40 years of ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Later this year, Star Trek: The Motion Picture will celebrate its 40th anniversary. But right now, Fathom Events has organized a couple of screenings of the classic film.

Douglas Trumbull came on board the production of Star Trek after the original company hired to complete the visual effects fell behind. Here’s a quick extract from my section in Masters of FX on the film with Trumbull.

“To help complete the effects in time, Trumbull (along with Richard Yuricich) re-assembled his Close Encounters team and also enlisted the help of John Dysktra’s Apogee Productions. Dysktra had previously been instrumental in realizing the motion-control cameras for Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, and had earlier collaborated with Trumbull on his film Silent Running in 1972. Apogee tackled several sequences requiring miniatures, including the Epsilon IX, shots of the Enterprise’s approach toward the V’Ger, and Klingon K’t’inga-class warships. Trumbull’s company, EEG, delivered numerous other shots, such as interiors of the V’Ger and views of the Enterprise.”

The Star Trek page from Masters of FX.

Check out the Fathom Events trailer below, and look out for more retro coverage of the film later in 2019.

Leave a Reply