Happy 40^th birthday, Star Trek, from the Sci-Fi Channel

Host: Leonard Nimoy

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I am Leonard Nimoy and I'll be your host for a special three night Star Trek event.

For the first time on television we'll experience Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan, Star Trek IV The Voyage Home and Star Trek V The Final Frontier, all presented in their original wide screen formats. Celebrate Star Trek's 30^th anniversary with the SCI-Fi Channel Trek Fest '96.

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Hello, I'm Leonard Nimoy and welcome back to Trek Fest 96 on SCI-FI Channel. Following the success of Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan in 92, Paramount was eager for a next chapter in the Star Trek saga. Since the previous movie dealt with aging and death, it was only fitting that the next film deals with rebirth and life. Star Trek III The Search For Spock was special in many ways. But even more so to me because on it I made my feature film directorial debut. Not long after that Star Trek III premiered producer Harve Bennett approached me about directing the next Star Trek feature. Naturally I was interested, but Harve and I both agreed that it was time for Star Trek to lighten up a bit. Star Trek II featured the death of Spock and in Star Trek III not only was Kirk's son David killed but the Enterprise was also destroyed. We decided it was time to bring back a little levity to the story. And as you will see Star Trek IV has a deadly serious message. We managed to handle it with a sense of fun that was such an essential part of the original series.

But first perhaps I should explain where our gallon crew is and how exactly they got there. Forced to steal and later destroy the Enterprise to free their fallen comrade Kirk and company are in exile having sought asylum on Vulcan. Spock has been restored to life and his katra, his immortal soul, has been reunited with his body but his mind is still recovering. So, with that in mind, so to speak, the original wide screen edition of Star Trek IV The Voyage Home on the SCI-Fi Channel: ...

In preparation for Star Trek IV Harve and I once again went back to the original series just as Harve did when looking for ideas for Star Trek II. We made a list of our top ten favorite episodes and soon discovered that we and the series' fans shared the same favorites. One of his favorites and mine was Harlan Ellison's City on the Edge of Forever. And so, when Harve and I got together to discuss Star Trek IV, he said: Leonard, we've to do time travel. And it didn't take us long to determine which period in history the Enterprise crew would visit. Set the 23^rd crew of the Enterprise in the middle of 1980ies America, and you are bound to see some interesting things happen. ...

Before long we were on in an adventure that has Kirk, Spock and company facing one of their strangest new worlds: 1986 San Francisco. Now, back to Star Trek IV The Voyage Home: ...

One we had decided for the Enterprise crew to travel from time we had to come up for a good reason to do so. I have always been attracted to stories about communication. One of my favorite episodes in the original series was Devil in the Dark because it dealt with the disastrous consequences of the lack of communication. At the time I was reading a book called Biophelia by Harvard biologist Edmund Wilson. Biophelia details the rapid extinction of species here on planet Earth. Close to 10.000 species per year – gone; many without even having been discovered by men.
I started thinking about Humpback Whales, species that even now teeter on the brink of extinction, and about the incredibly beautiful ever changing song that they sing deep beneath the Ocean. And suddenly it hit me: We don't know the purpose of whale song. What if it had been seen as communication by intelligence from another planet? And then, what if that communication stopped? This time by the hands of man. Whales are gone. What if the earth was threatened because that intelligence of the other planet came looking for their missing friends?
The solution: Send the crew of the Enterprise back in time to bring the whales back into the future. Easy, right? Only as you and I know for the crew of the Enterprise things are never that easy. Back to Star Trek IV The Voyage Home. ...

The screenplay for Star Trek IV was actually co-written by Harve Bennet and Nicolas Meyer, who directed Star Trek II. First, Nic was apprehensive about tackling another time travel story. A few years earlier Nic had directed the film Time After Time starring Malcom McDowell who would later go on to play Dr. Soran in Star Trek Generations. And David Warner who would later go on to play roles in both Star Trek V and Star Trek VI. In Time after Time McDowell plays writer H. J. Wells who chases Jack the Ripper played by Warner through time until present San Francisco. Nick didn't want to see the work repeat he had done in Time After Time, but knowing the Star Trek characters as he did and given the story we had in mind, he felt that he could craft the story and would not re-thread his earlier work. Interestingly Harv wrote the first and fourth acts of the movie and Nick wrote two and three. And if you listen, you can pick up where Nick's story begins with Spock's line: Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere I would say we have arrived at the later half of the twentieth century. And it ends with a quote from D. H. Lawrencen's Whales Weep Not. Back to Star Trek IV The Voyage Home. ...

