Star Trek-The Motion Picture, new effects are excellently integrated (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

'Star Trek-The Motion Picture' Directors cut arrived today, sneaked a good look at it while 'She who must be obeyed' was having a nap, good picture good sound, effects have been replaced, you WHAT?, oh yes its a director's cut, similar to what El Lucas did with his trilogy.
I miss that matte painting of Vulcan with its giant moon (I know Vulcan doesn't have a moon) its replaced with a couple of new matte paintings, nice though, the San Francisco Bridge matte painting is gone replaced by 3 new ones, and more new effects are dotted all over the place, we get to see V'Ger approaching Earth in more detail, in fact V'Ger looks like a huge detailed alien spaceship near the end of the movie instead of an enormous blue cloud, the effects are excellent.
And you get snippets of extra scenes that were in the tv version, Spock crying etc, and a few slight trims to speed things up a bit.
All in all I was quite pleased with it, but I'm saddened that the 'original' cinema version of this classic SF film will probably never get a release on DVD now.
ps. I havent checked the extras in disc 2 in detail yet, but it looks like most of the replaced scenes from the cinema version and all the missing scenes from the tv version are in the second disc, along with 3 documentaries, can't wait to check them out.
Disc 1 gets an A-
Disc 2 not checked
[Edited last by Steve Christou on October 30, 2001 at 08:19 PM]

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Thanks for the info Steve!
Looking forward to this one big time.
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Every man is my superior, in that I may learn from him.
MyHTSetup

 

[Mike_G]

Is the scene with Admiral Nogura in this version? I can't get a definitive answer on this.
Mike

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Is the scene with Admiral Nogura in this version? I can't get a definitive answer on this.

Mike,
This scene was never filmed. According to the new issue of Star Trek - The Magazine, the set was never completely built. Parts of the set wound up in the Enterprise's cargo bay.
Neil
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"Conspiracy theorists don't live on the same flat Earth as the rest of us." -- astronomer Stephen Maran

 

[Steve Christou]

No Nogura.
Some of the sound effects have changed too, including the Enterprise alarm, have to get used to them.
Jerry Goldsmith's incredible score sounds better than ever now, more dynamic, shame there's no isolated music.
Was the Enterprise a CGI in some scenes? Didn't notice.

 

[SpenceJT]

"I'm saddened that the 'original' cinema version of this classic SF film will probably never get a release on DVD now"
I know how goofy this will sound, but here goes.
Considering that this version is what the director had originally intended but did was not given the time to complete, wouldn't that make this version the 'original'?
Just something to ponder.
Spence
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SpenceJT
Link Removed
"...now what's all this crud about no movie tonight!"
- Thank you Mr. Lemmon
[Edited last by SpenceJT on October 31, 2001 at 07:06 AM]
[Edited last by SpenceJT on October 31, 2001 at 06:17 PM]

 

[derek]

In my mind no it wouldn't be considered the 'original' just as I would not consider the reworks by Lucas of his Star Wars trilogy as 'the originals' even though he intended many of those scenes/additions originally (ie Jabba and Solo etc) but was forced to exclude them due to time/budget constraints. Compromises always have to be made in the film industry...and how adept the director is at making them lands the 'original' mark on the film IMHO.
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Derek
Surround EX FAQ: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/P...urroundex.html

 

[Chris Moreau]

I know this is off the topic, but
quote: sneaked a good look at it while 'She who must be obeyed' was having a nap [/quote]
Another "Rumpole of The Bailey" fan, obviously. How I'd love to see this series (as well as Jeremy Britt's "Sherlock Holmes") on DVD!
[Edited last by Chris Moreau on October 31, 2001 at 08:16 AM]
[Edited last by Chris Moreau on October 31, 2001 at 08:17 AM]

 

[Nelson Au]

Steve- You are so lucky! Thanks for the thoughts on the DVD.
Regarding whether this version of The Motion Picture is original or not, I have to side with what Robert Wise intended and has presented here.
My feeling and understanding is that Lucas was using the original Star Wars Trilogy as a test bed to see if he could pull off the new effects and fix his first 3 movies. Also, if he could pull it off, then he knew he could do what he wanted to do with The Phantom Menace.
For Robert Wise, he had a studio in 1979 breathing down his back with a fixed release date for the film. The Motion Picture had some ambitious effects needed to tell the story, and they could not pull them off in the time they had.
Robert Wise is an acedemy award winning director of very high esteem and he had a vision for the film and plans to fine tune it. He plans for all his films time to preview it and then edit out or edit in things that help the film flow or be clearer. In the case of the Motion Picture, he was denied this. Lucas was a less known director in 1977 and Fox probably didn't care as much about release dates and let the kid do what he wanted with the first Star Wars. (i'm just guessing of course) Lucas fixed Star Wars Ep 4, 5 and 6 because he could, so he did.
We've had 22 years to get attached to a preview version of the first Trek film. Now Mr. Wise has had the chance to priviledge us, the fans, with what he truely intended. And I would also guess allowed him a chance to fix a wrong that he likely felt was never going to happen.
I say Thanks to him, the two producers of the DVD, David C. Fein and Michael Matessino who fought to do this and Paramount. I understand how many of you would like to hold onto a version of the theatrical version. I guess the answer to best solve that is buy a laserdisc player and find a used copy of either the widescreen version or the longer TV version that is standard format. I have both so it's easy for me to say that.
Nelson

