The Motion Picture vs. The Wrath of Khan.

When Star Trek left the television airwaves in 1969, there was a void that was left in the hearts and minds of Trekkies around the world. The Original Series "re-runs" and the 1973 Animated Series tried to fill that void with varying degrees of success. But on May 25th, 1977, everything changed with the release of George Lucas’ STAR WARS. It created a shockwave in the film industry that challenged the very nature of science fiction storytelling and the projects that were being developed at that time, especially Star Trek: Phase II - the grandiose production to bring Star Trek back to television.

Many Trekkies believe that Phase II's evolution into Star Trek: The Motion Picture was necessary to strike while the proverbial "iron" was hot, and launch the film franchise through riding the epic financial tidal wave and wake of Star Wars. Conversely, there are also many who believe that the (arguably) most popular Star Trek movie of all time is The Wrath of Khan because it was more "profitable" as a film and because it has so totally permeated global pop culture to this very day. So ... what IS the movie that truly “saved” Star Trek and is this the "conversational" Kobayashi Maru for the Chief and the Commodore?

Hosts Norman C. Lao and Ken Tripp

Feature Welcome to Standard Orbit! (00:01:41) Entering the Chief’s Movie Zone (00:03:15) The Spark that Set this Off (00:04:42) Tripp-ed Up by Emotional Ties (00:09:03) Memoirs of a 10-Year Old Commodore (00:15:12) A Wise Use of Scale (00:19:14) The Humbling of a Hero (00:27:57) Finding Spock Again (00:36:26) Counselor Disco Bones (00:41:32) Differences by Design (00:46:33) The V’Ger Sized Element in the Room (00:57:15) By the Numbers (01:03:26) Settling the Scores (01:10:41) Thank You for Listening to Standard Orbit (01:15:06)

Production C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer), Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer), Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer), Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer), Ken Tripp (Editor and Associate Producer), Renee Roberts (Associate Producer), Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer), Richard Marquez (Production Manager), Will Nguyen (Content Manager)