V'Ger

So they essentially gave Douglas Trumbull an open checkbook to finish the effect shots in anticipation of a locked release date by Paramount.

So the concept of the film is there's a destructive alien cloud known as V'ger, spelled V apostrophe G-E-R, that's heading towards Earth.

And it turns out that V'ger is actually the NASA Voyager 6 space probe that was found by living machines and upgraded in order to think and evolve.

It considers humans, carbon lifeforms, and inferior.

Near the end of the film, One of the characters, Commander Decker, merges with Vigor, as well as another character, Ilea, who previously merged with the Vigor alien.

But also what they have in common, both of these films deal with what would be considered transhumanistic themes, as in themes that address how humans will be transformed into some more highly evolved being.

That makes this film a very early example of what I call the techno-psych film, which is a film that addresses how technology impacts human psychological states.

It doesn't really examine closely what kind of higher level organism or being that V'ger is going to be transformed when it merges with Deckard and Ilea.