Star Trek Movie LogBook - part 1

           by Earl Green, taken from the Internet

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (originally IN THY IMAGE) premiere
date: Dec 7, 1979
    screenplay by Harold Livingston
    story by Alan Dean Foster
    directed by Robert Wise
    music by Jerry Goldsmith
Stardate 7412.6: Two and a half years after the end of the mission
of Kirk (who has now become an admiral) and his crew, the
Enterprise has been refitted inside and out, almost an entirely
new ship, and some of the crew have drifted apart - McCoy has
taken an extended leave, Kirk has accepted a desk job, and Spock
has returned to Vulcan to pursue the Kolinahr discipline, a total
purge of emotions. In the meantime, Sulu and Uhura have stayed
with the Enterprise during its testing phase, while Chekov has
become ship's chief of security and Nurse Chapel has become a full
doctor.  Captain Willard Decker, son of the late Matt Decker, is
slated to become the ship's new commanding officer.  An "energy
cloud" of unknown origin and intent has carved a path of
destruction through the galaxy on a direct course for Earth,
having destroyed a flotilla of Klingon ships as well as Federation
communications relay station Epsilon 9. Admiral Kirk convinces
Starfleet to give him command of the Enterprise, displacing Decker
to the position of first officer.

The refitted ship still has problems, most notably a transporter
malfunction which kills two incoming crew members, including the
ship's new Vulcan science officer, whose duties Kirk again hands
to Decker.  Once the transporter is repaired, the final crew
members board the Enterprise, such as Lt. Ilia, the ship's new
navigator who once had a relationship with Decker on her home
planet of Delta IV; and Dr.  McCoy reluctantly resumes his
position after being called back into service by Starfleet. Kirk's
unfamiliarity with the Enterprise's new design is proven when he
orders the ship to warp speed against the recommendations of
Decker and Scotty, plunging the ship into a wormhole which it
escapes with a last minute order from Decker. While repairing the
damage, the ship is boarded by a ship from Vulcan carrying Spock,
who offers to resume his post as science officer. Spock begins by
helping Scotty overcome the difficulties with the warp engines,
enabling the Enterprise to head for the cloud at top speed. En
route, Spock reveals that he was unable to complete his Kolinahr
training because he detected an intelligence which he believes is
part of the cloud.

Penetrating the cloud, the Enterprise wards off an attack but is
weakened in the process. After Spock manages to devise a makeshift
message to speak to the cloud-entity in its own language and
frequency, the ship delves further into the cloud and is boarded
by a beam of energy which tries to access the ship's records on
Starfleet and Earth defenses. Spock damages the computer so the
beam cannot gather any more information, but is attacked by the
beam, which then seems to envelop Lt. Ilia and disappears from the
ship, leaving no trace of Ilia. The Enterprise is trapped inside
an enclosed, solid space within the cloud, and Ilia turns up again
soon afterward, but this time as a puppet of the cloud-entity,
identified by the now-dehumanized Ilia as V'ger.

Curious to find more about V'ger, Spock steals a spacesuit and a
thruster pack and launches himself into a small opening through
which the Enterprise cannot travel, and finds himself floating
through the memories of V'ger's entire journey through the
universe, eventually coming to an image of Ilia as she was before
V'ger's invasion of the bridge.  Spock tries to mind-meld with
V'ger through the image, but the staggering amounts of V'ger's
memory and thought overloads Spock's mind, and he is ejected back
to the Enterprise, where he is recovered and given medical
attention.

The Ilia-probe tells Kirk that V'ger is on its way to Earth to
find its own creator, although V'ger refuses to believe that its
creator could be a member of the human race, which it intends to
wipe out, if necessary, to complete its search. The cloud has
reached Earth and is ready to commence with its task. When Kirk
promises the Ilia-probe that he has the information V'ger seeks,
V'ger releases the Enterprise and draws it to the center of the
cloud, where V'ger itself rests.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Decker, led by Ilia, find that V'ger is, in
fact, a NASA Voyager space probe that was encountered by a race of
intelligent machines and, taking the probe's instructions - to
learn all it can and report its findings back its creator -
literally, the machines created the cloud-vessel as a means for
Voyager to return to Earth and deliver its wealth of information.
But the probe is unwilling to transmit its information on command,
demanding to become one with its creator.