In the mid 1980ies Paramount had two incredibly hot properties. One was Star Trek and the other was Eddy Murphy. As it turns out Eddy is a HUGE Star Trek fan. When he expressed his desire to be in a Star Trek film, Paramount asked Harve and I to meet with him. Eddy told us about his love for Star Trek and we told him we would work out some ideas and get back to him with a script. For some weeks we struggled to get Eddy into the script. I think the best idea we came up with was Eddy to be a psychic investigator who is trying to proof that there are aliens on earth. The story would have him chasing us around San Francisco trying to get evidence to proof himself right. But frankly the story did not work very well, he was playing the same note over and over, eventually we decided that the Star Trek Eddy Murphy collaboration wouldn't work out for either of us. So, Eddy moved on to other projects like The Golden Child. Still, it would have been fun to watch. ....

The name of Industrial Light and Magic, the thrill of special effect wizards comes to mind. And in fact, they have done some brilliant work. But we had something of a problem in the period of post production of Star Trek IV The Voyage Home. When we were ready for our whale footage to be produced and some of the other important special effects that we needed for the film, all the best helmet and industrial were working on a film to be known as Howard The Duck. And during that process, the footage that we were getting for Star Trek IV was in fact unusable. It wasn't until the people got finished with Howard The Duck ... all got shifted over to Star Trek IV and we finally got the brilliant footage that we needed.

The streets of San Francisco was quite an experience. The most amusing was the fact that no one took notice of us in spite of the fact that we were dressed in out 23^rd century costumes. San Francisco is known for attracting colorful and -shall we say- eccentric people. So, I suppose, we simply blended in. My favorite street scene in San Francisco featured Walter Koenig as Chekow and Nichelle Nicolls as Uhura. I decided to shoot the scene in a candid camera style. I told Uhura to ask passers by where they could find the Naval Base. And I told Walter to say “nuclear vessels” loud and clear. And you have to remember that back in 1986 the Cold War was still going strong and Russia was still the Soviet Union. The reactions we got were priceless. Most pedestrians starred at them and thought they were crazy. Then, a woman, whom we had never seen before, passed and listened to Walter and said helpfully: I think they are across the bay in Alameda. She was so honest and perfect; we included her in the film. Our street scenes were full of such happy accidents and made Star Trek IV so much more joy to work on...

One scene that didn't make it into the final film would have been wonderful moment for Sulu portrayed by George Takei. After reading the script George was unhappy with what he saw as Sulu's minimal role in the story line. Looking to be heaved up a bit George went to Harve Bennet seeing whether they could dream up a bit which gave Sulu a bit more to do. And what they came up with was wonderful, but unfortunately it never made it on the film. George and Harve dreamed up a scene whereby Sulu, who was born in San Francisco, would run into a little Japanese boy on the street in 1986. The boy mistakes Sulu for his uncle. After a short conversation Sulu realizes that the little boy is in fact his great grandfather. At least that's the way it was supposed to work. The boy whom we hired to play the part arrived at the set and was so uncomfortable, so frightened that all he would do was cry. No matter what we did to cheer him up, it didn't work. It got so late in the day that we had to move on and I had to bring the news to George that we were not going to be able to get the shot. Naturally I felt very bad for George because it meant a great deal to him and it would have been a charming scene. ...

Due to their work on the Star Treks II and III the in fact geniuses at Industrial Light and Magic were responsible for creating the incredible life-like whale effects in Star Trek IV. I suspect most people never realized that there were only two shots of a life whale in the movie: One of a Humpback breaching the Ocean surface and one of a Humpback briefly surfacing in one of the hunting scenes. Most of the impressive authentic looking sequences of our whales, George and Gracie, were actually shot with four foot mechanic puppets in a nearby high school swimming pool.

Even the whale’s fictional home doesn't really exist. The Cetacean Institute was actually the Monterey Aquarium. And since the Aquarium doesn't have a tank big enough to host humpback whales we had to create the illusion of one with a matte painting. I am sure you agree: The illusion was successful...

