Star Wars (the original 1977 film) defied all possibilities and crossed all sorts of barriers when it was released. Back then science fiction (sci-fi) was pretty much dead; so dead that director George Lucas had to fund the film himself because no one would distribute it (along with busting in the process). It also debuted in the summer, which was also not considered a good marketing move, as it was then considered the "sleepy season" for movie releases.
Of course, this movie changed everything (especially the part about ruining Lucas) in terms of movie releases (the term "summer blockbuster" still hasn't become a household name for a few years, though it helped change big movie releases in general) and everything. in terms of sci-fi that the entertainment company Paramount definitely noticed and originally planned to bring their Star Trek series back as Star Trek 2 but then decided to turn it into a movie that these rights to The Motion Picture would cause the game to hit the Vectrex somewhat years later.
In Star Trek: The Motion Picture (game), players take on the role of Captain Kirk as he pilots the Enterprise through hostile space sectors while taking out attacking Romulan and Klingon ships. This is a cockpit flight simulator where players must defend against attacking enemies by destroying them and their shots (or dodging or deflecting the latter with shields). Players have a limited number of photon torpedoes and shields (represented by lines at the bottom of the screen - firepower on the left, shield strength on the right - and marked on the overlay); one or both ends and the players are left vulnerable to enemy attack. If the player is hit by an opponent's shot, they will lose a life, and when all lives are lost, the game ends.
There are a certain number of enemy ships that need to be cleared from a sector before players can move on to the next one. There is no indication as to how many enemies are left or where they are in a sector, as sometimes players will have to move randomly until the last of the enemy ships is found and destroyed.
In addition to destroying all enemy ships, the Enterprise can also be protected by shields, which are represented by an on-screen cursor that expands and then shrinks back to their normal size when turned on. However, if the timing is incorrect, the Enterprise can still be destroyed even if the player has activated their shields when enemy fire is directed towards them. Raising the shields at the right time will cause enemy fire to be deflected away from the Enterprise.
When the player runs out of self-defense resources, all sectors also feature a starbase (except the Klingon ship reveal) that the player can dock with to replenish their shield power and photon torpedoes (although this can only be done once per sector). The Starbase has a revolving door that can be accessed by the player using the Power Link feature, which the player must aim at the door when using the Power Link to successfully dock with the base. In the meantime, the player may be susceptible to enemy attack, although they can still raise their shields to keep enemy fire at bay. Unfortunately, the starbase can also be destroyed if the player shoots at it by accident. If the starbase is destroyed, the player has already docked with it during the sector,
Finally, a Klingon mothership appears during the game, which can only be destroyed by hitting the ship's prow while it's glowing. The Mothership has the firepower of both Klingons and Romulans and can be accessed if the player flies through a black hole found in the sector and the player must use the Power Link feature by aiming it at the center of the black hole. to go to the Mothership. If the player is able to defeat the Mothership, they will receive an extra life, and then the game will start again from the first sector, but with a higher difficulty level.
The initial level of the appearance of a black hole can be selected in the main menu; the black hole will appear in the first sector in the first game, in the second sector if the second is selected, etc., with a total of eight games/sectors available. After the Mothership is destroyed and the player goes through all eight sectors, it will enter the ninth sector, which will take the player to the Mothership, and the game will restart from the first sector if the player is able to destroy the ship.
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture is not a Sega port of the Star Trek arcade game (its full title is Star Trek Strategic Simulation Operator), which was released the same year.
- As is often the case with licensing, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the game) has nothing to do with the actual movie, as there were no space battles, especially with Romulan ships, as they were never shown in the Star Trek movie until the fourth next-generation Nemesis movie (more than 20 years after the original Star Trek movie was released in 1979).
- This game made several appearances in the 1982 Android movie, in which it was played by the character Max 404 (played by Don Keith Opper). Its creator, Dr. Daniel (played by Klaus Kinski), lamented later in the film that the games were "driving him (Max) crazy".
- The game was released in some markets under the name Star Ship and in Japan under the name Harmagedon, giving the Klingon ships a more complete look, along with the addition of a pause feature. Today's Star Trek Debugged hack (originally offered on the Classic Game Creations site and coming soon through Packrat Video Games, LLC) is also considered Star Ship.
- In late 2012, it was reported that bassist Rudy Sarzo (who played heavy metal/hard rock Dio, Whitesnake and Quiet Riot, among others) had a Vectrex in a Quiet Riot tour bus due to the sale of two ebay auction collections, in one of the games which includes Star Trek. The packages also included the original controller, light pen, several other games, and a letter of authenticity.
- The game's title screen music was also used for V-Frogger.
- The game is covered in Episode 49 of The Angry Video Game Nerd. This is the first review game.