The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (2021)

S1E3 Trekking Through the '70s: Phase II and The Motion Picture

Paramount aimed to establish a fourth network, with the new Star Trek series, Phase II, set to be its cornerstone. However, the network concept fell apart, leaving Phase II's future uncertain. Everything changed when Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind became massive successes at the box office. This resurgence in interest ultimately transformed Phase II into the 1979 hit film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.