Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (1 Viewer)

[John*Wells]

I Star Trek II, III, and IV Over the weekend I also watched Star Trek VI. Somehow I Seem to remember that there were supposed to be 7 TOS Cast films. What became of that?

 

[ScottRE]

I never heard that. They didn't really have a plan. The 6th was meant to be the last with the classic cast. Unless you're thinking of the Academy movie that was never made, which was supposed to be made after Star Trek V.

 

[B-ROLL]

I never heard that. They didn't really have a plan. The 6th was meant to be the last with the classic cast. Unless you're thinking of the Academy movie that was never made, which was supposed to be made after Star Trek V.

I also understand TNG cast had options in their contracts for movies after the end of TNG series - with the "pass the baton" film being Generations.

 

[Osato]

Really cool article about The Cage:

The Cage had been cut to pieces, so how could Paramount release the episode?

Cobble it together with a workprint and bits from The Menagerie. And record a Roddenberry intro. Join me on a sentimental journey.

collectingtrek.ca

 

[jayembee]

I remember that. Quite a Frankenstein's Monster, that was.

Still have the LD. There were two editions. The first was the B&W/Color chimera, and the second was all color.

 

[BobO'Link]

Really cool article about The Cage:

The Cage had been cut to pieces, so how could Paramount release the episode?

Cobble it together with a workprint and bits from The Menagerie. And record a Roddenberry intro. Join me on a sentimental journey.

collectingtrek.ca

I first saw that uncut version when Roddenberry was lugging it around on the college circuit in the early-mid 70s. I don't recall a single thing he said - I was there solely to see the episode.

I also own a copy of that VHS with the color/bw recreation.

 

[KPmusmag]

Wow, I did not know that Bob Furmanek found the missing 35mm negatives.

 

[Nelson Au]

I also do not have a recollection that Bob Furmanek found the missing color footage. We owe him a great debt! I still have the VHS tape and laser disc too. I remember how cool it was to see The Cage in color when that was released.

I also saw Roddenberry at the Concord Pavilion and saw The Cage in black and white at that talk.

Thanks Tim to the Collecting Trek site link. I was not aware of his site, I was thinking there is another guy out there with a similar blog, and this is not the same guy.

 

[ScottRE]

Really cool article about The Cage:

The Cage had been cut to pieces, so how could Paramount release the episode?

Cobble it together with a workprint and bits from The Menagerie. And record a Roddenberry intro. Join me on a sentimental journey.

collectingtrek.ca

Funny they say this:

The rest of the footage had been lost. Roddenberry did have a copy of the complete episode but it was a black-and-white workprint, with a rough soundtrack.

So Paramount took the only option available:

Well, not only...

They never considered actually just releasing the workprint in full b&w. Except in Portugal. It got a VHS release there in English with Portuguese subtitles. It is the only commercial release of the all b&w workprint. With some slightly different pacing, some additional dialog, original Keeper's voice pitch and original music intact. In all the releases of the original series on Blu Ray, they never took the opportunity to put the original workprint in as a bonus feature.

 

[Osato]

Wow, I did not know that Bob Furmanek found the missing 35mm negatives.

I never knew how the color footage was discovered either. I didn’t get the full color version until dvd I believe.

I have the series on Blu-ray now.

 

[B-ROLL]

Funny they say this:

The rest of the footage had been lost. Roddenberry did have a copy of the complete episode but it was a black-and-white workprint, with a rough soundtrack.

So Paramount took the only option available:

Well, not only...

They never considered actually just releasing the workprint in full b&w. Except in Portugal. It got a VHS release there in English with Portuguese subtitles. It is the only commercial release of the all b&w workprint. With some slightly different pacing, some additional dialog, original Keeper's voice pitch and original music intact. In all the releases of the original series on Blu Ray, they never took the opportunity to put the original workprint in as a bonus feature.

I'm not sure it would be correct to call it a workprint. It did not have editors markings where dissolves/fades would be. I believe it had an optical track but the effects and music were all there. I blieve it was a B&W 16mm print. At least at the event I was at, Roddenberry also had a color print of the Season 1-2 blooper reel !

 

[John*Wells]

I’m watching TOS Assignment Earth. They’re using stock footage of Apollo rocket launches. I recognize the Vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center and the launch site itself

 

[ScottRE]

I'm not sure it would be correct to call it a workprint. It did not have editors markings where dissolves/fades would be. I believe it had an optical track but the effects and music were all there. I blieve it was a B&W 16mm print. At least at the event I was at, Roddenberry also had a color print of the Season 1-2 blooper reel !

Perhaps not, but that's generally what it's been tagged as since it's an early edit with tighter pacing and some trims that never made it back into the current versions. Anyways, whatever we wanna call it, Paramount could have released it as is.

 

[ScottRE]

I’m watching TOS Assignment Earth. They’re using stock footage of Apollo rocket launches. I recognize the Vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center and the launch site itself

Those were so new at the time, I think a lot of them were first seen by the general public via this episode. The stages detaching and igniting looks amazing. That footage is my favorite part of the episode

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m glad we have the full color and mixed color and black and white versions of The Cage from the Blu ray and earlier DVD and VHS. It could have been lost forever or nearly as the 3 foot Enterprise model is. ( And perhaps has been discovered late last year. )

it seems there’s a lot of fans who’d love to have the black and white version of The Cage in its intact form. Perhaps someone at Paramount at the time felt the releases have to be in Living Color or else it won’t sell. Or perhaps the full color version could be reassembled from the existing elements. It is very cool to here Malachi Throne’s voice when the Keepr speaks. Maybe we can urge Mr. Roddenberry himself to give this some consideration.

 

[Jason_V]

I also do not have a recollection that Bob Furmanek found the missing color footage. We owe him a great debt! I still have the VHS tape and laser disc too. I remember how cool it was to see The Cage in color when that was released.

Funny-ish story: my BF at the time and I went to on one of the last HTF's meets in Hollywood...probably 2011 or 2012. We were in a car with Bob and some other people. He casually mentions he found the footage of "The Cage", which I thought was pretty wildly cool. I tweeted it (when I was on that platform)...and he responded...from the same car.

Just kind of a cool memory for me. I've got a bunch of pics from that trip somewhere, including a film can for The Motion Picture from the Paramount lot (and pics of the plaques for all the soundstages where the shows were filmed)...

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

They’re using stock footage of Apollo rocket launches.

I can't stand this episode, mostly because of the reliance on stock footage.

 

[BobO'Link]

I never much cared for it as it's just another half-baked backdoor pilot episode. It feels like it was shoe-horned into the Star Trek universe because of using the original half-hour episode script (that was not picked up by any network - co-written by Rodenberry so...) as the basis. The TOS cast mostly feels like *they* are the co-stars in this one. Even being integrated into in a TOS episode didn't help as it was still not picked up.

 

[ScottRE]

I can't stand this episode, mostly because of the reliance on stock footage.

Well, you're obviously not a fan of The Time Tunnel.

Well, not counting the music.

 

[B-ROLL]

I never much cared for it as it's just another half-baked backdoor pilot episode. It feels like it was shoe-horned into the Star Trek universe because of using the original half-hour episode script (that was not picked up by any network - co-written by Rodenberry so...) as the basis. The TOS cast mostly feels like *they* are the co-stars in this one. Even being integrated into in a TOS episode didn't help as it was still not picked up.

... It does have the talents of Terri Garr