Star Trek The Motion Picture 45th Anniversary Book Club

[Tallguy]

Chapter Twenty - Meet the New Ilia

Kirk cracked the door open slowly until they could peer into what seemed to be an empty cabin.

How does one do this with a Star Trek door?

GR didn't get his nude scene in the movie. He objected strenuously to Peris Khambatta wearing a body stocking even though no nudity was going to be seen on screen. Then he objected that the body stocking was not detailed enough. Robert Wise shot him down on all counts.

But he certainly gets his scene here.

"Vejur". Ah good. I can stop typing Intruder. On the original soundtrack LP it is spelled Vejur. On the expanded CDs the film track is spelled V'Ger while the original track it is still Vejur.

Kirk had difficulty believing that his ears had heard correctly. The Creator? The considerable astonishment on Spock’s features said he must have heard these same words, too.

In a remarkable twist it turns out that Vejur is seeking Darth Vader.

“Carbon-based units?” the security guard said, feeling some ominous undertone. “Humans, Ensign Chavez,” McCoy said dryly. “Us.”

I always liked this as a manner of exposition. Kelley's delivery is also good in the film.

And I'm always amused when you get a name switch like this. Chavez / Perez. Just make it Spanish, OK?

“The examination is a normal function,” Kirk said with his old resourcefulness.

Well, it's true. It is his old resourcefulness.

Kirk hesitated, struck with the thought that his own experience might be superior in this area, too. Unlike Decker, he had no emotional attachment to the Deltan navigator—and a mechanical replica of the navigator’s body would mean even less to him. But even as Kirk was telling himself this, he realized that the question here was not technique. It must be Decker for the simple reason that the real Ilia had loved this young man—sexual technique always came out a poor runner-up in any race with love.

"We need to contact the alien vessel through this replica of our navigator. Clearly this calls for sex. And I'm James Kirk!" Ahhh, Gene.

Kirk turned to find Spock looking troubled. The Vulcan had come aboard with a mask of utter impassivity, but events had been ripping powerfully at it. “Spock?” Kirk asked.

I love Nimoy's performance in this scene. His face is so sour. When he says "Fascinating. Not 'Decker Unit'" he is so wearied by the whole thing. "I'm looking for the meaning of existence and now I have to deal with this lovey-dovey garbage. This is just effing swell."

Nimoy certainly had an anger to him in TOS but his face was usually pretty passive. Here he is just so annoyed if not outright pissed off.

“I am uneasy with this being our only hope of dealing with the Intruders.” For a second the Vulcan’s words hung in the air. Then he seemed to pull his mask back into place and left.
Kirk started to call after him. But, no; he had to trust his people to know their own jobs and do them. Whatever Spock had meant by that statement, Kirk would know at the appropriate time.

Foreshadowing! Your clue to quality literature!

---

I also don't understand what point you think you're making. It's an utterly trivial detail that doesn't alter the process I've described in any significant way.

This is an entity that is so unfeeling and has so little disregard for other "life" that if its simple hail is not reciprocated instantly it will destroy you. But after a reply is received then it gets all coy and patient but still curious and waits to see if the ship that was smart enough to reply comes knocking. Which given the cloud's lethality seems it would not happen often.

One might wonder in retrospect if Epsilon Nine's sensor probes had zero to do with it being destroyed. It just didn't answer Vejur's hail.

The book does not have this line after the first attack: "Captain, we are obviously confronted by a highly advanced mentality. Yet they cannot understand who we are or what we want." This is even though the Enterprise has told them who they are and what they want.

This is why I am so curious about Vejur's untranslated message. It clearly finds the Enterprise's messages unintelligible. What would the Enterprise make of Vejur's message?

 

[Christopher]

This is an entity that is so unfeeling and has so little disregard for other "life" that if its simple hail is not reciprocated instantly it will destroy you. But after a reply is received then it gets all coy and patient but still curious and waits to see if the ship that was smart enough to reply comes knocking. Which given the cloud's lethality seems it would not happen often.

