 The decision was made in August 1977, but in order to keep the team  together during the necessary renegotiation of contracts, Paramount  kept it secret until March 1978; when Barrett, Rona (qv) broke the  secret in December 1977, they denied it. Meanwhile, they pretended  that the TV series was still going to happen, even soliciting  scripts for episodes that would never be made. Sets built for the TV  series were used in the movie, but modelwork had to be redone after  the changeover was made public, due to the need for finer detailing  in a movie.