Decker manually forces Voyager to transmit its information, but is
absorbed by a wave of energy when V'ger believes its creator - the
only being who could operate it - has arrived. Kirk, Spock and
McCoy rush back to the Enterprise just in time. The cloud
dissipates, leaving the Enterprise in orbit over Earth. Kirk and
Spock speculate that Decker's emotions concerning his relationship
with Ilia, the loss of his command of the Enterprise, and other
feelings will transform V'ger into a new life form that the
Federation may meet again in the future.

Cast: William Shatner (Admiral Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock),
DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George
Takei (Sulu), Majel Barrett (Dr. Chapel), Walter Koenig (Chekov),
Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Persis Khambatta (Lt. Ilia), Stephen
Collins (Commander Decker), Grace Lee Whitney (Chief Petty Officer
Rand), Mark Lenard (Klingon Captain), Billy Van Zandt (Alien Boy),
Roger Aaron Brown (Epsilon Technician), Gary Faga (Airlock
Technician), David Gautreaux (Commander Branch), John D. Gowans
(Assistant to Rand), Howard Itznowitz (Cargo Deck Ensign), Jon
Rashad Kamal (Lt. Commander Sonak), Marcy Lafferty (Chief
DiFalco), Michele Ameen Billy (Lieutenant), Terrence O'Connor
(Chief Ross), Michael Rougas (Lt.  Cleary), Susan J. Sullivan
(Woman), Ralph Brannen, Ralph Byers, Paula Crist, Rik Lane,
Franklyn Seales, Momo Yashima (Crew Members), Jimmie Booth, Joel
Kramer, Bill McTosh, Dave Moordigan, Tom Morga, Tony Rocco, Joel
Schultz, Craig Thomas (Klingon Crewmen), Edna Glover, Norman
Stuart, Paul Weber (Vulcan Masters), Joshua Gallegos (Security
Officer), Leslie C.  Howard (Yeoman), Sayra Hummel, Junero
Jennings (Technical Assistants)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan premiere date: Jun 4, 1982
    screenplay by Jack B. Sowards
    story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards
    directed by Nicholas Meyer
    music by James Horner
Stardate 8130.4: "Captain" Saavik, a Vulcan lieutenant in
Starfleet, manages to lose to the Kobayashi Maru simulator's
preprogrammed no-win situation, like every other cadet ever to
take the test (with a single exception).  Spock, now Captain of
the Enterprise, returns to the ship to prepare for Kirk's upcoming
prelaunch inspection after dismissing the students from the
simulator exercise. Kirk returns home and is visited by Dr. McCoy,
who, after presenting him with a birthday present, tells Kirk that
his abilities are wasted on a desk job and that he should resume
his command of a starship.

USS Reliant, on assignment searching for lifeless planets as
potential test sites for the top secret Genesis project, arrives
at Ceti Alpha V. Beaming down, Captain Terrell and his first
officer, Commander Chekov, discover a series of cargo bays
formerly of the SS Botany Bay, a vessel full of genetically
engineered supermen from late 20th century Earth led by the
cunning Khan. Chekov urges Terrell to return to the Reliant, but
they are captured by Khan and his followers. Khan, after fifteen
years, is still seeking revenge against Kirk for exiling the
Botany Bay's crew.

Khan infests Chekov and Terrell with Ceti eels, which affect the
brain and make their victims susceptible to suggestion, although
the eels' victims will eventually go mad and die painfully. Khan
hijacks the Reliant and has Chekov contact space station Regula 1,
where the Genesis project is being developed by Dr. Carol Marcus,
an old flame of Kirk's, along with a team of scientists including
her son David.  Chekov says that Kirk has ordered the Genesis
device to be transferred to the Reliant upon arrival for immediate
testing.  David Marcus fears the worst, always suspicious of
Starfleet's motives concerning the Genesis project.

