An alien phenomenon of unprecedented size and power is approaching Earth, destroying everything in its path. The only starship in range is the U.S.S. Enterprise--still in drydock after a major overhaul. As Captain Decker readies his ship and his crew to face this menace, the legendary Admiral James T. Kirk arrives with orders to take command of the Enterprise and intercept the intruder. But it has been three years since Kirk last commanded the Enterprise on its historic five year mission...is he up to the task of saving the Earth?

William Shatner - Admiral Kirk

Leonard Nimoy - Commander Spock

DeForest Kelley - Dr. McCoy

James Doohan - Cmdr. Scott

George Takei - Lt. Cmdr. Sulu

Majel Barrett - Dr. Chapel

Walter Koenig - Lt. Chekov

Nichelle Nichols - Lt. Cmdr. Uhura

Persis Khambatta - Lieutenant Ilia

Stephen Collins - Capt. Decker

Grace Lee Whitney - CPO Rand

Mark Lenard - Klingon captain

Billy Van Zandt - Alien boy

Roger Aaron Brown - Epsilon technician

Gary Faga - Airlock technician

David Gautreaux - Cmdr. Branch

John D. Gowans - Assistant to Rand

Howard Itzkowitz - Cargo Deck ensign

Jon Rashad Kamal - Cmdr. Sonak

Marcy Lafferty - Chief DiFalco

Michele Ameen Billy - Lieutenant

Jeri McBride - Technician

Terrence O'Connor - Chief Ross

Michael Rougas - Lt. Cleary

Susan Sullivan - Vice-Adm. Lori Ciana

Ralph Brannen - Crew member

Ralph Byers - Crew member

Paula Crist - Crew member

Iva Lane - Crew member

Franklyn Seales - Crew member

Momo Yashima - Crew member

Jimmie Booth - Klingon crewman

Joel Kramer - Klingon crewman

Bill McIntosh - Klingon crewman

Dave Moordigian - Klingon crewman

Tom Morga - Klingon crewman

Tony Rocco - Klingon crewman

Joel Schultz - Klingon crewman

Craig Thomas - Klingon crewman

Edna Glover - Vulcan master

Norman Stuart - Vulcan master

Paul Weber - Vulcan master

Joshua Gallegos - Security officer

Lisa Chess - Yeoman

Leslie C. Howard - Yeoman

Sayra Hummel - Technical assistant

Junero Jennings - Technical Assistant

Christopher Doohan - Extra

Montgomery Doohan - Extra

David Gerrold - Crewman (uncredited)

Louise Stange-Wahl - Crew member

Bjo Trimble - Crewman

Scott Whitney - Vulcan medic

After the original Star Trek series TV series proved a success in syndication, Paramount became interested in making a Star Trek movie. Writers who contributed ideas or draft scripts in 1975-77 included Gene Roddenberry, Jon Povill, Robert Silverberg, John D.F. Black, Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, and Ray Bradbury. A story called "Star Trek: Planet of Titans" was selected; Chris Bryant and Allan Scott wrote a script, which was then rewritten by Philip Kaufman. At this point Star Wars burst upon the world, and Paramount reacted by canceling "Star Trek: Planet of Titans" before pre-production started. Allegedly they thought there wasn't a sufficient market for another big science-fiction film.

Paramount then announced that they would be creating a new TV network, initially operating one night a week showing Paramount TV-movies and a new Star Trek series about the Enterprise's second 5-year mission, with most of the original cast and the title "Star Trek Phase II". It soon became clear that they could not make a go of the new network, but Paramount continued work on the new series in the hope of selling it to one of the existing networks.

For a previous unproduced TV series of his called "Genesis II", Roddenberry had created a story he called "Robot's Return". This was now rewritten for Star Trek by Alan Dean Foster under the title "In Thy Image", and proposed as the 2-hour premiere episode of "Star Trek Phase II". However, Paramount executive Michael Eisner responded, "We've been looking for the feature for five years and this is it", and made the final decision to forget the new series and produce the story as a movie.

