Making of TMP Special

[KirkPicard]

I wanted to share a TMP TV Special that discovered in the course of my internet travels. Evidently, this aired sometime in '79 and features on-set filming and even footage of human Persis transforming into the Deltan Ilia. The glorious strains of Jerry Goldmith's masterpiece score can be heard throughout. None of the footage appears on either the DVD/Blu ray release as extras.

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyCR_qhL8Kc
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vqI36gKT30&feature=related

 

[ST-One]

A nice find.

Those explosion-test with the TOS-like Klingon ships... I wonder if those were test for the never realised battle which was planed to take place after V'ger was gone.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I really appreciate you posting a link to this 10 minute behind-the-scenes video.
Seeing Persis Khambatta getting her hair cut off for her character Lt. Ilia was amazing.
Perhaps the ST:TMP Director's Edition Blu-ray released circa 2014 will have this on it? Hopefully retelecine'd from the 16mm film print.

Has anyone seen this before? Where?
Does anyone know if the 30 minute special feature A Bold New Enterprise that details the production of the film itself from the ST:TMP The Director's Edition 2001 DVD had any of this same 16mm footage on it?
It is possible Paramount's lawyers will have this Youtube video taken down but I hope not.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Nice find!

As ridiculous looking as some of the makeup and costuming in the film was, it's far worse when seen backstage.

 

[Stardate]

Nice videos. My favorite part is with Persis being shaved. I remember watching ST:TMP commentary by Wise when he fondly remembered how emotional Persis got when they had to cut her hair for Illia part. So i enjoy watching this videos.

 

[Maurice]

A nice find.

Those explosion-test with the TOS-like Klingon ships... I wonder if those were test for the never realised battle which was planed to take place after V'ger was gone.

No. The never-realized-battle was an idea of Andy Probert's that was never part of the script. It was a "what if we did this" idea only.

As to the explosions, early storyboards from the film depicted the Klingons being blown apart more traditionally. It's logical to assume this test footage was from the ASTRA (Able) days and not after Trumbull took over.

One thing that made me smile was at about 4:10 you can see the late Michael Minor working on the matte concepts for Vulcan. RIP Michael.

 

[ST-One]

No. The never-realized-battle was an idea of Andy Probert's that was never part of the script. It was a "what if we did this" idea only.

Ah, I didn't know this was just his idea. Thanks for the info.

 

[Christopher]

A fascinating, invaluable find. There's actually Memory Wall footage in there, sort of! Plus some rare close-ups of the alien crew masks and revealing footage of how the V'Ger probe scene was shot. And some great behind-the-scenes of the drydock sequence. Does anyone know who the specific people were in those shots?

There's at least one error, though; the narration mis-identifies the Centroplex station as Epsilon 9.

Aww, Persis looked so sad getting her hair shaved off! But she seemed happy with the final result, and who can blame her? Few women have ever pulled off the bald look so gorgeously.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Has anyone seen this before? Where?

I haven't watched the link yet, but it sounds like the documentary mentioned by Susan Sackett in her book, "The Making of ST:TMP". (Update: Yep! This is it!)

We had Bjo Trimble as guest at a 1984 SF media convention called "Medtrek II" - and we asked her to bring Gene Roddenberry's personal copy of this doco to show as an "Australian exclusive" screening during her talk. Which she did! Good ol' Bjo! I consider it one of my best ideas. (She tried to get us the b/w "The Cage", too, but GR wouldn't part with that one.)

At her next convention, "Eccentricon" (1987), Bjo came fresh from a visit to the set of TNG's "Encounter at Farpoint". At that point, the only pics we'd seen were the small reproductions of the actors' 8x10 photos (not the characters, just the actors) that had been in "Starlog". While we interviewed Bjo, I stuck a pen in her hand and she sketched us an exclusive look at a Season One TNG uniform!

Does anyone know if the 30 minute special feature A Bold New Enterprise that details the production of the film itself from the ST:TMP The Director's Edition 2001 DVD had any of this same 16mm footage on it?

Nope. Definitely not the same stuff.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

We had Bjo Trimble as guest at a 1984 SF media convention called "Medtrek II" - and we asked her to bring Gene Roddenberry's personal copy of this doco to show as an "Australian exclusive" screening during her talk. Which she did!

So Roddenberry's estate has it and we can expect to see it in this DVD/Blu-ray project:
Roddenberry Prods. docu. series from 500 hours of BTSover 20 years
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=94349

 

[Therin of Andor]

Plus some rare close-ups of the alien crew masks...

There's at least one error, though

Yeah, and while the breathing-masked Zaranites are correctly identified, a later shot of one without the breathing mask is called the K'Normian. (Apart from two tiny K'Normian miniature RPG figures in 1980, our first sighting of a K'Normian was in a magazine TMP retrospective in the 90s.)

 

[KirkPicard]

Imagine if Art Asylum produced some TMP alien action figures? Only Kirk/Spock from TMP have been produced so far. I was really enthralled by the behind the scenes footage of the Magicam Enterprise model.

 

[trevanian]

A nice find.

Those explosion-test with the TOS-like Klingon ships... I wonder if those were test for the never realised battle which was planed to take place after V'ger was gone.

No those are from Abel's 16mm pyro tests ... he intended to blow up the models during the opening when they get taken by vger. Doesn't really make sense given they are getting absorbed, but there you go.

 

[Data Holmes]

A nice find.

Those explosion-test with the TOS-like Klingon ships... I wonder if those were test for the never realised battle which was planed to take place after V'ger was gone.

No those are from Abel's 16mm pyro tests ... he intended to blow up the models during the opening when they get taken by vger. Doesn't really make sense given they are getting absorbed, but there you go.

Seems like a lot of left hand not knowing what right hand is doing happened alot during the production of TMP.

 

[trevanian]

A nice find.

Those explosion-test with the TOS-like Klingon ships... I wonder if those were test for the never realised battle which was planed to take place after V'ger was gone.

No those are from Abel's 16mm pyro tests ... he intended to blow up the models during the opening when they get taken by vger. Doesn't really make sense given they are getting absorbed, but there you go.

Seems like a lot of left hand not knowing what right hand is doing happened alot during the production of TMP.

Yeah, but a couple of the fingers on one hand were pretty sharp. Con Pederson was doing a kind of 'light sculpture' that would be animated as the bridge probe, and the guy I talked with who was assisting him could barely describe it except to say that 20 years later it still seemed like it would have been a great scene. And this guy went on to work on Trumbull's team, assisting the matte painters, and even with that experience, he was still high on Pederson's work. Wasn't so high on a lot of other Abel people, who were ripSNORTING along in one of the buildings.

 

[Anticitizen]

Did the head shaving scene seem eerily similar to the drydock flyby sequence to anyone else?

Man, Persis was a hottie. They should've left her hair on. And had her play a Vulcan. In a bikini.

 

[Search4]

My Drydock!

This is a great treat, thank you for finding it.

 

[Basill]

Quite a gem there. I'm all about the sets, and I just love getting to see even the tiniest bit of that behind the scenes stuff. They even had some nice shots of familiar scenes from different angles, which is always a plus.