Fails the Bechdel test
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1979. Directed by Robert Wise, written by Harold Livingston and Alan Dean Foster and Gene Roddenberry.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
A massive alien spacecraft of enormous power destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers as it makes its way towards Federation space. Admiral James T. Kirk is ordered to take command of the USS Enterprise for the first time since her historic five-year mission. The Epsilon IX space station alerts the Federation, but they are also destroyed by the alien spacecraft. The only starship in range is the Enterprise, after undergoing a major overhaul in drydock orbiting Earth. Kirk rounds up the rest of his crew, and acquires some new members, and sets off to intercept the alien spacecraft. However, it has been three years since Kirk last went into deep space--is he up to the task of saving Earth?
- Released
- 08 Dec 1979
- Genres
- Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- G
- IMDb
- 6.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 50 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 4 wins & 21 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Kirk 245 lines, man
- Decker 98 lines, man
- Spock 90 lines, man
- Mccoy 55 lines, man
- Sulu 41 lines, man
- Uhura 34 lines, woman
- Ilia 26 lines, woman
- Scott 25 lines, man
- Chekov 24 lines, man
- Chapel 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 57 people
- William Shatner as Captain Kirk
- Leonard Nimoy as Spock
- DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy
- James Doohan as Scotty
- George Takei as Sulu
- Walter Koenig as Chekov
- Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
- Stephen Collins as Decker
- Persis Khambatta as Ilia
- Majel Barrett as Dr. Chapel
- Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand
- Mark Lenard as Klingon Captain
- Billy Van Zandt as Alien Boy
- Roger Aaron Brown as Epsilon Technician
- Gary Faga as Airlock Technician
- David Gautreaux as Commander Branch
- John Gowans as Assistant to Rand
- Howard Itzkowitz as Cargo Deck Ensign
- Jon Rashad Kamal as Lt. Commander Sonak
- Marcy Lafferty as Chief DiFalco
- Michele Povill as Lieutenant
- Jeri McBride as Technician
- Terrence O'Connor as Chief Ross
- Michael Rougas as Lt. Cleary
- Susan O'Sullivan as Woman
- Ralph Brannen as Crew Member
- Ralph Byers as Crew Member
- Paula Crist as Crew Member
- Iva Lane as Crew Member
- Franklyn Seales as Crew Member
- Momo Yashima as Crew Member
- Jimmie Booth as Klingon Crewman
- Joel Kramer as Klingon Crewman
- Bill McIntosh as Klingon Crewman
- Dave Moordigian as Klingon Crewman
- Tom Morga as Klingon Crewman
- Tony Rocco as Klingon Crewman
- Joel Schultz as Klingon Crewman
- Craig Thomas as Klingon Crewman
- Edna Glover as Vulcan Master
- Norman Stuart as Vulcan Master
- Paul Weber as Vulcan Master
- Joshua Gallegos as Security Officer
- Leslie C. Howard as Yeoman
- Sayra Hummel as Technical Assistant
- Junero Jennings as Technical Assistant
- Lisa Chess as Yeoman (uncredited)
- Doug Hale as Enterprise Computer (voice) (uncredited)
- David Armstrong as Enterprise Crew Member (uncredited)
- Richard Arnold as Crew Member (uncredited)
- Rosanna Attias as Enterprise Crew Member (uncredited)
- Jerry Best as Enterprise Sciences Crew Member (uncredited)
- Christopher Doohan as Extra (uncredited)
- Fred Bronson as Enterprise Crew Member (uncredited)
- Bob Bryan as Enterprise Crew Member (uncredited)
- Robert Buckingham as Enterprise Crew Member (uncredited)
- Celeste Cartier as Enterprise Crew Member (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 154
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 4 | 7 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 8 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 17 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 4 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 2 | 35 |
| 41 to 44 | 12 | 28 |
| 45 to 48 | 4 | 20 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 3 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 16 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 7 |
| 61 to 64 | 7 | 18 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 34 |
| 69 to 72 | 2 | 13 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 26 |
| 77 to 80 | 3 | 27 |
| 81 to 84 | 1 | 5 |
| 85 to 88 | 6 | 28 |
| 89 to 92 | 3 | 9 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 25 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 2 | 7 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 18 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 35 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 12 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 7 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 17 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 6 |
| 129 to 132 | 5 | 42 |
| 133 to 136 | 9 | 49 |
| 137 to 140 | 2 | 13 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 19 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 23 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 20 |
| 153 to 154 | 2 | 12 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 12 are women's.
84 lines from women, 618 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 32 men in the cast. 8 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 9 of 728.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 53 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 11% of the words (743), men 89% (5,999). Women have 12% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
3
Two men
94
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 9% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Robert Wise (man)
- Written by
- Harold Livingston (man)
- Story by
- Alan Dean Foster (man)
- Produced by
- Gene Roddenberry (man), Jon Povill (man)
- Shot by
- Richard H. Kline (man)
- Edited by
- Todd C. Ramsay (man)
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith (man)
- Production design by
- Harold Michelson (man)
- Costumes by
- Robert Fletcher (man)
- Cast by
- Marvin Paige (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 13 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 11 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Persis Khambatta 31, Nichelle Nichols 46, Majel Barrett 47
Men
Stephen Collins 32, George Takei 42, Walter Koenig 43, William Shatner 48, Leonard Nimoy 48, DeForest Kelley 59, James Doohan 59
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $44 million
- Box office
- $139 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 154 scenes and 728 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
