Star Trek IV Collector's Edition Menu Error (1 Viewer)

[Neil S. Bulk]

I was watching my new Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home DVD the other night, and was stunned by a very obvious mistake I found in the animated menus. The menus aren't bad, but any Trekkie will probably be able to tell you that there is an error on them. I'm referring to "the tube" that should be visible on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was established in Star Trek - The Motion Picture that the Golden Gate Bridge no longer provided transportation for ordinary automobiles, but instead had some sort of futuristic tube system in place. You can see what I'm talking about in this photo from the original release of the film. When this shot was replaced in the new 2001 "Director's Edition", the filmmakers were very careful to follow what had already been established, and the tube can still be seen.

Now I wouldn't be complaining about this issue that much if this little detail was ignored in Star Trek IV, the film, but the tube is there, too. Just look at this establishing shot of Starfleet Headquarters. Later in the film, the bridge is seen behind Admiral Cartwright, and our friend the tube is clearly visible. Someone on the production team sure thought the tube was important enough that it was even included in this storyboard.

Now on this new DVD of Star Trek IV we have fully animated menus focusing on the Golden Gate Bridge, and what do we see on it? Not the tube, but cars! Don't believe me? Just take a look at it here. Now we all know that the Star Trek franchise is very important to Paramount Pictures, and I'm left wondering how something likes this gets through. Who was "asleep at the wheel". The menus are certainly attractive enough, but this is a mistake against 23 years of established continuity and I can't believe that no one at Paramount caught this. It's a minor detail, but Trekkies are known for picking out the minor details. Couldn't Paramount have someone on their staff like Mike Okuda look over things like this for accuracy? You can be sure that LucasFilm would never have let a mistake like this come through on a Star Wars disc.

Overall, the menus are nice looking but they are overly flashy and overly movement oriented. In the future, couldn't we just have something a little simpler and quicker?

Neil

P.S. The links on this page may not be working properly for some. I've put all of the pictures on this webpage: http://www.freewebs.com/indysolo/

 

[Steve Christou]

For a while Neil I thought your post was a spoof, but you're serious right? Wow a true blue nit-picking Trekkie, they do exist!
But why post it here, more Trek fans would have read it in the Star Trek IV thread in Software. You didn't really think Paramount would redo the menus and start replacing copies did you?
Hmmm I suppose you were apoplectic when the Klingon Bird of Prey suddenly sprouted an escape hatch at the end of 'Voyage Home'. I was.

Kidding.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

The thread in the software section seems to have degenerated into a thread discussing who can get it the cheapest. I wanted this thread to be noticed. Star Trek is Paramounts top property, and it's amazing to me that they don't have someone on their staff to make sure that all things Trek related are done properly.

Neil