You're reading too much emotion into it. V'Ger is a science probe. It doesn't just destroy things, it destructively scans them to store their data to deliver to its Creator. (This implies some kind of quantum-level scanning, since quantum information cannot be replicated due to conservation laws, and thus scanning an object on a quantum level requires removing its quantum state information from its particles, i.e. destroying the object they make up.) With routine items, i.e. those that don't reply intelligently to hails, merely scanning and storing their data is enough. V'Ger doesn't comprehend that it's killing anything, because it doesn't comprehend that "carbon units" are life forms. So there is no malicious or aggressive intent. As far as it's concerned, it's just taking extremely detailed photos for its album.

But entities that do respond to hails, that show signs of intelligent behavior, need to be handled differently, since behavior is an ongoing process and can't be documented simply by capturing the subject's instantaneous physical state. Behavior must be observed. So V'Ger passively observed the ship's behavior as it approached, and then when it was at close range, it proceeded to the next step, sending a probe to gather information about the subject and its communication protocols, whereupon it could then use that data to formulate a method for opening communication (i.e. the Ilia Probe). It isn't "coy," it's methodical scientific process, step by step.

The book does not have this line after the first attack: "Captain, we are obviously confronted by a highly advanced mentality. Yet they cannot understand who we are or what we want." This is even though the Enterprise has told them who they are and what they want.

V'Ger is aware of them, but it doesn't realize they're people. It thinks the ship is the living entity and the "carbon units" are just its maintenance drones or immune cells or some peripheral part of its operation. Understanding is not just about language, it's about defining concepts the same way. Being able to translate what someone says won't bring understanding if you're filtering it through a completely different set of assumptions (e.g. that only machines are living things). Both sides will take their own assumptions for granted, and thus they won't understand each other until they realize their assumptions disagree and start taking that difference into account.

This is why I am so curious about Vejur's untranslated message. It clearly finds the Enterprise's messages unintelligible. What would the Enterprise make of Vejur's message?

Again: Spock did translate the message, but it was simply a hail, a request for identification, as earlier script drafts make clear. Spock sent back a response to the hail in the same format, which V'Ger did indeed find intelligible as confirmation that an intelligent life form (which it presumed to be the ship itself) had gotten its message and replied.

 

[David cgc]

But entities that do respond to hails, that show signs of intelligent behavior, need to be handled differently, since behavior is an ongoing process and can't be documented simply by capturing the subject's instantaneous physical state. Behavior must be observed. So V'Ger passively observed the ship's behavior as it approached, and then when it was at close range, it proceeded to the next step, sending a probe to gather information about the subject and its communication protocols, whereupon it could then use that data to formulate a method for opening communication (i.e. the Ilia Probe). It isn't "coy," it's methodical scientific process, step by step.

That does raise further questions, though. V'Ger didn't begin actively examining the ship until it had come up right to its face and planted itself there. What if a ship was just passing through and successfully answered V'Ger's challenge message before going on its way, or a planet or space station returned the hail that physically couldn't present itself to V'Ger? Does V'Ger pursue it, or stop to gobble it up, and it just didn't bother because it could tell the Enterprise was coming up to it on its own?

 

[Christopher]

That does raise further questions, though. V'Ger didn't begin actively examining the ship until it had come up right to its face and planted itself there. What if a ship was just passing through and successfully answered V'Ger's challenge message before going on its way, or a planet or space station returned the hail that physically couldn't present itself to V'Ger? Does V'Ger pursue it, or stop to gobble it up, and it just didn't bother because it could tell the Enterprise was coming up to it on its own?

As I said, the first step is observation. Active intervention comes after observations are gathered and assessed. Since the ship was closing in on it anyway, V'Ger didn't have to take any other steps to get it close.

And really, it's hard to imagine a scenario where a ship is "just passing through." If a gigantic energy cloud astronomical units wide generated by an object with 12-power energy readings is barrelling through your territory at warp 7, you're not just gonna shrug it off and continue on to the mall or wherever. Anyone that detects and answers the hail rather than just running for the hills is presumably going to be there to make active contact.

