Star Trek; The Motion Picture

Just wondering whats up with STTMP ?
It is now discontinued on Amazon, except thru individual sellers.
Is this movie getting ready to re-released in a better format that is  non Blu-ray ?

Wondering if I should wait to buy a better copy !

If you know the story about the theatrical cut verse the Directors Cut, then you know the version on the current blu ray set is the theatrical cut from 1979. All 6 of the TOS films in that Blu Ray set are theatrical cuts. 

I have not seen anything about this Blu Ray being cut from Amazon for any reason. It's still very new from release this past summer. The main version we are all waiting for is the Directors Cut to be released on Blu Ray. This is the same cut that was released in 2000 on DVD with added and corrected effects shots as they were intended in 1979, but were not completed due to time and technical issues. This is also slightly edited by Robert Wise himself. It's the preferred version for most fans, but there are those who also prefer to have the theatrical cut for completeness and historical reason.

I am hoping to see this released in the next year or so. And I am hoping all 6 films get a proper Lowry rework, well Star Trek 2 got the most benefit from the current remastering job. But of all the films, Star Trek The Motion Picture deserves it the most.

So I doubt the current release is being pulled. It's brand new still!

try this:

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Original-Picture-Collection/dp/B002I9Z8I0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Jacob

I doubt it will be in the next year, but Paramount will surely re-release the BDs of the films again, most likely when the next Abrams film comes out (which is looking less like 2011 and more like 2012).

I really enjoy TMP. It gets a bad rap in general, mostly from fans who want to see space battles and explosions, but it is really the film that is truest to the original concept of the show. In many ways, it is the most mature of the Trek films. Wise's directors cut is the best version I have seen (the theatrical cut and the extended home video (VHS) cut being the others) and I hope it finds its way to BD.

Unless you were there, it is virtually impossible to explain the anticipation leading up to the release of the film in 1979. Upon its release, it received a lukewarm reception by critics and a lot of moviegoers, but I doubt that any film could have lived up to the months of hype and anticipation. Even The Empire Strikes Back (released six months later) didn't have the media build-up that TMP had prior to its release (the reason being that Lucasfilm never needed - or could afford -  the kind of paid media hype that Paramount had at its disposal).

I thought I was the only one that really enjoyed ST:TMP. I remember seeing it at the theater opening day and enjoying it immensely.

I saw it the first week it premiered as well and really enjoyed it. The feeling of first seeing the Enterprise in space dock on the big screen is hard to articulate.

i read the book by Gene Roddenberry =P. dunno if that makes me a "super"-trekkie... but i'm sure there are a lot more crazier fans than i am ;).

re: DC, i'm going to bet that Paramount is going to release the special cuts/editions one by one then box it up. just like they did w/DVDs (except TMP, which came out on DVD as DC-ONLY).

This is so true, and I'm pleased to hear someone else thinks so.
It is the truest to the letter and spirit of the original program, which is why I'm so fond of it.
True, the script is fatally flawed, and I do wish they had thrown it out and started over again.
If Star Trek the Motion Picture aims high and falls the hardest of all the films, at least it aims high.
It's a positive and life-affirming Star Trek.
It has the best lensmanship, composition, and editing of all the films; it's the one film in which the Star Trek universe is properly and beautifully realized from a visual and aesthetic point of view.
Star TreK the Motion Picture was a dream come true for a generation, and in many ways, it surpassed audience expectations.
Even with all its faults, it remains a groundbreaking and important film in the evolution of science-fiction movies.

Can the theatrical cut be bought on Blu-ray individually?
I'm no longer interested in watching the other films in the set, and the newest film by Abrams kills my interest in the next one.

Unfortunately, I do not believe it can be purchased separately. Personally, I'm waiting for the inevitable BD re-release, since by most reports the transfer was not what it could have been on this one (although, in fairness, most say it was better than the DVD).

It's nice to see so much appreciation for TMP.  I love the film, and the music is gorgeous and worthy of many hours of discussion.  The musical score is IMO one of the more interesting and compelling to listen to, and can be enjoyed on a variety of levels apart from any programmatic elements.

