The Star Trek Commentaries (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

C'Mon Paramount these commentaries are a nice touch, but can't you convince the participants to all sit in the same room and simultaneously give commentary? These edited disjointed "Ask the question" off screen things are'nt what I hoped. Are these guys so impossible to sit in the same room. Does anyone else agree.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

It really doesn't matter to me - edited commentaries are often better than those where the participants sit together. Take Criterion's Silence of the Lambs, for example - it's excellent. I can name many tracks where all the people DID sit together and the material stunk, such as the actors commentary for American Pie 2. I'll take a well-compiled edited commentary any day of the week.

BTW, the commentary for Star Trek IV put Nimoy and Shatner in the same room together, and the one for Star Trek II only included the director, so your comment only applies to two commentaries: Star Trek: TMP and Star Trek III. Not sure why you're pouncing on Paramount when half the commentaries to date offer what you want...

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'm not really pouncing I guess the structure is what I object to. I'd rather have the participant view what's gong on on the screen and comment on it, then have an interviewer ask them a question and then the responses get placed at the appropriate place. And I agree somtimes GANG commentaries are'nt good.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I'd rather have the participant view what's gong on on the screen and comment on it, then have an interviewer ask them a question and then the responses get placed at the appropriate place

This is the type of commentary that I typically like to listen to. By the way, I've really loved the text commentaries that have been on the Trek DVDs.

 

[DeathStar1]

Too bad more people don't do the MST3K style used on the Ghostbuster DVD. THOSE are fun, because you get the extra visual joke as well..

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah the text commentaries are top notch.

 

[MarkHarrison]

My preference is for groups. I just hate it when someone brings up a great point and no one else comments on it because they're not actually there. It just seems fake to me.

I don't think you can determine how good a commentary will be based on how it's recorded. Sometimes groups suck, and sometimes they really play off each other to create something much better than they could have acheived had they recorded seperately. Still, I could give many examples of good, bad and ugly commentaries regardless of the grouping.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Still, I could give many examples of good, bad and ugly commentaries regardless of the grouping.

That was my point. I don't really care how the tracks are recorded as long as they're good...

 

[MarkHarrison]

I don't really care how the tracks are recorded as long as they're good...

Exactly. In fact one of my least favorite commentaries is Rob Reiner on The Princess Bride. One of my favorites is Robert Rodriguez on Spy Kids 2 (the only movie I have where I can honestly say I enjoyed the commentary more than the movie). In both cases they recorded their commentary individually.

 

[Jerome]

startrek.com has a new audio commentary to download, for Star Trek: the motion picture.

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/vie...e/2301143.html

 

[Allan^L]

Not directly related to the Star Trek commentaries but I can't stand listening to commentary tracks where the participants clearly aren't watching the movie "live." It just sounds very off to me.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Those tracks don't bother me. I view them more as audio essays, and I think they can be very good. It doesn't matter to me if it's a running track or not as long as it's informative and interesting...

 

[Jay Pennington]

Sometimes it's good when people are together in a group and sometimes it's not. I've listened to commentaries made practically worthless by participants interrupting each other and having way too much fun with each other rather than commenting on the film itself.

I think it just depends on the participant. A good DVD producer should have enough communication with them beforehand to determine whether they'll be able to provide interesting commentary on the fly or if they need to be interviewed instead.