Under normal circumstances, during V'Ger's "learn all that is learnable" tour, I can imagine it would've stopped at a planet or station that made contact, in order to fulfill its mission to learn. At this point, though, it had found Earth and was eager to get there and fulfill its programmed imperative to deliver its data to the Creator, so I doubt it would've stopped for anything.

 

[Commander Troi]

Poor Decker! I really feel for him here. I love Kirk realizing that nipples pointed at him means she's facing him. BTDT

 

[Tallguy]

Chapter Twenty-One - Games
The Enterprise is trying to launch messages back to Starfleet and getting smacked around by Vejur for its trouble. So I guess Vejur is not above giving a warning. (Although as I've mentioned Spock's line about a warning presupposing a feeling - compassion - which Vejur clearly lacks is not in this book.)

We also learn that Our Heroes are not speaking English. (I'm assuming that "old English" is not literally "Old English".) Does English have a good reputation for being useful to swear in? I mean, people do it, but is it quality profanity compared to other languages?

GR continues to wrap up the "is Kirk ready to be captain again" story line with Bones welcoming Kirk back as captain and explaining why. (He sent Decker to fool around with the Ilia probe rather than doing it himself.) This also gives Kirk a moment to remember that he saw Ilia naked.

While Decker is trying to interact with the Ilia probe he starts thinking "What would Kirk be doing?" Shatner gets a lot of grief for supposedly always putting Kirk in the center of action or solutions that he doesn't belong because Shatner has a Shatner sized ego. Guess what kids, it wasn't just Shatner. This, folks, is the blueprint for the show as put down by The Great Bird of the Galaxy himself.

The game that Decker and Ilia are playing is called "vitronic-B". I have no idea what "vitronic" means but there is apparently a company using it as a brand name.

Spock is up to something.

---

Under normal circumstances, during V'Ger's "learn all that is learnable" tour, I can imagine it would've stopped at a planet or station that made contact, in order to fulfill its mission to learn.

We will learn that Vejur after its entire voyage still has never considered anything other than machine life to be worth consideration of anything other than data storage. So either Vejur was running into lots more machine planets (who also did not enlighten Vejur of the worth of non-machine life) or there was a whole lot of zappy storage going on.

Vejur's mission was "learn all that is learnable". (I would like to see that code, myself.) It didn't say anything about the state that the learned thing had to be in afterwards.

 

[David cgc]

While Decker is trying to interact with the Ilia probe he starts thinking "What would Kirk be doing?" Shatner gets a lot of grief for supposedly always putting Kirk in the center of action or solutions that he doesn't belong because Shatner has a Shatner sized ego. Guess what kids, it wasn't just Shatner. This, folks, is the blueprint for the show as put down by The Great Bird of the Galaxy himself.

I remember seeing someone talk about how the Star Trek formula was that the other characters could all explain the problem and walk right up to the solution, but Captain Kirk had to be the one to actually say it out loud. I pretty much immediately noticed that a textbook example is the end of Star Trek Beyond where Spock points out that the swarm ships have to be coordinating, and he, Uhura, and Scotty round-robin about until Kirk finally suggests jamming their radio signals using... radio! (It's not the cleverest execution of the trope.) Contrast that with TUC, where Kirk just looks back and forth between Spock and Uhura talking about engine exhausts and tailpipes before Spock drafts McCoy and just leaves, with Kirk never saying anything.

Like Kirk himself, I suspect Shatner's reputation has grown in the retelling.

 

[Christopher]

We also learn that Our Heroes are not speaking English. (I'm assuming that "old English" is not literally "Old English".)

TOS stated often enough that they spoke English, and 20th-century Americans like John Christopher and Edith Keeler could always understand their speech. But then, GR implied in this very book that TOS was just an inaccurate dramatization of the real thing.

While Decker is trying to interact with the Ilia probe he starts thinking "What would Kirk be doing?" Shatner gets a lot of grief for supposedly always putting Kirk in the center of action or solutions that he doesn't belong because Shatner has a Shatner sized ego. Guess what kids, it wasn't just Shatner. This, folks, is the blueprint for the show as put down by The Great Bird of the Galaxy himself.