 

[Jeff Swindoll]

Another "Rumpole of The Bailey" fan, obviously. How I'd love to see this series (as well as Jeremy Britt's "Sherlock Holmes") on DVD!

Sorry another off topic, but Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes is on DVD. MPI has released 2 volumes and 2 more are on they way. They're called the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. V.1 has 4 episodes with the continuing volumes having 2 episodes.
I'm anxiously waiting ST:TMP, but am waiting to see what my Sam's Club will be pricing it at. Sounds pretty neat.
Cheers.
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I didnt play Dungeons and Dragons all those years and not learn something about courage.
--Bernie Faulkner

 

[Matt Perkins]

Fortunately, I'm not pissed about these changes because the original material is all on the second disc (or so I've heard). Hell, I've got Adobe Premiere: when I want to see the original, I'll re-build it!

 

[Cliff B]

Regarding whether this version of The Motion Picture is original or not, I have to side with what Robert Wise intended and has presented here.

I have to side with Nelson on this one. It was pretty much established right out of the gate that this was never the release that Mr. Wise had intended.
As to the point of 'originality' or not, it's a subject that I'm sure could be debated for quite some time.
I, for one, welcome this disc and could care less if I never see the other version again.

 

[Carlo_M]

I'm am so excited to finally see Robert Wise's version. The original version never did much for me, it felt disjointed, but from all accounts this one should be more satisfying. I don't harbor hopes that this will replace Wrath of Khan as my favorite Trek movie, but at least it will bring it out of "undiscovered country" rankings.

 

[Steve Christou]

Yeah I know I shouldn't bitch about having a newly restored version of Star Trek TMP, but what is happening here is that movies that we've gotten used to for decades are doomed to become extinct in the future replaced by professionally tweaked directors cuts.
Anyhow if you suddenly get nostalgic you can see all the original replaced footage in the 2nd disc, perfectly digitally preserved.
The 3rd documentary on the making of the directors cut is very interesting, the fx guys had the challenge of making the new effects look like the effects made in 1979, and I think they succeeded, there are no flashy CGI flybys of Starfleet headquarters, the effects are in the spirit of the original.
And you get an interpretation of what V'Ger really looks like on the outside, instead of an immense blue cloud, its a huge alien ship with a distinctly alien shape, I liked it.

 

[Brad Cook]

"My feeling and understanding is that Lucas was using the original Star Wars Trilogy as a test bed to see if he could pull off the new effects and fix his first 3 movies. Also, if he could pull it off, then he knew he could do what he wanted to do with The Phantom Menace."
I bet this is exactly what he was doing. When you look at changed shots such as the one where Leia, Chewie and Lando were running in a closed hallway and then it was changed so that they were running in an open one with a view of the sky behind them, you had to assume it was done only because Lucas wanted to see if it could be done. After all, ILM did a lot of that kind of digital tweaking in Ep I (and probably Ep II).
"Lucas was a less known director in 1977 and Fox probably didn't care as much about release dates and let the kid do what he wanted with the first Star Wars. (i'm just guessing of course)"
I don't know if Fox had the release date set in stone (probably not), but I do know that Lucas was under a lot of pressure with the first film. If you read his bio Skywalking, you'll see that Fox at one point gave him just 3 days to finish the film, and he hadn't gotten the shots he needed for the beginning of the film! So he had to set up 3 units and work like crazy for 3 days to get all the shots in, all the time dealing with a British crew who wouldn't work overtime and basically thought he was making a flop.
Even though I don't think Lucas is a very good writer/director (I think the first two films were so good because he surrounded himself with good people, like Kasdan, Kershner, etc.), I do think Star Wars is an amazing story of someone making something creative happen by sheer force of will. I was reminded of it when I watched the Terminator documentary on the new SE. Cameron did whatever it took to get the shots he needed, even filming on the streets without a permit. I don't think people realize how hard it is to make a movie, especially when you're an unknown like Lucas and Cameron were (although Lucas was very successful with American Graffitti, so he wasn't a complete unknown, at least not to Hollywood).
- Brad