First Star Trek Movie: Bringing the Franchise to the Big Screen, 1969-1980

The story of Star Trek's resurrection between the 1969 cancellation of the original series and the 1979 release of Robert Wise's Star Trek--The Motion Picture, has become legend and like so many other legends, it tends to get printed instead of the facts. Drawing on hundreds of contemporary news articles and primary sources not seen in decades, this book tells the true story of the first successful Star Trek revival. After several attempts to relaunch the franchise, ST--TMP was released on a wave of prestige promotion, hype, and public frenzy unheard of for a film based on a television show. Controversy surrounded its troubled production and $44M budget, earning it a reputation at the time as the most expensive movie ever made. After a black-tie premiere in Washington, D.C., its opening in 856 North American theaters broke multiple box-office records--a harbinger of the modern blockbuster era. Despite immediate financial success, the film was panned by both critics and the public, leaving this enterprise nowhere to boldly go but down.
"The history of Star Trek's resurrection, between the 1969 cancellation of the original series and the 1979 release of Star Trek-The Motion Picture, has become legend. Like many legends, it tends to get printed instead of the facts. Drawing on hundreds of contemporary news articles and primary sources not seen in decades, this book tells the true story of the first Star Trek reboot. After several attempts to revive the franchise, Robert Wise's ST-TMP was released on a wave of prestige promotion, hype, and public frenzy unheard for a film based on a television show. Controversy surrounded its troubled production and $44M budget, earning it a reputation at the time as the most expensive movie ever made. After a black-tie premiere in Washington, D.C., its opening in 856 North American theaters broke multiple box-office records-a harbinger of the modern blockbuster era. Despite instant financial success, the film was panned by both critics and the public, leaving this enterprise nowhere to boldly go but down"--
Connelly, a writer and librarian, details the history of the first Star Trek film, Robert Wise's Star Trek-The Motion Picture, focusing on the period leading up to its initial North American release in 1979. She describes the unsuccessful efforts to revive Star Trek following the cancellation of the original television series in 1969, how the 1979 film was marketed and presented to the public, how the film’s massive national release foreshadowed the blockbuster era, and the rise of the "even-numbered rule." She draws on primary and secondary sources to describe the history of the project in terms of reporting on and discussion of it at the time. She does not discuss the actual content or principal photography of the film in-depth. Annotation ©2020 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)