Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

IMHO, it was about the worst ever delivered and least convincing line reading from Shatner in Trek's history. I saw it opening day in NYC and the whole theater laughed out loud. I had always cringed when watching TMP on VHS over the years and when the DC came out, was very pleased with that change.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Total agreement here.

Doug

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

7 movies x $39.99 each=$280 give or take depending on how many extras they are giving so it could be more or slightly less. Look at the TOS remastered prices which are very steep but they obviously wanted to recoup their investment in new FX. The HD-DVD season 1 was around $199 RRP but you could pick it up a lot cheaper if you looked around. Remember Lowry Digital have been involved on ST4 & 8 so they will want to recoup that cost early on.

Even though Trek has always been treated as bargain basement sci-fi by Paramount that label gets quickly forgotten when it comes time to price up the goodies for the consumer!!

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Does Star Trek: First Contact (aka Star Trek 8) really require Lowry's work? The current DVD looks very good and the film looked very good when it aired on Universal's HD channel a few months ago. Are we sure they aren't working on Star Trek IV through VIII (as opposed to only IV and VIII)? I don't doubt the original poster and it's nice to know the studio is putting in some effort but it does raise an eyebrow.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

This might be one of those boxsets to wait for a Deep Discount sale.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Wow, I totally cannot agree with that interpretation of his reading.

It generated total silence from a crouded house when I saw it in the theater.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

paul,

if u have been following how paramount charges anytime they released a new DVD for ANY trek franchise, brand new releases all get the 'fan-price markup'. ask all of the hardcore fans who spent the first $100+ per season of any of the series. it's like they know they can get it from the fan early adopters who won't be able to resist. and nowadays ea. season is like ½ to ¼ of the original price.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

As much as I like the Director's Cut of TMP, I'm glad that they're leading with the theatrical version. I'm not happy that that's basically because of Paramount's cheapness, but I'll be happy to see the TC again.

Paramount have a lengthy track record when it comes to excessive DNR on catalogue releases though, and I hope that they can keep it under control for the classic Trek flicks, because I'm quietly geeking out over the thought of seeing these classics done right in HD.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Maybe this set will be more reasonably priced than the usual Trek stuff, since this time it's part of the big hype for the new movie.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

The old Loewe's Orpheum on East 86th in manhattan. Opening day, Dec. 7th, afternoon show. generated laughter where I saw it. And I think it's a terrible line reading. Completely unconvincing IMHO and I LIKE the Shat's acting. Wise took it out for a reason too.


edit: just did a google search. Apparently I am not alone in my opinion of that line reading.... This reviewer described it almost EXACTLY the way I did.

http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/s/startrek01tmp.shtml

"At least as significant are the numerous small changes. Previous versions of the movie contained a lot of fat — unnecessary footage, redundancies, and infelicitous editing — so the Director's Edition trims most of that away for a leaner final cut. A few seconds here, a line of dialogue there, a trimmed moment spent lingering on an unnecessary visual.... It adds up, it's done subtlely, and it's all to the good. William Shatner's most disastrous line reading of his career, his "Oh my God" uttered after a fatal transporter malfunction, is removed with not a seam showing..."



edit: found another...

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/arti...VGer_Redux.asp

"Certain lines of unnecessary, heavy-handed dialogue that have also been newly excised, with a couple of unintended laughs going along with them -- like Kirk's "oh my god!" statement after the transporter room accident..."

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

My personal feeling is Kirk was a big asshole in the theatrical cut of the movie. The directors cut tones that down considerably, to the films benefit.
The best addition to TMP was Spock realizing how important emotions are. THAT my friends was the heart and soul of the film. It is non existent in the theatrical cut.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Agreed, rick.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

The trek movies were never overpriced on DVD, it's not the same as the TV sets-- not even the same distributor. They get priced the same as every other Paramount catalog title.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I always loved the idea that BOTH Kirk and Spock had become kinda A-holes and needed/exploited the situation to get their own life together! (I think Robert Wise had to walk a fine line with Kirk being the right "level" of asshole, and the director's cut did a nice job finding the balance)

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Now I have to see this.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Count me in as one of the folks that does NOT miss the "Oh my god". It was a terrible reading...

