Due next May from Titan Books (although on the strength of how often their books slip back, I’d expect to see it maybe by next Autumn with a little luck) is this hopefully fantastic book about the art and visual effects of 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture. On the one hand, if its a similar project, say, to the original Cinefex article way back when the film originally came out, then it could be really special. On the other hand, if its just one of those vacuous coffee-table art-books with lots of stills from the film and little else, it’ll be heartrendingly disappointing (albeit likely pretty).
Here’s hoping though. I’d love to see a really good decent-sized book, plenty of text with lots of images of the miniatures being built and well-sized reproductions of the films matte paintings, the kind of behind the scenes stuff lost to us in this age of CGI workstations. Pre-production paintings, sketches, all that stuff. Say what you like about the merits of the film itself (and hey, I’ve always had a soft spot for it) the film certainly had a sense of scope and scale that remains quite refreshing to this day. This film was made back when stating ‘The Motion Picture’ really meant something, like it was a statement of intent, and certainly dates from a time when the difference between television and film was much more pronounced than it is today.
I think this book is a great idea and could be something very special if handled right. Having Jeff Bond’s name attached makes me cautiously optimistic on that front: Jeff is a Star Trek historian whose writing has graced several Trek soundtrack albums, notably the Star Trek The Original Series complete soundtracks boxset and the 3-disc Star Trek: The Motion Picture expansion.
the ghost of 82 