10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Canceled Movie Star Trek: The God Thing
Star Trek is an enormous franchise. Spanning 50 years and over 20 properties, it has many fans around the world and has spawned millions of fanworks and become a huge influence on pop culture as a whole.
Trek wasn't always a success, however. Not only was the original series canceled after three seasons, but the first motion picture also had a troubled development history. One of the first ideas for the movie has become known as The God Thing.
10 It Pre-Dated Star Trek: The Motion Picture
In 1975, Paramount became interested in producing a Star Trek motion picture. This was six years after the cancelation of the television show that generated most of its popularity in syndication. The late-coming popularity was enough to support a movie.
Paramount wouldn't complete this mission until 1979, with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While the movie was finally produced, it left a trail of rejected movies and television shows in its wake. The God Thing is one of them.
9 It's Set After The 5 Year Mission
Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, came up with the idea for The God Thing. The movie was set after the Enterprise's first five-year mission. Most of our beloved crew has been promoted, but they're not necessarily happy in their new lives.
Tasked mostly with paperwork, they start to chafe. Montgomery Scott becomes an alcoholic, while Doctor Leonard McCoy stops treating humans and becomes a veterinarian instead. The God Thing provides the mission that brings them all back together.
8 The Story Is About The Meaning Of God
Roddenberry, a devout atheist himself, wanted to explore the meaning of God in this new movie. Reportedly, the script was to explore whether God was more than just a visitor to the Garden of Eden.
The Enterprise crew is tasked with stopping a mysterious force heading towards the Earth that claims to be God. It's a false god, in the end. Instead of being the creator of all life, it's a sentient computer, programmed by its creators from another dimension.
7 In It, Vulcans Criticized God
Instead of being promoted like his crewmen, Spock had returned to Vulcan for some time off. According to Roddenberry, the script contained a controversial scene with Spock and others on Vulcan.
In the scene, Vulcan elders discussed their negative opinion of Earth's god. They were particularly confused as to why a god would ask so many religious rituals of their followers. It seemed "insecure" to the Vulcans.
6 Paramount Quickly Rejected It
Roddenberry believed it was this scene on Vulcan that sealed the deal over at Paramount. Paramount was not going anywhere near such a controversially religious storyline. They rejected Roddenberry's idea.
According to The Hollywood Reporter's Oral History of the project, John Povill, future producer of The Motion Picture, the movie would have brought Star Trek down in flames. He believed the Christian Right would have "destroyed" it for its blasphemy.
5 Barry Diller Is The Accused Villain
Barry Diller was appointed Chairman of the Board and CEO of Paramount in 1975. He was a devout Catholic and not a particular fan of science fiction. Presumably, he disliked the script for its controversial religious content.
On top of the religion issue, Paramount studio politics reportedly also played a role in his rejection of Roddenberry's script. Diller and Roddenberry had a previous history of not getting along.
4 Roddenberry Was Proud Of His Work, Despite The Rejection
Gene Roddenberry was an optimistic man. He was devoted to humanism, the idea that there is inherent goodness in humans without supernatural or religious intervention. He created Star Trek with this philosophy in mind.
Despite the complete rejection by the studio, Roddenberry remained proud of his work, which spoke to his humanistic beliefs. He was proud enough of it to attempt to turn the script into a novel instead.
3 The Book Adaptation Was Never Completed Either
Roddenberry never finished the novel adaptation of his script. The script was so renowned that other authors tried to take up the project. After getting a few Trek novels under his belt, author Michael Jan Friedman attempted to complete the book.
But what Friedman found when he read the script was not Roddenberry's "best work". Despite insistence from Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, Friedman chose not to complete the project.
2 Most Of What We Know Comes From William Shatner
The most prolific source for all this information is William Shatner, Captain James T. Kirk himself. Shatner claims to have wandered into Roddenberry's office when he was in the middle of working on the idea for the script.
Shatner was then given a beat-by-beat retelling of Roddenberry's idea for the movie directly from the source. He has recalled this memory in his written memoirs.
1 Did Shatner Steal Elements For The Final Frontier?
Some of the core ideas and themes from The God Thing show up in Star Trek: The Final Frontier. Shatner directed the movie and had a hand in the initial storyline as well.
The Final Frontier found the Enterprise crew chasing Spock's zealot half-brother to a planet where they meet God. Unfortunately, God turns out to be simply another alien. Sound familiar?
Source: screenrant.com