That's just the storytelling style of '60s-'70s TV, which often tended to revolve around one or two dominant lead characters instead of an ensemble. It's not about anybody's ego, it's just the format the show used, strongly centered on the captain as the main character.

The game that Decker and Ilia are playing is called "vitronic-B". I have no idea what "vitronic" means but there is apparently a company using it as a brand name.

Since the game is electronically reading mental patterns, I'd guess maybe it's from "vita-" as in life (like reading vital signs), or something like that.

We will learn that Vejur after its entire voyage still has never considered anything other than machine life to be worth consideration of anything other than data storage. So either Vejur was running into lots more machine planets (who also did not enlighten Vejur of the worth of non-machine life) or there was a whole lot of zappy storage going on.

No doubt the latter. Although it's hard to believe Spock was the first person ever to figure out V'Ger's comm protocols. Maybe there were some "ships passing in the night" exchanges that didn't go beyond brief communication. Maybe V'Ger was aware that some carbon units behaved as if they considered themselves intelligent and living, but dismissed it as mere mimicry. ("Aww, look! Fluffy thinks he's people!")

Vejur's mission was "learn all that is learnable". (I would like to see that code, myself.) It didn't say anything about the state that the learned thing had to be in afterwards.

Exactly. V'Ger is a space probe at heart, built to record and store data for later transmission.

 

[Commander Troi]

I love where "Ilia" is looking at the various Enterprises and thinks they're the evolution of one ship. And then it scares the shit out of Decker. I don't think he realized (yet) how much info he got there.

 

[Tallguy]

Chapter Twenty-Two - So It's Mechanical!
Three hours from Earth. I should have been keeping a timeline. Maybe later.

This is one of those chapters where a lot of info is packed into a scene with not that much going on.

“You’ve boosted our signals?” “As high as I dare, sir. But since Starfleet’s transmitters put out about ten times our signal strength . . . ”
“I want a booster put on our location beacon, too. Fast!”
Uhura suddenly understood. There was a hint of a professional compliment in the look she gave Kirk as she went to work.

I think we were just talking about this pattern yesterday. The crew provides the pieces and Kirk puts them together.

Kirk's dejection that "We're all doomed and it's all my fault" is very Hornblower.

What is the point of Vejur blocking transmissions? It has a malevolence to it that does not seem motivated. It's just Vejur being a jerk. "I don't know what you are but I don't want you talking to your friends."

She had remembered Ilia once mentioning that head ornaments like this played some role in the life of a Deltan female.

This point has been bugging me since I was short. WHEN would Ilia have mentioned this. Did Chapel know Ilia? You wouldn't refer to yesterday as once. This feels like the kind of detail that would be in a series of regulars rather than with a new crew and with a very recent addition to that crew.

Now I want to know Ilia's timeline. How long ago had Decker been on Delta? Because an earlier implication is that Deltans do not usually leave their world but Ilia did because someone she loved was in space. So how long does it take to leave, become an officer and then become the senior navigator?

Previously:

“Our navigator, Ilia . . . the carbon unit whose form you’ve taken, she was very interested in the history of humanity getting into space. Her own race had the knowledge to do it long ago but they decided to instead concentrate on what might be called inner space.”
“Ilia’s race, the Deltans, are highly evolved in ways of finding adventure and gratification within themselves,” continued Decker. “But Ilia still felt the challenge of space. Her people said she was following a heartcall meaning that space interested her because someone she loved also was . . . ”

And yet there are enough Deltans in Starfleet to be considered the fleet's preeminent navigators?

“Decker,” said McCoy, “we’re not suggesting that you mate with the thing. . . .”

Well I'm glad somebody is not suggesting that. (And why is any object we don't understand...)

Decker was reminding them that there were very practical reasons for requiring “celibacy oaths” of Deltans serving on Starfleet vessels. Part of the problem was that humans had difficulty difficulty settling for routine earthy sex afterward. Even more critical, however, was the fact that the long evolvement of the Deltan race had not only heightened their sensuality but had also resulted in the sex act becoming a complete union in which both body and mind were shared. Deltans, of course, found this natural and pleasant, but the experience of actually becoming part of another person’s mind almost always incapacitated the human partner.