After 30 years TMP is still my favourite Trek movie, and it has my favourite Trek music score by the late great Jerry Goldsmith, my favourite film composer. What it doesn't have is my favourite Trek movie villain. Oh and to buck the trend I prefer the original 1979 theatrical to the more recent directors cut which isn't really the film I saw back in cinemas December '79 and many times on video since.

I would welcome a multi-disc set similar to the Blade Runner or CE3K sets containing multiple editions of the film, I have the 140min tv version somewhere on tape.

I've spotted TWOK on Blu by itself as well as some of the TNG films at Costco, so it's likely they sell the others individually too. :)

It's probably way out of print, but the making of book penned by Roddenberry is an interesting read. Especially the account of long twisting path from small screen revival to big screen movie.

My favorite story from the old DC comics run bridged the end of the five year mission with events leading into the movie. Some of the current comics have been referencing TMP too.

Of the TOS Trek films, only Wrath Of Khan, Search For Spock and Voyage Home are available individually on Blu-ray, since they were originally sold as a trilogy set. 

I can't really compare the music from the first film to the others all that much. Look at the Enterprise Drydock sequence. The footage was used again for Wrath Of Khan and the context is different. Musically, both approaches to the same footage are entirely different yet equally valid and impressive. You could almost say that Goldsmith wrote a tribute to the Enterprise, while Horner wrote a tribute to Kirk. Both are pitch-perfect for their respective films.

As for the newest Trek film, I loved it. It was both new and familiar in a very fun and enjoyable sense. Chris Pine didn't have to be a Shatner clone to be Kirk, and it worked. He sold me on it completely.

Criticism for it doesn't interest me at all, because it's usually from those who are very set in their ways about what "Star Trek" is "supposed" to be, since every fan considers him or herself an expert on what it really is. All that says to me is that for a series and universe that is all about tolerating diversity and keeping an open mind, fans of it are almost the polar opposite of that ideal.

That "Batman Forever"-style theme music is drilled into my mind, though.

Actually it's Khan, Voyage Home, and Undiscovered Country that are available individually, because they were the "best."

I did get two out of three....I glanced at them when picking up the TNG blu-ray set and since the trilogy was the set I got I assumed it was all three of those they were now selling on their own.

I'm gratified to see some of the positive comments about this first Trek movie here. As a fan of the original series, I'd thought the show was done in 1969 when NBC canceled it. I'd followed the rumors, then the solid news, through the 1970s, looking forward to something I'd never experienced before: a fun childhood TV favorite resurrected as a big-budget film.

Because I was able to read an early-draft script months ahead of time (decades before internet spoilers became the rule), I knew about plot points that echoed (some may have stronger words) specific episodes from the series. Because I was then that intense a fan, I went along with a good friend to get in "line" for the first showing on December 7th '79... in Buffalo, NY... at 7 in the morning (first official show was at noon).

The crew at the (now-gone, I believe) Holiday Cinemas took pity on the small group of us out in the cold and let us in to see the test run of the just-arrived print. Thank goodness they did, as their sound system went bad for the first public show. (So much for Mr. Goldsmith's work for that audience.)

All that nostalgia is part of my fondness for the film and particularly for the theatrical cut, flawed as it may be. You can be sure I'm delighted it's finally available (with a couple minor tweaks) now on DVD. Make no mistake, I'm also happy that Robert Wise was able to achieve his vision of the film during his lifetime, and that too is a well-enjoyed disc on my shelves.

Over the years, I've always been pleasantly surprised when I came across a favorable opinion of the film. One such was when the SF writer George Zebrowski came into my store and we chatted about Trek and this movie in particular. If I remember correctly, he made the point that this work at least attempted to be a science fiction film, rather than an explosions-in-space extravaganza.

So, when I thought I was pretty much Trekked out this year, Paramount came up with a way to part a few more bucks from me - by finally getting the original theatrical cuts of films 1 and 6 out on disc.