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From: rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: Movie inspiring episodes question
Message-ID: <543@riccb.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 09:33:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: riccb.543
Posted: Thu Sep 26 09:33:03 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Sep-85 05:34:03 EDT
References: <1619@druil.UUCP>
Organization: Rockwell International - Downers Grove, IL
Lines: 66

> 	Someone mentioned to me that the first Star Trek movie
> 	was inspired by a television episode.  I didn't think this
> 	was so.  Ifso which episode was it?
> 						S. C. Higgins
> 						druil!sch

There's a fair amount of truth in that statement.  Recall in "Star Trek:
The Motion Picture" that V'ger was launched by Earth as Voyager 6.  It
apparently disappeared from the galaxy, probably through a "black hole"
and reappeared elsewhere.  It ended up at a planet populated by living
machines who gave it the instrumentation it needed to fulfill it's "simple
20th-century programming . . . learn all that is learnable and return that
information to your creator."  The Star Trek TV episode "The Changeling"
has many similarities, in that Nomad was launched by Earth, had an accident
with an alien probe, Tan-Ru, they merged and repaired themselves but with
altered programming.

There are further similarities.  Nomad is trying to "sterilize imperfections"
and it regards human beings as imperfections.  V'ger went several steps
further in that it regards only itself and "similar beings" as true life
forms.  V'ger believes that "carbon-based units" ("Humans, Ensign Perez, us")
are infesting both Enterprise and Earth and are keeping its creator from
responding.  Nomad thought Kirk was its creator.  Kirk argues with Nomad
until smoke comes out of its ears ("Didn't think I had it in me, did you
Spock?"  "No, sir.") and it destroys itself.  Kirk argues with V'ger through
its Ilia-probe to convince it that "we are the creator."  Then Commander
Will Decker sacrifices himself to, er, "join" with Ilia-V'ger so that they
can evolve very quickly into a higher form of existence.

That brings us to another connection, the TV episode titled "The Doomsday
Machine" featuring William Windom as Captain Matt Decker, father of Will
Decker.  As you recall, that episode was all about fighting a runaway
machine which had great powers.  Yet nowhere in the movie are any of these
interconnections even hinted at.  While a Star Trek fan can enjoy them, I
think they should have been brought out so that everyone could enjoy them.
I don't mind that ST:TMP has to many similarities to Changeling as long
as they don't get revisionistic about the TV series by preventing anyone on
the Enterprise from remembering when they were in a similar situation.

Apart from all that, ST:TMP works much better dramatically than either "The
Changeling" or "The Doomsday Machine" both of which are good ST episodes.
The characterizations, the conflicts, and the dialogue are richer and
fuller in ST:TMP than at any time earlier in Star Trek production.  This is
to be expected, as it was a major motion picture rather than a weekly TV
series.  But the single most important thing about ST:TMP is the revolution
in Spock's psychology.  The dawning of his awareness and acceptance of his
humanity and the emotions that go with it without losing his ability and his
discipline to use logic is something that I was waiting for.  You only get to
see this in the Special Edition with the footage restored which was cut from
the theatrical release.  Gene Roddenberry laid excellent foundations for the
characters Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in ST:TMP.  These characters have been
sorely abused by Harve Bennett since then.

But I digress.  The basic answer to the question ("A question!"-COTEOF) is
that "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" has several elements in common with
one or more Star Trek TV episodes.  As to whether they really served to
inspire the movie's story is something else entirely.  They investigated
many possible story lines and Roddenberry seemed to feel that a powerful
machine which had developed consciousness and was searching for its "god"
which turns out to be humanity was a story that worked especially well.
And as Kirk said to Scott in the shuttle, I would also say to Roddenberry:
[enter Scottish brogue mode] "You're rrright!"
--
"It's only by NOT taking the human race seriously that I retain what
 fragments of my once considerable mental powers I still possess!"
	Roger Noe			ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe