“We have always believed that The Wrath of Khan is the fulcrum movie upon which Star Trek turned.”
I think that this cannot be overstated. TMP did not get the reception, recognition, and bucket loads of money, the studio was banking on. It no doubt took a lot of work, and luck, to get the studio to back a second Star Trek film, even with its much lower budget. There are many reasons we have the current choices of Star Trek series and movies, but I don’t underestimate how vital TWoK’s success is with the situation. This sounds like a fascinating book, and is definitely on my “I want” list.
Well, thanks to the motion picture, some of the space scenes at the start of the film are possible.
Would we still have trek as it is today without the movies… I guess we would be missing a some of Kirk/Spock history, but i suspect the TV shows really kept it alive.
I think that what the authors, and indeed most fans, think is that TWOK was what made TNG possible. Had the film not captured the cultural attention of its time there’s very slim chance that more trek would ever have been produced. It was a Hail Mary and it paid off.