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Remastered Star Trek films anytime soon? (1 Viewer)

Douglas Monce

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I'm a huge soundtrack fan as well. Did you see the recent release of some of Jerry Goldsmith's early TV work for CBS? It includes one of the scores he did for the original Perry Mason show. I also recently picked up the re-recording of Herrmann's scores for The Twilight Zone. Good stuff!

Doug
 

Nick Martin

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When it was over, I found it far better than I expected. I'd gladly watch it again soon. It's quite different kind of film. Can't explain it exactly, just a feeling I guess, but a good one. :)

I watched the extras before watching the film (except the deleted scenes of course) and I was surprised because I assumed that all the effects were re-done, and instead it was only a few. I'll be listening to that downloaded mp3 commentary done by the restoration team sometime down the line.
 

Ockeghem

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Nicholas,

Those deleted scenes (and one in particular for me) really make all of the difference. I've never quite understood why certain scenes make the cut, while others do not. I don't think it is always a question of length, since some of them (depending on the film) are only a few seconds long. Maybe there are other factors.
 

Sam Favate

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We watched Nemesis last night. Why, you ask? Well, my wife has been enjoying Star Trek (TNG and DS9 mostly) for the past couple of years and she wanted to see the last movie. By the end, she booed the screen and gave it a double-thumbs down, and validated my opinion of it. So many problems with that movie. The dialogue between Shinzon and Picard was awful. Why kill off Data? Why make the Remans look so monstrous? Why crash the ships into each other? It's as if they sat around saying "Okay, what are the elements that people love about Star Trek movies? We need something personal for the captain... lets have him fight his own clone. We need an emotional core, like when Spock died... Hey, let's kill off Data. Audience love when the Enterprise crashes... let's rip the ship apart when it rams another ship." Main characters are wasted: Worf has nothing to do, ditto for Crusher, Geordi, etc. No effort is made to address Worf's promotion at the end of DS9.

So they make this terrible movie that won't even please a die-hard fan like myself, release it 5 days before the Two Towers, and then when it fails, the studio says "No more Next Gen movies! The audience doesn't like them!"

At least the film's failure got the studio to get rid of Rick Berman, who would have ridden the Trek gravy train the rest of his life.
 

RickER

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Sir, you hit the nail on the head with every point you made! Gene Roddenberry must of been spinning in the grave at what Rick Berman did to Trek.

On a side note....am i the only one who would like to see a soundtrack of TAS music? :crazy: Yep, thought so.
 

Nelson Au

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Nemesis had a lot of little things setting it up for failure, the biggest was Stuart Baird who the cast has stated had no affinity for the material. While John Logan appears to have the best affinity of the material and for some reason, chose to recreate one of his favorite films, The Wrath of Khan. Add to that Brent Spiner's desire to contribute the story. Though I think he had a perfectly valid reason for wanting to kill Data. That being he's getting too old to be able to pull off an ageless android if there are more films.

This is way off topic, but it brings up my initial concern that I posted in the Movies section for how JJ Abram's and his possey will be able to pull off Star Trek XI and not do a Superman Returns. That is, they have all the right elements in place, but it doesn't gel and falls apart for similar reasons Superman Returns did; poor choice of actor for Lois, trying to channel Christopher Reeve and re-using dialogue and plots bits from Reeve's first 2 films. Though, as Nemesis and Insurrection shows, the new CGI effects sure were pretty to look at.

It would be interesting to see an interview with Berman and Braga now that there have been a few years away from Trek. I think I heard one where they admitted they had been at it a long time and it gets harder to do more original work. I also took a look at Nemesis and Insurrection, more really, I sampled scenes for fun to watch the effects shots. Which were really well done for both films. They had Goldsmith scores too.

Insurrection was such a waste as it was little more then an expanded episode from the 6th or 7th season of TNG. The cast looked to be having fun.
 

Joseph Bolus

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I gave Nemesis two-and-a-half stars. But I think there was a much better movie lurking around the edges. There were several deleted scenes which the fans would have loved to see:

* The early scene in the Captain's ready room with Data sipping wine. In this very short scene there were at least a dozen references to past episodes from the original TNG series. This scene would have also provided an emotional anchor for the wine scene at the conclusion of the movie.

* The alternate ending with Riker playing one last joke on the captain as he and Troy leave the Enterprise. In the last line of this scene, which depicts the Enterprise in dry-dock undergoing repairs, Picard explains to his new first officer that they'll be going "Where No Man has Gone Before".

That these scenes were filmed and then discarded is firm proof that somebody didn't know what they were doing in regards to Star Trek fandom.
 

SilverWook

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There was a rumor going around that Baird mistakenly thought Geordi was an alien character and Levar Burton wasn't too happy about it.

It would have been more interesting had they brought back Lore instead of pulling another Soong prototype android out of nowhere. Not to mention sparing us the car chase on the Road Warrior planet. :P

And it's really sad nobody involved could recall Picard had hair when he was younger.
 

