Ayla Ruby
Just over sixty years ago, Star Trek premiered and changed television and the world forever. Now in theaters, Mark A. Altman‘s documentary The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World, executive produced by the legendary William Shatner, boldly explores the untold early history of the iconic franchise.
Some years ago, the LA Times dubbed Altman the world’s foremost “Trekspert.” It’s fitting, considering the director and producer also wrote a two-volume Trek history, The Fifty-Year Mission, and hosts Inglorious Treksperts. If Altman’s legacy with Trek wasn’t already cemented, this movie does it.
About two weeks ago at Regal Times Square, amongst the dramatic bright lights and digital marquees that are the heart of New York City, the movie had its East Coast premiere. Star Trek’s stars and famous fans came out for the red carpet before attendees hustled into Theater 13.
New York Comic Con was happening nearby at the Javits Center, where Star Trek was also being feted with an Empire Stage panel, so Awards Radar made the quick trip to check out this unique documentary experience.
On the red carpet, we caught up with Altman as he talked about the work and how he approached tackling a franchise with six decades of canon and mythology. “The really interesting thing about covering Star Trek is there’s always more to learn,” Altman explained. “I always joke it’s like in Star Trek you must be, know all that is knowable, learn all that is learnable. And so I feel like in my exploration of Star Trek this year, I’m always learning something new, and that was the case with this movie as well.”
“There was so much I found that I thought I knew, but I didn’t know,” the filmmaker reflected. “And of course, parsing all the stories…Everyone has a different story about who fought the who or how this got made or how this happened. And so it’s figuring out, or at least letting everyone tell, their side of the story. And everyone has theories about why it endures and why it’s important. But for me, it’s always been about a hopeful, optimistic future, but also about family.”
Altman continued, “And it’s not just the family you’re born into, but the family you make or found them. And that carries through all the great Star Trek series. And that’s something I think that we explore in the documentary and that I’m so proud of because we tie in there have been documentaries with fans and there’ve been documentaries about really to get into the how that they do it. This is about why. It’s about why is Star Trek important?”
“And we start back in the ’60s and we talked about the culture that spawned Star Trek and how it embraced what was happening at the time,” he concluded. “And I think it’s one of the reasons why, at least anecdotally from our premiere, it wasn’t just the Star Trek fans that really embraced the movie but the people who knew nothing about Star Trek I feel like. I know nothing about Star Trek but I’m watching it because I want to know more because I’m interested. And that to me is probably, I think the greatest achievement of the film.”
In addition to being Captain Kirk, William Shatner is behind a number of Star Trek documentaries. He brings a unique perspective as both an actor and a documentarian in this sense. When asked about why now was the right time to do this one, he shared some interesting thoughts. “But the phenomena that is Star Trek is mystical and mysterious, and I’m hopeful that the film suggests one of the reasons or several of the reasons why.”
Capturing that depth required access and trust, and Thomas P. Vitale, who is one of the documentary’s executive producers shared some insight on why so many folks were willing to open up to Altman and co. about their Trek experiences. “As an interviewer, the more you know someone, the more trust you have with somebody, the more open they are, the more they’ll tell you. And Mark knows so many people involved, like everybody involved in Star Trek for so long that there’s this level of trust, so you’ll hear stories that have never, ever been shared before.”
And Vitale emphasized that that the scope of this film goes beyond Trek fandom. “And I love how this documentary also puts Star Trek in a broader context. Star Trek really did change television and change the world, and I think that when viewers come to watch this documentary, they’ll be informed, but they’ll also be entertained. And just as importantly, this documentary is not just for Star Trek fans, it’s for everybody. I mean, if it’s your introduction to Star Trek, you’ll love it. If you just love documentaries, you’ll watch this and love it, and if you’re deep into Star Trek, then it’ll be that much more rewarding.”
Ashley E. Miller, who wrote Thor and X-Men: First Class is also one of the names behind the Sixty Year Mission. On the red carpet, he spoke to what sets this documentary apart. “But I think also, I think it’s always a good idea to go back and look at where we came from and how far we’ve come. And I think that Star Trek really illustrates that. And the fact that this movie focuses on the making of this television show, not just, “Hey, you remember all the stuff you love about Star Trek?” But it really focuses on its production in the context of the history of the ’60s, really sets it apart and I think will make it timeless.”
Miller talked about the sheer volume of stories and interviews that came from this project, “And all of them had stories we never heard before. All of them had insights that we though were amazing. And then the question becomes, how do you take those 300 stories and make them into one story that can only be two hours long? That’s the hard part.”
And interestingly, when asked if there was a book in the future, Miller hinted that there might be more to come for some of the stories not featured on the big screen. “I will say that there’s a lot of material and we don’t believe in wasting material.”
The premiere also drew stars from across the timeline, including Robert Picardo, beloved his role as the Emergency Medical Hologram (the Doctor) on Star Trek: Voyager and as the elder Trek statesman now on Starfleet: Academy. For Picardo, the timing of the retrospective is poignant “Well, Mr. Shatner is an icon and Mr. Shatner, God bless you, is 95. But he’s the base of Star Trek for six decades. So now is the time to honor him, but also to honor our now departed creator, Gene Roddenberry.”
Picardo continued, “And I understand that this documentary gives us a lot of wonderful, new information about Gene, new archival photographs, more of his personal history that helped make him the man that he was to have this amazing vision of humanity’s optimistic future in space. So I’m here to learn.”
Robin Curtis, who played Saavik in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, was also on hand for the premiere. The conversation on the red carpet repeatedly returned to the franchise’s core philosophy. For Curtis, that vision feels especially urgent today. “But most people seem to agree, it’s the optimism. It’s this positive image of how people behave in the future. Given what’s happening currently in our world, I feel like we need it more than ever. We need that inspiration and that bar to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Curtis was also quick to praise Rod Roddenberry. “And I also want to say that I think Rod Roddenberry is doing an amazing job stewarding his dad’s and mom’s legacy, the ideas, the philosophies, all of it, and the franchise. I’m in awe of how well he’s doing. I still think of him as a very young man.”
While the documentary looks back at the origins, the red carpet also spotlighted the franchise’s future. Karim Diané, who plays the Klingon Jay-Den Kraag on Starfleet Academy shared how the Star Trek has experience changed him as an actor. “I will never be the same. I was just telling them doing prosthetics five hours a day…We shot for… I was on set for probably 18 to 20 hours, five days a week, Monday through Friday, Saturdays had rehearsals for a few hours, Sundays had vocal coaching, was working a hundred hour weeks. When I tell you, we would be in the middle of shots where they’re changing setups, passed out on the floor, and full Klingon, just trying to get 10 minutes of sleep. It was one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever had in my life, and the most amazing bootcamp because now I can go forward and baby, there’s nothing that I cannot do after this role.”
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