Paramount, The Truman Show and Star Trek: TMP - Special Longer Version need proper releases (1 Viewer)

[Camper]

Yes the theatrical cut of Star Trek the motion picture was released on DVD in 2013 for sure. Not sure if there were earlier releases of the theatrical version on DVD

 

[Camper]

I've been thinking, in 2001 at the height of physical media for movies and at the height of the DVD format Paramount chose not to restore Star Trek the motion picture and the print seen on the director's cut is in pretty rough shape to be honest and they also chose not to future-proof the newly-created special effects for high-definition which was clearly visible on the horizon.
Now 19 years later when physical media is in a fairly precipitous decline we somehow think they're going to restore the movie from the original camera negative and shell out the cash to re-render the effects in high definition?
And of a movie that despite its popularity among die-hard Star Trek fans is not particularly considered to be a great movie or a great selling movie like The Wrath of Khan is perceived to be.
I really hope this project happens and I'd buy two copies at least just to be safe (LOL), but I have my doubts.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Yeah, pretty much.

The best possible scenario probably involves the newly recombined CBS/Paramount entity wanting exclusive content for whatever CBS All Access will be morphing into that combines the libraries of the movie and television studios. The money certainly won’t come from disc sales or theatrical reissues. The best hope for HD upgrades for this, DS9 and Voyager is if they think they can get some extra subscription revenue by using this stuff to pad out their Trek offerings. And that could work. I only subscribe when there’s new Trek, but if they added newly remastered episodes and films on a weekly basis, I could get in to revisiting them that way. And I still don’t know if the money’s there but that’s probably the only possibly pathway at this point.

 

[Allansfirebird]

It honestly may be cheaper to start from scratch than to try to re-render standard definition designs from 20 years ago that a) didn’t match the film 20 years ago and b) surely would not hold up in 4K.

IIRC, David Fein mentioned that the digital assets were built specifically for hi-def theatrical showings, since that's what the endgame of the Director's Edition was. It was a Paramount Home Video directive to do the lower-res renders for DVD with the nebulous assurance at the time that "someday" they'd be used to create a new theatrical print.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think that’s true, but we’re also talking twenty year old digital effects from when the technology was much closer to its infancy. Well-intentioned as they were, even if they were re-rendered at HD resolution today, they would still stand out as not really being part of the film - they’ll look like what they are - circa 2000 digital effects blended not seamlessly into much better 1979 practical and optical effects.

 

[Nelson Au]

You don’t know that. Why are you opposed to trying? Ha, ha, quoting Decker. Just kidding you.

We know Daren Dochterman was the effects guy in charge at the time and he’s still around and highly motivated for the HD remaster. So I’m sure he’s well aware of the CGI assets state and if they are up to the standards of today. I trust he’ll do what they need, start over or use what they have, when they get the call to go ahead with the project.

I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the prospect of a remastered Star Trek The Motion Picture DE and theatrical cut.

 

[Osato]

You don’t know that. Why are you opposed to trying? Ha, ha, quoting Decker. Just kidding you.

We know Daren Dochterman was the effects guy in charge at the time and he’s still around and highly motivated for the HD remaster. So I’m sure he’s well aware of the CGI assets state and if they are up to the standards of today. I trust he’ll do what they need, start over or use what they have, when they get the call to go ahead with the project.

I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the prospect of a remastered Star Trek The Motion Picture DE and theatrical cut.

I’m going to say this fall or December.

 

[Camper]

THEY ARE REMIXING STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE IN ATMOS!!!

The remaster must be coming!!
@ 2min 45 sec

 

[DVBRD]

THEY ARE REMIXING STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE IN ATMOS!!!

The remaster must be coming!!
@ 2min 45 sec

I'm holding out hope that it's the DE but I have a feeling it's going to be the theatrical cut being restored.

Yes the theatrical cut of Star Trek the motion picture was released on DVD in 2013 for sure. Not sure if there were earlier releases of the theatrical version on DVD

The first DVD release of TMP was in 2001 and that was of the Director's Edition.

 

[Worth]

I'm holding out hope that it's the DE but I have a feeling it's going to be the theatrical cut being restored.



The first DVD release of TMP was in 2001 and that was of the Director's Edition.

Yes, but finished in standard-def.

 

[DVBRD]

Yes, but finished in standard-def.

Exactly. That's why I'm not holding my breath for a restoration of the DE.

 

[Osato]

THEY ARE REMIXING STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE IN ATMOS!!!