Ah, Gene.

When Decker had met Ilia on her home planet, he had no idea what the headbands symbolized. In his abysmal ignorance of Deltan customs, he had bought it for her, thinking it merely a pretty ornament. And she had accepted it, marking him as hers—and he would have been if he had not run.

Does that sound like a Riker move or what? (Not just the running part.)

McCoy seems oddly concerned that this is "a mechanism" and that it can't have a consciousness. He knows the mechanics of how exactly the probe has duplicated Ilia and the whole point of this is to find out that's she's a precise and potentially living duplicate (as Decker points out). It almost comes across as "Hey man, that's weird." Decker's own hopes notwithstanding he has the more logical assessment.

And there is a breakthrough. Well, this certainly wasn't in the film.

I'll probably be taking a break for New Years Day. Happy New Year!

I love where "Ilia" is looking at the various Enterprises and thinks they're the evolution of one ship. And then it scares the shit out of Decker. I don't think he realized (yet) how much info he got there.

His response to "data patterns" in the film always seemed very frightened.

 

[Christopher]

What is the point of Vejur blocking transmissions? It has a malevolence to it that does not seem motivated. It's just Vejur being a jerk. "I don't know what you are but I don't want you talking to your friends."

You missed the sentence "The alien vessel's powerfield was putting a wall of intense static between themselves and Starfleet's transceivers." It wasn't a deliberate act, it was just interference from the gigantic energy cloud outside. I'd imagine the physical barrier of V'Ger's hull would interfere too. If you lose your GPS signal when you drive through a tunnel in a thunderstorm, the tunnel and the storm are not conspiring against you.

 

[Commander Troi]

This point has been bugging me since I was short. WHEN would Ilia have mentioned this. Did Chapel know Ilia?

You were never short. Seriously, good question.

 

[DonIago]

Last time I watched TMP (if not earlier) I found myself wondering this as well.

 

[Airin]

Well I'm glad somebody is not suggesting that. (And why is any object we don't understand...)

Ironic when you remember that, not so long ago, McCoy was trying to convince Cochrane that there was nothing wrong about his relationship with the Companion...

I wonder why a Deltan mating with a human would be so damaging for the human's mind. If the problem is both minds merging, wouldn't a Vulcan mind-meld be worse? (or at least just as bad?).

 

[DonIago]

You missed the sentence "The alien vessel's powerfield was putting a wall of intense static between themselves and Starfleet's transceivers." It wasn't a deliberate act, it was just interference from the gigantic energy cloud outside. I'd imagine the physical barrier of V'Ger's hull would interfere too. If you lose your GPS signal when you drive through a tunnel in a thunderstorm, the tunnel and the storm are not conspiring against you.

That's exactly what the tunnel and the storm want you to think!

(goes outside to yell at clouds)

 

[Christopher]

I wonder why a Deltan mating with a human would be so damaging for the human's mind. If the problem is both minds merging, wouldn't a Vulcan mind-meld be worse? (or at least just as bad?).

Because humans are too sexually and emotionally immature to handle it, supposedly. I delved into this some in DTI: Watching the Clock and Rise of the Federation: Uncertain Logic, exploring the psychological mechanism behind it. Partly the sex is so good and intense that it's addictive to a human, partly the unitive experience can be so intense that it results in a dissociation from one's sense of self.

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

So, I've had a few thoughts as I've been reading the most recent posts and chapters over the last few days. Some of these are more general comments, not really things that relate specifically to the events of the novel and TMP.

First, while I do sometimes feel that the plot of TMP is much too close to "The Changeling," there are some key differences which I think are sometimes underappreciated. "The Changeling" itself generally shares it's plot with at least three other TOS episodes (and all four are from the second season, oddly enough) - "The Doomsday Machine," "Obsession," and "The Immunity System." These all have the basic plot of "something really strange and dangerous has invaded our space and must be stopped." Like these other episodes, particularly "Obsession," TMP also mixes strong character-driven elements with the basic plot.

