Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director's Edition) (c) 2000

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-13-2005, 03:04 PM:

So I'm on a bit of a Star Trek kick at the moment. I opened up a brand new DVD box set of the "Feature" length series of Star Trek featuring the original cast.

Naturally I start with Star Trek: The Motion Sickness....err The Motion Picture.

This is the "Director's Cut" done in 1999, not to be confused with the "Special Edition" that came out when the film aired on TV in the early '80s. This cut has new footage, effects and is recut by Director Robert Wise. I can actually tolerate this sort of Director's Cut over the type Lucas has been doing. To hear how the film was originally made and that prints were dripping wet and assembled one reel at a time and flown to theatres one can realize that things were done in the name of time, as much as anything else.

Anyway...so I'm watching this DVD and after Spock returns from his space walk into V-Ger...he is seen recovering in bed and just off center to the left is a pair of scratches! I can't away from scractch film even in home presented digitally! There are even "dirty" reel changes!

Overall though this cut of the film is the best...it has scenes that were not in the original cut but didn't through every goofy thing in like the "special edition" did. For the most part, the improved effects on just some select scenes were an improvement. They even pay homage to TOS with an original style shuttle craft taking off from Star Fleet.

The extras were nice. A separate disc to see interviews and what was added and deleted. On the main disc there are optional pop-ups and commentaries.

Too bad one can "Film-Guard" a DVD to remove scratches in the "film".

Steve

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 02-13-2005, 04:36 PM:

ST:TMP has many flaws, but I still find it very watchable. The Director's Cut DVD is a definite an improvement over the theatrical release.

Wrath of Khan is another one that's improved in the Director's Cut.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-13-2005, 06:06 PM:

The Director's Cut for Wrath of Khan kind of pissed me off. They used alternate takes for many scenes that the original takes were much, much better. And the extended scene about the Reliant being "On her way" did not need to be extended. It works better cut where it was. Since the alternate scenes use the same actors and the same dialog but are clearly different takes, it just gives the entire movie an "off key" feel.