Directed by
Robert Wise
Story by Alan
Dean Foster
Screenplay by
Harold Livingston
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Science
Consultant Isaac Asimov
Stardate 7412.6
Premiered on
December 7, 1979
Ilia;
Navigator
on the Starship Enterprise during the V'Ger incident of 2271. Ilia,
a native of planet Delta IV, had been romantically involved with
Willard Decker, who also later served aboard the Enterprise. Ilia was
killed by a probe from the V'Ger entity, although a near-duplicate of
her 
was
created by the probe in an attempt to communicate with the
Enterprise's crew. Ilia was later listed as "missing in action."
Captain
Willard Decker; Captain
of the Starship Enterprise during the ship's refitting in 2270-2271.
Decker, who had been assigned to the Enterprise at Kirk's
recommendation, was replaced by Kirk and downgraded to executive
officer when the ship intercepted the V'Ger entity near Earth in
2271. Decker was the son of Commodore Matt Decker 
and
was apparently killed when he physically joined with V'Ger to help
dissuade that entity from destroying the Earth. Decker was listed as
"missing in action." Before his assignment to the
Enterprise, Decker had been stationed on planet Delta IV, and was
romantically involved with future Enterprise navigator Ilia.
Commander
Sonak; Starfleet
officer. Sonak was killed in a transporter malfunction while beaming
up to the 
refurbished
Starship Enterprise. Sonak, a Vulcan, would have served as science
officer aboard that ship when it intercepted the V'Ger entity in 2271.
Chief DiFalco; Starfleet officer DiFalco served as relief navigator aboard the Enterprise when it intercepted the V'Ger entity. She replaced Ilia on the bridge after Ilia was abducted by V'Ger. Actor Marcy Lafferty was the wife of William Shatner.
V'Ger;
Contraction
for "Voyager." A massive machine lifeform built around
NASA's ancient Voyager VI space probe. Voyager; which launched from
Earth in the late 2Oth century, had fallen into a black hole and
emerged on the other side of the galaxy, near a planet of living
machines. The inhabitants of the machine planet found the robot
Voyager VI to be a kindred spirit, and gave it the ability to carry
out what they believed to be Voyager's prime directive: To learn all
that is learnable, and to return that knowledge to its creator.
Unfortunately, in doing so, they gave Voyager now 
called
V'Ger, the ability to destroy the objects being studied. Upon
reaching Earth, where V'Ger believed its creator resided, V'Ger
joined with Willard Decker and Ilia, and departed for parts unknown.
Vulcan Masters; Elder mentors who guided Vulcan aspirants through the arduous Kolinahr ritual.
The Enterprise has been refitted inside and out, almost an entirely new ship, and some of the crew have drifted apart - McCoy has taken an extended leave, Kirk has accepted a desk job, and Spock has returned to Vulcan to pursue the Kolinahr discipline, a total purge of emotions. Sulu and Uhura have stayed with the Enterprise during its testing phase, while Chekov has become ship's chief of security and Nurse Chapel has become a full doctor. Captain Willard Decker, son of the late Matt Decker, is slated to become the ship's new commanding officer.
An "energy
cloud" of unknown origin and intent has carved a path of
destruction through the galaxy on a direct course for Earth, having
destroyed a flotilla of Klingon ships as well as Federation
communications relay station Epsilon 9. Admiral Kirk convinces
Starfleet to give him command of the Enterprise, displacing Decker to
the position of first officer. The refitted ship still has problems,
most notably a transporter malfunction which kills two incoming crew
members, including the ship's new Vulcan science officer, whose
duties Kirk again hands to Decker.
Once the
transporter is repaired, the final crew members board the Enterprise,
such as Lt. Ilia, the ship's new navigator who once had a
relationship with Decker on her home planet of Delta IV; and Dr.
McCoy reluctantly resumes his position after being called back into
service by Starfleet.