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

They rendered the Director's Cut effects in 480p??? What were they thinking? I am quite shocked.

I could swear that I heard back in 2001, just before they released the DVD, that Paramount was thinking about bringing the DC in cinemas for a limited release... Would that have been also in 480p?

I mean, I couldn't care less about the new special effects. If the re-rendering of the new effects are too expensive, then leave the old ones in. The effects were definately not the weak spot of the original movie.

But what I actually DO care about are the quite significant character improvements the Director's Cut contains! There are many small but significant moments in it which really DO contribute to the emotional complexity and depth of those characters. Most importantly Spock's character arc, completed by the small scene where he is crying.

Also the pacing is MUCH better. It's one of the few examples where the Director's Cut of a mediocre film turns it into a good one. It really fixed most of the problems with the original cut and I can not imagine myself going back to the theatrical release again.

They could easily have packed both cuts on the Blu Ray, with 50GB capacity Blu Ray provides.

Big thumbs down to Paramount.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

I'm in agreement as well. Glad it was cut from the DC.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Oliver, there was lots of speculation and hopeful cries from the fans that the director's cut would be re-released in the theaters. And so there was talk when asked that if it was, it would have to have the new effects rendered at higher resolution. Ultimately, they decided not to re-issue it to theaters and the decision was to just do 480 resolution. It may or may not have been short sighted. This was back in 2000.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

This DOES kinda come out during the sequence in sick bay immediately after Spock's spacewalk where he tells Kirk, whilst clutching at his hand, that V'Ger is unable to understand simple feelings.

The scene later on where Spock is seen crying is featured in the TV version of the movie, and has been since about 1980. Perhaps they should have included THAT version, along with the theatrical version, on the BD.

At the end of the day, the director's cut is merely a hybrid of the theatrical/television versions with a few bits tweaked (some of them not to my personal liking I have to say) and a few new effects thrown in.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

No, at the end of the day the director's cut is Director Robert Wise's true version of the film. It's not some trivial anomaly like a television cut stitched together to help pad in some commercials.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Oh I'm sure it was his "true" version - but in terms of the raw content/footage it didn't contain anything that isn't available in the other two versions.

Of the three versions I probably prefer the TV cut because it contained all the important missing scenes and didn't remove the cool stuff left out of the DC. I was quite happy with ST:TMP prior to 2000.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Untitled on Vimeo


shhh.....

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Well, I really don't care what everyone else thinks. I still believe it to be a convincing performance because I've seen actual reactions to a pretty bad accident by people, and it's not much different - the slight quiver in the voice, the almost blank stare and everything.

But I'll just leave that with - let's agree to disagree.

There is a lot of additional dialog and discussions that weren't in the theatrical cut that I do think should have been. It is nice that it was added back into the DC. Even a few scenes that weren't in the "special longer" version. So there is some new stuff in the DC that was never (at least to my knowledge) in any other cut.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

dave...

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

gonna be a long 6 months

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Me too!!

I always thought the controversy surrounding the line was because it referred to "God" and Star Trek has always steered away from religion of any kind - the theory being that there are so many different races in the Federation that there must be 1000001 religions and it really isn't worth going there! Hence there is never a mention of Christmas or anything like that.

This was, of course, until Star Trek 5 came along.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Keep in mind, in the second season episode "Who Mourns For Adonais?", Kirk tells Apollo that mankind has grown beyond the need for gods and that "we find the one sufficient". You are right, though, that any religion in the 23rd Century has been boiled down to only its broadest, most universal constituents.

Oh, and don't forget, before STV, there was this line in THE WRATH OF KHAN: "The energizer's bypassed like a Christmas tree, so don't give me too many bumps."

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

Nope, just a badly read line.

Re: Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far

No longer up?