The decision was made in August 1977, but in order to keep the team together during the necessary renegotiation of contracts, Paramount kept it secret until March 1978; when Rona Barrett broke the secret in December 1977, they denied it. Meanwhile, they pretended that the TV series was still going to happen, even soliciting scripts for episodes that would never be made. Sets built for the TV series were used in the movie, but modelwork had to be redone after the changeover was made public, due to the need for finer detailing in a movie.

TV director Robert Collins was hired to direct the 2-hour premiere, but after the change to a movie, Paramount wanted a more experienced director and replaced him with 'Robert Wise.

Roddenberry wanted Foster to write the final script for the film, but Harold Livingston thought him too inexperienced and tried to hire Steven Bochco, who was unavailable; Michael Cimino, who wasn't interested; and William Norton, who initially accepted but found it beyond his capabilities. In the end Livingston did the job himself. He disagreed repeatedly with Roddenberry over rewrites and other matters, and quit and returned several times.

The TV series was to have three new regular characters. Paramount was concerned that William Shatner might ask for too much money to continue playing Kirk if the run of the series was extended beyond the initial order of 13 episodes; the character of Decker was created so that if Kirk had to be written out, Decker could become the series' new lead role. Decker was played in the movie by Stephen Collins.

Leonard Nimoy declined to return as Spock for the series, so a new Vulcan character "Xon" was created to be the new science officer. An employee of an agent was dating a young actor, David Gautreaux, who had no agent of his own; she suggested him for the part and he got it, then was told that it was actually for a movie. When Nimoy finally agreed to do the movie, Spock replaced Xon in the script and Gautreaux was given the smaller part of Commander Branch.

David Gautreaux was actually supposed to play the roll of Commander Sonak, but fell that Commander Branch was a better or at least a little bigger part.

The character of Lieutenant Ilia, played by Persis Khambatta, was also intended as a continuing role in the TV series.

The original version of the "Space Walk" sequence had both Spock and Captain Kirk travelling through V'ger. Because it complicated the flow of the film, the scene was reshot with Spock alone, and that's what's seen in the final cut. However, a fraction of this alternate scene remains in the longer version, where Kirk says, "I have him in sight".

The V'ger prop was so large and involved so much work that one end of it was being used in scenes while the other end was still being built.

In the scene where Kirk addresses the crew prior to launching, much of the crew were extras who were noted Star Trek fans, including Bjo Trimble, co-organizer of the letter-writing campaign that kept the original Star Trek alive for a third season.

It was understood in the script, but not in the movie, that Commander Will Decker was the son of Commodore Matthew Decker, the half-crazed starship captain who committed suicide in the Star Trek television episode "The Doomsday Machine."

Jerry Goldsmith's Academy Award-nominated score featured a special musical instrument called "The Blaster Beam," an instrument 15 feet long, incorporating artillery shell casings and motorized magnets. It was used as part of any scene featuring V'ger.

Gene Roddenberry so loved the main theme from the score that he reused it for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Prior to production, Roddenberry joked that he wanted Richard Burton for the role of Kirk and Robert Redford to play Spock. The joke was reported as fact by some media. The role of Decker wasn't cast until days before production started. Actors considered included: Andy Robinson (later to play Garak on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Jordan Clark, Richard Kelton, Lance Henrikson, Tim Thomersen, Steven Macht, Art Hindle and Frederick Forrest.

Marcy Lafferty, who plays DiFalco, was married to William Shatner at the time.

James Doohan's twin sons, Montgomery and Christopher, appear as extras in the movie.

Uhura's communications earpieces are the only original props from the original TV series. They were dug out of storage when it was realized someone had forgotten to make new ones for the movie.

Persis Khambatta became very emotional about having her head shaved for her role. She kept her shorn hair in a box for a time and asked Roddenberry to take out insurance in case her hair didn't grow back. It did.