Kirk's
unfamiliarity with the Enterprise's new design is proven when he
orders the ship to warp speed against the recommendations of Decker
and Scotty, plunging the ship into a wormhole which it escapes with a
last minute order from Decker. While repairing the damage, the ship
is boarded by a ship from Vulcan carrying Spock, who offers to resume
his post as science officer.
Spock begins
by helping Scotty overcome the difficulties with the warp engines,
enabling the Enterprise to head for the cloud at top speed. En route,
Spock reveals that he was unable to complete his Kolinahr training
because he detected an intelligence which he believes is part of the cloud.
Penetrating the cloud, the Enterprise wards off an attack but is weakened in the process. After Spock manages to devise a makeshift message to speak to the cloud-entity in its own language and frequency, the ship delves further into the cloud and is boarded by a beam of energy which tries to access the ship's records on Starfleet and Earth defenses. Spock damages the computer so the beam cannot gather any more information, but is attacked by the beam, which then seems to envelop Lt. Ilia and disappears from the ship, leaving no trace of Ilia.
The Enterprise is trapped inside an enclosed, solid space within the cloud, and Ilia turns up again soon afterward, but this time as a puppet of the cloud-entity, identified by the now-dehumanized Ilia as V'ger. Curious to find more about V'ger, Spock steals a space suit and a thruster pack and launches himself into a small opening through which the Enterprise cannot travel, and finds himself floating through the memories of V'ger's entire journey through the universe, eventually coming to an image of Ilia as she was before V'ger's invasion of the bridge. Spock tries to mind-meld with V'ger through the image, but the staggering amounts of V'ger's memory and thought overloads Spock's mind, and he is ejected back to the Enterprise, where he is recovered and given medical attention.
The Ilia-probe tells Kirk that V'ger is on its way to Earth to find its own creator, although V'ger refuses to believe that its creator could be a member of the human race, which it intends to wipe out, if necessary, to complete its search. The cloud has reached Earth and is ready to commence with its task. When Kirk promises the Ilia-probe that he has the information V'ger seeks, V'ger releases the Enterprise and draws it to the center of the cloud, where V'ger itself rests. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Decker, led by Ilia, find that V'ger is, in fact, a NASA Voyager space probe that was encountered by a race of intelligent machines and, taking the probe's instructions - to learn all it can and report its findings back its creator - literally, the machines created the cloud-vessel as a means for Voyager to return to Earth and deliver its wealth of information.
But the probe is unwilling to transmit its information on command, demanding to become one with its creator. Decker manually forces Voyager to transmit its information, but is absorbed by a wave of energy when V'ger believes its creator - the only being who could operate it - has arrived. Kirk, Spock and McCoy rush back to the Enterprise just in time. The cloud dissipates, leaving the Enterprise in orbit over Earth. Kirk and Spock speculate that Decker's emotions concerning his relationship with Ilia, the loss of his command of the Enterprise, and other feelings will transform V'ger into a new life form that the Federation may meet again in the future.
Kirk
-- William Shatner
Spock
-- Leonard Nimoy
McCoy
-- Deforest Kelley
Scott
-- James Doohan
Sulu
-- George Takei
Chapel
-- Majel Barrett
Chekov
-- Walter Koenig
Uhura
-- Nichelle Nichols
Rand
-- Grace Lee Whitney
llia -- Persis Khambatta
Decker --
Stephen Collins
Klingon
Captain -- Mark Lenard
Alien Boy --
Billy Van Zandt
Epsilon
Technician -- Roger Aaron Brown
Airlock
Technician -- Gary Faga
Commander
Branch -- David Gautreaux
Assistant to
Rand -- John D. Gowans
Cargo Dock
Ensign -- Howard Itzkowitz
Lt. Commander
Sonak -- Jon Rashad Kamal
Chief Difalco
-- Marcy Lafferty
Lieutenant --
Michele Ameen Billy
Chief Ross --
Terrence O'Connor
Lt. Cleary --
Michael Rougas
Woman -- Susan
L. Sullivan