Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far (3 Viewers)

[Scott D S]

I won't sit here and try to play the excuses game for anyone, but let's remember to the marketing person putting this info on the website, TMP is just another release.  They may not even know how many versions of the movie are out there and what has been on BD before.

True. I once said the same thing about the Star Wars films (at least the original versions) and the same thing applies here: there doesn't seem to be a Star Trek "advocate" at the studio. CBS has Robert Meyer Burnett and Co. working on extras, going through boxes, etc. for the TV shows but the films deserve the same treatment along with an expert to say, "Here's what we believe the fans want, here's what the studio has in its possession, etc."

 

[Camper]

So that's it. The original movie tie-in for the release of the new movie is single releases of the movies that haven't been previously released as singles..... Wow, thanks a lot. And since 'hard-core' fans would already have the box set--big deal. And since less hard core fans would likely be less interested in the movies in question--I, III, V---even less of a big deal. So multiple seasons of TNG this year--ditto for Enterprise, the new movie, rumors of the animated and the Director's cuts fall further into the future. And if Enterprise and TNG are big hits on Blu-ray--they will be more inclined to move ahead with DS9 on Blu. Which to my mind will make Paramount less likely to release the DCs because perhaps of a percieved glut of new Blu-ray Trek product. I now really think 2016 will be our next best chance for the DEs--unless the third new Trek movie is set for a 2017 release--in which case they will probably need something by then to use as a tie-in. And they blamed the fact they didn't release the DEs in 2009 on the fact that they "didn't realize till the last second that the Director's cuts weren't 'ready to go' in HD." Milk a cash cow for 47 years and still show it no respect.

 

[Steve Christou]

While it is maddening that they aren't releasing the DC of ST-TMP on HD I would have been even more upset if they had released the DC first on HD and I was waiting futilely for them to release the original 1979 theatrical. With a few exceptions I've never been a big fan of director's cuts or extended editions and I was ecstatic when I first bought the Blu-ray edition of ST-TMP and realised I was watching the original 1979 edition instead of the newly tinkered version. If they ever do release the DC and the longer TV version on HD at some future point I'll buy them in an instant. ST-TMP is by far my favourite of the 11 Star Trek movies to date.

 

[Ted Van Duyn]

There's got to be more behind this than a simple flub. How could someone simply type "Restored Director's Cut of TMP" out of the blue without anything to back it up? Is it possible that it is on their schedule and someone just skipped a page or two while double checking their work? Maybe they are planning on a release of the Director's Edition, but it's too far ahead in the schedule to properly announce it.

 

[Dave H]

Disappointing, but not surprised, Paramount is not restoring these (minus 'Khan' which looks great as it was more recently re-done). However, Paramount has not been the best studio when it comes to solid PQ catalog titles.

 

[MattAlbie60]

There's got to be more behind this than a simple flub. How could someone simply type "Restored Director's Cut of TMP" out of the blue without anything to back it up? Is it possible that it is on their schedule and someone just skipped a page or two while double checking their work? Maybe they are planning on a release of the Director's Edition, but it's too far ahead in the schedule to properly announce it.

It could be something more disappointing, though. Like "Hey, what did we write the last time one of these things rolled around? Let's just write that again!" and someone grabbed an old press release or something. The optimist in me hopes it's what you said. The pessimist in me knows it's what I said

 

[Kevin EK]

Ted, the sad thing is that it does look like a simple flub. The marketing person just cut-and-pasted the information without checking it. Frustrating, yes, but it happens. Given that Paramount is more likely to promote the new movie, and given that they've now shown that they'd just like to re-release the same Blus we saw 4 years ago, I strongly doubt there will be any movement to do more with the older Trek movies for some time. I continue to hope that the DE of TMP will come out on Blu at some point, but Paramount is in no rush to do so - particularly as they'd rather focus attention on the new movies with Abrams. Ironically, the presence of the new movies may actually make it less likely that more will be done with the older ones. As with the Bond movies, which saw the remaining 9 movies released on Blu with LESS extra content than the previous releases...

