Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday, December 7, 2017 is the 38th anniversary of The Motion Picture.

There is still no remastered Director’s Edition or box set of this film.

 

[Osato]

Happy anniversary Star Trek the motion picture! Still the Star Trek film with the best soundtrack and the one I Watch the most. Hoping the directors cut makes it out soon!
Uhd!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday, December 7, 2017 is the 38th anniversary of The Motion Picture.

December 7, 1979 - a date that will live in infamy!

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, it’s coming up on 40 years since Star Trek The Motion Picture premiered!

I’m going on again praaising this film. To me, it’s still the best film of the series for so many reasons. It’s pure science fiction with at the time, a still pretty fresh concept of living machines. It’s reunited the crew of the starship Enterprise. It’s the only film I think that really feels cinematic and has that scope of a film from a director of Robert Wise background. And it has an innovative score that’s the best of the music of the series.

Of course it’s not perfect. It lacked the warmth of the main characters interactions at their best on the series. The cast was let down by either the story and script or the cast being apart so long. But it seems more a story thing. But it is pure Star Trek in its vision.

So it was very cool news earlier this week that the iconic film poster for Star Trek TMP is being issued in limited copies made from a silkscreen process with multicolor layers to build up a very fine art quality print. The poster is an earlier version of the poster from artist Bob Peak whose legendary for iconic posters for Superman, Apocalypse Now, Roller Ball and so many others.

This is an interesting release because the artwork has William Shatner on the right side and Nimoy on the left. Plus Shatner is slightly higher. Makes sense, Shatner is the Captain and deserves literally top billing. William Shatner upon seeing the art requested that his face move to the left, if this story is true. I suppose you could say that is an actor protecting his Star position. But in thinking about it and looking at the original art verses the released version, I was surprised to discover something. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy has the favored nations clause in their contracts, what one got, the other got too. If William Shatner did request the change, it puts both Kirk and Spock at the same level instead of Kirk being higher in the image and so they both have equal impact. One is not dominating the other.

Original poster art before it was altered:

The final release poster:

I kind of like the original composition, it’s more dynamic. The three faces gives the image movement. Either design though is very cool and still is as relevant today. It does not look dated.

Bob Peak’s estate has partnered with iconicLE to release the prints. They are pricey and since it’s a new company, I took a chance and ordered a copy. They offer two versions, one with the Star Trek titles and one without any titles.

https://www.iconicleprints.com/shop/star-trek-tmp-1-2/?v=7516fd43adaa

I have to say, with this new issue of the poster art of Star Trek The Motion Picture, and La La Land recently reissued the complete soundtrack score on vinyl, it shows me there is still interest in the first film. I realize the Directors Edition is nearing 20 years old now, but it sure feels like there still people who love this movie. While it might be only the Star Trek fans, I sure hope that next year, we see the 4K remaster of Star Trek The Motion Picture in both DE and theatrical and TV cuts.

If you’re interested in that poster, you might hurry, they are only printing 100 of the version with titles. The version without titles is sold out the last time I looked, they only printed 50.

 

[Osato]

Hey guys, it’s coming up on 40 years since Star Trek The Motion Picture premiered!

I’m going on again praaising this film. To me, it’s still the best film of the series for so many reasons. It’s pure science fiction with at the time, a still pretty fresh concept of living machines. It’s reunited the crew of the starship Enterprise. It’s the only film I think that really feels cinematic and has that scope of a film from a director of Robert Wise background. And it has an innovative score that’s the best of the music of the series.

Of course it’s not perfect. It lacked the warmth of the main characters interactions at their best on the series. The cast was let down by either the story and script or the cast being apart so long. But it seems more a story thing. But it is pure Star Trek in its vision.

So it was very cool news earlier this week that the iconic film poster for Star Trek TMP is being issued in limited copies made from a silkscreen process with multicolor layers to build up a very fine art quality print. The poster is an earlier version of the poster from artist Bob Peak whose legendary for iconic posters for Superman, Apocalypse Now, Roller Ball and so many others.