The Klingon words spoken by the Klingon ship's captain were actually invented by actor James Doohan (Scotty). Later, linguist Marc Okrand devised grammar and syntax rule s for the language, along with more vocabulary words, and wrote a Klingon dictionary.

James Doohan also devised the Vulcan words heard during the Kolinahr sequence. The scenes were originally shot in English, and when it was decided to change the dialogue to Vulcan, Doohan wrote lines that fit the existing lip movements. Some of the subtitles were rearranged to make this less obvious.

The voice of actress Majel Barrett (who plays Dr. Christine Chapel) was used for the computer of the Enterprise in Star Trek - The next generation series. The voice of her in this picture is already very recognizable although she doesn't have a lot of lines.

All of the extras were Star Trek fans called upon to appear in the film. Most of their checks went uncashed; Harve Bennett said that they were probably framed as souvenirs by the fans.

Orson Welles narrated trailers for the film.

Post-production went on right up until the day before the film's world premiere. Because time was so short, all the prints of the film were shipped "wet", i.e. fresh from the duplication lab, and were airlifted directly out from a warehouse on the Paramount lot as they were assembled. Rewrites took place daily during filming, most of them on the order of William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy dropping lines that were superfluous ("Kirk wouldn't say that"). The logistics of the very end of the film - Decker merging with V'Ger - was devised more or less on the spot.

When Spock mindmelds with the giant Ilia, a number of images are reflected across his spacesuit's visor. Viewing the sequence in slow motion, you can see pictures foreshadowing V'ger's identity.

Among the extras in the crew briefing sequence was writer David Gerrold, who had created the Tribbles for the original Star Trek series.

Chekov was originally going to be killed by an exploding console during V'GER's attack on the Enterprise. It was later changed so that he was just injured and Ilia uses her telepathic/empathic ability to stop the pain in his burned hand.

Many story ides were considered during the early planning stages, including the Enterprise meeting God, preventing Kennedy's assassination, becoming the Greek Titans, and trying to prevent a black hole from swallowing the galaxy.

This film marked the first appearance of the "ridged-forehead" Klingons. In the original TV series, Roddenberry wanted the Klingons to look alien, but budget constraints prevented this from being done beyond giving the actors dark mark-up and fake eyebrows. The change in the Klingons appearance was addressed in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called "Trials and Tribble-ations," though the change in appearance has never been explained. The prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise established that the ridged-forehead Klingons predated the more human-looking ones of the original Trek series.

The original title of the series pilot that became this movie was "The God Thing". It was a pilot for a rejected Gene Roddenberry series, and was translated into the Star Trek format by other writers.

The original TV series theme by Alexander Courage can be heard briefly during Kirk's log entry after Spock rejoins the crew. Except for the opening fanfare which became a regular part of later Trek films and a small excerpt heard at the end of Star Trek III - The Search for Spock, and a significant reference toward the end of Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home, this is the only time in the film series that the television theme is heard in a major fashion.

For the DVD release, the producers toyed with the idea of digitally inserting a shot of the NX-01 Enterprise (Jonathan Archer's ship from the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise) into the rec room scene where Decker shows Ilia a display of previous ships named Enterprise. The idea was eventually dropped, possibly since the shot would not be able to be seen clearly anyway (the pictures were not easily legible onscreen). The NX-01 would have replaced the shot of the 'ringed' S.S. Enterprise - which eventually appeared on Star Trek: Enterprise anyway (in the bar scene in the episode "First Flight").

Leonard Nimoy agreed to appear in the film only after Paramount agreed to a settlement of his lawsuit against them for allowing his TV series likeness to be used by advertisers.

The producers and the cast were very worried about their appeared after being away from Star Trek for over 10 years. Special lighting and camera tricks were used to hide the cast's aging, and William Shatner went on a near-starvation diet prior to filming. But in all subsequent Star Trek movies, it was decided to make the aging of the crew part of the story.

