Ancient Geeks episode 20: Star Trek The Motion Picture

In 1979, Star Trek fans eagerly awaited the premiere of the first Star Trek movies, after Star Trek slid into reruns for several years. The movie had a big budget, a topnotch director, all the original cast, and the promise of a very Trek-ish story.

How did we feel about the movie, when it premiered? Did it seem like Star Trek had an ever brighter future after this film? Did we want to sport our own version of the pajama-like uniforms from this movie? Tune into this episode of Ancient Geeks to find out! And also hear about Phase II, the Star Trek series that Paramount almost made in the 1970s, and we didn't even know was gearing up for production at the time.

Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of culture. We were geeks before it was chic!

For feedback, contact someancientgeeks@gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, reviews on your podcast platform of choice are always appreciated.

© 2025 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor