Moonraker - Episode 140

70s Trek: Star Trek in the 1970s

It started as a 1955 spy novel by Ian Fleming. But it took over 24 years for the book to be made into a movie. And other than the name, the film barely resembled the book.

But the producers of the James Bond movies deliberately chose this story because of what was happening in the 1970s.

We chose to do this movie as a 70s Trek episode because one of our loyal listeners has been asking us to do an episode about Moonraker for some time. To be honest, we weren't sure there was a connection with Star Trek in the 1970s.

Then Calvin Bowles made a point that we couldn’t ignore. The next movie scheduled after “The Spy Who Loved Me” that Bond producer, Cubby Broccoli, intended to make was “For Your Eyes Only”.

In fact, at the end of the credits for "The Spy Who Loved Me," audiences read that James Bond would return in his next adventure, "For Your Eyes Only."

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the production office. A little movie called Star Wars changed Hollywood forever in 1977!

So producers chose to make Moonraker instead and put James Bond in space.

So Moonraker is very much a product of the Star Wars phenomenon and it helped to get audiences ready for another space adventure, "Star Trek The Motion Picture."

So thanks Calvin for your messages and you great information.