HTF Blu-ray Review: Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection - Page 2

Hi Nelson.

ST: TMP isn't one of the worst offenders in this set when it comes to DNR. Look at 3, 4, & 6 for that. Although some DNR was certainly applied, it isn't anywhere near as bad as the others. I cannot agree that makeup had anything to do with the waxy appearance of the actors at the time, as you can see the effect on other objects throughout the film.

In my opinion, ST: TWOK looks the best and actually does look like some reworking was done to prepare it for Blu-Ray.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nelson Au 

I was curious about asking you more technically minded members about the usage of DNR on this set. I bought this set on release day. So I've seen the films a few times.
But I recently upgraded my display. I had a 50" 720 plasma and now I have a 65" 1080p plasma. So I watched Star Trek The Motion Picture last week for the first time on this new display.
I had to wonder if the concerns about the DNR is over stated. The image looked great. Faces had a lot of detail and sharpness. The issue of faces that looked pasty though had me wondering. In watching the film, I noticed before on the DVD and when I watched the blu ray on my older display that the make-up on Nimoy and Kelley tended to look funny. I really have become more of the belief that the make-up was simply causing the pasty look and not the DNR work. Shatner looked okay, as did Takei and Nichols. Sometimes Keonig looked bad, but I think it was make-up. These were all middle aged actors! So I'm not surprised an effort was made to make them look younger.
And I did see a short clip from The Motion Picture in the supplements and there was a lot of grain in the clip. So I see a lot of grain removal was done. I wish I could remember what Star Trek The Motion Picture looked like in the theater. I saw it in 1979.
At any rate, it will be interesting to see the Motion Picture Director's Cut on blu ray when it comes.

I'm of the opinion that something odd happened to TWOK when it was restored for Blu.  The entire color palette of the movie has been retimed to  a much bluer level - and I don't mean that as a pun.

I didn't have that much of an issue with 3, 4 and 6 to be honest. 

It's interesting to have the theatrical cut of TMP on Blu, but I do look forward to the release of the Robert Wise cut on Blu, which I believe will coincide with the release of the next JJ Abrams movie in 2013.

I don't think we'll see any other re-dos of the Trek movies on Blu, but I could be wrong on that count.  As it is, we already have the 6 TOS movies and the 4 TNG movies on very nice 2-disc DVD sets and these Blu-ray sets.  I can't see Paramount investing more in the releases than to simply repackage the existing Blus or recombine them.  TMP allows them the one new idea - to put the revised cut with the additional extras from the 2001 DVD out in HD.  And yes, that will involve a redo of the CGI work done in 2001 - but there wasn't so much material as to make this untenable.  We're not talking that many shots.

TMP is likely the only one that will receive new attention.  I expect a new transfer of the Director's Edition, with newly redone CGI fx for the Blu-ray, and a port of the rest of the extras from the 2001 DVD. 

The other movies will likely be re-released on Blu with new packaging.

I would be happy to see them revisit the titles and do more with them - the menus on the movie Blus are pretty boring - but I just don't see Paramount spending the money on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin EK 

 

I would be happy to see them revisit the titles and do more with them - the menus on the movie Blus are pretty boring - but I just don't see Paramount spending the money on it.

Don't be so sure. They're spending quite a bit on the TNG blu-ray project, so they obviously see value in it. 

Steve, I honestly hope you're right.  I'd be happier than anyone to see revised Blus of the Trek movies.  And there are plenty of deleted scenes that haven't seen the light of day.

But Paramount isn't known for spending a lot of money on these items.  And the 2001 cut of TMP didn't add that many FX shots.   I would say that the total number is somewhere around 30-35, which are already done and would simply need to be re-rendered to 1080p rather than 480p.    This is the sort of thing that could be accomplished for very little money in a few days.  Further, the extras would cost nothing to be tacked onto a new Blu-ray.  So for a very small investment, they could have a new item for sale, coupled with new packaging for the existing titles.

I would hope they would do something different, and perhaps they will.  But if we simply get the proper cut of TMP on Blu, I'll be happy with that.