So far, this film still has the longest running time of any Star Trek movie. In fact, it's the only one to break the two-hour mark.

Jerry Goldsmith's famous theme for the movie almost didn't happen. One of the first scenes Goldsmith scored was the scene when Kirk and Scotty do a flyover of the refit Enterprise. Robert Wise liked the music that Goldsmith composed, but in the end, he rejected it, saying it didn't fit the movie because it lacked a theme/motif. Goldsmith went back to the drawing board and composed the famous theme that has become a staple of the Star Trek universe.

In the original version as well as the extended version of this motion picture, a transmission from Starfleet Command is received by the Enterprise and a voice says: "Enterprise, what we got back... didn't live long. I'm sorry." This line has been deleted in the special edition for some reason although the characters can clearly be seen reacting to Starfleet's response.

Continuity error: Colors of bands on the sleeves of Spock and McCoy's uniforms upon return to the Enterprise after the battle.

Continuity error: Lt. Ilia's position when Chekov burns his hand.

Crew or equipment visible: Kirk's spacesuit when he makes the EVA to rescue Spock.

Revealing mistake: When Spock is doing his EVA into the interior of V-GER, the reflection we see in the visor of his spacesuit helmet should be the reverse of the image we see when looking over his shoulder, yet they are the same.

Crew or equipment visible: Set rigging when Kirk makes the EVA to rescue Spock (extended version only).

Continuity error: As the Enterprise prepares for launch, the drydock is cleared of all shuttles and personnel. Yet, we see a shuttle cross Enterprise's path seconds before the launch.

Continuity error: Kirk's style of helmet for the EVA [extended version only].

Continuity error: Spock's sideburns are squared at the bottom when he is lying on the diagnostic bed.

Continuity error: In several shots of the Enterprise throughout, we plainly see a pair of phaser turrets just below "U.S.S. Enterprise" on top of the saucer section. As Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker and Ilia emerge from the saucer section en route to their V'Ger encounter, the phaser turrets are completely missing (this is fixed on the Director's Edition DVD).

Crew or equipment visible: When the Enterprise moves out of the spacedock, the bracing used to hold the model can be seen silhouetted against the spacedock on the Starboard side of the ship. This has been corrected in the DVD.

Continuity error: When Spock ejects his thruster pack during the space walk, the initial shot from behind shows it rotating counterclockwise and moving to Spock's right. There is an immediate cut to a shot from in front of Spock, and the thruster pack can be seen in the background to Spock's right (POV left), rotating counterclockwise from this angle as well.

Continuity error: In the original version, Spock's first scene shows him squinting into bright sunshine - followed by a reverse shot showing a dark sky. This error is corrected in the Director's Cut.

Continuity error: When Admiral Kirk's air tram shuttle approaches Starfleet Command in San Francisco, it is seen heading for a building at least a hundred feet up from the water. Yet when we see this scene from the other side, that same building appears to be level with the water's edge.

Factual error: When Spock mind-melds with the giant Ilia, a number of images flash across the screen. One of these images is a plaque that was affixed to the side of the probe and details Earth's location in the universe. However, this plaque, which shows a nude man and woman standing next to an image of the space probe, was from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, not the Voyager series.

Miscellaneous error: When the Vulcan Master (Edna Glover) performs a mind meld with Spock during his Kolinahr ceremony, her face drops with obvious disappointment when she learns of the space consciousness calling Spock which is clearly an emotion a Vulcan Master shouldn't be feeling.

Plot holes: After V'GER destroys station Epsilon-9, the crew of the Enterprise is still observing video feed from where the station used to be. How is this possible is the station is no longer there?

Network TV and pan-and-scan home video versions run 143 minutes, fleshing out the story and expands on the Spock character and the V-ger plot element.