This is an interesting release because the artwork has William Shatner on the right side and Nimoy on the left. Plus Shatner is slightly higher. Makes sense, Shatner is the Captain and deserves literally top billing. William Shatner upon seeing the art requested that his face move to the left, if this story is true. I suppose you could say that is an actor protecting his Star position. But in thinking about it and looking at the original art verses the released version, I was surprised to discover something. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy has the favored nations clause in their contracts, what one got, the other got too. If William Shatner did request the change, it puts both Kirk and Spock at the same level instead of Kirk being higher in the image and so they both have equal impact. One is not dominating the other.

Original poster art before it was altered:

View attachment 47015
The final release poster:

View attachment 47016

I kind of like the original composition, it’s more dynamic. The three faces gives the image movement. Either design though is very cool and still is as relevant today. It does not look dated.

Bob Peak’s estate has partnered with iconicLE to release the prints. They are pricey and since it’s a new company, I took a chance and ordered a copy. They offer two versions, one with the Star Trek titles and one without any titles.

https://www.iconicleprints.com/shop/star-trek-tmp-1-2/?v=7516fd43adaa

I have to say, with this new issue of the poster art of Star Trek The Motion Picture, and La La Land recently reissued the complete soundtrack score on vinyl, it shows me there is still interest in the first film. I realize the Directors Edition is nearing 20 years old now, but it sure feels like there still people who love this movie. While it might be only the Star Trek fans, I sure hope that next year, we see the 4K remaster of Star Trek The Motion Picture in both DE and theatrical and TV cuts.

If you’re interested in that poster, you might hurry, they are only printing 100 of the version with titles. The version without titles is sold out the last time I looked, they only printed 50.

Thanks Nelson!

I was just talking about tmp this morning and how much I still want the directors cut in blu ray or UHd. I also was talking with another friend about the vhs cut, theatrical and the directors edition. Of course also Paramount’s failure to honor wise’s wishes with the directors cut in blu ray too.
It’s funny that a new audio mix was created for the motion picture on blu ray too.

Here’s hoping we have UHd news on the classic trek films too.

I’ve already sent the print information to my wife too. I’d love to have that artwork.

Now I think I’ll have to put on tmp this evening for a while. At the very least the soundtrack.

 

[TonyD]

the vhs cut,

Wait, there’s a separate vhs version too?

 

[SAhmed]

Thanks Nelson too! It's my favorite too along with many memories (e.g. competition with Alien etc...) Loved the themes in it to this very day. Ordered the poster as it will be the closest to a high quality original I had which "grew legs" during a house move

Regards

 

[Osato]

Wait, there’s a separate vhs version too?

Yep.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture_-_Special_Longer_Version_(VHS)

 

[Osato]

And what of Lazarus?

Directors cut compares

 

[Osato]

I never get tired of this vintage promo piece:

 

[Nelson Au]

You’re welcome guys, glad some of you found the poster art interesting. They are down to 4 copies left now!

I’m in the mood to watch the film too, been listening to the soundtrack as well the last couple of days. It’s tough to decide, the blu ray of the theatrical cut, or the lower resolution DVD of the Directors Edition which is my preferred cut.

Poor Persis, I don’t think she was ready to loose all her hair.

 

[Osato]

You’re welcome guys, glad some of you found the poster art interesting. They are down to 4 copies left now!

I’m in the mood to watch the film too, been listening to the soundtrack as well the last couple of days. It’s tough to decide, the blu ray of the theatrical cut, or the lower resolution DVD of the Directors Edition which is my preferred cut.

Poor Persis, I don’t think she was ready to loose all her hair.

I usually always go with the directors cut.

I constantly have the motion picture soundtrack on.