Sam Favate

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Well, yes and no. The spacescapes were very pretty. However, both of those films show unrealistic mechanics. In Nemesis, for example, when Shinzon's ship unfolds near the end of the movie, it just keeps opening new pieces of itself and expanding. It looks kinda silly. By not having to build physical models of the ships for the effects, there doesn't have to be a realistic substance to the ship. Same goes for Insurrection and the ships near the end of that movie.

Yes, Stuart Baird was a terrible choice for a director. But he is a symptom of a larger problem: The perceived need to make the films more generic to appeal to a more generic audience. It never works; all it does is water down the source material and makes no one happy. Here you have this successful show (TNG) that was widely watched and praised for (most of its) seven years, had spinoffs, merchandising mania, won awards, and so on. Then you transfer it to the big screen and do your damnest to make it like every other action flick because you think that will sell more tickets? Is it any wonder audiences both dedicated and casual say "it's not as good as the TV show"?

And Rick, I would join you in buying a TAS soundtrack.
 

Nelson Au

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GNP Crescendo Records does almost all, if not all the Star Trek soundtrack CDs. Maybe they could be pursuaded to do TAS. GNP Crescendo Records - Original Soundtracks, Star Trek, Jazz and more. In the music biz since 1954. Star Trek

I also agree with Sam about watering down Trek, doesn't work. Today, I took a few minutes and finally, after 5 years, to see most of the deleted scenes from Nemesis. If left in, they could have helped, a little. I hadn't seen the one with Wesley. I figured they wouldn't explain how he's back in Starfleet after having gone off with the Traveller. Star Trek TNG suffered the most when translated to film. It should have stayed on TV, as all the other Trek series, including TOS. Going to films is a big mistake.

Regarding the effects from Nemesis and Insurrection, while I see your point that CGI gives the film makers a lot more options, they can abuse it. What I refer too is the beauty of the imagery. They can easily do very cool looking Nebulas, good looking ships and planets. But I hate the design of the Enterprise E. Overall I like the form. But the design lacks elegance in the details and proportions of the engines. The bussard collectors were awful! The mechanical effects of the TOS Enterprise nacelles caps look terrific and real.

The new JJ Abrams Star Trek film has a real astromony expert on board to advise on correct astronomical imagery. So I expect to see more accurately lit and rendered spacial objects. This could be a cool and stark new visual for Trek films. I thnk Star Trek The Motion Picture had terrific imagery of how they lit the Enterprise. So it should be interesting to see how this film will look. ILM has for way to long, had it's own way of rendering space and it's lit far too much! I know, I went way off topic and into the weeds.
 

Jason_V

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I will never forgive Berman and Piller for Insurrection. What a lousy movie on nearly every level. But mostly because they made complete idiots out of the entire crew. Boob and pimple jokes...I wanted to shrivel up and die in the theater...

TNG was NEVER about those kinds of things...
 

RickER

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I felt the same way about the "joy stick" that came out of the floor, so they could stear the Enterprise really fast...like in a video game!
 

Jason_V

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^ Man, Rick, you HADDA remind me about that? By god...that movie was just full of half brained ideas, wasn't it? It wasted a good sci fi premise, too.
 

Nelson Au

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I just realized today that next year is the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek The Motion Picture. The new JJ Abrams film will open in May 2009.

So by then, or within 2009, perhaps Paramount will release a 30th Anniversary Remastered Edition of The Directors Cut of Star Trek TMP with the 2001 CGI effects re-rendered at hi def resolution for a new high definition transfer on blu-ray and DVD. I know it will happen, just when.
 

Lou Sytsma

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Time does indeed fly. It boggles the mind to realize that Shatner and Nimoy are pushing 80 years old each!:eek:

Course my own age is another matter.;)
 

Dave Simkiss

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A bit of worrying news today from thedigitalbits...
The Digital Bits Rumor Mill - Current Posts

From Paramount, we're hearing that a Transformers: Extended Edition is planned for DVD and Blu-ray release in 2009, likely timed to coincide with the theatrical release of Bay's sequel film next summer. Also, watch for a Blu-ray Disc box set of all of The Original Series-based Star Trek feature films, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the theatrical cut, NOT the extended cut, as all the extended cut CG effects were produced in 480p and would have to be redone for HD release), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. [Editor's Note: We mistakenly mentioned Generations instead of Trek VI in the original post. The box will be films I-VI. No Generations. The TNG films will come later. Just FYI.] This is obviously timed to promote J.J. Abrams' forthcoming Star Trek reboot, due next May. (The first theatrical trailer is apparently set to debut online later this week, and attached to Quantum of Solace in theaters this Friday.)

I feel I must point out that Darren Dochterman - who produced the new FX for the Directors cut - had stated many, many times that the effects WERE rendered in HD.
 

Jason_V

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^ Dave, there is a conversation about this in another thread.

My personal opinion is that Paramount is doing the right thing by releasing both versions on BD. The original-which has NEVER been available on disc-first and then the DE later on in the year to possibly coincide with the release of ST on BD. I don't see the problem with this, honestly.
 

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