Good point. If the original idea for STV had been realized, a lot of us would be screaming about a respected science fiction series presenting the Judeo-Christian entities of God and Satan as real, living beings.
Doug
Are there any SPECIAL EFFECTS that you actually like in TFF?
- Thread starter Phantassm
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Good point. If the original idea for STV had been realized, a lot of us would be screaming about a respected science fiction series presenting the Judeo-Christian entities of God and Satan as real, living beings.
Doug
Makes me think that Stargate has turned every God there is in human history into aliens, but not the Christian God. Hm...
Which would be nothing next to the screams of protest from religious groups if the movie had portrayed God and Satan as the same being. That was what the studio was worried about.
Nimoy never demanded to direct Star Trek III. He simply suggested/asked after Paramount asked him in what capacity would he liked to be involved in the making of the film and they gave him the greenlight.
It always surprises me how readily they agreed to it, given how little experience he had as a director.
Well, he had already watched how it's done countless times, directed three TV episodes himself, he probably had a good plan, and it was at that time the only chance to get the names "Star Trek III" and "Leonard Nimoy" connected. They probably feared that a movie without Nimoy at all would bomb.
If you think that, then ST Empire Strikes Back, Terminator II, Blade Runner, Minority Report, I, Robot, Matrix, etc ALL should have been nominated for best picture right? It just doesn't work that way.
RAMA
Because originally it was the REAL Christian "God". Shatner changed it to an alien because of GR's criticisms, but he thought it diluted his story.....Roddenberry's story dealing with God in the 70s was actually a much better idea. I'd prefer that they all pretty much leave that idea alone.
http://www.well.com/~sjroby/godthing.html
RAMA
^ Exactly. That WAS what The God Thing said.
Looks like Gene had no problem with promoting HIS religion (or lack thereof)...
Then again, not even TGT was a threat. Just because an alien says - even thinks - it is God, doesn't mean it actually IS.
Looks like Gene had no problem with promoting HIS religion (or lack thereof)...
Then again, not even TGT was a threat. Just because an alien says - even thinks - it is God, doesn't mean it actually IS.
I'm pretty sure it was changed because the studio and the producers were uneasy with the idea of confronting religion directly. Remember, Roddenberry was only an "executive consultant" on the post-TMP films -- which means that he was merely an advisor, not a direct participant in the production, and all he could do was make non-binding suggestions. Of all the people who had influence over shaping the story, Roddenberry was way, way down the list.
As I recall, pretty much everyone involved with the production was telling Shatner that it was a bad idea to do a story about God. If it actually were God, it would be way too controversial, so it would have to be a fake "God" and there'd be no real payoff. But Shatner stuck to his guns and they had to try to make it work. Which it didn't.
The silly thing is that they didn't go through the library of stock shots from the previous films to help beef up the anemic effects they had. There are a number of flyby shots of the E from TMP that would have worked (and are blurry enough where you wouldn't notice the missing -A), and several of the TSFS Klingon BOP effects could have been flopped and reused.
I think that Paramount had a really good working relationship with Nimoy. He was always a professional and gentlemen so I can see their willingness to give him a try and like someone said they most likely didn't want to go ahead with another film without him.
^Well, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same God, they just differ on the details.
And they pretty much don't think they do anyway.
My point was that Shatner is not a Christian, so why would he think to have a "Christian" god in the movie?
Which reminds me: Shatner was interviewed in Parade a month or so back, and I guffawed when I read a question from the interviewer: "Do you go to church on Sundays?" Shatner was very gracious, and just responded something about not going to any organized house of worship.
Doug
I know what you intended, but my point is that it's an inaccurate choice of words to talk about the "Christian god" as if it's somehow a different entity from the "Jewish god." They're the same deity. There's just some disagreement over the specifics.