 

[Tino]

The dvd is unwatchable on my OLED so I go with the theatrical Blu.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

Although I like certain scenes added back into the DC near the end, I'm not a fan of some of the trims early in the film, so the theatrical is my go-to. I just wish that one shot of the Enterprise in space dock didn't have the red stripes turned to green on the Blu-ray - I see it every time even though it's on for all of, like, 3 seconds.

Still, I am all in favor of a good SFX upgrade for the DC to get a Blu-ray or UHD release.

So long as the theatrical is included - with that one shot back to normal color and without the grain-scrub (not as bad as some of the other ST movies, but more than it needed)

 

[Nelson Au]

I went with the Directors Edition DVD. It was the first time I played the disc on my new Oppo player. The worst part was the opening shot of the Klingon armada heading towards the cloud and the camera pans down on top and turns to continue tracking the ships. The matte lines were way too visible from the grey space background, instead of it being black space. Beyond that, and if I ignore the dirt and dust specks on the film, it was actually very watchable! I think the Oppo was doing some magic with the upconversion as the movie looked very film like! I’m watching on an older Panasonic plasma 65” VT-30 amd it still produces an excellent image I think. ( I should have compared some of the shots with the Blu-ray. Maybe later tonight.). So I thought the faces of the actors looked more natural then the Blu-ray. I’m not so sure the Blu-ray has that much digital scrubbing done. I don’t exactly know what some people are saying about the digital scrubbing, that the actors faces look plastic. To me, the actors faces on the Blu-ray, especially Nimoy look like they just had bad make-up on. And the Blu-ray is exposing that.

On this viewing, I could see a few trims could have been done to the Enterprise fly-by, reactions from Kirk for example. But of course we know that the music would be impacted and this sequence is loved by the fans. But all the reaction shots seen in that shuttle pod sequence and later in the flight into the cloud and over VGer could have been trimmed. For the first time, I noticed that Wise was shooting a ton of reaction shots that he knew he would later use or not use so he had the coverage he needed for editing later. But it looks like he did not get to do that which was the case in 1979. But in 1999, the film was public domain and loved as it was. So with the music already created for those shots, I could see how hard it was to trim down some shots for the Directors Edition.

I was laughing at myself because when Ilia came onto the bridge, I was expecting to see the cut sequence with Sulu stumbling to help her.

I’ve mentioned this before, so excuse my repeating it. On one of my earlier viewings of the film a few years ago, it had occurred to me for the first time that during the sequence when Decker is going to key the final sequence to transmit the data, the Ilia probe was a integral part of Decker’s choice. During this viewing I wanted to see if I could understand that more. I was watching her more as I noticed the probe was going in and out of human mode from Chapel and Decker trying to remind her of her former human self. That was pretty clear from my very first viewing in 1979. But these last few years I had become more understanding of the effort. So during my viewing last night, I could see Ilia was surfacing a lot more during the final scenes. She had this look towards Decker and I think Decker was realizing this was the path for him. I never understood before why Decker wanted to transmit the data himself so badly. Then it finally clicked, Ilia was looking at him with what I would guess is her love and he realized he could be with her. And it would become a mind expanded way as well as the massive melding of man and machine. It’s pretty heavy stuff in a way. I have to wonder what this new being is doing now. Hanging out with Bowman out there maybe?

I was thinking also of Star Trek 2. When The Wrath of Khan first came out, it was really exciting and it felt like Star Trek was back to form. There is some character arc stuff going on for Kirk too. It had Khan back for vengeance. I do like the music too for that film. Battles in space and action was the focus, nothing wrong with that, it’s always fun. But now we know that it became a template for every Star Trek film after except Star Trek 4 and 5. As such, you know what’s happened. ( not to take away from the trilogy of Star Trek 2, 3 and 4. ). So it’s nice to go back to the Original Series. And The Motion Picture feels so much like a refreshing film to return to. It really was no comparison to Star Wars, as it always was. They are totally different types of worlds.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Re: DVD vs BD quality, transfer quality, etc.

