Star Trek The Motion Picture on DVD
Story by Alan Dean Foster
Screenplay by Harold Livingston
Directed by Robert Wise
Cast: Admiral James T. Kirk-William Shatner, Mr. Spock-Leonard Nimoy, Dr. Leonard McCoy-DeForest Kelley, Montgomery Scott-James Doohan, Hikaru Sulu-George Takei, Pavel Andreivich Chekov-Walter Koenig, Nyota Uhura-Nichelle Nichols, Dr. Christine Chapel-Majel Barrett, Janice Rand-Grace Lee Whitney, Will Decker-Stephen Collins, Ilia-Persis Khambatta, Klingon Captain-Mark Lenard, Commander Sonak-Jon Kamal, Chief DiFalco-Marcy Lafferty
Stardate 7412.6
Released
December 6, 1979
In 2271 an unknown, cloud-like entity descends upon several Klingon vessels and
destroys them. Having monitored the surprise attack, Federation space station
Epsilon IX is still unable to prevent itself from becoming the next victim of
this vast, mysterious energy cloud.
Meanwhile,
on Vulcan, Spock is preparing to undergo the rite of Kolinahr—the achievement
of total Vulcan logic—and the purging of all remaining emotion. Just then
Spock's human half stirs in response to the cloud entity, interrupting his
meditation and forcing the Vulcan masters to withdraw Spock's admission to
their ranks.
On
Earth, the U.S.S. Enterprise is readying to investigate the cloud
entity. Admiral Nogura is persuaded by Admiral James T. Kirk to hand over
command of the newly refit Starship Enterprise to him, superseding the
vessel's present captain, Will Decker, who is unhappy with this new situation.
Arriving on board the Enterprise, Kirk requests that Dr. Leonard McCoy, retired
now, be recalled into service as the starship's doctor. An unchanged, blustery
Dr. McCoy comes aboard and replaces Dr. Christine Chapel, who steps down out of
respect. Also on board is a Deltan navigator, Ilia, who in the past was
romantically involved with Will Decker.
In
a tragic accident, two crew members are killed in a transporter malfunction—one
of which was the new Vulcan science officer, Sonak.
The
accident behind them, Kirk gathers much of the crew together to deliver a
mission briefing, stressing the enormous power of the entity they are faced
with. After a relatively uneventful departure from Earth's drydock facilities,
the U.S.S. Enterprise is suddenly faced with a giant wormhole and Kirk,
unfamiliar with the design of the new vessel, almost allows the wormhole to
destroy the ship. The U.S.S. Enterprise escapes, however, and is hailed
by a courier vessel bearing Kirk's new science officer. Overcome with joy at
seeing Spock, Kirk is soon confronted with a cold, withdrawn stranger.
The
starship eventually encounters the cloud-like being, yet the entity proves to
be too strong, damaging the U.S.S. Enterprise on all levels and leaving
the starship stricken. When Spock attempts to communicate with the cloud by
sending messages of non-aggression, a probe is triggered and sent from the
center of the cloud. The crew can only watch helplessly as the probe accesses
the U.S.S. Enterprise's consoles and computers, accumulating data from
all parts of the ship. In his attempt to stop the violation, Spock is attacked,
whereupon the probe vanishes with Ilia.
The
U.S.S. Enterprise is then seized by a tractor beam and pulled inside the
cloud to a large chamber. Another probe, in the form of Ilia, appears and tells
them that it has been sent by "V'Ger" to study the carbon-based units
that "infest" the starship. Furthermore, the crew learns that V'Ger
is on its way to Earth to join with its "Creator."
In
an attempt to establish contact with V'Ger, Kirk trades on Decker's past
association with Ilia and assigns Decker to work with the probe. The Ilia-probe
tells him that the carbon-units will be patterned for data storage.
Deciding
that the best method of gathering more data about V'Ger is directly from the
source, Spock dons a thrust suit and leaves the ship. His incredible visual
journey to the center of the cloud culminates when Spock sees images of
everything that V'Ger has experienced. Spock tries to mind-meld with the
life-form, but is short-circuited and barely makes it back to the U.S.S.
Enterprise. Taken to sickbay, Spock informs Kirk that his mind-meld did
allow him to learn that V'Ger is lonely and seeking to learn why it was
created. Furthermore, it is learned that a machine planet built the cloud and
craft that house V'Ger.
V'Ger
arrives at Earth and signals its Creator. When there is no response, V'Ger
blasts energy bolts at the planet in an attempt to rid it of all its carbon
infestations. Forced to act, Kirk tells V'Ger he knows why the Creator has not
answered. The Ilia-probe, interested by Kirk's remark, says it will cease its
attack when Kirk explains. But Kirk replies he will answer to no one but V'Ger
itself. With some trepidation, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Decker are lead by the
Ilia-probe outside the ship to the "brain" of V'Ger. At the center of
the chamber, the Starfleet officers are surprised to discover that V'Ger is in
reality a twentieth century Earth robot space probe. In fact, a mounted plaque
looks as though it reads "Voyager VI."
Kirk
and his crew discover that the probe disappeared into a black hole and emerged
at the other end, crash landing on a planet inhabited by living machines. After
repairing the probe, the machines then followed its programming—observe and
transmit readings to NASA. Spock deduces that these living machines interpreted
those long-ago orders as "Learn all that is learnable and return that
information to the Creator."
When
the U.S.S. Enterprise transmits old Voyager codes, the V'Ger transmits
all of its information. Then, unexpectedly, V'Ger insists that the Creator come
in person to finish the sequence. When he realizes that V'Ger wants to
physically merge with its Creator, Will Decker volunteers. Decker and Ilia join
together and merge into a glowing, non-corporeal entity, which disappears.
The
U.S.S. Enterprise crew humbly realize that a new life form has just been
created. The experience has left Spock more at peace with himself and he
decides not to return to Vulcan. Kirk has command of his beloved U.S.S.
Enterprise and McCoy is back in charge of sickbay.
Having
witnessed events suggesting that "the human adventure is just
beginning," Kirk commands the starship out to space for a real shakedown
cruise and future missions.
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