The remaster must be coming!!
@ 2min 45 sec

great news! I think we will see a 4k release in the coming months!!!

 

[B-ROLL]

great news! I think we will see a 4k release in the coming months!!!

Possibly around December 6th ...

 

[Osato]

Possibly around December 6th ...

agreed.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

When that scene was inserted into the "Special Longer Version" for television exhibition, the 4x3 crop obscures the fact that the set is visible in the original shot.

Not totally. You can still see bits of scaffolding, etc. that weren't meant to be seen, but I will agree it's less-obvious in the 4:3 version.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Doesn’t the dvd extras have what was filmed for the memory wall scene?

Nope, not even close. There's about 2 minutes of test footage, but it most certainly is not everything that was filmed.

There was another forum (the forum on the "Forgotten Trek" site, I think, or maybe somewhere on the "Trek History" site) where a fan found a missing Memory Wall clip via one of the Lincoln Enterprises "film clips" packets. There was a very short piece of this shown in low resolution of (I think) one of the dialogue scenes between Kirk and Spock. I think the fan in question had promised to upload the complete clip (or in a bigger size), but it never happened.

Yes, folks. Gene and Majel were given the same access to the film trims for TMP and did the exact same thing they did with the film trims for the TV series...they chopped them up and sold them in 'film clip' packets. The only difference here (I think) is that the stuff they had for TMP might not necessarily have been the only copies of things.

As for whether all the live-action for the Memory Wall scene was completed.... for years, I had assumed everything was shot, but I think in the various reading of articles that came out during (and after) the time of the Director's Edition, I believe that this wasn't necessarily true. Yes, a lot more was shot than we were given on the DVD extras, but I don't think "everything" was shot. I believe there was enough of the sequence not shot that simply doing the VFX still wouldn't have finished everything.

That being said, I really wish that if we ever get a new edition, that Paramount will finally give us all of the filmed sequences as extras. There was an article in Star Trek magazine on the project that said that they found all the Memory Wall stuff in the archive, but it was up to Paramount as to how much they decided to use on the DVD, so someone higher-up in the food chain is probably to blame for the small amount of material that was presented.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m familiar with the Forgotten Trek site and it’s got some really great stuff!

Producing the Memory Wall Sequence — Forgotten Trek

According to legend, the memory wall is the great lost sequence of The Motion Picture that was only cut because of time restraints.

forgottentrek.com

What I know of the memory wall sequence is what you can hear in the audio commentary of the Star Trek TMP Directors Edition DVD and some of the stuff from Forgotten Trek that I read about years ago. it was just not working and they didn’t try to complete it. It’s a shame it didn’t work out as the set was impressive. From what I’ve heard and read, there really isn’t anything that survives of actual footage. But if there, it would be great to see it. There is a short bit of test footage here:

 

[Nelson Au]

As I said in the Star Trek films on blu ray thread, i really hope there is work being done for Star Trek The Motion Picture for 4K release on disc. But that video above with Bruce Botnick doesn’t really confirm anything in my mind. He does say he’s remastering the Jerry Goldsmith score. I researched Botnick and he and Goldsmith became close friends and collaborated on many scores after Star Trek. He did say the fans will love hearing V’Ger in Atmos. But given his works with The Doors and The Beach Boys and other bands, I had the impression his work is mainly as an audio engineer for rock music. And he’s worked on soundtracks with Jerry Goldsmith. So the video gave me the impression he was remastering the score. Hopefully he really is remastering the audio for the film itself. So far, I haven’t seen any information to indicate that The Motion Picture is being remastered and you guys know I’ve been wishing and hoping and asking Paramount for years for it!

I’ve checked the Inglorious Treksperts podcast as I have not listened to it for a few months, so far I am catching up and have not heard anything there yet. As Daren Dochterman had worked on The Motion Picture Directors edition, he might know. He might also not be allowed to say anything too. Or it’s very possible they are only remastering the theatrical cut.

 

[Osato]

I hope we are given some more information soon.

classic trek films on UHd Blu ray 4k are a must buy!

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

But given his works with The Doors and The Beach Boys and other bands, I had the impression his work is mainly as an audio engineer for rock music. And he’s worked on soundtracks with Jerry Goldsmith.

Bruce was scoring mixer on virtually every Jerry Goldsmith score starting around 1982 up until Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Goldsmith's final score. He's also worked with composers like John Williams, David Newman, James Newton Howard and Arthur B. Rubinstein.

This page has a ton of Memory Wall photos.

Neil