Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: DeForest Kelley, George Takei, James Doohan, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, William Shatner
Continuity mistake: In the final scene on the bridge, Spock and McCoy are wearing colored arm bands which identify their departments: Spock's is orange (for Science) and McCoy's is green (for Medical). In the very last shot, Spock is wearing the green band and McCoy is wearing the orange one.
Continuity mistake: In the original series Spock mentioned that Vulcan has no moons. In the movie, when Spock is on Vulcan, he looks up and shields his eyes against the glare of the sun. When the scene changes, it is night and there are moons. (Corrected in the Director's Edition).
Revealing mistake: The shot of the Enterprise finally clearing free of the dry-dock shows a supporting pylon protruding from the starboard side of the engineering section of the starship miniature. (Corrected in the Director's Edition).
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.
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.
Spock: Each of us... At some time in our lives, turns to someone - a father, a brother, a God... And asks..."Why am I here? What was I meant to be?"
McCoy: Well Jim, I hear Chapel's an M.D. Now. So I'm gonna need a top nurse, not some doctor who'll argue every little diagnosis with me. And they probably re-designed the whole sickbay, too. I know engineers, they LOVE to change things.
McCoy: In simpler language, Captain, they drafted me!
Kirk: They didn't.
McCoy: This was your idea! This was your idea, wasn't it?
Kirk: Bones, there's a thing out there...
McCoy: Why is any object we didn't understand always called 'a thing'?
Question: When it is mentioned that Ilia is Deltan, a couple of the male Enterprise crew members (Sulu in particular) look very interested when they hear that. Why? Also, why was it necessary for her to say that she has taken an oath of celibacy?
Answer: Deltans exude an intensely potent and effective chemical substance known as pheromones, which act as signals arousing an intense sexual reaction in other species (in other ST material it's inferred that its potency is so extreme that a non-Deltan risks insanity in a sexual encounter with a Deltan). Upon entering Starfleet, Deltans must swear "an oath of celibacy" so as not to influence or take advantage of crewmembers. That is why Lt. Ilia stated that her "oath of celibacy" was on record.
Question: When Kirk and Scotty first enters the Enterprise, the hatch is numbered 5. But the computer announces that a travel pod is available at Cargo 6. Would that be considered an error?
Answer: Possibly, or there could also be another travel pod that is available at Cargo 6, and that is what is being announced.
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