Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979) One Sheet Movie Poster

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The plot of the film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V’Ger approaches the Earth, destroying everything in its path. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) assumes command of his old starship the USS Enterprise to lead it on a mission to save the planet and determine V’Ger’s origins.

When the original television series was cancelled in 1969, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry lobbied Paramount to continue the franchise through a film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on a feature film in 1975. A series of writers attempted to craft a suitably epic script, but the attempts did not satisfy Paramount, so the studio scrapped the project in 1977. Paramount instead planned on returning the franchise to its roots with a new television series, Star Trek: Phase II.

The box office success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind convinced Paramount that science fiction films other than Star Wars could do well at the box office, so the studio cancelled production of Phase II and resumed its attempts at making a Star Trek film.

In 1978, Paramount assembled the largest press conference held at the studio since the 1950s to announce that double Academy Award winning director Robert Wise would helm a $15 million film adaptation of the television series.

The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Art Direction (Harold Michelson, Joseph R. Jennings, Leon Harris, John Vallone and Linda DeScenna), Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Score.