However, TMP also has a clear difference from the four television episodes. While those all do end with the danger being destroyed, TMP gets resolved by successfully communicating with the intruder and establishing a relationship. In this, it easily has as much in common with episodes like "Arena" and "The Devil in the Dark" as it does with "The Changeling." I would argue that this type of story is much more in keeping with the overall messages and themes of Star Trek than the monster/machine of the week stories like "The Changeling."

Second, while I agree that there's some inconsistencies in the way the novel presents the Deltans, it also touches on a conundrum that has been with Star Trek since the beginning, and continues to be with it for the foreseeable future. That is, if the Federation is made up of hundreds of worlds, all of whom should be represented in Starfleet, how can this be shown when we're limited to human actors and special effects which, especially in the earlier series, were often unconvincing. Realistically, there should be multiple alien members of the crew in addition to Spock, but he's the only one we see. The later series manage to be a bit better in this regard, but often it's only by including aliens who look just like humans (Deanna Troi) or just like humans except for some facial bumps or markings on their skin (Kira, Dax, and too many aliens of the week to count). Obviously, much of this is simply the reality of television productions, and I think clearly Star Trek has done the best it can within the limitations for a very long time.

 

[Firebird]

I would guess that those omitted scenes involved Ilia trying to come to Spock's rescue and getting in the way, since that seems to be the only way to interpret the sequence of events.

Nope. The omitted scenes per Majel Barrent's copy of the script (https://web.archive.org/web/2018123...dia/vault/Script-StarTrekTheMotionPicture.pdf , pages 72-74) indicate that there were to be multiple probes appearing around the ship, and Spock observing they actively communicate back-and-forth with Vejur.

 

[Christopher]

However, TMP also has a clear difference from the four television episodes. While those all do end with the danger being destroyed, TMP gets resolved by successfully communicating with the intruder and establishing a relationship. In this, it easily has as much in common with episodes like "Arena" and "The Devil in the Dark" as it does with "The Changeling."

That's another thing that makes TMP resemble "One of Our Planets is Missing" more than "The Changeling."

Your observation underlines something KRAD pointed out in his Tor (now Reactor) rewatches -- that for all that the second season of TOS tends to get praised as its best, it had a disquieting tendency to tell stories where the solution was brute force and blowing things up rather than negotiation or understanding. While the third season is legitimately considered the weakest season, it did a better job of telling stories where the crisis was resolved with talking or helping rather than shooting things.

Second, while I agree that there's some inconsistencies in the way the novel presents the Deltans, it also touches on a conundrum that has been with Star Trek since the beginning, and continues to be with it for the foreseeable future. That is, if the Federation is made up of hundreds of worlds, all of whom should be represented in Starfleet, how can this be shown when we're limited to human actors and special effects which, especially in the earlier series, were often unconvincing. Realistically, there should be multiple alien members of the crew in addition to Spock, but he's the only one we see. The later series manage to be a bit better in this regard, but often it's only by including aliens who look just like humans (Deanna Troi) or just like humans except for some facial bumps or markings on their skin (Kira, Dax, and too many aliens of the week to count). Obviously, much of this is simply the reality of television productions, and I think clearly Star Trek has done the best it can within the limitations for a very long time.

Human-looking aliens are extremely common in older SFTV and film -- shows like Space: 1999, Buck Rogers, and Blake's 7 had plenty, for instance -- but they're also surprisingly common in older prose and comics SF where budget wasn't a factor. (Not just older ones -- the "humans" in Iain M. Banks's Culture series are actually several species of humanoid aliens that resemble us almost exactly through convergent evolution.) Some writers (like me) enjoy exploring alienness, but others just use aliens as allegories for stories about human relationships and concerns.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the Enterprise was originally conceived as an Earth ship. It appears that Roddenberry's original idea was based on the human interstellar empires you found in a lot of the prose fiction he'd grown up with, where aliens were just outsiders humans dealt with or occasionally subject nations. ("The Conscience of the King" has that odd reference to Vulcan being conquered -- by Earth, perhaps?) The idea of the Federation evolved gradually, perhaps generated largely by Gene L. Coon, since the only first-season to use it were his. The first-season writers' guide has a reference to "Federated commerce," but in a passage referring to assistance to Earth colonies. Vulcan isn't explicitly established as a Federation member until "Errand of Mercy," and the idea that the Federation is really a multispecies government, rather than an Earth Federation with a token alien member world or two, isn't established until "Journey to Babel." Although that episode implied that it was a fairly loose alliance of members who pursued their own separate policies and interests and needed to be convinced to agree on a collective policy.