 

[Dave H]

Ted, the sad thing is that it does look like a simple flub.  The marketing person just cut-and-pasted the information without checking it.  Frustrating, yes, but it happens.  Given that Paramount is more likely to promote the new movie, and given that they've now shown that they'd just like to re-release the same Blus we saw 4 years ago, I strongly doubt there will be any movement to do more with the older Trek movies for some time.   I continue to hope that the DE of TMP will come out on Blu at some point, but Paramount is in no rush to do so - particularly as they'd rather focus attention on the new movies with Abrams.  Ironically, the presence of the new movies may actually make it less likely that more will be done with the older ones.  As with the Bond movies, which saw the remaining 9 movies released on Blu with LESS extra content than the previous releases...

Unfortunately, I agree this is likely to be the case and the current boxset might be the best these ever look - at least in 1080p.

 

[Camper]

I'm not even gonna wish for a proper restoration anymore and I'm doubting we'll get TMP DC on Blu-ray. I'm down to hoping we'll get 2 & 6 extended versions at some point. But there is a silver lining--fans can now see the horrible windowboxing they did to the opening credits of Search for Spock--without having to buy the whole set!!

 

[Jason_V]

My gosh, how quickly hope fades and the pessimism sets in. Like I said previously, until Paramount goes out of business or the world ends, I will always have hope. What was it that Spock said? "There are always...possibilities."

 

[Camper]

^^ Well whipper-snapper maybe you feel it's no problem waiting until 2016 or 2017. I'm getting worried in my old age I won't make it.

 

[Nelson Au]

I have hopes still the TMP DC will come out in a proper HD transfer. Hopefully Blade Runner Style with the other cuts. That last part is asking a lot, but why not! I don't want to wait for 2016 either! I'm not so convinced of a concern over a glut of Star Trek video products by Paramount. CBS is doing the TV stuff and they don't seem too worried about releasing too much at once. I'm glad to see the new TNG and Enterprise sets coming. Paramount may not have a Star Trek advocate right now. So perhaps they don't see the interest pent up? Was it Jason who said he was at the HTF meet in Los Angeles and the Paramount guy said that 2013 will see a lot of goodies for Star Trek fans? He was obviously referring to the TV product. But clearly he understood Star Trek has fans and wants the films. I've never tried to organize a poll or try to generate a list of signatures to convince a studio before, but surely there must be something we can do to show there is interest in Paramount to do the right thing to Star Trek The Motion Picture and do a proper Directors Cut blu-ray. It is a Robert Wise film. I know they probably feel its the weakest film, but by golly, I have to disagree and I know you guys do too. What can we do here!?

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by Camper
^^ Well whipper-snapper maybe you feel it's no problem waiting until 2016 or 2017. I'm getting worried in my old age I won't make it.

I don't really feel it's that bad to wait a few years. I'm still "young" by a lot of standards (and "old" by others), but I wanted for YEARS for GoBots and Thundarr to be on DVD. They came out fairly recently. I can wait for TMP, especially with the theatrical cut on BD and the DE on DVD.

Originally Posted by Nelson Au
Paramount may not have a Star Trek advocate right now. So perhaps they don't see the interest pent up? Was it Jason who said he was at the HTF meet in Los Angeles and the Paramount guy said that 2013 will see a lot of goodies for Star Trek fans? He was obviously referring to the TV product. But clearly he understood Star Trek has fans and wants the films.

Yup, that certainly was me, Nelson. I regret not pressing a little more at the time, but I was trying to be gracious to our hosts. They may very well have been looking at TV product or have plans for something later in the year. I don't know. But it was very clear there would be a lot of Trek product this year. They may have only been talking about TV, maybe not. I'm still not going to freak out over this. Too many other things for me to freak out over.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Jason. I agree, they were being very nice to host you guys, so I don't blame you at all for not pressing. I don't want to sound impatient, I understand these things may not be on the front burner right now and they may have plans in a few years for the TMP blu ray. There's certainly a lot more urgent things in life looking at the big picture. I just hope it's sooner then later.

 

[Scott D S]

Well... next year IS the 35th anniversary of ST: TMP and the studios love milking anniversaries for all they're worth. One can only hope! P.S. I started this thread more than four years ago and it's nice to see it still kickin'!

