Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1979 film directed by Robert Wise
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise. It is based on and stars the cast of the 1966–1969 television series Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, who served as producer. In the film, set in the 2270s, a mysterious and powerful alien cloud known as V'Ger approaches Earth, destroying everything in its path. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) assumes command of the recently refitted Starship Enterprise to lead it on a mission to determine V'Ger's origins and save the planet.
When Star Trek was cancelled in 1969, Roddenberry lobbied Paramount Pictures to continue the franchise through a feature film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on the film in 1975. A series of writers and scripts did not satisfy Paramount, and they scrapped the film project. Instead, Paramount planned on returning the franchise to its roots, with a new television series titled Star Trek: Phase II. The box office success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind convinced Paramount to change course, cancelling production of Phase II and resuming work on a film.
In March 1978, Paramount announced Wise would direct a $15 million film adaptation of the original television series. Filming began that August and concluded the following January.
“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” enters the record as 1979 film directed by Robert Wise. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Star, Trek and Motion can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Star Trek: The Motion Picture” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Star, Trek and Motion provides the most credible route into that argument.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q107940. VIAF identifies the subject as 176600833. The Library of Congress control number is n79122882. 5 of 11 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1966, 1969 and 1975.
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This entry incorporates text from “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.