Friday 12 March 2010

The Unseen The Motion Picture

There were several scenes shot for Star Trek: The Motion Picture that have never been seen in their original or uncut form. Here, in this article, the cut footage of the film (including the sequences restored for "The Longer Version") are described to give the reader an idea of how the film would look if one could see it all. To give as useful a picture of this as possible, the scenes are discussed in the order in which they were meant to appear.

On Vulcan, Spock is introduced by the female master as " . . . Son of Sarek of Vulcan and Amanda of Earth," anticipating the return appearance by Sarek later in the series of films. After Kirk has first arrived on the Enterprise, and left the bridge for his initial confrontation with Commander Decker, there is a brief sequence involving Uhura, Sulu and the alien ensign in which the alien's loyalty to Decker is established. Uhura observes: "Our chances of coming back from this mission in one piece may have just doubled." This entire scene was restored in the longer version (not to be confused with The Director's Edition).

When Uhura first hears that Lt. Ilia is a Deltan, she expresses some surprise, leading Kirk to respond that the Deltans are so good at their job that "there are no finer navigators in Starfleet, commander." Ilia is also the source of other comments, some of which are heard in the longer version. Sulu, upon being told by Decker to "take Lt. Ilia in hand," proceeds to act like a schoolboy while attempting to show Ilia the navigation console (with which she is already familiar). This shows us some of the effect that Deltan women have on Terran males. When Decker questions his Deltan friend she responds by assuring that she "would never take advantage of a sexually immature species," informing us in no uncertain terms that she has a certain amount of impatience with Kirk for relieving Decker of his command. This is why she has told Kirk about her "oath of celibacy" being on record: she wanted him to know that even if it was not, she would never be interested in anyone who would embarrass Decker in this manner (regardless of Kirk's reputation where women are concerned). This exchange is present in the longer version.

Also restored in that version is Dr. McCoy's full entrance, including the Yeoman's observation that "he insisted we go first, sir. Said something about first seeing how it scrambled our molecules." In the first version shot, McCoy beamed up while carrying a riding crop, indicating that he had been snatched by some Federation transporter without a moment's advanced notice. This is absent from the available version.

In the film, a reel just after McCoy's line about how engineers love to change things. In an unrestored cut, Kirk gazed after the retreating McCoy, went to the wall intercom and announced: "All decks, this is the captain. Prepare for immediate departure." Had this scene remained as it was, it would have lessened the chances of McCoy's line being cut (as it accidentally was in many prints of the film).

Also present in the longer version is Ilia's concern after Kirk summons Decker to his cabin. As Sulu introduces new figures into his console, he must gently remind Ilia to listen to him. After he finishes speaking, Ilia again stares at the door, which leads neatly into the scene in Kirk's quarters.

Some cuts were put into effect to improve Dr. McCoy's disposition. For instance, after Spock comes aboard the Enterprise and is welcomed aboard by Kirk, McCoy observes: "Never look a gift Vulcan in the ears, Jim." Spock must have known what kind of an attitude to expect from his old friend, because before the scene in the officers' lounge, he requested of Kirk: "Sir, I would appreciate Dr. McCoy absenting himself from this interview." Remaining at the interview, McCoy causes Spock to show a certain amount of anger, at which point McCoy seriously observes: "If you achive perfect logic, Spock, you'll pay a price. It's given your planet ten thousand years of peace, but no poetry's been written since then, no music." This comment causes Spock to turn menacingly toward McCoy, until Kirk calls a halt to the dangerous situation. The observation about Vulcan might not have been too carefully thought out, and perhaps Roddenberry was concerned about the fans' image of Vulcan becoming totally colourless. Whatever the reason, these exchanges were eliminated and not restored to any version of the film shown so far.

We learn more about Lt. Ilia in a sequence restored to the longer version. After Chekov is injured by V'Ger's energy blast, Ilia approaches the ensign and, through contact with Chekov's nerve centres (which are probably very numerous, since he seems to have more nerve than most crewmen on the Enterprise) bring about instant relief for the officer. Arriving on the scene with a medical technician, Dr. Chapel and Ilia exchange friendly glances.

Another casuality of V'Ger invading energy probes was not as lucky as Chekov. When the blinding light probe materializes on the bridge, two security men advanced upon it with drawn phasers and, before Chekov could warn them not to fire, the first man fires. In retaliation, V'Ger's probe envelopes the man in a purple glow. He vanishes, casusing the second security man to holster his weapon, and Chekov to request that security send no further men to the bridge. This entire sequence has never been seen.

After Spock's spacewalk, the Vulcan describes what he has learned, describing V'Ger as "a human machine". McCoy originally commented: "We're living machines too: protein mechanisms," and when Kirk observes V'Ger is trying to find its creator, McCoy observed: "Isn't that what we're all trying to do . . . All us machines?"

