The Star Trek film we never got to see

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**reds8n**

An early version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) would have culminated in Captain Kirk fighting an alien disguised as Jesus, according to a new unauthorised oral history of the series.

The Fifty Year Mission by Edward Gross and Mark A Altman revealed that the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, worked on a number of concepts, including a time-travel adventure in which the crew attempts to stop the Kennedy assassination. But the most offbeat idea featured a shapeshifting alien that could manifest as biblical figures.

“In the climactic scene, Kirk had a fistfight with an alien who had assumed the image of Jesus Christ,” Star Trek author and screenwriter Michael Jan Friedman said. “So Kirk was slugging it out on the bridge. With Jesus.”

Friedman was hired to turn the unmade screenplay into a novel but struggled with disjointed material that included “some mildly erotic, midlife-crisis stuff”.

“Gene was – and still is – one of my heroes, for God’s sake,” he said. “As he had already left the land of the living, this was a unique opportunity to collaborate with him. But when I read the material, I was dismayed … [It couldn’t] possibly have been his best work.”

The release of the book coincides with the latest film in the franchise, Star Trek Beyond, the third in the rebooted saga starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Next year, a new Star Trek TV series by Bryan Fuller, known for Hannibal and Pushing Daisies, will debut.

Perhaps -- once the other fan film lawsuits are resolved -- we could crowd-fund a production of this ?

It would certainly give an extra edge to Star Trek 5 anyway eh ?

**kronk**

I would pay cash money to watch Jesus punch William Shatner in the face.

**lonestarr777**

There's a turn the other cheek joke in here somewhere.

In all honesty this isn't too surprising. Dianna Troy for example was going to be a six boobed hermaphrodite till Rodenberry's handlers reigned him in.

**usernamesareannoying**

kronk wrote:
I would pay cash money to watch Jesus punch William Shatner in the face.

oh please... you know he'd just give him that oh no you didn't look, wipe away a little blood at the corner of his mouth and then hit him with one of those double fisted over hand judo chops.
boom, fight over.

**Ensis Ferrae**

kronk wrote:
I would pay cash money to watch Jesus punch William Shatner in the face.

Nah man... Jesus would be all open hand slaps... the holes would lend extra oomph to the hits (kinda like a paddle, really)

**Silent Puffin?**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:

Nah man... Jesus would be all open hand slaps... the holes would lend extra oomph to the hits (kinda like a paddle, really)

They would make a cool little whistling noise as well, that could become his signature music!

**Breotan**

Something like Djesus Uncrossed?

**Easy E**

Or like Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter

I'm pretty sure this pre-dates the Lincoln version of the story.