"but I'm a little disappointed that once again we don't get to hear from Doohan, Nichols, Takei, or Koenig in the special features."
I agree wholeheartedly. While there is a little bit of an interview with Koenig in the first movie's DVD, I'm really surprised and disappointed that, for whatever reason, the rest of the cast did not have their say in the special features. I think it's an oversight that I consider serious in my appreciation of the DVDs. Yes definitely a 2nd commentary with other cast members, spotlights on these cast members is something that could have added a lot to my enjoyment. If they can do a tribute for Mark Lenard, I really hope they can do one for DeForest Kelly at least.
If more spotlight isn't made to the supporting characters, I really hope they do this if ever they decide to do season sets for the Orignal Series.
I agree, there needs to be a tribute to DeForest Kelley prepared for one of the upcoming DVDs, particularly for VI, since it is his final appearance as Dr. McCoy in Trek.
As for the Generations SE DVD, I would venture a guess and say look for it in 2004, since it would be the film's 10th anniversary. Now if they can get all of the deleted scenes onto the disc and not just a sampling, as they did with Nemesis...
With regards as to why there has not been more involvement from the supporting cast of TOS, I read an interesting short interview with Walter Keonig on the Trekweb site.
He said he was invited by William Shatner to be involved in the Mind Meld DVD project. The entire cast was. They all declined! I suspect his reasoning here is the same for the lack of involvement in Star Trek DVD movie extras. Of course, we can still hope that Paramount will do something for Star Trek 6. Is Martin Blythe still visiting this site, could he elaborate? See the article: Trekweb
The other topic discussed is certainly controversal, after Enterprise makes it's 7 year run, he suggests a new TOS remake.
"He said he was invited by William Shatner to be involved in the Mind Meld DVD project. The entire cast was. They all declined! I suspect his reasoning here is the same for the lack of involvement in Star Trek DVD movie extras. "
But I don't see much sense in that. Mind Meld was an independent project by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. If the other Trek cast didn't want to be involved in that, I would understand because of this thing they feel about Shatner.
The Star Trek movie DVDs however, are from Paramount, official releases of the films that involves not only Shatner and Nimoy, but the other cast as well. They all have a stake in it.
Walter Koenig saw it fit to be interviewed for Star Trek: The Motion Picture so I'm puzzled why he wasn't available for the rest of the movies...
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, especially after talking about him being alive last week, but Matt Jeffries just passed away this morning. StarTrek.com has a tribute with quotes from some staff.
Sad, indeed. It was very fortunate that he lived long enough to see the video tribute to him recently at Paramount. While it will be another year before we get to see the Jeffries tribute, I hope that Paramount will move it up to be part of the Star Trek VI special edition DVD and include a tribute to the late DeForest Kelley as well. It would be fitting since VI is the "swan song", so to speak, of the complete Original Series cast, and part of what made the Original Series work so well was Matt Jeffries' work in designing the classic Enterprise. May he rest in peace.
I also would like to see or hear from Nichols, Doohan, Takei and Koenig for The Undiscovered Country special edition (interviews or commentary). They have been forgotten about by the producers of the new DVDs.
I can't wait for Undiscovered Country to be released. I'll pass on The Final Frontier. I won't have a movie in my collection that I don't like even though I will have all of the other original crew movies.
Between being a completist and not having seen the movie in years, I'm picking it up. I have to agree with everybody that it would be great to have some other TOS cast members weighing in on the movies either in commentary or in featurettes.
Sad to hear the news about Matt Jefferies. :frowning:
Anyway, in my search on the BBFC's website for more Alien extras, I came across the extras for the upcoming Star Trek V: Special Edition.
This does not include the 2 commentaries (audio and text), "Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute", "Cosmic Thoughts", "That Klingon Couple", "The Journey" documentary, or the press conference footage.