The comparison between man and machine led directly to a scene in engineering that was spoken about, but not seen in the released version. Decker, taking Ilia-probe on a tour of engineering, hears a message relayed by Kirk: "This is the captain speaking. It appears that the alien ship . . . V'Ger . . . is not a manned vessel. It is a living entity, a machine life form. We are attempting to ascertain its intentions. All personnel will maintain yellow alert status." By phrasing this message as a ship's announcement, Kirk prevents the Ilia-probe from becoming nervous, from realizing that Decker is actually to "pump" her for information. Scotty, throughout this sequence, is openly hostile to "Ilia," at one point addressing her with with: "Lassie, if I were functioning logically right not, I'd be showing you the inside of our metal scrape compactor."

In a surprising turn of events, Kirk implements a "self-destruct" order to Scotty, in a scene restored to the longer version. In a discussion with an assistant, Scotty reveals that if there is a chance of destroying V'Ger, a matter/anti-matter explosion (which would result if the Enterprise blew up) would be successful in doing this. Kirk, however, later cancels the destruct order in favour of going out and attempting to contact V'Ger directly. This preserves one of the most essential characteristics of Star Trek; a concern for life all over the universe.

In a sequence partially restored to the longer version, Spock sheds tears for V'Ger. Still missing, though, is Spock's regret that although he has found some of what he has been searching for, V'Ger "has not . . . and now, because of what we are planning, will not." It is this statement that really causes Kirk to cancel the self-destruct order, telling Scotty: "We're holding off; there may be a chance . . . " (to save Earth, V'Ger and the Enteprise).

Kirk's original statement at the end, when reporting the "missing status" of Decker and Ilia, included mention of "Security Officer Phillips," who was vaporized in a sequence discussed earlier. Af for the final scene of the film, there are three variations. First, the one that survives. Second, one in which Spock has the final line: "A most logical choice, captain," responding to Kirk's course heading of "Out there . . . that way." Third, and most interesting, is a "take" that Leonard Nimoy recalls, in which Spock joked about his need to remain on the Enterprise to protect the ship from its erratic, human crew. This was thought to have been too humerous to be included.

Spacesuits

The company Brick Price Movie Miniatures provided more than 1200 of the props used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, including those worn by the principals and the extras in the recreation room scene. Many of these props included phasers, tricorders and biorhythm belt buckles. These belt buckles were supposed to register the biorythm of the person wearing them at any given time. Since these were worn at waist level, and the railings on the bridge set were also at this height, they were having to repair and replace these medical monitors on a daily basis because they were hollow and easily crushed.

The original spacesuit for The Motion Picture was designed in part and built by Brick Price's shop after the Paramount in-house prop department came up with helmets that looked like the very last word in science fiction in 1949. This was because many of those who worked in the prop departments of studios (as opposed to the outside independent contractors like Robert Abel, Doug Trumbull, John Dykstra, Greg Jein and Brick Price, and many others) had been in the business for twenty or thirty years and were not up to date on the fresh outlooks and points of view being discussed by people who were genuinely interested in this facet of design and construction.

Because Brick Price had been brought in on The Motion Picture by Robert Abel's group, there was some strain between Paramount and Price at the time Abel was replaced. Brick had to write a letter to Paramount detailing his involvement with Abel and explaining why certain things took as long as they did. What it came down to was that Paramount kept wanting changes and extending the shooting schedule until the studio decided they wanted to shoot something in November of 1978. Brick Price's crew was caught without enough time to do the time consuming work involved in the most recent change the studio had requested.

The spacesuits, as mentioned earlier, went through many changes. The one mentioned as clearly being all wrong from the shop was also rejected because it smelled terrible and the actors would not have worn it. “We had originally designed the spacesuit for air conditioning so you wouldn't have a problem with fog on the faceplate and also for the comfort of the actors,” Brick Price explained. “They had these stupid rubber wetsuits and we wanted to use dance-skins. Found some material that would have been wonderful, but they ended up using this pudgy stuff which was really hot and sweaty. […] We were trying to make this thing as functional and realistic as possible, even to using parts from the real suits. We had a system for the arm with the joints so you couldn't see anything and it was real clean, not a vacuum cleaner hose like in Robby the Robot, either. Then instead they (Paramount) went with quilting, and I didn't much care for that.”

Brick Price and his group developed many designs for the film, many of which were never used. In some ways they felt hampered in that they wanted to come up with a completely new look whereas Roddenberry wanted to have it new and yet look like it was an extension of the old series. Some of the Paramount designs which had been approved were of strange suits for workmen who were called “Neutrino Welders”. Nobody could figure out exactly what that implied of what a “Neutrino Welder” did. Weld Neutrinos?

 

N. Ottens
2 November 2005
Last updated: 10 July 2007

Sources for this article include:
“The Unseen Star Trek (Part II–Star Trek: The Motion Picture),” Star Blazers Magazine, Allan Asherman.