An Inside Look at the Making ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek ’s first maraud to the box office isa strange beast — a gorgeous , ghost exploration of the franchise ’s passion of the cosmos wrapped up in an overwrought , over - long plot of ground . So it ’s perhaps a skillful thing that a novel devising - of al-Qur’an puts the spotlight on what works about Star Trek : The Motion Picture : the art behindits unbelievable space vistas .

Out this week from Titan Books , Star Trek : The Motion Picture — Inside the Art and Visual Effects by Jeff Bond and Gene Kozicki examines the process of bringing Star Trek to life again , this sentence at a sword new scope and scale of measurement as the cult classic TV show made its cinematiccomeback after cancellation . Featuring construct art and matte painting from Robert Abel , Syd Mead , Ralph McQuarrie , Andrew Probert , Ken Adams , and more , the book examines the creation of The Motion Picture ’s haunting , huge , and mindbending special core , from scale models to its trippy theatrical performance of where no mankind has gone before ( so it ’s a good job they senta Vulcan in a spacesuit ) .

As well as include these artists ’ iconic work , Inside the Art and Visual Effects includes brand new interview with the survive creatives behind The Motion Picture about what it was like to bring Star Trek to the big covert . “ In addition to Gene Kozicki ’s immense ingathering of research including photographs and artwork , his connector with ocular effects professionals allowed us to convey interviews with most of the surviving , key ocular effects , conception and design artists who worked on the film , ” Bond explained in a assertion provided to io9 over electronic mail . “ We were especially lucky to get interview time with artist Syd Mead , who design the alien V’ger entity for the film , and is one of the outstanding conceptual artists ever to cultivate in film — Mead conk out of cancer a few months after we interview him , and long before the ledger was published . ”

Leonard Nimoy gets ready for action.

But as well as lionise that artwork — some of which you could see below , shit its introduction here on io9 — Kozicki hopes that explore the creative operation behind The Motion Picture will serve fan gain just what a monumental unconscious process it was to bring its stunning recognition of Star Trek ’s universe to the braggart screen . “ When talking about Star Trek : The Motion Picture , I think it ’s vital to place it in the proper context of use . Though the film was released some two and a half years after Star Wars , the decision to make The Motion Picture a swelled glossy feature article with advanced ( read : Star Wars - same visuals ) was made only two and a half months after Star Wars was released , ” Kozicki append over electronic mail . “ At that breaker point in metre very few people on the face of the Earth could secernate Paramount what they were in for . ”

“ Star Wars was almost not completed . George Lucas wound up in the hospital . No one cognize how to budget , plan , and execute a celluloid of the eccentric Paramount was hoping Star Trek would be , ” Kozicki continued . “ They had to go into it unreasoning and hope that they were make the good decisions at the time . In a sense , every one of those former films from the ‘ gilded long time ’ of ocular effects is a image . And with prototypes , some affair work out and some things do n’t . You have to learn from the failure as well as the successes . ”

Kozicki also hopes it means fans get to see these early vision for The Motion Picture get the judge they deserve . “ For a number of years after the release of the moving picture , the Abel chemical group ’s participation in the picture show was surrounded by critique . On one level it was moderately justify , in the sense that they were fired , very publically , from the film , ” he explained . “ But a deep analysis of the work they did before the discharge reveals that they made tremendous contributions to the film . Even though they may not have carry through much of the film ’s ocular effects , they play a large persona in their design — both in the storyboarding of the film as well as the intention of the ships and bent . The fact that many of those aim move on to be boast in former films is the real legacy of the Robert Abel mathematical group . We wanted , in a horse sense , to redeem that image and supply some context of use to the body of work done 40 age ago . ”

Image: Titan Books