-Ray though!

Come on Paramount, if CBS can pony up what must be millions of dollars redoing TNG for Blu-Ray (and what a great job they are doing)
Surely you can spend a fraction of that cleaning up TMP and re-rendering the DE scenes at the appropriate resolution. In fact do them at 8k resolution so that you are future proof for a few years!

I also love the teaser for STVI. It really was the best. It was the heart of soul of why so many have stuck with Star Trek for years.

The announcement/teaser just released for ST Into Darkness is depressing by comparison. Yet another psycho the crew of the Enterprise must police. Soran, Shinzon, Nero…, comic-book bad guys because Paramount demands a “Villain” for the films. Many don’t care anymore because ST films have gotten so derivative. When I showed the new one to various people, nobody had a positive reaction or even cared to see the film. Explosions, FX and dialog either screamed or whispered. I don’t want to spend my money anymore on plots green-lit by a revolving door greedy empty suits.

I’m grateful to have the more diverse Trek coming out on Blu-Ray. I also treasure the experiences of the 2 films being remembered in this line of comments.

I also cannot believe that it’s been so many years since TUC opened, I still remember the hype around it as if it was only yesterday. For TOS’ 25th anniversary they got a beautiful sendoff in the form of TUC, just a pity it did not work out that way for the TNG crews’ 25th…

After all these years, the flyover of the Enterprise in TMP still gives me goosebumps. . .

Trek 2 and Trek 6 were the best of the Movies. Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war.

TMP is ripe for the 3D treatment and a revisit to the big screen.

Persis Kambatta was nervous and distressed so Gene Roddenberry decides to stick a camera in her face…WTF was he thinking!
and that bit where he presents her with a razor was just creepy and inappropriate.

Persis Khambatta – BALDLY going where no Trek actress has gone before! :-D

@ 2. George Zip. Agreed. TUC is my fav TOS film, but I agree that TMP is underrated. Even as a kid I never found it boring. Granted it does prod along at a slow pace but it so damn 70’s retro that I cant help but love it.

@17. Mark Lynch I am waiting for TMP DE as well, the slight updates were perfect.

TMP still is my favorite. And I don’t understand what people see wrong with the pajama like uniforms. Much more in line with the original series than the later Nazi u-boat uniforms. And the sets are what they were supposed to be by original series standards, well lit, not the again depressingly dark u-boat version from TWoK.

@ 21. DeBeckster. Same here, the dry dock scene and the Enterprise flyover at the end of the film with the trek theme playing oh so slowly give me goosebumps every time.

There was something to be said about the skills needed for that kind of model making.

Thanks to the trekmovie staff for posting this. The behind the scenes look was interesting. Its incredible to see how much movie making has changed in the the last 30 years especially the special effects, from mat paintings and ship models to purely CG.

man you got to love this the good old days

27 – How can you possibly have a problem with the movie era uniforms…. there were used far longer than any uniform in the entire franchise.

#27- Agreed. And TMP is actually my fav.
And it’s also the least dated of the TOS films. Goldsmith? Trumbull? It was magic.
It just gets better with age!

ST: TMP is a GREAT MOVIE! we need it on bluray!

the opening scene w/ the klingons always gets my blood pumping! =)

There really is no other way to put it. After seeing the vintage footage and all those involved in the production of TMP, I am more convinced than ever that TMP was one of the least-appreciated motion pictures in science fiction, bar none.

Star Trek has heart and soul, and the images of those who worked on the original motion picture — many of whom are no longer with us — makes TMP a truly moving picture in more senses than one.

Thank you for presenting this look at the past — a vision of the future, now visible only in history.

“There really is no other way to put it. After seeing the vintage footage and all those involved in the production of TMP, I am more convinced than ever that, unjustly, TMP was one of the least-appreciated motion pictures in science fiction, bar none.”

As corrected to indicate that TMP should have been appreciated a great deal more than it was.

Fascinating that the featurette talks about matte work in connection with the Vulcan sequence, and not the dry-dock sequence.

The matte shots on Vulcan were mostly basic two-element static shots. The dry-dock, with the Enterpise, the star background, technicians in space suits, worker bee pods, shuttlecraft, cargo trains etc. was sometimes as much as a 7 element *travelling* matte shot. Absolutely unheard of at the time.

Star Trek the motion picture still has the best visual shots of the enterprise.

I love that ST:TUC teaser. Simply the best trip down memory lane for a great group of old friends.

@34 Herbert – ST:TMP is on Blu-ray as the theatrical cut. It’s part of the 6 movie TOS box set.

Happy anniversary Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The biggest compliment that I can pay to the film is that no one doubt that it is Star Trek.

STMP – 33 years ago! Where does the time go!
I remember going to see it on the opening night here in Glasgow Scotland with my now wife!
Still got the first issue of Cinfex with all the SFX effects work detailed in it!!

The next time people want to bitch about Star Trek this, and Star Trek that, just look at the amout of work that goes into these film. The Motion Picture is one of my favorites. It was Trek to the core. It may have lagged when it came to action, but it told a compelling story, and the twist at the end…didn’t see that coming. V’GER.

Were any of robert abels shots included in the final cut .? The harsh realization that the USS ENTEPRRISE is not a pair of Levis….Has anyone watched the bd?.. I always looked to pick it up cheap acnd hear Anthony s commentary.

TMP is so much better than 5, 3, or 10.
But I have to admit, as a child and early teen, I found it absolutely boring. I only began to enjoy it as I got old enough to actually get the philosophical messages, and when I noticed the fine blend of graceful models, beautiful music, and a cerebral story.
You couldn’t show a movie like this in our time. Not if you need it to be a success to keep the franchise running. We now live in a time of fast-film, just like fast-food took over our cuisine. But there is hope that one day audiences will have enough of that and want their cerebrum involved in watching a movie again ;D

The TUC teaser is the best teaser ever made for any movie. Ever. It sometimes gives me a lump in my throat if I’m in a particularly sentimental mood.

45 – Is Avatar close to being a cerebral movie?

I don’t think so. Beautiful first half with the sci-fi ‘sense of wonder’, but the second half is certainly decerebrated XD

#34: “ST: TMP is a GREAT MOVIE! we need it on bluray!”

ST:TMP IS available on Blu-ray… just NOT the director’s cut.

I LOVE the first movie… still think it is the best of the TREK franchise films!

46 Barely.

46 Hardly.