Carol contacts Kirk while the Enterprise is on a cadet cruise.
Kirk takes command of the ship and sets it on a course to the
station. En route, Kirk, Spock and McCoy review a presentation
prepared by Carol which reveals that the Genesis "torpedo" is a
device which will, when fired on a lifeless planet, restructure it
into a verdant, life-supporting world ready for colonization. The
Enterprise arrives at Regula 1 and is fired upon by the Reliant,
which, since the shields were not raised in the presence of a
presumably friendly ship, causes critical damage to the Enterprise
and kills many of the unprepared cadets. Khan reveals himself and
demands that Kirk surrender himself, but Kirk bluffs Khan into
giving him time to consider.  Kirk overrides Reliant's shields by
remote control and returns fire, forcing Khan to retreat.

Kirk, Saavik and McCoy beam down to the space station, finding
most of the scientists slaughtered and the Genesis device missing.
They do find Chekov and Terrell, apparently left for dead by Khan
although the Reliant officers are actually keeping an eye on Kirk
for their master. Deducing that the Genesis team must have had an
underground test site on the dead planetoid Regula that the
station orbits, Kirk gambles on beaming down into the surface
under the station.  There, they find the Genesis device, but are
ambushed by David and one of the other scientists. Terrell kills
the other scientist, and then contacts Khan, who orders Terrell
and Chekov to kill Kirk. Terrell goes mad and kills himself, while
Chekov collapses and the Ceti eel vacates his body.  Khan beams
the Genesis device up to Reliant. McCoy begins tending to Chekov
as Kirk and Carol discuss why David - their son - remained with
Carol and became a scientist himself.  They all go deeper into the
test area and find a lush cave with vegetation and a waterfall,
created by a fraction of the Genesis device's power.  Kirk then
reveals to Saavik that he became the only cadet in history to beat
the Kobayashi Maru test by reprogramming the simulator, which
elicits a comment from David that Kirk has never had to deal with
death on a personal basis.  The Reliant returns to the station
after makeshift repairs, but the Enterprise is nowhere to be seen.
The Enterprise, apparently contradicting the repair estimates of
an earlier communication between Kirk and Spock which Kirk
realized that Khan would be eavesdropping on, arrives and
retrieves Kirk and the others while hiding behind the other side
of Regula. Kirk orders the ship into the nearby Mutara Nebula,
where sensors of both ships will not function. Khan is unable to
resist the chance to pursue, and plunges into the nebula behind
the Enterprise. In the ensuing battle, the Enterprise's warp drive
is damaged. Sulu manages a few lucky shots of his own, crippling
the Reliant and killing most of Khan's crew, but the dying Khan is
unwilling to admit defeat and prepares to detonate the Genesis
device at point blank range, which will destroy both ships.
Scotty is unable to repair the engines, and Spock rushes to
engineering without a word to anyone (except for what seems to be
a very quick mind-meld with Dr.  McCoy), forgoing safety
precautions and entering the radiation- saturated engine chamber
to repair the warp engines.  When Spock finishes his task, Kirk
orders the ship out of the nebula at top speed. The Reliant
explodes, initiating the full Genesis effect on Regula, as Kirk,
receiving a message from McCoy, hurries to engineering only to see
Spock die from massive radiation poisoning. Spock's body is loaded
into a torpedo casing, which is fired at the Genesis planet. David
admits that he may have misjudged Kirk and says he is proud to be
his son, while the crew reflects on Spock's sacrifice and the
marvel of Regula's transformation into a world of its own.

Cast: William Shatner (Admiral Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Captain
Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Scotty), Walter
Koenig (Chekov), George Takei (Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura),
Bibi Besch (Dr.  Carol Marcus), Merritt Butrick (David Marcus),
Paul Winfield (Terrell), Kirstie Alley (Lt. Saavik), Ricardo
Montalban (Khan), Ike Eisenmann (Cadet Peter Preston), John Vargas
(Jedda), Judson Scott (Joachim), John Winston (Lt.  Kyle), Paul
Kent (Beech), Nicholas Guest (Cadet), Russell Takaki (Madison),
Kevin Sullivan (March), Joel Marstan (Crew Chief), Teresa E.
Victor (Bridge Voice), Dianne Harper (Radio Voice), David Ruprecht
(Radio Voice), Marcy Vosburgh (Computer Voice)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock premiere date: Jun 1, 1984
    written by Harve Bennett
    directed by Leonard Nimoy
    music by James Horner
Stardate 8210.3: Heading home, the Enterprise receives no replies
from Starfleet regarding the Genesis planet. Most of the trainees
have been reassigned to other ships by now, and Kirk is still
mourning the death of Spock. Arriving at spacedock, the crew also
sees the USS Excelsior, a ship much larger than the Enterprise
which has the faster transwarp propulsion system. But before the
ship can rest easy, someone breaks into Spock's cabin, which Kirk
had declared off-limits. Kirk goes there himself and hears Spock's
voice asking why his body was left on the Genesis planet.  Kirk
finds that McCoy, on the edge of a nervous breakdown, is the
trespasser.

