Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins on the set of “Star Trek: the Motion Picture.”
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Deleted “Memory Wall” scene from Star Trek the Motion Picture.
Persis Khambatta was so cool.
Fun Persis Khambatta facts:
- She was a practicing Zoroastrian (Ancient Persian Fire Religion)
- She dated Sylvester Stallone and Ted Turner
- Read for the part of Octopussy that eventually went to Maud Adams. This, incidentally, answers a question I’ve always had: was the character of Octopussy meant to be Indian? She wore a sari all the time and the movie was set in India, so…what’s up with Maud Adams?
Production photographs of the absolutely horrific and memorable transporter accident in Star Trek: the Motion Picture (1979).
Though she wasn’t given a name in the movie, the woman who died in the transporter accident was played by Susan Sullivan, who played Dr. Banner’s girlfriend in the Incredible Hulk television series. She had no dialogue in the finished film, and we didn’t even see her face clearly - amazing since they hired a well known actress. This is because this character, on screen for five seconds, originally was going to have a way bigger role.
In the Star Trek: the Motion Picture novelization, the female transporter accident victim was identified as Lori Ciana, a science officer who was Captain Kirk’s ex-wife.
The finished film didn’t have time to go into this, but Kirk’s grief over her death was meant to be a point where Captain Kirk breaks all ties to his earthbound life, and was the cause of his decision to leave earth and return to his life in deep space exploration. When Roddenberry lost control of the series after the first film, he was never able to return to this character again, along with so many other ideas examined in the Motion Picture novelization (like the very unusual way that TMP’s novelization implies that countries still exist on 23rd Century Earth in some way).
As most Star Trek fans know, Star Trek: the Motion Picture was originally going to be a pilot for a TV series, Star Trek: Phase II. The loss of Lori Ciara would be a defining piece of characterization in that series. The “hero has a dead wife that makes him sad” idea would be used in other Roddenberry TV pilots in the 1970s, notably Andromeda.
The idea that Captain Kirk had a relationship in his past with a blonde lady scientist that went sour was re-used in the very next film, with Dr. Carol Marcus. If I had to guess (and I’m no mind reader), I’d say that these two characters were both ways to counter the baseless belief in pop culture that Captain Kirk was a womanizer or “Peter Pan” incapable of long term relationships.
The uniforms in Star Trek: the Motion Picture were judged to be a misstep, but there was a science fiction reason for their existence: Gene Roddenberry had an idea that in the future, clothes were disposable, worn only once and then recycled. The belt buckle was a constant medical status reader.
Berney Lettick.
This was an unused poster intended for Star Trek: the Motion Picture.
Did you know that “Star Trek: the Motion Picture” (1979) is the only Star Trek movie to get a G rating?
For Star Trek the Motion Picture, Andrew Probert did concept art for a climactic scene in the original script where the original Enterprise performed an emergency saucer separation.
Though the maneuver is associated with the Next Generation, saucer separation was mentioned in dialogue in the original series (notably “The Apple”), though never actually shown on screen, as a possible emergency escape plan of last resort.
Star Trek Deep Lore: the Ringed Enterprise
Time for some Star Trek Deep Lore for the superfan!
Remember in Star Trek: the Motion Picture, how in the rec room, there was a wall of ships previously named Enterprise? All were accounted for, except one, the “ring ship” that is second from right. What was it?
Originally, this ring-ship design was one of the ideas Matt Jeffries pitched as a design for the Enterprise itself when Star Trek was in pre-production. However, the design ended up not being used out of fear the thin, spiny model would not be rugged enough to withstand the rough treatment of filming and photography.
In the 1970s, when Gene Roddenberry was trying and failing to recapture the Star Trek magic with numerous pilots that failed, he came up with a treatment for a scifi series called Starship, where he used the original Probert design. The series ended up never getting made, but Roddenberry sold the ring-ship model design as a model through his mail order business with the following description, which is all we know about this show that was never made:
“Gene Roddenberry’s imagination brings you "Starship”. The vessel of the future as only he could picture it. This could be the forerunner of a new TV series, a Starship operated by an enormous computer which is a lifeform itself. Each human on board is a genius, a highly trained science specialist, part of a team of Galactic trouble shooters. A brand-new concept in future space travel. We also have three different views of the Metatransit system, side elevations of the systems analysis unit, and the Metaflier section of the Starship. Imagine yourself on a mission in space aboard this luxury cruiser. You’ll be spellbound!“
The ring-ship was used in the rec room in Star Trek: the Motion Picture. It was also seen later on in both Enterprise and in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Very little about this ship is definitely known. The Spaceflight Chronology mentioned it was not an exploration vessel, but a passenger carrier - though at present the Spaceflight Chronology is of dubious canonicity. Other novels describe it as more of a “manned probe.” One thing is for sure: it would not have been a Starfleet ship, as it predated Starfleet. Michael Okuda, Trek concept artist, created a patch for the mission for Enterprise, and speculated that it used a kind of ring-based warp drive system known as annular warp drive, as opposed to the engine and pylon based warp system, very similar to the Vulcan designs seen in Enterprise. Okuda believed the ship’s top speed was Warp 2. In fact, a few novels say this ship was merely a prototype or proof-of-concept based on Vulcan designs and technology, and one that did not actually fly.
Unused poster for Star Trek: the Motion Picture.
Sharon Bruneau and Debbie Muggli as the two female cyborg assassins in Albert Pyun’s “Nemesis 3: Time Lapse” (1996).