00:14:35:15 | ORIGINAL INTERVIEW - WILLIAM SHATNER 00:01:40:04 | HARVE BENNET - PRESENTATION VIDEO FOR 1989 PARAMOUNT SALES MEETING 00:01:06:11 | GAG REEL 00:05:35:13 | "ROCKMAN IN THE RAW" 00:09:48:05 | "MAKEUP TESTS" - (MUTE) 00:04:02:24 | "PRODUCTION GALLERY" 00:00:16:19 | DELETED SCENES - "MOUNT RUSHMORE" 00:02:01:18 | "INSULTS" 00:00:50:02 | "BEHOLD PARADISE" 00:01:00:24 | "SPOCK'S PAIN" 00:02:32:18 | "TRAILER #1" 00:01:25:18 | "TRAILER #2" 00:00:30:02 | TV SPOT - "VACATION IS OVER" 00:00:30:00 | "RENEGADE" 00:00:30:00 | "CHALLENGE OF REBELLION" 00:00:29:24 | "BROTHERS" 00:00:30:01 | "BEYOND" 00:00:14:23 | "ADVENTURE" 00:00:15:00 | "WARP SPEED NOW" 00:09:22:19 | "A GREEN FUTURE?" 00:01:39:06 | "PREVISUALIZATION" - (MUTE)
I bet the GAG REEL is an Easter Egg but it would be pretty cool, nonetheless.
There's actually more deleted scenes than meets the eye. In Lisabeth Shatner's book "Captain's Log", she wrote that her father's original cut of the film was 122 minutes. After editing and tweaking the film, it then got down to 105 minutes. This would account for 17 minutes of deleted scenes from the film.
That we're getting only four minutes of deleted scenes doesn't help overall, as there are some other moments of good scenes, some of which involve the late DeForest Kelley. Additional trims from the film include, but are not limited to:
- a longer bit of dialog between Spock and McCoy on the observation deck at the end of the film - more mishap involving the turbolift doors on the bridge (mercifully cut from the film) - more footage and dialog involving the Klingons Klaa and Vixis - a quick bit involving Chekov saying to Scotty, "Transfer power to warp drive!" before he says, "Warp speed now!" (This quick bit is in one of the theatrical trailers for the film.)
As for the Rockman footage, do we know if it's the actual footage that was shot for the film and deleted, or if it's test footage (a la the "Memory Wall" test footage from the Star Trek: TMP DVD)?
Comparing the script to the final version of the film (and its accompanying novelization and comics adaptation), you'll get a fuller sense of what Shatner had intended.
Well, I picked up a used copy of "The Motion Picture" recently which I probably never would have bought at full retail price--so if I find "Search For Spock" or "Final Frontier" used at a decent price I might buy them. But otherwise I doubt that I'll be buying what I consider two craptacular movies. As I recall, I walked out of the theatre after seeing SfS and FF wondering aloud both times to a friend "Is that the best they could come up with?" Or words to that effect.
But like I said, if I find them cheap somewhere I'll probably pick them up just to have the complete set. And hopefully they'll redo some of the special effects for "Undiscovered Country." Especially the scene where the prison guards are trying to figure out which one is Kirk and which one is the changeling. Worst split screen effect I've ever seen.
As an owner of the original DVD for ST5, I couldn't see myself spending another $20 on the CE of this movie.
Then I spotted a used copy for $12.95 and gave it some thought.
I traded in my old copy for $6 and shelled out the other $7.
The new transfer is 16x9, but aside from the lack of any visible line structure, not much has been improved.
PQ is still fairly muddy and the print has many specks to distract you.
This is not a particularly good transfer unfortunately.
And I had my hopes up after reading this DVD review:
"The previous DVD release was hideous, a plain letterbox presentation that had a worn, unrefined presence. But this time around, Paramount has churned out a brand new treatment, one which cures all the ailments of the prior edition and then some. The anamorphic enhancement takes care of a lot of woes, such as jagged edges, shimmering, and other such troubles, which plagued the earlier release, but don't surface much here. So we have a more filmlike texture, which is furthered by how sharp and crisp the image is in this edition. I knew Paramount would give us an anamorphic version for this new release, but I didn't think they would do much beyond that. As it turns out, all of the problems have been taken care of and we have a superb visual effort."