On arrival, Admiral Morrow reveals that the Enterprise is to be
decommissioned instead of repaired, and also tells the crew that
the Genesis device has become a hot topic in the Federation and a
topic not to be discussed openly.  Scotty is made Captain of
engineering for the Excelsior, and the rest of the crew are
promised extended leave. Klingon Captain Kruge, having obtained an
illegal copy of the Genesis proposal from a pirate vessel (which
he then destroyed), orders his ship, a new Klingon Bird of Prey
armed with a cloaking device, to the Genesis planet to investigate
the device's potential as a weapon for the Klingons. At the same
time, the USS Grissom, with its new science officer Saavik and
Genesis specialist David Marcus, arrives at the planet and detects
life signs near the torpedo tube in which Spock's body had been
disposed.

Kirk and his officers, minus the hospitalized McCoy, relax at
Kirk's home when Sarek, Spock's father, visits. Sarek mind-melds
with Kirk in search of Spock's katra - his spirit. Revealing that
Vulcans can pass their spirits on to others when their bodies are
near death, Sarek admits that Kirk does not possess Spock's
spirit. Kirk checks ship's logs and sees that Spock did, in fact,
pass his katra on - to McCoy.  Sarek tells him that McCoy must be
taken to Vulcan so that Spock can be released into a body of his
own. After arguing with Captain Esteban, Saavik and David get
permission to beam down, where they find that the life form is a
kind of giant slug, probably having developed from microbes on the
torpedo's surface. But they also find the body of Spock missing,
and the planet seems very unstable, with extreme weather
conditions isolated in random geological locations. Kirk tries to
get permission from Admiral Morrow to return to Genesis and
retrieve Spock's body, but is unable to convince Morrow of the
validity of Vulcan mysticism.

McCoy, in the meantime, tries to hire a private ship from an alien
merchant in a bar, but is removed by Starfleet agents when he
begins to argue loudly with the alien about going to Genesis.
McCoy is put in detention, where Kirk visits him, and, with Sulu's
help, distracts the guards and smuggles McCoy out of the holding
area.  Uhura, having taken an assignment at a transporter station,
beams Kirk, McCoy and Sulu to the Enterprise, where Chekov is
waiting. Scotty, in the meantime, has divided his time between
sabotaging the Excelsior's warp drive and preparing the Enterprise
for operation by a minimal crew. Kirk and the others, minus Uhura,
who plans to travel to Vulcan with Sarek, steal the Enterprise
from spacedock. Captain Stiles and the Excelsior are ordered to
pursue, but Scotty has disabled the larger ship's supposedly
superior capabilities. The Enterprise continues unchecked toward
Genesis.

On the planet, Saavik and David follow more life form readings
through a zone of arctic cold until they hear the cries of a
child, who turns out to be a very young Vulcan male. They contact
the ship with a theory that the Genesis wave may have resurrected
Spock. Before allowing the landing party to return, Captain
Esteban tries to contact Starfleet but communications are jammed.
Kruge's ship uncloaks and attacks, and the Grissom, a small vessel
meant only for scientific duties, is destroyed with a single shot,
leaving David, Saavik and the young Spock marooned.  Kruge and a
party of his men beam down to find them and interrogate them about
the Genesis device.