On November 6, 2001, a Director's Edition supervised by Robert Wise was released on DVD and widescreen VHS, running 136 minutes. New CGI elements were made to several scenes by Foundation Imaging:

The landscape of Vulcan was changed to include a yellowish sky and new landscape.

The matte painting of the Golden Gate bridge in the scene where Kirk arrives at Starfleet Headquarters was replaced by a new CGI scene that shows Kirk's shuttle arriving at Starfleet.

A new CGI shot was inserted which shows V'Ger's second weapon vanishing before it could strike the Enterprise.

A new CGI shot reveals more about V'Ger's detail as it enter's Earth's orbit.

The shot where Kirk and his landing party step out onto the Enterprise Hull was totally redone to allow the entry of a CGI Bridge and to correct the look of the Enterprise in that scene.

The final Energy burst from V'Ger was extended by a few seconds to allow a new shot of the V'Ger vessel exploding into a burst of energy.

New opening titles were commissioned for the opening of the film. The opening titles now have a slight fading effect and are now seen over a background of stars.

The opening overture has been restored to its full length. A shorter version was seen only on home video versions.

The closing credits music is extended to allow for new credits for the director's edition.

Enterprise Computer Voice alarms were replaced by sirens in some scenes.

During the Transporter Accident scene, new console sound effects were added.

The added footage of Kirk leaving the ship at the beginning of the "Spock Walk" sequence in the 1983 version (salvaged from the scrapped "Memory Wall" sequence the "Spock Walk" sequence had replaced) caused a major continuity gap (because of mismatched space suits); this was removed in the 2001 Director's Edition. Some of the other 1983 changes were retained, with or without further modification. In the 2001 Director's Edition version of the Starfleet Headquarters scene, a "vintage" shuttlecraft from the Original Series era can be seen taking off.

Several minutes of test footage exist for the unproduced TV series "Star Trek Phase II" which became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This footage includes David Gautreaux as Science Officer Xon, Persis Khambatta as Ilia, and footage of Enterprise sets. At that time, the TV series was going to use the original show's costumes and lighting style. This footage was released for the first time on the Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition DVD.

The Director's Edition also contains different subtitling for the Vulcan scenes. The typeface seems to be easier to read, but the text of the dialogue is also different.

In the original film, the V'Ger cloud is said to be 82 AUs in diameter (which equals 8 billion miles across or much larger than the solar system - much too large for the Enterprise to realistically travel to the heart of the cloud at sub-warp speeds within a reasonable length of time). For the 2001 Director's Edition, the Epsilon commander's dialog was altered so that the cloud is now said to be a (somewhat) more reasonable 2 AUs, or 200 million miles.

In the Director's Edition, a number of lines are cut from the scene aboard the Klingon cruiser. THe new scene is faster paced and makes the Klingons appear more aggressive.

The effects shots of the V'ger fly-through have been recut for the Director's Edition. Most of the changes involve cutting a second or two from each effects shot to make the whole sequence move faster.

The original theatrical release of the film was rated G while the Director's Edition is rated PG.

According to some accounts, the original theatrical overture was played over a blank screen. The Director's Edition DVD has the overture being played over an animated starfield.

The director's edition fixes an error in the theatrical version where Kirk and Scotty would have been killed by stepping into open space. In the original, Kirk and Scotty step from the space station into a shuttledpod that clearly was not there in an exterior shot just moments earlier. In the director's cut, the pod has been added to the exterior shot.

The original theatrical release also contained, like 2001: A Space Odyssey, an overture on a black screen before the movie began. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture's case, the overture was Ilia's Theme.

The Director's Edition includes the theatrical overture, which is edited out of TV broadcasts and earlier video releases.

In the Director's Edition, the scene where we see the wormhole asteroid destroyed, is replaced with a CGI shot where the asteroid explodes and the Enterprise drops out of the wormhole.

On German TV there are no subtitles for the Klingon and Vulcan language, leaving the dialogue in those scenes a mystery.