Reeling Back

In the spring of 1977, everybody, or so it seemed, wanted to know what was happening with the long-rumoured Star Trek motion picture. The television show, cancelled in 1969 after just three seasons of its planned five-year mission, had achieved cult status. The on-again, off-again feature-film project appeared to be on again with Paramount Pictures giving it the green light for a fall shooting start. It was well known within the critical community that the process had not been without its problems. Because of my connections within both the science-fiction fan and film production communities, I followed the story closely as it developed. Even so, I hardly expected the scoop that fell into my lap on the morning of March 31. A photocopy of what appeared to be a movie studio's internal memorandum arrived in a plain brown envelope that was postmarked Los Angeles. Set out beneath the familiar Paramount logo were the company's secret plans for dealing with its trouble-plagued project. Across the bottom of the document someone had scribbled the message: "Warn the Trekkies!" The next morning (April 1), I broke the whole shocking story in the following exclusive report.