The USS Enterprise briefly got a new Captain inStar Trek: The Motion Picture, but Will Decker (Stephen Collins) never actually got the chance to embark on his planned five-year mission. Picking up about years after the events ofStar Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Motion PicturefindsAdmiral James T. Kirk(William Shatner) returning to the retrofitted Starship Enterprise for a vital new mission. A strange alien entity (later called V’ger) surrounded by a massive energy cloud is on its way to Earth and has the power to destroy the entire planet.
Starfleet assigns Admiral Kirk to lead the mission and take over command of the USS Enterprise, much to the frustration of Captain Willard Decker.Kirk had personally chosen Decker to take over as captain,and Decker had spent the past year and a half overseeing the Enterprise’s retrofit and familiarizing himself with the ship. Because of this, Kirk keeps Decker as his First Officer, temporarily reducing him from Captain to Commander. Kirk clearly loves getting to sit in the captain’s chair again, and Decker ultimately proves vital in the mission to stop theunconventional villain called V’ger.
What Star Trek: The Motion Picture Revealed About Captain Will Decker
Decker Never Truly Got To Command A Mission On The Enterprise
InStar Trek: The Motion Picture,Will Decker is an accomplished and ambitious Starfleet officer who takes his job very seriously. When Kirk arrives and takes over command, Decker immediately protests, saying that he knows the new Enterprise better than anyone.Decker also feels that Kirk is just trying to get his old job as captain back,but he nevertheless complies with Kirk’s orders. When the newDeltan navigator, Lt. Ilia (Persis Khambatta), arrives on board, Decker greets her warmly, as the two had had a previous romantic relationship.
Star Trek: Every Captain of the Enterprise
Star Trek has featured many starships named Enterprise. Along with Kirk and Picard, here’s every Enterprise Captain from each movie and TV series.
The character of Will Decker was originally conceived forStar Trek: Phase II,which was to be a spin-off series ofStar Trek: The Original Series.After the resurgent popularity ofStar Trekin the 1970s, Paramount Studios began planning for a spin-off covering another five-year mission for the Enterprise. In the series,Will Decker served as the First Officer on the Enterprise under the command of Captain Kirk,and Ilia served as the ship’s navigator. Both of these characters and many elements from the pilot script titled “In Thy Image,” were used inStar Trek:The Motion Picture.
Why Captain Will Decker Was Never Seen Again In Star Trek
TNG’s Will Riker & Deanna Troi Share Many Characteristics With Decker & Ilia
As the Enterprise approaches the cloud surrounding V’ger, the entity sends a probe to the ship’s bridge that kills Ilia. V’ger then sends back a robotic version of Ilia to gather information and act as its voice aboard the Enterprise. As Decker shows Ilia/V’ger around the Enterprise, he realizes that V’ger has assimilated Ilia’s memories and emotions as well. At the end ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture,Decker merges with Ilia and V’ger, creating a new life form that then disappears into space.This permanently wrote off both Decker and Ilia’s chatacters.
Even if this new life form had returned in a laterStar Trekseries or film, it would likely bear little resemblance to the original Will Decker.
With the premiere ofStar Trek: The Next Generationin 1987, several concepts fromStar Trek: Phase IIwere, again, incorporated into the series. Many elements of Will Decker and Ilia’s story became part of the initial characterization of Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Like Decker, Riker served asFirst Officer on the USS Enterprise-D, and he also had a previous romantic relationship with Counselor Troi (who had empathic abilities like Ilia). Ultimately, Riker and Troi proved to be a more successful and popular pairing than Decker and Ilia, whose story came to a satisfying conclusion inStar Trek: The Motion Picture.
