In 1979, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the newly refit USS Enterprise once again took to the stars to defend humanity against certain destruction in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The film, which has been a polarizing experience for Trek fans throughout the years, introduced the legendary antagonist of humanity’s own creation… V’Ger. The leviathan starship, shrouded behind a mysterious stellar cloud, returns to Earth in search of its creator and the Enterprise is sent to intercept. Over time, we learn that V’Ger is actually an old NASA probe, Voyager 6, that was discovered lost in space by a race of alien machines. The machine world saw V’Ger as a savior sent from the stars, so they fixed him and sent him back to his creator. When V’Ger returns to Earth, he is determined to find his creator, even if it means removing all of the humans from Earth to find him.
What we ultimately learn is that V’Ger’s creator is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that put the first man on the Moon and that was getting ready to head back into space aboard the Space Shuttle. At the heart of the V’Ger cloud was a bowl-like structure designed to support and protect the Voyager 6 probe. The whole design is one of the most incredible alien creations in science fiction, even if the film itself is often considered one of the weaker entries in the franchise. Personally, it’s one of my favorites.
But the Star Trek production team did much more than simply look at photos of the Voyager 1 and 2 probes when bringing V’Ger to life. They actually reached out to the team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to gain additional technical insights into the vessel including a potential launch date and to gather ideas about potential advancements in technology that might be included in future Voyager probes. At one point, Gene Roddenberry tried to get the mockup Voyager probe from JPL so that the production team could use it for the film, but JPL ultimately refused because they were worried about the mockup being damaged during transportation. Eventually, JPL provided Roddenberry’s team with blueprints for the Voyager probes themselves, which allowed them to build a true-to-life replica for the V’Ger core.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a unique piece of science fiction from a time when it was generally transitioning from the clean and optimistic aesthetic of 2001: A Space Odyssey into the gritty and nihilistic feelings of Aliens and Terminator. Personally, I yearn for the 70’s sci-fi aesthetic to return. The sense of human optimism and desire for discovery was what always made me gravitate toward Star Trek over other franchises. In my opinion, TMP stands as one of the most honest and true representations of the optimism that Star Trek wanted to bring to the world.