How did people generally regard a spin-off movie from a TV series?

There�s always that fear especially among Hollywood producers, "maybe we�re just going to get the crazies who are wearing Klingon heads at conventions and that�s about it". It turned out to have mass appeal.

I think it actually built up a certain amount of buzz and a certain amount of expectation. The other thing is, the audience for Star Trek, even though it was a cult audience, by the end of the 1970s was starting to go a little bit more mainstream.