![]() Star Trek was officially back in the zeitgeist. Spock, TWOK was a huge hit with audiences and critics. Brought together with a touching death and send-off for Mr. There was also an intriguing sci-fi concept at its core, the Genesis Project, a way of creating living worlds out of dead moons. It contains a great villain in Ricardo Montalban as Khan, a great new crew member in Kirstie Alley as Saavik, and the introduction of Kirk’s former lover Carol Marcus and their son, David. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan hit theaters on June 4, 1982.Īs we know now, TWOK is Star Trek firing on all thrusters. Nimoy, as a stage actor as well as an on-screen one, couldn’t resist the prospect, and they were off to the races on the second Star Trek film. Bennett did the smart thing, and promised Nimoy a great death scene for Spock. The trick was in getting Leonard Nimoy back as Spock, who swore that TMP was his Vulcan swan song. The Needs of the One (Spock) Outweigh the Needs of the Many ![]() In a week’s time, he combined all these elements into one cohesive script that satisfied everyone. These pieces were the return of the original series villain Khan, Kirk meets his adult son, the Genesis Project, the Vulcan Lt. Instead of an expensive industry veteran like Robert Wise, who directed TMP, He hired a young director named Nicholas Meyer, who came in and picked five different things he liked from each of the existing scripts. The hope was that one of these would be good enough to serve as the basis for the film. Bennett commissioned five original scripts for the sequel, all of which contained very different stories. They reused many sets, props, and models from TMP to cut costs. Coming from Paramount’s television division, he promised to produce the sequel for a much smaller $12 million budget. Star Trek II: The Genesis of the “Genesis Trilogy”Įnter producer Harve Bennett, who took over the production. Something a lot more action/adventure and crowd-pleasing, and a little less ponderous. This allowed the studio to make the Star Trek movie they wanted to make. Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, largely blamed for the creative decisions with TMP, received a “creative consultant” position, but was not allowed direct influence on the production. Maybe not Star Wars money, but enough to justify a sequel.īut the powers-that-be at Paramount Pictures decided that a sequel would be completely different from TMP. And although TMP disappointed most audiences and critics at the time, it did make money. Especially having a budget three times that of Lucas’ film. The film had at the time an astronomical budget of $45 million, and Paramount was hoping a big-screen reunion of the original Star Trek TV series cast would be their Star Wars. And it was something of a bloated, costly affair. Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first Trek feature film, came out in 1979. ![]() Why the Star Trek “Trilogy” Didn’t Begin with Movie One And yet, it remains an immensely satisfying bit of cinematic sci-fi storytelling. And this trilogy structure all happened by total chance, and wasn’t at all mapped out. Hence, the fan-given “Genesis Trilogy” label. At the core of these three films is the creation and ramifications of the Genesis Project, a device that can create life, and the death and return of Spock. One that just so happened to have three other films bookend it. But Star Trek II-IV forms a complete narrative trilogy. Now, you might say “Wait a minute, weren’t there five Star Trek films in that time period?” Technically, yes there were. And they were a trilogy of films that were never planned that way at all. ![]() We’re talking about the Star Trek “Genesis Trilogy.” Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). But there was another great sci-fi trilogy of the same era, and in its own way, it’s just as solid from a storytelling standpoint as George Lucas’ original films. When people talk about influential sci-fi movie trilogies from the late ‘70s and ‘80s, they usually are thinking of Star Wars.
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