While trying to elude the Klingons, David reveals to Saavik that
he took some shortcuts with the development of Genesis, resulting
in the planet's abnormalities and a dangerous acceleration of the
age of the planet as well as all life-forms present during the
Genesis detonation - meaning the childlike Spock. Spock's rapid
aging means that the male Vulcan's mating drive that normally
strikes every seven years of adulthood will occur with greater
frequency in his accelerated development and will also bring
periods of instability to the planet. The Enterprise arrives at
Genesis, where it is awaited by Kruge's Bird of Prey, which cannot
fire while cloaked. Sulu detects the ship despite the cloaking
device and fires before the Klingons can attack. Kruge beams up
from Genesis and takes charge of the battle, firing back at the
Enterprise and destroying most of Scotty's automatic systems.
Kruge - after one of the Klingons remaining on the surface kills
David - forces a grief-stricken and enraged Kirk to surrender.
Kirk sets the Enterprise to self-destruct and, with the others,
abandons ship and beams down to Genesis just as most of Kruge's
men board the Enterprise. Kruge realizes what is about to happen,
but not in time to save his crew.

The Enterprise destroys itself and the Klingons aboard, and the
debris plunges into the atmosphere of the Genesis planet as Kirk
and the others do away with the Klingon guards left on the
surface. Kruge has the last remaining member of his crew beam him
to the planet, where Kirk promises to give him the secrets of
Genesis in exchange for beaming the others to Kruge's ship. Kirk
and Kruge fight furiously as the planet begins to tear itself
apart, and Kirk manages to kick his Klingon opponent off a cliff
and beams up to the Bird of Prey. The last Klingon is taken
prisoner, and the ship is set on a course for Vulcan. Sarek and
Uhura greet Kirk and the others on Vulcan, now carrying Spock's
body which had, before leaving Genesis, grown to roughly the same
age as it was when Spock died.

McCoy and Spock are taken to the Vulcan High Priestess, who
performs a dangerous ritual to return Spock's mind to his body and
free McCoy from the effects of Spock's katra. The process is
successful, and McCoy is restored to health. Spock, however, will
have to be re-educated on Vulcan, and will never be exactly the
same again. Kirk and the others decide to stay on Vulcan for a
time and receive political asylum from Sarek.

Notes: Many events in this movie resurface again. The loss of
David creates an even stronger prejudice against Klingons in Kirk
than ever before, which nearly proves to be fatal in "Star Trek
VI." The Excelsior, whose transwarp drive proves to be a failure,
makes a dramatic comeback in "Trek VI" under a new captain, while
the fact that Spock's personality changes drastically as a result
of being re-educated by Vulcans rather than his human mother is
addressed in "Star Trek IV" and "Star Trek V." Merritt Butrick,
who appeared in this movie, "Star Trek II," and one episode of
"Star Trek: The Next Generation," died of AIDS in 1988.

Cast: William Shatner (Admiral Kirk), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy),
James Doohan (Scotty), Walter Koenig (Chekov), George Takei
(Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Robin Curtis (Lt. Saavik),
Merritt Butrick (David Marcus), Phil Morris (Trainee Foster),
Scott McGinnis ("Mr. Adventure"), Robert Hooks (Admiral Morrow),
Carl Steven (Spock, age 9), Vadia Potenza (Spock, age 13), Stephen
Manley (Spock, age 17), Joe W. Davis (Spock, age 25), Leonard
Nimoy (Spock), Paul Sorenson (Merchantship Captain), Cathie
Shirriff (Valkris), Christopher Lloyd (Kruge), Stephen Liska
(Torg), John Larroquette (Maltz), Dave Cadiente (Klingon
Sergeant), Bob Cummings (Klingon Gunner #1), Branscombe Richmond
(Klingon Gunner #2), Phillip Richard Allen (Captain Esteban),
Jeanne Mori (USS Grissom Helm), Mario Marcelion (USS Grissom
Communications), Allan Miller (Alien in bar), Sharon Thomas
(Waitress), Conroy Gedeon (Civilian Agent), James B. Sikking
(Captain Styles), Miguel Ferrer (USS Excelsior First Officer),
Mark Lenard (Sarek), Katherine Blum (Vulcan Child), Dame Judith
Anderson (Vulcan High Priestess), Gary Faga (Prison Guard #1),
Douglas Alan Shanklin (Prison Guard #2), Grace Lee Whitney (Woman
in cafeteria), Frank Welker (Spock screams), Teresa E. Victor
(Enterprise Computer voice), Harve Bennett (Flight Recorder
voice), Judi Durand (Space Dock Controller voice), Frank Force
(Elevator voice)













                              - o -