10 Notorious Star Trek Urban Legends
5. The Cast All Hated The Motion Picture
Sooner or later, someone's going to make a documentary about Star Trek's lost years. Starting with how the original series was cancelled, the abortive attempts to make a Planet of the Titans, the failed Phase II project, and how it all finally came to a head with The Motion Picture. It was a tumultuous time for the franchise, and those fractures were more than present on set.
Starting with Leonard Nimoy's outstanding legal dispute over unpaid royalties, extensive rewrites over the script, and even the entire cast up in arms about how uncomfortable the uniforms were, the entire production was a disaster. Paramount have since stated that no major movie has come closer to missing its release date than this.
We should do an entire list about the various conflicts raging on set but, as a primer, here's a brief rundown.
- The script was being rewritten on a daily basis, to the extent that the cast actually had no idea what the story was about by the end.
- Neither the studio, the director, the writers or the cast could agree on an ending, with plans changing constantly.
- William Shatner required special lighting to hit his corset lines, much to the annoyance of his co-stars.
- The projectors used for the bridge consoles were so loud that all the audio had to be rerecorded after principal photography had finished. This added weeks to production and thousands to the budget when the film could afford neither.
- Walter Koenig received severe burns during one scene but was required to continue shooting.
- Almost every major member of the coast lobbied for additional characterisation, but was turned down.