HTF Blu-ray Review: Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection (1 Viewer)

Nelson Au · May 7, 2012

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.

Jeff Robertson · May 7, 2012

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.

Originally Posted by Nelson Au /t/288011/htf-blu-ray-review-star-trek-the-original-motion-picture-collection/30#post_3923646
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.

Nelson Au · May 7, 2012

Thanks Jeff.
I recall all the praise Star Trek 2 got for the work done for the blu ray. I'll have a look at 3,4 and 6.

Kevin EK · May 8, 2012

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.

Joel Fontenot · May 8, 2012

I still don't have this set. May still be a while as I really want to wait until they are all properly re-done - if ever.
However, I've seen screen caps and TWOK did get a color shift in some scenes from warm to cool. The moon that the Regular science station orbits is much bluer than the DVD where it is more brown.
Also, in TMP, there is that one shot of the Enterprise in space dock just as the pod is moving in to dock on the side - the red stripes on the side of the ship are green. And only in that one shot. Don't understand what happened there. They are red on the DVD and on the widescreen laserdisc (which is the same cut used for the Blu-ray).

AaronMK · May 10, 2012

Hopefully Paramount is listening, and will use the next Abrams movie to cross promote properly mastered Blu-ray releases of at least III, IV, and VI.
If I'm not mistaken, VI has three cuts, and having them seamlessly branched would be nice!

Scott D S · May 10, 2012

AaronMK said:
If I'm not mistaken, VI has three cuts, and having them seamlessly branched would be nice!

That's correct:
a.) the theatrical release (available on the Blu-Ray and nowhere else... also the only version of the film presented in 2.35:1)
b.) the Special Home Video Version (available on the LD, VHS, and bare-bones DVD)
c.) what I call the revised Special Home Video Version (available on the 2-disc SE) where Meyer added the flashbacks and made a couple of minor changes (for instance, using a close-up instead of a wide shot for McCoy's line "And what do you think you've been doing?")

Nelson Au · May 10, 2012

And Star Trek The Motion Picture. That is a must. They can't revisit the blu rays and leave that out.

Kevin EK · May 11, 2012

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.

Sam Favate · May 11, 2012

Originally Posted by Kevin EK /t/288011/htf-blu-ray-review-star-trek-the-original-motion-picture-collection/30#post_3924804

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.

Scott D S · May 11, 2012

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

I believe Viacom split into two separate companies: Paramount kept the Trek films but CBS got the TV shows. CBS is the one footing the bill for the TNG restoration. I believe Paramount is only the distributor.

Camper · May 12, 2012

There is no way they would go to all the trouble of re-rendering all the FX from the TMP Director's cut and add in the DC commentary and DC extras and NOT do the the simple addition of a few minutes of non-FX footage for 2 and 6.
I, for one, never purchased the old Blu-ray set and will never buy any Trek movie set of movies 1-6 that did not include the director's (and mine) preferred cuts of 1, 2 and 6 !!
Trek 2 and 6 both contain a mere 3 and a half minutes of added footage that would need no FX to be finished or any other work to be done.
I hope they understand that a simple a shiny new package is NOT what we want for the next release.
AND DELETED SCENES FROM 2, 3, 4 AND 6

Kevin EK · May 12, 2012

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.

Scott D S · May 12, 2012

I said this about the original versions of Star Wars but I think it also applies to Star Trek.
There is no "Star Trek advocate" (for lack of a better term) working at the studio. Sure, there's Mike Okuda who seems to be on permanent retainer as a consultant but that's about it and he isn't a DVD producer or documentarian. (I do think he's a genius at what he does, though.)
All of the existing extras are presented in a rather piecemeal fashion - there's no continuity of presentation. Not to mention the wealth of material that's never seen the light of day: artwork, photos, TV spots, deleted scenes, previous script drafts, etc.
I was surprised to see Trek guru Robert Meyer Burnett working on the extras for the TNG Blu-Rays. I know they're in good hands and I'm hoping he gets asked to produce new extras for the films but I doubt it'll ever happen. I even asked him about it in 2008 and this was his reply:
As you may have noticed, all the Trek docs must include a lower third identifying each episode any shots are from. This is to make sure all the documentaries are clearly "promotional" in nature and can't really be considered "new" content, which is unfortunate. While I'd love to do a three hour Trek documentary, it would simply be impossible for Paramount Home Video to produce.
I doubt things have improved since then.

Camper · May 13, 2012

I've read over the years that there are nearly 100 nex FX shots in the DC. And even using a lower figure--it would still be easier to add the 3 and a half minutes of regular footage to 2 & 6 and boast of "ALL NEW FIRST EVER ON BLU-RAY DIRECTOR'S CUTS"
I guess we'll see next year. If the rumors are true of Khan being in the new movie, maybe that increases the odds of a new version of Trek 2 with new footage and features.

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