In casting for Star Trek IV we wanted to bring back as many of the members of the Star Trek family as possible. So we invited Robin Curtis back as Saavik. Robin had replaced Cheers Christie Ally as Saavik in Star Trek III. In fact in one early draft of the script the reason that Saavik stayed behind on Vulcan was because she was pregnant with Spock's child. We also brought back Gracely Whtney as Janice Rand and Majel Barret as Commander Chapel for their own special moments in Federation headquarters. And of course one of the things that pleased me most was that we got the chance to re-unite Spock's parents, Sarek played by Mark Lenard and Amanda played by Jane Wyatt. It is not often that we have a chance to visit so many of Star Trek's past. And I think that's one of the things that's made this film so special...

In June of 1987 Star Trek got an unprecedented opportunity. The ecological message of Star Trek IV was extremely powerful. The Soviet Union declared a moratorium on commercial whaling and this prompted the World Wildlife Fund to arrange with the Soviets a special screening of the film in Moscow in front of a huge audience. Harve Bennett and myself acting as ambassadors from the world of Star Trek flew over to introduce the film and it was an extraordinary event. All of the reactions, the laughs, the sighs came in all of the same places as when we showed the film to American audiences. It would seems as we suspected all along that the messages of Star Trek are truly universal...

The expense and the danger of filming in open water: We needed to find an alternative way of filming when the Enterprise crew crashes into San Francisco Bay. Little did we know that the solution to the problem was literally under our feet. It turned out that one of the parking lots of our studios was built over a giant water tank which was used in the 30ies and 40ies for filming pirat movies and World War II epics. Basically, when they no longer needed the tanks, the studio covered it. They paved right over the top and they forgot about it. We ripped off the pavement and there it was. The tank was in perfect condition. We built our partially submerged Bird of Pray, painted a realistic looking back prop, and -presto- instant San Francisco Bay. Complimented by effects work from Industrial Light and Magic that added the craft sequence under the Golden Bridge. The final sequences of the film added together seamlessly. Judge for yourself. ... 

There is a lot of debate amongst hard core Star Trek fans as to how Star Fleet manages to built a whole new USS Enterprise in the short three months Kirk and crew were exiled on Vulcan. There are those who say that in the 23^rd century space techniques will be so far advanced that putting a star ship together in three months would be no problem. Then there are those you argue that Star Fleet simply re-commissioned an old existing star ship and re-named it as the Enterprise A. Well, truth be told: That's basically what's happened. What we did was paint an “A” on the old model of the Enterprise from Star Trek's I, II and III. Of course we had to put the bridge set up and give it a brand new appearance. Look closely: You can see the influence of Star Trek The Next Generation. In any case with a brand-new Enterprise beneath their feet Kirk, Spock and friends are off for a new Journey into the Final Frontier which is where I take you tomorrow as the SCI-Fi Channel Trek Fest '96 concludes with Star Trek V The Final Frontier.

In its initial release Star Trek IV crossed over $ 106 million in box office receipts. That sizable figure made Paramount realize that Star Trek franchise was a cash cow. the success of Star Trek IV ensured the success of Star Trek V. Shortly before the end of production on Star Trek IV my good friend Bill Shanter came to me with his secret desire: He wanted to direct the next Star Trek film. I thought it was a great idea and I encouraged him to start immediately while excitement about Star Trek was still high. Within minutes Bill was in for a story for Kirk, Spock and company. The mission of the USS Enterprise has always been to go where no one has gone before. Well, in Star Trek V that's exactly where they go. Now, Star Trek V The Final Frontier here on the SCI-Fi Channel. ...

Now you don't think that Paramount would let Bill Shatner risk his and Captain Kirk's collective neck actually climbing El Capitan, do you? Of course not. In actuality what Captain Kirk was really climbing was a mock up of El Capitan suspended about ten feet above a parking lot of Yosemite Park. On top of that he was safely and comfortably secured to the mountain.
I on the other hand was extremely uncomfortable. I was trapped for the better part of the day in a fiber glass body cast attached to a long pole that allowed me to be suspended in midair giving the impression that I was levitating with a little help from a pair of anti-gravity boots. Believe me, by the end of the day I wished that these anti-gravity boots were real. Now, back to Star Trek V The Final Frontier ...