The BD for TMP was one of the better looking discs in that set. It’s been cleaned a bit, probably too much, but still resembles film. But if you watch 3-6, those are varying degrees of awful - that’s where you can really see that they’ve scrubbed away a lot of fine detail and that the actors look overly waxy/plastic.

As for watching the DVD versions on HD displays, this is where the Oppo really pays off. It’s much better at upscaling SD material than any other player I’ve ever used (including BD players from Sony, Samsung, LG and the PS3, PS4 and Xbox 360). I’ve found the Oppo makes a huge difference when using it to play a DVD.

Last few times I’ve watched TMP, I’ve watched the TOS episode The Changeling wither immediately before or after. So many of the ideas used in TMP first appeared there and it’s interesting to see two takes on the same story idea from two different eras.

 

[Tommy R]

I go with the theatrical Blu-ray when I watch it these days, but I grew up with the extended edition on laser disc. The only thing that I have detected missing that I really liked was a line towards the end with Spock shedding some tears and saying "I weep for V'ger as I would for a brother." or something like that. I honestly don't know what other scenes from the extended that aren't in the theatrical. I watched the 2001 DC once and found the new effects distracting so I haven't really watched it again. I have no remembrances of any other changes with the DC.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Josh, regarding the quality of the transfers for Star Trek TMP, and the resulting digital efforts on 3 to 6. So that explains why I never thought TMP looked that scrubbed.

Regarding The Changling. When I first saw TMP, that is certainly an episode I thought they drew heavy inspiration from. But over many viewings of TMP, I just don’t think it’s that similar, just that an earth probe is involved and wants to meet its creator. I guess that’s a huge similarity. But one is mindless and just wants to fulfill a faulty instruction code. The other is a machine that’s collected so much data, it begins to become sentient. Except it’s a logical machine without the human quality that it needed to evolve. That’s a very Roddenberry element.

This Oppo is my second one, though I don’t recall what I thought of watching the TMP DVD on my other Oppo. This time I was just paying attention to it. Last week, I was watching one of the Mission Impossible films, Ghost Protocol and I have the blu ray edition that includes the DVD. I watched the whole movie thinking it was the blu ray when in fact, I accidentally pulled the DVD from the case! The Oppo is a great machine!

 

[Osato]

I go with the theatrical Blu-ray when I watch it these days, but I grew up with the extended edition on laser disc. The only thing that I have detected missing that I really liked was a line towards the end with Spock shedding some tears and saying "I weep for V'ger as I would for a brother." or something like that. I honestly don't know what other scenes from the extended that aren't in the theatrical. I watched the 2001 DC once and found the new effects distracting so I haven't really watched it again. I have no remembrances of any other changes with the DC.

I posted the compares of the special and directors compared with the theatrical. Kind of interesting to compare

 

[Osato]

Thanks Josh, regarding the quality of the transfers for Star Trek TMP, and the resulting digital efforts on 3 to 6. So that explains why I never thought TMP looked that scrubbed.

Regarding The Changling. When I first saw TMP, that is certainly an episode I thought they drew heavy inspiration from. But over many viewings of TMP, I just don’t think it’s that similar, just that an earth probe is involved and wants to meet its creator. I guess that’s a huge similarity. But one is mindless and just wants to fulfill a faulty instruction code. The other is a machine that’s collected so much data, it begins to become sentient. Except it’s a logical machine without the human quality that it needed to evolve. That’s a very Roddenberry element.

This Oppo is my second one, though I don’t recall what I thought of watching the TMP DVD on my other Oppo. This time I was just paying attention to it. Last week, I was watching one of the Mission Impossible films, Ghost Protocol and I have the blu ray edition that includes the DVD. I watched the whole movie thinking it was the blu ray when in fact, I accidentally pulled the DVD from the case! The Oppo is a great machine!

I have an older (vintage?) Oppo DVD player. 960 I believe. I may have to pull it out to use for watching the motion picture and dvds in general. I have a Sony blu ray player that I have been using for all my discs.
I also have an older Panasonic blu ray player as well.