Robert “Bob” Earl Wise was the director and acting executive producer of the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He received his sole Saturn Award nomination as Best Director for this film.

Wise was brought in by studio CEOs Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg on the production in early March 1978 after the television project Star Trek: Phase II was upgraded to a full blown theatrical movie production. He replaced Director Robert Collins, whom the studio did not trust with handling a big budget production, by that time set at $15 million dollars, since Collins had no experience yet with big theatrical productions. On the occasion of his contracting, Wise stipulated that he was to have executive producer powers as well, which the studio eagerly granted by giving him, as it turned out, near-carte blanche latitude, in the process curtailing those of Gene Roddenberry. Wise’s unwillingness to share producer credit with “that kid in jeans”, caused hitherto Phase II Producer Robert Goodwin (who was thirty at the time) to leave the production in disgust.