'Star Trek' Book Reveals Movie Script Featured Captain Kirk Punching Jesus in Face
An unauthorized book about the TV series "Star Trek" claims that a fight between Captain Kirk and an alien who had taken the form of Jesus Christ was originally in the script for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."
The book, The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years, which is being released as fans await the summer movie "Star Trek Beyond," reveals that the 1979 movie, written by series creator Gene Roddenberry in 1975, ended with Kirk encountering an alien who had "assumed the image of Jesus Christ." That encounter then led to a fist fight on a bridge that had Kirk punching the Savior in the face.
It further claims that Paul McCartney, Barry Diller and John F. Kennedy were also written into the script.
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Richard Coller, the 1979 film's director, described the Jesus scene, according to the Hollywood Reporter,saying: "The Enterprise went off in search of that thing from outer space that was affecting everything. By the time they got into the alien's presence, it manifested itself and said, 'Do you know me?' Kirk said, 'No, I don't know who you are.' The alien then shape-shifted and into the form of Christ and Kirk told him 'Oh, now I know who you are.'"
That scene was cut from the script, however, and never made it on the big screen and was rejected by Paramount's Barry Diller, who was a devout Catholic. Years later Michael Jan Friedman was hired to adapt the unmade screenplay into a novel to be called The God Thing, but as revealed in the tell all, The Fifty Year Mission, Friedman was equally shocked to read just how outlandish Roddenberry's original idea was.
"When I read the material, I was dismayed. I hadn't seen other samples of Gene's unvarnished writing, but what I saw this time could not possibly have been his best work. It was disjointed — scenes didn't work together, didn't build toward anything meaningful," Friedman said, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The book's descriptions reads: "This is the unauthorized, uncensored and unbelievable true story behind the making of a pop culture phenomenon. The original 'Star Trek' series debuted in 1966 and has spawned five TV series spin-offs and a dozen feature films, with an upcoming one from Paramount arriving in 2016.
"The Fifty-Year Mission is a no-holds-barred oral history of five decades of 'Star Trek,' told by the people who were there. Hear from the hundreds of television and film executives, programmers, writers, creators and cast as they unveil the oftentimes shocking story of 'Star Trek's ongoing fifty-year mission — a mission that has spanned from the classic series to the animated show, the many attempts at a relaunch through the beloved feature films."
The movie "Stark Trek: Beyond," will hit theaters on July 22. It stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, along with Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba and the late Anton Yelchin.