 

[Tallguy]

Chapter Twenty-Three - Spock Walk
Spock takes matters into his hands. Of course, so did Decker. (Ba dum dum!)

He hit reverse thrust for just the instant necessary to pass behind a swarm of a different kind of object, tiny bee-like glowing things reminiscent of the glowing device embedded in the Ilia-probe’s throat.

I just realized. There has been no discussion of the Ilia probe sensor in this book.

When she first appears: "But it almost certainly was Ilia—except that there was some sort of a glowing light from the throat. . . ." That was it. No mention of it from Spock, no supposition about what it might be. But now here GR is trying to make a tie-in between the Vejur mechanisms and this detail about Ilia.

Obviously the scope and storytelling of 2001: A Space Odyssey is never far from this film. But this also feels like the book version of David Bowman's travels as opposed to the film.

There is also no representation of Ilia that Spock encounters here. Spock doesn't even really decide to mind meld (even though this is why he travelled here to begin with). He crashes into a wall of the crystals and feels that it is alive. He takes off his glove (!) and realizes that the whole vessel is Vejur and that Vejur is a machine.

Spock (GR) does not seem to give the machine planet independent origin. (Perhaps just as Vejur will be unable to comprehend being created by carbon life Spock is unable to comprehend machines evolving without it.)

The machines have tended the planet for so long that their own beginnings have been forgotten. Living machines capable of adapting to their changing, cooling world which they continue to protect as they were programmed to do so many eons ago . . .

This is an interesting chapter to see knowing how late in the production this whole sequence was created. It's a complete replacement for another scene that had Kirk and Spock exploring Vejur together which was not working from a technical standpoint at all and it was decided it wasn't working from a storytelling point of view either. If I understand the lore correctly this sequence was created by Douglas Trumbull. I don't recall if he worked with any of the writers. I don't think he just scuttled off and then came back to Wise and said "Ta da!" (OK, I really have to finish Return to Tomorrow.) But it was largely driven by him.

Unlike 2001: ASO where the Stargate sequence kind of detaches from the narrative of the story and moves into pure spectacle (and goes on for a long time), this scene is not only very story driven, is visually and emotionally engaging, and is one of the cornerstones of the entire film! (This is also one of the highlights of the musical score!)

That said, I'm not certain that Roddenberry's take on this scene captures all of that. Unlike the Enterprise flyaround which narratively is just "Scott takes Kirk to the ship" there is a lot going on here. And while the button of the chapter is the reveal that "this is all Vejur and Vejur is a machine" I'm not sure it lands the same. (Part of this might be that I know Vejur is a machine like I know my hand has five fingers and that Rosebud is a sled.)

I do like Spock's description of the inner Vejur chambers as not simply "projection" or "illusion" (Zounds! It's a holodeck episode after all!) but as a "reality at some level that his own limited mind could not comprehend". I don't know what that means but it sounds awesome.

---

@TheUsualSuspect - What a terrific take. (And yes, @Christopher add One of Our Planets into the mix.) TMP is in many many ways the most Star Trek film.

Realistically, there should be multiple alien members of the crew in addition to Spock, but he's the only one we see.

IIRC there were later additions to the writer's guide (maybe I'm getting this from The Making Of?) that indicated that for various environmental and sociological (and budgetary) reasons that the ships would be largely crewed by a single species. (Such as the Intrepid.) This is rather undermined by Journey to Babel where you have a Star Wars cantina of Federation members all running around the Enterprise quite comfortably.

There are several indications in TOS and TAS that Spock is the only non-human on board.

Then we have the rec deck scene in this film where we now say "No, we have lots of non-human crew! Look fast because you're not going to see them again!"