 

[Kevin EK]

I wouldn't want to sound pessimistic, in that I'm actually fairly pleased with the Blu-ray releases we've seen at this point. I'd be happy to see the DE of TMP on Blu, but I realize that it's not a priority. The existing box sets are nice work. Are they perfect? No, but I'm happy with what they've offered. The battery of Star Trek releases this year will be several seasons of the TV shows between TNG and Enterprise, as well as a BD and BD3D release of the new Trek movie. Somewhere in there will probably be a re-release of the 2009 Trek movie, only with more goodies. And that's not counting the single disc re-releases of the other Trek movies. Not sure what else they would be contemplating for a single year - that's plenty right there. Movie releases after this year get a bit harder to foresee, particularly given that Abrams is supposed to be putting his energies into a new Star Wars film before returning to this universe, and I believe he has a couple of smaller pictures he'd like to do before that one. Of course, he could farm the Star Trek movies out to another director, which would allow a new movie to come out sooner, and thus make it more interesting for Paramount to find new ways to re-release the Blus in the catalogue...

 

[Nelson Au]

I read an interesting post in another forum by a guy who works in the industry. The thread started because of the mistaken news that the Directors Cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture was coming to blu-ray. He said he sat with Robert Wise and edited Star Trek The Motion Picture the way he wanted it in 1980 for the home video releases. He cut the trip down into and through V'ger. But Paramount said no way, we paid for those effects and we want them back. I think the guy is legit. But he wasn't aware that Wise did the Directors Cut in 2000 with new CGI effects. He also said that Paramount is currently not restoring any films unless its necessary due to the current economic situation. Another interesting wrinkle on TMP's past. I still have hopes the TMP DC will come in our life times.

 

[Ted Van Duyn]

The existing box sets are nice work.

DNR'd transfers, sub-par new features, copy-paste menu design (At least the Bond set used different footage), no alternate versions where only footage was the difference, blue tinted Wrath of Khan, censored commentary tracks, text commentaries not carried over, bad package artwork, no disc art, ect. Mediocre is a far more appropriate word I would use to describe both sets. At least the Alien Anthology for all it's carried over features had effort put into it. Where is the effort on the Star Trek blurays? These BluRays were made cheap and I don't give passes to cheap, especially for a big studio like Paramount.

 

[Kevin EK]

The DNR issue has been heavily debated, and not everybody agrees about that. The existing special features were fairly comprehensive so there wasn't much left to add. I did enjoy the captains summit. I agree about the menus, but I don't complain unless the menu actually impairs my ability to access things. I didn't miss the alternate material except with TMP and TWOK, but I still have the DE DVDs for that. I agree about the blue shift on TWOK but I also understand Nicholas Meyer supervised the transfer, so I'm at a loss to explain that one. I have never heard about these commentary tracks being censored before. To what are you referring? I too would have liked to see the text commentaries carried over. I don't know that the packaging was bad and I don't pay attention to disc art. I hear you that you didn't like these Blus. Sadly, I don't know that you'll be seeing anything to improve them. At least we still have the 2-disc DVDs if you're happier there - I kept mine partly for that reason. But I'm not displeased with these Blus. Re that editor, I'm very skeptical of his account. Robert Wise was rumored to have done an alternate cut of TMP that was seen on airlines, but I never was able to confirm that. Wise himself said for years that he was never able to finish the movie - he never was able to complete an edit and complete the sound mix. It wasn't until the DVD where he was able to finally get the movie the way he wanted it. Only then did he make public appearances supporting it. If that editor really had done that work, he would have been aware of Wise's edition, as the work would have mirrored his. Also, his information is a bit old re Paramount. That account was quite accurate 4 and 5 years ago, which is when the Trek movie Blus were prepared. It's not accurate at this time. Paramount is not pinching the pennies nearly as hard as they did in 2008 and 2009.

 

[Worth]

Where is the effort on the Star Trek blurays?

I wish a little less effort had gone into them - at least then we wouldn't have had overly scrubbed films, especially 3-6.