What comes in the beginning of the film we actually shot the campfire scene on the last day of production. Sitting around the campfire, Bill, De Forest and I finally had a chance to relax and enjoy each other's company. For 10 hours we sat around the campfire, singing, laughing and making fun of each other. Few actors get to work together for as long as we have and that moment of true sense of camaraderie hung in the air. At least until De started vocalize it. (De Kelly singing "Row, row row your boat...") Bones is a doctor, not a singer. ...

Throughout Star Trek's history there have been lot's of promotions and demotions. Spock has gone from Lieutenant Commander to Captain, Kirk has gone fro Captain to Admiral and then busted back down to Captain. But perhaps the strangest promotion at all was from executive producer of Paramount Pictures to Admiral in Star Fleet command. You see the admiral who sent the Enterprise to investigate the hostage drama on Nimbus III is no other than Harve Bennett, the producer of Star Trek's II, III, IV and V. ...

If you recognize the face of the ambassador, it is actor David Warner. And he is no stranger to Star Trek. David returned as Klingon Chancellor Gorkhan in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country and then made the jump to the 24^th century and played Kardassian Gul Madred in The Next Generation episode Chain Of Command. ...

Model maker Greg Jien created the miniatures of the shuttle craft Galileo and the shuttle bay in the craft sequence. When I say “miniature” I mean it only in a broader sense. The shuttle craft model was 5 feet long and the shuttle bay model was only 20 feet wide. To throw the shuttle craft forward into the shuttle bay for the craft sequence special effects people used two giant garage door springs pulled back by a 3 ½ ton winch, essentially a giant slingshot. When the slingshot was caught back and released, the model was shot at about 300 miles per hour. Not quite fast enough to launch it into space, but pretty fast non the less. ...

In the brig scene McCoy says Spock could no more kill his own brother than he could kill you. And it is a very telling line. In the original screen play Spock and McCoy both betray Kirk and follow Sybok on his quest. Both, De Forest Kelly and myself had problems with this idea. We both knew the audience would not accept this sort of betrayal. The way we saw it was that Kirk, Spock and McCoy's friendship had survived for over 25 years, Kirk risked his life for Spock and McCoy countless times, including to bring Spock back from the dead in Star Trek III. There was no way that Spock and McCoy would betray their friend. So, De Forest and I talked to Bill and we reached a compromise. Spock could refuse to kill Sybok because they were brothers, but he would stay with his captain, no matter what. ...

Shooting in the middle of the desert is never exactly fun and when you are wearing hot Star Fleet uniforms it doesn't get any better. Of course there were others who had it worse. There were whole groups of extras made up to be Syboks followers who were dressed in burlap. Looking at them made my Star Fleet uniform more bearable. But the desert is where we would land up repeatedly in Star Trek V. First it was the battle in Paradise City and the it was the planet Sha-Ka-Re where we would shortly come face to face with God himself. By the way: If the name Skaka Re sounds familiar, Bill Shatner and Harve Bennett named the planet after Sean Connery whom they had hoped to play Sybok. As it turned out Connery was already committed to Indiana Jones In The Last Crusade. Fortunately for us Sybok fell into the hand of the very capable actor Lawrance Luckenbill. ...

Shatner's original idea had come Kirk, Spock and McCoy come face to face not with a God impersonator but rather with God and the Devil themselves. The final confrontation would have been a massive battle between good and evil and the force of the crew of the Enterprise. Bill eventually realized that that concept would not only not fly with the studio but the public would have a hard time believing that Kirk and company actually found God. So, Kirk and Harve finally sat down and came up with a concept of an alien being pretending to be God. The massive battle between daemons and cherubs changed into a battle with 6 giant rock man who would spring up from the earth. When Paramount heard that each of the rock man suits would cost $ 300.000, they quickly cut the battle down to one rock man. The rock man sequence did get shot, but Bill was so unhappy with the result that he totally cut the sequence out of the picture. Now, the conclusion of Star Trek V The Final Frontier: ...

Star Trek V didn't enjoy the success at the box office that its predecessor did. The hazy plot reviewers were not exactly kind. It still made money however and have to guarantee one final bow to Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the cast. I was asked to direct Star Trek VI and I brought director Nicolas Meyer back to craft the final voyage of the original crew of the Star Ship Enterprise. And now, the torch has been to Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and The Voyager. Star Trek is guaranteed. I am Leonard Nimoy for SCI-Fi Channel.