Remember that Star Trek episode that became the greatest Star Trek movie? No, not “Space Seed,” the Star Trek: The Original Series episode that served as the catalyst for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. We’re talking about an unseen episode from an unseen Star Trek series, one that would spawn 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture (“greatest” is a bit of a hyperbole, granted, but it’s better than you remember). And technically, it’s an unseen episode for a post-Star Trek TV series proposal from Gene Roddenberry that only got a made-for-television film treatment. It’s “In Thy Image,” and it’s crafted in the image of Roddenberry’s most famed creation.
“In Thy Image” Begins as a One-Page Concept
The journey from Roddenberry’s one-page concept to Star Trek‘s first foray into motion pictures is a long one, and begins with Genesis II, one of a number of projects that Roddenberry had proposed following the 1969 cancellation of Star Trek: The Original Series. One episode he had envisioned involved an intelligent machine returning to its creator, only it was titled “Robot’s Return” at the time. Only Genesis II was never green-lighted for a series, and only aired as a made-for-television film that aired on March 23, 1973. “Robot’s Return” would have to wait.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Not for long, however. 1977 saw Paramount announce a brand-new series titled Star Trek: Phase II, one that would reunite the original cast for a new five-year mission (sans Leonard Nimoy, who declined to reprise his role as Spock). With the series entering production, Roddenberry revisited “Robot’s Return,” now “In Thy Image,” and handed it off to esteemed writer Alan Dean Foster to flesh out his philosophical premise as a full-hour episode for the ambitious reboot.
Foster began with a larger vision, one which had a powerful, unstoppable object hurtling toward Earth, destroying everything in its path as it makes its way through space. The Enterprise would be tasked with investigating the object, determining the purpose behind its destructive goal. “Investigating” is the keyword there: the crew is not sent to destroy it, but to study and try to understand it. In that regard, Foster keeps Roddenberry’s vision of Star Trek as a series about exploration and philosophy, not the run-and-gun of other sci-fi franchises. Furthermore, Foster introduced the idea that the machine isn’t just searching for its creator out of malice, but rather out of purpose, seeking to be made complete by the one who programmed it.
“In Thy Image” Would Have Been the Pilot for ‘Star Trek: Phase II’
Foster hit close to Roddenberry’s vision, but it wasn’t quite there. What followed was a series of notes that sharpened and redirected Foster’s treatment, which Roddenberry summed up as:
“The principal problem in your Star Trek story outline is certainly not lack of imagination. Rather, I believe most of my comments will bear upon control and selective use of that imagination. Believability of characters, incidents and scenes is much more critical in picture/sound science fiction than in printed.”
For one, he took issue with Kirk and the Enterprise crew considering destroying the object, let alone preparing to do so. It just wasn’t in Kirk’s character to shoot first and ask questions later, and any decision to shoot it down wouldn’t come easily. He also questioned the attributes of the machine, suggesting logically that a machine wouldn’t have human emotions, let alone an understanding of organic life. Roddenberry’s suggestions sharpened the story, reshaping it as an examination of the relationship between humanity and an evolving artificial intelligence (sound familiar?). With the treatment fully fleshed out, all that remained was an actual, finished script.
That fell to producer Harold Livingston, who expanded Foster’s scope of the story. He presented visual elements that backed up the premise that Earth had achieved a balance between advancing technology and shepherding the environment. He introduced new characters, created new dynamics between them, and married Foster’s ideas with Roddenberry’s notes. It wasn’t perfect, but closer. In the end, it didn’t matter: Paramount pulled the plug on Star Trek: Phase II, looking instead for an epic blockbuster in the vein of the upstart Star Wars (per the previously cited Collider). And with a full cast and crew hired, and sets and scripts in various stages of development, scrapping that work would have been illogical. As a result, those resources were reused where they could be for a film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, that took the script for “In Thy Image” as its starting point, with many rewrites and behind-the-scenes drama before hitting movie theaters in 1979, boldly going where it had never gone before.
