By Rob Bricken in
Movies
Monday, Mar. 8 2010 @ 12:05PM
I don't know where Geek Tyrant found this neat behind-the-scenes documentary of the first 1979 Star Trek film -- apparently it's not on any of the special edition DVDs -- but it's fascinating. Not just to see them building the Enterprise, but assembling the sets, filming Vulcan, and hanging with the crew.
Although I have to wonder why they decided to include the footage of Persis Khambatta -- who played the bald alien Ilia -- get her head shaved for the role. Mostly because she's actually crying during it. And instead of cutting away, or even not filming it, the camera just stays on her, as her head gets slowly shaved, and she keeps on crying. It's incredibly awkward and kind of sad. And it doesn't help when Gene Roddeberry shows up at the end to give her an electric razor. Yeesh. Thanks to Snoodle for the tip.
18 comments
Comments
robk said:
What a trip. This plays like a grade school instructional movie, complete with wobbly sound and scratches on the film. Shouldn't "Actor Troy McClure" be narrating?
Gnomemaster said:
The reason she's crying is because she's about in the worst Star Trek film. That's why she's crying.
ZeroCorpse replied to Gnomemaster:
If you haven't seen the recent Director's Cut, you should. It's a far better film. Basically, they had to rush it to theaters when it was made, and were literally doing effects in post-production the day before it was to debut; Lots of stuff had to be cut or fudged (like the lack of an alarm klaxon which was replaced in the theatrical cut with a repeating computer voice). The Director's Cut is the completed film, the way it was envisioned, and it's SO much better.
JOE said:
Bald girls are hot.
Though I wouldn't amke a girl cry to be one. Poor little sweetie.
BorgQueen replied to JOE:
I would cry too if I were losing beautiful hair like that! But I agree, she is stunningly gorgeous bald. Still a little bit of a dick move by Roddenberry giving her the gift.
Manka Cat said:
There is a similar piece of awkward footage of Maggie McOmie having her head shaved for the part of LUH 3417 in THX 1138 in 1971. Shes just shaking and crying pretty hard, and the camera just stays locked in, completely merciless. I saw it on the remaster collectors edition of the DVD.
WildWill said:
Oh come on cut Persis some slack, it's not like she's around anymore to defend herself, she's been gone for a long time. And besides, she was in MUCH worse movies that ST:TMP, which compared to STV or Insurrection isn't that bad. But do you remember MEGAFORCE? Hair or no hair, that chick couldn't really act.
Jamie said:
Poor Persis! She looks beautiful with and without hair, but I would definitely be crying too.
lou-bert vs. q-bert replied to Jamie:
Persis Khambatta, the most beautiful bald woman....EVER.
WorthlessOldFart said:
As dull as that movie was, man that's one purty model. It actually made you feel the what the size of the Enterprise was supposed to be.
I remember being shocked that they were making another ST movie -- I was so sure they had shot their wad on the first one and that would be it.
Abraxas said:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture >>> Avatar
THE PR0F3550R replied to Abraxas:
I love that movie too. I don't care what anyone says, I love the slow intellectual sci-fi movies more than the guns blazing types. Not to say I don't like gun blazing movies, but I appreciate the smart mystery ones. This movie is great.
Abraxas replied to THE PR0F3550R:
definitely a solid (and, in my opinion, a thought-provoking) story line. plus Persis was hot. she can assimilate me any time.
elf25s said:
i used to have this back in 1991(yah i am old so sue me) i picked the copy of it on vhs (gasp)at one of the conventions at pensilvania hotel (at least that is what it used to be called) accross from penn station in nyc.
on that tape there was a who;e bunch of goofs from original series and the first 3 movies...i still wish i had it even if the quality of it looked like it went through at least 19 generations of copy proccess
Hairius Maximus said:
Really, the main problem with TMP is that everyone was expecting a rip-off of Star Wars, and instead they got 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Greggroy said:
I love the dead pan use of a silly term like "blow-up-ability" by the narrator. Puts a big smile on my face.
nibnycgrrl said:
That was like some bizarre head shaving/crying porn hybrid.
fork king said:
im going to write some crazy fanfiction where spock, mccoy, and kirk all circle jerk on her while shaving her head
