Superman The Movie - Episode 103

70s Trek: Star Trek in the 1970s

In 1978, a movie hit theaters that showed just how far special effects had come. Superman The Movie Wowed audiences and set the bar really high when it came to special effects.

The tagline in the marketing campaign for Superman The Movie was, “You’ll believe a man can fly.” That tagline was something of a message to the creators of the new Star Trek movie. By December 1978, principle photography was wrapped and it had moved into post-production.

But you could say that with Superman’s impressive special effects and story, Star Trek needed to ensure that audiences, “would believe space travel is real.”

And pressure was already mounting internally on the production as it ran over schedule and budget. Visual effects were going poorly, as well, as the company in charge of producing them fired not long after.

Then, there was Superman The Movie, a huge blockbuster hit in the same genre. That had to add the pressure to the production team.

But Superman did something else for The Motion Picture. It got audiences ready. It’s safe to say that the two franchises probably share fans. So Superman just got that fan base jazzed up and excited.

After the dust settled from Superman and we were well into 1979, fans most likely began looking to December for the premiere of Star Trek The Motion Picture.