Trivia: In the original cut, the man reporting from Epsilon 9 says the cloud measures "Over 82 AUs in diameter. Since an Astronomical Unit is the distance between the Earth and Sun is 92,955,807.3 miles, 82 AUs would be 7,622,376,198.6 miles. In the Collector's and Director's cuts, it has been redone as 2 AUs, or 185,911,614.6 miles.
Trivia: If you look at the Kholinar necklace Spock was to be given when he was on Vulcan it bears a striking resemblance to the Enterprise, especially when it is laying on the ground before Spock picks it up.
Trivia: A constant question during the run of all the Trek series is why Klingons look so much different from Star Trek: The Motion Picture on than they did in the original series. The real reason is the movies and later TV series had a better makeup budget. However, the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence" provide a canon answer. Klingons acquired genetically engineered human embryos left over from Earth's Eugenic Wars and used them to augment their soldiers. It worked but created a virus that threatened to annihilate the Klingon race. Dr. Phlox and a Klingon doctor found a cure, but it resulted in all Klingons becoming far more human in appearance. Sometime between these episodes and the first Trek movie a cure was found, returning the Klingons to their present day "ridged-head" appearance.
Trivia: This was the first motion picture to be promoted by a McDonald's Happy Meal.
Trivia: The film was originally the pilot for a TV series, "Star Trek II." The series was aborted shortly before production began, and was re-written as "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."
Trivia: To date, this is the only Star Trek movie not to use the signature fanfare tune from the original TV series (possibly because, when played real fast, Jerry Goldsmith's new theme for the movie already sounds a bit like it). However, the longer main portion of the original series theme (the opera singer's part in the TV intro) does make a few appearances in the score.
Suggested correction: Star Trek: Discovery establishes that not all Klingons were affected by the Augment virus. Therefore, the Klingons in Star Trek: The Motion Picture were not cured at all but in fact never contracted the virus. In time, the survivors of the Augment virus did regain their ridges, as shown with Kor, Kang, and Koloth in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before anyone else brings it up, the hairless look of the Klingons in Star Trek Discovery season 1 was a ritual they underwent when going to war, a ritual that fell out of favor in the intervening years. Star Trek Discovery season 2 shows Klingons with hair.